Archives for October 2008

Blast From The Past: WordPress 0.71

October 5, 2008 by jeffc

Out of cruiosities sake, I browsed to the WordPress release archive and picked out the oldest version available which is 0.71 released on May 27th, 2003. I use WampServer on my PC which lets me turn my machine into a local web server. Because this version of WordPress is so old, I ended up having to install an older version of Apache (2.0.63) along side an older version of PHP (4.4.8). Come along for the ride as we look at WordPress when it was just a baby.

My initial reaction to seeing the WordPress administration area was filled with amusement. In this archaic version of the software, there is no dashboard, no fancy boxes and no area dedicated for news from within the WordPress community. Upon entering the administration area, the first thing that is loaded is the Post/Edit screens allowing you to get right to work on creating content. The following screenshot is what the write panel looks like.

For those of you wondering what the editor formatting buttons looked like, here you go.

Configuring this version of WordPress is of course much simpler than todays version. To highlight just how simple configuring WordPress was, look at the configuration options in the following screenshot.

Next up is category configuration. The interface provides a quick and easy way to add or delete categories. In today’s version of WordPress, categories that are deleted which contain posts within them are moved to a category called Uncategorized. In WordPress 0.71, posts were moved to a General category. Also, there is no way to configure a category slug or various other options we take for granted today.

Editing templates in WordPress 0.71 is a rudimentary process but it’s nice to see that the live template editor in .71 is still available in todays version of WordPress. For the developers out their or for those curious, here is some of the code that appears in the live template editor.

Next up is the link manager. Even the old link manager had support for importing blog rolls. Also worthy of note is that WordPress .71 also had a Link This bookmarklet to easily add links to your blogroll. There is a somewhat humorous message at the bottom when describing the bookmarklet: “You can drag link this to your toolbar and when you click it a window will pop up that will allow you to add whatever site you’re on to your links! Right now this only works on Mozilla or Netscape, but we’re working on it.”

Interestingly, the next link in the administration panel is called My Profile. Clicking it actually opens a new window and doesn’t load the configuration options within the admin panel. In fact, the window now opens up in a static sized FireFox window that is really annoying. Thankfully, that is not the case in todays version of WordPress. Here is what the profile manager looked like.

The next two links in the administration panel are View Site and Logout. In this screenshot, you can get a glimpse as to the administration navigation.

Conclusion:

I was not aware of WordPress or in this case, B2 at the time. I was still caught up in the PostNuke, PHP-Nuke and e107 content management systems. I never became aware of WordPress until 2007. I always find it interesting to dive into the WordPress Codex to see articles for versions of WordPress that are 3-4 years old to see the thought process of that time period. As you can tell, WordPress has evolved significantly in the past 5 years in all aspects. Bits and pieces of .71 are still in 2.6.2 in some way or another and I believe WordPress will continue to blow us away in the months and years to come.

Do you have any nostalgic moments relating to WordPress? Perhaps you have memories of what things used to be like before WordPress 2.6.2? Tell me how you first came about using WordPress in the comments!

Latest Jobs Via Performancing Job Board

October 5, 2008 by jeffc

Considering the pay cuts over at b5media tacked onto numerous layoffs at other blogging networks, I thought it would be a good idea to take some time out every Sunday to highlight the most recent job offerings that have been submitted to the Performancing Job Board. Lets take a look at what we have this week.

Bloggers Required: Instablogs Blog Network is inviting professional Bloggers to contribute to blogs on Technology, Entertainment, and Lifestyle. The key to this role is that you are creative, an expert in online search/research and can bust out a 100-word blurb or 1000-word feature at the drop of a hat.

Expanding Network looking for pithy, experienced, funny…etc etc, bloggers…: We are expanding our network of sites and are looking for freelance writers with talent and experience to work with our existing team. They are currently looking for bloggers with expertise in the following areas: Gadgets/Tech, Mens Lifestyle/Design/Mens Fashion, Movies, and Music.

GirlSustainable.com Looking for a new blogger: The chosen blogger(s) will be responsible for 4-6 posts per week, averaging 300-350 words. The content of each post will mostly be at your desecration; however the topic will need to ‘fit’ into the theme of the site. All posts will be submitted in wordpress with a corresponding picture.

