Leave Your Mark

When I was in college, my dorm was somewhat notorious for the people who had lived there before. And each year, the group of freshmen (and freshwomen) who lived there were ushered into a hallowed closet and invited to write their names on the wall, joining the hundreds who had gone before. It was an interesting tradition and somewhat meaningful to add your name to the list of people – luminaries and not-so-luminaries – who had lived there, too.

This same idea translates into the business world, too, specifically when it comes to commenting on blogs. When you leave your mark, you are joining with others to indicate your participation in that community – however modest – and you are aligning yourself with other likeminded people. This is the ultimate in positioning!

So, here's what you need to do: Go to Gravatar and sign up. This gives you an easy way to spread your face, logo, or recognizable image around the web. Then, identify your top three favorite blogs and comment in them every day. Also, find one other blog – a blog you might read but don't comment on – and comment in it every day. In this way, you'll help to contribute to a community at your favorite blogs and you'll also add 200 – 365 additional blogs (depending on how diligent you are at daily commenting). Imagine how rich those back links will be!

Also, check out Disqus. Their main system is a plug-in to help you manage comments on your blog but they also offer Disqus Profile so you can manage your comments on other blogs.

Brought to you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.