Tech Tuesdays - Integrating Disqus comments on your blog

Today, I would like to show you how to go about integrating the Disqus commenting system on your blog.

Why Disqus?

• Rich features - threaded comments, reply by email, track all your comments etc.
• Sign in with ANY id - you can sign in with Facebook, Twitter, Google and so on. Anything.
• Well integrated with social media - You can share your comments and replies on twitter and facebook too.
• Other add on widgets like Recent comments, popular commenters etc.

Until recently, it was not so easy to integrate disqus with blogger, it had to be done manually. But now it takes less than a minute. I would strongly recommend every serious blogger to do it. Here's how we go about it.

Step 1 - Sign up for Disqus and add your sites.

After you sign up for an account with Disqus, be sure to add your blog to the list of sites that you manage.  Then go to your Admin panel and click on the "Install" tab.

Admin -> Install

Step 2 - Choose the platform on which you have to install. Blogger, for instance.

• When your site is already added to your disqus profile, all you need to do now is to click on the button as it is shown below, to add the widget to your blog. 
• You will then be required to login to blogger and authorize the widget.
• When the page element is added in blogger, you can drag and drop it to where you want. Typically, in the end of the post body. 

Install to blogger

Step 3 - Import existing comments

• Since disqus is the default commenting system on your blog now, you have to also import the older comments in your blog so that they don't disappear now. 
• Click on the tab "Tools" in your admin panel.
• Now select "Import and export" and select the platform from which you have to import comments. Here, it is blogger again.
• This will take a while, depending on how many comments you have in your blog. 
• Once it is completed, you would be able to see your old comments in the new system.

Import comments from Blogger

Wasn't that super easy?! Try it out and let me know if you face any issues. I'd be glad to help. If you have any suggestions for posts in my "Tech Tuesdays" series, drop me a line.