Have you read any of the exceptional FamousBloggers CommentLuv Blogging Contest entries? By the time this contest is over we will all know everything there is to know about commenting in blogs and attracting more comments to our blogs.
We are simply thrilled with the creativity and quality of the early entries. Andy emailed recently that he is “loving the quality of the posts being submitted to the contest” and Hesham and I totally agree.
Andrew Peel wrote about how clever lazy bloggers can use dofollow blog commenting while Precilla Sedney shared the unique insight that the art of commenting shows appreciation for others.
Thanks to our generous sponsors we have a cash prize fund that will allow for far more winners than I bet you expected. We are still crunching the numbers but I’ll let you in on a secret if you don’t hold me to it:
We are seriously considering paying out TWENTY prizes.
That means many more bloggers will win than has ever happened in any contest! Even with 20 winners the minimum prizes could be as high as $100 and still leave plenty of cash for the first few places to be VERY generous.
I know that many bloggers are in awe of other writers and often do not fully appreciate their own talents. All of us encourage each and every blogger to submit at least one entry. Even though Paul Novak wrote that he never wins anything he entered anyway.
You should enter too because in this contest every blogger is a winner because of all the new people they will be introduced to simply by entering!
Readers who have never seen your blog will read your entry, visit your blog, follow you on Twitter and leave you comments – even if you have never had comments before! If they like what they see you will gain new subscribers who will be regular readers and commentators.
The only bloggers who should not enter are those who do not want new visitors!
Remember that while your guest post IS important that there are also points awarded for comments, replies, Tweets, and other types of promotion. What that means is that even if your English, spelling and grammar aren’t perfect you could win through charisma or friendships.
James Pruitt clearly understands that blogging and comment conversations are all about being social. His entry includes some great tips about how not to be a boring blogger and how to get your readers to comment you can use in this contest and afterward.
Your entry will start relationships that will bring the conversation back to YOUR blog too.
Today we are announcing yet another totally optional way for bloggers to increase their points. Any blogger who wishes to earn bonus points can choose to write a blog post about one of our sponsors. Be sure to include a link to their site using their desired anchor text.
Bloggers may choose any sponsor that appeals to them. They may also write about more than one sponsor. Each post will be eligible for bonus points. Any blogger who would like assistance with ideas for what to write can contact Gail directly.
Writing posts about our sponsors is totally optional. If that just isn’t your thing or you feel it is not suitable for your blog, focus on promoting your contest entry or submit additional contest entries.
There are so many ways to earn points that every blogger has an equal chance of winning.
Remember that the earlier you submit your entry the sooner it will be published and the more time you have to promote it. Would you like some tips on getting more promotion points? Here you go:
- Send personal Tweets that include a link to your entry to specific friends using @TheirUserName on Twitter. Tweets that include an @UserName are far more likely to be seen and retweeted.
- Tweet your post to @GrowMap and Gail will retweet it to her ~12,000 followers. You can send her more than one Tweet about your entry as long as each Tweet you send is new and different. (We don’t want to bore our followers now, do we? We want them to want to see your Tweets!)
- Be sure to reply to all your comments left in your guest post – the sooner the better. Be happy when commentators discuss your post in the comments by replying to each other. Every quality comment is another point for you and lively discussions are enjoyed by more readers and will bring you more visitors, comments, and promotion.
- Don’t forget that you must publish the sponsor’s links in your blog to be eligible for any of the cash.
- Do be sure to write a blog post in your own blog letting your readers know where your entry is published. Do make that post interesting because if it is more of our readers will get involved and when your entry is featured in a post like this we may link to your blog. Be sure your post lets your readers know what they can do to help you win!
Here is that page again where you can see all the entries as they’re published. Hesham calls it our Blog Commenting Folder.
Twitter: virtuosoblogger
says:
Best of luck to all! It has been an awesome guest contest. I hope had this much money for my contest
Gautam Hans´s recent blog post ..Smashing Tricks to Writing Eye Catching Titles
Twitter: FamousBloggers
says:
lol! I liked your later post at FamousBloggers! nice one.
