You have probably reached out to Wise bloggers here on Steemit asking them how they grew their blog
And most have probably have told you
Comment on the post of others
Most people still don't know the Importance of commenting on the post of others, it is so amazing that @papa-pepper made a full post explaining how he used comments to grow his blog early this year
The advice sounds so simple, the only problem is that most are not really sure what a good Comments look like
Is it one that tells the Author how awesome he/she is? Or One that argues a different view? Or is it One that simply thanks the Author for sharing his Insights
Because while many Blogging 'gurus' tell you to comment, few really tell you how to do it. I have been guilty of that too so this post is aimed at teaching you everything I know about commenting
Due to ignorance about commenting, many Steemians are spending time churning out comments that they think are awesome, but in reality they are just drowning themselves in the sea of sameness
Now before I go further I want to state an Important point, though commenting is a great way to build relationship with any Blogger, you have to also take notice of Piranhas
A Piranha is a Steemian who never replies to comments
Commenting on a Piranhas blog is a total waste of your time, they are either people who just blog to pass out Important Information and have no time or desire to build relationships or people whose sole aim is just to earn Steem
Only comment on Blogs of people like this if you have an Important message that will be of value to others that will read the post, but if your aim is to build a relationship then you are in for a long wait
When you are commenting on the blog of someone, you want them to notice you and reply to your comment. Your secret desire is for them to also visit your blog, follow you and upvote all your future posts
That will not be possible if your comments don't attract them in the first place, I checked Steem Spectacle this morning and all my top followers and rewarders are people I got through commenting
Also note that you have to back quality content with quality posts, so that when the person ends up visiting your blog they will find something there to confirm that your are a Genius
The Popular Mistakes That Creates Uninspiring Comments
Non- Existent/ Novelty Profile Picture
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While it is true that Steemit is a decentralized platform and that most people still like to keep their privacy, but is wrong for you not to put a profile picture on your blog or for you to use a very rampart picture as your profile picture
The worst is the faceless silhouette that comes with the account, that screams generic and unserious blogger
If you like to look real and sharp and still keep your Privacy, use a bright looking and fun Profile Picture like @greenrun
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People will respond more to your comments if you feel and look more Human, even @stellabelle's bot Umami have a nice looking profile picture
2..
Poorly Thought Out User-names
@ned and @dan loving made it possible for us to use custom names as our usernames, for those who don't realize this yet. Your Steemit account name serves as both your username and your wallet address
But some people have taken it upon themselves to make their Steemit username look like a Bitcoin Wallet address. It is not strange to see your Steemit usernames that looks like this @the9ssi5n. Well if you are a newbie then I advice you to open a new account with a proper name, but if you have been here for a while read on, I might just have the solution for you
3
The Link Up Experts
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These are people who cannot resist the urge to drop the link of their blog posts along with spam comments that add no value to the Conversation
Dropping links that was not asked for in comments is a poor form of marketing your content and I have a long list of Steemians who will gladly flag your comments to oblivion if you try it anywhere their post
4..
Commenting Without Reading The Post
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This ranks high up In the Flag able comment charts with dropping links in post. There is a very long list of bloggers who do this everyday and it is very bad
If you see a post that you don't understand the contents, you don't need to comment, just Waka Pass @maryfavour
'Waka Pass' is a Nigerian Slang which means to Ignore and Move ahead
Trying to comment on posts that you don't understand the contents will only make you look foolish. The same thing happens when you comment on a post you did not read, you greatly increase the chances of you saying something Stupid
5..
The Parrot Squad
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Even though Steemains are grouped using types of fishes ( Minnow, Dolphin, Whales). There are steemains who choose to be parrots, they spend all day repeating what everyone says, it is even more frustrating in Discord Chat
These are people who simply read your post and echo everything you said in the post without adding any valuable or useful point to it. Their comment never adds to the Conversation, it does not Ask Questions or even challenge the Idea or opinion expressed in the post
Repeating what a post said is not bad if you shed more light or expressed how a particular point made you learn something Important, below is a good example
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You can repeat the blogger but make sure you make sense
How To Write Comments That Gets You Noticed
What I am about to share now is what is missing in most educational post. Most tell you what you are doing wrong but fail to show you the right way to do things, we are now going to analyze what a great comment looks like form start to finish
You will find out that you don't have to be a Blogging wizard to master the art of Commenting, you just have to be smart about it
The Opening Greeting
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Another One
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It has been proven that people like to hear their name being mentioned, whether it is by text or voice. Greeting simply involves acknowledging the author of the post you are about to comment on, it is basic online manners
If you are hoping to get the attention of someone,then it will be wise to observe some proper etiquette when approaching the person, just typing that person name will make you stand out to some extent
Say hello or hi to them, refer to them by their names, and if it is one of those fishes with a funny username that you find hard to pronounce talk more of spelling , copy and paste the person name, it might tiring at first but you will get used to it over time
It might slow you down for a moment but it is a time well spent and lets you start your comment on the right foot
The Heartfelt and Genuine Comment
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If this is a person who you have found out to be a consistent provider of quality content that brings you value, then it is Important for you to use the opportunity to thank the person
It also makes the person see the fruit of his labour and also know that he/she is on the right path, and there are occassions when a comment brings more happiness to an author than an upvote
Tell them how much you enjoyed the post, this will make their day especially Minnow still struggling with low payouts, it will give them a reason to keep coming back to create more posts because they know that people will appreciate their work even if it does not trend. In my opinion this is the only thing that makes people keep going back to Facebook even though they earn nothing there, Facebook Likes and Comments gives them happiness and a sense of connection to people, we need to replicate that on Steemit
There are different ways to do this, you can focus on the post, the author or a combination of the two, don't list out the life history of the person or you might come across as a Stalker, don't also shower the person with excess praise you will come across as insincere, it is adviceable to focus more of your praise on the post rather than the author. A simple word of thanks or two to the author will do
The Extra Value
Now this is what differentiates between a good and Great Comment, creating added value, this can be as easy as adding a personal experince or a different perspective
This comment by @luzcypher on my post last week is a perfect example
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it can even been done with a well thought out question that creates a discussion section right there in the comment section
Posting a comment that adds no value is simply wasting your time and the time of anybody that reads the comment. Time is money, you have to make it count
But what does it really mean to add Value to a post with a comment?
