Most bloggers would be having an idea about what the comment relish plugin is. Now, for those who are unaware of the functions of the plugin, here is a quick recap. Comment relish is a wordpress plugin that sends an e-mail message to users who comment on your website who have never commented before.

This message that is sent can be customised by you to your liking. Also, it is possible to add links to your site in the message. This message to the commenter is basically a “thank you” message in most sites using this plugin. From all I said, most would conclude that it is a very useful plugin in bringing back visitors and encouraging them to comment. Having used it for quite some time now, I decided to quit using it after a discussion with a friend.

Why have I stopped using it?

Because of the following reasons:

1. People hate auto responders:

Most bloggers would already be knowing about the plugin or may already be using them and so, they would know that a similar system exists on your blog. Other visitors, who do not know the plugin by name would have experienced the same “thanks for visiting my site” message elsewhere. By this, they can easily conclude this is automated. It is highly unlikely that many blogs would have such similar “thank you” messages.

And automated messages do not elicit any appreciation from users. When I get an automated mail from any place I’ve been to, I simply know that my contribution was not acknowledged by a person but by a computer. And I also know that a computer would probably acknowledge a contribution even if it was made by a laboratory rat. So, that scores no points with me. On the contrary, I feel disgusted because the blog owner has treated me like a bot and not a human. I certainly will not feel inclined to visit a blog like that again.

2. Looks like a desperate attempt to publicize the blog

Publicity is good when done the right way. Most of the blogs using this plugin that I’ve come across send emails to me that usually consist of a two line thank you message and one full paragraph of how good the blog is and why I would not be cool if I didn’t subscribe to it. Those people, who think the mail you sent is not spam and who bother to read the mail, would certainly have another reason not to visit your blog.

3. Not the best first impression 

The fact is this. A person comments on a blog, expecting interaction with the blogger or other visitors/commenters on the blog. Nobody is expecting a personalised “thank you” for commenting. Since it was the visitor’s first comment on the blog, a good impression is needed to gain his trust.

By sending an automatic message, you are simply not sending the right signals to him. The message would imply to many that the blog is trying to spam. Some may simply not bother about visiting the blog the next time, thinking that they may be subjected to another piece of spam. And when the first impression is nowhere near the best, as in this case, you have just lost another potential subscriber.

What are the alternatives? 

• Reply to the visitor’s comments in the post and thank him for visiting your blog if it is the first time.
• Visit his blog and make quality comments.
• Develop a working relationship with the visitor in the long run.

Remember, blogging is about building relationships and not only about increasing the subscriber count and the no. of unique hits . You may never know, you can make a friend for life on the net.

Do leave your opinions and suggestions regarding this post.

Part of the Daily Blog Tips Blog Project 3.

There is probably no explanation needed to this. But anyway, the flip text generator is a single page, single click service that flips or, in other words, inverts the text you type in as input. Also, since the encoding of the flipped text is UTF-8, it would display properly in most places. That is to say, there would not be any errors as in the case of the Japanese or Chinese language.

.?1????????? ?so? ?x?? ??? ????u? s?op ??????s s??? ‘p??s ? s?

The only flaw I find is that the font seems different from the one I input. But I guess that is part of the parcel as well. Anyway, you can check out the Flip Text Generator created by David Faden and leave your comments about this interesting little service.

I would also like to point out that David has another service called the GPA calculator where you enter your class, credits and letter grade and get the total credits and your GPA as output. Quite nifty, I must say.

David also has created a simple applet called SearchToHTML.

What is SearchToHTML?

The SearchToHTML applet provides your visitors with a simple way to search your Web site. Search results are displayed in HTML. Using HTML provides your visitors with a familiar interface and provides you with greater control over the display of the search results. Other features of the applet include picking out the closest anchor to a match and displaying the context surrounding a match.

I do wonder why he has no link to the flip text generator from the homepage of his site.

Thanks to Kyle Eslick for the find.

P.S. Though the inverted text is acceptable, the equivalent HTML characters are quite a pain to reproduce.

It is a fact that a lot of “get paid to blog” networks have been coming up around the web and Bloggerwave is one of them. It is a relatively new startup in this field when compared to sites such as PayPerPost, ReviewMe or SponsoredReviews.

Blog Approval:

You have to register at Bloggerwave and then submit your blog for approval. Your blog will be approved within 72 hours at the max. After your blog is approved, you are eligible to take up posting opportunities.

Taking Opportunities:

In a manner pretty similar to PayPerPost, you will have to look for an opportunity that suits the niche of your blog and pick up the opportunities. The opportunities will be available based on the rating of your blog. Since it is early days for Bloggerwave, the number of opportunities is small. But it is bound to grow over time and you should take advantage of that. The process is depicted graphically in this really unnecessary flowchart.

Approval of Posts: (more…)