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CommentLuv – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – Saturday Morning Surfing

(Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes)

Heather Craik blends a passion for 3 dimensional computer graphics with a love of writing. Any such combination served up blog-style is unbeatable. When she’s tired of writing, she can model. When she’s tired of modeling, she can write. Each provides support for the other. Here, Heather continues discussion raised in her almost-but-not-quite-a-blog-post comment from the last Saturday Morning Surfing. Secret or not, Heather surely fits into any League of Extraordinary bloggers.


CommentLuv – We love it so!

-by Heather Craik

Most of us here will know what CommentLuv is and why we use it, but here’s a quick recap to bring everyone else up to speed;

CommentLuv is a plug-in that allows your commenters to enter their own website’s URL and gain a link back to them through their comment. If you happen to run a blog it’ll also look for your latest RSS feed and publish the title and link to your post.

Before we get to the really meaty stuff I’d like to say that I love using CommentLuv; it’s a fun plug-in to have and it’s certainly increased the sense of community/amount of comments on my blog. In fact, since I installed it, I’ve noticed myself looking for links whenever someone else comments so I can go and visit them. In fact, on other blogs with it installed I’m more likely to visit other people I find interesting, or even comment myself.

From a purely altruistic point of view I’d like to think that people (myself included) comment more when it’s installed because:

  • There’s usually a greater sense of community on those blogs
  • It shows that the author of the blog cares what you have to say in general
  • Everyone on such high-community blogs posts interesting comments that no one could read and remain unchanged (possible exaggeration there)

However over the last couple of weeks I’ve been wondering why we really like CommentLuv, and who actually uses it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’d be fair to say that the people on this site read it because they have their own websites/blogs or are looking to create them. Possibly you even use the plug-in yourself, have used it on another site or you’ve at least heard of it.

I’d like to venture a radical concept (though probably not one that you haven’t thought of before).

CommentLuv is used by people with websites and it’s at least in part because we like the link option.

Gosh, someone said it. Oops.

Hilarity aside, the only people that’d find it useful are people with a link to share. Everyone else would probably just ignore it, or if the check box is on by default, get bothered with some strange error they didn’t understand. (I’ve had this happen a couple of times to my non-web-owner friends)

I see nothing wrong with this. In fact, I think it can be a very positive thing when used correctly. Here’s why we might be hesitant to own up to it though;

  • Having ‘I like the link back’ as a motive makes you worry about being regarded as a spammer
  • Spammers actually do try to use it for this reason
  • Semi-spammers use this as an opportunity to say ‘Great post’ and gain a link
  • Bloggers have this crazy aversion to owning up to wanting something for their time

Isn’t that a little insane? We’ve probably all thought something along those lines at some point, so why is it such a taboo subject?

Personally I think it’s because there’s such a stigma surrounding making money online, promoting yourself, and generally receiving rewards for the work you put into your site that we’re all too afraid to own up to it.

People (usually the uninitiated) are going to persist in thinking that bloggers should work for free unless we start standing up as a whole and saying “Actually, we can provide good content and make a living.”

CommentLuv, at least to me, is a passive way of hinting that you know people like to be rewarded for their time and that you expect the same sort of treatment. I see nothing dark and horrible in that statement, so why not bring it into the open?

What do you think?

Is it time for us closet-link lovers to step out?


Heather writes The 3D Student providing video tutorials, reviews, and advice for 3D students. She loves working with light and texture for animation and modeling, writing, drawing, film and playing video games. Visit Heather at The 3D Student.

Comments

  1. Hi Heather,
    Great follow up to last week’s conversation. I will quite happily admit that I love Comment Luv and the exposure it gives to Give A Brick.

    I’d even take it one step further and say that on Tuesday, when I was trying to get lots of people to read about the situation with Sir Richard Branson, despite having a huge load of blog posts to write, I purposely took a couple of hours off writing and dedicated them instead to commenting wherever I could for the express purpose of getting eye balls to my post.

    I wasn’t secret about this intention and in one place, I even used it as an example (because it fitted the context of what I was reading)

    I believe the key difference between myself and a spammer is that I only leave a comment where I can add to or further the conversation. I never leave a random ‘great post, thanks’ comment and actively delete them from my place.

    Maybe that’s me being too open and honest but you did ask ;)
    .-= Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..From acts of random kindness to taking over the world, it must be our Winter round-up 2010 =-.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      I do the same: I’ll comment when I can add to the conversation, or something, if the comments are a little lonely, I’ll leave a quick note for encouragement.

      I have to say I don’t comment much on blogspot blogs anymore. Too hard to log in, low quality link coming out.

      Closed communities are going to have to either charge, or open up, or their going to die.
      .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..A League of Ordinary Bloggers – Anyone can do this, so few do =-.

      • Heather says:

        Have to agree with both of you here really; it’s one of the more useful tools we have for building community and getting the word out (community first, word out second). I figure so long as you’re adding value in your comments then there’s no problem. :)
        .-= Heather´s last blog ..Confessions of a Student Blogger =-.

  2. Dave Doolin says:

    Heather, thanks for writing up and extending your comments.

