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    Top 10 Wordpress SEO Plugins

    Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

    1. All-in-One SEO Pack
    The All in One SEO Pack enables search engines to more easily understand the content of your blog posts. You can automatically optimize titles, Meta keywords, descriptions and avoid duplicate content indexing.
    Download

    2. Google Sitemaps Generator
    An invaluable plugin creating a static xml file to enable Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search to intelligently [...]

    Avoid WordPress comment spam in two steps!

    Friday, February 22nd, 2008

    For months now, this blog has been freed from comment spam I used to experience before because I found out the most effective ways to avoid WordPress spam.

    1. Deactivating Akismet. Previously, I was getting at least 200 spam comments per day. I had to scan them one-by-one because some comments were filtered as spam by Akismet. Out of frustration, I deactivated the plugin with thoughts of completely avoiding these spam messages. True enough, I have not received spam comments since then.

    Note: Do not delete Akismet from the plugins directory because you’re blog may experience another spam flood.

    2. Install a spam blocking plugin. Currently I am using Matriphe Keycode, one of the best anti spam plugins I’ve ever used.

    Blog Cleanup and Updates

    Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

    I just did the major blog revamp for this site and so glad that everything went smoothly.

    WordPress Database Upgrade:
    I upgraded to WordPress 2.3.3. My previous WordPress install version was 2.2.1 installed last July 2007. Ever since I experienced WordPress database error due to auto-upgrading through Fantastico, I’ve been careful in upgrading my database. So this time, I’ve taken several measures to avoid those upgrade errors.


    Layout Change:
    I’ve been looking for a nice layout for this site, but some of the good ones are only available with premium purchase. Unfortunately, with my current online income status, I couldn’t afford to buy a copy. After an exhausting theme-hunting, I finally found this theme (Timeline Digest) from Dezzain.

    Category Deletion:
    This blog was thought initially as a personal log with mix of everything - health, technology, internet, blogging, politics, etc. So I flooded the posts with several possible related categories. It’s unfortunate that I learned the power of tags very late. I installed the Batch Categories plugin to help me do this tedious task.

    The next things to do:

    1. Edit the ProjectWonderful ads on my sidebar to 2×2 to fit on the width. Currently, I couldn’t do it because there are active bids.

    2. Re-arrange the categories alphabetically. I am not so well-versed with php codes so I am still figuring out how to. Perhaps you can help me do it.

    3. Make a blog header. I am currently using Paint.NET since I ditched my pirated version of Adobe Photoshop CS 3. I am still acquainting myself to the former so it may take some time and tutorial reading to finally come up with a presentable header. Or anyone who wants to offer? :p

    WordPress Plugins and Server Overload

    Saturday, February 16th, 2008

    Here is a list of plugins that have caused that server overload or resource abuse yesterday

    1. Views Counter. This plugin helps you to easily track how many times your post page was viewed and by what quantity of visitors. I installed this plugin because it served as a “mini-stat counter” for my posts. It also served as a potential gauge for future related posts.

    2. No Old Spam Links. This plugin add “nofollow” to all links on any domain on a blacklist, applied in posts and comments. I installed this plugin in thinking that it will help me regain my page rank. My alternative to it is add the “rel=nofollow” attribute to the paid links, manually. Also, I uninstalled the TLA plugin.

    3. MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad. It’s a non-obtrusive way of displaying a single line of advertising message, a special note or other information right at the top of your blog. I used it to promote my contest.

    Uninstalling these plugins also helped in minimizing server load:

    1. Quoter. This plugin lets you quote a particular comment or portion of the blog. Uninstalling it minimized the load of most-commented posts in this blog. This is recommended only to high-trafficked sites receiving a good number of visitor comments.

    2. Commentluv. This plugin shows a link to the last post from the commenter’s blog in their comment. It’s one way of attracting comments. It reduced significant number of queries.

    3. Dagon Design Sitemap Generator. This plugin generates a fully customizable sitemap. When this was installed, my post archives performs 75 queries, when uninstalled, it reduced significantly by 60%.

    This post does not mean to discourage you from installing these plugins, instead it serves as a warning to avoid site suspension from your host, especially if you are using a shared hosting.

    No Old Spam Links Plugin: Easily add NoFollow on Paid/Text Links

    Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

    The Google punishment in the form of Google PR drops, due to paid links created a buzz in the blogosphere. Many had been affected, and that includes me. And I want to get my PR back. Probloggers advised to add a rel=nofollow on all paid links but it maybe too cumbersome, especially if you have posted quite a number of paid reviews.

    I found a WordPress plugin that will help me to easily put nofollow in all the paid links in this blog without manually adding rel=nofollow to the links. No Old Spam Links plugin will automatically do it for me.

    What does the plugin do?


    Download the plugin here.

