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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Another One
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
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
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
And
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
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
Image Source : Google/Steemit/Pexels/Free i-Stock Images
If you are a Steemian who really want to learn how to create a personal brand for your Self, then join us in the Blockchain Blogger Discord Server for the "Serious Bloggers Only" Mentorship Program
This is not a place to beg for upvotes or spam chats, this is a place for those willing to learn how to grow their steemit blog the right way
Join Us On Discord. Membership is open to Steemians from all over the World
If You Found this Post Useful, then Please Resteem it to help Others
Hello, @ogochukwu.
A thoroughly thought out and well written post. –This one. I finally was able to help a friend register on steemit just some days ago. He proceeded to make posts in a hurry without heeding all the advise I gave him on growing his network by interacting and commenting on posts that interest him... Well, I guess a few failed trials sure would convince him. I used to neglect the power of commenting and interacting with others. And it made the whole experience so difficult and frustrating. But when I started doing that, everything became easy and fun.
This was really insightful and timely (and long too) 😉... Great lessons for those who'd care to read. Resteemed.
Hello @pangoli
My advice to you is not to try and force anybody to follow your directive about Steemit.
They will feel you are trying to slow them down, just let them experience what Steemit is for themselves, that is when they know that they actually need to heed the advice of the people here before them.
I just hope that you friend realizes his mistake earlier.
@ogochukwu
Hi @ogochukwu
This is a million dollar advice for anyone and everyone who needs to grow on steemit especially our newbies i wish i got this when I just joined. Thanks for selling this out so cheaply I hope everyone benefits from this like i just did.
@phunke
Hello @phunke
Thanks for reading and your usual awesome comment.
As for the post, i just felt that it was an Information that was vital to everyone here on Steemit so I had to share it with the community.
@ogochukwu
Is there any special compensation that should be given to some of us that actually read this pretty long but useful post?
Or a special T-shirt with these words boldly written in front I SURVIVED READING A LONG USEFUL POST ON STEEMIT?
I just wish I knew some of the facts listed here when I signed up. But not too bad, we live and learn and right here is a useful post on how to navigate the murky waters of smart commenting on steemit.
With the power of a minnow vested in me, I give this post a 100% upvote 😁✌️💯👍
Was about saying same thing, how i wish i saw this earlier. But thank God for this we learn daily. Thanks @ogochukwu
Hello @tfame3865
There is no late time to start building your brand the right way.
The most Important thing is for you to start applying whatever you learnt.
Checked your blog and saw that you are finally finding your groove with game reviews.
Keep it up Bro.
@ogochukwu
Thanks for checking on my blog @ogochukwu, i learnt little from the mentorship class even thou i lack behind base on personal reason i couldnt avoid. I will still keep up with the class
@ogochukwu, it is a niche very few covers in Nigeria tag so I think it is good that @tfame3865 is covering that gap. Thanks for thanking me
Thought as much...😂😂
Haaa... @greenrun you must be good at comedy..😂😂
Lets begin a stand up comedy show, e go sell wella. 😂
Hello @greenrun
Thanks for blessing this post with your mighty upvote and an Equally amazing comment.
I just checked our post promotion channel on Discord this morning and found out that out post engagement have Improved. Everyone is now reading and commenting on each others post.
Thanks Dropping by. Keep Running.
@ogochukwu
I adore your spirit and work, very helpful tips, need to follow some :P
Thanks for reading my favourite Narwhal
@ogochukwu
You really gave me a good laugh especially with the first half of your article (although the topic is very serious).
I thought I know more or less all kind of fishes that swim in those Steemit waters but when you discovered to me the Piranhas I fell off laughing! 😁
But it wasn't the end as I soon discovered that we have here even the birds that are trying to swim - Parrots! 😂 (You finished me with that one.)
There is also one another kind of Steemians that I spotted. I call them Transformers. (That's not those ones that would cross your mind first, the creatures from series of American science fiction action films based on the toys created by Hasbro and Tomy.) That's the ones who joined Steemit as some John Does and after some while, they transform themselves into some famous personality or vice versa.