    If I had a bunch of money and was an assistant professor somewhere, I’d get some graduate students working on how to measure the connectivity of CL versus non-CL blogs.

    I don’t even know what “connectivity” really means in this context. Probably have to make up some new definitions.
    .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Top 10 Traits for Finding Your League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Saturday Morning Surfing =-.

    • Heather says:

      Thanks again for the opportunity Dave – had a great time writing this and that was a stellar introduction (have a huge grin now).

      It’d be really interesting to see exactly what the differences would be… but it’d probably be really hard to measure. ‘Connectivity’ is fickle at the best of times, and since the success of the plugin relies heavily on how you use your comments to attract other people (rather than just the link) it’d be a mammoth task to measure. Ah well.
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..Confessions of a Student Blogger =-.

  3. Heather,

    I totally agree with you. I rarely look at other people’s links at the end of a comment unless something pops out just off the wall I guess. Backlinks are wonderful but I don’t think it adds a terrible amount on the human front.

    And Dave and I were talking this morning about how it rarely works. He has it set up right apparently but his site is the only one I have ever seen my CommentLuv work on.

    Oh well. You guys should check out my nifty CommentLuv link and tell me what you think about this Can-SPAM issue. ;)

  4. Christopher Dugan says:

    From a reader’s perspective (mine) the problem with CommentLuv is relevance vs. placement. If I like someone’s comment and want to connect and converse, I want either a general website link so I can explore what the author is about or a relevant article link to find more on the topic I’m interested in.

    However, website links are usually placed at the top of the comment and hidden in the person’s name (There is a real mental cost to looking back up and highlighting it, especially if I have to scroll. It feels unnatural.) and CommentLuv’s article links aren’t usually relevant. They become clutter I have to scan through to find what’s usefull to me.

    I think comments in general could use a bit of re-structuring to become more reader friendly. Content is king right? So put the signature, time, and link fields last.

    • Heather says:

      Hm, that’s interesting to note really – hadn’t even begun to look at the placement of links. I can see what you’re saying though; since CommentLuv shows the most recent posts rather than the most relevant it can be difficult to find what you’re looking for when you first click through.

      Less of a problem if you already keep up with the person and happen to see a new post there, but it’s still not ideal.

      Thank you for sharing your perspective Chris :)
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

      • Christopher Dugan says:

        You’re welcome, Heather. :)

        If you already keep up with the person CommentLuv is redundant, or occasionally serendipitous, and you want the author’s name prominent for easy recognition.

        I suppose there is a choice to be made in whether you want the comments section designed for new or regular users of other people’s sites:
        Do you want to drive new traffic their way or make it easier for traffic you already share to connect with them on your site?
        Do you want the discussion that arises to be topical or social?
        Is your site about spreading ideas or forming relationships?

        CommentLuv doesn’t facilitate either approach, but I’m not aware of any alternatives that do.

        • Heather says:

          I think the ‘need’ that CommentLuv fills is more to do with encouraging other webusers to comment. Because we all assume that people would find it useful to click on the link and divert to their site, and that its a good way to drive traffic.

          The thing is, it does actually work to a point. We see an increase in pageviews after installing it, so we all assume it’s doing what its meant to. Definitely interesting hearing what you have to say here though as a reader.

          Can’t speak for any of the other bloggers, but personally I just view it as an added bonus; if it brings me people, great, if not… no big deal. Here’s something you might find interesting though; Since installing it I’ve seen the number of Page Views per day rise, but the number of visitors is staying fairly constant. These arent always the same people, but a large chunk of them are.

          I don’t know, like you I don’t see any alternatives that’d be a better fit, but I do think we need to stop viewing it as the best thing since sliced bread. :)
          .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

        • Dave Doolin says:

          Chris, interesting perspective.

          Back the in day, any link in these sorts of comments was forbidden. It just wasn’t done. People used handles, too. Using your real name showed a total lack of sophistication.

          So this whole CommentLuv thing is really different. Makes for a more egalitarian web how I see it.

          Since you have left any link yourself, I am just a little curious how much you have used CL, and how you formed your opinions. Would make a good article in this series.
          .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Top 10 Traits for Finding Your League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Saturday Morning Surfing =-.

      • lees shizzle says:

        What am I missing here…or your missing… doesn’t comluv allow you to add a url that will show up as most relevant? Go to the site and add it as to always show Heather.. I’m pretty sure it allows you to do this, unless I’m misunderstanding your question.
        .-= lees shizzle´s last blog ..I Am Not Naked and You Are Not In Charge =-.

    • How great would it be if CommentLuv served up the most relevant posts from commenters’ blogs, rather than the most recent? Our most recent post (if it shows up here) won’t be relevant to this conversation, though other posts on our blog are. : )

  5. Andy Bailey says:

    this is a great post and it’s made much better by the comments. I really like to collect feedback on how commentluv is received and used.

    My personal experience with it and spam is not bad, I find that the bloggers that install it to their own site fit in to two categories.

    1. real blogger who is the type of person to give back to their readers, someone who writes reviews about other peoples blogs or takes part in memes or makes posts with links to nice blogs they’ve seen.

