Last month I wanted to find out whether using the CommentLuv plug-in would increase the number of comments I received on this Website (Read First Post here). So I decided to conduct a wee experiment and installed the plug-in. The plan was to compare the total number of comments received from 01 – 30 April with those received from 01 – 31 March. The results I got are very interesting and are as follows.
For better and easier understanding, these results have been divided into two groups i.e. March results and April results showing the total number of non-commentluv comments, pingbacks and commentluv comments received with an overall score within the same period. More details are shown below.
March Results
Non-CommentLuv Comments: 85
Pingbacks: 175
TOTAL : 260
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April Results
CommentLuv Comments: 46
Non-CommentLuv Comments: 129
Pingbacks: 105
TOTAL: 280
From the above results, it appears that CommentLuv made very little difference to the number of comments received in April. The total number (including Pingbacks) of comments received in April was very similar to that of May while majority of those who commented on articles did not use the plug-in.
Conclusion
My conclusion is that the CommentLuv plug-in should not be totally written off because in blogging every visitor counts and if all you get is one more reader of your blog, it might well be worth it. Furthermore, contrary to what some bloggers have said that the plug-in increases the amount of spam comments in participating sites, my experience was quite the opposite. There was no increase in the number of spam I received in April as a result of using CommentLuv. Finally, I observed that most visitors who took advantage of the plug-in did not actually return. Perhaps, this was because all they were interested in was dropping their Web links in as many sites as possible.
Verdict
I will continue to use the plug-in. While it is not the magic comment or traffic booster we all dream of, it is still worth giving a try.
Talking Point
How would you interpret the above results? Do you agree with my analysis?
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