A few months ago I read a great piece by XFBML on a topic they called commentstorming.  The idea is simple:

Go to a blog you know and read every day. Comment on one of their posts. Then click on a link within their blogroll that you’ve never visited before (or visited rarely). Pick a post, and comment on it. Go to their blogroll, pick a blog that you’ve never visited before, and click through to it. Comment on a post.

Comments on blogs are not always directly good for your SEO as off-site links but this exercise actually does multiple things. Let’s think about it further.

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Commenting on someone else’s blog makes them and their readers more likely to visit you, comment and possibly subscribe.

You know it’s true.  If you get a comment, how often  have you clicked the site and left a nice comment back?  One of your photographer friends comments on a wedding and all of a sudden you’ve commented back on their latest portrait session.  It happens.  What also happens is the readers of the other blog start to check you out as well.  I’ve tested this with my food photography blog.  A comment on a small blog almost always gets a reply.  A comment on a more popular blog almost always gets MANY hits but few replies.  So either way it is win-win for you.

More traffic, more subscribers and longer site visits mean higher SEO rank. 

Once you start getting traffic from commentstorming, you can convert that into longer stays, more pageviews, etc.  If you convert readers of IMMABIGBLOG.com to your site, that’s a double bonus for you – increased RSS subscribers also benefit your SEO rank.  So having people find you on Google is great.  Getting found through an organic surf such as a comment they liked on a blog – MUCH better overall.

You get more comments!

This one’s simple.  You comment more, you get more comments.  As above, people are at least somewhat likely to return comments.  If you really want to start a ferocious comment storm, post on a photography forum or Facebook page/group that you’re going to return all comments left within 24 hours.  You’ll get so many you’ll disown me as your SEO go-to.

Comments are great – comments make you look popular and make you feel like you’re doing a great job.  Not bad for making someone else’s day just a bit brighter, right?

Commenting can directly benefit your SEO with backlinks.

Not all blogs help your SEO.  In fact, a good many don’t.  But some do and they re called do-follow blogs.  A quick Google search shows you a ton of great do-follow blogs.  You will also know a do-follow blog because when you check your site links (see this week’s Guestpost on backlinks), you’ll see the ones you’ve commented on that are do-follow and you won’t see the no-follow blogs.  Hint: comment on the ones that help your SEO more for a direct SEO help.  (Note: you can turn on do-follow with this plugin for WordPress.)

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Obviously you can point out more benefits of commentstorming: you learn more about your industry, you find relevant blogs you didn’t know existed, you network and make new friends, you grow your entire blog’s readership… but basically all you need to do is pick out an hour or two a week and do it!  Commentstorm as often as you want!

If you’re looking for a jumping off place, look at the links on the right for my SEO clients.  All are wedding and portrait photographers, all have blogs, and all would love your comments!   (And if you comment here, you’re likely to get one back!)