If any of these job offerings sound like something you’re interested in, stop by the Blog Offers forum and inquire from within. Also, if you are an employer looking for ways in which to advertise your job offering, register an account and publish your job offer on our forum as it routinely receives quite a bit of traffic.

Since Perfcast Has Relaunched, Have You Listened To Any Episodes?

October 4, 2008 by jeffc

There Are No Rules Only Exceptions

October 4, 2008 by jeffc

Read enough blogs about blogging in your RSS reader and sooner or later, it will become apparent that there are some cardinal rules when it comes to blogging. However, I am here to say that there are no rules when it comes to blogging. Ethics? Yes. Rules? No. Instead, rules should be looked at as suggestions. It should be known that every blogger has their own handful of suggestions to give out to newer bloggers thanks in part to individuality. But these suggestions or guidelines should not be followed at face value. Instead, use these suggestions as building blocks and mold them into techniques or follow up suggestions that you can pass on to your fellow blogger. Here are three examples showcasing what I’ve learned based off the suggestions I took to heart when I started blogging seriously.

Suggestion #1 Don’t quote other bloggers all the time. Strictly write unique content: This piece of advice is a slap in the face to the facet of blogging. Blogging is a form of communication and each individual should embrace the ability to be part of the larger conversation. Blogging is about linking to other bloggers, quoting them, expanding on another’s thoughts, etc. Although writing unique content and keeping to yourself may be fine and dandy, all you’re really doing is making yourself look like a snob who doesn’t care less about what is going on outside of their sphere.

Suggestion #2 Being mentioned by an A-List blogger is all that matters: Yeah, right. While being granted access to the A-List crew is a dream come true for some, they are only a small part of the overall world of blogging despite how big their egos might be. There is more to blogging than writing content that is aimed at these high profile bloggers. Blog for yourself and not them. If you play your cards right, you’ll develop your own A-List within your circle of friends.

Suggestion #3 Don’t mix your personal blog with your business blog: Although this sounds good in theory, I believe this is a definite rule (suggestion) you can break. If you blog using WordPress, you can create categories and in my opinion, you can use categories as separate blogs. Because WordPress is so versatile, readers can subscribe to your content on a per category basis. Also, based on my own experience, it is much easier to publish content to one blog instead of two blogs or more.

In episode 6 of Perfcast, David, Deb and myself described the various paths we had taken to reach our current status in our blogging careers. All three of us had traveled unique paths which in many ways, have been carved by us and no one else. The bottom line is, rules don’t apply to blogging. There are exceptions but there are exceptions to everything in life with most of them being expected. Everyone that is successful within the realm of blogging has created their own unique recipe for success. Instead of using everyone else’s recipe, create one of your own and add your own special ingredients.

If you know about ingredients (suggestions) to success that have been tried and true to blogging, share them in the comments. I’m also interested in learning about some of your special ingredients that have only worked for yourself.

Image taken by g.originals under Creative Commons.

I’m Calling You Out!

October 4, 2008 by jeffc

The other day, I stumbled across a conversation which I thought was pretty interesting. The question at hand was, “When should I call someone out“? There were many bloggers who joined in on the conversation offering up their opinions and suggestions and I thought I’d chime in as well.

This question hits home for me as I’ve been in a position where I have had to call someone out because they owed me money. After dealing with the individual in as many private ways as possible, I took the issue public and suffice to say, it made matters worst and didn’t solve anything. I thought that by going public, I would expose this schmuck who conned me out of $500.00 but all I ended up doing was losing friends in the process who didn’t want to be sucked into the situation. It would of been best for me to realize that I was never going to get my money back and leave it at that, but the thought of this guy scamming me played on my concious to the point where I felt I would feel justified if I smeared his name. The bottom line is, it didn’t work and I didn’t recieve my money.

As one of the bloggers in the conversation so rightly put it,

When you start throwing mud, everyone gets dirty.

