An Ethical Bribe for Your Comments…

by Brad Isaac on May 21, 2008

As you remember, I had some bad issues with the blog a few weeks ago.  Since then, I’ve rebuilt it and restored all of the prior posts and comments.  One of the things I’ve actually enjoyed about the process is trying some new WordPress plug-ins. 

Of them, the one I think I like the most is CommentLuv. 

Commentluv

The way it works is once a blogger posts a comment to one of my posts, CommentLuv will search their site for an RSS feed and build a link to their last post. 

Here’s an example of it in action from this morning.  When David Robertson posted a comment to my Famous Failures Video post, CommentLuv went out and found his most recent post: The Best – There’s only room for one…  So while everyone here gets the benefit of David’s wisdom in his comment, he also benefits from a specific link back to his most recent blog post (id est, the ethical bribe for blog comments).  

Commentluv_example

I know CommentLuv might be an invitation to spammers to post a response like “Hi” just to get a link back to their latest garbage.  Rest assured, I will be keeping a careful watch on that.  All posts off topic or just plain stupid will be deleted.

What do you think of CommentLuv?  Will it lead to more comments?  More spam?  Or is it just more clutter?

 

Technorati Tags: blog widgets,fun,wordpress,comments
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{ 37 comments }

May 21, 2008 at 2:00 pm

I’m not sure what the end result will be, but a free link back to my blog is hard to resist.

I’m glad you were able to put your blog back together, Brad. Being hacked is no fun.

Eric S. Muellers last blog post..Plaxo To Be Acquired By Comcast

May 21, 2008 at 2:16 pm

I’ve started to see this plug-in on other blogs, but didn’t really know much about it. Thanks for pointing out what it is and where to get it. I think I may have to install this plug-in on some (or all) of my blogs.

You’re right, though, it’ll likely lead to an increase in spam comments, but Akismet should block most of those.

Then again, it’s a NoFollow link, so maybe the spam won’t increase too much.

Either way, I think this will probably do a little bit to help get people to comment more often (hell, I don’t remember the last time I commented on this blog—even though I read it often—so I guess it worked on me!).

Adam Sniders last blog post..Simple Pita Pizzas with Asparagus

Brad Isaac May 21, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Hey Adam, welcome back.

I have a question. No matter how many times I read about it I can’t figure out the Nofollow thingie.

So a simple question. Is nofollow good or bad? And how should I have it set on my WP 2.51 blog?

Thanks

May 22, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Brad,

This is a really interesting plugin – I’m just sorry you had to go through being hacked to get it on your site.

The no-follow tag is probably not going to have much effect on blog spammers. Direct click-throughs are just as useful to them as search engine rankings.

I recently tried a little bribe tool called Stumble Bribe that lets you give a free gift to people after they vote for a preset number of pages on your website on StumbleUpon.com. I didn’t get a huge response from my list (maybe the bribe wasn’t a good fit) but I did get a surge of Stumble traffic within a couple days. I’m thinking of other possible applications. I’ll be writing about it on my blog soon, so it should show up below :)

One question, does the blog post in the link update when future visitors view the comments or does it lock in on the current post when you leave the comment? If it updates, how often and what is the effect on server load and page serve times?

Please post a follow-up to let us know whether this impacts your comment spam and site performance.

And, thanks for the link!

May 30, 2008 at 5:30 pm

NoFollow isn’t necessarily good nor bad. It depends on your opinion. Having your comments set as NoFollow can, at least in theory, help prevent comment spam, because any links that spammers get from commenting on your site won’t pass Google juice.

But, if you turn NoFollow off, that can be a way of thanking your commentators, because they will get Google juice for commenting on your blog.

I’d say that you should just go with whichever option works best for you. If you do want to turn off NoFollow, you’ll have to use a plug-in. I don’t have a specific one to recommend, but do a Google search and you should find several options.

