Last week I had the priviledge of speaking with blog consultant Mike Sansone of Converstations.com and BlogTalkRadio. Mike is one of the organizers of, and a speaker at, SOBCon07 this May in Chicago.

Mike and I talked for quite some time, covering many topics. There certainly were highlights I took away from our conversation.

But one comment Mike made to me stood out. At one point, when we were talking about how we found each other’s blogs, Mike said, “I saw your name come up constantly in blogs I read and comment on. I had to find out who this ‘Dawud Miracle’ was.(note, not a direct quote)

commentbrand.jpgThis moment in our talk really stood out for me. Why? Because that’s exactly how I sign all my comments – Dawud Miracle.

When I first began commenting on blogs I would just leave my name however I thought about typing it at that moment. So there’s comments floating around from Dawud, DawudM, DMiracle as well as Dawud Miracle. If you find any, they’re all me.

But after a few days of commenting I changed my strategy. I quickly realized that to get the most out of my commenting efforts, I needed to sign my comments in a consistent manner. I choose Dawud Miracle over other variations, and over Healthy WebDesign, for a number of reasons.

First I wanted to be identified as a person so I used my name instead of my business name. Second, I wanted to distinguish myself from other commenters so I decided to use my first AND last name. Even with a name like Dawud, I didn’t feel my first name a long gave me enough ‘oomph.’ Doesn’t hurt, too, that my last name is quite unique and often memorable. Third, I wanted to ‘brand myself’ as Dawud Miracle so that as I was more visible around the blogosphere, the recognition of my name would carry more and more weight. And fourth, I knew my commenting efforts would help open the door to relationships with other bloggers. So I wanted to be known for who I am and who I am is Dawud Miracle.

Whenever I leave comments, I pay attention to other commenters as well. I look for names I either know or have seen before. On my blog it’s the same – I look for familiar names. I immediately can recognize Ben Yoskovitz, Dave Starr, Drew McLellan, Doug Karr and Liz Strauss. But I have a harder time knowing who Tony, Sara, Maddy, Karin H., Chris M or Dave are.

Since they comment on my blog frequently, I know who Karin H. and Chris M are. And Dave is friend and mastermind partner. But is ‘Dave’ getting the best return on his commenting efforts? I think not. But if he he began signing his comments as Dave Schoof :: The Disquiet in Men – that would distinguish him. It would create some recognition and help him brand his himself and his blog more effectively.

So how do you brand yourself in the blog comments you leave?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stuart Baker, conscious cooperation says

    Real good post, Dawud. I am starting my new signature here. Thanks.

    Stuart Baker
    consciouscooperation.com

  2. Liz Strauss says

    I think your point is one that is well taken. I know in answering comments I often think that I know too many bloggers who have the same name. I want to be sure that I’m addressing the person who is talking. So it’s not only branding it’s making it easier for folks to converse with you intelligently. 🙂

  3. Dawud Miracle says

    Liz,

    True. You often get lots of comments at Successful-Blog. I’ve always been impressed in how you engage your readers in conversation. Yet, among the ambiguous commenter handles, how do you keep everyone straight?

    David,

    Yeah, I know how generic David is. Since you leave your full name on my comments, I can immediately recognize who left the comment. Helps tons.

    I’ve been playing with the idea of how Wendy Piersall :: eMoms signs her comments. Even better, I think, if your blog name doesn’t match your own name. I would do ‘Dawud Miracle :: Healthy WebDesign’ if I wasn’t changing my site domain and rebranding my business very soon.

  4. Anonymous says

    Hi Dawud

    I believe you are right (and glad to see you know me – by now ;-))

    I think it might become even more important to ‘brand’ your identity as blogger-commentor when the blogosphere keeps growing at the pace it does and/or when you have a ‘common’ name. I knew only 1 Mike blogger two months ago, now I know about four and always ‘wonder’ which Mike is commenting on my blog (or other blogs)> I have to ‘hover’ over the name to find out which ‘blog’domain is behind this Mike.

    So indeed, if you bring this towards branding (getting to be known) it is becoming more and more important to distinguise yourself from other ‘same-names’ identity.

    Side-note: taking this even further, perhaps too far, do we know have to start to worry about ‘claiming’ names? Hope not!