I have one more story to share. After performing an interview on my podcast WordPress Weekly, a blogger who listened to the show considered it the worst interview he had ever listened to. Instead of calling the guy out, I took the high road and published a post asking my listeners if what the guy had said was true. I even linked to the guys blog post. Without telling my listeners to do so, they clicked on over to this guys site and gave him an earful. It was later discovered that he sensationalized the title of the blog post and didn’t exactly feel as if I performed the worst interview ever. But because I had taken the high road, I ended up in a much better position had I started to throw mud around.

My advice is to do whatever you can to pull the stick out of the gear behind the scenes without having the situation end up in the public light. Situations like these can turn into a firestorm and if you have been around the blogosphere once or twice, you’ll know that simple mishaps can turn into a world of uninformed, misguided trouble. If you do end up calling somebody out, I highly suggest reading up on Defamation as you wouldn’t want to end up in court, especially if it was for something that could of been solved in a much simpler way.

Ever feel like calling someone out using your blog as a soapbox? Let me know how you handled the situation in the comments.

Image taken by Cchrissy55 under Creative Commons

Pro Blogging Tip of the Day: Capture Search By Using Price/Cost Related Terms

October 3, 2008 by ryancaldwell

There are a few fundamental rules for making big money online. Here is the number one rule in my book:

The most profitable traffic is search traffic.

Search traffic normally consists of people who are looking for something specific. A large chunk of searchers are looking to buy something. You make money online from people willing to pay money. Searchers who are looking to buy something are ready to spend, and thus their behavior is more conducive to earning you money (whether through a CPC click or an affiliate order).

So, let’s say that your site has no trouble bringing in some good search traffic. And let’s say that 5-10% of those searchers consist of shoppers. What can you do?

Increase the ratio of shoppers to non-shoppers by including shopping related keywords.

Let’s say that you write a daily product review on your blog. You should make sure that the product review includes words and phrases like cost, price, review, quality, discount, deal, cheapest, free, where to buy, sale and others.

Shoppers tend to concentrate on price and are almost always looking for two things: 1) a review of the product’s quality and 2) what to expect to pay (or where to get the best deal).

You can increase the profit on your website by giving shoppers the kind of information they are looking for – price and quality related.

Perfcast Episode 6 Featuring Deb Ng

October 3, 2008 by jeffc

I’ll start off by saying that our interview with Deb Ng of FreelanceWritingGigs.com has to be one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve ever been a part of. David and I both grilled Deb Ng on the topics of freelancing, getting a job in the world of blogging, using your blog as a resume, managing time and much more. During the show, David, Deb and myself shared our unique paths to our current blogging careers. Thanks Deb for being on the show and providing a wealth of information. David and I both want to thank each and every one of you who was in the chat room and who continue to listen and support the show. We truly appreciate it. On with the show!

LISTENER FEEDBACK – John Roach of prowritingtips.com wrote in to ask how to get into the blog copy editing business. Tune in to hear our answers.

Each week, David and I like to look at the jobs available in blogging and related industries. We cover jobs that catch our eye, and hopefully don’t pay too poorly. We will feature one of these jobs on each episode of Perfcast. This week, we gave the honors of the job of the week to Deb who did a great job.

BLOGGING JOB OF THE WEEK – This information will be added as soon as I get it. But listen to the show to hear this weeks job of the week.

BLOGGING CHALLENGE ENTRIES FROM THE PREVIOUS WEEK:

JeffC – http://performancing.com/how-save-time-commenting-blogs

John Roach – http://prowritingtips.com/2008/10/how-to-write-a-resume-part-2-making-your-resume-shine/

David – http://www.collegecrunch.org/technology/tips-on-sharing-your-internet-with-your-friends/

BLOGGING CHALLENGE – The challenge this week is to write a blog post that receives 10 comments or more, not counting your own. Pick a specific post and aim for 10 comments. If you are unsure as to how to accomplish this objective, tune into the show as we all provide a few tips on how to engage your readers.

The blogging challenge is provided as a means of challenging yourself with a specific duty each week. David and I will be participating in each challenge and will be highlighting various entries from the previous challenge. To have your entry viewed by David and I, leave a comment with a link to your entry on this blog post. You may be the entry we review on the next episode.

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Archives for October 2008

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