Watch Out For Spammers Like @Foldberg1

Watch Out For Spammers Like @Foldberg1

Lame ass Markco the Snake (@Foldberg1 on Twitter) is still up to his dubious and misleading ways.  Here you can see him attempting to get a comment through the Comment Moderation over at my site Diablo 3 Gold Tips. 

What's fishy about the comment?

He's trying to get the comment approved by including some BS fluff and even has a link to my blog in the comment, or that's how it would appear at a quick glance.  Closer investigation shows he has his own site's URL with anchor text that appears to be for my own site.

Nice try @Foldberg1.  You are still a scumbag and will not be leeching any of my traffic, so you can stop trying.  (I have to remove attempted comments and links like this a few times a month from most of my blogs.)

@Foldberg1

Shameless Self Promotion

I wanted to share with you an excellent article that I read over at Disciplinary Action.  This is a blog that is within my main site's gaming niche, which focuses on World of Warcraft normally.  This post has some references to other Warcraft blogs, but all of the content is an excellent guide to promoting yourself and your site through the various channels of commenting, forums, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

It is an excellent post and is well worth the read.  Check it out and see if you are using these same tactics.  I know I already am.  Are you shamelessly promoting yourself?

Shameless Self Promotion: A Guide To Driving Traffic To Your Blog

Redirecting Feed Readers Back To Your Site

Feed Syndication

Feeds are a great way to spread your ideas and posts throughout the blogosphere and the internet.  There is also a downside to publishing feeds.  If you have good content, then it will sure by syndicated.  When someone is syndicating every one of your posts along with similar niche feed syndications, there can exist a very useful site for readers within your niche.  The feed syndicating hubs may be posting your entire article on their site and reading the traffic benefits of all your hard work!  So how do you direct traffic back to your site from these syndication hubs?

Turn Feed Readers Into Traffic

• Contact the admin of the hub site and ask them to truncate your posts to only show a summary with a "Continue Reading" link back to the original post on your site.
• Contact the hub admin and ask to lock comments and add a note:  Please Leave Comments On Author's Site.
• Change your feed settings to only show summary posts that link back to the original article.  I tend not to do this as it limits the number of people who can read your full feed at work.
• Add a note to all of your feeds that asks for comments to be placed on the original site.  *See Below.
• Include internal links in your daily posts.

Adding A Note To Your Feedburner Feed*

Adding a note to all of your feeds is easy.  This example shows how to set up your note in Feedburner. 

1.  Open Your Feedburner Account and Select Your Site's Feed
2.  Choose The Optimize Tab Up Top.

3.  Select the BrowserFriendly Tab In The Left Column.  Activite Browser Friendly If Needed.
4.  Scroll Down The Page.

5.  Click the Personal Message [ ] to Enable.
6.  Add Your Comment As Your Personal Message (Shown Above).
7.  Click Save.

Hopefully this will help redirect some of the viewers of your syndicated feed back to your site, where they can become subscribers, commentors, buyers, and advertisement clickers.

Commenting For The Win!

Earning Traffic With Your Comments

No one will ever know about you or your site unless you get out there and start getting recognized.  But how do you do it?  Start commenting on other sites and forums in your niche.  Leaving excellent comments addressing the current topic will not only get you a few curious visitors, but will also earn you some credibility.

This credibility can translate into traffic, if you continue to participate in forums and comments on other sites that are related to yours.  Commenting on other bloggers posts can also turn into invitations for guest posting, which is another great way to earn some traffic.  These guest posts can also turn into invitations for participating in blogging carnivals.  Don't just leave random comments that aren't relevant to the topic at hand.  Site owners will see right through that and you may end up getting banned.

Do

• Leave thought out, relevant comments on relevant sites within your niche.
• Leave keyword rich comments
• Leave back links with enticing anchor text to your best relevant content (if allowed).

Don't

• Leave comments just to be commenting and getting links.  Make them relevant and helpful.
• Leave links back to your site without asking for permission first from the site's owner.
• Spam comments on forums that are unrelated to your niche.

With a little bit of practice and understanding, you will become a master at creating relevant, appropriate comments, with vital links to your own site that not only benefit the host site, but drive visitor's to your site.