Adam Sniders last blog post..The Single Man’s Guide to Hosting a Dinner Party

Brad Isaac May 30, 2008 at 10:14 pm

Thanks Adam. I went ahead and installed the DoFollow plugin. So people should start getting the Google juice. ;)

June 3, 2008 at 11:39 am

You’re more than welcome, Brad. And thank you for adding the DoFollow plugin. :)

Adam Sniders last blog post..The Single Man’s Guide to Hosting a Dinner Party

June 4, 2008 at 7:07 am

I run do-follow and commentluv on all my blogs – I fnd it interesting to see what people’s last post was about and I think the do-follow link is a fair quid pro quo for the free content in the comment. I havent installed the keywordluv plugin yet but Ive seen it in action on a few blogs and looks promising

lissies last blog post..Battle of Attu

Brad Isaac June 4, 2008 at 9:38 am

Lissie,

Thanks for the heads up about keywordluv . I hadn’t heard of it but found the link. Need to check it out.

June 4, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Yeah, I’ve noticed a lot more people using this particular plugin. They all seem to like it.

Susans last blog post..Round Hover

June 13, 2008 at 12:29 am

Unfortunately I am already invested (if that is the right term, it really didn’t cost me anything) in a Blogger Blog but someday I want to learn about Wordpress as i think from all I read it is the best and then I can use comment luv too. In the mean time I am stuck… Thanks for the heads up about comment luv and your expreiences…

Nicks News last blog post..Crane Collapse at the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium

Brad Isaac June 13, 2008 at 7:59 am

Hi Nick. Wordpress is free as well. The thing with WP is it requires some technical knowledge to do some of the customizations.

June 13, 2008 at 11:36 am

@Nick: I believe WordPress has a tool available that will allow you to easily transfer the contents of your Blogger blog over to WordPress, when you do decide to make the move, so you won’t necessarily lose all the content that you’ve invested your time and energy in creating.

More information can be found here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content#Blogger.

Adam Sniders last blog post..Homemade Iced Tea

June 14, 2008 at 6:34 am

“I know CommentLuv might be an invitation to spammers to post a response like ‘Hi just to get a link back to their latest garbage”.

I think you will get the Hi’s anyway, even if you nofollow, because some spammers know they will get direct traffic and dont mind about page rank etc. Moderation is vital, whatever plugins you use.

Paul – English Coasts last blog post..Underwater church remains found in ‘lost city’

Brad Isaac June 14, 2008 at 12:33 pm

After installing the Bad Behavior plugin, I don’t think I’ve seen any spam comments utilizing the commentluv option

June 15, 2008 at 12:07 am

Honestly speaking, I can’t find the beauty of KeywordLuv so someone please enlighten me on this. As for CommentLuv, yes I do love it alot. Is a very good way of rewarding your readers so that they will appreciate and come back to your blog more.

BloggerOfTheWebs last blog post..SEO & Blogging: BloggerOfTheWeb Has Its Own DoFollow & CommentLuv Directory

June 16, 2008 at 7:23 pm

The beauty of KeywordLuv is to get more comments. People will leave comments if they know they are going to get a link back to their site with targeted keywords. People spend money to get that sort of thing. It’s great for SEO.

Simons last blog post..Free Spock Star Trek Cartoon Vector Image

June 17, 2008 at 2:51 am

Well, commentLuv will definitely bring you more comments. It is quite easy to identify spammers as they won’t leave more than one or two words…

It is a good way to reward commentors I think, as top commentators and keywordLuv plugins do…

Oliviers last blog post..Daniel Trezeguet – Je ne suis pas à l’Euro

Brad Isaac June 17, 2008 at 12:23 pm

@Simon & Olivier, yes so far so good. I think I have seen an increase in comments since installing the plugin. Definitely recommended.

June 17, 2008 at 5:13 pm

More and more people are starting to use this plugin and it’s definitely helping with comments….

Susans last blog post..Sweet Blog

June 23, 2008 at 12:22 am

I just started using this plugin recently. at least that linkluv is what we can give to our visitor, isn’t it? ;)

acakaduts last blog post..AT Manager 1.7

July 5, 2008 at 1:50 am

KeywordLuv is a win-win for both the blog owner and the blog commenter, just like CommentLuv. The blog owner doesn’t have to bother with screening out spammy names for commenters and the commenter doesn’t have to worry his comment will be deleted if she uses her main keyword.

