There is a lot of talk about how blog commenting can increase the traffic on your website and thus “should improve the value” of your blog. Dennis commented on my last post “Stop Thinking, Start Acting” and I am quoting his comment here on the part where I said that getting traffic from fellow bloggers isn´t the best way to monetize your site, because I don´t agree with what he says:
“If I may politely and ever so slightly disagree – Yes, that’s exactly what it could lead to. What do potential advertisers (assuming you’re looking for them) like to see more then almost anything else? Activity. If you’re not “out there” no one will be in here.
I agree 100% that social activities shouldn’t be the bulk of ones time, but on the flip I woud never advise giving it up altogether either. Article marketing and the like is an awesome avenue like many others, but if no one knows who you are, never sees you around, how long is that going to last?”
There are a few things I would like to say about this comment and to clarify, these are my personal opinions and every body is free to think otherwise:
- Fellow bloggers don´t bring in the money, especially not in the MMO niche
- Potential Advertisers look at ROI not at just “activity”
- Money comes from people searching for solutions, not from info addicts
- I prefer long term strategies over short bursts of traffic
- You don´t need to be a Big Name to get the Big Payouts
Yep, 5 reasons why I don´t agree with the above comment, sorry pal.
Fellow bloggers don´t bring in the money, especially not in the MMO niche
This one actually took me quite a long time to figure out *blushing here in shame*. Now anybody could argue and say but hey “look at John Chow” he is making tons of money off of “fellow MMO bloggers” but guess what, he is not your fellow blogger!
I mean, do you see him going round to other blogs and comment on everybody and their dog´s blog to get visitors in?? I bet he makes a lot of sales in the MMO niche because probably most people that find his blog are noobs that aren´t aware of the affiliate links placed everywhere. But as soon as people start learning about the affiliate marketing structure, when buying any product I think that at least 90% will buy the product through their own link, not yours! And yes he probably earns big on advertising on his blog because he has a huge subscribers list.
Now anybody can argue with me that the “ethical way” to do things is to not steal affiliate links and replace them with your own before buying a product, but come on, be realistic about this. Your visitors don´t feel any fuzzy feelings towards any of the ads on your blog, so the chance of them stealing the affiliate link is much bigger, if they are visitors from the MMO niche.
Potential Advertisers look at ROI not at just any “activity”
This one is another thing I think one should really understand. Not any activity online is profitable, so you have to look at why a potential advertiser wants to buy ad space…
If I were to invest in putting an ad for any of my products or websites somewhere, I don´t look at the “front” activity in the meanings of how many comments there are on a particular blog. I mean, of course it looks fantastic, a blog with zillions of comments and such, but what if all of those comments are coming from other bloggers using blog commenting as a link building strategy? I bet at least a considerable percentage of comments are exactly that. I much rather advertise on a blog that can show me with statistics as proof that the bulk of their traffic comes from search engines, because those are the people actually looking for an answer, (after all, they did search for it, right?) and not regular fellow (info addict) bloggers.
So really, if you want to make money from your blog by getting advertisers to pay for your sidebar real estate and you want them to become long term investors, there should be a good ROI, in other words, the advertisement they put on your blog should bring in MONEY (not just clicks).
Money comes from people searching for solutions, not from info addicts
Another one that took me quite a bit to understand but now that I do, it just makes so much sense to me that I don´t get just why it took me such a long time to see the difference. All of the social sites like Digg, Tweeter and what not are full of people spending their time reading (and some researching), socializing and “staying on top of what is out there”. So yeah, these social sites can bring you a wave of traffic, but do you really think they are going to spend a dime on anything you are promoting?
They might, if you are lucky, but I bet there is a much higher probability that people who are looking for answers and solutions spend money than those who are just looking around, reading and socializing. Where do people look for answers and solutions? Do they go to tweeter to find a remedy for their blown up toe? Do they look at Digg to solve whatever problem they have?
……… Drumroll please…. they go to a search engine!
Ok, so you could arguee here that getting links from social sites is good too, but wouldn´t you prefer to be able to target potential buyers right where they start looking for their answers? And therefor spend most of your precious time actually focusing on getting the traffic that is looking for an answer with money in their pockets, willing to spend it?
