Commentluv | WassupBlog

Subscribe To WassupBlog
There are many reasons why you should subscribe to my list, the most important one being you will never miss out on an important update. Then of course you have the added advantage of having your name and site listed on the MyList page and we all know how much Google loves one way links!

Also, if you subscribe to my LIST you will only get updates to new posts. You will never be spammed! Subscribe To WassupBlog's New Posts!

Archive for 'commentluv'

More On LA, Las Vegas & Rewarding Your Readers

Friday, April 8th, 2011 at 8:56 pm

Comments (44)

In my last two posts I wrote about my trip to the US and I thought I would continue the thread because so many interesting things happened there and I have a lot to share with you. Those posts talked about tipping and good service and I tied them into how we could improve our blogging.

It would be unreasonable to expect that no matter where you go in the States they would treat you like pure gold. There were a few places where the service was shocking. The first happened to be in the Bank Of America. As there were a few questionable people hanging around the ATM I decided to go into the bank to withdraw some cash. After walking through this weird system, obviously something to do with security, that involved two doors where only one person was allowed to enter at a time.

I approached a female bank teller about withdrawing some cash. Man, what a sour puss, I reckon she must have missed out on getting laid that morning. Anyway, she says she needed to see my passport to which I replied I only had my driver’s licence on me, which happened to be acceptable everywhere else we went whilst there, Nope that wasn’t acceptable but I was welcome to use the ATM outside. I’m sorry but that made no sense to me whatsoever, it’s not like the ATM could check my ID. What really cheesed me off was her condescending attitude.

Another occasion of bad service happened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Let me set the scene by quoting what Caesars Palace says about the Spanish Steps.

The warmth of the sun and cool desert breezes. Imagine the ambiance of Spanish Steps, where you can enjoy a frozen fruit cocktail amid the outdoor market atmosphere of the Roman Plaza. The Spanish Steps in Rome were completed in 1725 and lead to the Trinita dei Monti. Like the original, the Las Vegas Spanish Steps serve as a vibrant, outdoor meeting place.

Spanish Steps

Yep, it was our last day in Vegas and Anna and I had some time to kill before catching our plane back to LA and then home. We had walked past the Spanish steps the night before and thought it would be great to relax there while sipping a frozen cocktail. We approached the bar where they had two empty containers representing the sizes available. I pointed to the smaller of the two and said, “I will have two that size, one watermelon and one lemon.” He came back with three and I said, ” Sorry mate I only asked for two one of each flavour.” “No,” he replies, “you asked for two watermelon and one lemon!” I argued the point which caused him to pick up the spare frozen cocktail, hold it in the air in front of me and then to drop it in a bin, making it plain that he wasn’t at all happy.

storm trooper

Sorry, that’s no way to treat a paying customer. Firstly you never argue with a customer, that’s why they have the old’ The customer is always right’ saying. Secondly, you never try to make a customer feel small by using actions meant to intimidate him. Needless to say he didn’t get a tip.

There were a few others but they were minor and not enough to spoil our holiday. I only mentioned them to prepare others for when it happens to them. It’s unreasonable to expect everyone in the service American service industry to be perfect, because no matter where you go in this wonderful world of ours you’re always bound to come across some bad apples.

Something else I noticed while over there is that so many place offer their customers an incentive to encourage them to return. It got me to wondering what we as bloggers could do to encourage our readers to do the same. Most of these have been covered in previous posts but I think, especially for the new readers, I will touch briefly on them again.

Go DoFollow: Don’t worry about all those bloggers who tell you it’s wrong to go dofollow because it will increase your spam and it will ruin your PR. There are plugins to deal with spam and I’ve been dofollow since day one and I’ve still managed a PR4.
Install Commentluv: A great way to reward customers is to install the commentluv plugin. Once they learn that commenting will give them a titled link for their last blog post, and if they’re a member they can choose from their last 10 posts, they will continue to return for more.
KeywordLuv: Another great plugin to reward those who comment on your blog. This plugin allows them to leave their name and a keyword and you all know how important keywords are to SEO.
Keep It Simple: By this I mean don’t make it difficult for people to comment. Most people are busy and they do not want to jump through hoops just to leave a comment so forget those stupid captchas and comment systems that require people to be logged in, such as Disqus and Intense Debate, to leave a comment. Rather than those captchas use GASP instead as it’s the simplest way of defeating those damn spam bots.
Return The favour: What better way to reward your commentators than to visit their blog and leave a quality comment in return. I’ve found this to be the best way to build long term relationships.
Subscribe To Comment Plugin: This is one that many bloggers forget and yet it can bring a lot of return traffic. There are a lot around but make sure you select one that only sends out an email when someone replies to a comment directly and not one that sends and email every time someone leaves a comment.

