You Don’t “Do Follow” on your blog … That’s just wrong!

Just a quick note to say… Did you know Wordpress (and most other blog software platforms) are automatically set to not allow “follow” links when someone posts a comment on your blog… Blog comments are a great way to encourage blog interaction, market your blog, and be marketed by others.

So, why don’t you “Do Follow?” Perhaps a better question — what in the haiti is “Do Follow?”

Well… in a nutshell:

• First, part of marketing your blog is to comment, purposefully on other blogs that can contribute to traffic and will help you in your search engine marketing (SEO and SEM). And vice versa, you want people to come and comment on your blog for search engine marketing.
• Your plan is to have “influencers” or those people who many others regard as an expert come to your blog, like something they see, and leave a comment. If you don’t have “Do Follow” - the link they leave to their site doesn’t work and Google won’t find it — duh, this is bad.
• Having “Do Follow” will allow people to leave a link, that Google will find and “follow” to their site. This gives you great links, because they tend to be very focused or related to your existing content and search engine content. You want people to have “Do Follow” on their blog, so that Google can “follow” the link to your website. We should all be happy “Do Follow” people

The Caveat?

Allowing “Do Follow” will likely increase the chance of receiving spam comments. What are spam comments? Trust me, you’ll know… they typically resemble the Viagra emails you get in your Inbox.

But don’t fret, there is an easy solution for that too! Akismet - it just frickin’ rocks… and will help you tremendously in managing any spam that comes in. The beauty is that Akismet will do it, automatically - that means less work for you (or your VA). And the real beauty of it - Akismet is pre-installed, just turn it on - get your key - and your good to go! You simply go to “Plugins” and turn it on.

The Diva Team recommends The Do Follow Plugin to make your comment links useful for you and your visitors marketing efforts. You can get Do Follow here. It’s super, duper easy to install - just download it, unpack the zip file, upload the plugin folder into /wp-content/plugins/, turn it on in your “Plugins” in Wordpress. That’s it.

Recap:

1. Don’t freak out when someone leaves a link on your blog, be happy.
2. Make sure you have the “Do Follow” plugin, so that the links are actually useful.
3. Make sure your Akismet plugin is turned on and working to cover spam.
4. Go and be merry in the blogosphere!

To Your Online Success,

Maria Reyes-McDavis

The Solopreneur’s Online Marketing Success Expert

P.S. Happy Birthday to my lovely friend and colleague Alice Collier! I’m blessed to know you and darn it, your the best dang TV Image and Media Coach I know! Love Ya!

P.P.S. Just in case your still using other blog platforms … Blogger, TypePad, Moveable Type Blogs can also have the same affect with other plugins/actions

Related Diva Posts:

• Is Your Blog Ready for Your Social Media Marketing Strategies?
• Cross Blog Conversations are a big key to Blog Marketing!
• Common Blog Marketing Mistakes Solopreneurs Make… Stop It!
• Blog Layout and Design - Keep It Simple!
• Bloggers, Get Into the Social Media Conversation… Carefully.

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