Guide To Blogging

Archive for the ‘WordPress Plugins’ Category

I mentioned in a post a few days ago that I needed to upgrade my WordPress blog and how with the help of a really cool plugin a chore that I really wasn’t looking forward to became extremely quick and easy - you can read more about the upgrade and the plugin I used in this post (Upgrading WordPress And Other Odd Bits)

If you, like me, have put off upgrading your WordPress blog because it seemed like a lot of hard work, check out that post and plugin you’ll be amazed at how simple it is.

However, once I upgraded some of my blogs using the above plugin which automatically installs the latest version of WordPress - in this case 2.5.1 - it meant that some of my favourite plugins no longer worked (oh and a side note - I’m not sure which version this started in, but in 2.5 I discovered you can automatically upgrade plugins like Akismet etc with the click of a button - it does it for you - my blogging life gets easier every day)

For the most part my plugins all had updates etc that will now work in 2.5 except 1 - One of my favourites that I use regularly on one of my blogs is/was WP-Amazon- it searches Amazon for you so you can easily put related products in your posts etc (I actually have a post about it on this blog somewhere) I searched through the plugin creators site, and did find a google groups thread on how you can update it yourself to get it to work, but it didn’t work for me - so I went a searching to see what else I could find.

Lo an’ behold I came across another plugin that does, at least as far as I can see, the exact same thing as WP-Amazon but it works in WordPress 2.5+ WP-Amazon Reloaded. Much like the other version you put in your related search term and it brings Amazon products up - you select which one you want and add it to your post. There’s also a short video that shows you the plugin in action. So for those that have WordPress 2.5+ and are looking for something to add your Amazon products to your blog posts - this plugin should be just what you want

For as long as I’ve been blogging (which isn’t long compared to some, but awhile in my mind) I’ve never actually upgraded any of my blogs. If/when I set up a new blog I generally upload whatever the latest version of WordPress happens to be and leave it at that.

However…

I recently had one of my other blogs hacked and in all honesty it was only a fluke that I discovered it. It’s a blog I don’t tend to very often but I went to log in the other day and other than the dashboard I couldn’t get any of my other admin pages to load, after swearing and cursing at it for awhile, I left it and came back to it at a later time - I did eventually manage to get into my manage posts page and went to edit a post (the reason I wanted to login to this blog in the first place) it just so happened that I hit the code tab (I generally use the visual tab when doing my posts unless there’s a reason I need to put in actual code etc) while I was in the code pane I happened to notice that underneath my original post was all this other code - linking to adult sites and the like (this was hidden code - that is it doesn’t show up in the actual post where it can be seen but is hidden inside - or however the hell that type of stuff works - it’s way beyond me) anyway I went on to discover that a large number of my posts all had this hidden code crap in it - which as you can probably imagine didn’t impress me all that much.

I fixed all that - got onto my hosting account and told them - they fixed stuff for me too - really quickly I might add - and changed passwords etc which leads me to today…

I logged back into that blog and I’m still having trouble getting pages to load - though as far as I can see there’s nothing out of the ordinary there. So I figured what the hell - this blog doesn’t do much anyway, if it comes to it I’m not going to lose anything by deleting it entirely so I’ll go for an upgrade and see what happens.

Now while I haven’t done it on that particular blog yet I did just upgrade a test blog - just to see how it’s done. I actually came across a plugin that did it all for me - WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin - It worked really easily - just click some buttons and your done so for the most part that makes life pretty easy. Though I have a couple of things to point out.

This automatically upgrades to the latest version of WordPress and considering all the fuss around at the moment about WordPress 2.5 if you don’t want that version - don’t use this plugin (I just had a quick look at it on my test blog and it looked okay to me - but I don’t really post on that blog so I’m probably not the best judge) also I didn’t have any plugins installed on that blog so I’m not sure how that will affect things - according the the instructions - this plugin automatically deactivates the plugins and then activates them again afterwards.

You can use this automatic upgrade plugin either manually - where I guess you follow each step - so you can double check etc - or automatically (which I did) where you click a button and it just goes off and does it. For my next attempt I will probably try it manually - but due to my first go being on a test blog with few posts and no plugins the automatic seemed the way to go.

