Adding an active comments section below your posts is a great way to increase engagement on your site. They improve readability, demonstrate that people care about what you say, and offer visitors a reason to check-in. Once you’ve decided to implement a comment system for your website, there are Comment plugins for WordPress that will make it easier for your readers to participate.
The default WordPress commenting system is not the most effective because it doesn’t really make the comment section a place readers want to spend time chatting. To do that, you need to offer some levels of engagement and better ways for them to socialize.
While comments can help create buzz around your content, some have shied away due to time-consuming moderation or an overabundance of spam.
What seems to be more important for websites these days? Increased security and decreased loading times, or enhancing user experience? Increasing engagement can make your website more inviting, encouraging visitors to hop from page to page.
What is WordPress’s Default Comment Handling Approach?
By default, every fresh WordPress install has the native WordPress commenting system open to participation. This is the commenting interface you’re most used to seeing. Again, the design depends on your theme, but I bet you’ll recognize the format:
- Name
- Website URL
- Comment
Although it hasn’t changed much, WordPress remains an industry-recognized standard for blogging and website platforms. It’s been around since March 2007, which is almost 15 years!
I was a little puzzled, and I hear that some intrepid developers have figured out more innovative ways to handle website comments. And that’s what I’m going to show you – the best comment plugins for WordPress from some of the best developers out there.
If you’re looking for a way to completely change the look of your WordPress comments, here’s a list of plugins that can help.
The Best Comment plugins for WordPress to optimize Engagement
I’m going to break up the list of WordPress comments plugins into two sections: First, I’ll talk about plugins that overhaul the native WordPress comments system. In the second section, I’ll explore tweaks and other plugins that are made just for the native commenting system.
Want to completely redesign your site’s comments with a WordPress plugin? Here are the best ones.
Jetpack
Jetpack isn’t just a plugin that lets you post comments. It also includes a handy upgrade to WordPress’ native comment system:
With social login, It’s easier than ever to let your readers speak their minds. Readers can quickly and easily comment with the click of a button, or they can use their existing account to do so.
But because Jetpack doesn’t force users to do this, they can also still use the anonymous “Name”, “Website”, and “Email” form if they want.
Jetpack* is a set of WordPress-built plugins that will help improve your website. It’s developed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. Be sure to activate Jetpack so you can take advantage of great features and plugins, including commenting!
Disqus
Disqus is a popular third-party comment plugin for WordPress. Some people love it, while others are less enthused with the service. However, one thing is undeniable–Disqus has generated plenty of lively debate across the web (more on that later).
It’s always good to be optimistic and think positively, so let’s start by looking at the good:
- Most designers would agree that Disqus’ template is a more aesthetically pleasing design than native WordPress comments.
- Comments are timely and up to the minute.
- Readers can recommend a comment and then sort them by “Best”, “Newest”, or “Oldest”
- Disqus recommends other content on your site, which can drive deeper engagement with your readers.
- There are a lot of reasons that you might want to outsource your comments to Disqus, but one is that native WordPress comments can crash your server.
- You can use Disqus to securely sync comments with your database to migrate back to native WordPress comments in the future.
- When readers leave comments across your site, they don’t need to sign in on every new post. They can do it all from one Disqus account and will know when someone responds to their comment, even if they’re somewhere else. That’s good for you because it’ll bring them back!
Disqus may have its upsides, but there are a few drawbacks:
- Requiring a Disqus account will mean that all of your readers are registered before they comment, which isn’t the case with default WordPress comments.
- There are some serious privacy risks when using Disqus. Disqus collects your readers’ comments to help build an advertising profile they can sell to the highest bidder. This isn’t something most people are comfortable with, so they avoid using it.
- If you’re using Disqus, it’s important to remember to disable advertisements. Otherwise, Disqus will show links that take readers away from your site.
- Disqus is, in some cases, inserting affiliate links into comments. This happens even if the site owner thought they had opted out of that service.
Disqus is a popular plugin for blogs because it improves the user experience of your comments section, authenticates members, and reduces the load on your server. Just be aware of potential privacy issues before deciding to go with Disqus.
If you’re using Disqus, make sure you also use the Disqus Conditional Load plugin to lazy load their comments.
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