    2. someone who read somewhere 3 months ago that you can make a bazillion dollars in a week by making a site that scrapes rss content as posts and filling it with adsense and then realises that it wont make money until they get traffic (it’ll be a while before they realize that traffic wont make a difference on most MFA sites)

    Person number 1 doesn’t do it for the dollar/effort ratio or dark SEO reasons. They do it because it fits with their blog and it makes it easier to find what their readers are posting about.
    It provides a convenient link direct to the latest post so they can read it. And when they comment, it’s because they read the whole post and have a real reply to give that adds to the discussion instead of commenting only for some mythical google juice.

    Person number 2 might not be a bad person, just clueless. They are probably new to this internet thing and they saw on Fox news or BBC about how some kid makes some money with his site on the internet and then started to believe the crap adsense ads that always appear on MMO blogs when they search for “make money online”.
    Those people will eventually ‘get it’ and become grown up bloggers or else they’ll give up completely and get a real job.

    Luckily, the commentluv community has a majority of the type 1 bloggers and it gets more every day thanks to great posts like this.
    .-= Andy Bailey´s last blog ..What to do if commentluv is not showing the latest post =-.

    • Heather says:

      Thanks Andy, I’m glad you found it interesting. :)

      I think you’re bang on with the people that use CommentLuv, and I’d have to agree that most people that do seem to understand more about community (possibly that’s partly why it’s become something you watch for when commenting? Might be worth checking into). Basically my aim with the post was to say that its not a purely altruistic thing, people that use it and people that comment on blogs that have it don’t always do so for purely selfless reasons.

      The selfless reasons could be there as well, and CommentLuv is (thankfully) far from being a miracle-pill for instant traffic. It’s just important to know what it is and what it isn’t. :)

      Less of type b people, more of type a people. Sure would be nice. :)
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      Andy, my experience with CL has been almost totally positive.

      That said, I notice people are starting to get more sophisticated with it. For example, I generally turn it off once I’m 2 levels deep in a thread, or if I’m shooting out a one liner. Sometimes, and this is funny to me, I’ll have a post in queue where the title of the post is pretty much the comment, all by itself. It’s happened.

      Thanks for surfing by this Saturday morning. Overall, CL *is* changing the way we communicate on blogs, and in a good way.

      Here’s another example: when I’m out surfing around the web, I like to link back to my guest authors using CL. I also try to link to all my guest authors in my own replies here, before I link to my own articles.
      .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..A Simple Guide To WordPress Theme Installation =-.

  6. Christopher Dugan says:

    Right, it’s an incentive for other content producers to participate, however unoptimal, because they think it works: An anti-reticence placebo.

    …and more publisher comments creates social proof to encourage readers also to participate, though there is risk that the links will make those without websites of their own feel out of place (I’ve felt this way on some sites, where most of the commenters are also bloggers).

    • Heather says:

      That’s not always the case Chris, sometimes it may be, but more often than not it’s just an extra feature to help out some of the people with websites that take the time to make a productive comment. A way of saying Thank you, if you will.

      I can see why it might make some readers feel out of place though; how often has this happened to you?
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

      • Christopher Dugan says:

        True, I was speaking more to function than intent, and the latter is more important.

        I haven’t felt that way very often, though most of the blogs I’ve visited to comment on don’t use CL yet. Once or twice a month at the most, I think. It only occurs when there are a lot of comments and all or nearly all have the extra backlink.

        • Heather says:

          I think that usually the intent of the people using CommentLuv is good, and that’s why the sense of community is more apparent on those blogs; they want to give something back, and that shows through.

          While I can understand that not having a link might make people feel out of place, I don’t really see why it’s such an issue. Let me explain; People with blogs and links will go ahead and use it, people without (at least in my experience) tend to ignore it and/or start their own blog sooner or later. Don’t have an instant answer for you, but as Dave said, why not start one if it bothers you to be left out?
          .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

          • Christopher Dugan says:

            My problem isn’t so much about fitting it, but authority. The underlying fear is that I won’t be taken seriously if I don’t have something to point to and say, “See? I’m a real human being and I wrote that!” when I want my comments to stand for themselves.

            I don’t let it stop me though. (and from the course this discussion has taken, it’s probably unfounded)

          • Heather says:

            Ah ok, that makes a bit more sense. In all honesty the blogging community (or, most of them at least) is full of really supportive, friendly people. Just because you don’t have a link of your own doesn’t mean that we’re going to disregard what you’re saying.

            Good that it doesn’t stop you though.
            .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

          • Dave Doolin says:

            @Chris, it *is* unfounded when you engage with thoughtfulness as you have.

        • Dave Doolin says:

          Christopher, following up on Heather’s question, how can we help you if you would like to start publishing on the web?

          There really is a phenomenally supportive community out here.

          It costs very little money, and you can put as little or as much time into it as you like.

          I’ve started republishing the Website In A Weekend ecourse on Sundays. There is always a link back to the beginning for getting started.

          Once you get started, you can jump in almost anywhere.

          • Christopher Dugan says:

            Thank you for the encouragement!

