Over a year ago, I wrote a blog post about Ubuntu for another site. (If you don’t know what Ubuntu is, its the most popular Linux distro around.) The post was not meant as a Linux bash (no pun intended) but as a simple list of seven things that the developers could do to make their operating system better. Harmless enough. Well, every few days or so, it seems that some new raving lunatic Ubuntu fanboy happens to the site and leaves a scathing comment insulting my intelligence, my family, my dog (may he rest in peace), my blog, and just about anything else that pops into that disturbed little brain of his.

The comments always make me chuckle. People who don’t have the guts to leave their real email address but think its perfectly OK to hurl nasty remarks my way. Ah, only on the Internet. If you’ve never received such a comment on your website before, here’s one of the latest examples, unedited and left in its entirety for your pleasure:

OK, what teh f*** is youre problem. Ubuntu isn amazing os that is widely popular in the mainstreem world. the fact that most survers are running on linux shows only one thing, it is reliable. unlike windows, This os actually works. NOW, i dont give a dam about your failing nowlege but critisising ubuntu only shows that your a noob and cant wrok teh terminal. Only a**holes that want to be spyed up on by bill gates use windows. all tehy can handel is point and click. NO, you a**, the server you are running probably runs linux. so b4 you go about saying how bad linux is, lern to use it!

But these comments lead me to a predicament. What do I do with them? Hit the delete button and pretend they never existed? Approve them and then reply with a defense? Edit them to make the commenters sound even more moronic? Post the really funny ones on another blog so my readers can share in the laughter? It’s a real conundrum, though when I do approve savages like these, I always always remove their website address.

So what do you do when comments on your blog go bad? And what was the most scathing comment you’ve ever written or received?

Comments are a catch 22. You need comments to build your blog’s community spirit to boost your success and notoriety on the web–but sometimes it’s tough to get those comments when you’re just starting out. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best tips to get those comments flowing.

• Encourage Comments
  Sometimes all your readers need is a bit of encouragement. Pose a question at the end of your posts or throughout the body. Ask what your readers thoughts are about your posts. If you’re doing some kind of a tutorial, tell them that you’re happy to answer any questions they may have. That little push can help you build tons of comments on your posts.
• Don’t Make Your Readers Register or Fill Out a Capcha
  A lot of people are easily dissuaded from adding a comment to your blog–so don’t make it any more difficult on them than it already is. You readers are spending a few minutes (or more) of their time typing their comment already. Including required registration or a capcha is a great way to turn off a would be commenter. You’ve got a spam filter, what are you so worried about?
• Reply to Every Comment You Get
  What’s the point of filling out a comment if it seems like the blog’s owner doesn’t even read it? Much like you reply to people in a forum, do the same with comments. Your readers care enough about your site and your post to let you know their feelings, so make them feel like they’re welcome members of your community. Plus, adding your own comments further increases the comment count on your posts.
• Choose a Side and Stand Your Ground
  It’s your blog, you can say whatever you want on it. And if you’re looking for comments, you need to stop playing the part of the flip-flopping politician and talk about how you actually feel about an issue. Maybe you love Mac OS X and hate Vista. Perhaps you want to slander people who would spend money on a blogging platform like TypePad. Post a love-fest for Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign. Go ahead. You’ll get loads of comments weighing in on how right or wrong you are.
• Make Your Top Commenters Feel Special
  There are a few plugins out there that make it easy to show off the people who comment the most often. Install one and “reward” those who contribute the most to your blog’s community. Or, if your blog is generating a large amount of income already, consider offering monthly giveaways to top commenters who provide good information with each comment.
• Can People Relate to Your Posts?
  Drafting that perfect post can take a lot of time and effort. And, if you’re not careful, you can come across as sounding elitist, know-it-all-like, or just plain boring. I know I’ve been guilty of all of the above at some time in my writing career. You need to be able to write conversationally, or at the very least, in a style that people can relate to. Since comments are a conversation, make your posts the stepping stones for starting off each topic.
• Turn Off Comment Moderation
  You may be tempted to moderate your comments before you allow them to be posted on your site. I know I’ve gotten quite a few scathing comments on other blogs I own–but let them get posted anyway. Every time I’ve had someone post a negative comment, two more have followed with a positive to back me up. Let the conversation flow naturally–without the need to look over each comment as you get it. When your blog grows, you’ll turn moderation off anyway, so why not turn it off now?
• Don’t be a Jackass
  Remember those scathing comments from the previous tip? Yeah, those comments that you are tempted to moderate but you’re not going to. Whatever you do, try not to respond to those with the same nasty tone as they used. So you don’t agree on a topic or he called you a name–get over it. You have a reputation to uphold, and if you tell off too many people, you’ll end up scaring away any potential commenters.
• Set Your Comments to DoFollow
  By default, most blogging software sets commenters’ URLs to be “nofollow” links which have no bearing on the majority of search engine rankings. By setting comments to “dofollow”, you give commenters a nice little backlink for their troubles. While you may not be too keen on doing this if you somehow feel that you need a level 9 PageRank, everyone else should consider this option.
• Turn on CommentLuv
  CommentLuv is a relatively new plugin for WordPress that automatically finds and adds a link to your commenters’ last blog post. Much like the DoFollow tip, people actively search out blogs that include CommentLuv as one of their plugins, bringing in more traffic and comments to your posts. However, you need to reign over your comments with an iron fist, or you may find spammers trying to take over your site’s comments section.
• Fake a Few Comments Here and There
  Alright, so this last tip is a little underhanded, but it can work. Much like some people need encouragement to post a comment, they also want to feel like they’re not the only people reading the post. If you’re just starting out and not getting much traffic, put a few “fake” comments here and there to get the community going. You can even combine encouragement and fake comments for double the commenting benefits.