There are also some Sex-Transformers. Those that also joined as some black-haired John Doe and after few weeks lack of success, they become overnight some astonishing, breathtaking sexy blonds.
However, I would really love this post to be seen from, as many as possible, new members or even some older ones, with a wish and hope they would learn something from it and stop doing those stupid and to most true Steemians irritating mistakes that many of them do, not being aware they are harming themselves significantly more than doing any good, as such actions and behaviour are counterproductive, and instead of bringing them closer they are, in fact, taking them away (very fast) from their main goal.
To help you spread the word and those useful tips, I'm going to Resteem this post.
There is only one thing I wouldn't agree with you 100%. It's about mentions - tagging people with their username. Not all members are thrilled with or even less affectionate about it. And I think they have the right or even a good reason not to be.
Therefore, my standing regarding this matter is 50:50 - pros vs cons. Meaning, we need to develop that special sense to recognize when, why and for whom such tagging would be appropriate or not.
Hello @ana-maria
You got me there also, it looks like I have not been paying close attention to what has been happening in Steemit.
Never knew about the Transformers or the sexual ones.
Anyways thanks for bringing it to my attention I will be more vigilant now.
As regards to mentions i believe that some people may not like it, so it is left to you to use it with discretion.
Thanks for reading and also dropping an awesome comment.
@ogochukwu
Here is the comment I left to one of those last ones that I came across. 😉😊
But I think he/she stopped posting soon after.
Lolz. Did he/she not think that his/her followers will notice the transformation.
@ogochukwu
Well, I don't know what he/she was thinking if he/she was thinking at all. As well, thinking requires the possession of a certain organ, at least to some extent developed. There is also that greedy gene that can easily mash-up even the very well developed thinking organ. In other words, with so many options available, it's very hard to guess what really happened there. 😉😊
Dear @ogochukwu,
Thank you for the advice in this post. I was struggling with how to improve my comment game and suffering with low payouts. I will go back with renewed vigor and a sharpened knife to make amazing comments.
Cheers!
Well said @ogochukwu. I will want to buttress on the reading before making comments part: I'm very irritated when someone comes to my post and talk 'left' when i'm talking 'right'. Last week, I made a post about how the human minds can be virtual reality for introverts and God knows who came out of the blues and started talking another thing I can't remember.
Also I would suggest that steemians pick articles that they are interested in to make comments and not just make comment because the article was posted by a whale. Thank you.
Always use markdown to align comments that seemed out of strangely not aligned :)
The Sea Dragon Himself 🙂
Thanks for reading @jemimah.
There is nothing more annoying than spam comments on a post.
People don't know that they just have to read and comment on only what they understand.
@ogochukwu
Hello @ogochukwu the points you stated are arguably 90% mistakes new comers make. Most times you see a comment which says nice post, please upvote me and they dump their links. As a blogger i knew this was wrong and i always reply by telling them to watch learn and work hard. What more can i say you took every mistakes and revealed it. I hope they have read and learnt.
Thank you, and im resteeming
Hello @josediccus
Thanks for reading. Most newcomers don't really know what blogging is all about, they just signed up for Steemit because of the rewards.
It is left for the people who have knowledge to pass it on and not just complain about it.
I have been on Steemit for Nine Months and I have not flagged anyone.
@ogochukwu
Hello @ogochukwu the points you stated are arguably 90% mistakes new comers make. Most times you see a comment which says nice post, please upvote me and they dump their links. As a blogger i knew this was wrong and i always reply by telling them to watch learn and work hard. What more can i say you took every mistakes and revealed it. I hope they have read and learnt.
Thank you, and im resteeming
This should be pinned to front page for newbies to learn how it works here. I hate spam and spam-like comments on my blog. It is just juvenile to do that. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for reading @bitfairy.
As for pinning the post, I just hope @timcliff see it, he will get it pinned for all to see. LOL
@ogochukwu
He may just do that.