Mark Givens has a great idea – create a special welcome page just for those people whose blogs you’ve visited:
Since first impression is huge, I plan on making a simple welcome page specifically for each blog that I post comments on. The link to my blog will send the visitor to this special page welcoming them to my blog.
For example, if I post a comment at whateverblog.com, the link I enter will be something like http://www.markgivens.com/welcome1.php, which when clicked will take them to the special welcome page specifically for those that visit from whateverblog.com.
The welcome page will mention all the benefits my blog offers and thank them for visiting and all that kind of stuff, which is much better than letting them fall on the main page with no one there to greet them, or is it? It’s basically like a fancy “about page” with a twist.
The only other thing I would add is to maybe just use it for blogs that you visit for the first time.
Oh, and I guess the reciprocal of that is the “CommentLuv” plugin. That little doodah fetches the last blog post of a commenter’s blog and pastes it in at the end of the comment. Leave a comment and try it for yourself!