Trackbacks are helping internet marketers get one step ahead of the competition and the trailblazers using them are taking their results to the next level.
“But I want to be a trailblazer, lighting up the internet sky while staying ahead of the game, tell me how trackbacks work so I don’t get left behind”, we hear you say!
OK, OK, we’ll tell you, but remember, you may not be prepared for the power that this little gem we call a trackback can bring, so make sure you’re sitting down.
Essentially, a trackback is a link from one blog to another – but with a difference. Spamming or blatantly advertising your site on somebody else’s blog carries the risk of either being blocked by it or damaging your reputation.
This is something you’ll want to avoid at all costs, especially if the site you’re trying to link from has a good page rank. So instead, you create a constructive link, or a trackback, to get people to your site in the most reputable way possible.
It isn’t just one sided, though. You’ll need to link to their article/blog from your site to make it fair. Here’s an example of how to spot a trackback.
Say, for instance, John has written an interesting article on his site all about the dangers of crossbreeding chickens with horses, underneath the article there is a space to leave comments:
… so in summary, pairing a chicken with a horse is anything but a match made in heaven.
Comments:
Farmer Terry’ comment:
This is an absolute outrage, animals have feelings too. You should be locked up!
The Chicken Man’s comment:
[…] you should see what happened when I bred a pigeon with a turtle […]
Farmer Terry’s comment is relevant and makes sense, however, the layout and brief nature of The Chicken Man’s comment is slightly odd, even if it is related to the subject of crossbreeding. That’s because it’s a trackback, rather than normal comment.
You’ll recognise a trackback because squared brackets surround the text and the sentence may be incomplete or may not even be in context.
That still sounds a bit like spamming you may think. And it is in a way – it’s just a more advanced version. The key difference is that you have the permission of the site administrator to link to your site from theirs.
In fact, blog site administrators love trackbacks and so should you. Here are a couple of reasons why:
- Your article/blog relates directly to what someone else has written about and you want him or her to know that you’ve referenced their work. This:
- Creates a reputable way to get other people to your site.
- Almost certainly means that the original blogger will visit your site.
- The original blogger is flattered that you thought their article was so good that you wanted to link to it on your site. This:
- Creates ties with their website.
- Creates two-way traffic that you know the visitor is interested in because it’s relevant to what they were originally looking for.
Basically, a trackback is a mutual agreement between two site administrators to link to each other via blogs.
Providing that both parties (receiver and sender) have trackbacks enabled then the link between blogs should happen instantly with the click of a mouse. You’ll know if a site is trackback enabled by the presence of a trackback icon near the comments section.
Our advice to you is to get trackbacking as soon as possible. Link to relevant, interesting and highly viewed blog sites. Ideally, look for blogs with a good page rank and get linking.
Quick tips for good weblog commenting
August 19th, 2009Weblogs are usually created for one simple reason – the weblogger wants to share information with you. It may not always be informative, but it’s information nevertheless. Whether it’s telling the world about how their cat got its head stuck in a crisp packet or it’s sharing an unbelievable system that’s going to earn you poker megabucks – you’ll usually learn something you didn’t know before.
Webloggers want you to leave comments and join in the topic that they’ve started. Perhaps they’ve discovered a veruca somewhere that there really shouldn’t be one and want confirmation that they’re ‘normal’.
Comments are the key indicator to the success of a weblog, and if you want to comment on a post, maybe even your own post, follow these quick tips to keep other commenters engaged.
Stay on topic: If the post was talking about the world’s fattest man, then talk about the world’s fattest man. The traffic found its way to that page because it wants to know about the world’s fattest man, not how you saw the world’s ugliest man walking through Clapham Common last Thursday.
Repetition is repetitive: Be sure not to repeat what has already been said. Read the whole post, including all comments. You risk being ignored otherwise – especially by those that have been there since the first comment.
Be clear: Unless you’re using technology that most of the world hasn’t seen yet, people can’t see your face while you’re commenting. Emoticons can help with this but if you sarcastically tell the world that you’ve found a cure for malaria and don’t make it clear that you’re joking, you could have the Obama Administration tracking you down for information.
Don’t be that person: You know that person. You’ve met him before. The guy that comments just to tell you that you spelt a word incorrectly or that your link is useless. If you have no choice but to point out an error, approach it respectfully.
Comments are for everybody: If you want to ask John if he’s still enjoying his new job as a high-class gigolo, weblogs aren’t the place to do it. Perhaps send a private email, but remember that everybody reads comments and nobody wants to be stuck in the middle of a personal conversation.
Tags: Comments, Weblogs
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