Responding to a post on another site through your own blog
I really enjoy reading blogs and comment frequently on them as well. Most of my comments are a paragraph or too long however i have found myself reducing the number of very long comments i write.
The main reason is that i post them here! Take this post for example. I read a really good post on Brian Heys blog the other day about sponsored reviews. I started to write a long comment in reply but i found myself writing more and more and his post gave me some great ideas to post about the subject.
So instead of commentating on Brians blog (which i still do) i decided to cover the subject myself on my blog and refer to Brians Post.
Now, we all know that originality is good for blogs but i’d still rather write a post on my blog than just a comment on another. Particularly if i can really expand on the sucject. You can’t always assume that your blog readers have read about it either and im sure they would like your view on a subject anyways 
Your cheating the original blogger
I’m not suggesting you stop commentating, far from it. I am suggesting that more content for your blog is better than less. I don’t believe that by not commentating on the original blog they are somehow losing out. Infact, i believe the opposite is true.
- You should always refer to the blog that gave you the inspiration - don’t be a nasty little blogger! Seriously, sending a link back to the post you read on the subject is essential and creates a link between the two blogs
- When you link to the post you send more traffic to that blog - so they’re happy. A ping is then added to that post - so you’re happy! Both blogs therefore have another link in the search engines and should send each other traffic because of it.
- I’ve noticed that most of the time the blogger whose post you are referring to drops by, thanks you for the link and contributes to the discussion on your blog.
If you have a view on this then please leave a comment but if you think you can expand on it then i encourage you to post about it in your own blog and link here. Your post will be pinged on this page and we can see where this discussion is continuing.
Good Luck,
Kevin
arstan | May 17th, 2007 at 8:13 am #
I think as long as you give credits its a fair game! And if you are going to write long comments then better post it on your blog as you say!
Dylan | May 17th, 2007 at 10:17 am #
I think the majority of bloggers would rather a link to their post than a comment, if I could turn half my comments into backlins I would in a second.
Nice post Kevin
Dylan
Romantic Ideas | May 17th, 2007 at 1:10 pm #
I’ve started posting more comments on other blogs myself, and have found it’s a good way to get to know other bloggers in your field . . . but it’s tough to post more than a handful of comments everyday while still making time to post to your own blog!
Jenny | May 17th, 2007 at 4:58 pm #
I rather enjoy the back and forth of commenting on someone’s site. If their topic is interesting enough that I want to write a paragraph or more then I want to hear what they have to say. If I’m this interested than even after all the comments I’ll end up writing a post and which includes my source of inspiration.
But who knows, maybe as I get busier this will become harder to maintain.
Kevin | May 18th, 2007 at 2:58 am #
yeah it can be hard to find the time to comment sometimes but first and foremost you should always update your blog before commnenting.
whynot | May 18th, 2007 at 8:32 am #
I know this is a great blogging tip that is widely used but I’m pretty sure comments are now losing their soul because of traffic obsession.
http://www.otherworldvision.com/2007/05/15/blog-comments-are-not-sincere-because-its-all-about-improving-traffic/
Brian Heys | May 18th, 2007 at 1:53 pm #
Thanks for the link, Kevin - even though it was to my business site, and not my blog.
I do something very similar myself. Quite often, when I find myself writing a long reply to someone else’s post, I stop myself, make a note to cover it as a post, then make a shorter reply as a comment.