5 Great Security Plugins Every WordPress Blog Should Be Using
Online security is always a topic of hot debate. Not a day goes by where someone isn’t hacked, whether they own a small site or a hugely popular one. The problem is that the more popular your site becomes, the more of a target it can be to those with unsavory intentions.
WordPress websites are often targeted by hackers due to a lack of security. The problem, however, is that there are dozens of great security plugins you could be using to ensure the safety of your layout and contents. Here are 7 to keep in mind. [Read more]
6 Tools to Monetize Your WordPress Blog
While many writers blog because they are passionate about their subject matter, no one can deny that getting compensated for your efforts is a huge plus! But monetizing a blog can be time-consuming and tricky. For instance, promoting an irrelevant or scammy product can wear out reader trust. Thankfully there are a number of tools that bloggers can utilize in order to make the process easier.
For monetization purposes, WordPress is an unbeatable platform that will help you get the best of almost everything. Its strength lies in its user-friendly interface and a thriving community of developers who continually create new plug-ins for the platform. This makes it a lot easier for bloggers to automate routine tasks to become more efficient and up-to-date. In this article, I have compiled a few top WordPress monetization tools that are designed to increase your blogging income… [Read more]
PressHarbor: WordPress for the Rest of Us
A long, long time ago, in a place not so far away a company emerged from the shadows offering WP fans an alternative to Automattic’s WordPress.com.
Launched in 2007 by the folks behind RackShare, PressHarbor provides a safe haven for WP fans looking for a WordPress centric hosting company without the limitations of Automattic (the latter who created WordPress).
Probably considered one of the first WP centric hosts to emerge online, PressHarbor prides itself on offering users features that they will need instead of presenting options that they will probably never use.
The folks behind PressHarbor were kind enough to let me test out their hosting service, which presented a few surprises “under the hood.” [Read more]
The 3 Blog Laws of Self Hosting (Ignore Them At Your Own Risk)
Despite the benefits of blogging upon Blogger, WordPress.com, OnSugar (for Drupal lovers), or a microblogging site like Tumblr, there comes a season in your life when you must embrace the trials and tribulations of self hosting your blog.
Fortunately in the age of social networking and blogs, most hosting companies offer clients “one click” installs allowing users to upload the blog software of their choice without having to resort to using the infamous FTP (which only geeks love).
Aside from finding yourself a decent host, there are 3 laws of self hosting that you should follow which will not only prevent damage to your blog’s data (as replacing it via Google cache can be a pain), but also of your wallet as well.
WordPress Plugins to Reduce Load-time
This is a guest entry by Selena from esvienne.com and searchenginejournal.com.
As our blogs grow and get more traffic, more “fun” things tend to get added on. We add a sidebar image here, a tracking script there, Adsense on top and below, etc. All these things eventually start becoming too much, and slows down your blog- especially when we start forgetting to delete old and outdated plugins as time goes on.
I don’t have to tell you this, but a slow loading blog makes for a poor user experience – and you do not want to lose those visitors you worked so hard for. Keep in mind that visitors subjected to poor site performance rarely complain – they just leave and don’t come back. Nobody is going to take the trouble to find your contact form and say, “hey buddy- your site is loading slow. I will be back here in 1 week to check to see if it’s fixed.” [Read more]
WordPress 3.0 – Have You Upgraded Yet?
The first stable release of WordPress 3.0 launched on June 17th. Have you upgraded yet?
The new version of WordPress offers some cool new features like a new default theme (Twenty Ten), which has been getting a lot of buzz. Also, the new multi-user functionality makes it easy for anyone to run multiple WordPress blogs from a single WordPress installation. I’m sure I’m not the only WordPress user who is happy about that!
So there is no doubt that the new WordPress 3.0 is cool, but are you the type of blogger who jumps in as soon as a new version of WordPress is launched? Or do you prefer to wait it out a few weeks (or longer) to see what kinds of bugs people experience before you upgrade?
Since upgrading became so easy when WordPress 2.7 came on the scene, even the least tech-savvy blogger can upgrade to the latest and greatest version of WordPress with a couple of clicks of the mouse (although you really should take the time to backup your WordPress database first — just in case).
