Do your blog comment counters have more zeros than Bill Gates net worth? Are you trying to get more visitors to comment on your blog? The quality of your articles and posts are the most important factor in encouraging a comment oriented community on your blog. There are also many great WordPress Plugins that can help you encourage comments and reward your top commentators.
You don’t have to giveaway a new Apple iPod
1. WordPress Dofollow Plugin
WordPress decided — for what they thought were good reasons — to force a nofollow attribute on links in the comment section of WordPess blogs. If you have a comment spam blocker like Akismet, Spam Karma, or Bad Behavior installed on your blog then the nofollow attribute is punishing your commenters.
Let your commentators get the link love they deserve by installing the → Dofollow plugin.
Dofollow removes the nofollow attribute in your comments so that your commentors get a link each time they leave a comment. It is so easy to install it should be a crime. Simple uploaded it to your plugins directory and activate the plugin, that is it.
2. WordPress Show Top Commentators Plugin
Your biggest fans and top commentators deserve some recognition. It is really easy to show a list of your top commentators with the → Show Top Commentators Plugin.
I show a list of my top commentators on my sidebar. This puts a link to the commentators website on every page of this site. Here is what it looks like.
You can find all the information you need to install and download the → Show Top Commentators Plugin here.
I highly suggest installing these plugins and coming up with other creative ways to show your commenters you care.
Do you have any other tips or examples you use to encourage comments and reward your top commentators?
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Wild Bill - just installed Dofollow, great reccomendation.
Dofollow is such a great way to reward your commentators with no extra work. We can all use as many links as we can get.
I also just installed dofollow. Thanks for a great recommendation. I tried to get the show top comments to work. I can’t seem to get it to work on my side bar. It will show the numbers, but will show the names only when you hover the pointer over them. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix that?
Thanks for the tip WB. It looks like I have some homework for the weekend.
This is great, thanks for the tips.
I have the same problem as Priscilla.
Thanks for the comment Matthew.
FIAR I just helped Priscilla make some changes to her site, do you need some help too?
Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it.
You are welcome Priscilla I like helping people it gives me something to do and makes me feel useful. Being a stay-at-home dad it’s hard to find ways to be useful besides cleaning, cooking, and playing with the kids.
wow thanks for some very useful ideas for commentors.
I’m just getting into my blog having come from a forum / communities background i think these additional ideas will really help promote some participation.
Cheers,
Miyagi
That’s great, Paul. I think the biggest benefit of the points system is the ability to see what your time usage is. More than just how many points you get.
It’s a useful tool. You may find that you’re not doing much in the way of commenting, or that you could focus more time on content production. It really lets you see how your time is spent.
I noticed when I started that I spent a lot of time reading, but not much time doing anything at all on the list. It helped me focus on using my time to do things that benefit my blog.
Oops, wrong thread.
I know you should have enough vision and/or belief in what you’re doing that you don’t need to rely upon others to validate your efforts, but all the same, it is nice when you get feedback. So as a blogger, I find it rewarding when other bloggers - folks who have walked that mile in my shoes - respond with comments on my own posts.
Now to the other side of the fence: As a commenter, I find it very rewarding when a blog author responds to my comments. I don’t expect it every time, but when it does happen, it goes a long way to making me feel valued.
Rob O. over the blogging years I have seen the number of people who comment and receive comments on blogs has declined. This (I believe) is largely because of trolls, flamers, and spammers turning most blogs comment sections into a cesspool.
Personally over the years I have thought about turning comments off on my blogs. I love a great conversation, but one negative, hateful, personal attack ruins the conversation. I decided instead of turning off comments I would just delete all troll comments. This (I believe) was a good decision. Although there are not as many comments as there used to be conversations now lead in a more positive and problem solving direction.
A positive constructive comment can really fuel your passion and inspire bloggers to realize the value they are providing. Thanks for your comment!
Rob O, I’m significantly more inclined to comment on a blog where the author, or at least another commenter acknowledges my comment.
No, I don’t need to be validated, but it makes me feel like I’m actually contributing to the conversation. When not acknowledged, it feels more like I’m just shouting in at someone else’s home.
DoFollow + Top Commentators plugin is killer combination, but it can be implemented only on WP. DoFollow can exist on Blogger also, but not and Top Commentators. Pity.
Someone said that blogging is a two-way-street and blogs without meaningful comments are just empty shells without any juice inside. Small reward for commentators just makes it sweeter.
Great points FFprod66.
Hi,
Here is how to implement No-Follow on Blogspot :
Regards
Thanks for the link Vin!
Thank you again for all the help.
Very Helpful….I also have an idea to use such methods to get comments..
[ed - Got it changed for you]
sorry bill,my blog url is blogtrench.blogspot.com
Is anything that i can do to get more commments….
[…] blog comments. Interact. Make it easy to comment. Encourage comments by interacting, nurturing, incentivising, rewarding. When you have a good number of comments then you can consider a […]
I agree with you. I use both of these plugins on my blog.
[…] Wild Bill describes a couple of Wordpress Plugins to reward top commentators, here (for those using the Wordpress comment system), and explains that one way to show your readers you hate them is: Ignoring their comments → Hey look you have a comment. Screw that you don’t have time to respond to comments, your a big shot blogger. Keep that attitude and you won’t have to worry about those annoying comments any longer. Can you hear the crickets chirping? […]