Blog commenting is a key component of any white hat link building strategy. Not only does it help build valuable inbound links for your SEO, it’s also the first step in building relationships with other industry bloggers.

When you become a regular commenter on an industry-specific blog, the blogger (and other readers) starts to recognize your name. You never know where that kind of relationship could lead. But in order to leave great comments on a blog that goes live, you first have to find those blogs! Here are 5 tips for doing just that:

1. Start with your competitors.

One of the most important things to remember when conducting blog commenting research is to stick with sites that are relevant to your own. They don’t have to be your exact niche, but there should be a correlation so it makes sense for you to get a link there.

A great place to start is with your competitor’s blogs. Your competitor’s are going after the same audience as you, which means they should be producing highly relevant content designed to engage that target audience. It’s a quality site (hopefully, otherwise they aren’t much competition) and related to your industry, so you’ll be able to add meaningful thoughts to the conversation with your comments. There is no rule against leaving comments on a competitor’s blog. The worst they can do is not let it go through, but it’s at least worth a try.

2. Look for industry associations.

Many industry associations and niche websites have a member business directory. Check out each of the members’ sites to see if they have a blog that is open for comments. Again, these are highly relevant sites that will provide quality inbound links and allow you to interact with your peers and target audience. The industry association website might have a blog of its own; another great blog to add to your blog commenting list.

3. Check out industry conferences.

Some conferences have a speaker’s blog where they allow current and former speakers to submit content and this is a great place to leave blog comments. You should also check out the websites of any presenters, advertisers or sponsors of the conference. Chances are they too have a blog that you can add to the mix.

4. Basic Google search.

One of the easiest ways to find blogs is to do a simple Google (or Bing) search for “‘keyword’ blog.’ For instance, I look for SEO blogs, inbound marketing blogs, online marketing blogs, social media marketing blogs, content marketing blogs and more. Depending on how large your niche is, there may be hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs written by companies, consultants, experts and freelancers.

Some of these blogs might be huge, with each post getting dozens of comments and social shares. Others might be small and very niched down—both are valuable for your blog commenting efforts because the key to blog commenting, and link building in general, is to get links from a variety of trusted sources. The more diverse your link profile the more powerful it becomes to the search engines.

5. Visit guest blogger’s sites.

Larger blogs usually accept guest blogger submissions. After leaving a comment on that post, be sure to check out the blogger’s site or personal blog.

Researching blog commenting opportunities can be a time consuming and tedious process, especially if you work in a very small niche. The key to making the most of your efforts is to stick with one path of research as long as possible before moving onto the next tactic. For example:

• Go through the first 10-20 pages of search results for a specific search before moving onto the next keyword.
• Check out every site in someone’s blogroll to see if they are any good. You want to use links to find links!

As you find these blogs, keep a running list and revisit them from time to time. You can read the 5 big blogs every day and leave a comment, while checking in on another 10 throughout the week. Remember, you aren’t limited to one blog comment per blog.

Photo credit: comluv.com

Nick Stamoulis is the President of Massachusetts SEO company Brick Marketing. With nearly 13 years of industry experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his SEO knowledge by hosting local and national SEO training classes, writing in the Brick Marketing blog and publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 150,000 opt-in subscribers.

Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com