In all blogging tips, the importance of reading articles is one of those things you probably have not been told. Bloggers don’t take reading articles as one of their blogging practices, not all bloggers though. But as a blogger, it is not okay not to take reading articles as part of blogging, even if it is not compulsory. And it’s even worse to comment on articles when you didn’t actually read them, some bloggers does this a lot and it’s almost a tradition on the blogosphere. But if you’re out for a bulk backlink building, then that’s understandable. We are humans, if you need thirty backlinks in a night; it’s difficult to read thirty complete articles.
So reading some parts of an article before commenting might be acceptable as it saves time and stress. But this should only be done when you know you are tired plus if you already have a knowledge of the topic. So it’s fairly okay if you skip reading some parts of an article on occasions like this. Doing this might work for you, but then, your benefits may be limited to backlinks only, which might not even be approved. Reading articles gives you more opportunity to get your comments approved, it builds your writing skill, it does lots of good and these are some of the things I am going to be outlining based on my experience.
Why I Consider Reading Articles As One Of The Greatest Blogging Tips
1) It Builds Writing Skill
Most bloggers like said earlier, skips reading articles before they comment on them. Unknowing that reading the articles won’t only give a greater chance of making a sense-full comment that will likely be approved but also builds their writing skills – Content they say is king, but how would your content be king when you’ve got no writing skills. When you read articles written by me, when you read articles written by Amit Shaw, when you read articles written by Ileane Smith, when you read articles written by Jide Ogunsanya. A unique writing skill will be built within you, that way, you’ll know how to write well organized articles. That in itself is a credit for reading articles. Note that the listed names were just illustrations, what I am trying to say here is; if you read articles written by different people, a unique writing skill will be built within you. Want to know what a good writing skill can do? A good writing skill get readers stunned in admiration of you, it helps gain your readers’ complete attention as they read, it increases sales, it commands readers’ respect and makes them want to read more of your articles, your articles on blogging tips or other tutorials gets more organized, it stops them by to read your new posts even if it does not fall on their interest and so much more …
2) Gives Greater Chance to Make Good Comment
Somehow I talked about this on the previous paragraph. Reading articles before commenting gives you a greater; I mean GREATER chance to make good comment(s). While building backlinks, I encountered an article which was a question and not a tutorial. But was tagged: “Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch Tutorials”. The article’s title didn’t give a close idea about the body but summarizing the article in few sentences, you’ll get something like this;
“I newly bought a Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch, Ever since I received this cool drawing tool; I have been looking for some tutorials that could help me learn how to use it. I looked all over for instruction on how to use this tool but could not get any, Do you know of any good Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch tutorials that helped you know the usage?.”
The writer was actually asking the public for a tutorial (help) on how he could use his new pen and touch hardware better. If I hadn’t red the article itself, following the title of the article, my comment would have been;
“Hi Lee, I also got a new Bamboo Fun pen and Touch, I found this article useful because I’ve been having some difficulty in using mine.”
But I never did because I later calmed myself down to read the article before commenting. If you were the admin, after reading such spam, I guess you won’t waste another second before deleting it. If the admin deletes the comment then you’ve lost one valuable backlink that might have last forever. On the other hand, if the admin is so in need of comments and approved such comment then you risk your reputation.
3) It Builds Relationship
Blog commenting is not all about building backlinks but also about building relationship. Don’t focus too much on search engines; that might make you spam. These days, bloggers focus more on search engines than real people. You have more chance to make a reasonable comment on an article only when you read the article. Users will be very much interested in knowing more about you if your comments would be best described as wow!
It’s like the other day when I was building relationships (backlinks). I stumbled upon a very brilliant comment that was made on a topic about writing great contents at blondish.net which was tagged; “How to Improve the Quality of Your Blog Posts”.
See comment:
“Hi Nile, excellent topic to cover. Most people talk about quality content without ever telling new bloggers (or even some old ones for that matter) how to develop it.