Now it sounds logical to me -in hindsight of course- because my statistics are actually showing that it works better for me to get traffic through search engines instead of social sites and socialing on other blogs. And by statistics I mean ROI not just any activity!
I prefer long term strategies over short bursts of traffic
I will never say that people shouldn´t comment, socialize, digg, tweet or whatever to get traffic to their site. I mean, if you want to spend your time being sociable, please go ahead and do so. I did and boy was I excited in the beginning of this blog to see sudden bursts of 3, 4, 500 visits in a day. It would make my day, seriously.
And man it was wonderful to see some great comments and getting recognition from other bloggers, it sure did feed my ego. Did it feed my wallet though? Did the traffic continue at the same rate as soon as I stopped actively promoting a site? Guess you can tell me the answer yourself but if you can´t, I will tell you… as soon as I stopped spending hours commenting on other blogs, clicking entrecards and trying to land a few good Diggs, the traffic slowed down big time.
However, when putting out articles in different places, targeting my keywords on my sites, and actually seeing my search engine rankings go up for quality longtails, traffic started coming in and keeps coming in after only publishing a few articles per page.
You don´t need to be a Big Name to get the Big Payout
Now this might go against anything you have probably seen out there, after all, people only spend their money when they trust the source, right? At least, that is told on all the MMO blogs I have seen so far and in a way it makes sense if you are a MMO blogger yourself. So it is said that you should put yourself out there, comment on other blogs, socialize so that people actually get to know you, trust you and then buy your products, right?
I sincerely think this only goes if what you are trying to sell is your OWN product, or if you have a HUGE mailing list. Now, huge mailing lists aren´t build in a week, nor in a month if you don´t actually buy them or invest a ton of money in getting the leads or whatever. And please realize that I am not saying here that being a big name is bad, I am just saying that you don´t need to BE one to actually get money.
This realization actually came after I started using the One Week Marketing Plan by PotPieGirl and probably in the near future I am going to put up a review on that program (even though I realize that fellow MMO bloggers won´t bring me any cash ROFL), but I do feel it is important to break down the myth of “being a big name is the way to bring in big money”.
Just think about this one for a bit. Look at any of the marketers out there that are making it big time. They might have a flagship website that is attached to their name, but do you really think that is the only website that brings in the cash? Or could it be quite possible that they run numerous other sites without attaching their name to it?
And another thing to think about for a bit. If you really need to be seen out there to get somewhere, how come PPC is a huge market? After all PPC-ers don´t show their name or face, right? What they do is lead target traffic to a certain website that sells a product, without “them being seen in the scene”, right?
So basically, what I am getting at is that as an article marketer, you don´t need to become famous, you need to choose the product you want to promote correctly, make sure you target traffic that is looking for solutions and answers, willing to spend money and then lead them to that product. The one that needs to be “seen” after all is the product you are getting affiliate commission for.
My conclusion:
As far as article marketing and “how long it is going to last” I think the longevity is much higher than any commenting or socialization strategy 
Too many people are getting sucked into the MMO scene and what other MMO-ers are spreading out there and therefor are defying their own chances of actually building a real business online.
Too many people over estimate the value of social traffic and blog commenting, too many people underestimate the true value of search engine traffic. Too many people keep researching and try finding the “secret to making money online fast” without taking action.
You as a visitor can take these words any way you want, after all, who do I really think I am without showing a $36,000.00 monthly pay check?
Am I telling you to stop commenting, socializing and what not? No, not saying that you should, just saying that you should make sure you use your time wisely if you want to build a real business out of creating websites and affiliate marketing.
But please do yourself a favor if you want to build a business online, get serious and take action doing things that give you a good return on investment, whether that be time, money and/or effort.
wWow!! That makes a heck of a lot of sense to me. Food for thought. I’ll need to read it over a few more times. There was one thing that I want to comment on but I have to find it back. Don’t worry I’ll let you know what it was.
I’m not very good at socializing online. That might be hard to believe but it’s true.I do believe that one article might get more results than leaving comments on 100 blogs.
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That’s it, I’m never commenting here again!!!
ok, ok, second time and it is still funny… lol
so, yea.. great post Mirjam. I think people should get their slap-in-the-face before they stop playing and start earning. It’s a natural process that takes time. Took 7 months for me, ending with my famous “No More Crap” post. hehe…
And you should write a review of OWM. Once it’s indexed people might end up here reading your review and buying it, without stealing your affiliate link.
