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If you are a blogger like myself, you must know that no blog is complete unless and until it has some good and bad comments that give feedback on your work. Comments make or break a blog and determine its popularity. Most bloggers who achieve success in internet marketing as well as social media marketing get the most comments on their blog.

 

Because of the crucial importance of comments, many specialized plugins,such as CommentLuvhave been developed to manage comments on a variety of platforms. Now, a fairly new addition to this family of plugins is the Google+ comments system.

 

If you are not yet aware of the Google+ Comments system or how it works, don’t worry because I am going to tell you all there is to know about this plugin. However, let me first share my own experiences so far.

 

I became curious about Google+ Comments recently after reading a post Google Plus Comments: Good For You, Bad For Them by Wade Harman. Now even though Wade does make somewhat of a good argument, I must argue that the pros outweigh the cons. Yet it’s a little too early to explain those benefits. So, let me formally introduce you to this blogging essential.

 

What is the Google+ Comment System?

 

Google+ Comments

Image Credit: DashBurst

 

The Google+ Comment system was announced back in April 2013. The IT mogul’s representatives said that this plugin would be integrated in both Blogger and WordPress to allow both platforms’ readers to post comments on your blog and your Google plus account as well. Comments are available to your Google+ audience and your blog post readers, therefore guaranteeing you the ultimate blogging success.

 

After I read Wade’s blog, I was further intrigued that comments could complement my SEO. Meanwhile, Erik Emanuelli and Ileane Smith commented on Wade’s Google+ thread.  Both Erik and Ileane use the Google+ comments plugin. Both of them have seen the positive impact of Google+ Comments to their overall internet marketing strategy.

 

Allow me to provide you with more incentives for you to bring the Google+ comments plugin to your blog.

 

The Benefits of Using Google+ Comments

 

  • It Provides Unified Commentary: One of the biggest concerns that people have about the commenting on Google+ is that the conversations are in fragments. However, when you install and use the Google+ comments on your blog, you will notice that the comments are all combined into one place which is a lot more convenient. This aggregation of comments will make the overall conversations very sensible and easy to use, which is definitely a plus for any blogger.

 

  • It Offers Easy Sharing: While using the Google+ comments system for enhancing your SEO efforts or boosting your social media marketing plans, you will note that when your reader comments on a particular page, the plugin automatically shares the article along with the comment on your stream on Google Plus. This automatic function will make sharing a lot easier and fun and will turn out to be very beneficial for a variety of your marketing efforts. However, if a user does not want to share comments on his/her Google+ stream, they always have the option to turn off sharing the blog post.

 

  • It Has a Great Dashboard: With the Google+ comments system, you will never again miss thanking and appreciating the people who have shared your page. This is possible as whenever someone shares your website or a page of your website, the action will show up in the comments stream and you can quickly browse through them when you find the time.

 

  • It Has Amazing Respect for Privacy: As a blogger, you will enjoy the additional privacy that comes from being able to look at the comments or posts about a page using the Google+ comments plugin. Google plus is truly the new age of privacy and will be appreciated once you start using it.

 

  • It is Simple to Navigate: With the help of the new and improved system, users won’t need to worry about getting lost while applying and adjusting settings simply because it has a nice and clean interface that can be navigated through easily.

 

  • It Permits Users to Comment Publicly or Privately in their Circles: Finally, you ought to know that the Google+ comment system allows its users to comment either publicly or privately to their circles. So, if your message is focused on one particular person and you don’t want anyone else to view it, you can just keep the comment private while sharing the post publicly.

 

Implementing the Google+ Comments

 

If you’re sold to the idea of getting this system implemented, here is how you can do so on both WordPress and Blogger.

 

  • On Blogger: Simply go to your blog site and click the Google+ tab. Check the two boxes that appear on the side to activate this plugin.

 

  • On WordPress: Once you backup your database, unpack the Downloaded Google+ Comments plugin  to the “wp-content/plugins/” directory in WordPress. However, make sure that the director structure is “wp-content/plugins/gplus-comments/”. Finally, activate your plugin in your blog administration and enjoy its benefits. Head over to DashBurst, if you do not want to use a plugin but instead want to know how to  manually edit the HTML code of your site and install Google + comment system.

 

Now, before throwing caution to the wind and installing the plugin on your WordPress, hold on a second.

 

First of all, if you are using the plugin for WordPress, Google doesn’t officially support the third party usage of Google+ comments. You should use it at your own risk. However, there is no need to consider this as a setback. With the immense success of the plugin on WordPress, Google is bound to support this platform.

 

The plugin requires you to implement Google Authorship so your Google+ profile can be connected to your website. It’s actually great news because the system will be able to know who you are and ensure that no one steals your identity.

 

Even with the disadvantages mentioned in Wade’s blog, the Google+ plugin is quite useful to have besides, it’s absolutely free. So, give it a whirl to see how your blog can benefit from it. See the Google+ Comments system in action below.

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