It takes time to build up expertise and knowledge in a given topic but many times people want to take short cuts. The world around us is constantly changing so we always need to keep on top of the latest news and trends also.
Thanks for the post Nile!”
Tell you what; this comment was made by Ileane Smith of BBT. If I hadn’t known her, after reading her comment, I’d gladly click on her name just so I can know more about her and where she blogs at for such intelligence.
I have had two bloggers who added me up on Google Plus. Just because of a comment I made on their blogs. If I had spammed them, do you think they’d want to follow me? And in other-words they’d likely link back to me on their posts, if not, then it’ll be easier to submit a guest post to them. I link back to bloggers I know, but if I hadn’t known them or not in a good term with them, then nothing will make me link to them. This also implies to your public persona on groups and forums. Don’t just comment, take your time to read through the post before commenting, that way, people wont ignore your comments when they see them.
4) Get Things Done Better
When you patiently read articles, I mean COMPLETE articles you easily get the points of a tutorial or some bogging tips and get things done better, that way, you are increasing your blogging productivity. Lots of people don’t believe that I customized the look of my blogger blog (WorldWebSurfers.com) myself. When searching for ways to do something and got to some tutorials, you might jump the introduction and go straight to read the steps of the tutorial, but that introduction might not contain palaver, but how you could make the most of what the tutorial is written across.
5) You Get informed
When you read articles, you get informed. Be it news, reviews, blogging tips or other tutorials… what have you? You simply get informed. You learn new things, new words, ways to motivate your readers and keep them entertained as they read, ways great Internet Marketers convince their prospects to buy their stuff etc…
Finale
Hope you got informed, if you like the article. Help spread the word out, share this on your personal blog(s), favorite social networks… Let’s motivate bloggers to do the right thing – Reading articles rather than finding shortcuts. Kindly share your thoughts on the comments. Cheers!
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About Amit Shaw
Reading always gives the needed fodder to our brain. It initiates thinking. Especially if you’re blocked to think about topics to write, reading others’ blog posts can give us new insights and perspectives. I use this all the time when I’m stuck.
Wow! Jane, that was great. Like you said, it helps a lot when you’re kind of blocked to think about topics. Good to have here Jane.
Hello Emmanuel,
Yes I do feel the same that reading articles also increases your vocabulary. Being a writer whether newbie or professional, reading a lot of others articles surely increases the writing skill as well as makes you more informed about different topics. Thanks for the share!!
You’re welcome Aditi, you said it all and it can’t be more true.
Hey Emmanuel. Great Idea to share your Benefits by building a habit of reading.
I kinda have some similar positives for me too.
I’m a 16 year old from Kerala,India where we guys don’t speak a tiny bit of English. But even though I haven’t mastered English, all those articles from the Blogosphere shaped my language a lot and now I can blog just like other Indian Bloggers do. I will make use of the wide internet to improve my writing and conversation skills in the future.
And also, as a blogger, the web is providing me with information to output on my blog. I’m learning from nowhere but other blogs. iTechCode is just a great example.
Thanks for sharing man. Hope you are doing well! 🙂 Good luck
Hi Amal, I am doing well and thanks for asking. Hey! that’s a great testimony that you’re from the part of India that doesn’t speak much English, but here you are so brilliant and I guess I am right you said “those articles on the blogosphere shaped your language”, well that’s what reading can do. Cheers! and happy blogging.
The Best advantage of reading Articles is Getting new and Good Information everytime with Different point of views and Opinions. Thats what matters most
Hey Ravi, its good to have you here. It is true reading articles opens possibilities of getting new ideas, new mind set, views… That can’t be more true.
Hello Emmanuel Obarhua,
I agree with your point. Reading keeps brain storming our knowledge, ideas & thoughts. It enhances our knowledge on global world. So when we write anything, the previous thought & knowledge helps to write in a better & attractive way.