It simply means saying or doing something that makes you come across to the author as a Valuable person. You have to be EUII (sounds like a remark of disgust, but totally awesome).
It means you have to be Entertaining, Useful, Insightful and Intersting to the Steemian you are trying to woo. This presents you as a person worth knowing and helps you develop a personal relationship with the person
But how can I come across as an EUII person?, You might ask, lets review ways that works everytime
+ Share Your Personal Insights
The best way to do this is to share a story that illustrates the message that the author was trying to pass across. When you do this, it makes it easier for the blogger to reach out and connect more with you, you are no longer @punkman43 who is just passing through
Everyone has a story to tell, whether it is a personal experience or something that happened to you, but the more personal your story the more unique and memorable it will be
+ Ask Useful/Thoughtful Questions
This is another way to show that you really read the post and know what it says, asking questions shows meditation
Asking thoughtful questions also helps build interaction and fuels a positive flow of discussion that will bring value to anyone that comes across the post
Some Authors may write shorter posts for brevity sake ( this is my longest post ever), but asking them to shed more light on things that are not fully clear to you is not bad or rude </h6?
+ Contribute Positively to the Post
Writing a comment that adds more valuable content to the post gets you the attention you need
So if you read a Post titled: Five Affordable Ways To Attend Steem Fest. And you know a Sixth way (teleportation probably) then share it with everyone in the comment section, it will make both the Author and the readers happy and you will probably make friends with a Rich Steemian Scientist who owns a teleportation machine Start-up
I have seen situations where the Author Edited the post to reflect the extra point added by a commenter, this serves as major approval of your input
Great and positive comments have a domino effect as they fuel more positive comments. Review the number of comments in the posts below below and note the difference between @ned SMT announcement post and @surpassinggoogle Untalented post
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And
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Even though the SMT was a great announcement for Steemains that even made the price of Steem spike to $1:60, it still got lesser comments than the Untalented post and this was because Majority of the comments on @ned's post were negative and were mostly comments that were prophesying the end of Steemit
I am not saying that the comments were wrong, they were necessary so as to make STEEM INC know the opinions of people, I am just using this to illustrate that Negative comments does not encourage interaction, people will be scared to comment for fear of victimization
So drop comments that uplifts the post and the author whenever possible, Bloggers are Human beings with feelings and they will appreciate your input
+ The Goodbye Promise
This is what most people rarely do. This simply means making a promise to the author of the post, and no matter what make sure that you fulfill it
It can be as easy as resteeming the post or sharing it on Social media platforms like twitter or Facebook, also make sure you tag the person so that he or she will know that you fulfilled your promise
You may be wondering by now whether all this things I listed above can actually help you, you may be thinking whether putting in so much work in a comment is worth it
The truth is that it is not everyone that will appreciate your comments but it is better to make 10 thoughtful comments daily then 1000 generic and watered down comments. Here on Steemit, comments are counted as posts and rewarded duly, it is left to you to make each one matter
So ask yourself, how many posts will I make today and how many of them will matter?
There are a lot of benefits that comes with great commenting, it will make Influential bloggers notice and follow you both on Steemit and other social media platforms
It will help you gain authority in your niche and develop a positive platform
The road to proper commenting is a hard one, you will not get results overnight, but it is a path that will bring you the best returns over time, it will get you noticed in this Steemit sea of sameness
My Experiment
I recently started adding pictures to my comments to see how much attention it can attract, I got pretty good replies for this comment i made below, and if you look below I also added my personalised #blockchain-blogger tag,that will show all my recent post if clicked, I am the only one using it for now but I have a feeling that will change soon
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So my advice to you is to create a personalized tag for your awesome content, then go out an write equally awesome comments that will attract people to your blog, it does not matter if you are a food blogger or a Blog about Golf. If you are provide value people will notice you
SO do you have any memorable story that this post reminds you off, or is there any effective point that you will like to share with us, make a splash in the comment below, I will like to hear from you, your opinions matter to me
Thanks For Reading
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