Do You Have a Widespread or Targeted Approach to Commenting?

We all know that one of the best ways to get exposure for our blogs is to comment on other blogs and be apart of their community. It’s been said over and over again, and chances are, if you have a blog, you’ve said the same thing in one of your posts. However, it’s not often discussed, if ever, whether it is better to focus your energy on a few highly targeted blogs or comment on as many blogs as possible.

I’ll admit, I don’t have the answer, but it’s something that should be given thought. Let’s first define each approach and then take a look at some of the benefits of each.

Widespread Approach to Commenting

The widespread approach is probably best defined as commenting a few times on a large number of different blogs.

Benefits of Widespread Commenting

• Getting links to your site on a larger number of blogs (especially helpful if they have removed the nofollow tag)
• Exposure to a wider variety of people

Targeted Approach to Commenting

The targeted approach can be defined as commenting many times on a few blogs closely related to the topic of your own blog.

Benefits of Targeted Commenting

• By providing frequent (relevant) comments you are gaining trust within a community
• Other readers may be more inclined to click through to your site if they have seen your frequent (relevant) comments
• Better chance the blog author will notice you and possibly link to your blog
• By commenting on blogs that cover similar or complimentary topics, you are more likely to gain new readers.

This is my no means an exhaustive list of benefits, there just the ones I could come up with off the top of my head. If you can think of any additional benefits of either approach please share them in the comments.

So what are your thoughts? Does one approach lead to more readers than the other? What is your approach?