Hi Ahsan,
That’s the writing skill I talked about, it will please you to hear that even before I start writing an article, I go to read some related articles online.
Kind Regards.
The best thing about it is that it builds writing skills. Due short attention span, no really reads now a days, everyone skims but reading is a good habit.
Nice posting mate.
Hi Devinder, Yes I agree with you. The skill you gain in reading articles is more important to me than backlinks. I can always pay for backlinks to be built, but can never buy writing skill with money. The only way to get good writing skill is by reading articles. Thanks for dropping. 🙂
Yeah, I too agree that the reading habit paves the way to gain knowledge in English which would helps to get the good writing skill.
Hope it is a fabulous post containing an exceptional blogging tips. Neat work by you Emmanuel! thanks for writing!
Hi Nirmala, Its no doubt reading articles brings about, or gives you a better knowledge in English. Thanks for the compliment, I try.
Yes you are right Emmanuel, reading articles is a great habit, as you cannot write articles without gaining knowledge, and for that you need to go through a lot of posts, which in turn improves your knowledge, improves your vocabulary as well as writing style.
By the way Emmanuel, do you think every blog should focus on making their posts much more readable using good fonts and proper line and words spacing?
Hello Rahul, That’s the point, I remember well that my writing skill has changed drastically compared to now. Sometimes i feel like deleting all my old blog post, lol. Talking about font typefaces, it has always been a good thing to use readable fonts, it encourages reading and keeps readers on the safe side with their eyes.
Hey Emmanuel,
I totally agree with you pal.
Since I started blogging, I find that reading articles from other blogs in my niche boosts my desire to blog even more. This also helps to fuel my passion for blogging.
Awesome post!
Hey Kharim, that’s awesome. “This also helps to fuel my passion for blogging”. Wow! That’s the point I didn’t made mention of. Good to have you here.
Very valuable points, reading is one of the integral part of writing good articles. I used to plenty of articles before writing any article or doing any designing part.
Thanks for this nice article.
Hi Ramnadh, Reading has its way of opening you up and bringing out the writing talent in you plus it makes you get things done better. Thanks for the compliment.
I’m guilty as charged LOL… Once in a while I’ll skim through the blog or just read the headings and make a comment. Shame on me, but I get the point of what you’re saying. When we did this, we miss out on a lot, especially you’re first point which is building your writing skills. It’s funny how your inner writing self comes out after reading other blog posts. I never really thought of that. Thanks for sharing Emmanuel!
Hello Sherman,
You’re welcome sir. No one’s guilty lol, it’s a personal decision but should be taken seriously. Lots of bloggers are unaware of this. But I’m glad you got informed.
Kind Regards.
Its true that nothing can be a substitute for reading. The more we read, we gain knowledge, begint to think logically and organise our thoughts in a better way. Commenting after reading the full article gives a good chance for leaving a valuable comment as told above and its absolutely correct. I hope I did contribute something to this discussion. Nice and inspiring post.
Hey Vicky, You sure made a great contribution to this topic. Nothing can be made a substitute to reading. Thanks for the compliment Vicky. happy blogging 🙂
Main thing is that their comment encourage us to write more informative articles and build a good relationship between author and viewers..
oh yes emmanuel..i learnt a lot and laughed a lot too…i mean..seriously? bamboo fun pen and touch? yea if i would have seen such a comment on my blog, i would have definitely marked it as spam too haha!!
and yes amit’s and ileane’s writing is very good..they use good words because they are actually very good readers as well. in order to become a good writer we should be a good reader as well! thx for all the info 😉
Cheers,
Gautam
Hello Gautam, I am glad you find this intriguing. I think anyone would delete a big lie (commenting out of point). True Amit and Ileane are good writers, but not just them lol. me too, don’t you think? Cheers!
HI,
Amit
Nice, Reading Articles as One Of The Greatest Blogging Tips, it brings knowledge and make things easy to do, and i am agree about your point that It Builds Relationship.
Thanks
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