Why You Should Comment On Competitor Blog Posts.

Stepping on your competitors turf is a good idea and this is why…

You have knowledge right? You need an excuse to show it. Comments can do that for you. You should not look to embarrass yourself, or your competitor, by being ‘narky’ on their blog etc, you should look to leave all visitors and viewers of that content with a clear understanding of why you differ from another service provider and leave your stance on the topic.

It’s called healthy discussion in the sector that both you and your competition enjoys.

You will also leave a digital business card (of your name and website address) on someone else’s website and they may have a much bigger readership than yourself.

Readers aren’t stupid, some will like your tone and advice and follow the links back to your website. You win. For the competitor who you are commenting, they will benefit from your knowledge on their space and adding to their Google ranking and have an interesting conversation on their blog. They win.

Win / Win… oui?

Think you’re going to rattle some cages and stir up trouble? Contact them in advance and warn them that you’re going to add a comment which might present a different perspective on their business offering. Then show them this blog post to highlight the benefits of commenting as a social strategy.

So if you get pointed in the direction of a blog post and think ‘no’, they might steal my business… lighten up. You’re unique, you’re good at what you do and there’s enough business out there for everyone. Leaving a good sample of your knowledge and a digital business card out on the web is the best thing you can do online, next to fixing Pete Cashmore’s motor.

Get over it, believe it, embrace it and start commenting today as part of your social strategy!

The End.

Hugs – Mark

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The Bombing Campaign and why I stole Matt Barnaby’s photography without asking him. 

Dull blog posts need great pictures to catch your eye and to entertain you in thought. It does not have to have anything to do with the blog post topic you are reading. This leads to pathetic clichés in your picture choices. I wanted a picture for this post, so I called upon my flickr contacts for a suitable image. Matt had one. I went to grab a copy for here and saw that it was copyright restricted for distribution. This is not good. Matt’s BombingCampaign business is new and need lots of eyeballs… the more people that see his stuff the greater chances that he will find a customer. It frustrates me to see an opportunity lost (sharing great content) because someone isn’t aware of the way social media distribution helps us first and foremost… and rarely creates a  problem, unless we are the (unintentional) instigator of that very problem. Therefore, knowing that I will always credit Matt for anything I ‘use’, I grabbed it and published it. If Matt has a problem with this, he is an idiot. (He isn’t btw). Use this example to think about how and why you use, or refuse to use other peoples content. If you’re spreading their name and business about with a credit, it’s called free advertising and should be encouraged at all times.