            I’m not ready to take that plunge yet for personal reasons, though I will be keeping an eye on the community. :)

    • Dave Doolin says:

      Chris, excellent point about commenters being bloggers. I’ve noticed this myself.

      And here’s what’s really cool about that.

      From my sales data most of my customers, people that buy my stuff, never comment. Not ever. And I’m totally cool with that. I’m helping them solve a problem that leaving a comment won’t solve.

      From my traffic data, about 1% (2% on a good day) of my readers leave a comment.

      Finally, people without blogs, well, they should get a blog! And I am right here to help, with close to 300,000 words of original, high quality, entertaining and technically accurate content. For free!

      So, yeah, now that I think about it, if CommentLuv helps inspire people to learn to blog (or to write), that’s awesome, really awesome.

      Also, by way of disclaimer, I am *totally* in this thing to make money. The more the better. Otherwise I’d be out surfing for real this morning…
      .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Not-So-Secret Blog Alliances – Kelly Diels bares (almost) all =-.

      • Dave,

        My sales data shows similar trends to yours. My clients *other than you* rarely comment. I rarely get comments at all but I know they are reading it because they will bring up some random thing in the post in conversation or on Twitter.

        I’ve heard the 1% commenter number somewhere else but I’m not sure where. My true numbers seem to be lower than that. I’ve built up a good deal of traffic but I get the comments on the phone, by email or other ways.

        • Dave Doolin says:

          I have seen it one other place, but it was early last summer, and I wrote an article on it about the same time. That hive mind thing again.

          From what I can see you’re doing, “don’t fix what ain’t broke.” If your clients prefer “read-only” well, keep giving them goodies to read!

          Here’s even more data: my most popular articles, by far, get almost no comments at all.

      • Christopher Dugan says:

        Well of course if your site and products are about blogging you want it to seem like everyone’s doing it! :P

  7. Tom says:

    There are indeed two sides to this: the blog owner the commenter.

    The blog owner: for him commentluv / keywordluv / top commenter plugins are all way to encourage comments on his blog. For commentluv only enabled blogs, you could argue that you only let real names through as signature: the commenter already receiving an optimised link via CL. On blogs that have both KL and CL real name is really a great way to have “rela” conversation instead of talking to “some keywords” and “another keyword”.

    For the commenter: yes CL is a great way to gain deep links, and the blogs that use them are worth investing time into to develop as a member of the community.
    .-= Tom´s last blog ..Get more people talking with the WordPress plugin “subscribe to comments” =-.

    • Heather says:

      Thanks for your input Tom – So would you say that its worth having KeywordLuv as well as CommentLuv on your blog? I’ve only really seen KL used in a couple of places (though it does seem to work for them) and I’m just wondering how useful it is in general.
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

      • Tom says:

        Personally I use Keywordluv, not commentluv … but I might give it a try once the site is a bit more established.

        KL is great to get people using their own/real names which makes discussions more personal. Some people may still try to squeeze keywords if you only use CL, that’s why I used the former.

  8. Suhasini says:

    I am back after a small gap as had papers, You are rightly got many valid points about comment luv and I really hate this as it takes lot of time to get updated.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      Tell us more Suhasini… I sense some frustration.

      The CommentLuv author may still be following this conversation, he left an excellent note above.

      So definitely take a few minutes and write out some details.

  9. Dave Doolin says:

    Tom, thanks for stopping by.

    I never thought about examining CL from these two perspectives, but it makes perfect sense.

    I never found a good keyword luv plugin, the only one I found was a couple of years out of date. Any recommendations?

    Also, I used to have a twitter field here, I need to put that back in. Don’t know where it got off to. I did a clean up a while back, it must have been swept away then.
    .-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How Do You Eat An Elephant? – Eleanor Edwards tells all =-.

    • Tom says:

      You’re right I forgot about the twitter plugin, I wanted to install it as well.

      The KL plugin I use is from scratch99. It is not as user friendly as it could (name@your keyword) but I put the explanation line at the top of the comment form so someone who is not familiar with it should see it.

      I did see a comment form that used 2 fields, one for name, one for keywords, which is ideal, but for the life of me I can’t recall the blog I saw it on.

  10. Maria says:

    Hi Heather,

    Great feedback you have for this post.

    Anyway, I find the comment luv very useful to find other blogs I have never read, a great way to find great people and its how I found James, Lee, Karen, Eleanor and yourself. If it wasn’t for these links I probably wouldn’t have found you all.

    That said, spammers do use and abuse this system. When I first started blogging, and reading other blogs, I was to shy to leave a comment and often just wrote ‘great post’. Sometimes people dont have anything to add and just want the author to know you liked it without leaving a huge comment. (like this one) I have been to your site several times, but I really have nothing to add because I don’t have a clue on most of your subjects but I still enjoy reading them. ( I do a little psp)

    So, a genuine question: What would be better, just saying great post, well done or not saying anything at all?

    Sometimes I find this frustrating because I want to comment, and not just to have my link shown at the end of it. I have commented on posts without links back to my blog and it doesn’t bother me one way or the other.

