One of my favorite parts of blogging is reading all the comments from my readers. I also love commenting on other people’s blogs, too- and spend an hour or two a day doing so. Interacting with others is a great way to make friends, learn new things and get inspiration. With that being said, there are a few things that every blogger should do in regards to commenting. Have you done all of these? If not, please do!
1. Get a Disqus account. Disqus is a blog commenting platform that many bloggers use. It has a few cool features that a regular blog commenting system doesn’t the main perk is it lets you log in from a variety of accounts including Facebook, Twitter, your e-mail, etc. I currently use this one my blog because I think it’s easy to use and encourages people to log in with an account of their choice. However, people who don’t use Disqus on their blog should still sign up.
If you have a Disqus account and comment on a blog that uses it as well, you will get a notification when someone replies to your comments. I take the time to read every comment I receive and write back to as many as I can- but they probably never see it because they don’t use Disqus. You can also track comments, join communities and follow other users as well. If you do make an account, PLEASE put your blog link in your Disqus profile. This way,when you comment I can click on your profile and visit your blog, too.
2. Sign up for Gravatar. Gravatar is a website that allows you to link an image of yourself to various accounts. This way, when you comment on a blog, your photo will appear. I always prefer to see photos of real people (or even your blog’s logo if you don’t want to show your face) instead of nothing or a silly question mark. Also, if you’re commenting a lot I always remember names and faces and its nice to have that type of interaction with your readers. Gravatar works with various commenting platforms, including Disqus as I mentioned above, so it’s good to have for all blogs. Again, make sure you put a link to your blog and email address in your Gravatar profile.
3. Include your e-mail and website URL. I know writing your e-mail is sometimes required, but not on all commenting platforms. Including your email is the only way I have to contact you (unless you sign in with your Twitter or Facebook account or something). If you ask a question and I want to reply, how will I do it? If I want to write back a nice note to you, how will I? The same thing goes for your blog. So many people comment on my blog but never provide their blog’s URL in the form. You don’t have to put it at the end of your posts, but please put it in the field that says “URL” or “website”. You should link your email and blog to everything anyway- your Blogger account, Disqus account, Gravatar account, Twitter, etc.