So which are you — a Nervous Nellie or a Fearless Freddy? Take the poll below and leave a comment to share your thoughts on upgrading to WordPress 3.0.
Is It Too Easy to Blog?
There’s an interesting anti- blogging op-ed rant in the Baltimore Sun by Garrison Keillor, an amusing American writing icon who’s known for classics such as Lake Wobegon Days and A Prairie Home Companion. In the rant, entitled “When everyone’s a writer, no one is,” Keillor gives an entertaining slap in the face to blogging and microblogging, suggesting that the Internet has made us both literate in terms of increasing reading interest, though simultaneously reduced the value of writing. I mean, who wants to pay for something when you can probably find it for free or which is easy to steal? [Via Writers Write.]
That sounds about right, but the irony that the Baltimore Sun’s web page has Google AdSense ads smack-dab in the middle of Keillor’s op-ed piece isn’t lost on me. If this is what traditional publishers think they have to do to survive, then so be it. Now, I just had an email conversation earlier today with someone who wants to buy a few old sites that I’d previously bartered from someone else. The potential buyer wanted me to also add more content, which I wasn’t interested in even before he tipped his hat by making a mention that you can buy 10 posts for $20. That was because I’d mentioned to him that when I had tried to find writers for my sites, that was what I was quoted, by people who knew the niche well.
The $2/post might be available for some niches, but you will get exactly what you pay for: writing that’s likely unreadable and would take you far too long to edit than just write yourself. Specialized niches, on the other hand, require you to stay on top of the market, do extra research. I won’t give away the niche, but let me put it this way: if I have to watch a 1.5 hour TV show just to do some research to write one single post for $2, there’s something seriously wrong with the industry. You can’t live off that kind of workflow and rate. Worse are those who think everyone should now write for that rate, regardless of where you live. (One guy from Buffalo, NY, a few years ago, offered me a $1.50/post even though I repeatedly said I lived in Toronto, Canada. I’m now in Silicon Valley, California, and even if I can still work from home, life is expensive here.)
The culprits, as Keillor suggests, are probably the otherwise fantastic blogging systems such as WordPress, MoveableType and Drupal, that have in one sense revolutionized publishing because they allow anyone to easily write and publish at minimal cost, and in another sense are destroying publishing because they allow anyone to easily write and publish at minimal cost. And claim to be a writer or blogger. Even when they’re not. Keillor says, “Call me a pessimist, call me Ishmael, but I think that book publishing is about to slide into the sea.” Again, that sounds just about right. In fact, to add to the potential demise, Barnes & Noble have a new e-book publishing platform, Pubit!, for independents and self-publishing writers, with the distribution vehicle being through B&N’s e-Book store.
Still, let me reassure you aspiring bloggers who actually have or can develop real writing skills, who have inspired writing (though not day in and day out), that you can make living. I doubt most of you will achieve blogging success if you blog for advertising dollars, but if you align yourself with clients who sell products and/or services — or sell your own — then it’s possible to make a living writing online, even excel at it. Just don’t let the ease of blogging subvert you from building your writing skills. Blogging platforms like WordPress are merely writing tools, just like the now-ancient IBM Selectric typewriter was that I first started cracking out my short stories and poems on.
On a side note, it’s the seventh birthday of the WordPress blogging system — one of the key propagators of the online publishing revolution. Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and Automattic, shares some thoughts about this occasion and mentions that version 3.0 is near (it’s available in beta form). He also notes that that WP development community now numbers over 1,500 active members contributing to what the GPL software is today — that is, much more than a blogging system. Happy birthday, WordPress.
Image: Flickr.
Performancing Blogosphere Roundup – May 26, 2010
If you’re a blogger on the go, you might know that WordPress is available for a number of mobile devices including iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry. SplashPress Media’s Darnell Clayton discusses the Blackberry edition at Blog Herald. I’ll be covering the iPhone and iPad versions in the future. (The simple summary is that the iPad-specific version of WordPress beats the iPhone version, and it’s great to be able to monitor a blog when I’m about and can’t carry my laptop around.)
