Blog Footprints
Talk about a ‘revelation’ moment…
Quite a few times recently I have come across the term ‘footprints’ when talking about blogs and blog templates. I’ve wondered what in the world that means… Now that I ran into another mention of ‘footprints’ today and I thought, “That’s it! I just have to find out what the heck they’re talking about!”. So I did. 
It turns out that ‘footprints’ are those references often found at the very bottom of blog templates, like “Powered by WordPress” or something similar. So what? Well, it appears that you can play detective and find some pretty sneaky information by using blog footprints.
Footprints can also mean certain phrases that are commonly used on all blogs of this or that blogging platform. Specifically, there are standard phrases (bits and pieces of text) that accompany comment forms on a blog that would be exactly the same on all WordPress blogs. Hold on, here comes the revelation moment…
Using the standard WordPress ‘footprints’ in conjunction with Google advanced search terms like site:, inurl: and intext: we can find all blogs where comments are enabled, so we could comment on posts and leave our link with the anchor text in the comment form. Take it one step further, and you can search for the very ‘juicy’ .edu and .gov sites or blogs where you can do the same. (It is believed that backlinks from those type of sites have more ‘value’ in the eyes of search engines, especially Google). Here are a few examples for using footprints with WordPress…
site:.edu “powered by wordpress” —- 494,000 results
site:.edu “Leave a Comment” “Name” “Website” —- 3,520,000 results
site:.edu “Leave a Reply” “Name (required)” “Mail (will not be published) (required)” “Website” —- 11,400,000 results (Recommended)
site:.gov “powered by wordpress” —- 48,200 results
site:.gov “Leave a Comment” “Name” “Website” —- 39,600 results
site:.gov “Leave a Reply” “Name (required)” “Mail (will not be published) (required)” “Website” —- 81,600 results (Recommended)
You can also add some niche-specific keywords (in quotation marks) to narrow down your search… Like so:
site:.edu “Leave a Reply” “Name (required)” “Mail (will not be published) (required)” “Website” “My Keyword“
Or how about finding all the highly relevant web pages with your keyword in the URL that allow you to leave a comment on, together with your name (anchor text) and your own link?
site:.edu “Leave a Reply” “Name (required)” “Mail (will not be published) (required)” “Website” inurl:”My Keyword”
Doesn’t it just make your head spin with all the ideas and possibilities?! I know I am still feeling slightly dizzy!
To give credit to the source of information that helped me most during this ‘footprint research’, check out this post on netbuilders.org. You’ll also find more examples for other popular blogging platforms there.
Hope this helps! Drop me a contact request if you have any questions! Or perhaps you have some of your own Internet Marketing wisdoms to share that can help ‘regular folks’ create a real solid business online? I’d love to hear from you!
Natalia,
That is some great information. You can also add -nofollow to your search and find the do follow blogs.
Although I have not used that tactic, I am very familiar with it. My blogs have a plugin that stops and displays a warning to visitors who get to my blogs that way. It does not prevent them from visiting, but it does have them read a TOS type thing. This is for both the benefit of my blog as well as legitimate visitors.
Leaving proper comments on a blog is a win-win situation. Natalia wins because other human visitors see real activity here. I win because I get a free link to my website here. Even if it is a no-follow link, I will get at least one visitor. When things settle down, Natalia will run her kids out of the room to see if the link is spam or adult oriented. (she will be relieved to know it is neither.)
Someone else here might follow it as well.
Please, people, feel free to use this method of finding sites, but be respectful. You want a free link, Natalia, other blogger and I want legitimate, in-context comments. There are millions of blogs. If you can’t find an article to make a legitimate comment, move to the one with a topic you like. After all, it will be deleted in the preview stage before being posted anyway.
Again, Thank you Natalia for the information.
Buck
Thanks, Buck! I appreciate your thoughtful comment!
~Nat
Hi Nat,
I feel a bit like the guy who followed in ‘ole’ Good King Wenceslas’ footsteps.
I got to the ‘Doesn’t it make your head spin?’ part and I can’t see how to put all this theory into practice.
If I begin to put phrases like “site:.gov “Leave a Comment” “Name” “Website” ” in the middle of a paragraph about -Dark, Black Chocolate is good for you heart- it might look odd.
(Yes, I noticed ‘dark black’ looks odd anyway)
I can see you are on to something like a gold strike and I expect all those things you itemized will wake up all the spiders who will come running and bounding to read this blog post.
Maybe an example of this knowledge would clear the ‘snow lay(ing) round about deep and crisp and even.
You are brilliant as always.
James.
James, this is all new to me too!
If I understand it correctly, you just use those special search terms, combined with the “footprints” phrases to find links of other people’s blogs (related to your niche or not) that you can leave your comments on.
When you comment on other blogs you are usually asked to fill in the fields with your name, email and your website link, and your comment of course.
Then, after your comment is approved by the blog owner (and if it’s a relevant comment that adds value – why not approve it?), you’ll have a permanent link on that blog pointing back to your website.
The more good, genuine, relevant, non-spammy backlinks you have that point to your site or blog, the more its value rises in the eyes of search engines.
At least that’s how I see it from my ‘housewife marketing’ perspective.
Nat
Hmmm this post is very good. keep goin on
Can you tell me any related articles?
Janet – just google it!
~Nat
Hmmm, I see exactly what you mean. Also, do you happen to have an RSS feed? I am trying to subscribe to it so I can get your updates. Let me know.
Hey there HCG Diet!
Just go to my home page and hit the big orange RSS button!
http://www.onlineincomemom.com/
Hello to all, I can’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Help me please. Your blog looks good, have a good one.
Saul:
Go to this page and click on the orange RSS button:
http://www.onlineincomemom.com/
~Nat
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remember when I first started thinking this was more confusing than it should be
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Thank you for your blog article.Much thanks again. Will read on…
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Hi! Is it alright if I go a bit off topic? I’m trying to read your post on my Macbook but it doesn’t display properly, do you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Barton
Barton –
Sorry, no clue about Macbook!
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I adore this theme. How hard is it to mess around with? Would you be able to write me an email? I would love to get this theme and use it on some of my sites. Thank you in advance!
Sharda, the theme is called Mainstream, and you’re right – I did “mess” with it a little bit.
~Nat
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Craig Dean
How To Write An Article
Oh I have just had a great thought. I bet using this technique on Squidoo lenses would get you some amazing link juice. I will give it a try and get back to you.
Craig Dean
http://www.myaffiliatemarketingschool.com
How To Write An Article
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Guten Morgen! Habe dies Wochenende bei meinen Eltern und mit Autos gucken und Probefahren verbracht. Heut geht’s wieder nach Haus…
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Glad to know about all these things,but I wonder are these footprints for real or just a additional post?
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