Here are 3 commenting WordPress Plugins that I just implemented here at my blog to help everyone with their comments.
While installing the plugins I found a bit of a snafu with the WordPress theme I’m using that I’ll show and tell about.
Every blogger knows or will eventually know that it’s nice to receive comments on their blog posts. To help your readers leave comments and encourage them to do so, the following comment plugins will benefit your blog, and in turn possibly benefit your readers who have their own blog or website. A win-win situation.
1. Subscribe To Comments
The Subscribe To Comments WordPress Plugin has been around for a while and allows your readers to leave comments at a particular blog post and receive email notifications when there are comments for that blog post.
The plugin provides a check box (see below) under the comments box on your blog post.
The download for the Subscribe To Comments is here and a more detailed explanation is available here at the author’s website. I would love to see folks leave a quick comment here at this blog post for testing purposes.
2. Top Commentators
The Top Commentators plugin is another WordPress plugin that has been around for a while. On this blog it is located in the right-hand column. As your blog readers leave comments at your blog they have the ability to become top commentors at your blog which will show their name and a click-able link to their blog or website. The more a reader leaves comments, the more they stay one of the top commentators, which could drive more traffic to their blog or website.
The plugin is located here for download and more detail can be read here at the author’s website. Below is the screen shot of the plugin where you can decide how you want it to work at your blog. This screen is located under the WordPress Presentation -> Widgets screen.
Click image for larger view
3. CommentLuv
The third comment plugin is CommentLuv. This plugin will allow your readers to pull their last blog post into their comment they leave at your blog. Which is very cool. Just another way to help build communities around blogs and promote others as well as yourself.
Below is the screen shot of CommentLuv in action. It will be located under your comment box.
You can download CommentLuv here as well as read about the detailed features. Pretty darn cool.
WordPress Theme Snafu
When I installed the CommentLuv and Subscribe To Comments plugins, they didn’t show up in my comment form. So I started poking around the comments.php file that seems to be included with most WordPress themes. At the end of my comments.php file I was missing the call to:
This is the code that calls the comment plugins code. Now, this might be a bit advanced for some folks but I include it here to show how bad things can happen to good themes. 🙂
Again, I’d love to see this work for people so if you have the where-with-all, please don’t hesitate to leave a comments here at this blog post or any other blog post at my blog. I will certainly return the favor at your blog.
With all WordPress Plugins make sure you visit the author’s blog and blog comments t o make sure the version of the plugin works with your version of WordPress.
Thanks for the tips on the comment plugins Bill!!
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No problem Bill.
Thanks for the advice. I’ve installed subscribe to comments and I think that’s been helpful but I haven’t tried the other two yet. I’m definitely going to check out the links for more info.
James
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Thank you thank you 🙂 I have been running around in circles trying to figure out WHY the plugin was not working. Your missing code snippet worked the treat!
Thanks!
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@James @Vickie – Great. Glad it helped and thanks for stoppin’ by.
You should point out that top commentator position is a great way to get people to participate on your site when you first start out. You can subsequently disable it when you generate good traffic.
@phi vo: Good point phi vo. I also have comment luv enabled too.
For any small business owners who don’t have any html skills, one of the best things about using WordPress to power your small business website is that if ever you need to create code for something you can simply create whatever you need in a draft post using the simple rich text editor, then click on the source button to copy and paste the code to wherever you need it to be – like in a widget text box for example.
I’m going to try this with my next project…Makes things look a bit better
These are the 3 WP plugins that make commenting worthwhile for any visitor. WP has indeed some of the best plugins beneficial for both the follower and the blog. As they continue to create WP plugins that create win-win situations for both the visitor and the site owner, more and more people will definitely switch to and continue using their platform.