You’ve probably heard about how having lots of backlinks can give you a huge advantage over your competition on the internet, right? You’ve probably heard that commenting on blogs, forums and social media sites can give you some really good “Google link juice.”
But do you know how to utilize this strategy effectively? If not, then you are in for a treat.
In today’s post, I am going to talk about SEO. Now, I realize that search engine optimization is not for everyone and can be a long, enduring, tedious and hard work. Yes, I said work. SEO constantly changes, especially because of our friends over at Google. They like to keep us on our toes. Every once in a while, they’ll change their algorithm and if you are not playing the SEO game the right way and doing some blackhat stuff, your site will most likely drop in the rankings.
But that’s a whole other discussion. Today I want to tell you about a strategy that will help you rank high in Google. Now, since you are already using the internet, and going to different blogs, forums and social media sites, you should utilize this strategy for your business. Newbies to blogging can learn from these 77 mistakes new bloggers make.
In this post, I am going to focus on blog commenting. Let’s get right into it. First, you need to follow couple of common sense rules.
Rule #1: Make a relevant and thoughtful comment.
Don’t just write “nice post” or “great post” or something along those lines. Write an actual comment that is relevant to the blog post and contribute to the overall conversation on that blog. You’ll be surprised what will happen if you just follow this one rule. People will respond back to you, the blog owner will leave your comment on their blog, and you will gain more exposure.
Rule #2: Don’t use your comments to SPAM
When you make a comment on the blog, you’ll be asked to provide your name, website, and the comment. When asked for the website, type in your site address in the space provided. That site address will be the url people will end up on when they click on your name. Remember that when you post your comment, your name at the top of the comment will become the back link to your site.
Don’t write your website address in the comments area. Many blog owners frown upon that and it makes your post look like you are not really contributing but using their blog for linking back to your site.
Killer Tip: Instead of writing your name is the name field, some blogs will allow you to write down the keywords you are optimizing for your site. This way, your link will become an anchor text which is even more powerful search engine optimization technique. Before you do this, look at other comments on the blog and see if other people have keywords in their comments. This will tell you if the blog owner allows having anchor text comments on his blog. If he does, then go for it. If he doesn’t, then he might disapprove your comment.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: BiggerPockets does NOT allow this, and encourages you to post your comments using your name, as that is what will help people to get to know YOU better as you participate here and elsewhere online.
Now, here’s your Step by step strategy to give you the best link juice in Google
Step 1 – Install Firefox Search Status Add-on and enable “Highlight no-follow links” in your Firefox browser. Just type in “firefox search status addon” in Google (or click the link to the left) and you’ll get this Firefox addon. When you enable that feature, every time you arrive at any site, all of the links that do not allow the search engine spiders to follow the link to the next site will be highlighted. Why does that matter? Because Google counts pagerank. Every time you have a do-follow link coming back to your site, some of the pagerank from that previous site will be leaked onto your site. That my friends is a very good thing for you. That’s why you want to leave comments on sites that allow do-follow links.
Step 2 – Search for relevant real estate blogs on Google to make comments on. Hint: You already have one here so post as many comments on this blog as you can. More comments you have linking back to your site, the better. To find real estate blog on Google, type in the following search term in the search field:
“real estate” + blog
Step 3 – Post relevant and thoughtful comments on relevant blogs that benefit the community and engage in the conversation. Don’t spam blog posts with poor comments. Trust me!
Step 4- Post your comments on this blog 
So there you have it. Just by commenting on the blogs that you read every day, you can start building your own link building strategy. In turn, you will have Google follow you around the internet and start sending you targeted traffic while your website climbs the rankings.
That’s all I have for you today.
See below for a great rap about pagerank . . . enjoy!
Article Author:
Peter KolatPeter has written 24 articles for us.
Visit Peter's Website: http://www.realestateids.com
Joshua Dorkin
Charles Feldman
Ted Karsch.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Josh, I don’t know where you find the time to not only write great posts but learn these things. I try to absorb so much especially with my site up but I end up feeling like I wasted hours on end because its so overwhelming with so many different SEO strategies. I know one skill is that I have to improve is my blogging. Thanks for all that you share! I enjoy these posts.