Cheers,
Alex
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com’s last blog post..The Google Slap, Might Be Something From The Past
Hey Joyce!
looking forward to that 1 thing you couldn´t find but wanted to comment on LOL, sorry for the post being that long, but I kind of changed the way I am doing things here, and went from short posts “more frequently” to sort of a schedule of one post a week but more indepth… but glad you saw it as “food for thought”
always good to see you here
take care my friend!
Hey Alex!
:P I do occasionally comment on some blogs, yours is one of them, it is hard to completely beat the habits, but seeing that we have “always” had a good contact, I keep going round to your blog, after all, gotta see how you are doing right?!
LOL see you are not taking my advice ROFL just kidding
I remember that No More Crap post LOL and maybe you could see it as a natural process, but I bet there are a lot of people that don´t go beyond that stage and stay stuck in the “not so productive stage” forever or just give up.
I will probably end up writing a review of OWM because I am working with it and one of my very recently set up lenses already landed a sale, plus I really like how her system is set up and how she sincerely tries helping people. Give it a week or so and you will be able to see mine
Gotta say, you are lucky that it only took you 7 months, it has taken me around a year or so to get to realise a few “basic” things *blush* and now it is taking me some more months to get rid of bad habits that are still holding me back at times.
But, we´ll get there, no doubt about that!
I agree with you. Article writing is a long-term strategy. However, it also pays to have other strategies. I don’t believe socializing is a waste of time. It is just one of the many options to advertise your blogs for free. Through socializing, you can possibly catch the attention of certain readers who might be interested on your say about a certain topic. Who knows?! Commenting on the right blog may lead people to visit your site. And may unknowingly click on your affiliate links.
Francesca’s last blog post..How Lifelock Identity Theft Protection Services Work
Awesome post.
I like to comment on the very last sentence though, “getting serious and take action..” that reminds me of a saying “visions without action is just daydreaming”
a lot of people do waste their time going from the john chow type bloggers to try and find the secret to making money online when in fact, if they look closely, the secret is right in front their face. you mentioned placing an affiliate link everywhere on the page and that’s one of the things that people don’t take seriously.
If they look harder then they’ll be able to realize that making money online doesn’t involve just one blog. top bloggers out there have blogs because they want to help other bloggers discover themselves by means of their tips and advices and maybe from what they read and learn could utilize their own means of creating income online.
Twisting words a bit but that’s OK; always appreciate the link
.
If I may play off your numbers a bit…
1. DSWM is not an MMO blog.
2. ROI ain’t gonna be high with 7 readers. It’s not all of it, but they do look for a good count.
3. A good tips blog has solutions…whatcha tryin to say? LOL
4. Some if not most social networks are short bursts, I agree 100% which is why I never advocate spending 90% of time on them; blog commenting however….
5. Who’s a big name? Not me. But you do have to be found.
Of course you need the uniques from search engines, there’s no denying that. However, nothing should be 100% of ones time. A good mix is ultimately important. It really depends on who the target is in the first place.
John Chow – does he have a blog? I think I was there once. His monthly income would be nice, but I certainly wouldn’t use his methods for getting there.
http://www.garryconn.com/the-day-after-john-chow-lost-to-google.php
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..February Link Review – Blog Review Winners – TC Contest March – Guest Posts Wanted – I’m Outa Here!
@Francesca
I´m not saying you shouldn´t just don´t think it is the most productive way to promote your website, but hey, it is a free world and your time is yours 
thanks for sharing your opinion
@Pheak, “vision without action is just daydreaming” ….LOVE that one!
@Dennis
) and the post is a direct result of what you commented. However, I am not attacking you nor your blog, hope you got that 
hey man, I just quoted your comment literally because it made me think (almost 2000 words is a lot of thoughts
but yeah, probably easiest to go point per point LOL
1. I did not call your blog a MMO, but talking in general about the MMO movement
2. right, they look at ROI which will be highest with a high number of targeted traffic looking for specific information and money to spend
3. that is a difference between traffic from search engines and traffic generated through socializing (ie, your fellow bloggers)
4. I´ll probably write another post on this topic ROFL
5. not saying you are a big name, it was in general. You did say though “if nobody knows who you are”. yes, people need to be able to find your site but you don´t need to be “known” to make the bucks.