    Great post :)
    .-= Maria´s last blog ..If I was A Politician………. =-.

    • Heather says:

      Hey Maria, nice to see you!

      In answer to your question… I have no idea. Personally I never grow tired of hearing ‘great post’ so long as its genuine, but like you I’ve been finding myself in the position lately where I’ve not had anything else to say. Usually that means I’ll sit quietly in the background until a – something occurs to me or b – the author posts something else that I can comment on.

      It’d be interesting to hear what Dave has to say about this really, been around longer than I have at least so he’ll probably have more to offer. Definitely an interesting point to raise though, and I can relate to the frustration.
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      Maria, it really depends.

      If there are no comments, I might leave a sentence of encouragement: “I liked what you said about thus and such.”

      If I don’t have anything to say, I won’t say anything. Example: I popped on over to your blog the other day. I can’t remember if I left a comment, I don’t recall exactly, but I do remember thinking, “I don’t think I can add to this particular discussion.”

      If the comments are roaring along, but what I want to say has been said, I won’t say anything.

      I hardly ever comment to “score points.” Never to make someone look bad. Once in a while for blatant suck-uppery, but that’s also almost always an inside joke with the OP.

      Also, on shorter comments, I’ll often unclick CL.

    • lees shizzle says:

      Gr8 pt. Maria… sometimes i want ppl to know I read there shiz but I don’t fit in their niche so to speak. I don’t just want to say gr8 post or keep it up but I sincerely want them to know that I read it. Maybe thats because i want to see the same on my site or whatnot. So I try to say something encouraging, (me imagine that) I remember the days (months) when I never got any comments. So help me God, comment luv has helped spread my shiz here and there and for this I am grateful.
      Bottom line is don’t complicate it. If I did or didn’t get something from your post, I’ll usually not forget you, I will come back for a second try. And in doing so I usually almost always get it on the rebound and leave a comment next time.. And if I don’t then your Shizz just didn’t cut it..
      .-= lees shizzle´s last blog ..I Am Not Naked and You Are Not In Charge =-.

  11. Maria says:

    Thanks for that guys. While I was reading your replies it occurred to me that maybe sending a short email to the author to say you enjoyed the post, but again, some may think this is time consuming and annoying.

    Not to worry, I guess the authors of the post can fizzle out the ones just looking for free traffic.

    Have a great weekend.
    .-= Maria´s last blog ..If I was A Politician………. =-.

  12. Australian Dtx says:

    I think it’s because there’s such a stigma surrounding making money online, promoting yourself, and generally receiving rewards for the work you put into your site that we’re all too afraid to own up to it.

    > Australian Detox < [Unlinked]


    Folks, a perfect example of how NOT to conduct social media marketing. To the doctors at Australian Detox:

    1. You should be doing your own due diligence using Google Alerts so that you will see this comment.
    2. You should educate yourself on how this kind of marketing works, so that you can effectively supervise your outsourcing.
    3. You should find your target audience for your message, which I can assure, it highly unlikely to be Website In A Weekend.
    4. This is nothing personal to the VA or employee of the marketing company. You’re doing what you’re told, and doing it well. It should, however, give your boss a bit of gas pain.

    All that being said, you have a very nice looking website, and I do hope you succeed.

    -dave d


    .-= Australian Dtx´s last blog > Silver Edition AGi < [unlinked]

  13. Ralph says:

    Heather,
    I do like comment Luv. I do enjoy seeing the latest post for commenters and often head right off to read when the title grabs me. What I don’t like about comment Luv is that it is not working for me and so far I can’t figure out why. I cut back on plugins about the time it stopped working so I know it is something I did. I just don’t know what. I liked learning from Dave that people who buy are not people who leave comments. I may be able to make money yet.

  14. lees shizzle says:

    Ok I left a couple of replies….whew spent more time on here than just about anywhere this week. Good job Heather and Dave.
    Now to add my two cents. Comment luv and Andy have provided us with an invaluable asset. Nuff said. If you don’t use it or don’t care for it, fine don’t. But for me it has been ‘priceless’ and that’s not from a monetary value thing either. It has helped me create and build relationships online that I would not had been able to otherwise. And for this I am grateful.
    Having said that I also use it as a device for traffic in some instances. But not always. I will say that I read a lot of comments just as much if not more than the content of the blog and if your comments are grabbing me by the cojones then I will usually look next at your link and visit.
    @Andy.. why does intensedebate link only to the url with your name and not the post title when commenting? My blog shows your latest post in comments but you have to click the name of said commenter to get there.. the title is left standing, looking like part of the comments.
    @dave d. now I know why you never comment on my blog.. blogspot.. heh heh
    Gonna go tweet this again.. best dam post of the day! love you Heather
    .-= lees shizzle´s last blog ..I Am Not Naked and You Are Not In Charge =-.

    • Heather says:

      High praise Lee! Thank you. :)

      Reading comments and making connections is more or less the same way I use it, sometimes even as a reminder to check someone’s blog if they (oh horrors) don’t have a working RSS feed. Its a great plugin, and I do love it very much.
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      Blogspot can be a hassle, it depends on whether I’m logged or not.