Nick Johnson´s last blog ..Finding Subject2 Deals with Refinancing Leads
Nick – Peter Kolat deserves the credit for this post . . . I just did the editing (and in this case, added the awesome video). That said, I do blog about the same type of things on my personal site, TimeforBlogging.
You just need to read, read, read!
Another great way to get back links for your web site is to write articles and submit them to web sites that will promote your articles. Each time someone adds your article to their web site it adds a new link to your site. This is a great way to add hundreds of new back links to your site to improve your page rank and show yourself to be an expert in your field.
I agree, it is important to leave thoughtful comments and be as thoughtful in the commentary as the writer was in posting. I know that bloggers sometimes struggle with trying to decide whether they’re trying to optimize for SEO, or just trying to write the best possible article for their audience. I have to believe that just focusing on the needs of your audience, even if it doesn’t get you immediate Google rankings, must have an even greater long-tail benefit from increased and more loyal readership.
Eric Schwager´s last blog ..Is the first-time homebuyers tax credit like free ice cream?
Killer Tip: Stay the heck away from paid links.
Also, many bloggers delete keyword-named comments out of hand. You’ll get more links with your name, but possibly better links but fewer links with keywords.
If you’re rolling through places to leave comments, consider doing searches for ‘guestbook’ related words. Lots of older template-drive sites were created before no-follow existed. The downside is they’re often crowded with spam comments.
Better way to create traffic? Write awesome posts, be a little different, attract attention. Leverage your other relationships.
Chris´s last blog ..Edmonton Rental Website Rankings – June 2009
An active backlinking campaign not only brings your site up on Google, but it really only takes ten or twenty minutes each day keeping up on the Real Estate news that you were going to keep up on anyway. By adding a valid comment you also build credibility with a true visitor to your site anyway.
-Tyler
Portland Real Estate´s last blog ..Portland Suburbs Full of Distressed Properties
Wow. You guys rock! These are great comments. I guess I was preaching to the right crowd.
Not only are the above comments related to the post but they are educational as well. Now, whenever someone visits this blog post not only will they learn from the post itself but from the comments as well.
Great job.
To Your Success,
Peter Kolat
Lots of value to your post. I found it expecially useful. Content based SEO seems to be a Google friend. Thanks!
Elizabeth Crane´s last blog ..Investment Property 201 Seminar: Rent to Own Deals | Minnesota Investment Property Blog
I learned a lot from your tips. Thanks for the wonderful post!
There are general rules which work for all websites: forum posting, blog commenting, link exchange, article submission, etc. All these actions will bring new backlinks and generate more traffic to your site.
Andrey Fidrya´s last blog ..Liquid Web – September 2009 Coupons
Great advice for those new to the SEO arena.
Braxton Beyer´s last blog ..Many New Laws Taking Effect September 1st
Hi Peter,
Great advice, thanks for sharing this valuable information.
Regards
Mike Andrew
Mike Andrew´s last blog ..Spam and Social Media
Very useful information. Ido well with social bookmarking also.
This information is very informative. I appreciate the advise.
New to all of this. Great info, will continue to follow links and learn.
Some great advice. SEO is always changing and for me always challenging. I can’t wait to implement some of what I’ve learned here and see the results.
Jim Miller
This is great advice. Another way to build backlink along with credibility is by answering questions on yahoo answers. I drove traffic to my site by providing good advice on traffic building.
Yahoo Answers is a great strategy as well. Great thing about that strategy is that you can get very targeted traffic because people who are looking at the answer are people with the problem.
To Your Success,
Peter Kolat
So, what real estate blogs out there DO allow follow? (Do not have rel=”nofollow”)
Eric Schwager´s last blog ..3 Secrets to reading Housing data for the Real Estate Investor, Part 2: Understanding how to interpret Margin of Error
Provide different useful information on seller financing, creating and selling. Include real estate notes, mortgages, trust deeds, business and promissory notes, other types of secured private loans. All of that will bring you visitors.
I know one skill is that I have to improve is my blogging. Thanks for all that you share!
Eri Ricaldo´s last blog ..Get 100 Dollar from Paypal by Share Your Wishlist