Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Plugin Reviewed: Follow Comments on Any As Seen by Janine Post!

As Seen by Janine’s Photo Blog now has an option to subscribe to comments on posts which interest you! I just added the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin and I will give a brief review of this plugin shortly.

What led me to add the plugin is that my most recent post, Breaking Out of the HDR Rut with Lightroom 5: Photomatix Pro vs. HDR Effects Pro vs. Lightroom 5, has gotten quite a few comments; in fact, more than I’ve ever gotten! As of this moment, I already have 16 responses on yesterday’s post:

16 Responses

Okay, in fairness, 8 of the 16 are actual comments from readers; the other 8 are my replies to their comments. Part of “comment love etiquette” is taking the time to reply when folks are kind enough to spend their time bothering to comment. Still 8 comments is more than I’ve ever had!

This increase in comment activity on my blog is exciting for me because comments on posts really boost the blog’s rankings in search engines. While I know 8 comments is nothing compared to the number of comments some of the most popular photography bloggers get, it is a huge step forward for me. While I have had many very popular posts which have gotten very high numbers of views, it is rare for people to leave comments.

No surprise that I got comments this time, because I included a “call to action” by specifically asking readers to comment and express their opinions. I also promoted the post on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, which I always do, but this time I specifically asked for comments and shares.

I even was brave enough to write to David duChemin, a world class photographer I consider one of my greatest mentors, asking him to read and comment on my blog because I really wanted his feedback on the photos I was evaulating. David did comment with some very sage words of wisdom which truly inspired me!

Quite a few other people have commented as well. The call to action has brought comments in, boosting my SEO.

FAR more importantly, getting such great comments is giving me the interactive feedback I was hoping for to help me grow as an artist.

What I didn’t have in place though was a way for those who comment to subscribe to followup comments by others on this popular post. I’ve seen this on other photographers’ blogs, such as David duChemin’s, and I often do subscribe to be notified of comments on posts of particular interest to me.

Today’s exciting list of comments on my post from yesterday led me to wish that the readers who did comment could see the great responses left by others. So off I went to the Install Plugins feature of my WordPress admin panel.

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Plugin in WordPress Install Plugins Admin Panel

I chose the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin by Camu, Reedyseth, Raam Dev, based on the original Subscribe to Comments plugin by Mark Jaquith. I chose the “reloaded” version based on the average rating, the number of people who’ve downloaded the plugin, and the statement that it fixes some of the glitches in Jaquith’s original plugin. I’m sure there may be other great subscribe to comments plugins, but this is how I made my selection.

Now, at the bottom of every post on As Seen by Janine’s Photo Blog, readers will see the “subscribe to comments checkbox” as shown here (below the normal comments boxes):

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Checkbox

The checkbox includes a choice of subscription options, including subscribe to all comments, subscribe to replies to the reader’s comment, or subscribe without commenting.

The Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin can be customized with many options by using the settings within your WordPress Admin Panel:

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Customization Options

I chose to use the “advanced subscription” option which gives readers the multiple choices of just what they wish to subscribe to. I also chose to set the advance default to “all followup comments.” Readers can easily change this default if they only wish to see replies to their own comment.

An important feature which led me to choose the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin is that it includes options for readers to unsubscribe to the post’s comments later, if they wish.

While there are some posts on other sites which I’ve followed for years, often I’ve subscribed to a post and followed it for awhile, but later unsubscribed when the information was no longer necessary or relevant for me.

Here is the interface for the Notifications Options, which is where you customize the notification email sent to people so they can confirm their subscription to the comments:

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Notification Options

I’m excited that now my readers will have the option to follow comments on my blog, thanks to the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin. My readers will also be able to unsubscribe to that post’s comments whenever they no longer wish to follow the post.

Plugin developers are nothing short of saints, because they create these little gems which improve our blogs and give them away for free! Within the plugin settings, you’ll find this option to support the developers:

Support the Developers of Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Plugin

I am a firm believer in making donations to plugin developers because without them my blog would, in plain English, really suck! Plugins are what make it possible to customize a blog to make it more user friendly and also to provide me, as the author, with a ton of useful information. So I did donate to the developers at: ibarragan@behstant.com and I am also reviewing the plugin to spread the word about this great little gem, the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin.

Please share this post to spread the word to any bloggers you know who don’t have a subscribe to comments feature on their blogs!

Janine Fugere – As Seen by Janine: Eyes of the World Images