Maybe it’s a good idea if you can participate in the contest, do you have time for this Gautam?!
FamousBloggers´s recent blog post ..6 Best Practices for Twitter Marketing
Twitter: AgentDeepak
says:
It great. 20 Winner. Greatly increases chances. I will make sure that I will do my best for the contest.
Twitter: FamousBloggers
says:
We were thinking on how to make everybody happy and alter the competition to the BIG prizes we will pronounce soon!
Good luck buddy!
FamousBloggers´s recent blog post ..6 Best Practices for Twitter Marketing
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
I’m scheduling three unique Tweets for tomorrow morning from three different Twitter accounts for every entry so far so watch for them and RT them to get the most visits and hopefully comments.
One of the very best ways to get a lot of visitors and comments is to go visit the blog of every commentator you have plus all your favorite blogs and leave them some great comments.
I wrote a post once about how commenting first and then once the comment was approved then reviewing each post I had commented in on StumbleUpon and sending it to Twitter doubled the traffic to my blog.
If I were eligible to compete in this contest, the number one thing I would do is write one or more blog posts about a contest sponsor and then go visit all my favorite blogs and feature that post in CommentLuv.
Comments in those posts count toward winning too as explained in this post. You can’t easily share your entry post (because it isn’t on your own blog) but you can share either a sponsor post (be sure to use a title that will get more people to visit) or share a post saying you’re in the contest that links to your entry and asking for support to win.
Gail´s recent blog post ..Akismet Deletes Comments Bloggers NEVER SEE!
Twitter: bizchickblogs
says:
Gail – All of this is great to hear! I have a question – do we need to specifically let you guys know which posts in which we (1) link to the sponsors using the HTML provided by Hesham and (2) promote a sponsor? What is the best way to let you know that we did that?
I love the contest. My readers have been writing saying “how can we support you more?” It’s great encouragement. And I must say that I am one of entrants in awe of the talent in the pool.
Tia – BizChickBlogs´s recent blog post ..My Entry in the ComLuv-Famous Bloggers Contest is Up!
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
Hi Tia,
Hesham has been collecting and publishing links to each guest blog entry post on either ComLuv or FamousBloggers and the link where the blogger wrote about the contest and published the sponsors’ links in the Blog Commenting Folder.
It would be helpful to him if entrants sent him the link so he doesn’t have to search for it, but they can check first as he probably already has them published on that page.
If you decide to write any optional posts about any of our sponsors for bonus points do send us the link(s) so we can make sure you get credit when we tally up the points.
Andy, Hesham and I email and Tweet each other every day so as long as you notify any of us via email or Twitter we will let each other know. If you would like ideas for sponsor posts contact me through my blog or at Twitter.
We always acknowledge emails, Tweets and messages so if you don’t get a reply assume we did not receive whatever you sent so try another method. Email providers are getting worse about filtering out some real email and Twitter is having more capacity issues than usual lately.
Isn’t Hesham doing a fantastic job of prettying up the guest posts and getting them published? We all need to thank him as it is a lot of work – especially since many are not reading the directions on how to enter!
I am really glad to hear that your readers support you entering the contest. You are the first blogger to provide that kind of feedback that I have heard about and it is always good to know how our readers feel about what we’re doing. We never want to make the readers of our blogs unhappy!
Gail´s recent blog post ..Best of GrowMap – Our Most Important Posts All in One Place
Twitter: gamommy2two
says:
This is great news! I will have to think about what kind of extra posts I can do to get myself some more points
Thanks to Gail, Hesham and Andy for this awesome contest!
Lindsay´s recent blog post ..10 Reasons Why I Love My Husband
I love using CommentLuv, but i removed since my blog is still PR0 and if i let many outbound links , then it might affect my ranking for the future, what do you say?
and i love my gf
@Lindsay: I am unmarried
Siva´s recent blog post ..Pay for Customer care
Twitter: lsXHSUCpMAvy
says:
there are posts that went from pr0 to pr4 even with commentluv on it. I don’t really think it will make any difference, if you just put the links there then maybe it will but because the links are part of new content (the comments) then it will balance out. I’ve never seen pr go down because of commentluv , only because of spam comments from bad name medicine companies.
