Comment Sniper User Guide
Below are detailed, step by step instructions on how to use
Comment Sniper. Please note that we cannot provide individual support for this application if you are having trouble using certain features, due to the fact that it's being provided at no cost. However, if you need further assistant after reading the guide below, please visit the
Comment Sniper User Forum and make a post. Whilst you're there, please be sure to help any other user if you are able to....
Step 1: Configuration
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Once you launch the
Comment Sniper, click on the
Configuration tab. After
making any changes, make sure to click on the
Save Changes button.
Poll Interval
This is the time interval between each poll to the subscribed blogs to check whether new posts
have been made. The default value is 5 minutes. If you have a slow internet connection,
you can increase this value so as not to affect your connection speed too much. If you want to check more frequently, then set this to a lower value.
Notifications
You can enable either Desktop Notifications or SMS Notifications, or both. You need to
enable at least one of them.
Enable Desktop Notifications
If you enable this option, upon detecting a new blog post on one of your subscribed blogs,
a small notification window will pop-up from the bottom right of your screen for a few
seconds with details about the new post. You can click on this window to open the blog in
your default browser. Considering this is the main feature of the software, we suggest you enable it ;-0
Enable SMS Notifications
If you enable this option, you must fill in the Mobile Number field. The number must start
with a "+" sign, followed by your country code and your mobile phone number. Upon detecting
a new blog post on one of your subscribed blogs, the
Comment Sniper will connect to
Skype (Telephony Software) to send an SMS to the mobile number provided with information
on the new post. Skype must be running and be signed in to your Skype account while the
Comment Sniper is running, if you want to use this option. For more information
on using Skype with the
Comment sniper, see the
Skype Section below.
Start the Sniper Process when Comment Sniper starts
If you enable this option, the monitoring or Sniper process will automatically start as soon
as you launch
Comment Sniper.
Start Comment Sniper when the computer starts
If you enable this option,
Comment Sniper will be launched automatically as soon
as you start up Windows. It will start up in silent mode, with an icon in the
system tray.
Step 2: Blog Manager
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After configuring
Comment Sniper, the next step is to use the Blog Manager to
subscribe to the blogs you want to monitor for new posts. Click on the
Blog Manager tab. The Blog Manager displays the list of blogs you have previously subscribed to, and allows you
to subscribe to new blogs or unsubscribe existing blogs. To unsubscribe an existing blog, simply highlight that blog in the list and click the unsubscribe button (the
Comment Sniper News blog cannot be removed).
Subscribe Blog (Standard)
To subscribe to a new blog click the
Subscribe Blog button and select the blog host the
blog belongs to.
Comment Sniper supports the 3 major blog hosts below. To subscribe to independently hosted blogs, or blogs from other hosting platforms, see the next sub-section.
Next type in the Blog ID, make sure you are connected to the internet and click OK. It may take a few seconds to subscribe a new blog. Once subscribed,
Comment Sniper will begin monitoring the new blog as soon as you start the sniper process.
Subscribe Blog (Other)
If you wish to subscribe an independently hosted blog, or one from another blog hosting platform, you can do so if it publishes an RSS XML feed.
- Select "Other" from the blog host list, and enter any ID you want to identify this blog.
- Input the Blog URL. This URL is not used for monitoring, it is only used if you click on a Desktop Notification, to open up the blog in your browser.
- Input the RSS URL, where the XML feed is published.
- Input the Title Tag. This is the most important part. You must tell the Comment Sniper how to find the blog post "title" tags in the XML feed. This
depends on the XML structure. For example the Title tag for Blogger XML feeds is feed/entry/title and for the Wordpress XML feed it is rss/channel/item/title. This might differ for other blog platforms so you will have to double check.
- Click OK and wait a few seconds while the blog is subscribed.
Step 3: Start/Stop Sniper Process
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To begin monitoring your subscribed blogs and receive notifications of new posts, you must start the
Sniper Process. To do so, simply
click on the
Sniper Process tab and then click on the
Start button. Once you have started the
Sniper Process, you should minimize (not close)
Comment Sniper to the system tray so it continues to work in the background monitoring the blogs. To stop the
Sniper Process, at any time simply click the
Stop button.
Blog Searcher
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Comment Sniper also has a built in search facility that will enable you to search for blogs in several key locations including; Blogger, Word Press, MSN Live Spaces & Google Blog Search. It is keyword based and will also collect the Google Page Rank value & Alexa Rating of the blogs it finds. This allows you to focus on the most popular blogs, those with more authority in your industry. To use the blog searcher, click on the
Blog Searcher tab. Enter a search term related to your industry in the "Search Term" field. You can use quotes here to create an exact match search to return more accurate results. Select the "source" that you wish to search from the drop down menu and the maximum number of results you would like to find. Clicking the "Search" button will then initiate "Comment Sniper's" search mode.
The time it takes for
Blog Searcher to complete depends on the number of results found for the given search term, and your internet connection speed. You can sort the results via Page Rank value, Alexa Rating and all other fields displayed. You can also double click on any result to visit the blog found and review it in your browser. Any "real blogs" that it finds (a few results might not actually be indpendant blogs) will contain a check box next to their result. Clicking this will let
Comment Sniper know you wish to subscribe to this blog. You can check as many of these as you like at one time. Clicking the "Subscribe Blogs" button at the bottom right of the searcher will attempt to automatically subscribe to all blogs selected. If
Comment Sniper cannot automatically add a blog, either you are already monitoring it, or it could not find the proper data needed so you will need to add this blog manually. Click the "Close" button to close the searcher and return to the main interface.
Missed Notifications
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If you happen to be away from your computer and miss the desktop notifications you can check for missed notifications at anytime using the
Notifications tab. This displays all recent notifications received and double clicking on any record will take you directly to that blog so you can find the latest post.
Event Logging
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All events that occur during the
Sniping Process are logged and can be viewed by clicking on the
Event Log tab. This log is also available
in the log.txt file (in the application folder).
Skype
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The
Comment Sniper connects to
Skype (Telephony Software) to send SMSes. So if you intend to use
SMS Notifications, you will need to have Skype
installed. While the Sniper Process is running, Skype must be running and signed in to an account with a positive
SkypeOut balance. For information on how to download and install Skype, create an account and load SkypeOut credit, see the sub-sections below.
Upon trying to connect to Skype for the first time, Skype will prompt you for permission (see screenshot above) to allow the
Comment Sniper to connect to it. You must select
"Allow this program to use Skype" if you want to use
SMS Notifications.
Downloading and Installing
For optimal use, we recommend you download and install the latest version of
Skype from
http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/.
Creating an account
After installing Skype, upon running it for the first time, Skype will prompt you with a form to create a new account. Fill in the information and agree to the terms of service and you're done.
Loading SkypeOut credit
Using Skype to send SMSes is not free, but very affordable. Before using
SMS Notifications, you will need to load your Skype account with some SkypeOut credit. To do so follow these steps:
- Visit https://secure.skype.com/store/member/login.html and enter your account details to login to your account.
- Under to SkypeOut section, click on Add Credit.
- Enter your billing address and click Next.
- Select a payment method. You have a choice between Paypal, Moneybookers and major credit cards.
- Select the amount you would like to load (the minimum is $10) and click Next.
- Follow instructions to complete payment.
