There is power in a comment.

Blog commenting, arguably the most basic form of online interaction, is still one of the most impactful ways you can grow your readership. And I do not mean by manipulatively collecting comments for your own blog. I mean by your offering unsolicited, spam-free comments on other blogs—and watching the returns roll in.

Inbound marketing software provider Moz‘s co-founder Rand Fishkin recently shared the Whiteboard Friday video 10 Tactics to Improve Blog Readership. The first tactic he mentioned? Earning participation by blog commenting and social sharing. The thought here is that to be a respected member of the blogosphere community, you must first give and earn respect.

I have seen the power of blog comments work for me. When not busy with my job as a legal marketer, I keep up a small blog—not at all a unique pursuit these days. Recently, my blog traffic has been increasing steadily and I did some digging to figure out why. Turns out, during the past several months my hard work of commenting and sharing on other people’s blogs has paid off. As proof, recently I was quoted and my blog linked to by a big-name blogger in my niche. Interaction works.

Such diligent commenting and sharing your way around the blogging world likely will generate similar success for your law firm’s blog readership. Interacting and connecting with other bloggers is the responsible online community member thing to do. And being a good citizen still counts for something.

A call for interaction is not limited to blog commenting, though. There are countless ways you can continue the work of interaction beyond submitting a comment.

• Directly contact those bloggers you admire. Have a few industry voices been especially inspiring to your work? Or maybe a particular writer has challenged the way you approach law. Send them a note directly and share your appreciation! If you subscribe to their email newsletters, you likely could simply reply to the sending address. If not, use their sites’ contact page or send a direct message on a social platform. Networking pays off, especially if it results in a guest posting opportunity or other collaborative project.
• Comment on their posts in your own blog. Your comments on the content of others need not be confined to a box following their posts. Consider commenting on posts (with a link!) in your own blog. With trackback and ping back capabilities the authors will be alerted that their sites have been linked to and, in the same way, you will be notified when someone else links back to your posts.
• Write a complementary piece or a point/counterpoint post. Do you especially agree with a recent post in your niche? Or maybe you have a few issues with a post you would like to address. Your blog is a wonderful place to publicly, but respectfully, engage the big issues. You might partner with a friendly blogger to jointly launch a campaign, each presenting one side of an issue and interlinking with each other. And when you bring a conversation to the public forum, all eyes are on you.

It is well worth your time to invest in developing relationships with other bloggers in your industry. Again, this call for blog interaction is not a sneaky strategy or a black-hat “link exchange.” It is simply an invitation for you to take part in this time-honored, organic and fruitful exercise.