Wow!  Thank you, I have folks across the US, too!  I like this idea:)

It's a Good Life!

Fran

I am always looking for way to get my blogs and sites more exposure. Thank you

I did not know that.  Everyday on the Rain, I continue to feel like I have been missing and have to catch up to the new world.  I didn't even know about the comment back link...

Kay,

Something else I don't know!  I could fill a lot of blog space with that subject: "What I don't know!"  Except that I don't know that I don't know it until I read your Real Estate SEO.  There have been some comments on a controversial post today about whether or not all this SEO, ETC stuff is worthwhile.  Of couse it is soooo worthwile... or we could just go sit in a class paying to hear what you are offering freely!  Thank you! 

Now... how do I find out if the blogs I comment on have a "no follow" tag... and is that badge something that we want to put on our blogs so others will feel comfortable commenting on them?  What happens to comments if it is "no follow" rather than with the badge?  (sorry if I'm in the remedial seo class)

Fran - then this tip should help you a lot!

Graham - you're welcome. It's good to have a mixture of types of backlinks.

Chelle - there's so much to learn - I learn new things everyday about SEO.

Jan - you may get more comments on your blog if you use the tag. I got this tip originally from a black hat, so you may get some spam, but I'm considering putting it on my blog anyway.  Comments left on a "no follow" blog don't get any link juice.

Kay - Yet another bookmark for something else I don't fully understand.  Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Kay...I am trying to understand all this SEO stuff....with regard to backlinks...do you my add a hyperlink to the comments you post (is that a back link) and is a blog with a "no follow" tag a blog that does not allow "back links"?..thanks konnie

Kay - Thanks for the info.  I am trying to use your posts for my SEO education but am having a hard time keeping up.   However, I am learning a lot just trying to keep up.  So keep 'em coming.

-Al

Marlene and Konnie - When you leave a comment on a blog, you are given the opportunity to leave your URL, which is then linked to your name. The best thing is if you can actually leave a keyword phrase like Laguna Real Estate, but often they want your name. That's okay, though. This is a "backlink" and counts for a link to your site. A blog with a "no follow" tag allows links but voids them with the tag - the search engine will not follow your link to give you credit for the backlink.

Al - I can't keep up with all the information and changes! I keep a file on my computer with copies of everything I read that I need to implement, and do it when I can. 

Kay - I often do spend the time finding sites that are do follow. My question to you is just how much juice to your really get from making a comment and leaving a link back to your website or blog. I does not seem like it could be too much.

Bill - to a certain degree, a link is a link is a link, as long as it's not a bad link. Linking is a numbers game. As long as it's not in a bad neighborhood, and not something Google disapproves of, go for it.

Bill and Kay,

I use the Active Rain point system as my model for what something is worth in the real world (outside AR).  So a link from my home page is worth 400-600 points in AR and a comment is worth 25 points (about 5% as much as the link) then I figure that it's about the same outside of AR.  Who knows whether I'm right or not but it sure helps me when deciding what to do next in SEO.  There is soooo much to read and study and try out etc in SEO that if you don't have a model to follow its easy to get overwhelmed.  AR is doing so well with Google, Yahoo et al that I figure they know a lot more than I do and are well worth emulating.  W

Will, a link from your home page is never going to be as valuable as a good link to your home page. AR gives lots of points for that because it helps them to have the link from  your site. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, though...because I do agree you have to figure out a model to follow. Blog comments are the last links I worry about when getting links for a site.

Yes blog links are probably the least valuable, but Blog Links are the easiest to get....

Have you shown up in the Dofollo directory yet?  I wonder how long it takes to get indexed as being a site that follows.  W

Will - not yet. It's a custom Google directory, but I'm not sure of the criteria Dofollo is using to determine the sites that follow.

Thanks for one more great idea. I don't have many clients across country but when I do I will consider using it.

Russ, even if you have no clients, you should be working on backlinks, and these are easy ones to get.

Thanks for dofollo. I never heard of it!

Because blog backlinks are so easy to get, and can be done artificially, don't you think Google will sooner or later give them little to no worth, and even potentially consider sites with hundereds of blog comment links as Spam? It just make sense to me that Google wouldn't like artificial links. They like natural.

Jamestown - You're welcome!

Alan - Blog comments are natural links. Spam is easy to spot, Askimet never lets most of it even appear, and any blogger with a decent blog and following removes any other spam. Blogs with hundreds of comments are popular blogs with lots of traffic; there would be no reason for Google to slap them down. 

 Great Post,

Do you know how to add your no follow blog to the list at the site dofollo??

Thanks for the back links.

The Dessert Cafe

tahnks

Most of the comments that provide info. are accurate! But its worth mentioning that even if the search engines don't pick you up (because someone is using nofollow) the human reading your comment can still follow the link. The nofollow is an instruction for the robot (Googlebot for Google, and Slurp for Yahoo).

I think if you leave meaningful comments on related sites (related to your sites industry) you have helped yourself in at leaset the battle to gain exposure and some traffic... not everything is SERP!

There are humans that move from site to site without using the search engines (sometimes) :)

I write on my bog <a href="http://www.stevesimon.us/blog">the Steve Simon School of Real Estate Blog</a> about real estate and laws effecting real estate and the condition of the market, etc. If I leave a thoughtful comment on someone else's blog I am hoping for three things:

Others will enjoy reading the comment.

A few will find my site because they directly clicked on my links (left in the comment).

If there is a "dofollow" situation that I get some small bit of "Juice" from the back link...

Just my thoughts :)

@ Dan - DoFollo uses the Google Blog Directory, and this is what Google says about getting your blog listed:

If your blog publishes a site feed in any format and automatically pings an updating service (such as Google Blog Search Pinging Service), we should be able to find and list it. Also, we will soon be providing a form that you can use to manually add your blog to our index, in case we haven't picked it up automatically. Stay tuned for more information on this.

@ Giornale - you're welcome!

@ Steve - I agree with you entirely. I get a lot of traffic from comments I leave on other blogs.

I was searching for a post about how to create a badge, but this was an interesting poat too :)

Thanks

Thanks for the tip , so much to learn for a newbie.

Not sure I fully understand this, but thanks for the info, and I will do my best to research and gain a better understanding.