A while ago I signed up for a Disqus account so that I could leave comments on other peoples blogs. At the time the reason was because I wanted to get involved and support certain blogs.

I discovered that my comments were suddenly being noticed by Google.

How?

Well I have an alert set up so that whenever my name is mentioned I receive an alert. This is to keep a track on what is happening to my reputation online.

After leaving comments using Disqus I started receiving alerts! This must be good news!

So if you want to add Disqus to your WordPress site then here is how to do it.

Signup To Disqus

It is free to sign up to Disqus (click here) and to use for adding comments around the internet. Create an account using the email address that you have already set a Gravatar up with if you have one.

If not then you can always add an avatar to your account by going to ‘edit profile’.

Once you have your account you can then install the Disqus wordpress plugin to your site.

1. Sign in to your account and then click on the link ‘Add Disqus to Your Site’

2. Add your website name and details that you would like to attach to your wordpress site and choose an appropriate category.

3. When you finish your registration choose the icon to install the commenting platform to your site. I have a wordpress site so that is what I shall show you. However, you can see that you can add this system to a variety of blogging platforms.

Note

After you have installed Disqus to your site you will need to come back to the above page to verify that you have it on your site.

Installing Disqus Plugin To WordPress

1. Go to Plugins in your wordpress dashboard and click on ‘Add New’

2. Search for ‘disqus’ and install the plugin that is made by disqus.

3. Click on ‘install now’ and once uploaded to your site click on ‘activate’

4. Once activated you will see some instructions on what to do next. Follow these instructions and make sure that you set your disqus comments to the correct disqus account if you have more than one. You will need your username and password for disqus.

Note

You will probably notice that the fields are filled in automatically with your wordpress username and password so make sure you change these to your disqus details.

5. Now click on the account that you want to use with your website

6. Click ‘Next’ and you will see a message to say that Disqus has been installed on your blog.

Importing Existing Comments

You can import any existing comments that you might already have on your blog.

1. Go to Comments > Disqus and then click on the settings tab.

2. Then scroll down the page until you see Import & Export heading. Click on ‘Export Comments’

3. Depending on how many comments you already have on your blog it may take some time. You will see the post count showing as it imports each comment.

4. You will receive an email to confirm when your export is complete.

Using Disqus

You will have your own URL for managing your comments using the Disqus platform.

You can go to is by clicking on Comments > Disqus > Moderate Comments. You’ll be able to see your statistics, manage replies, set up filters and rules for commenting and a whole load more.

So Why Am I Not Using Disqus?

Well, although I added it to this site and had it running for a few months I noticed one big drawback. The speed with which my site loaded. Disqus really slowed it down.

It didn’t always slow my site down but intermittently it would have a big effect on my loading time.

Another thing I noticed was that it didn’t actually increase the number of comments that people left on my site. I’m sure that I have already mentioned that I communicate with my readers primarily via email and therefore don’t rely on visitors leaving comments in order to communicate.

However, for those who visit and want to comment but not join my email list then I think it is right to enable them to leave a comment if they choose to.

Anyway, I have removed Disqus from my site and the loading speed has improved.

Not everyone finds that they have this problem so it might be fine for you – just make sure that you take note after installing disqus.