  5. Karin Karin H. says

    Isn’t that just so typical!

    The minute you try to follow your own thoughts and ideas (as in branding your blog-comment identity) your new comments are awaiting approval!

    🙂
    Only kidding Dawud, know you’re on to it

  6. Dawud Miracle says

    Karin H.,

    Yeah, so you know what I’m talking about. If you ask any branding expert they’re going to tell you that brand is built by consistency. So having a consistent commenting name is part of that.

    Claiming names…boy, if my name was John Harper or Larry Smith, I might be concerned. But for Dawud Miracle…not so much. What do you think?

  7. David Airey says

    Surprisingly a Google search for David Airey finds 304,000 results.

    After six months of blogging mine’s up there at number one spot. 🙂

  8. Karin Karin H. says

    😉
    Was first thinking of ‘changing’ it to ccp (as I was pretty well known as at my former job) but like you say: consistency is important, even when you are ‘rebranding’.

    What do you think about the H. addition? (first letter of surname)

  9. Dawud Miracle says

    Stuart,

    Glad to see you picking this up. You were one of the many people I was thinking of when I wrote this post.

    David,

    And yes, I use a screenshot from your site. Hope you don’t mind.

    Karin H.,

    Your initial works great. I would suggest using it everywhere now so that you begin to become known by it. But why not use your whole surname?

    Chris,

    Yes, I hear you. Though you might benefit greatly from Chris M, SearchAnyway.com. Just a thought. What do you?

  10. Dawud Miracle says

    I just got a phone call from Liz Strauss – who told me that she’s a bit too busy right now to leave a comment. She brings up another interesting point…

    “It makes me nervous when people only leave comments with initials. I don’t know whether I’m speaking to a man or woman.” She went on to say that if she’s attributing a comment to someone, she had no idea whether to call them he or she and that what makes her nervous is that she “doesn’t want to get it wrong.”

    Same goes for names like Chris (sorry) or Shawn or Sam.

  11. Chris M says

    It’s so funny that Liz mentioned gender concerns. I actually blogged about someone else’s post recently, and assumed that their unisex name was that of a man. It was very embarrassing.

    And you’re right, Dawud, “Chris M” hasn’t been all that bad on me. It’s better than just “Chris” and if you Google my full name, the results are astrounding — 34,100,000 results that include pro-athletes of all walks, historians, authors, journalists, entertainers, and the list goes on…

  12. Dawud Miracle says

    Chris,

    Interesting about your gender story.

    As for the Google results…do you think there’s some way you can ‘sign’ your blogging comments (and you blog posts) that would distinguish you from the huge Google results?

    Dave Schoof: The Disquiet in Men,

    I like. Congrats. I have a feeling this is going to make a difference for you.

  13. Char says

    You make some great points! I started out using “keystrokes” as my name (it is my company name after all), but switched to Char to add the personal element. Char is pretty unique so I haven’t felt the need to leave my full name (too long) yet.

    I do like Wendy’s strategy and I may consider signing Char :: Essential Keystrokes (or which ever blog I feel is the best match) in the future.

  14. Dawud Miracle says

    Char,

    Thanks Char. Using your name, instead of your business name, makes your comments more personal for me. I can relate to you more easily that way.

    I like Wendy’s approach too with listing name and blog name. It actually makes me curious about who you are and what you do.

  15. Karin Karin H. says

    Hi all

    Dawud, re using my surname, long story why I do not ;-).
    Thought Karin H. would stand-out sufficiently on its own in the English language where KarEn is more common than the Dutch writing style of the name, but then you still have others replying to me as ” Hi Karen” (grrrrr!, I’m rather sensitive about that).

    (funny side-note, well I found it funny: recently did a search on my full name on Google UK. There’s is another Dutch person with exactly the same name working and living in the UK – how small is the world?)

    As for ‘branding’ myself and our company on other forms of online conversations – forums etc – I use the ‘nickname’ WoodYouLike. That works great, but commenting/writing about business, marketing etc post I ‘write’ as myself, a business owner learning from others, so use my first name as ‘nickname’.

  16. Adam Kayce says

    You and I had a conversation (an honest-to-goodness phone conversation, not just a pixellated one) about this today, but it was before I’d checked my feed reader and saw this post.

