Virtual Buzz Assistant

I get a lot of comments on this blog.  Many are obvious spam.  Others are borderline spam.

If you are a virtual assistant and you are going to blogs and commenting, you are doing it for one of three reasons.

1. To participate in the blog and conversation.
2. Promote your services.
3. Promote your client.

Understand something here.  I have no problem with people promoting things via blog comments.  It is not always going to be the best use of your time, but it is a solid way to jump start awareness and start building a relationship with someone that might write about you later.

If you are doing #1, here is an important tip:  Say something that demonstrates you read the post. When I get a comment like, Nice Job, Man. – I assume it is spam because I have nothing to tell me otherwise.

But if you are doing #2 or #3 – promoting something via blog comments, then you really need to consider some basic rules.

1. Show you read the blog post by saying something meaningful.
2. Do not try to promote a competing product.  THIS IS HUGE – I always delete posts by virtual assistant agencies that come on this blog and say, “Nice Blog.  If you need a great virtual assistant for $2 an hour visit….”   WTF?  Didn’t they read anything on this site?  No, they did not.
3. Don’t think SEO.  Most blogs use NOFOLLOW tags, so comments do not provide any SEO benefit.  The biggest benefit you get is by commenting on a popular blog post that will generate traffic and interest to click through.  That means your post must be relevant and interesting.

You might think that you have to be kind and polite as well, but I have approved a variety of negative comments on this blog.  I am happy for honest feedback from real readers, even if they do not agree with me.  Although too many might just cause me to ban someone as a flamer.

I know this post will not lessen the number of bad comments I get.  They are not reading my blog anyway.  However, I hope that this Blog Commenting Strategy helps you become more effective in commenting and getting noticed.