Use Hubpages comments properly to boost your traffic
Forget about using commenting to drive traffic...
So the first thing you need to do, in order to use commenting to boost traffic to your hubs is... forget about using commenting to boost traffic to your hubs. But the good news is - if you behave as if you don't care about traffic to your hubs, the traffic will come. Why is that? I'll tell you.
Anyone that blogs knows how irritating comment spam can be. Pointless irrelevant comments that are only there to try to generate a backlink to their own site. We know it's just exploitative so we delete the comments. But it takes time trawling through the rubbish in the hope of finding one genuine comment to respond to.
That frustration can result in one of two reactions. Either to give up on comments (giving them or allowing them on your articles). Or to think "if you can't beat them join them" and start your own spam campaign.
The good news is that you don't have to do either - you can both use comments properly and use them to boost your own traffic. Commenting on other people's hubs can benefit both you and the hub owner.
How to use comments properly
The best way to use comments to get more traffic to your hubs or website is to forget about your hub or website for a while and comment naturally. If you use comments naturally and organically then the traffic will follow. This is because Google, Hubpages and all the other major players on the internet desperately try to reward people who behave well and don't try and game the system. They have to - their businesses depend upon it.
So what does this mean in practice? It means leaving comments on hubs that you are interested in and relevant to the topics you write about. It means leaving comments that engage with the article and add to it or question it in some way. It means being part of the conversation.
Make sure your comments are relevant to the hub and to other comments already there. Don't just say "Nice hub!".
In a nutshell, leave comments as if you don't care about getting traffic to your hubs.
Links in comments... would you?
Would you ever put a link in a comment?
The controversial question of links in comments
In my personal opinion there is nothing wrong with putting in a link to a hub or site or your own so long as it is relevant and helpful to the conversation. Don't put misleading or irrelevant links or put links in every comment. Anything that makes you look like you are there just to push your own links without genuinely joining in with the conversation looks spammy.
However some people have been so burned by spammers they don't want any links at all. That's fair enough. Be very careful before you include links to your hubs in comments and don't charge in with them straight away. It's the hubpages equivalent of trying to show your kids baby photos at somebody else's child's party.
Personally, I'm happy for people to put links in comments on my hubs, but I do judge comments with links more harshly - I'm more likely to count them if spam if I'm not sure.
It all boils down to the Golden Rule of Commenting: Comment on other people's hubs as you would want them to comment on yours.
Don't forget the Learning Center.
There are some great resources on getting better as a content writer on hubpages on in the Learning Center. For example:
Advantages of leaving good comments
- You get a back link to your hubpages subdomain (this is the link from your user name at the top of the comment). This may help to increase your Page Rank and get your more search engine visitors.
- People may see your comment and visit your profile page if they are interested to read more from you. That's more traffic again.
- If the circumstances are right, e.g. if invited to, you might be able to leave a direct link to a hub of yours that is relevant to the conversation - but don't abuse this privilege (see above).
- You build relationships with other content writers in your niche. They may be able to offer advice of expertise you don't have. They might even read your hubs. Don't forget to help others if you want them to help you.
Don't be abusive - don't spam
Don't be a comment spammer, whether by hand, or (even worse) using some automated system. It just ruins the comment system for everyone. And it means sites and search engines take action to reduce the value of links from comments. So nobody wins.
Don't be rude. No one wants to hear abuse on their hubs and your comments will probably be deleted. It's OK to disagree with people - hearing different views is part of the fun - but make sure you disagree politely and don't make it personal.
I'm no expert on SEO, or internet writing (but see here for some of the things I've learned about internet content writing so far). But I've been on the receiving end of both good and bad comments. All the bad comments do is waste my time as I click the "spam" button and delete them forever. But the good comments? They start a conversation which everybody benefits from. Cheap spammy tactics might get you a temporary advantage. But take it from the real experts... you can't build a long term business in internet content without providing real value. And you can start by providing good comments.