    Good one! 🙂

    It brings up a question for me, though…

    If you saw, “Adam Kayce : Monk At Work” instead of just “Adam Kayce”, would you think, “Oh, here’s some shameless self-promoter leaving a comment, trying to get some publicity…”?

    I really like the idea of branding, I’m just wondering how much is too much?

  17. Adam Kayce says

    Maybe I’m answering my own question, here, but I notice that when I’ve seen Wendy’s posts, I’ve never thought anything but, “Oh, *that* Wendy,” and the bells of recognition go off in my head.

    So, this could be a good thing…!

  18. Adam Kayce says

    That makes sense. It’s also nice in my mind to see more than just “Joe Q. Schmo”, too. A name doesn’t tell me much, but “Joe Q. Schmo, SpeedyPlumbing” frames it so much better in my mind.

    In Wendy’s case (sorry to keep talking about you, Wendy! 🙂 ), I liked seeing her ’emom’ title, because it helped me feel more familiar with her, rather than seeing, “just another anonymous poster.”

    So, I’m jumping on the bandwagon, too (as you can see…).


    side question… how did you link to Wendy in your reply? Are these things html-enabled?

  19. Dawud Miracle says

    Adam,

    From what I’ve experienced in the blogosphere, my response – and other bloggers as well – would have to do more with the quality of your comments then on how you ‘present’ yourself as s commenter. I’m sure you could ask Wendy Piersall if she’s had any ‘negative’ feedback. I’m thinking not, though. I think it’s more like what you said in your second comment.

    Bottomline, bloggers tend to be much more content oriented – they love good content.

  20. Drew McLellan says

    Dawud,

    Excellent post. All very valid points. The other way that you can brand your comments is the comment style and content itself. I think I feel a post coming on….

    Drew

  21. Norm T says

    Absolutely, creating a recognizable brand is a great way to promote and sell your site. Great point Thanks.

  22. Dawud Miracle says

    Charles, Norm,

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  23. Chris Brown says

    Dawud:
    Wish I had a cool name like yours. Somehow I have ended up with a “generic” name, as well as a generic blog name: branding and marketing… and a generic business name: marketing resources & results.

    I didn’t have much to do with my name, but the other two were to describe my services and make it easy to find by searching for what you are looking for. It does feel pretty generic however when I’m signing posts.

    thanks for helping me get my thinking cap moving!
    Chris Brown

  24. Adam Kayce : Monk At Work says

    [quote comment=”2528″]Have you seen Guy Kawasaki’s suggestion about creating a 2-3 word mantra in place of a mission statement? That could be a way for you to differentiate yourself. Just a thought.[/quote]

    There’s also a great manifesto of Guy’s, which has the mantra concept explained very well, at Change This; search for “Art of the Start.”

  25. Brett Evans says

    I totally agree with the Branding yourself in you comments by posting your full name. Hopefully I could start recognizing peoples name’s on my blog post!

  26. Dawud Miracle says

    Brett,

    Being recognized is exactly why I ‘branded’ my comment signature. And it’s worked. Let me know about your experience with it.

    Thanks.

  27. Dawud Miracle says

    Stuart,

    That’s great news. Thanks for sharing it, Stuart. I didn’t do any official record keeping myself, but I did find more people coming from comments on other blogs once I ‘branded’ my comment signature.

  28. Daniel Sitter says

    Dawud,

    I truly enjoyed this post! In a like manner, I too, being conscious of my own brand, have developed the technique of always using my full name on book covers, article writing, blogging and writing comments.

    I have taken it one step further, per great advice from Scott Ginsberg, and have now been adding my “branding” signature to each blog post. You never know exactly where your feed will transport your latest post!

    Keep up the great writing!

    Best regards,
    Daniel Sitter

  29. Dawud Miracle says

    Daniel,

    Thanks. I’ve thought about putting my name as a signature as you have in the comment as well. Have yet to adopt that.

    Did you know, by the way, that you can control where the link you leave in a comment takes a commenter click-through? When you leave your web address, as you did when you filled in this comment, do so for a post you want people to see rather than your homepage. That way, they’ll end up reading a relevant post regardless of what’s on your blog’s homepage.