For my blogs, I don’t really care if they use keywords for their anchor text of their name as long as the comments are good. The only bad aspect is that you can’t always tell if that is the same person commenting again or not so it is harder to build a relationship.

Louises last blog post..Maryland Crab Cakes Recipe

July 5, 2008 at 11:53 pm

CommentLuv has definitely become one of the more popular plugins nowadays! Good luck with it :)

Susans last blog post..How Much to Offer on A Short Sale?

July 18, 2008 at 12:51 am

If you set wordpress to contact you every time a comment is made editing and deleting doesn’t take a lot of time. I manage over 20 blogs, mine and others, and have that setup for the entire network. I haven’t implemented commentLuv on all of them yet but as I upgrade to WP 2.6 you can bet I am adding it along with keywordLuv and “nofollow from home” to all of them. We already use “nofollow free” universally which does a good job of managing who does

July 18, 2008 at 11:46 am

Previously I read – “The no-follow tag is probably not going to have much effect on blog spammers. Direct click-throughs are just as useful to them as search engine rankings.”

I disagree – on comment spam blog above – see link – I’ve remove nofollow and disabled comment moderation. I want comments – same as you.

I Luv Commentss last blog post..I Agree

August 18, 2008 at 12:09 am

Interesting!
CommentLuv helps you reward your commentators by separating their name from their keywords in the link to their site. This gives them improved anchor text, which can help their site rank higher in the search engine results.
You can now leave a comment with your name as well as a keyword of your choice here and get a PR5 link back to your site! How cool is that? People pay big bucks for that and all you have to do is comment here.

JS@BusbySeoChallenges last blog post..Busby SEO Challenger Sphere Going for the Top Spot Again

August 18, 2008 at 7:59 am

Great, its nice to see you using commentluv. Its very cool. When I joined the dofollow movement in one of my blogs recently, it upped the amount of comments I received by 50% which I was estatic about.

Atlanta SEOs last blog post..10 Must Read SEO Articles

August 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm

this is a great blog program is it a wordpress or type of comment luv?

October 29, 2008 at 4:23 am

I am curious if anyone has seen an increase in comments after installing KeywordLuv and Commentuv plugins?

Cheers
Greg

Brad Isaac October 29, 2008 at 9:01 am

I think I saw the major increase in comments early on when I first installed the plug in and announced it in this post. Since then, comments have been steady. But many commentors don’t have blogs so I am not sure what to make of the increase in their comments.

February 2, 2009 at 4:40 pm

great initiative to install the commentluv plugin. have you tried the keywordluv plugin. It’s great for comments. I use both on all my blogs

March 11, 2009 at 11:07 pm

Finally something new for me to learn and I am already subscribed. You can contact me if you need to. :D

April 8, 2009 at 6:06 am

thanks. Let me ask you, if I use 000web(free hosting) subdomain, will it rank as high as wordpress?

Brad Isaac April 8, 2009 at 2:55 pm

Sorry, I don’t know the answer

July 30, 2009 at 4:08 pm

This is a great tool for bloggers…all thou it gets difficult to find such blogs that have keywordluv or commentluv enabled. I installed this on my blog and I ended up getting a lot more spam then I wanted. But it is a great way to generate backlinks!
.-= jspeters´s last blog ..Used DMG DMC 125U Universal Machining Center =-.

July 30, 2009 at 9:15 pm

What are the pros and cons of Commentluv and Keyword luv? Should both plug-ins be used, or is one better (more powerful) than the other? Thanks!
.-= Greg´s last blog ..Do Follow Blog, Comment Luv, Keyword Luv and Top Commenter =-.

October 26, 2009 at 12:04 am

I have been using commentluv and keywordluv on my websites and also posting on others as it is a win-win for everyone. Links for one website and content for the other.
.-= [email protected]´s last blog ..Privacy =-.

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  • CommentLuv Links 7-18-2008

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