USING COMMENTS IN WORDPRESS

WHAT ARE COMMENTS?

Comments are a built-in feature of WordPress and enable your readers to join a discussion on your website’s posts or pages.

Using comments on your blog or website can help you gain loyal readers, increase traffic, and network with other website owners.

In addiBon to comments, WordPress also uses Trackbacks and Pingbacks. These are used as a link noBficaBon method to let website authors know when someone links to their posts.

ANATOMY OF A COMMENT

By default, the comment form consists of the following:

• Name • Email Address • Website • Comment Box

The comments form can be customized in a number of ways, either through your theme or a plugin.

CONFIGURING COMMENT SETTINGS

In the WordPress Dashboard, you can find the comment seNngs under SeNngs -> Discussion

The first secBon allows you to enable or disable comments on your website. You can override these seNngs on individual posts.

You can also set up whether to allow trackbacks and pingbacks. If you want other blogs to be noBfied when you link to them, or to receive

noBficaBons when other blogs link to you, leave these boxes checked.

ENABLE/DISABLE COMMENTS

OTHER COMMENT SETTINGS

Requiring RegistraBon can reduce the number of comments you receive.

Threaded Comments enable nested replies on individual comments. (Note: Some older themes may need CSS tweaks for this!)

You can also choose whether comments should span across mulBple pages and whether newer or older comments should appear first.

MODERATION SETTINGS

You can choose whether or not to receive email noBficaBons when someone posts a comment. If you have a popular website, this can be

overwhelming and so you may prefer to leave unchecked.

Emails will go out to the address under admin AND the post author.

Requiring comments to be manually approved and the comment author to have previously approved comments will prevent spam from appearing on your site if it is not caught by a spam filter plugin so you can delete later.

AUTOMATED MODERATION

You can automate comment moderaBon based on a word or phrase, website, email address, or IP address.

You can also blacklist comments so they automaBcally go to the trash.

AVATAR SETTINGS

An Avatar is an image that displays next to a comment author’s name.

WordPress by default will try to find the person’s Gravatar image, which is a universal avatar that works across mulBple websites.

A Gravatar can be created here: hYps://en.gravatar.com/

When a user does not have a custom Gravatar, you can choose to display a default or generated icon instead.

MODERATING, REPLYING TO, AND EDITING COMMENTS

You can moderate, reply to, and edit comments by going to Comments in the WordPress dashboard menu.

When you hover over a comment, it will show you some opBons: Approve/Unapprove | Reply | Quick Edit | Edit | History | Spam | Trash

This area shows the comment author’s email, website, and IP address

These links enable you to quickly moderate comments as needed.

Example Edit: Fix Spelling or Grammar Errors:

Quick Reply Example

PREVENTING COMMENT SPAMSpam Comments are comments created by users or bots who

aYempt to abuse your website’s authority to gain traffic to their website.

Fortunately, there are many plugins available to help with this!

Akismet: Shipped with WordPress in every default installaBon. Requires an API key and is limited to only single personal use unless you upgrade.

h"ps://akismet.com/

AKISMET

WP SpamShield: Free to use and works automaBcally with no captchas - addiBonal opBonal seNngs can be configured in the opBon panel.

Bonus: Also protects against Contact Form and RegistraBon Spam!

h"ps://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-spamshield/

WP-SPAMSHIELD

Comments can be used in a number of ways to keep your readers involved in the conversa8on and build a community around your blog or website.

POPULAR PLUGINS TO ENGAGE YOUR WEBSITE’S AUDIENCE

By engaging readers, you can:

• Build a Loyal Following and Audience

• Establish Authority in Your Niche

• Increase Search Rankings - Comments can increase the keyword density on the page for phrases you didn’t even think about!

Let’s take a look at a few popular plugins that can be used to increase engagement and par8cipa8on from your website’s visitors.

If you are already using Jetpack on your website, the comments module can be enabled in the Jetpack seNngs and will replace the default WordPress comments.

Features include social login and noBficaBon of follow up comments and new posts.

JETPACK COMMENTS MODULE

hYps://jetpack.me/support/comments/

DISQUS COMMENTS

DISQUS: A popular, user-friendly third-party hosted commenBng service that helps you analyze user engagement, provide noBficaBons, and

moneBze comments.

hYps://wordpress.org/plugins/disqus-comment-system/

FACEBOOK COMMENTS

Facebook Comments allows you to easily integrate with the Facebook Developer’s API to allow Facebook users to comment using their Facebook account.

While using Facebook Comments may be convenient, keep in mind it may leave visitors out of the conversa8on if they do not use Facebook.

hLps://wordpress.org/plugins/comments-from-facebook/

WPDISCUZ

This free plugin allows for social login, noBficaBons, comment sorBng, comment voBng, and much more - all using naBve WordPress comments

seNngs and without sharing data with third parBes.

hYps://wordpress.org/plugins/wpdiscuz/

hYps://wordpress.org/plugins/yoast-comment-hacks/

YOAST COMMENT HACKS

This plugin, in addi8on to other features, offers Comment Redirec8on, which allows you to create a page that someone will be redirected to aQer leaving a comment.

This could be used for: • Email NewsleLer Opt-in • Facebook Like Box • Follow on Pinterest Widget • Special Offers for Commenters • and More!

WordPress Codex hYps://codex.wordpress.org/Comments_in_WordPress

Developing Comment Template Files in Themes hYps://developer.wordpress.org/themes/template-files-secBon/

parBal-and-miscellaneous-template-files/comments/

Comment Spam hYps://codex.wordpress.org/Comment_Spam

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