Naturally you also want to provide the best content possible because if they don’t like what you’re putting out there isn’t much incentive to return. I thought about offering a free eBook but then that may be good for getting them to sign up for a list but it’s only a one time offer so it won’t necessarily get them to return on a regular basis and that’s what we really want now isn’t it?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

To Moderate Or Not To Moderate, That Is The Question

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 5:33 am

Comments (90)

As far as I’m concerned the answer is obvious, there is absolutely no reason today for anyone to moderate their comments. Sure, once long ago it was necessary because there was no real way to combat all the spam that was out there. That’s not the case today because there are plugins that will deal with just about everything that the spammers, those low life miscreants, will throw at you.

I actually use two plugins. The first is the GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin, better known as GASP! The guy that put this plugin together is the very same guy who developed commentluv, the one plugin that almost everyone loves. If you’re still using those annoying captchas I seriously suggest you switch to GASP. I was shocked at how much of the spam I was getting was from spambots.

The other plugin I use in conjunction with GASP is Akismet as it catches all the human spammers. Using the two together frees up my time, time better spent doing other things like commenting on other blogs.Knowing all this I can’t imagine why so many bloggers waste their precious time moderating their comments. Get with it you guys, STOP MODERATING YOUR COMMENTS!

Still not satisfied? I mean it’s your blog right, and if you want to moderate them you should be allowed to? Why should you listen to me anyway, who am I to tell you how to run your blog.? Your problem is that I am not a lone voice on this matter. Just the other day I was reading one of Mitch’s post where he was talking about decluttering his online life. Mitch went so far as to say he would no longer subscribe to blogs who moderate comments!

I’m sure if I did a search I would find many more examples of people who are pissed off at their comments going into moderation. I know I am. I take a lot of pride in my comments. I take the time to read the post, to think about what I’m going to say and the the writing of the comment itself, only to find that it goes into moderation or it disappears altogether and I think to myself, ‘What the frack is that all about’?

If there was one other plugin I would say is essential if you want a successful blog it would have to be a subscribe to comment plugin. There’s a lot of them around, just pick one that only notifies the commentator when someone replies to his actual comment. This is important as some plugins send an email every time someone leaves a comment and this can be quite annoying, especially if you have a busy blog.

WassupBlog’s Milestone 300th Post

Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

Comments (72)

I’m pretty sure I’ve never done one of these posts before but I’m sure that if there’s one floating around somewhere someone out there will remind me of the fact. My first ever post, Wassup Blog Is Here To Entrance And Enthrall The Reader, and I dearly hope that in that time there have been one or two posts that have managed to do just that. That particular post was was posted on August the 9th 2008 and only received two comments, one of which was mine the other belonged to my good blogging mate Mitch, who out of all the possible super powers would love longevity.

Since that first post went live I think I’ve managed to acquire a respectful readership and I think a lot of that has been due to the fact that I tell people how it is and I don’t try to gain their respect only to try and sell them something at a later date. Sure I promote many affiliates but unless I’ve actually tried them I don’t try to fool people into assuming that I have when I haven’t.

What I find really amazing is that in that time this blog has received over 11500 comments. I reckon that’s pretty good when you consider that all my other blogs, which you can read about in my About page, have received 3951 comments out of the 2866 posts That I’ve written on them.

So, why has this blog out performed all those other blogs? Basically it’s because there is one thing that I do on this blog that I do not do on all those others. I try to follow all commentators to their blogs and after finding a post that I like I leave as good a comment as time allows me. More often that not those bloggers appreciate the time I’ve taken to do that and in turn they become loyal readers. Sure it doesn’t always work out that way but then I’ve never expected to win over every single person. I’ve always looked at it being a long term issue and over time it’s proved that it pays to have patience rather than to give up.

Another reason this blog does a lot better is that I use such plugins as commentluv, keywordluv and top commentators to reward my commentators. Sure that leads to some spam but that’s cool because I enjoy sending those comments to Akismet’s spam filter so that Akismet can deal with them in future saving myself and others time.

I think it also helps that I take the time to reply to as many commentators as possible which I find enjoyable rather than a chore. There are many A Listers out there that will tell you doing so is a waste of time as your time may be better spent making money but they won’t tell you how to do that unless you pay them for the privilege. Me, I think it’s a great way to have a meaningful dialogue with people and to me those people are more than just an avenue for making money.