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
Hello Siva,
In spite of all those who fear that being DoFollow “leaks page rank juice” I remain unconvinced that it matters. Bloggers like myself and Kikolani have been debating that issue with anti-DoFollow bloggers for a long time. There is a link to the most extensive of those discussions in my post about KeywordLuv.
Here is my best reason for not being concerned that DoFollow, CommentLuv or KeywordLuv negatively affects blogs:
If outgoing dofollow links were so detrimental, how can that KeywordLuv post still be PR4 with 383 comments that each have an average of two DoFollow links in them on top of the dozens of other outgoing dofollow links in every one of my posts and in the sidebars of my blog?
My home page is PR4 and it doesn’t have nearly as many outgoing dofollow links as that post. That applies to many other posts in my blog. The DoFollow post has 456 comments and even more outgoing links in it and is PR3.
Almost every post on my site that is PR3 has over 100 comments. The only one that doesn’t I wrote a guest post for on a major related blog so the PR to it is largely due to that high value link.
This is true even though I keep comments on my site that most other bloggers will delete because they are from people whose native language is not English and from those who originally came primarily just for the link but decided to become my regular readers and commentators.
If any site were penalized for allowing less than stellar comments to remain it would be mine. (And yes there are some that I will remove when I see them – I get so many comments that I can not keep on top of them completely. I consider that a blessing.
I would rather have a few comments that I find out are spam to delete later than block a single deserving business struggling to survive. The links we allow them can mean the difference between staying viable and closing their doors.
I would argue that it is very likely that the comments and outgoing links are primarily responsible for those posts having high PR.
There are examples of many more specific blogs and blog posts that are DoFollow and have high PR in what I added to the discussion those who are pro-dofollow had with those who are afraid it will hurt them.
One thing can not be denied: CommentLuv is the single fastest way of getting very active discussions going in YOUR blog. Without it even some excellent blogs have next to no comments. With it even new bloggers can have dozens of comments IF they go out commenting first to “invite” other bloggers over to the party on their site.
Gail´s recent blog post ..How CommentLuv Grows Businesses and Blogs
That is an awesome analysis and I believe every part of it. Why can’t other blogger catch the dream?
bestwicklesscandles´s recent blog post ..Fragrant Bars of the Scentsy Spa Collection
Twitter: kikolani
says:
Hi Siva,
CommentLuv links won’t be on your homepage, just on individual posts, so they won’t affect your main site’s PR.
I installed CommentLuv on my site when it was just starting out because I was more focused on getting visitors than PageRank, and becoming a part of this community definitely draws in visitors and interaction on your blog.
The more visitors you have, and the more they like your content, the more they are likely to share your posts and link to you and your site, and that is what will get you PR in the end.
Kristi´s recent blog post ..5 Tactics Bloggers Should Borrow from Traditional PR
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
The ever-modest Kristi did not mention that her Kikolani blog is now PR4. Did you know she is a regular guest blogger for some of the most major Social Networking and SEO sites on the Internet today?
According to Alexa her Kikolani.com site is the 11,769th most important site on the entire Internet!
I hope we can all agree that CommentLuv certainly has not hurt HER success. While her giving heart and great content are primarily responsible, CommentLuv shows her visitors that they are welcome and adds greatly to her visibility.
GrowMap´s recent blog post ..Akismet Deletes Comments Bloggers NEVER SEE!
Twitter: kikolani
says:
Thanks! I think most people miss out on the fact that PR is gained by getting links, not necessarily the ones that are leaving your site. And the more links you give out, through something like CommentLuv, the more people will visit, discover your content, and share it with others which is what gets you links giving you the PR. But really, PR means nothing if you don’t have traffic and visitors who really care about your site, so if you don’t develop a good community, all the PR in the world won’t make your blog successful.
Kristi´s recent blog post ..5 Tactics Bloggers Should Borrow from Traditional PR
Hi Kristi well put… On Both replies..
And Siva this is for you… Concentrate on building your site as a community by providing quality information where you visitors can interact and the PR will follow it should not be your main focus at all.
