This Blog is Now DoFollow
Four Reasons I Made The Change
First off, you might ask what does DoFollow mean?
Normally, when someone comments on a blog, the link the person receives back to their site is marked a “NoFollow,” which Google does not count. This was done to help limit the amount of spam people leave on websites. The problem with this is it takes away a lot of incentive for readers to leave feedback since they feel they do not get anything out of it.
Why I Made The Change to Dofollow:
1. It Helps Your Readers
Blogging is all about building friendships with fellow bloggers and helping one another. It’s like a big community and we try to share our success with others who have just started. One important way to help those who are just getting started, is by giving them a backlink to their site. I think it is really important to reward those who come to your blog and leave a meaningful comment about your post. It’s a way of saying “Thanks, I really appreciate the fact you read my post.”
2. It Gives An Incentive
A lot of times, readers will read my entire post and then move on to another blog. I think having a DoFollow blog gives readers an incentive for taking the time to leave a comment. It makes them feel like there is a reason to stop and think about it for a few minutes. I know I personally stop and read more posts when I see that a blog is DoFollow.
3. NoFollow Isn’t Fair
I understand that the NoFollow attribute was originally designed to stop spammers from commenting on everything blog. Which, still happens regardless of the tag. However, I feel that it isn’t fair to those who are not spamming your site. The people that actually read it and having some meaningful to leave behind. Therefore, I think readers should be rewarded with the DoFollow link, and spammers will not be tolerated. Which is why I am not manually approving my comments (unless you have left them before).
4. I Love To Receive Feedback
When I first start blogging, it was really hard to keep the motivation. Once in a great while I would receive a comment which gave me a little drive to keep going. I think it is very important to receive comments because it reminds you that people really do read your posts and find them interesting. I feel that moving over to a DoFollow blog will help me receive more feedback over time, which never hurts.
Do You Follow?
I would love to hear some feedback from other bloggers about your experience with the DoFollow comments. Did you get a lot more spam? Lower Pagerank? Or did it help with traffic and comments?
Feel free to share my site with others looking to get a few backlinks here and there, I would really appreciate it!
Update!
I have since decided to install the Lucia’s Link Love Plugin. You can read about it here.
This post was published on August 27th, 2008.
PS. Don't forget to check out Life After the Cubicle.
I thought the U Comment, I Follow thing meant if I commented on their site, they would then comment on mine. Seriously. I need to read up more on this blogging thing.
StanHayess latest blog post..Kotsay Dunks Coco Crisp
Yeah, I use DoFollow Plugins to follow all comments.
Because I think the comments is good supplement of my post.
And I am happy to comment on a site marked U comment I follow.:)
BTW: Thanks you so much for comment on my site!
Um, guess I’m really dumb (I’m planning to go blond in a couple of days so I’ll have a good exuse anyway
), but I didn’t really get what DoFollow is… The only comment-related comment I can make is that I personally always try to react to the comments I get, I hate people who don’t react in any way, because, well people are egoists and they don’t like if their opinions not being heard… so getting no reactions from the blog author usually makes me discouraged to keep on reading their blog, because I start picturing the person as someone cocky who is only interested in what he/she himself/herself has to say. Because just as you said, blogging is about connecting to others, it’s interactive and that’s exactly why I love it.
Anyway, I’ve just found your blog today, and I really love it (DoFollow or not) – if a blog catches my attention I read the beginning aswell and I just loved the whole Hawaii experience, I adore free-spirited people like you who won’t let things hold them down and simply travel. I’m more of a wannabe in these terms, but hopefully that will change as soon as I get rid of the Uni burden
Bitter Chocolates latest blog post..the orange theory
@stan
that’s the “u comment, I comment” button….right?
I’m confuse too. I don’t even know how to ad do follow on mine. I get so much spam everyday I hate it. But I heard that doFollow lowers your PR. is that true?
I agree. My blog has been dofollow nearly since the start. In fact, the first time I heard about nofollow on blog comments was when I went and made sure to take it off my blog. Seemed very silly to assume my commenters were spammers.
It’s just like how the movie industry puts all those piracy warnings on DVD’s, even though the only people who will see those warnings are people who paid for the product!
Adam Pieniazeks latest blog post..Pictures of My Clean Wheels & Twitter Crash Update
@nhuong
The U Comment, I Follow and the U Comment, I Comment are two different things. The U Comment, I Follow button simply means that the link in your comment is a DoFollow link instead of the traditional NoFollow. Google does not index NoFollow links, therefore a majority of links you leave on other blogs as comments do not count. They do count towards Yahoo and MSN though.