Are you looking forward to the release of WordPress 3.0? It’s been delayed slightly to later this month or early June because of bugs, but the second beta release has been out since early May. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet but Six Revisions has a guide to the new features. Amongst them are a new interface for installation, a new default theme with both header and background customization, a link shortener feature for better micro-blogging integration, a merge of the single site version of WordPress and WordPress MU (Multi-user), and tons more. On a related note, Drupal 7 is in the works, though no release date just yet.
While a non-Mac computer is just fine for blogging, I’ve made a MacBook Pro and an iPhone (and iPad) an important part of my multi-computer blogging setup. From May 25th until Sep 7, 2010, Apple is offering a freebie for qualified people within the educational market. Students (college and K12), faculty/ staff members, parents, and PTA/PTO executives might all be eligible to take advantage of Apple’s educational offer: buy a Mac and you’ll get a free 8 GB iPod Touch (basically an iPhone without the phone capability, just the WiFi). Note that this is a rebate offer. You do actually pay for the iPod Touch upfront but get credited within 90 days of making your claim. Please see their qualifications details.
Adapt or die. It’s a common refrain, and it applies to bloggers as well as online busineses. While newspapers are not online businesses per se, that’s the direction some traditional publishers are tending, but what they’re offering isn’t just digital content. A few are now selling SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services — an important aspect in building a strong web presence for a blog or website. For example, Gannett Newspapers, who are behind USA Today and other publications, are one of several publishers going in this direction, though they are targeting local markets individually. I guess in terms of adapting, it’s in an interesting approach, but who would associate newspapers with those sorts of skills? Search Engine Land has the details.
6 Tips to Make the Most of Your Blog Writing Time
Blogging can be an enjoyable experience or it can be a draining time-suck. Which would you prefer? Whether you’re blogging for your own reasons, freelancing, or doing it for your business, finding the time to write can be difficult if you’re juggling it amongst other work. Here are a few tips to leverage the time that you do have.
[Read more]
Does Your Business Need a Blog?
There’s a growing segment of bloggers who fall into the “business” category, who blog for the purpose of promoting a business, and you might be or become one of them. Businesses are realizing the value of blogging, especially if they’re hoping to establish an online presence.
Does your business need a blog? The short answer is “maybe.” Not every business needs a blog, just like not every business needs a website. However, if you are building any sort of presence online, then a blog is a very good idea.
Why? A website on its own simply isn’t enough to establish an online presence, unless your domain is “aged,” has tons of high-ranking content (from a search engine perspective) that other high-ranking sites have linked back to, and has consistent new content. Many search engines favor sites with regular fresh content — which means the likelihood of more Web traffic.
While you CAN publish lots of regular content on a non-blog site, the tools for managing non-blog content — e.g., a CMS (Content Management System) — are often far too complex and expensive for the needs of smaller businesses. Blogging systems (a lesser form of CMS) may have their limitations, but as most of the best are free and have supportive communities, they can be a benefit when you’re on a tight budget. A few such as WordPress can even be used as a low-end CMS in incredibly versatile ways.
Simply put, your business website needs a blog because if it’s leveraged properly, your site benefits in terms of Web traffic. Readers also benefit, and if they become regular readers due to regular content, their trust grows and they’re more likely to convert to customers. It’s a win-win situation.
So how do you decide whether to have a business blog or not? Here are a few questions you can ask yourself.
- Do you have a bricks and mortar ‘local’ business that would benefit from a broader market?
- Do you already have a website that brings you customers or leads?
- Do you want your customer base to be more knowledgeable about your product or industry?
- Do you want to establish an online presence?
- Do you want to sell your business’ products or services online?
- Do you know about social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and want to leverage them for your businesss?
There are other questions you can ask yourself, but this is a starting point. If you’ve answered yes to any of these, then having a blog might benefit your business. If this is something you’d like to explore further, search our article archives for other helpful content relating to writing, creativity, productivity and other aspects of blogging. If you have decided to build a business blog and need some help, feel free to contact Performancing Services.
