In today’s post, I will be talking about how to use CommentLuv to get more comments on your blog.
Are you finding that you aren’t getting the number of comments on your blog that you hoped?
Is your engagement low?
Along with a low share count, zero or few comments can make it look as if your blog post isn’t being read or appreciated. Readers like to see that a post is already popular before they commit their valuable time to read it.
Let’s picture what your blog could look like with hundreds of comments per post:
- Your posts would have more value. I regularly scroll down to the bottom of posts to see what helpful information I can glean about the topic.
- Your posts have loads more content. More comments mean more content and potentially more keywords to rank for in search results.
- Your post looks more popular. The herd instinct comes into play here. People love to see that lots of other people enjoyed the blog post before they did.
So how do you do get better engagement for your blog posts?
One solution is to use a plugin called ‘CommentLuv’ on your WordPress blog, and this is what we will be looking at today.
What is CommentLuv?
CommentLuv is a WordPress plugin available to download for free from WordPress.org.
CommentLuv enhances native WordPress comments by allowing people who comment to leave behind a titled link to their latest post.
The more comments you have for a post, the more links to other posts there will be. A post has the potential to become a valuable resource of interesting posts for you and your readers to enjoy and comment on too.
I know that some bloggers specifically seek out and give more attention to other blogs that use CommentLuv so that they can spread their links more widely.
If you allow people to register on your blog, the plugin provides an additional incentive to by allowing them to choose which of their ten latest posts to link to, plus a dofollow link if you grant it. See below for more info on that.
How much does CommentLuv cost?
Zero!
There currently isn’t a premium version of the plugin, but it looks as if there is one coming soon. Here is a quote from CommentLuv’s website:
We are working hard to bring the new commentluv premium plugin to the masses once again. The Free version is here and has been updated to bring it in line with the latest PHP versions and WordPress versions.
CommentLuv
What is not so good about CommentLuv?
Offering a link back in exchange for comments could attract people for the wrong reasons.
You would need to make sure that all comments are of high quality, and add to the discussion. You might spend more time moderating comments than you did before.
All backlinks are by default a ‘nofollow’. A link that is ‘nofollow’ means that you don’t lose your link juice, and in turn your page ranking.
If you prefer, you can change backlinks to ‘dofollow’. The lure of ‘dofollow’, makes your blog more attractive for potential commenters.
On the plus side, the enhanced engagement could be a worthwhile trade-off.
I advise caution before making the switch ‘dofollow’ because it could affect your page ranking.
I have more about links and the consequences of ‘dofollow’ and ‘nofollow’ in this post.
Are CommentLuv comments stored locally?
Yes, your comments are your own. They are stored on your database, not on CommentLuv’s servers. You have total control of your comments.
Do I need to moderate CommentLuv comments?
Yes, you continue to moderate comments as you would for the native WordPress commenting system.
As I said, you may find that the job of moderation is greater due to the more comments that will be coming onto your blog.
What happens when I disable the CommentLuv plugin?
When you disable or even delete the CommentLuv plugin, the original comment will remain, but the backlink will no longer show up.
The backlink remains in the database. You can reactivate CommentLuv, and the backlink will reappear.
What do CommentLuv comments look like?
When someone has left a comment, the backlink appears at the end of the comment, as in the example below:
A popup info box shows the number of comments that a person has made, and the number of clicks.
Here is the WordPress comment form in action with CommentLuv enabled.
How to install and setup the CommentLuv WordPress plugin
Here is how to get CommentLuv installed and set up properly on your blog.
- Head over to Plugins->Add New
- Enter commentluv in the search box
- Click Install then the Activate button when it appears
That is all you need to do to get CommentLuv working!
There are some tweaks you can make in the settings, let’s do that now.
- Go to Settings->CommentLuv
I recommend that you uncheck Link to CommentLuv because CommentLuv forgot to make their backlink a ‘nofollow’ which is bad for your site ranking, so it is best if you don’t link to them at all.
Here is how to do that:
- Go to Settings->CommentLuv
- In the Appearance section uncheck Link to CommentLuv
In the Operational settings box, you can decide what extra options you will allow for people who register.
If you are going to give registered users additional options, don’t forget to allow users to register on your blog.
You can do this at Settings->General. Then set the New User Default Role to Subscriber which is the most basic (and safest) membership level.
I think it is worth giving registered users an incentive to register, after all, it is an extra hassle, isn’t it?
You can allow registered to choose which posts to link to by checking the option Only Registered Members in the Operational Settings section:
Allowing ‘do follow links is an additional incentive you can give your registered users.
‘Dofollow’ links are far more valuable than ‘nofollow’. However, your site ranking might suffer as a consequence. I would only allow ‘dofollow’ if your site has a good ranking.
For small blogs trying to get traction on Google, I recommend you check Nobody gets dofollow, or if you want to attract more users to register, check Only Registered Members Links.
Wrapping up
In this post, I introduced the CommentLuv plugin, what it is, and how it can encourage more engagement with your content.
With CommentLuv you can offer incentives to people who register with your site in the form of a dofollow link and the ability to select a post link (rather than the latest)
If you don’t offer registration, the commenters still get the benefit of leaving a link to their latest post.
CommentLuv is so easy to install, why not give it a go? It is easy to go back to ordinary comments just by disabling the plugin. Plus, it is absolutely free, so you have nothing to lose!
Do you have the plugin installed? What do you think of it? I would love to know your thoughts.