As far as removing the NoFollow, there are a lot of plugins for WordPress that make it super easy. All you do is activate the plugin and it automatically does the rest.
I heard that leaving your site with your name is considered spamming and your page rank does go down. I hope it isn’t true though…but I don’t leave many messages at sites anyways..
Taylor Blues latest blog post..Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi’s Official Wedding Album
U Comment I Follow means that if someone give comments in our web/blog then i will follow him/her in their web/blog. and then said thank you for their attention for my web/blog.
ipankss latest blog post..Fenomena Mars
I use DoFollow Plugins to follow comments on all of my blogs. I like it and think it does encourage feedback.
I agree I use this plugin also along with the comment luv plugin. Two great wordpress plugins!
Justins latest blog post..How To Change Your Twitter Background
I am a big dofollow fan as well. I will delete spam comments, well, because they are spam. When I first made the choice to go dofollow I thought tons and tons of people would start spamming my site and that just wasn’t the case. I do hold any comments with two or more links just in case, but is rarely a problem.
Joshs latest blog post..An ounce of energy equal a pound of return
OK, this is a good idea.
I will worry about this when I actually have comments.
Nice site and good goal to travel around. Been doing some road tripping myself….
Justin, thanks very much for visiting and commenting on my site. Arizona was so much fun to drive thru because it was much more polished than I had remember from a previous visit to Phoenix.
Phoenix truly was a nice place during the visit and the people were much nicer than I had anticipated.
Couldn’t take many pictures ‘coz of long drive and eagerness to just get out and check into a hotel. But hopefully on the way back from the drive, will stop and take some pics in AZ.
Have Fun.
I’ve heard differing views on two topics related to this. 1. Nofollow links actually DO count to a small degree with Google. 2. Leaving comments, or building links in general, cannot damage a site. If that were the case then competitors could easily sabotage each other.
I think it’s a good move, this is how I found your blog. There are only so many blogs I can read and I figure why not find good ones that also reward readers? Good luck!
johns latest blog post..Five Years Ago This Week – 8/30/2003
Now i become addicted to dofollow word,….it is fair for visitor, commenter and blog owner
Personal Businesss latest blog post..How To Earn Money By Playing Online Games
I just made my blog dofollow, not sure how it will turn out but i will report back on my findings.
Regards
Mick..
Micks latest blog post..I bought a nokia e90 for blogging, what do i think of it
I “stumbled upon” your blog…and “I like it”. I also own a bloghosting site (www.clearblogs.com) and encourage our users to do the same.
Independent Financial Advices latest blog post..Recession Proof your Portfolio
Sounds like a really good idea. I tend to utilise some of my blog posts as promotions for anyone that wants to invest the company and I leave the comments boxes available(in wordpress) for their friends and clients to add testimonials. I know lots of people appreciate a back link for their time and effort so I’ll have to find out about this plug in and put it in action.
Karens latest blog post..A helping hand
Thanks, Links with “nofollow” do not count as backlinks to Google and other search engines.
Great switch, once you start popping up in dofollow directories it will likely help get some traffic and links as well.
Maryland Internet Marketing by Murphs latest blog post..Cherry Picking links: mmmmmm, cherries!
I’ve also just gone dofollow. I’ve kept it quiet on the site though – sort of secret dofollow luv!! So far, no spam ….
malcolm coless latest blog post..Pushchairs for tall people: bugaboo cameleon review
Since I learned about I Follow, I Follow!
I later learned that it doesn’t do much good inside of blogspot blogs, however, as the comments are linking back to commentators profiles as opposed to blogs (unless they use their blog’s OpenID to post). I was so bummed, I left blogspot for WordPress (and haven’t looked back!).
I’m currently compiling a list of blogs that are NoFollow Free and have Commentluv enabled. If you or any of your readers are interested in adding your blog to that list, please see http://homemadebread.org
I was no follow and have recently (not by choice) had everything become dofollow when I moved all my comments on my travel blog to Disqus. No spam problems so far in doing so.
I Follow button simply means that the link in your comment is a DoFollow link instead of the traditional NoFollow.
Definitely the right move. I have do follow on most of my sites. A few exceptions are for sites where I am posting information and not really looking to start a conversation or gaining feedback.
Steve
I’m going to put the badge on my site too. I already follow links but I might as well advertise it too.