Less Than 10 Minutes Later 

I’ve just come back to edit this post to add..

Using the plugin recommended above I just upgraded my other blog (that has multiple posts and plugins etc) using the manual method and it worked quickly and easily - as far as I can tell there’s no problems - everything is where it should be though it didn’t re-activate my plugins so I have to go and do that manually - thought that’s probably a good thing as no doubt some of them won’t work with 2.5.1 or will need to be upgraded etc

Well since we’re now a couple of days into the new year (at least here in Aust.) and I’m sick as a dog at the moment (not a good way to start the year off in my opinion) I thought now was as good a time as any to go back over some my favourite plugins and posts here in this blog along with any other blogging related stuff.

It was early in 2007 that I really got stuck into blogging - very late in 2006 I discovered WordPress - first through WordPress.com then on free hosting providers and then I took the plunge and actually got my own domain and hosting - and once I did that I never looked back. While it’s just my opinion and preference for those out there that are thinking about starting a blog or considering moving their blog(s) to the next level - getting your own domain and hosting is certainly the way to go - mainly because you have so much more control over things (I had a  bad experience with one free host I used where my blog suddenly disappeared and linked to an adult site - though I do still have one of my old blogs on a free host and never had a problem with it)

My Favourite Posts:

Listed below are some of what I consider the top posts on this blog - either because I think they actually provide some useful information or they’ve received either the majority of comments or other sites have linked to them because they’re related/helpful etc.

Where to host your blog - covers free and paid hosting

Setting up your first WordPress blog - covers using fantastico or ftp etc with a quick video guide

Editing Your WordPress 404 page - shows how to quickly edit your default page not found message. A continuation of that post is how to create your own 404 page if your template doesn’t come with a default 404.php file

Backing up your blog - there’s several ways to do this - this post covers a couple of them - and it’s something we should all do regularly - I know I’m slack and should do it more often

My Favourite Plugins

Listed below are a few of my favourite plugins

First and most important is Akismet - while it comes standard with a WordPress installation you can find out more about it here a must have when it comes to spam

Adding Amazon Products to blog posts - sometimes adding an Amazon product is a lot easier said than done - particularly when it comes to WordPress as the code can often make things go all wacky - well this post covers a cool plugin that makes it really easy - though the one downfall of it is that you only get three products per category (at least as far as I know)

All In One SEO - great when it comes to optimising your blog posts for the search engines

Vipers Video Quick Tags - I wrote a post awhile ago showing how to add YouTube etc videos to your blog, not long after that I came across this cool plugin that allows you to add YouTube, Google videos etc with the click of a button

CommentLuv - a plugin that helps you to appreciate those that take the time to comment on your blog. After the commentor has left a comment it automatically adds their most recent blog post to their comment

Comment Relish - while on the subject of commentors this plugin allows you to send a one off message to those that have commented on your blog for the first time - a great way to say thanks

There are of course plenty of other great plugins around the place - some of which I’ve written about already, some of which I’m yet to write about and some of which I’ve either not used yet or haven’t discovered (feel free to let me know if you think I’m missing some important ones)

Well that’ll probably do for my round-up - hope you all have a great and productive 2008

I’ve previously posted about some quick and easy plugins for WordPress blogs that enable you to easily add videos to your bog posts. I’m now going to share another, though this one is a little different.

By joining Revver and then using the Revver Plugin for WordPress you can not only easily add a variety of videos to your posts you also have the chance to earn from them.

You can earn from Revver in a couple of different ways. Taken from the site:

 

How we share revenue

Yeah, you can earn money by making an awesome video and putting it on Revver. But did you know you can also earn just by sharing other people’s videos? Just find a few of your faves and you can send them to friends, embed them in your blog or website, or even make your very own podcast with them — and earn for sharing!

But wait, there’s more! Because it’s so easy to earn money by sharing videos, other Revver members will be knocking down your door trying to share your videos with the world. Every time they earn money for sharing your video, you earn money for creating it!

The video above gives a brief explanation of using the plugin. This plugin and video site might prove very useful to those that set up primarly vlogs (video blogs) or use videos to portray their content rather than text etc.

