Comment Tips for New Bloggers

Are you a new blogger? Maybe just new the the world of reading blogs and leaving comments? If either of those statements describes you, I have a few quick tips to share with you that will make leaving blog comments much easier and more interactive!

How to Leave a Hotlink When You Comment

I'm sure you know the value of leaving a link back to your own blog when you leave a comment during your blog-stalks. Leaving the web address is good, but leaving a clickable link is so much better! If you've noticed other bloggers do this and wondered, "How the heck did she do that?" you can finally be in the know. It's just a little bit of magical HTML code.

Here's the code you need:
<a href= "http://web address of your blog">Name of Your Blog</a>

As a reference, this is the Kinder-Craze hotlink code:
<a href="http://www.kindercraze.blogspot.com">Kinder-Craze</a>

That's it! Just copy the code, replace the blue writing with your web address and the purple writing with your blog name. Paste your new code into your next blog comment and after you click "submit" your comment will be followed by a clickable link back to your own blog.

Get Creative with Your Hotlinks

You can also have a bit of fun with your hotlinks. Instead of simply leaving the name of your blog, you can display text that promotes a special blog post (such as a giveaway that you are hosting).

I left this hotlink when I commented on my friend Sarah's (from Miss A's Kindergarten) most recent post. Instead of just leaving my blog name, my hotlink says "There's a Giveaway at Kindercraze"

To create a promotional hotlink, you use the same basic code to leave a regular hotlink, but you customize it differently. 
<a href= "link to your SPECIFIC blog post">creative message with your blog name</a>

Please note: If you choose to mention a giveaway or other special blog post, it's important to use good etiquette and leave a link to your specific blog post instead of the general domain address to your blog. 

Once again, here is an example I might use for Kinder-Craze:

<a href= "http://kindercraze.blogspot.com/2012/08/zebra-pens-giveaway.html">Win Free Pens from Kinder-Craze<a>

Saving and Managing Your Hotlinks

I think we can all agree that hotlinks are pretty awesome for leaving a traffic trail back to your own blog. I think we can also agree that all of those characters can be a pain in the you-know-where to manage. Especially since they have to be PERFECT to work. One typo and your whole link is ruined.

I use several different hotlinks on various website that serve different purposes. All of these hotlink codes are saved in a Word document on my computer. Any time I need to type a hotlink, I simply open the document, copy the desired code, and paste it into the website at hand. So simple and such a time-saver!

Send Follow-Up Comments Directly to Your Inbox

Bloggers LOVE getting comments on their posts and most of us are very diligent about responding to comments from readers. You don't want to miss out if your favorite blogger responds to one of your comments or wants to engage you in a conversation. But if you're anything like me, you don't often revisit old posts or comments to see if there was a response from the author. Who has time for that?!?  

Luckily, if you comment on Blogger, you can have all additional comments and responses sent directly to your email inbox. All you have to do is click "Subscribe by email" at the bottom of the comment area.

Go ahead and subscribe to as many as you want. I don't recommend this for the HUGE blogs with thousands of followers (or else you will be completely overwhelmed by the volume of comment-related emails you receive) but this is a great trick for following the comments left on smaller blogs (like this one!)

One last thing...

If you're new to blogging and looking to grow, consider purchasing a membership to Teaching Blog Traffic School. The tips, tricks, networking opportunities and knowledge shared by Charity Preston are invaluable. I'm a poor teacher in a Catholic school but I scrounged up the cash to purchase my membership and it is proving to be one of my best investments this year. I'm a TBTS affiliate and I'd love for you to join by clicking the image to the right.