By using CommentLuv as well as KeywordLuv on my dofollow blog i have seen a huge increase in the amount of participation from my visitors.
There has been no decrease in my traffic and I have also been able to find more interesting topics to write about from the questions and comments I am now receiving every day.
Siva I am not sure about you, but to me this is a very good thing.
And if you listen to what Kristi said having PR will not make your Blog Successful, but building a community around your blog most definitely will.
Ron´s recent blog post ..How To Make An Avatar
Thanks for the mention. This contest has been great for me. Not only have I gotten some great exposure for my own site, but I have learned a lot from reading the other entries, and from the comments on my own post. Thanks everyone for a great contest. Even if you don’t win the cash, the exposure you get makes everyone come out on top.
jmpruitt75´s recent blog post ..How to Invite Readers to Comment on Your Blog?
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
There are even more benefits that only a few will truly appreciate. We are actively seeking to invite any serious bloggers who are interested into our private blog collaboration where we support each others’ efforts and share what we know.
Even new bloggers are welcome as long as they are serious about being successful and want to grow. Those who see “too many comments” as a burden or adding links to related content as “too much bother” would not be a good fit.
Every blogger with a giving heart and especially others in the DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv community are particularly welcome. Just contact @GrowMap on Twitter or through my blog for more details.
GrowMap´s recent blog post ..DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv Community
Twitter: Andrew_Peel
says:
Just want to add my thanks for a) featuring my entry and b) the great discussion it provoked.
Andrew
andrewpeel´s recent blog post ..What Is The Alternative For The UK Public Sector?
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for taking the time to let others know that by being featured and having bloggers who have many followers promote your entry it generated great discussion. You have seen what CommentLuv allows any blogger to do for themselves.
Any blogger can enter the contest, get featured and have people like Kristi, Hesham, Ron, Derek and myself who are very active online and have many followers send you many readers who have never seen your blog before.
The bloggers who have interesting content and interact with their readers will keep them coming back. Most of your commentators will also be using CommentLuv so your blog will become a favorite “neighborhood” where – as the popular television show Cheers made famous, “everybody knows your name”.
When people feel welcome and see that others they know are discussing what they are interested in through commenting they ARE going to want to visit often.
For every niche from Mommy Bloggers to Marketing folks to those who love to do crafts to home improvement diyers there will be communities of commentators who all know each other. When you visit a blog that is new to you others you know will already be there.
Before CommentLuv, creating a community in a new blog was very challenging. Now it is simply a matter of using CommentLuv and being friendly and welcoming. Just about anyone can do this without having to learn any new skill.
The only thing you might need assistance with is how to install plugins in you have never done that before – and if you do just ask. The best way is to open a support ticket by clicking on the blue tab at the top of the page that says Support, but you could also Tweet @GrowMap or leave a comment here and I can find someone to help you.
Where else can you find people who will give freely of their time to make sure YOU achieve your goals online – whatever they may be – without having to go it alone? Let us give you a leg up.
Gail´s recent blog post ..How CommentLuv Grows Businesses and Blogs
Twitter: BasicBlogTips
says:
Hi Gail, I think there is a difficult task ahead and that will be picking the winners for this contest. I have visited almost every entry and as I suspected this contest is bringing out the best in everyone. I guess it only makes sense that given the topic, the comments on these posts cannot be overlooked. At times the comments have added some real staying power to the post that keeps it fresh in your mind and provides inspiration for future blog topics. Thanks for all.
Ileane´s recent blog post ..Introducing WordPress 30 via WordPresstv
Wow,
This is a very great challenge to all the blog posters.
Good luck to us all.
Don’t let yourself lose the game. Everyone’s a winner from the very start of the game.
Twitter: CTMayor
says:
I’m so excited! Some great posts entered, loving reading everyone’s work! My post went up today, so here too is the link to my contest/sponser post on my blog!
http://crazytownmayor.com/blog/3280/show-me-comment-luv/
Thnx everyone, & good luck!
ctmayor´s recent blog post ..Show Me Some Comment Luv-