No Video Responses have been posted yet.

Click here to post a video response.

I’ve mentioned a few cool plugins recently related to showing your appreciation for those that take the time to leave a comment on your blog - well I’ve just come across another one which I’ll mention in a minute but I also wanted to take the time to remind you all of another plugin that helps fight spam - as much as all bloggers no doubt love to receive comments at the same time we all have a loathing for the comment spammers; particularly for me those that try to hide the fact that they are spammers - they make what you initially might think is a worthwhile comment - until you realise that they’ve left that same comment on every other post in your blog  (and on your other blogs as well) though I do have to almost laugh at those that say sorry with a sad smile before listing a tonne of links.

Anyway - as I’ve mentioned in the past when it comes to spam - all my comments need to be moderated - I use Akismet and I’d like to point out Spam Karma to others as well. Spam Karma is meant to stop all automated blog spam.

Some more link love with CommentLuv

Another great way to show your appreciation to your commentors is to use the CommentLuv plugin. This plugin is easy and a great idea. Anytime someone leaves a comment on your blog their latest blog post will show up underneath their comment.

Whenever a comment is left on your post CommentLuv will visit the feed of the comment author and attempt to grab the title and link to their latest blog post. I’m trying this one out now - and let you know how it goes for me. But take a look for yourself the download page goes into further detail and covers some tips if you need any help.

Share the love with CommentLuv

Most bloggers love to receive comments on their blog posts and in turn like to be given a chance to say thanks ’specially to those first timers who take the time to leave a comment. Well with the Comment Relish plugin that’s incredibly easy to do.

With this plugin any time a person leaves a comment for the first time on your blog you can automatically send them a thank you note. Not only is this a good way to let them know you appreciate the comment it’s also a good way to get a little more personal if you want. After all there’s a good chance the commentor just stumbled across one particular blog post and other than what they’ve learnt through that one post won’t know much at all about you or your blog so this plugin is your chance to share a little more of your blog etc. By responding to your first time commentors you’re hopefully giving yourself a chance to build a long term relationship with them as they come back to read and comment more on your blog.

There’s several preferences and tags ready to go once you’ve uploaded and activated your plugin. For more information take and download from here Comment Relish

If you’re interested in knowing and sharing what other blog posts your readers have visited then the Where Did They Go From Here Plugin might be something you’re interested in.

It’s similar to the Amazon site that shows you what other pages/items customers visited.

Once you upload and activate the plugin (and it’s as simple as that) you will see links to the pages other readers viewed on your site providing you have enough information for it to gather from. It’s a good way to promote other pages on your site (and works well with the related posts plugin) and might help readers discover other pages within your blog

For more information and to download it visit: Where Did They Go From Here 

As blog owners there’s no doubt that at some point you’ve had to deal with spam comments, whether that’s just one here or there or in some cases 10 or more a day.

Often spam seems to work on some sort of tidal phase; you get nothing then they roll on in on a wave of spam comment after comment then roll on out again and you’re left alone for awhile.

There may be a lot of different factors that determine the amount of spam/paid comments etc that you receive: the type of blog you have, whether you have DoFollow on your blogs (I’ve mentioned this in the past, but here’s a post about it that’s well worth reading Spam, Spiders And Do Follow, Oh My! ) and in my opinion the title of your post

All my blogs have Aksimet and moderated posts (if it gets through Aksimet I get an email telling me there’s a new comment and I decide whether to approve it or not) and for the most part that’s great (yes Akismet occasionally misses one or makes a mistake and spams something that shouldn’t have been but that’s pretty rare and easy to change) but lately I’ve been inundated with spam on one particular post I made on another blog - it’s not an old post by any means (in fact it’s still sitting on the front page of that blog) which made me realise I only ever receive spam/paid comments on certain posts.

So does that mean there are certain keywords or phrases that we use that cause the flood of spam or has it so far been coincidental? After all for the most part if we’re talking SEO etc we all try to use words or phrase that will draw the search engine traffic to our blogs but are we in turn drawing those spammers as well?

Oh and for the record for you 30 or so people (so far) that are trying to recruit me for a company based in Shanghai I’m not interested.