I was doing some research (surprise, surprise - if you visit often, you already know that I'm always "doing research") and I figured out how to implement Commentluv on Mommy Rantings. I had to visit over a dozen different sites to get to the right one with step-by-step instructions that were sooo very simple. If you haven't yet installed Commentluv on your blogger blog, here are the instructions that I used. At first, I didn't think that it worked, because I checked Mommy Rantings and it looked exactly the same - no telltale red heart smiling at me where the comment sections are.
You have to bear in mind that when installed on an already existing blog (versus a brand new blog), Commentluv will not "appear" until the next blog post that you publish.
If you aren't familiar with it, Commentluv is a two-way method of "showing some luv". You leave a (valuable and contributory) comment on a blog with Commentluv (which makes the blog owner very happy - I, personally, like to "hear" what readers have to say about what I wrote, good, bad or ugly) and you, the reader and commentator, receive a link back to your site, with the blog post title in your comment.
If you are a blog owner, installing Commentluv on your blog will encourage readers to leave their comments (and if you love comments like most blog owners do, then you understand the benefit). I also think it enhances my blog when comments are left, as not only are my thoughts, feelings, experience, expressions and opinions posted, but they are expanded on by others who may have different thoughts, feelings, experiences, expressions and opinions. We may know what we are posting about - or we may have done sufficient enough research to post an informative post, but there might be someone else out there that knows just a little bit (or a lot) more - and if they add to the post, it makes it even better, doesn't it?
Leave A Comment - It's Potential Traffic For Your Blog!
So, when people read the blog posts on Mommy Rantings and then read the comments that follow it, if you have a title that catches the reader's eye within your comment, chances are, they will click on it and come visit you! There is a lot of debate and many different individual research projects going on to assess whether or not Commentluv really increases traffic to your blog, but as far as I see it, there's nothing bad about leaving a comment on a great or informative or useful blog post - and if just one person clicks through to your blog because of that comment, well, that's a plus, right?
Your comments on Commentluv blogs are also indexed by Google, which is an additional way to increase traffic, especially if you are skilled at using keywords and leaving content-rich comments. :)
Unfortunately, Commentluv is only going to work on the new posts that are generated from here on out, as the old comment system is still on the older comments. :(
Intense Debate
Originally, Wordpress was the blog to have if you wanted to use Commentluv, but now there is a way to install it on Blogger (see, I have it!). Again, I found these awesome step-by-step instructions here on how to install Commentluv on Blogger - and it's pretty cut-and-dry. Intense Debate is the comment system that you add to your site and then you (with a click of a button) activate the Commentluv plugin at the end.
PageRank
I'm not going to go into a lengthy discussion about what pagerank is, why it's important, bla bla bla. (I'll save that for yet another exciting and informative blog post). I never really paid attention to pagerank, because, to me, it was a bit of a farce. People purchase links and pay other people to write comments around the web to increase their pagerank (basically a bunch of spammers, because they are not "real" comments that contribute to the blog that they are commenting on. They visit the blog, not because they are interested in what is says, but to simply leave their link and then hop onto the next blog) - and to be quite honest with you, that was not/is not/will never be for me!
So, Mommy Rantings sat at a poor little - or big fat - zero for pagerank up until last December, when I last checked. And, sadly, little did I know that it's not like your statchecker, which updates every moment...Google Pagerank only updates on some kind of off-beat quarterly (but not quarterly) basis. Basically, it updates when it updates.
People are actually posting in forums and writing blog posts that "guestimate" when the next PR update will occur. I have a hunch that people are even placing bets on dates when the next pagerank update will occur! So, I guess we never know until it has happened...and, if you are one to check your stats every 5 minutes, the PR checker will drive you crazy...because you won't see it increase but every few months...if it does at all.
I received an email from someone who mentioned that Mommy Rantings was "so new" and I wondered where in the world she got that from, so I started thinking...That is when I decided to do a quick PR check. If it still was a big fat "0", I could see where she got that from!
And, lo and behold! Here is what I found out:
Okay, not huge to brag about, but I was definitely excited! To go from a nothing to a something (PR2) without even knowing it is awesome! This now has me on a new kick to increase the PR to a 3, of course, because from what I've gathered, you're still a "nothing" unless you have a PR3. And, apparently, there is a PR update coming in July (or August or October...grr! Who knows?)...so there's not much time!
We understand the benefits of Commentluv, but the real hot topic is:
Does Commentluv help to increase your pagerank?
It seems that there are no real answers to this. Everyone has their own data, experiments and conclusions. Some say that adding Commentluv to their blog increased their PR, while others claim that adding Commentluv shares some of your "link juice" with the people who leave comments on your blog, pulling down your pagerank. Then, there is the question of whether or not commenting on Commentluv blogs (which then leaves your links on their blogs, which should increase your pagerank, if they are dofollow links) increases your pagerank or not.
I'm afraid that I don't have the answers for you. :( Everyone seems to think something different...so I'm lost on this one.) Then, it's so hard to judge which aspect really did affect your PR...you may have received more (or lost some) links during the period or you might have changed something else to your blog which affected the PR (especially if you're always diddling with your blog)...so it's not really all that simple to figure out whether Commentluv is what is affecting PR, because the Internet is constantly changing.
Backlinks
What I can say is that Commentluv definitely creates backlinks. And, backlinks are the key to pagerank, so it would make sense that Commentluv would increase the pagerank of your blog or site if you leave comments on blogs with Commentluv installed. (Please don't spam! Really, at least read the blog post and write a contributory comment.)
Bugs!
If there is anything that I hate, it's bugs - real ones and ones that happen on the Internet! Commentluv is no perfect gem, as I've heard that there are several "bugs" to the comment system, including not working with Safari, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome (but, it's supposed to work perfectly with Firefox). And, there have been many, many other complaints, some who have sent a message to Commentluv, only to get very sad (to say the least) responses from. Apparently, not only do they not know how to upgrade/improve their comment system, but they don't really seem to care. If it's working on their end, you will get a response like, "It's working here." LOL
Well, it's here now. Commentluv is on Mommy Rantings and hopefully it works well for everyone!
Do you have Commentluv on your blog? What is your experience with it? Have you experienced any issues? Do you think it provides more value? Have you seen an improvement in pagerank?
