Commenting as a marketing tool

Has anybody else had any experience with commenting in other blogs as a marking tool? I began using http://www.technorati.com/ to search for posts which have similar content to my blog. I honestly just started doing it out of pure interest. Then it got me thinking about how successfull I was years ago when I used to sign people guestbooks. I am by no means spamming these blogs but honestly showing an interest in their blogs and "leaving my mark".

 

Tara as an active blogger I think that comments can be used as marketing tools. But you walk a fine line between spam and marketing.

There's nothing wrong with commenting on a post and continuing the web conversation a blogger has started. There is a place for you to insert your URL on some comments and that is the appropriate place to do it.

However it becomes spam when you post a comment for the sake of a backlink and not when you're adding something of value.

Fine line.

 

There are automated scripts that spam comments.

If you are using a comment on someone's blog just to drop a link, it's spam, but I guess if you have added a little value to the blog by way of saying something intelligent, then it is fair game.

 

There is a fine line to walk. If you get reported to MTBlacklist as a spammer then you pretty much just killed an effective backlink building strategy. Occasionally I do leave a one liner, but I try not to comment on blogs unless I actually have something good to say. Usually it inspires a little bit of traffic. Nothing huge, but between one and 10 click throughs.