Akismet is one of the best tools to cut down on spam comments in your Wordpress blog or website. Without it you will be inundated with silly comments, links selling stuff and just plain silliness! And once a spammer finds an unfiltered site you are really in for it.
If you use Wordpress.com you will need to install it. Simply do a search for “Akismet” and follow the instructions. Most of the time it is already installed with a Wordpress.org account. It will be found in the list of installed plug-ins, you just need to activate it.
First, sign up for an Akismet API key at Akismet.com to receive your API key via e-mail. Next, yenter the API key into the plug-in settings. From your Wordpress dashboard, go to Akismet Configuration in your Plugins box. You may also see "Activate" instead of "Configuration." Paste your API code in the box, save changes and you're ready! It runs behind the scenes filtering out all the junk.
Akismet is free to use, but they request a donation and since they do great work, consider making a small donation to keep this ‘free’ tool available.
Submitted by Kim Wood, Master Social Media and Technology Coach
Thanks for the excellent tip on using WordPress. I still have some work to do on my WordPress site, but this is definitely good to know.
Amy - You are so right. I started to get so much spam on my wordpress; as soon as I installed this, it curbed it immediately.