“Of course you need the uniques from search engines, there’s no denying that. However, nothing should be 100% of ones time. A good mix is ultimately important. It really depends on who the target is in the first place.” yeah… definitely going to write another post
thanks for responding Dennis, and I do hope you didn´t take it too personally, your comment is what a lot of people seem to promote and think these days and I think it is always good to give other options to pounder
oooooh, I’m loving it.. nothing like a big healthy argument. (replace all the smiley’s with angry faces though)
@Alex
ROFLMAO and maybe replace the “argument” for “discussion”
Problem with online discussions though is that many times we are discussing things without the facial impressions and really knowing the people we are discussing topics with, which makes it harder to pick up on how things were meant in the first place.
That’s why I prefer using “F*ck Y0u” and “Up Yours” in my discussions*, that makes everything clear for everyone
*(see, I’m listening to you).
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com’s last blog post..One Week Marketing: Why did I read another Ebook?
ROFLMAO @Alex Yur a little devil!
Oh hey no apologies.
Although I do think Alex is a little confused. That’s a whole mess of comments for “never commenting”. 
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Comment Contest March – Sponsors and Prizes
Oh and yea, there should be another post by me eventually also.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Comment Contest March – Sponsors and Prizes
@Dennis now that almost sounds like a threat ROFL
Muahahahahahahaha
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Comment Contest March – Sponsors and Prizes
Anyone who wants to start in this game MUST start off by getting “buzz”…
…and a powerful way to do that is by commenting on blogs of similar niche as yours.
Now writing articles can still benefit just from the SEO side of it -if your keyword density is on point- but it will never achieve as much as it would if more ppl were already familiar with you.
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hi Caleb, welcome to my blog
see, I care to differ on that, I really don´t think “people need to be familiar” with you in order to make sales. If that were true, I wouldn´t be making sales with squidoo projects and One Week Marketing.
I think it is very important to look at your goals, just like I explained in my post.
Now, if your game is to run one blog (or only a few) that gets a lot of comments, sure, commenting on other blogs and visiting blogs in your niche for hours a day sure will create “buzz”, and if your only goal is to have more communication with your audience, and have fun with your blog, then sure you “MUST” get that buzz, I´d never say not to do that, if that is your goal.
For me personally though, I really don´t think it is the most productive way I can spend my day. I much rather create little “mini projects” and drive targeted traffic to them, by means of article marketing, that both help me rank those projects better and at the same token send traffic to them, and MAKE SALES.
You know, I have done the blog commenting and boy was it fun to be out there the whole time, reading other peoples articles and posts, commenting on them and then seeing the amount of comments on this blog go up, seeing more bloggers come in here etc, and yes it was fun to see some peaks in traffic and having people tell me what a great post and what a nice blog I am running, but in the end of the day, I was putting in a lot of time and effort without getting a lot in return other than having my ego boosted.
And in a way I can understand why everybody and their dog is telling other bloggers that commenting is a great way to create buzz for your own blog, it is fun! You can see your traffic go up, you can see movement, but will you really see that many sales, especially in the MMO niche?
Nah, for me, I´d rather stick with driving targeted traffic to my mini projects by the means of article marketing, stay reasonably anonimous and actually see sales coming in without creating “buzz” in the blogosphere
Just saying it would be better off to have alreadystarted out with a buzz.
And of course, driving targeted traffic is always the name of the game and the power of article marketing can’t be denied.
Good Content…I’ll be back!
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Hey Caleb
nice to see you back here, I still don´t agree on the buzz thing, just call me stubborn hahahahaa! would be nice to see your thoughts on my new post then, since I go a bit more indepth as to what is working for me
Actually, I just posted a piece that deals heavily with this subject and the new perceptions I gained from this post…check it out here!
Caleb (Market Secrets Blogger)’s last blog post..Twitter Love
Hey Caleb, wb again, just read your post and left a comment but I am surely going to write about this soon
(*scratching my head* … or maybe guest post about it)
LOL… there are 2 small mistakes you made though…. my name is with an I …. Mirjam and not Marjam …. and I am a she not a he!
:D