If you are using WordPress as a blogging or news platform then comments are a great way to foster a community and build repeat-visitors.

If you do not want to allow comments on your website you can disable them by visiting Settings -> Discussion and unticking the checkbox labelled ‘Allow people to post comments on new articles’.

Comment Spam

Comment spam is extremely common, Akismet will get rid of 99% of spam without you having to lift a finger. Try to avoid other methods such as Captcha forms as they can stop actual people from publishing a comment.

Four Top Tips for Increasing Comments

• Reply to comments – Your comments area is a place for discussion, reply to comments whenever possible.
• Allow users to subscribe to comments - Download this plugin: Subscribe to Comments
• Comment on other websites - If you comment on someone else’s blog it’s likely they will comment or at least checkout yours.
• Ask for comments - Ending your post with ‘Let me know your thoughts in the comment below’ is an easy way to increase comments.