  30. Kathie Thomas says

    I’ve pretty much done the same wherever I’ve commented too and on most occasions linked back to the same blog as well, although sometimes it’s been suitable to link to a different one. I don’t think it’s any co-incidence though that the one I link to the most is also the one that made it in the Top 100 Aussie Blogs list recently. So I think the blog linking is also important.

    Thanks for this post – a good read and good thinking material!

  31. Chris Abraham says

    Have you checked out PostieCon? Seems like it would be the kind of conference that would really appeal to folks who are into branding, linking, interacting, and engaging online. Lots of monetization techniques as well, be really more about just the kind of thing “Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments?” talks about. Here, I am branding my own site/blog, because that’s who I am but I am also linking to PostieCon because that’s where I want you to look. I think that’s the best way, right? Hmm

  32. Dawud Miracle says

    Kathie,

    Absolutely. The link is important too. Sometimes I link to my homepage, sometimes to a specific post. Depends on the post I’m commenting on. What’s important, though, is name recognition. Then to leave quality comments. I know that how I got a number of people interested in my blog when it first launched…they told me so.

  33. gilda su says

    wow. well i’d only just started out my blog and have been commenting on some other blogs, but i never thought of it that way before… so i tried typing out my full name instead of just ‘gilda’. somehow, having a sirname like su just isn’t enough of a punch. HAHAHA.

    thanks for the tips. i’ll have to read up more.

    cheers,
    gilda, su su su~!

  34. Opal: The Raw & The Cooked says

    Great article!
    I used to use my first name Opal. Recently I started using my newly changed website title “The Raw & The Cooked” I liked it but it wasn’t personable but as of this article I started adding “Opal: The Raw & The Cooked”.

  35. Dawud Miracle says

    Fred,

    Yes. What I found was using my name – which is unique – in comments led people to my blog. Often because they’d see my comments on other blogs. and recognized me.

  36. Juggling Frogs says

    This is a great idea. I have been confused in the past, trying to follow long interwoven comment lists peppered by differnent “Jim”s, “Dave”s, and “Lisa”s.

  37. Robert Irizarry says

    Interesting topic. I’ve been using my full name practically from my beginnings in the blogosphere. However, it wasn’t specifically as a means of branding. I merely thought that it made sense given that I had no interest in trying to hide my real name in my online blogging activities.

  38. Dawud Miracle says

    Robert,

    Thanks. It does make sense. Which is why I find this idea so simple. Yet, I can’t believe how few people think about it when they leave comments. And truthfully, in the beginning, I didn’t.

  39. w3 edge says

    [quote comment=”4740″]w3-edge,

    True. You’re welcome to say a bit more about the ‘right kind of solution’ if you like.[/quote]
    [quote comment=”4738″]Branding is defiantly an important aspect of being a webmaster whether it is your personal blog or a corporate website. The right kind of solution can really increase your website traffic.

    Best of luck
    w3-edge[/quote]

    It’s obviously quite a complex point. How a brand is positioned is determined by the audience being marketed to (or that you’d like to have a dialog with). So if the goal is to be seen and reckonized blog comments must be pivotal and thought provoking in order to be memorable. If the goal is simply to get involved in ongoing dialogue branding is secondary becuase still when people like what you have to say, they will click thru to find more. So in the end it seems it’s comes down to priorities. What do you want to do push the brand first or push relationships – two approaches that evenutally can provide similar results.

  40. Single Grain says

    Dawud, I used also comment using my name but i quickly realized that people were recognizing me as a person instead of my company’s Brand Name “Single Grain” Since no one searches for me as a person I changed to Single Grain.

  41. Dawud Miracle says

    Single Grain,

    Exactly. I’m a little different in that my brand is Dawud Miracle. But really the same premise. What gets you seen, recognized and known.

  42. catur pw says

    yes i do.
    i realize that giving comment for other popular blog (with consistent manner) will bring a lot beneficial on our brand image.

  43. AJ Vaynerchuk says

    Nice post and I totally agree with your main points. I recently wrote a post on my blog regarding this very same topic and even taking it a step further with the idea of blog comment signatures. Conveniently the link will be in my signature right below 🙂

    ——————————
    AJ Vaynerchuk
    Owner and Blogger
    http://www.ajvaynerchuk.com
    Read my article about blog comment signatures and how to make yours!

