Why is it so important to encourage commenting? This problogger article discussed a study revealing that 90% of people online are lurkers (read or observe content without contributing), 9% of people contributing a “little,” and only 1% of people actively participate online. This is referred to as the 1% rule, and it’s your job to figure out how to break that rule on your blog.
There are so many Wordpress plugins for comments, and sifting through them to find the best ones can be overwhelming. So here are four simple Wordpress plugins I recommend to encourage readers to comment on your blog.
1. CommentLuv
CommentLuv creates an incentive for people to comment. When a user enters his URL while commenting, the plugin automatically visits his blog’s feed and displays a titled link to his last post under his comment. This rewards him by giving other readers a better idea of what his blog is about, and an additional link to his blog. When passive readers with blogs see that you have this plugin installed, they will be more motivated to comment.
CommentLuv is easy to install: just download from their site, upload it to your plugins folder, and activate it.
2. DoFollow
Installing the DoFollow plugin can help improve your commentator’s page rank, especially when used in conjunction with CommentLuv. This will motivate your readers to comment more often. If you think the DoFollow plugin will increase spam on your blog, simply activate the Aksimet plugin, the spam filter Wordpress includes. You can also moderate your comments. For example, I don’t accept comments like “Hiiiiii” or “Great blog!” that have clearly just commented to leave their link. But DoFollow rewards commentators that write insightful or meaningful comments, so I recommend installing this plugin.
There is much debate amongst bloggers regarding the no-follow and do-follow rules. The nofollow attribute prevents search engines from crawling links on your site. There is no dofollow attribute except for NOT having the nofollow attribute, and this allows search engines to crawl those links. But contrary to popular belief, having DoFollow should not hurt your blog’s SEO. Gerald Weber has a great post about dofollow vs nofollow at Thou Shall Blog, you can read about the details there.
3. Top Commentators
Top Commentators lists your readers who have commented the most in a widget. You can see mine over on the left. This provides an incentive for people to post often, so that they can get their names and links to their blog on this list. This is a valuable backlink for bloggers in your niche, especially if you don’t have nofollow rules in place. So by installing this widget, you’ll encourage people in your niche to comment and be active on your site to stay on that list. This is also a great way to make connections with these bloggers, because if you comment on their blogs and they install this plugin, they’ll return the favor.
4. Subscribe to Comments
The Subscribe to Comments plugin gives your readers a way to stay involved in the discussion by receiving updates when there are new comments. If they don’t want to subscribe to your blog, they can still subscribe to individual posts to keep up to speed on the conversation.
So what do you think? Do you use any of these plugins? How have they worked for you? What other comments plugins would you recommend?
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 21 comments }
Your post is well written and comprehensive. I like to keep the number of plugins I use minimal. I use commentluv but I do not use the others and won’t be using them. The ability to subscribe to my comments is already provided by my theme so a subscribe to comments plugin is not required. A bragging widget for top commenters is IMO not required.
You have hit it all my friend. I believe top commentators and dofollow are the ones doing the job.
There is something called keyword luv as well.. Might want to check it out
Ben Pei’s last blog post..Social Media Turns Into A Weapon
Oh yes I forgot.. and threaded comment plugin as well.. It attracts comments like bee is to flower!
Maybe when I have my own domain, I’ll use these. I saw the 1st one on a friend’s blog and was pretty impressed by it.
By the way, you got Entrecard!! Woot…woot!
Atif’s last blog post..Depression affects others around you
@ Atif – Wow haha you’re a fast one, I installed Entrecard maybe 5 minutes ago. I’m currently sitting here trying to figure out how to use it.
@ Ben – Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve read up on keyword luv, but it’s not something I’d install, so I can’t recommend it. Has it worked for you?
@ Timethief – I’ve been trying out different plugins here and there and get rid of any that don’t benefit my readers or traffic. But they’re all so fun to play with.
Good stuff. I was always sceptical of CommentLuv but I guess it’s time to try it out. I’ll see how it goes and if I like it.
Cheers!
Robby G’s last blog post..Productive Time-Wasters
@Ben – Threaded comment plugin mess up my css alightment.. Are you having the latest version with the bugs fixed?
Erwin Tan’s last blog post..Unleashing The Niche Genius In You
@Diana – You can try comment relish plugin as well.. It emails a customized message with links allowed to the person who commented on your post.
Great tool to make them sign up to your Rss feed and other social networks if you do include them in the message.
Erwin Tan’s last blog post..Unleashing The Niche Genius In You
@Diana – I didn’t install that either. Not my cup of tea, just a suggestion for you! By the way glad to see you around my blog =)
@Erwin – Aww it could be just your blog theme, I didn’t have problem with that at all.
Ben Pei’s last blog post..Video Blogging: The Next Big Thing?
You got it all here, thanks for this informative stuff that your sharing. I’m glad to see you @ BC and I will add you as a friend.
Cheers,
Julius
Yep, I have all those plugins and I notice that you also reply to all your comments. That is more important than any plugin you could install, unless your Problogger who does not need to reply as his fame and content keep him going.
Personally, I take it one step further and reciprocate all comments.
Sire’s last blog post..Is Chitika Better Than Google Adense?
Yup I can vouch for Sire for that.
Ben Pei’s last blog post..Video Blogging: The Next Big Thing?
Hey, I see my name in the top commentators image! woohoo! Anyhow, great article. I was looking forward to it. I use all of those but the Subscribe to Comments plugin, which I will probably install soon as suggested!
drivelocity’s last blog post..Five Top Blog Advertising Options
Diana, Be sure to take a look at your Top Commentators plugin… I found that even with Hijack Proof enabled, you could still hijack links by posting w/ the same user name. I just posted about the problem and how I fixed it.
drivelocity’s last blog post..Top Commentators Link Hijack Vulnerability
I followed your link over from BlogCatalog about using these WP plugins. I am thinking about adding the commentluv plugin at my site. Thanks for the info.
RecycleCindy’s last blog post..A Pink Year-End Update
Hi Diana,
I’ve got all these plugins and the Top Commentators Dofollow and Commentluv plugins are absolutely a must have if you want to get lots of backlinks and comments. If people are missing them, they are missing all the action.
Peter Lee
work from home ideas’s last blog post..Case Study:How 5 Outbound Links Gave Me 500 Incoming Links
These are some good tips, namely the one about dofollow. I’m familar with commentluv and I see it all over the place, but I need to do some researching into the dofollow plugin, and into putting that in place on some of my sites. Thanks for the info.
Gina’s last blog post..Beach Holidays along the New-Jersey Coast!
Thanks for your comments. It’s always great to get out and meet new blogger. I learn more than I teach at these events and it’s always a great time.
Nice article I will also try to use the two plugins to my blog.. and see if which of the two is much better..
hi,
you have given very special information to us it will really help me in my future.Thanks for sharing the information.
Comment luv is a great way to encourage comments. I like the way it pulls in your last blog link on some sites
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