Today we will take a look at one of the tool kits offered to us from Google – Google’s Webmaster Tools.
Among other things, Google Webmaster Tools will tell us if there is anything that isn’t working on our site like:
- broken links
- slow page loads
- sitemap problems
- Social proof
- Search engine ranking
- Personal branding
There are many reasons that you want to encourage people to leave comments on your blog. Probably the 3 biggest reasons are
What is “social proof”? The basic idea is that if someone comes to your blog and sees that other people have left a comment then what you are saying must have value. Also, if one person has left a good comment then more people will comment as well, and you will keep building more social proof.
How do comments affect search engine ranking? From the perspective of the search engine spiders, a new comment looks like the page has been modified, which they perceive as more current and relevant. Relevant content is what the search engines want to show their users in the search results, so your page ranks higher.
Personal branding is a term that you will probably hear a lot as you build your Nikken business online. It is about building recognition and trust around your name so that people will want to do business with you. When your visitors leave a comment on your post, make sure that you take the time to reply.
With that in mind, today we install some plugins that will help us get our readers to the right place to leave comments, make it so that they want to leave comments, and enable us to let them know that we replied.
So, let’s get busy.
Step 1: Install the Homepage Excerpts Plugin
To get our readers to leave a comment we need to get them to the single post page because the home page doesn’t display the comment box. The Homepage Excerpts plugin changes your blog’s home page to only show only excerpts of your posts so that your reader has to click to the single post page to read it in its entirety. At the end of the post you encourage them to leave a comment.
This plugin installs differently than most of the ones we will be using. This one is not available through WordPress so we have to install it manually. You can find the plugin here (right-click and select save-as) or possibly a more up-to-date version here. The video will show you how to install it.
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Step 2: Install the CommentLuv Plugin
The CommentLuv plugin is a way of giving something back to your reader as a thank you for leaving a comment. What it does is displays a link to their most recent post from their blog, giving them a little free advertising. It’s really a small price for us to pay for what we receive from their comment.
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Step 3: Install the DoFollow Plugin
WordPress flags the links in comments as NoFollow, which is supposed to mean that the search engine spiders are not to follow them then they index your site. It is questionable whether they actually obey that or not, but the DoFollow plugin removes the NoFollow parameter from the links so that the spider will definitely follow them. It is another way to potentially give back to our readers for leaving a comment.
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Step 4: Install the Comment Reply Notification Plugin
Now that we are encouraging people to leave comments on our posts we want to keep the conversation going, so we reply to the comment, or maybe another visitor does. The Comment Reply Notification plugin emails the original comment author to let them know that there is a reply to their comment so that they can come back and comment again, thereby getting a conversation going.
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Step 5: Activate the Akismet Plugin
Unfortunately, spam is a real problem when you allow comments on your blog. Fortunately, Akismet does a good job of catching it for us.
The Akismet plugin is already installed on your blog but has not been activated yet. Let’s fix that.
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Step 6: Your About Me page and Tagline
Your About Me page and Tagline don’t have anything to do with comments but they are both an important way to engage with our readers and get them coming back.
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Now we can engage our readers and get them into a conversation. There is no better way to turn readers into repeat readers and possible prospects than engaging with them.
Next time we register your blog site with Google and Yahoo and take a look at one set of tools that Google provides us. Talk to you tomorrow.
Return to the Success Team Training index.
