How do you use comments?

How do you use comments? That’s my question. How do use comments on Technology Bloggers and other blogs, and are you getting the most out of your commenting experience?

In the past Kaushal has written about how to make the most out of blog commenting, and now I am going to do something similar, but in my soft of way.

So let’s focus on comments here first.

When you comment, do you ever take notice of others comments? Well if not you should! Comments often contain the most valuable content of the whole article (as I think I have said before) so it would be wise to read them.

Furthermore, making good use of the ‘Reply’ button is never a bad thing either. Not only does it show that you read others comments, but it also helps to spark conversation and ultimately relationships within the community.

The next thing to remember is that I don’t like to leave useless stuff lying around cluttering the place up. Hopefully this shows in the design of the blog, especially the comment field. This brings me onto my next point, make use of the information the blogger has given you.

Technology Bloggers Comment Form

Technology Bloggers comment form - found at the bottom of every article, and where you go to leave your contribution

Take a look at it, and you should see that it is busy, but not cluttered. Everything there is essential and telling you something.

The “we are a dofollow blog” bit tells you that you get ‘extra rewards’ for commenting here if you have a URL; the “check out the comment policy” bit lets you know that we have rules and values, and they are on show for all to see; each of the comment fields has its name and a brief description, to help you put the right thing in each box; below the post comment button is an anti-spam box, showing that we must care about your comments, and finally the CommentLuv box is there to help you squeeze the most out of your contribution.

Make use of this information, it is there to help you write the best possible comment!

What you can now do is apply this when you comment on other blogs. Okay, they may have slightly different systems and ways of doing things, but at the end of the day, they are all just helping you add your contribution.

Comment are very important, and that’s probably why I keep writing about them! Why not add a contribution now, either as a new comment or in reply so someone else’s below and demonstrate your knowledge of how to use comments?

ReplyMe – a great WordPress plugin!

ReplyMe is a fantastic plugin, which I am very proud to announce that Technology Bloggers uses to notify users when their comment has a reply.

Why use ReplyMe over other subscribe to comment plugins?

Well with normal subscribe to comment plugins you get sent an email every time there is a new comment, even if it’s nothing to do with your comment. You also have to remember to tick the little box at the bottom of the comment box to say that you want to receive updates.

What is ReplyMe?

ReplyMe is a fantastic plugin which allows you to receive updates (without subscription) when your comment has been replied to. This means that you don’t need to sift through hundreds of irrelevant comments, you get your comment and the reply delivered directly to you by email – free of charge 🙂

In Technology Bloggers ReplyMe emails you get to see your comment and the reply to that, along with a link to the article, and the comment that replied to yours.

ReplyMe (Plugin) LogoIf the new comment needs no reply, you can read it in your email without even having to visit the blog. If you want to reply, just click the link and you are ready to continue the conversation!

A good blog has a community on-site and off. This can be through social media, but it can also be through using great plugins like ReplyMe to ‘continue the conversation’!

If you read Ari Herzog’s blog, Draggon Blogger, Christopher Roberts Philosophy Blog, Blogging Bookshelf or The Sales Lion, you will probably have seen ReplyMe in action before. Technology Bloggers has it’s own unique style of delivering the email, but the principle is the same 🙂

For details of how you can customise the plugin, check out Justin’s article on it.

If you want to see ReplyMe in action post a comment below, and I will gladly reply to show you.

If you are interested in using ReplyMe on your blog, check out it’s plugin page 🙂