  44. Sohbet says

    I’d be interested in an updated GoogleAnalytics chart (may be two with about six weeks coverage), just to see if the effect did wear off after a while and also, did others link to your new name with the same link-text (allinurl:…).
    I hope you will publish a follow up.

  45. ses5909 says

    Hi, I would be the Sara mentioned above :). My question for you is, my full name is Sara Smith which obviously isn’t very unique. In most circles I run and in all of the communities I am involved in, I am known as ses5909. Yes, that is very unique but is it something a person should be known as? I’m open for suggestions 🙂

  46. Dawud Miracle says

    Sohbet,
    I may write a follow up one of these days. Right now, I think what I’m suggesting is just common sense – especially if you’re someone who leaves good comments. Then the blog owners get to know you better.

    I don’t really care how measurable the results are overall. I’m more interested in the real-life results that have led to partnerships and relationships.

    ses5909,
    What do you do, Sara Smith?

  47. ses5909 says

    I create websites for a living and have gone by the username ses5909 for actually 12 years (starting back in my Navy days) so if you google that, it will bring up quite a bit about me. But googling Sara Smith, will only bring up a limited amount of results that are relevant to me.

  48. Dawud Miracle says

    Kathie,
    It’s pretty amazing, huh?

    ses5909,
    That makes sense. But do your clients and prospects recognize you as ses5909? They may, I don’t know.

    Charles,
    Nice branding – I know exactly who you are.

  49. TRCoach says

    [quote comment=”9093″]Hi, I would be the Sara mentioned above :). My question for you is, my full name is Sara Smith which obviously isn’t very unique. In most circles I run and in all of the communities I am involved in, I am known as ses5909. Yes, that is very unique but is it something a person should be known as? I’m open for suggestions :)[/quote]

    I would suggest Sara (The Blog Experiment) Smith

    :)Tom (TRCoach)

  50. Sohbet says

    That’s a wonderful plugin. I’m sure there’s room for adding some additional features to it. Thanks.

  51. Sohbet says

    without exaggeration, that’s one of the most amazing comments I’ve ever read in the history of blogs. the ignorance and bigotry is astonishing.

  52. Chat says

    Sounds like a good show, hope Sebastian found his crankyness again. He`s been slipping off the scale lately so Johns had to pick up the pace,and we all know he can do that very well. Great work!!!!.

  53. Sohbet says

    Well i not sure the reason most people start a blog … it seems to me there is a belief that if they have direct control over their content some how things will be more successful or they will be in control of it.

  54. pearl says

    this is really interesting because it’s been on my mind for quite some time now. Every time I sign my name as ‘pearl’ – I find myself debating if I should have typed ‘tyropearl’… or Pearl @ fresh perspectives

  55. Bayern Wellness says

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  56. Travel Guy says

    Dawud,
    Couldn’t agree more. I used to use only first name which is John. Needless to say it had no chance to stand out. So switched sometime back to tying it to my site.

  57. Steve says

    Hey Dawud,

    I have a problem with branding my name.

    1. It’s as generic as you can get (Steve).

    2. My site is a weight loss site. So if I sign with anything to do with “weight loss” I’ve found that it gets looked at negatively. Especially when commenting on non-health/weight related blogs.

    Any suggestions for me? also how long is too long for a sig name?

    What do you think is better to promote in the comment section, a main static site or the blog attached to that site?

    Thanks in advance for your insight.

  58. Andrew says

    I don’t brand myself, i try to be honest and contribute. I just feel if im branding myself, everything gets a bit spammy and theres really no reason to. It could reveal our personalities though which would be a good thing.

  59. Dawud Miracle says

    Steve,
    I would simply distinguish yourself by using your full name, and maybe the name of your site (e.g. Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com). This way, people can more easily recognize you from your comments. And good comments, even on non-health sites, will peak people’s interest.

    Andrew,
    Remember what I’m suggesting here…it’s about being recognized. Are you not commenting on blogs, at least partly, to get people back to yours? Then why not use a ‘signature’ that distinguishes you from other Andrews?

