I feel the same way as you. it just doesn’t feel right to comment just to get a link back. I know it’s a good way to build links, but if i have nothing good to offer to the author, other readers, or conversation then i’m just wasting everyones time. And i don’t want to just write some bs comment to get a link back…

I don’t comment daily on the blogs I read daily. How am I going to do it on a bunch of blogs I don’t care to read?

Maybe you should start doing that first. The more you comment, the easier it will get.

Commenting is great for a variety of reasons. You get to write about subjects not in your blog niche, you get to practice your writing skills, you develop friendships or enemies (either of which are good for blogging), and sometimes your comments become blog post worthy.

But most of all, what if you find a really good blog you really like? Then would you consider it a waste of time? You should force yourself to read a blog you’ve never read at least once a week. It will be good for you.

I know this is supposed to be purely for build links back here, but that does not sit well with me. Other people are working hard on these blogs, I don’t need to clutter them up with off topic comments.

The way you describe doing it, actually reading and finding stuff to comment on, is completely legitimate and I doubt many bloggers would complain. Most bloggers want more comments, that might even be why they changed to dofollow.

Clutter would be spamming the comments with irrelevant and objectionable material. But what you’re describing isn’t spam. It’s targeted commenting.

Anyway, cheers! Feel free to comment on my blog

Good point. I also think it’s a bad idea to post on sites that aren’t at all related to yours. I don’t think the search engines like it very much.

I don’t have the energy to post comments and engage in discussion on sites that I don’t read often. My blog is just somewhere I write and ramble about what I’m doing online. I hope someone somewhere finds it useful.

Being more evil, that is something I will at least have to look into. Don’t know if I want to join the dark side just yet though. I do admit that it looks like it’s easier and faster, but I don’t think it would be something that I could be proud of.

I’ll try to respond to a few of your comments now.

I do try and comment on the blogs a read regularly, but sometimes I am just not interested enough in that days post, or what I think has already been said. A simple ‘I agree’ comment doesn’t really do it for me.

I like the idea of reading a new blog once a week. Now that I am getting submissions for our fantastic new blog directory I am getting that chance. (If you want in, just send me the URL through our contact form)

Akismet spam filter is my favorite plugin so far. It does a great job. Very few real comments get blocked and I just go through it once a week to clean it out.

I’ve plowed through DoFollow lists only to find that maybe 10% of the sites interest me. So, I comment on those sites and chalk it up to a good way to find blogs I may not have come across otherwise. I like commenting whenI have something to add. I feel like it’s mini-blogging and I enjoy it more on days I don’t feel like writing in my own blog. Like this morning, for example.