3 Ways to Encourage Comments on Your Wordpress Blog
The Value of Blog Comments and Encouraging Engagement
Maintaining a blog requires consistent effort, and receiving comments can be a significant source of motivation for bloggers.
The simple acknowledgement that an audience appreciates your content is incredibly rewarding. However, not all readers feel compelled to share their thoughts or have feedback to offer.
Leveraging Plugins to Boost Comment Activity
Previously, we explored 8 Proven Ways To Make Your Blog Popular. Today, we will focus on three specific strategies for prompting user interaction through the strategic implementation of plugins.
Strategies for Encouraging Comments
Utilizing plugins can significantly enhance the likelihood of receiving comments on your blog posts.
- Comment Luv: This plugin automatically includes a link back to the commenter’s most recent blog post within their comment.
- Disqus: Disqus provides a fully-featured commenting system that integrates with social media platforms.
- WPDiscuz: WPDiscuz is another robust commenting plugin offering advanced features.
This incentivizes participation and fosters a sense of community among bloggers.
It offers features like threaded comments, upvoting, and user profiles, creating a more dynamic discussion environment.
It allows for features like real-time commenting, comment filtering, and social login options, improving user experience.
The Benefits of Increased Commenting
Encouraging comments isn't just about vanity metrics; it offers tangible benefits.
Increased engagement can improve your blog’s SEO, foster a loyal community, and provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences.
By implementing these plugin-based strategies, you can cultivate a more interactive and thriving blog environment.
Facilitate User Account Creation
A frequent deterrent to leaving comments is the repetitive need to enter personal information, such as name and website address. When a valuable contribution is desired, the burden of completing lengthy forms can be discouraging. Providing a means for users to establish an account would resolve this issue, allowing for recognition without constant re-entry of details.
Previously, a method utilizing Janrain was demonstrated, offering social login buttons. This allows users to leverage existing social media credentials to automatically generate a local user account on a Wordpress blog. However, creating accounts directly within Wordpress isn’t the sole option, nor necessarily the most efficient, particularly if the primary goal is simply to streamline the commenting process.
The Disqus commenting platform presents a viable alternative, currently employed by MakeUseOf. Disqus effectively replaces the standard Wordpress comment form with its own system. It immediately enables users already registered with Disqus to participate in discussions without additional account creation. Furthermore, establishing a new account directly within a blog is simplified. Notably, accounts created through Disqus are not stored locally within the Wordpress database, although the comments themselves are.
Several benefits are associated with this approach:
- Disqus effectively manages spam, reducing administrative overhead.
- Registered users can easily monitor replies to their comments, a feature not natively supported by Wordpress.
- All comments remain synchronized with Wordpress, ensuring no data loss should a return to the native system be desired.
- Users are offered diverse account creation and login methods, including social options, while maintaining the possibility of anonymity.
- Automatic image previews and upload capabilities enhance the commenting experience. When a user shares a link to an image, a preview is automatically displayed, and uploads are optional.
- The @mention feature allows for direct engagement with other users within the conversation, even those not currently participating. Further details on this functionality can be found in this related post.
Disqus is particularly well-suited for scenarios where user accounts are solely intended for commenting purposes, rather than for submitting stories or other content. A potential drawback is the potential for conflicts with other commenting plugins. Customizing the form’s appearance requires a developer license, although the core system remains entirely free of charge.
Enhancing Engagement: Utilizing CommentLuv to Feature Commenter Posts
The CommentLuv plugin offers a straightforward method for boosting engagement. It automatically includes a link to the latest blog post of commenters who provide a website URL. This feature serves as an incentive, as users often appreciate the opportunity for complimentary self-promotion.
How CommentLuv Functions
By implementing CommentLuv, you can effectively encourage more comments on your posts. Users are naturally drawn to platforms that offer visibility.
However, it’s crucial to remain attentive to comment quality. Without diligent moderation, the system could attract irrelevant or spam submissions.
Considerations and Potential Drawbacks
Be aware that some websites are specifically designed to identify and share blogs utilizing dofollow CommentLuv links. This can potentially lead to an influx of comments from individuals seeking backlinks.
CommentLuv is designed for use exclusively within the WordPress environment. It is not compatible with external commenting systems like Disqus.
Premium Version Availability
A premium version of CommentLuv is scheduled for release. However, the added features do not appear to offer significant advantages for those primarily interested in the core functionality of linking to a user’s most recent blog post.
Acknowledging Your Audience: The Thank Me Later Plugin
Thank Me Later is a distinctive WordPress plugin designed to address the challenge of user engagement following a comment. Rather than directly attracting new commenters, its function centers on retaining those who have already contributed. The plugin automatically expresses gratitude to individuals who participate in blog discussions.
This is achieved through customizable templates, allowing for a personalized touch. Following a specified period after a comment is submitted, the plugin selects a template and sends it to the commenter via email.
Leveraging Follow-Up Communication
This automated system presents an opportunity to re-engage visitors with your content. You can utilize these emails to invite commenters back to your blog or to inform them about other avenues for staying connected, such as your RSS feed or Twitter account.
While the automated nature of these emails might raise concerns about being perceived as spam, limiting the frequency to one email per visitor – a feature the plugin offers – can mitigate this risk. Compatibility with Disqus is also anticipated, although practical testing hasn't been conducted.
A simple, yet effective, method for boosting comments is to directly solicit them from your readership. With that in mind… do you have any additional strategies for fostering comments, whether through plugins or other means? Share your insights in the comments section below!
Whether you are new to WordPress or a seasoned blogger, our expanding collection of WordPress tutorials is a valuable resource. Furthermore, stay tuned for our forthcoming "Best of WordPress Plugins" page, soon to be featured on MakeUseOf.