  60. Dawud Miracle says

    Scott,
    I know. I really appreciate getting to know the people who comment on my site – and I know other bloggers are the same way. And when you see the same name of a commenter in many places, it makes you want to find out who they are. Is that what you do?

  61. ensest hikayeler says

    Nice post and I totally agree with your main points. I recently wrote a post on my blog regarding this very same topic and even taking it a step further with the idea of blog comment signatures. thanks

  62. lei says

    In my opinion as long as you put a short and unique name it is still noticeable. It shouldnt be more than 8 syllable to be remembered easily. Its just like the principle of advertising.

  63. web design company says

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  64. Michael Pratt says

    Dawud,
    I came across your thread by searching for articulate pieces on blogging content generation. You’re everywhere and that’s a kudo to your high quality pieces. It seems to me that it’s actually not that there’s a dearth of quality content out there but that there’s so much low quality stuff, it takes a lot of searching to find the good stuff. Thanks for being part of the quality.

  65. Dawud Miracle says

    Michael,
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m always doing what I can to create high quality content that can actually make a difference to business owners – bloggers or otherwise.

  66. Rob McNealy says

    Ah, yet another detail to think about and remember. It makes sense though. You get a lot bigger bang for your buck if people can tell you’re the same person when they find your comments on different sites.

    I’ll have to work on a catchy new moniker…

    -Rob

  67. Dawud Miracle says

    Rob,
    Remember, most bloggers that you want to build relationships with want to also build them with you. So make yourself unique, yet remain obvious that you’re a person.

    Quality Link,
    It does. And in your case, when I see Quality Link Directory I don’t think of you as a person. I think of you as a business who wants traffic. So where’s the incentive for me to want to build a relationship with you?

  68. Rom @ PR4 Link Directory says

    @ Dawud : My apologies for the previous post but it is a reality in IM.

    However, I enjoy reading from most of your posts. Such insighful views are some of the things that I fail to wallow on. Upon reading most of your posts, I would certainly take time to think of such things I normally take for granted…

  69. Dawud Miracle says

    VAN MAN,
    But what I’m talking about here is social branding in a way where you can become recognized by other bloggers and commenters for the way you sign your comments.

    Rom,
    No worries. I’m just pleased you’re gaining something from my mutterings. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

  70. Malin says

    I have been thinking about that, if I should brand myself as “Malin Infektia” or just “Malin”. There aren’t many Malin’s in the english blogosphere, and “Malin Infektia” doesn’t really sound right. I’m not sure what to choose really.

  71. Jenny says

    I actually don’t. Only because there is nothing on my site worth branding myself for. But I do comment as Jenny and then people usually just know who it is.

  72. Kathleen Whalen : says

    A comment string from our business community within ‘biz nik’ led me to your article.
    Although I do not have a Miracle name, I am still working on my branding name and tag. Your articulate comments have just confirmed the repeated need for Resonance within our businesses, lives and presence on the web.
    Branding is resonance.
    It allows our minds to settle for an encapsulated moment within this ever increasingly stimulating world.
    How’s that for a twist.

  73. Live Crunch - Technology Blog says

    I use either Live Crunch or the one above, depends on how I feel. That is my brand and that is the way people know my blog by. Like it?

  74. fneg says

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ????????? ???
    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????

  75. Rize says

    Being recognized is exactly why I ‘branded’ my comment signature. And it’s worked. Let me know about your experience with it.

    Thanks.

  76. Rize says

    I have been thinking about that, if I should brand myself as “Malin Infektia” or just “Malin”. There aren’t many Malin’s in the english blogosphere, and “Malin Infektia” doesn’t really sound right. I’m not sure what to choose really.

  77. Rize says

    Thanks for your comments. The point of branding is being recognized by your target market. Anything you can do to increase your visibility, the better.

  78. laptop says

    There are actually a few different ones out there. I have been giving this software a go and see how it pans out.

    You have a great site and i return to it ever now and then as i find the time.

  79. Pali Madra says

    Does branding mean having an exclusive name. If that is the case “Pali Madra” is exclusive or should it be Pali Madra at afterthedotnet?

