Rewards for Commenting
photo credit: Photo-Mojo
One of the things I find most rewarding about blogging is the “feedback loop” it creates between writer and reader.
There’s a sense of excitement and anticipation that I get from crafting a new blog post, publishing it to the world, and sitting back and waiting for feedback.
Since this “feedback loop” is one of the primary reasons this blog exists, I’ve tried to make it easy and rewarding to leave comments.
While most of these rewards may be irrelevant to the casual reader, any blogger or website owner who’s interested in increasing their search engine rankings, readership, or online reputation will benefit from the following:
- I’ll link to your latest blog post
- I’ll help you make your backlink keyword-rich
- I’ll give you a “nofollow-free” link
- I’ll reward top commentors
- I’ll show the world your Gravatar
I’ll link to your latest blog post
Using the awesome “Comment Luv” plugin, I’ll try to automatically add a link to your latest blog post below your comment.
I’ll help you make your backlink keyword-rich
Using Stephen Cronin’s “Keyword Luv” plugin, I’ll separate your name from your site name / keywords, giving you a better quality backlink. This one can be tricky to explain.. let’s just say that a link like this “David from Kiwification says…” is more valuable than a link like this “David says…“.
See? If you’re interested in building up backlinks to your blog, you don’t care about your name being hyperlinked as much as you care about your site / keywords. It’s better Google-karma, baby!
To use KeywordLuv, if your name is “The Doctor”, and your keywords are “Travel through time and space”, enter your name like this : “TheDoctor@TravelThroughTimeAndSpace”. Enter your URL as normal.
I’ll give you a “nofollow-free” link
After you’ve commented three times, links in your comments to your name and URL are “no-follow free”. This “clean link” means that when Google indexes my blog, and finds a link to your site, it will be counted as a “backlink”, and factored into your PageRank score.
I’ll reward top commentors
My sidebar contains a “Top Commentors” list, which is refreshed every week. The week’s top commentors receive a backlink to their site from every page on this blog.
(image clipped from neatorama.com)
I’ll show the world your gravatar
A gravatar is a unique avatar image displayed beside your name when you comment on gravatar-enabled blogs. It makes an ordinary page of text look more like a conversation, and establishes your “personal brand”.
Sign up for a gravatar to have own your image displayed alongside your comments, on this blog and all other gravatar-enabled blogs.
(image clipped from wordpress.com)
Your comments? :)
Apr 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I’d like a gravatar but the link does not work.
Apr 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Oops, thanks for that.. I’ve corrected the link :)
Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Well, I will also implement all the lovely on SmartyPants. I am learning a lot from you, Young David!
Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Something got lost there. I mean all the lovely REWARDS FOR COMMENTING!….
Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:35 am
I look like I’m spamming but now I realise you have my wrong blog address. IMPORTANT, not so? And this is NOT a ploy to get 3 quick comments.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
go to http://www.smartcraft.biz and see the cool little banner that I have found on FeedBurner. I see that your commentluv plugin isn’t very reliable. But now I have my own gravatar at least!
Apr 9th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hey dunx, all that spamming as dethroned me as top commenter!!
Apr 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Well there we go! a nice new Avatar! - Cool!
Apr 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Dunx - CommentLuv works for “real” blog engines like Wordpress :P
You need a “link rel” in your metadata to your RSS feed.. here’s how to do it with thingamablog:
http://thingamablog.sourceforg.....ee96345a4d
Apr 10th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I’ve added support for Stephen Cronin’s “KeywordLuv” plugin. Now you can create keyword-rich backlinks, instead of having your name backlinked to your URL.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:31 am
The keywordluv plugin is great. I thought that the commentluv was a beautiful thing, but this takes the cake. kudos to Stephen Cronin. I suspect that as more of these kinds of plugins come out the better the spam blocking software will need to be. It should definitely help with comments though. Nice post.
May 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Thank you for this post David, putting me onto CommentLuv and KeywordLuv. Will implement them on my blog too.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hey thanks for all the opportunities here. I have been able to switch my blog to nofollow and I have created the gravatar. I tried to install the keywordluv on my blog yesterday but ran into serious problems. Wiil try again, I would like to offer my commenters anchor text as well.
Jun 11th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Do you know of a quick way to find KeywordLuv blogs to comment on? I tried a search based on what you have above but it looks like that is a custom message.
Jun 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I am really loving Keywordluv - I think it’s a great plugin. About time webmasters and bloggers acknowledged that fact that people comment on blogs for backlinks. :)
Simons last blog post..Free Spock Star Trek Cartoon Vector Image
Aug 18th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Guess I better comment to get some comment love too. I found your blog through the Google and I’m also in the process of being ‘kiwified’, although I’ve been here now for almost 6 years (from Durban.)