And there you have it, a nice set of seven tips to help you get more comments on your blog. If you have some tried and true idea that I overlooked, let me know in the comments below.

There are a couple of ways to drop the NoFollow extension. Edit the code yourself or download one of the numerous DoFollow plugins that are available for nearly every blogging platform. The choice is yours, but we’ll be sticking with the plugin route here–as most of them provide a lot more functionality than you might think.

Alright, to start off, you’re going to need to figure out which plugin to use. If you’re on WordPress, I recommend that you check out the simple DoFollow Plugin or the more full featured Link Love Plugin. I’ve used both on other sites and they work superbly.

If that’s not enough of a choice for you, check out the grandaddy of all DoFollow related posts over at Andy Beard’s blog. He’s got the master list of all the plugins you could imagine. Great sleuthing indeed.

Once you’ve got your plugin downloaded, all you have to do is upload the file to your server. Activate the plugin, set the settings to whatever you want and you’re all set. Simple as that.

But there’s still more to do.

While having your blog’s comments and trackbacks set to DoFollow is a great first step, it’s not the final piece of the puzzle. You still need to get the word out that your blog is now offering DoFollow comments.

I wrote a post a few days ago with some of the best databases for you to submit your DoFollow blog. Submit to the free ones (and the pay ones if you think the cost is reasonable) and you’re all set.

But there is one last thing.

You should also sign up for the growing No NoFollow | I Follow | DoFollow Community at Bumpzee. Like the master list above, the Bumpzee community was also created by DoFollow pioneer, Andy Beard.

Also, thanks to these two posts on the benefits of DoFollow from the Ben Yoskovitz over at the Instigator Blog. Without them, I’d probably still be stuck with NoFollow.

I’m still not too fond of the “U Comment, I Follow” logo.

Are you spreading the link love yet? Which plugin is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.

Of course, there are a few caveats here, but let’s talk about the benefits of removing the NoFollow from comments.

For starters, blogs with DoFollow comments instead of NoFollow comments can bring in a bit more traffic than their stodgy counterparts. More people visit and more people comment. Why? Because they know their comments will benefit them as well as you. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Removing the NoFollow extension from your comments also helps build that all important community spirit. People will come back more often, read up on your posts, and make comments–because they know its not just a waste of their time. Adding in their URLs actually means something.

This backlink bonus for your visitors comes with a problem, though. A lot of people will try to exploit your generosity. Expect to get vast numbers of SEO “specialists” and spammers looking to score some free backlinks. In other words–you’d better be sure your spam filter is up to snuff.

The other problem is that your Google PageRank could suffer. Too many DoFollow links to unrelated sites could cripple your efforts to reach a PR 7, 8, or 9. Eh, its a small price to pay.

So what’s your story? Have you become a good netizen and switched to DoFollow links on your blog?

DoFollow links.

But first, you need to know the reasoning behind NoFollow links. Most, if not all, blogging software automatically takes the URLs that your commenters enter and slaps a “nofollow” in front of them. This means that they don’t count as backlinks to most search engines. So you get a link back to your blog after commenting–but you don’t get any backlink bonus points to improve your blog’s standing on Google, Yahoo! or the like.

What’s happening, in a sort of blogging revolution, is that more and more blogs are starting to change their NoFollow settings to DoFollow. If you comment on one of these DoFollow blogs and leave your URL in the website box, you’ll get a backlink for each comment you leave.

While this is a great way to start building some backlinks until your blog attains popularity, it was a real pain in the ass for a long time. Who wants to go sifting through the site’s code to see if a blog offered DoFollow links or not? How boring is that.

Good thing we don’t have to do that anymore. Thanks to a few kind webmasters, we now have a few databases of DoFollow sites for your viewing pleasure. And here they are:

DoFollow.us
The DoFollow Directory
“Do Follow” Blog Directory
DoFollow Blogs Blog

Visit one of those sites. Find a blog with a good PageRank in the niche you want. Comment away. It’s that simple.

Oh, one more thing. Please don’t spam DoFollow blogs. Most of the sites are moderated and/or have industrial strength spam blockers installed. Be weary of what you decide to say in your comments.