      But there’s really a lot more to it than that. It turns out to be impossible to keep up with everything. James is finding this out right now.

      I do try and visit everyone that comments here. Actually, I do visit, whether I comment or not.

      This is a very high quality problem to have. A couple of people I know are in a similar situation, and we’ve agreed NOT to comment on each other’s blogs!

      • lees shizzle says:

        Hmm .. very interesting.. I like the agree thing about not commenting on each others blogs..
        And yes I was on the band wagon with James in the beginning about commenting to everybody etc… and no my site isn’t guru shizz, but if I didn’t have the time I have to comment and reply I wouldn’t enjoy it so much..( not everyone has the time) Those who bash others for not commenting are those who probably don’t get much traffic or not as much as they profess to get. I can see from the growth of mine that it would be impossible to comment and reply to everyone and still get your work done. Unless your a Ghost commenter, imposter type of shizz.. I’m for real so I’d never do that….. he heheh he (never say never Huh) couldn’t resist.
        Thanks Dave, and by the way would it make any difference if I had my own domain and was still on blogspot.. from your end anyway.. would it still be the login issue etc.. what am I missing here… should email ya..
        .-= lees shizzle´s last blog ..I Am Not Naked and You Are Not In Charge =-.

        • Dave Doolin says:

          1. If you are willing to hump very hard, I firmly believe your domain name is TOTALLY irrelevant.

          “Google?” Oh please. WTF kind of name is that?

          So I don’t worry about the .com, .net, .biz, dashes in the name, whatever.

          Different story if I were setting up a different kind of site, say, like http://practicalseotips.com/

          2. Intense Debate, I *loath* logging into it for reasons not worth discussing here and now.

          If you configure the form fields for autocomplete, that’s going a long way right there. Otherwise people have to type in everything by hand every time they stop by. Bummer.

          Given 1. and 2., if you can make it easy to comment on Blogspot, why change?

  15. We use CommentLuv because it’s win-win, and because it gives us a sense of the person (and the website) behind the comment. It really does help people get noticed — it allows me (and everyone else out there) to find and become interested in our commenters. That’s really powerful when you’re building a community.

    More info about KeywordLuv would be welcome (perhaps as a followup to this article?).

  16. Hesham @ FamousBloggers says:

    I love CommentLuv and the idea of how it works, and I hardly can change my comment system to a system that doesn’t support CommentLuv!

    I also comment more on blogs that has CommentLuv enabled, it’s like exactly find what you want and need on a blog while commenting!

    I want also to mention the new design of Comluv network which give credit for active CommentLuv members and blogs!
    .-= Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog ..ComLuv new Theme, Traffic and more Exposure for CommentLuv Enabled Blogs =-.

  17. Dave Doolin says:

    Thank you to everyone who has stopped by.

    Heather knocked this one out of the ballpark, it’s the top single day traffic article so far, and has the most comments of any article so far. Thanks Heather!

  18. James says:

    I’ve used this and it’s sister plugin, KeywordLuv for a while on my old blog and really think it adds to the site and community like you said. I find the spammers that don’t read the post in the first place don’t know how to take advantage of the two plugins anyways (too busy putting in links in the comment to notice). Which seems to be most of them. It still requires good moderation to keep it clean.
    Now that I am working on a new blog, I’ll be adding both of these plugins there also, once I get some other things worked out on that site. Oddly, it is still no follow and it has already attracted an amazing number of spammers. It would seem that if you use the plugins or not, you still get spam, so why not reward the good comments.

  19. Victor says:

    I completely agree with you on this! But this is great for many reasons. Without having discovered ComLuv, I never would have found some interesting blogs that others are actively posting (so many blogs are dead these days). The second part I like about it is it really helps build communities. I’ll see some people who have posted on other blogs, and have at least some idea of who they are!
    .-= Victor´s last blog ..Flavors of Ice Cream in San Francisco =-.

  20. John Sullivan says:

    Wow was I scrolling along way down reading some very interesting comments. I’m a fan on Comluv and Andy’s and his twitterlinks plugin is also killer. Since my blog is offbeat :) I try to have everything available to encourage comments, feedback etc, from Do following all the links,comment luv,keyword luv, even the person’s avatar pic is linked back.I have been thinking about toning it down to appeal to more people. Glad I stopped by and Happy to see your Blog ON FIRE :) Nice work Heather /Dave Peace.
    PS as far as Aust DR. mentioned above. I do protect the links to my site by NOT approving ones that are sales pitches/ links etc :) But I do allow people to use and KW LUv the want if the linked site is OK :) Thanks
    .-= John Sullivan´s last blog ..What’s your favorite wordpress plugin ? =-.

    • Heather says:

      Great to see you John! And thanks too :)

      Just not letting them through in the first place seems like a good system, I just found it funny that they’d copy paste the comment really. It’s the sort of thing you hear about happening, but when you actually see it you don’t know whether to laugh or shake your head in exasperation!

      Used right KL itself seems like it’d be pretty beneficial though. Do you find it helps you more than just having CommentLuv, or not really noticed any difference?
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..First Guest Post – Website in a Weekend =-.