    I had another question. I see a lot of comments on your blog which have links to different websites or blogs. I thought that would be classified as spam particularly the comments left by Stuart Baker and Sleeping Dude.

    On the whole I think a great post and interesting reading.

  80. Dawud Miracle says

    Sneaker,
    What has you light bulb illuminated about your business?

    laptop,
    Great. Let me know what you think.

    Pali,
    Either would be fine. Just that’s it’s consistent.

    As for comments – my site is about the conversation. So I work a bit of overtime to find comments in spam and pull them out. Links in comments shouldn’t be spam unless, well, they are.

  81. muhabbet says

    No joke! What a great, energetic group – very outgoing. Other than the fact that they kicked Arizona’s ass 6-1 I could hang with these ladies and learn a little something about focus and team spirit. nice

  82. self storage says

    You have a great site and i return to it ever now and then as i find the time.

  83. Santa Barbara SEO says

    You do have a point there. It does however always depend on what it is that you want to accomplish. I comment equally with all keywords and also name. This gives the best results is what I think…

  84. acer says

    You do have a point there. It does however always depend on what it is that you want to accomplish. I comment equally with all keywords and also name. This gives the best results is what I think…

  85. school supplies says

    its important to blog yourself to keep your thoughts on paper and not just cooped up in your head. it allows your spirit to release and set itself free!

  86. Tattoo Ideas says

    blogging is very important just to get your thoughts and feelings written down.

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  1. […] If you’re new here and like what you read, you may want to subscribe to my blog feed or sign up for free email updates. Thanks for visiting!I was reading Ben Yoskovitz Instigator Blog just yesterday when I came across a link to Dawud Miracle’s post on self-branding and marketing. In his post, Dawud basically examines the issue of branding oneself or one’s website/company whenever leaving comments on other blogs. […]

  2. […] Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments? […]

  3. […] I came across an interesting post today at dmiracle.com/how-to-blog that I thought worth sharing here. He was asking if you brand yourself in your comments on blogs and then proceeded to explain that particular comments floating around the place would always be ones he’d made on various blogs. Dawud spoke of various bloggers and names that have become familiar to many in the blogging world and how that using just a firstname or nickname probably wouldn’t identify you or separate yourself from others in the blogging community. […]

  4. […] Of course, Maki’s point is a bit off in that only 1 of those 69 comments was to engage me in a conversation. The rest were just link hunters. That’s fine, I participated in the meme and expected that. But it isn’t the type of commenting I’m looking for. I’m looking for commenting that lead to rich conversation – such as in these three posts. […]

  5. […] How do you brand yourself in comments? Now, this is a good question to debate on. Many blogs display readers avatars/gravatars in the comment section of their blogs. Do you use the same logo/photo in your avatar for different social networking sites? What do you display in your avatar: your photo, a logo, someone’s else photo, or an illustration? How do you sign the Name section of the comment – with your First name only, or First and Last name, or with a nickname, or with your blog’s/website’s name? […]

  6. business etiquette case studies…

    Differences and business etiquette. Business Case Studies. A must for Brits planning a business. Case studies help to give a rounded perspective on the ……

  7. […] I read an interesting article by Dawud Miracle – “Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments?” The article brings up an interesting point about branding and the importance of branding […]

  8. […] I noticed for the first time this morning, all the different “signatures” people leave when commenting in the blogosphere. Then I began thinking about comment strategy, and wondered if there was any info on the topic. I Googled a few different keyphrases and eventually came across a post by Dawud Miracle, in which he talks about his choice in personal branding. […]

  9. […] Unless you’re trying to protect your identity for some reason, use your first and last name. I’ll leave it to my pal Dawud Miracle to explain why. […]

  10. […] post on blog commenting, I referenced an article by web designer Dawud Miracle. In Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments? Dawud […]

  11. […] Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments? […]

  12. […] Unless you’re trying to protect your identity for some reason, use your first and last name. I’ll leave it to my pal Dawud Miracle to explain why. […]

  13. […] Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments? […]

  14. […] post on blog commenting, I referenced an article by web designer Dawud Miracle. In Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments? Dawud […]

  15. […] Unless you’re trying to protect your identity for some reason, use your first and last name. I’ll leave it to my pal Dawud Miracle to explain why. […]