Show some Luv
I have been blogging for a little over two months now and my only regret about blogging has been “Why didn’t I start doing it earlier?”
Blogging has been a lot of fun. It has driven me to gain more knowledge and to improve in ways I didn’t know I could improve. It has also given me the opportunity to meet different people that I otherwise would have never met.
I’m talking about other bloggers.
Okay, I have never physically met any other blogger, but by reading what they have to say I feel like I’m getting to know them – slowly. I am the new kid on the block but I feel like I’m starting to become part of a community – a blogging community.
I started this blog so I can track the progress I’m making in achieving financial independence and to use it as a medium to help my friends and family achieve the same goals. But since I am not an expert and I am just learning as I go along, I find it necessary to share what experts and not so experts have to say about the subject.
One reason why I started The Friday Five was to share with you some of my favorite blogs. The second reason, to show those bloggers some love.
Another way I can show other bloggers some love while providing related content to readers is with CommentLuv.
What Is CommentLuv?
CommentLuv is a nifty WordPress plugin that allows bloggers and website owners who comment on your posts to provide a link to their latest post. You can also give them the option to choose from their latest 10 posts.
CommentLuv also gives you (the website owner) the option to allow comment links to be dofollow. You can also set parameters to decide when links are dofollow – after three approved comments for example.
Why CommentLuv?
People that comment on blogs do it for four reasons.
- To show appreciation to the author for the information provided.
- To agree or disagree with the point of view of the author.
- To expand on the topic by providing useful and relevant insight.
- To leave a great comment which encourages people to click on their link and drive more traffic to their site.
- Okay there are also spammers and trolls but they have no reason to exist other than to be jerks.
Enabling CommentLuv in my site will hopefully encourage other bloggers and experts in the field to leave insightful comments and allow them to link to one of their posts. This in turn will help my readers find more useful information, help other bloggers try to drive more traffic to their sites, and help my blog by getting more comments.
Why would I want to drive more traffic to other sites? Because even though I want traffic to stay on my site, I am also part of a bigger community.
Joshua Rodriguez at CNA Finance wrote a great piece on Why Bloggers Fail, where he says we should selfishly be selfless in order for our blogs to be successful. CommentLuv allows me to be selfishly selfless.
Community Building
By commenting on other blogs and encouraging others to comment on our blog, we can welcome each other’s opinions and hopefully develop relationships which can in turn help us build a stronger community.
Healthy relationships are based on a balance of “give and take.” I give you a little bit of love, you give me a little bit of love.
But don’t comment just for the sake of leaving a link. Please provide useful information to the readers. You might be able to say it better or might have a different point of view that will be valuable to both me and my readers. Either way, I just want to start a conversation.
So don’t be shy. Provide useful insight that helps my readers and as a result they will reward you by clicking on your links and see what you have to say on your end.
Show some love… some CommentLuv – okay that was super cheesy.
I’ve been thinking to use CommentLuv for a while because of a lot of bloggers are using it and I like how it works, but since it hadn’t been updated for a while when I last checked it a couple of months ago, I hesitated to use it because of security issues. Now that you mention it again, apparently they just updated it in April, which is good and makes me want to reconsider using it.
I didn’t use commentluv for a few months when I started blogging and once I added it, I was amazed at how many more blog comments I got. I like that it helps other bloggers, but I love that it reminds me of what other bloggers have recently written.
That’s why I decided to go with commentluv. It has helped me find so many great topics just by reading the comments in some of my favorite blogs.
It does take awhile to get the momentum going of building up the community, but it is such a worthwhile process. It’s really a great, supportive community and I look forward to following your journey!
Thank you Tonya. Time is all I have.
Ditto what Tonya said, Aldo!!! Welcome aboard – lots of awesome and supportive people in the PF blogging world: you’ll fit right in. 🙂
Thank you Laurie. I can see all the support you show each other and it’s a delight to see.
Thanks for sharing this info. I always thought CL was part of a certain WP theme. I had no idea it was a plugin. I just added it to my site. The benefit of reading and learning from other blog sites.
I definitely don’t comment on sites just to leave a link. I’ll comment even if the plugin isn’t enabled. I agree with Shannon though – it does make it easier to return a comment when it’s installed!
The PF community is an awesome one. I’m sure you’ll be building a community in no time. Interaction with other bloggers is the way to go!
I think that’s a question many of us ask, “Why didn’t I start sooner?” The beauty of the PF community is that we’re all different in our goals, but everyone tends to be very supportive. I look forward to following your journey toward financial independence.
blogging is addictive! I try to keep it few posts a week so it doesn’t eat up all my free time.
Blogging is addictive…I did it would be. I learned a lot from fellow bloggers. I like commentluv because it lets me see what others are writing about and that’s how I usually find their posts. That’s how I found your post!
You’re right, I’ve been able to find so many great blogs thanks to commentluv.
Hey, don’t feel bad for taking two months to find commentluv. It took me over a year to realize I had no way for people to get my blog posts via email.
I think your blog is looking great considering it’s relatively new Aldo. Your header is looking really good now by the way.
Comment Luv is a great plugin and I find that it encourages comments from other bloggers which is great for relationship building.
Thanks Hayley. I really appreciate your help.
Welcome to the PF community, Aldo! I echo everyone here that the PF community is an incredibly supportive group. You’re learning so fast too. I think it took me a few months before I even started getting comments! 🙂 I love comment luv because I find so many other great bloggers when I comment on other sites with it installed. A blog name occasionally catches my attention but an interesting post title will make me click right then and there.
I’m going to add commentluv in a couple weeks along with some changes to the blog itself. What I like about it is the community it fosters in the comment section.
Hi Aldo!!
Thanks for dropping by my blog. I thought I would come around check out your blog and other social media as well. I really enjoy giving back and showing appreciation for other bloggers as well. My fans enjoy reading posts from other personal finance bloggers that I share. Nice to find you!
Cheers mate
Mr.CBB
Thanks for stopping by. I found your blog because of a comment you made on another blog I read. Commentluv is great for showing people other relevant information and other great blogs out there.
I like commentluv but I don’t think I can install it because I’m on a WordPress.com hosted site. It’s probably another good reason to make the switch to self-hosted. I’m delaying because (1) I’m scared (2) I don’t want to pay out for hosting (3) I’m scared. I’m worried about security, backups, plugins. Sometimes I see problems on other sites and people have a hard time correcting them, which makes me nervous. Am I making it a bigger deal than I should?
Hahaha Debs, I’m really not the right person to answer this. I just googled “how to start a blog” and the consensus was to get a self-hosted site, but I have no clue what the difference is between the two.
In just 2 months, it looks like you’ve gained a lot of follows or at least hits to your blog. We’ve had our blog for a few months as well but I can’t say that we get as many comments on our posts. I guess I should look into self-hosting and CommentLuv to drive in traffic at a quicker rate. 😉
Cheers to learning and growing as a blogger. AFFJ
I was extremely pleased to discover this great site. I wanted to thank you for your time due to this fantastic read!! I use CommentLuv Premium too and I still love it
You think this is the best way to communicate through blogs ?
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bhagwant mann
Commentluv is awesome, a great tool for any blogger. Best thing is the links are even dofollow. And the other great thing I love is the possibility to show your own blogpost in the comment.