Has Moving to Wordpress Increased Your Blog Comments?
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One of the motivating factors for yours truly moving over to Wordpress was because of Blogger’s idiotic/inconsistent comments policy.
For those of you who don’t remember, Blogger doesn’t have inline comments, forcing users to click (twice) on links that open up to another page. That’s a lot of of clicking (and a nuisance) just to leave a comment.
Then they changed their policy, forcing us to create an OpenID account if we wanted to leave behind our blog address instead of just our Blogger ID. As to be expected, there was such an outcry from Blogger users that it eventually capitulated and gave users the option back again.
This was reminiscent of the marketing blunder Coca-Cola did when they changed their recipe, and after realizing their mistake they brought it back again under the “Classic” label. But the damage had been done and I’m sure the dork who came up with the idea was soon gainfully unemployed.
Well, the same went for Google’s Blogger as countless users switched platforms over to Wordpress. As far as I’m concerned there’s no regrets making the move but frankly I haven’t really noticed the increase in comments like I had expected (or hoped). With the exception of one of my first posts Migrating-Redirecting Blogger to Wordpress: The Complete Guide, comments are pretty much the same.
However, I have noticed that some Blokesters are getting more comments. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t been posting all that much, spending a great deal of time familiarizing myself with the new theme, tweaking it and researching plugins.
It’s hard to say, but I was hoping that you would let me know what your experiences are:
Have you noticed any increase in comments since moving over to Wordpress?
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My comments have been up, and are now settling down to a just above blogger level. I do get noticeably more spam, but the Tan Tan Noodles pluging, along with the Akismet plugin, seem to catch a lot of them now.
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I too have noticed a dramatic increase in spam. Which on the face of it seems contradictory given that Blogger is inundated with spam blogs.
So it seems your experience with the number of comments is similar to mine. Thanks Kirsten.
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I never got spam on ExpressionEngine but after switching to WordPress Askimet is hard at work !
For my blog, I am satisfied with the number of comments I get for each article - but there are way too many lurkers and I need figure our a strategy to encourage them to comment as well !
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My comments are up since moving to WordPress, but I can’t be positive it was a cause and effect kind of thing. I was gradually gaining readers even before the move, and my comments were growing along with my readership. As for spam, yeah, I’m getting a ton more now on WP than on Blogger but Akismet eliminates virtually all of it with very few false positives.
One simple thing I’ve implemented to gain more comments is to stick a question at the bottom of the post. Something on the order of “What do you think?” or “What’s your story?” depending on the topic of my post. Just asking people a simple question like that seems to open the floodgates.
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My Comments are up since moving to wordpress. And now since moving over my blog to a paid host(thanks Jaffer for the ASO recommendation), there are no regrets at all.
All my content is mine and not blogger’s. That on its own is well worth it.
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Thanks Jaffer, Kathy and Curtis. I just got back from shopping. Strange, but a post like this would have normally generated a lot more interest.
Ditto on the lurker comment Jaffer.
Kathy, using the question technique is always a good choice.
Curtis, I’m glad that it’s working for you. I have no regrets either but It’s disappointing with the lack of commenting (except you guys of course).
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My comments are up a little and spam is way up - I have found the akismet and Bad Behaviour plugins very accurate though so the spam is not a problem.
I suspect my comments are up because of joining the Aussie Bloggers Forum however - because most new commentators are members there. I now know why participating in forums is valuable for gaining readers!
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I can’t say that I’m getting more comments because of the move because my blog wasn’t on Blogger that long before I moved to Wordpress. I’m still trying to build traffic and don’t get all that many comments even now. But I will say that the comments I get are quality comments. I don’t get a ton of spam, but there’s more than I would like to see.
My main purpose in moving to WordPress was to gain the flexibility in setting up my blog the way I wanted and getting rid of the Blogger branding that I could never figure out how to eliminate. No regrets here.
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Hi Sueblimely and Lee.
The lesson learned here is that improved commenting is not necessarily platform specific or a magic pill for creating a sense of community on a blog.
That is still dependant on a multitude of factors, and in my case it’s probably due to not blogging as often as I normally would.
I think also a lot of my readers are confused on the direction this blog is heading because I have switched platforms, and written some posts that are specific to Wordpress users.
Nonetheless, I wish to assure everyone that nothing has changed and this blog has and will continue to remain a blog for the benefit of ALL bloggers, regardless of which platform they may choose to use.
Cheers!
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Blog Bloke- I am excited to see what posts you make next and what I can learn.
I agree with Sue my spam is way up too.
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Hi Bloke,
Well it sorry to see you didn’t have the luck. As for me, I noticed a double increase in my comments as soon as I made the switch.
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Thanks Curtis and I appreciate you being a valued member of the Blokester Network.
Nice to have you back again Mushfiqur. Does that you mean you will be making a contribution for Team Bloke?
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Unfortunately, there is no way to measure any increase in comments is connected to moving to WordPress or new readers are commenting. I suspect the increase in my comments is from new readers who may not even be aware of the Blogger comment issues.
Ironically, Blogger has added the Name/URL fields back to their Comment form again! Apparently, Google has learned from their Blogging blunder???
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Unfortunately for Blogger it was too little too late.
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For me (us?), the Blogger Blunder was a blessing!
There are so many benefits to the reliable blogging platform of WordPress including the comment features!
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True, but I think we’ve busted the myth that moving over to Wordpress will automatically increase comments. Not so in all cases. Now, if you’re asking me about comment spam that would be a different story.
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New from Blog Bloke Has Moving to Wordpress Increased Your Blog Comments?: One of th.. http://tinyurl.com/2uemz5
New from Blog Bloke Has Moving to Wordpress Increased Your Blog Comments?: One of th.. http://tinyurl.com/2uemz5
[…] yesterday’s lament about blog commenting, I’ve listened to what my Blokester’s are saying and come to realize that I need […]