On the first of the month I announced that I would be hooking up the top commentator on my blog with a free 125×125 ad spot for the following month. First off, I want to thank everyone who reads my blog on a regular basis and takes time out to add to the community through commenting.
I am happy to announce that Doug from Making Money Online was the most prolific commentator for the month of August. Thanks Doug! If you are reading this, please send me you image link 
Some of you may be curious to see if the number of comments increased because of this mini promotion. I was surprised by the results. The actual number of comments for August were actually less than July, the numbers were 337 compared with 384. This could be because I actually wrote 5 less posts in August. If you look at the comments per post ratio then I am actually seeing an increase with my numbers in August reaching 15.2 compared with 14.2 in July.
Several of my blogging friends are running similar contests and I am very interested to see their before and after results. Doug at Making Money Online is rewarding his top commentators this month, and Nicholas from Site Sketch 101 is just starting a cash contest to reward his top 3 commentators. If you have not checked out their blogs, I recommend you pay them a visit.
Nicely done and congrats to them
Do you have a widget that shows how many comments each people left or the top 10?
.-= Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..Military Rescue Robot =-.
That is cool that you gave a banner to the winners. Greg Ellison
.-= Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Blog Income Report for August 2009 =-.
I think rewarding your commentators is good and i also want to do that, i am looking for a script for blogger, when i find it i will use it for my blog and will start a competition.
I have also seen site sketch’s competition and it also looks good. Let’s hope that i win this.
Congrats to Doug!
.-= gautam hans´s last blog ..How to create a Facebook Page for your Blog/Website =-.
I really used to reward my top commentators as well but that was history now..
.-= Melvin´s last blog ..My Info Product Has Gone Really Far =-.
Well done to doug for winning, damm maybe next month it’s me
I see more and more webmasters giving out money for top commentators, I would love to do that, but money is a bit scarce on my side.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Free eBooks: Website Traffic & Internet Marketing Dictionary & Bipolar =-.
It is really a good way to attract people to comment on the site.I will also start this type of promotion in my blog.Congratulation to the winner.Hope i will do good in the near future.
Congrats Doug..If I am not wrong I was just behind 3-4 comments count from Doug which I think I should have tried for.
Honestly speaking, I forgot that the contest was going on your blog otherwise I think I would have given a close race to Doug
Congratulations to Doug
I must get the time to comment a bit more…
.-= Karen@Blazing Minds´s last blog ..It’s Voting Time at the Famous Blogger Club! =-.
Congratulations !
Who doesn’t want free advertisements.
.-= Surender Sharma@blog tips´s last blog ..Effective Ways to Find New Blog Readers for your Blog =-.
Well done Douugh. Keep going. May be next month I will be there to give you some competition.
.-= Ricky´s last blog ..Watch US Open Tennis 2009 Live Online =-.
Well its a really cool idea to encourage your commentators and also reward them. I have been reading your blog from the reader for about three weeks or more now. I comment quite rarely at your blog..If am not wrong I have one or two comment previously here lol.
So let me try being in yr list this month. (For fun)
.-= Kurt Avish´s last blog ..India Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy Missing =-.
Thanks Dan and Everyone! I never win anything so I was excited to win this! I can definitely use the free advertising
Thanks again!
.-= Doug Dillard´s last blog ..Promote Your Business on $4.95 Polo Shirts with Free Logo Setup, Free Embroidery, and Free Shipping… It’s a No Brainer! =-.
Thats really cool… Congo Dan…Even I never win anything.. I hope I will win the Top commentator for this month
.-= Shadow@Compute Live´s last blog ..Nokia X-series : Nokia X6 and X3 unveiled =-.
Congrats to Doug and Nicolas! Seems that I need to be more active to take over them this month haha!
Cheers,
Lee
So I guess the question is: Is it worth to offer a 125×125 ad spot just to get 1 more comment a post, on average?
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..How To Fix “Logitech Control Center” (LCC) Support In Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard =-.
Doug is a beast when it comes to the comments, congrats to Doug and congrats to you Dan for continued growth with your blog.
If I get a few more hours squeezed out of the day maybe I can make a run for it.
Thanks for mentioning my site. I’ve literally seen hundreds of comments already in the first three days of my contest so far. It’s really exciting to see the community at my site growing and developing and to see readers talking to one another and asking questions and providing feedback.
I think that contests like these are absolutely invaluable. They just can’t be undervalued.
You posted five less this month? You better keep at it and not be slacking off. Keep up the great work and you can keep on seeing great results!
.-= Nicholas Z. Cardot´s last blog ..Great Tools to Grade Your Online Presence =-.
I am thinking to follow this way on my blogs, congratulations for the winner!
.-= Hesham´s last blog ..Lee of My Blog Today talking about Making Money Online at FBC100 interviews =-.
Doug is winning everything! Haha, way to go Doug. Keep up the good work.
.-= The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com´s last blog ..The Bear Marketing System And GDI =-.
Congratulation Doug! By the way Dan, this is a great way to reward your visitors and friends. You have a great informative and interactive blog, which is turning out to be more like a community. And rewards like these encourages you to participate and become more active in the discussions as well as sharing tips and ideas. keep up the good work!
Whohoo! Way to go! Congrats!
Congrats Doug! You seem to be a Top Commentator on lots of site. Keep up the good work and best of luck.
.-= shaunjudy´s last blog ..Best MMA Knock Out(s) Ever! =-.
Well done Doug.
What a clever way to keep your commenters on their toes.
By they way, thanks to your post I have decided to turn dragonblogger.com into a dofollow, keywordluv blog. Judging from your own blog being a PR3, it doesn’t seem to hurt your PR too much.
.-= Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..DragonBlogger is now a DoFollow Blog =-.
Congrats Doug! you are really a great commenter.keep going .thanks..
Congratulation
.-= internet news´s last blog ..Top news and views on 6 october 2009 =-.
What is the algorithm for getting into top commentators list?
1. Do one has to comment most in all time? OR
2. One has to comment most in a specific month, than from next month, comments count will be zero or
3. some thing else?
Please let me know, if possible
@ TechPatio: Yes i think it is worth to offer 125×125 ad spot for top commentators.
It is really nice idea to reward you visitors and make them interested in the discussions on the blog. Smart way to add value to your blog.
.-= Lisa@Christmas sms´s last blog ..Poetry SMS – Ghazal SMS – Shaeri SMS – Love Poetry SMS =-.
This is really cool.I will have to spread the word.
.-= veronica´s last blog ..Special offer =-.
The number of post has a great contribution towards the number of visitors.This is really a good promotion for my users. Thanks for sharing this with me.
Hey Great Idea hopefully I’ll be in the running for top commentator