Comments on: Can Blog Commenting Help You Promote Yourself?

By: Jamaipanese

Jamaipanese — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:21:22 +0000

awesome article, I see that Rush has already brought across the what I was thinking.

By: Rush

Rush — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:14:28 +0000

I always try to leave comments on posts that I thought were really well written, or that I have a particular opinion on. Typically, when the writer askes for feedback too, I feel more inclined to give it so long as I have an opinion.

What puzzles me though is that, as social media becomes more and more a regular part of self promotion, is that people hardly leave comments on your blog anymore, and to show their appreciation they share it on Twiiter, or Facebook.

I really like the idea of building a community on a blog, and fuelling discussion on post topics, but I don’t seem to know how to do that–sometimes also, I wonder if it’s the topics that I write about.

Whatever the case may be, I find it happening more and more.

Thanks a lot for this article Alex, it was all well said.

By: Alex Mathers

Alex Mathers — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:55:00 +0000

Thanks for the comment, JP – yes I agree. Personally I would advise against leaving a blatant link within the comment itself, but make use of the link you can put in as the click through link for your name/business name.

By: JP

JP — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:05:30 +0000

Thanks Alex, good stuff- though- don’t you think adding links to your own blog in comments has a bit too much of a stink of self promotion? It’s a tricky balance, keeping sincere and natural as well as promoting yourself. Especially for us art geeks.

By: Alex Mathers

Alex Mathers — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:18:48 +0000

Greygrass: Thanks for your comment – again, it’s great that this stuff is helping to inspire you. You will see results even with the smallest efforts so keep it up!

Great that you feel awake!

Alex

By: Alex Mathers

Alex Mathers — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:16:19 +0000

Hi Ian, that is all really uplifting to hear and I thank you for your comments.

You’re absolutely right about how important it can be to be aware of what is happening in the areas we choose to engage with. With an awareness of what others are writing about, you are ahead of the game, in the sense that you are feeding your own knowledge, and in the sense that you have your finger of the pulse of your industry, something you’ll find important as you network with others and promote yourself.

Alex

By: Ian Coble

Ian Coble — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:10:20 +0000

Hey Alex,
Great post. I’ve been following your blog for the last couple of weeks. Love your perspective on things.
For me blogging always felt like shameless self promotion and as such I tried to stay as far a way from it as possible. Until now. I just recently joined facebook and twitter and have seen the positive affect that social networking has had on my business. As such, I’ve jumped into the wonderful world of blogging a couple of weeks ago and am just starting to refine that “art”.
And I love your last point… “It makes you read”. I couldn’t agree more. The more we look at others’ work, and the more we’re aware of what’s going on around us, the better we can become. By reading (and blogging) more, it’s so much easier to be inspired by the work of other creatives out there.
Thanks so much for your great post. Stoked to read more.
Cheers!
Ian

and to follow your own advice
http://iancoble.blogspot.com/

By: greygrass

greygrass — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:05:58 +0000

Hi,Alex many thanks to drag me to this positive post.
I’ve been too silent since couple years, I just don’t feel a need to drop any comment or updating my work on blog.
Probably it has to do with my tiresome in complex market game where lot of artists don’t play so many role actually but giant publishers,distributors & bookstores.So this conditions kill my motivation in some ways.Especially with the fact that virtual promotion in south east asia countries doesn’t work as good as in west countries.

But yea,after reading your post,I feel awake from a deep sleep.
It’s kind of sparkling inspiration at the end of the year
especially after seeing Wil Freeborn sketches from ur site.

Again,many thanks Alex !
I like your works too

Regards,
Greygrass

By: Alex Mathers

Alex Mathers — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:54:08 +0000

Hi! Great comment. These results are what inspire me with these methods more and more and I hope they inspire others too. You’ve got it right by saying that even small efforts can make a real difference.

Keep at it.

Alex

By: Infrastruktur

Infrastruktur — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:30:19 +0000

It’s funny that I would stumble on this particular post today…

Every single item on that list is true. I experienced this for myself as I started a blog over the summer, and have been commenting in various blogs, tweeting, re-tweeting, and connecting this traffic back to my blog which was unpopulated for a while. since adopting this strategy more aggressively, hits to my blog have increased sharply. I am getting a lot more interaction from the design community on Twitter, and feel more confident about how I will be received in the design world once I become an intermediate or professional designer. I love this post.

Lastly, a blog in the UK which has a platform very similar to my blog – featured me as their ‘design blog of the day’. I did not even know that the owner of that blog was a visitor to mine. I had been driving traffic from my blog to a couple of his blog posts, and also tweeting every time I gave him a mention. It may seem like pointless work at first, but the benefits are clearly worth it in the long-run if you are not shy and are cool to chat with…