    • Dave Doolin says:

      John, thanks for stopping by.

      You are probably running up against the wall on social media, commenting, etc. I know I am. Just not enough time, and so many places to visit.

      I caught Aus DR in my email. I unlinked it and left it in so that I might be able to use it for an example later. Some of this comment spam is getting sophisticated.

  21. Bert Padilla says:

    Yes, CL is a great plug-in. I was just disappointed when I was supposed to use it before and realized it doesn’t support most widely used commenting system. Like that of Disqus…
    .-= Bert Padilla´s last blog ..Windows Phone 7 Tablet Concept and Features Leaked =-.

  22. Dave – wow an interactive group on this post! Very interesting insights, opinions and other on here.

    Andy’s comment made me laugh with scenario #2 – guess I missed that post three months ago about making a kazillion dollars!

    My initial intent for installing CommentLuv was to show appreciation to the people who took the time to comment on my blog.

    Overall it’s been a very positive experience and the few that just do the good ‘ole “great post” – I trash those.

    I enjoy visiting sites that have commentLuv installed because I know they care about the comments (and I really do try to only comment if I really have something to contribute so I often will only “lurk”).

    Since I also frequently actually read other comments left I have often found other good blogs to visit because of CommentLuv. Gabe, ExtremeJohn and Dennis Edell are just a few that I found as a result of finding your website and seeing their comments/links.

    It would be nice to turn off if I don’t want to include a recent link – if there is a way to do it, I am not familiar with it.

    I’m all for CommentLuv – the good, the bad and the ugly!

    Thanks, Andy, for the awesome plug-in!
    .-= Michelle Mangen´s last blog ..5 Easy To Implement Tips That Will Help You Gain Control Over Email =-.

    • Heather says:

      Hey Michelle – great to hear that you’re using it and finding it useful. :)

      Like you, I’ve found some amazing people through sites that use it; I’d estimate that most of my feed reader is filled with them now (talking about 50-100 different people)!

      Great to see you here, and thanks for your comment.
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..Webcomic: The Mayans Day 3 =-.

  23. Until a few months ago, I’d never heard of commentluv, then I put it on my blog and haven’t looked back. It’s a great tool and obviously a good hook to bring people to your site.

    Look at all these comments Heather! Amazing!

  24. Deacon says:

    *I think* one thing that CL is pointing out to people is that we actually do have to pay attention to the titles of our posts. We hear it all the time, but often play it lip service. The reason for writing better post titles is clearly visible in this thread.

    Who’s CL link did you click on? Who’s didn’t you? Why?
    .-= Deacon´s last blog ..Skater Series Printing is Done =-.

  25. Ryan Hanzel says:

    I really like commentluv. It is real nice when that new commentator comes a long (on our smaller blogs) and to see his work and what kind of blogger he is. Great job on this post Heather!
    .-= Ryan Hanzel´s last blog ..A fresh direction =-.

    • Heather says:

      Thanks Ryan!

      Have to agree, seeing new commentators and finding out what they’re about is one of my favourite parts of CL… especially since it then means I can respond more intelligently as well. Great tool ;)
      .-= Heather´s last blog ..Webcomic: The Mayans Day 3 =-.

  26. Mars Dorian says:

    Heck, I don’t even use commentluv (not anymore), I’m really into Disqus, which is awesome, because it’s fully customizable ! You have your own profile, can track your commentators etc. I’m so in love with it, I want to marry it !
    .-= Mars Dorian´s last blog ..Why YOU should be delusional ! =-.

  27. James says:

    I ue Comment Luv and Keyword Luv on my blogs. I find that the people who take the time to use them, leave the best comments, because they care and usually are bloggers themselves.
    Spammers may have an rss feed that Comment Luv catches but they never seem to use Keywork Luv and use a name. The spam bots don’t seem to work with Comment Luv.
    So, I think it is fair to say that these plugins to improve the comments on my sites.
    .-= James´s last blog ..5 Reasons Hackers Use Malware To Screw Up Your Computer =-.

  28. I am always glad to see someone discussing the pink elephant in the room. I have an even more expansive vision of why links in comments are a good thing and I recommend using both CommentLuv AND KeywordLuv.

    More CommentLuv users will know me soon because I am the newly announced Editor-in-Chief for the official CommentLuv blog. I will also be making recommendations on improving the usability of the CommentLuv site and plugin.

    I hope you will come by and offer your suggestions and insights. I also hope you will consider what I have to say about how our DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv community can create a better world.

    Those who wonder what CommentLuv, links and bloggers have to do with surviving a declining economy can find out more in the post I’ve featured in CommentLuv.
    .-= Gail from GrowMap´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.