I think do follow is a great option to have on your site. Readers are given an incentive to leave meaningful and relevant posts and are rewarded with a valuable link back to their site for their time and input given. Kudos to you for using this great feature.
As i am using a blogger’s blog the only way i could find is to manually remove the nofollow tag. Lot of resources are available for WP but not unfortuntaely for blogger. still trying to find out solution like yourname@keyword kind of plug in for my blog.
HI all,
Well i like this and i hate nofollow its really not a good impression for any blog if we use nofollow to stop spammers we also try to stop our commenter anyway you have done a good job. I appreciate it.
Good move. I just made the change myself. Nofollow takes the web out of the web.
However as you mention the dofollow attracted a great deal of SPAM and that is seriously a waste of time needing to clean out the trash on a number of occasions.
How has the spam been since making the decision?
By the way, Justin, drop me an email so I can invite you to add your Blog to one of my directories, its an invite only (new) directory
Thanks
@ A4D: After making the switch, I did start to receive more human spam. Therefore, I have decided to install the Lucia’s Link Love Plugin. It allows you to set it so people have to comment a few times before the dofollow takes effect. It has helped a lot.
Keep up the great work
Just be sure that your blog is not spammed with filthy links and users. Normally dofollow blogs are spammed with lot of spammy comments.
It is really nice to hear that you have made this a do-follow blog. I am sure that you will get a nice amount of visitors per day and also lots of comments.
keep up the good work
Yea……good move congratulations! for dofollow i’ m big fan of dofollow i want just change upon my blog.
I Follow button simply means that the link in your comment is a DoFollow link instead of the traditional NoFollow, thanks…
Thanks for valuable info
I have setup three blog recently and allowed follow on the comments. Just helping out the common man. Akismat blocks so much stuff that the nofollow tag isn’t needed.
Am I missing something, or are all the comments on this post nofollow?
Hey Adam, The majority of them are NoFollow. If you check out this post, you will see I ended up installing a link love plugin. I was getting way too much spam so instead I decided to reserve DoFollow links to readers that comment a few times.
Thanks for pointing this out, I am going to put a link to that post at the bottom of this post.
I’ve dofollowed my own personal blog as well and I’m going to suggest removing the nofollow on Travel Grove’s blog when we get it up. Nowadays, when everyone has a blog or a home page they’d like to get out there, I feel like giving back your readers a measly comment link isn’t all that bad.
Besides, the way PageRank works, you can’t hurt your page’s PR by linking out to someone else, although you do spread slightly less PageRank to your other internal pages.
Cheers!
Where is the best place to learn about this? This is a good article, thanks
I like how you get so many comments because of this DoFollow blog post. Becareful with spams though becasuse it can be a serious headache to monitor them all. You appreciate your readers for reading your post just as much as we appreciate you for being a DoFollower.
I do believe dofollow can let more people comments, but now a lot of bloggers join this dofollow system but their comments section just nofollow. Unethical bloggers just wanna make traffics from people commenting only, this make visitors to go away after they know about it.
Sorry bro, I don’t think you blog is do follow type. I used seo quake plugin and I notice it’s a no follow blog
If you read the post you would see I have since installed a plugin that only makes dofollow links have you leave a comment a few times. It’s help with the spammers.
Things can only get better
bloody heck, have to wait for more than 40 posts for things to brighten up
Dofollow is gr8 idea, I have 3 dofollow blogs i luv dofollow so i always comment on dofollow blogs…
I guess it makes it easier for people to find your blog anyway when people are just searching dofollow blog. So why not make yourself a dofollow blog.
Have to agree with you on this one. I don’t have a problem when people write on my Utah real estate blog to build links so long as they actually write meaningful things. I mean, everyone has bills to pay, right? And often, the comments are insightful and help me to become a better blogger – so it’s almost like I am paying people to give constructive feedback.
I was looking for adding comment luv and keyword luv to wordpress.com. I still do not know if I can. But I found a better way of commenting and analysing do follow websites now. I must confess that I am still a toddler in SEO but keep looking for understanding it. Your post has helped me understand commenting. Thank you for the post.
Maybe I will make my blog dofollow too.. Good reason.
Hi Justin,
Great post. Very informative. Thanks a lot.
may i ask if there is anything particular
that one has to do in order to make ones
blog a Do Follow Blog? Does the Plugin Lucia’s
Linky Love when Installed make it a Do follow
Blog?
Thanks