Avoid leaving your blog name on comments

Commenting on other blogs, specially those that are on the same niche, is a very efficient method to promote your site and receive new visitors. Some bloggers, however, are used to leave their blog names on the â€œNameâ€ field of comment forms, arguably losing some credibility.

I confess that when I started blogging I used to do that as well, after all I thought that no one would be interested in clicking on â€œDanielâ€ while if I left the name of my blog more people would be tempted to click on it.

The problem with that logic is that many readers might think that you are just spamming the comment section. Some of them will certainly click the comment with the blog name, but overall it might hurt your reputation.

Secondly the whole blog phenomenon exploded because it enabled people to establish relationships and to interact with other bloggers. Comments are trackbacks are supposed to generate conversations, and conversations must be personal if they are to be valuable.

Bear in mind that there are some exceptions for that rule. If your blog is named after yourself (e.g. ajaydsouza.com) or if you are speaking on behalf of a blog entity you could possibly leave the blog name and not your personal name. Also, if you really want to leave your blog name consider placing it under brackets after your personal name.

Daniel Scocco on February 23, 2007 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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21 Responses to “Avoid leaving your blog name on comments”

Ajay on February 23rd, 2007 4:34 am

Hey thanks for the mention.

I usually leave Ajay or Ajay D’Souza as the name on the blogs.

It is a good point you raise about not using the url… infact I usually avoid approving comments which have the url/blog name in the name… it’s usually spam.
Dawud Miracle on February 23rd, 2007 5:58 am

I use my name and I try to keep it consistent everywhere I comment. Afterall, Dawud Miracle is a pretty interesting (and real) name. It would be a brand all to itself.
Daniel on February 23rd, 2007 6:00 am

Dawud, that is right, in fact I always wondered if Miracle was really your surname! Nice one hehe.
Ashish Mohta on February 23rd, 2007 7:09 am

Its really pins when you leave a link for self advertising.If you have properly filled the comment box your name is always linked with your website hence there is no need.

The best thing is if you have link which is relevant to the post on which you are making comment give a trackback and email the person, so if he finds it good he can just update his blog referring your post.
robwatts on February 23rd, 2007 7:36 am

Im with you to a point, with a teeny little proviso. I guess its about what you are trying to achieve and what segment you are blogging in.

For example sake.If you are blogging in seo circles and are fronting a relevant product or brand and using a blog then id say its perfectly fine to leave a name of ‘product or brand name’.Provided its not a pile of junk and you are making a relevant remark then most people shouldn’t have an issue.

I’d agree entirely that if you are blogging in different terrority/segments, then an approach that used irrelevant product anchor text could well raise an eyebrow. In which case, the use of ones personal name would be much more acceptable.

Ps. Nice site you have here!
Mike on February 23rd, 2007 9:04 am

I used to use a nickname or sitename because with a name like Mike, I’m sure nobody can identify me just by my name. And with a last name of Miller it doesn’t help much. But, a while back I gave up worrying about it and have stuck with Mike ever since.
Bes Z on February 23rd, 2007 10:42 am

Good point. I wonder how this can apply to usernames on blogs or forums. Maybe a person may not want to divulge any personal information other than their site url. In such a case, that person probably has to show others in some way that he/she is not spamming through their choice of a username, like by showing that they prefer not to talk about their personal details on their own sites also.
Daniel on February 23rd, 2007 10:51 am

Bes, I am not sure how this rule would apply to forums. I guess there would be less problems over there since your nickname on a forum does not carry a link back to your site.
Brian at babybiotechs.com on February 23rd, 2007 3:08 pm

Is it wrong to do both? I tend to only leave comments when I have something constructive to say and/or a question to ask, so I figure it’s not hurting my brand no mater what I put in the name section.

I do agree that a name makes it much more personal communication and that’s what blogs are all about.
Daniel on February 23rd, 2007 3:58 pm

Brian, I think it is ok if you leaving first your name then your blog name. Also the constructive comments help to give the idea that your adding to the conversation rather than spamming.
Maki on February 23rd, 2007 4:38 pm

I’m more concerned with the quality of the comment itself and so don’t see why using your blog title is such a bad thing.

As long as one doesn’t drop a one-liner with a nasty signature link, I see no reason why one shouldn’t use their blog title.

Unless your blog title is obscene, it should be alright with most blog owners and readers.
theUg on February 24th, 2007 2:59 pm

I want to accent the part about conversational nature of blog, and the value and quality of such conversation.

I got to this blog through the â€œBest Blog 2007â€ award site, and there were other nominees that puzzled me. Let us disregard all the gossip/entertainment junk, and just look at topical blogs. There was couple blogs with decent content, but being as popular as they are they had crapload of comments. Honestly, Iâ€™m hesitant to read comments to a post, when the quantity of those reaches 200, 300, 500, even 800!

There was one interesting blog with insights on life post-Saddam Iraq, but I cannot waste time on reading 300 comments on the brand new post in a few hours. Especially, if half of them are â€œ+1â€, â€œ-1â€, and so on. That another thing thatâ€™s bugging me â€” people have signal of their existence on every corner by countless bytes of useless information. :/

And I have to read comments, see interaction, because itâ€™s in the discussion where topic becomes clarified, itâ€™s the difference of opinion, which gives you food for thoughts. And exactly same importance it is for me as a site owner. I rarely have manifested opinions. I write not only to show my opinion, but also to incite the conversation, to see the issue from as many angles possibleâ€¦
Jason of TVaholic on February 24th, 2007 4:07 pm

I’ve always done, as you can see above, similar to Brian at babybiotech. Mainly to differentiate myself from any other Jason’s that may be posting comments at a site, as Mike mentioned. I would probably just go with my name, as well, if it were Duwad Miracle, though.

Secondly, I tend to change up the “of” part, since I have more than one blog/website. When commenting at a movie blog then I will use my movie blog name, at a TV blog then my TV blog, etc. If the blog, as in the case here, is about something I donâ€™t have a site about, then I just pick one of my site names and stick with it on that blog whenever I comment.

I like most of the comment policy over at: http://www.optiniche.com/blog/. It states, at one point, that “If you find it necessary to use anchor text in the name box, please make sure to sign your name at the end of your comment. I really donâ€™t feel comfortable addressing someone as â€œmy cool anchor textâ€ when responding to a comment.”

That makes sense to me; accept I don’t particularly care for signatures in comments. I like the both/and thing in the name field. Both personalized with your name and branded with your site name, if you have one.

And, of course, your comment should be relevant to the post and the discussion that is taking place. Otherwise, no matter what link text you use, it will most likely be ignored anyway.
Pinonda on March 3rd, 2007 2:16 am

Ok - you convinced me.
Mexxgv on April 18th, 2007 3:04 pm

test
Plantas Purificadoras on April 23rd, 2007 6:46 pm

En segundo lugar, tiendo para cambiar encima del �of� pieza, puesto que tengo más de un blog/website. Al comentar en un blog de la película entonces utilizaré mi nombre del blog de la película, en un blog de la TV entonces mi blog de la TV, etc. Si el blog, como en el caso aquí, está sobre algo el donâ??t de I tenga un sitio alrededor, entonces apenas escojo uno de mis nombres y palillo del sitio con él en ese blog siempre que comente.
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Damien Cackler on June 14th, 2007 1:16 am

This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”
blogr on October 15th, 2007 4:46 am

i agree with your posts because comment is something like feedback you get for the posts. but what about email address being made as required field? wont that make a bad reputation?

- blogrtools
http://blogrtools.blogspot.com
etoplum on November 15th, 2008 6:07 am

That makes sense to me; accept I don’t particularly care for signatures in comments.