Explode and Increase Comments Using These WordPress Plugins

I have already discussed a few techniques and plugins you can use to increase your comments. Here is a re-cap of some old and some new plugins I haven’t discussed before. All are must-haves if you want to explode your comments:

1. Subscribe To Comments
   I am absolutely staggered that so many bloggers don’t use this one. Don’t they want their commenters coming back? When I comment on a blog, I really want to know when there is a reply. And subscribe to comments is the perfect plugin as it sends me an email whenever a comment is posted.

   Without this option, your commenters may just get sick and tired of checking manually or not bother at all. Not everyone subscribes to the comments RSS feeds so make sure you provide this option.

   I cannot stress this one enuff!

2. Do Follow
   Another plugin I have dedicated an entire post to. Reward your posters by removing WordPress’ default rel=nofollow from comment links. A do-follow blog is more prone to comments especially if it is one that is just starting out. Read more about no follow, do-follow.
3. CommentLuv
   Give your commenters additional incentive using CommentLuv. This plugin searches their RSS feed and adds a link to their last blog post in their comment. Your commenter gets a keyword rich anchor link to his/her blog. It is Google heaven for them
4. KeywordLuv
   This brings me to the next plugin and more Google heaven You might have noticed people using spammy names with keywords in place of their real name. This is because they are trying to get keyword rich links back to their blogs.

   This plugin makes the job easier without the spammy name bit. Just add your name as YourName@Your Keywords and Your Keywords will be used as the anchor link and your name will be shown separately. So if I write my name as Erum Munir@DotsnDashes Website Designs, my comment will show it as:

   Erum from DotsnDashes Website Designs

   Pretty cool, eh?

See it is just four basic plugins which offer so much in return.

A couple of other comment plugins which may help are:

1. Top Commentators
   Adds a list of your top commentators to your sidebar. Will work best once you have a few comments to start with. Believe me when I say you don’t want an empty list. This plugin adds an incentive for repeat comments as one needs to have some comments to get to the top. How many really depends on how popular your blog is. I have seen people specifically commenting at blogs with this plugin. So it might work for you, too.
2. Recent Comments
   This plugin works with the recent comments widget already a part of WordPress 2.5.1 and WordPress 2.6. It offers the option of styling your recent comments display to be a bit better looking than the default. You can use it to add a link to the commenter’s blog from your sidebar.

And remember when the comments start rolling in, these plugins will help keep you organized:

1. Akismet
   As always keeps most spam at bay. Comes with the core WordPress installation.
2. Better Comments Manager
   It can get a bit tedious going to each post and replying to comments from there. Better Comments Manager lets you do so via the WordPress admin – all in one place. A definite time saver if you have a lot of comments.
3. WP Paged Comments
   Having too many comments can also be nightmare if your page flows on forever. Enter WP Paged Comments which adds pagination to your comments. Phew! What a relief and great alternate to that mile long page of comments.