When you set out to sell your stuff online, you never realized just how hard it would be to grasp the etiquette surrounding internet marketing.

You set up a shop, blast your news on Twitter and even start up a blog to get the word out about your amazing products. You try different strategies to drive traffic, including blog commenting, which is a very effective way of:

• building relationships with peers
• improving your communication skills
• spreading the word about your items (casually, of course)
• exposing new people to you and your work

But are you commenting the right way?

I've put together the following tips to help you avoid the common mistakes most newbies make when they comment on blogs:

1. Only comment if you have something interesting/helpful to say

If you go around and comment on 100 blogs a day with something short and slightly rushed, it serves no purpose. The blog owner will see right through it and really have no reason to hop over to your blog and see what you're saying.

Instead, only comment when you absolutely have something of value to add to the conversation. Your business time will be spent much more wisely.

2. Stop blatantly promoting your business

There's a reason they give you a spot to leave your website url and email address. It's not classy to add additional links or more about your business when commenting on blogs.

A truly insightful comment will make the blog publisher and their readers so intrigued by you that they don't need any bells and whistles to click on your name and head straight over to your own website. Trust me.

3. It's okay to disagree, but do it professionally

Not long ago, I had good friend Tara Gentile disagree with me on a post I did for Mogul Mom.

While I ended up "agreeing to disagree" with her comment, it opened up a lot of dialogue and gave us all additional insight into the topic. It's always OK to disagree or share a differing opinion on someone's post, just do it nicely to avoid seeming catty. You don't want to hurt others' feelings and tarnish the image of your business.

Properly commenting on blogs for genuine and professional reasons will not only benefit your business, but give you some other amazing benefits as well.

Here's a list of helpful links related to the power of blog commenting and tips for succeeding with your efforts:

• Lessons Learned from The Great Blogging Experiment
• 10 Reasons Commenting is Good for Bloggers
• Is Commenting on Blogs a Smart Traffic Strategy?
• 7 Things to Avoid While Leaving a Blog Comment
• How to Write a Great Blog Comment
• Why You Should Comment on Blogs

Justine Smith is an Etsy success story who used her experience selling online and turned it into a full-time wholesale business. Her real passion is helping handmade sellers find success marketing their craft products. She offers tips on advertising, branding, social media and growth via email through her blog Justine's Media.

Photo courtesy of funtik.cat

Do you have a blogroll?  A blogroll is a list of links to blogs that usually appears in the sidebar or at the bottom of a blog. Oftentimes, a blogroll will wind up driving traffic back to your own blog because linking out frequently results in others linking back.

In addition to the increased traffic, there are several other reasons to have a blogroll...and here are 4 of them:

1. Support Your Fellow Bloggers: We need all the support we can get and showing support for your fellow blogger by listing their blog in your blogroll is one of the best things you can do.  Whether you just enjoy reading a blog or it's your best friend's blog, listing their blog in your blogroll is the right thing to do and a fantastic way to support one another!

2. Get Others Involved In Your Community: By having a blogroll, you naturally will influence your own readers to explore the other blogs listed in your blogroll and therefore your community.  Your blogroll becomes an incredible tool in building your network and collaborating with your community.

3. Reflect Your Style and Personality: One of the best reasons to have a blog is to share your story and having a blogroll can help tell that story.  Your blogroll can reflect a piece of your personality and the type of interests you have which can help your readers connect more closely with you and maybe even turn your readers into future customers and clients.

4. Expose Your Audience to New Interests: Being open to new ideas and interests is the best part of life so why not share some in your blogroll.  Expose your audience to new interests by listing blogs that don't necessarily follow your niche, but still are creative and provide a level of interest that deserve to be shared.  Be careful with this one as you don't want to dilute your own brand with an inappropriate blogroll.

So, now I'll ask my original question again...do you have a blogroll?  If so, what's the blog at the top of your list...please share as we'd love to hear about them.

Main image courtesy of taratara69