So, this is my 300th post and it will be interesting to see where Wassup Blog is in the scheme of things when I do my 600th post.

For now I would like to provide you guys a little light entertainment by posting the following commercial which advertisers the Wienerschnitzel, a hot dog which really looks quite tasty

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

How Commentluv And Keyword Luv Can Boost Your Comments

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:49 am

Comments (106)

I know there are a lot of blogs out there and I also know it would be a false assumption to think that all those blogs exist purely so they can earn money. This is something that many A Listers assume and the main reason behind this false assumption is because they see so many blogs with ads on them.

Kristi, who amongst other things is famous for her Fetching Friday series, left a couple of comments in my last post, a post that put forward scientific proof as to why some A Listers are Assholes, saying she thought it funny how many people equated success by the amount of money they earn. She then goes on to say, in regards to her blog;

It couldn’t be because I simply enjoy blogging, or I find my success in getting more tweets / comments. :)

Exactly, and as long as those people are visiting our blogs why not have adsense and other revenue earning adds on our blogs, even if they’re only there to cover the hosting and domain name costs.

Now this post isn’t about having a go at the A Listers, it’s about showing others how they can get more people to their blog so that, like Kristi and others, myself included, they can have the satisfaction of getting those extra tweets and comments.

When commenting on other blogs I don’t bother at all checking to see if they are do-follow or not, what I do look for are those using the commentluv plugin. This plugin, used by many bloggers to reward their commentators, is special in that it parses your last post, and if you’re a member you can choose from your last ten posts, so if you’re not a member now would be a good time to join, just click the Register/Edit your blog URL.

What this means is the plugin fetches the title of your last post and if you have an interesting blog title the chances of someone clicking on that is vastly improved, much more than from the link left in your name/url part of the comment form. As it’s explained in my post Getting The Most Out Of Commentluv, you can also use commentluv to double your exposure with each comment you leave. This is really useful if you want to link to another of your blogs or to a particular post of your choice.

Another plugin that is used to reward commentators is the keywordluv plugin by Stephen Cronin. This plugin is especially useful if installed on a do-follow blog. These blogs allow you to use keywords in the name field so instead of just using your name you can now leave a name and keywords of your choice. Don’t abuse the system by using a keyword instead of your name because most bloggers will just delete your comment, I know I do.

I usually don’t use the keyword function when commenting on these blogs mainly because I don’t bother with keywords, but I reckon I will start having some fun with it

Rather than using this section for the search engine benefit you could add something that will pique the readers interest so that combined with your ‘killer’ title how could they not visit your blog? Naturally once they’re on your blog you want to make sure that your content is good enough for them to leave a comment.

So, in summary, while installing commentluv and keyword luv on your blog will increase your comments, utilizing other blogs that also use these plugins will increase your traffic thereby increasing your potential for comments, not to mention the occasional click on your ads.

Guaranteed pass 000-m198 exam using best quality 352-001 study material including HP2-E31 dumps.

Word Of Mouth, A Bloggers Most Effective Marketing Technique

Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

Comments (49)

There are a lot of ways that you can market a commodity in the real world, a lot of them are free, just like this ad I found on a traffic light in the middle of Sydney. Quite ingenious really as it captures an audience who are forced to wait for the lights to change, and it also happens to be free.

There are other ways to use such cost effective marketing such as placing ads on public notice boards. I’ve sold quite a few items using this method. When it comes to marketing a product online it is a whole different story. While there are sites that allow you to promote your blog for free, such as Cool Blog Links, not many are rated as number one on Google.

So, if you’re like me, a poor blogger who wants to market his blog on the Internet and hasn’t the funds to start a marketing campaign, your probably wondering what other avenues you may have. After a bit of thought I realized there is one particular marketing avenue that works just as well on the Internet as it does in the real world. Word Of Mouth! As long as you consistently produce quality content you will have more chance that others will spread the word.

[eminimall]
‘Word of mouth’ on the Internet can be helped by making it easy for your readers to submit your post to such sites as Digg, Stumble, Delicious or by using the Twittley button that Re-Tweets your post. One thing to remember is that you are your blog’s most important asset and your content is the tool by which you build your credentials on the Internet.

We still have the problem of how to market your blog, and the easiest most cost effective way is to use that talent of yours by leaving the best comments imaginable on other peoples blogs. Apart from leaving a link to your blog, and post if the blog uses commentluv, a good well structured comment is more likely to lure people to your blog, as they follow the scent of intelligence left by the bait you left behind.