Something that most bloggers always forget are the power of trackbacks (or otherwise commonly known as pingbacks) and comments. Yes, both can help with blog traffic, but they actually do more for you than just that. In fact, commenting on other blogs and setting up a quick trackback to a URL can give you free links. With these links, you can easily boost your Technorati ranking as well as traffic. I will show you how to start increasing your links, but before that, here is a brief overview of what trackbacks and comments are.
Trackbacks
When properly used, trackbacks/pingbacks is like commenting without exactly…commenting. A trackback, by definition, is “a way to notify a website or blog when linking to one of their documents”. This gives the authors to keep track of who is linking to them as well as who is properly referencing their articles.
Comments
Ah. This is something that makes a blogger successful outside of their own blog. By commenting on other websites, a blogger is exposing themselves with the discussions they are participating plus a link that identifies you. Commenting is so easy that you can actually get more backlinks just by participating in blog discussions or stopping by to say hi. Some people don’t do this because they are either (a) lazy, or (b) don’t think that they are worth-less. But like I said, if you are looking for new ways to get free links to your site, you might want to start commenting and setting up trackbacks. Here’s how:
- Since you actually only get free links from do-follow blogs, it’s important that you make sure that the blogs don’t have the “no-follow” system for the links. I’m not trying to say that you should only comment or trackback on blogs that do-follow, but I’m only saying it for this article’s purposes. Anyway, here is a list of all (most) of the blogs that have the no-follow link disabled from their comment system: from Courtney Tuttle, the D-List.
- Post a valid, high-quality comment on any (of all) of those blogs that are on that list.
- If you notice that you have linked to any of those links in the past, go set up a trackback/pingback!
That’s it!
By constantly commenting and pinging back on many different blogs every day, you can get hundreds of free links in no time. With the time it usually takes you to get a link from another blog in one day, you can get up 20 links just by commenting on other blogs. But remember, you don’t just comment to get links; you do it to participate in their discussions. This is one simple step that will help you become a successful blogger.
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Hi Sly
You have posted some good info here on the value of trackbacks,and commenting on other blogs.One can,and will gain quality links by commenting on other blog post’s plus bring some traffic to your own site in the process.
One should try,and post at least 10 quality comments a day in blogs of there same niche.
Steven Wilson
I really like blogs where you post a comment and someone replies to yours.
@ Michael - Then you’ve come to the right place. I always reply to comments!
I have set my blog to do-follow also. It is a great way to reward people who took the time to comment.
John Chow’s blog is also a great example of follow up comments. This especially goes to the first 5 comments
I just started to blog and until now i commented to about 9 blogs (including this). I realized this is one of the best way to get traffic..Thanks for this info.
i learn a lot about blogging here..especially after the $7 contest…
After reading your post I just wondered if backlinking at any time could be considered as spamming?
Mirjam’s last blog post..If you could only Read one Blog, which would it be?
I’ve seen some really interesting applications of the info you gave about using trackbacks to gain traffic. Often times I’ve been reading a post on a popular blog and a trackback headline title caught my attention. This is something I’ll be experimenting with in the future.
Keep up the good work,
Hafiz Dhanani
Hafiz Dhanani’s last blog post..Welcome to Ask A Blogger
I had heard about this but did not rally know nor did I pay to mcuh attention to it altho I regularly do leave comments on people blog if I like an article I have read. I never new thos what trackback was and now that I know all of this information I will try my best to leave more comments when I visit other blogs. Id like to have more traffic to my blog at present my visitors are few and regular friends and Im glad tht they like my blog enough to come back and again I wish tho new people would visit and this is why Im looking for idea to apply to make my blogs better. Thanks for this information once more I can use it and put it to good use.
lilyruth’s last blog post..How can I do more with Links
This post is awesome. I’m impressed by your style - experienced blogger, huh? Added your blog to my favs.
Comments aren’t just great because they’re pretty much permanent backlinks - they can often send traffic to your site if the blog owner decides to reciprocate. If your comment is also helpful and unique, some other people might check out your site.
Internet Marketing Blog’s last blog post..Focus
I think generally new bloggers tend to focus too much on their blogs not realizing the importance of working outside the blog.
Commenting is indeed one great source of blog traffic. On top of that, when dofollow is in place, it’s a nice bonus just like SlyVisions.
Oh ya, the D-List is awesome. Thanks for mentioning, Sly.