  29. very well said here, heather… as for me, i must admit that these plug-ins are necessary for the back-up links but then again you yourself could see which comments are a spam or not.. i managed to encounter many wonderful people thru this in continents across the globe and that for me is a treasure that i would always keep.. and keep on writing as i will follow your threads since i find some topics interesting.. :)

  30. Mystic Kitty says:

    Thanks for the post Heather. I think CommentLuv is a wonderful idea to inspire a community of friendly and informative bloggers to share ideas and thoughts. Especially since it encourages other bloggers who have their own sites to connect with each other.
    Mystic Kitty´s last post ..Oscar the very funny cat burglar steals underwear

  31. Heather,

    Thank you for providing this awesome post on commentluv. This plugin is very useful for newbies like me.
    Rose @Ar-gees/ Making Money Online´s last post ..Making Money Online with Revenue Sharing Sites

  32. Rohan@Rohan jain says:

    I am thinking to use commentluv plug in for my blog, but want to know more about its reviews. Thanks for sharing your experience.
    Rohan@Rohan jain´s last post ..CHILDHOOD

  33. teecup says:

    Heather,

    This is a great post! I had to do some research about Comment Luv after someone at a forum I frequent said that the plug-in could make you a link farm in Google’s eyes.

    Whew… the post title “good… bad… and ugly…” really caught my attention, and
    I’m glad not to find anything that says the plug-in would make my site do poorly in Google’s search engine ranking and such.

    I wholeheartedly believe that the very purpose of the plug-in is for bloggers to gain comments and for commenters to leave backlinks. It’s a win-win situation.

    Spam will always be a problem, but Andy provided great tools to counter unwanted comments and commenters (including the fantastic option to “block the IP”).

    Woot! I love Comment Luv and Intense Debate. Apart from the linking feature, the look of the comment form is really professional… I’ve seen an increase of interest and activity in my blog site after installing the plug-in.

    Cheers!
    teecup´s last post ..Just How Useful is Comment Luv for Bloggers

  34. teecup says:

    P.S.

    The maximum comments allowed in Intense Debate’s dashboard is only 100. Do you know how I can up the number?
    teecup´s last post ..Just How Useful is Comment Luv for Bloggers

  35. chimacintosh says:

    At first my feed had an error so CommentLuv didn’t work. So I had to go to this URL to unban it.

    http://comluv.com/member/unban-url/

    Then I came back here and it works! Well it is showing 1 post anyway which is the most recent. I think that because I am doing a backup of my site, it is taking the processing power away and not letting commluv do its thing. Just some info if you can’t get it to work.
    chimacintosh´s last post ..Nearly one 1 in 12 in US have asthma- study – StumbleUpon

  36. Wendy says:

    I totally agree with you. Comment Luv brings like minded bloggers together. It helps to show different opinions and ad value to you site.
    Wendy´s last post ..How to Get a Boy to Like youPush the Right Buttons

  37. Suzie says:

    I love it so much too! I really want to create post all about commentluv.. And you really are a good resource..

  38. Kisha says:

    I rarely look at other people’s links at the end of a comment unless something pops out just off the wall I guess. Backlinks are wonderful but I don’t think it adds a terrible amount on the human front.

  39. Bjorn says:

    I am a good old fan of commentluv. If you are an addicted blogger as me, it really helps to build communities. It provides you with the means to learn about other bloggers really quickly and easily.

  40. Marcella says:

    well i’m a big fun of commentLuv, it made a huge impact with my post :) i have nothing to say against it.

  41. Jaclyn says:

    Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Cheers!

    [Jaclyn (?), you're free to quote and credit without asking. It's called "fair use". I do have say, though, your comment and the two sites I delinked are about the most sophisticated comment spamming I've seen. Nicely done, but I don't support that business model here. Nothing against the hosting company advertising on those sites, but I'm a happy Bluehost affiliate, and as such, your comment links represent unwelcome competition to my business. Sort of feels like you're taking food right out of my mouth, you know? I'm curious about your actual IP address, which I'm now off to check. Anyway, I'm sure you'll get a LOT of traction from this technique, and I'm also sure I'm going see to a lot more spammers trying it.

    Also, if this is a VA gig for you, I would be happy to put you in touch with a couple of really good people who can help you get your feet on the ground in a more sustainable way.

    Ta - Dave, Editor-in-chief]

  42. anonymous says:

    What a brilliant post. You should do a series! :)I did a sort of blogging for dummies over
    on one of the craft forums and I thought it was too simple for them, but the amount of
    emails I got asking questions just like what you addressed was unbelievable. As young
    people today we have grown up with computers, but it’s easy to forget that even people
    just a few years older have not! Really good post! :)

  43. Hi Heather! Nice article you added. You are 3D student. that is nice. Same here. i am also lighting and texturing artist from India. Nice to see a post from 3D artist. Best of Luck with your amazing career
    Itender Rawat´s last post ..Must Have Configuration For High End Gaming Desktop

  44. Yup, Commentluv is a great plugin for sure. I have seen many bloggers have it installed on their sites including this one. It speeds up things a little regarding the off page seo!! Great post. Thanks.
    Kajal Agarwal´s last post ..Kajal Agarwal – Brief Biography

  45. Jason Davis says:

    Simply awesome! The other neat feature is that when commenting and linking back to one of your own sites that already has commentluv premium installed, you get perks like instant access to your last ten posts and even specific pages.
    Jason Davis´s last post ..Six Sigma – The Benefits of Using Cause and Effect Diagrams

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