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    Read 68 times by 31 visitors

    I’m switching to a magazine-style WordPress theme!

    Friday, December 21st, 2007

    Using magazine-style WordPress themes is the new trend in the blogging community. These themes enhances the CMS capability of WordPress.

    Why is it better to choose a magazine- or newspaper-style theme?

    1. It’s “pro-looking”. One of the ways to drive traffic and persuade readers is making your layout professional. Because these themes can be taking a lot of knowledge about coding, most of them are designed by professional designers.

    2. You can maximize the space on your blog. You have a lot of space for advertising and other widgets.

    3. It is best for multimedia. Magazine-style themes are best for video blogging and podcasting.

    4. You can have featured posts highlighting a certain notable post.

    Here are some of the best-looking magazine-style themes available for you!

    1. Structure
    A theme for news/magazine sites with a blog-friendly option too. It includes built-in video and image features that easily allow you to customize your site. There are content blocks that you can place virtually anywhere on the page.

    2. Mimbo is a magazine-style Wordpress theme which makes extensive use of WP’s template tag system to create a non-traditional layout. It contains no images and only minimal CSS styling. Mainly it exists as a clean, grid-based starter layout for designers to install and style to their own liking.

    3. Visionary. A theme for news/magazine sites. It includes built-in video features that easily allow you to add videos to your site.

    4. Jello Wala Mello WordPress Theme is a news / magazine-styled WordPress theme created for multi-media sites. It requires WordPress 2.3 to work properly.

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    Read 25 times by 13 visitors

    Firefox 3.0 First Beta is already available for download!

    Saturday, November 24th, 2007

    Mozilla has released the new and improved Firefox 3 on its beta version. How will Firefox 3 improve on things?

    - Performance improvements, including over 300 memory leak fixes, perennial problems with Firefox since the beginning and an issue that plagues it badly today

    - Firefox 3 does seem quite a bit speedier than version 2.

    - With its intuitive search, users can auto-scour their surfing and browsing history and bookmarks for visited URLs and even page titles, making it easier to find “lost” pages as you type.

    - Bookmarking is easier to do (just one click) and organization of bookmarks is also improved.

    - Security improvements

    - Several other features found on their development blog.

    Firefox 3 Beta 1 is freely available for download, it’s not recommended for general users at this time. There are still plenty of bugs in the system, some pages won’t render right, and, most importantly, very few Firefox 2 add-ins work with Firefox 3 at all (not even toolbars).

    Source: Yahoo Tech

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    Read 49 times by 25 visitors

    I am now on a paid host!

    Saturday, November 24th, 2007

    My domain and other sites, has been hosted since its birth in the blogosphere by Ejam Hosting through its post-to-host program for FREE.

    I have been satisfied with their hosting because I am getting the features of a paid host for FREE and so far, Ejam has satisfied my qualifications for a free host. Unfortunately (or fortunately), since this blog has been widely visited these past days, I have to upgrade my bandwidth limit and storage capacity.

    Although I was satisfied with the hosting, my fear of losing my website was still there. Because it’s a free hosting, I was afraid of instability in the future. I’ve experienced this dilemma with my previous free hosts. AhPlace, my first host, for example, has been one of the most-trusted free hosts but due to hacker attacks, click frauds, spammers, and several other instabilities, it has to close down losing all the data of its hosted members. I still highly recommend Ejam, though.

    Some free hosts are only supported by members donation and the activity of its members, so financial instability can be a problem in the future. This was the reason why I shifted to a paid host. I was thankful that Paypal is now available with full feature (send and receive) in the Philippines that I can pay for the hosting.

    Webhosting Buzz is now my host under their Budget Hosting Silver Plan. I didn’t have a problem with the transfer because their ever supportive and reliable team did it for me - the backups, the transfer and everything. I also got one domain for free as long as my site is kept hosted by them.

    This is now my second day under their server. So far I am satisfied with the uptime and support.

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    Read 83 times by 32 visitors

    WordPress Upgrades and Problems: What should you learn

    Monday, July 9th, 2007

    For several days, this blog was off line; all because of my carelessness. I tried to upgrade my WordPress installation to 2.2.1 through Fantastico, without trying it first with my test blog. The upgrade ruined everything. The pages suddenly were not accessible. I was desperately looking for ways to make this blog work again but I always failed. Fortunately, through exploring my cPanel and using several articles and help topics available on the web, I was able to find the solution to my problem. But of course, I had some lessons learned, I want to share so you can also avoid careless mistakes:

    1. Never use Fantastico in upgrading your WordPress installation. Chances are, there might be bugs or changes in the server you might be unaware of that may cause problems in the upgrade process. A manual upgrade is highly recommended.

    Although Fantastico is the most convenient way to upgrade your installation through its one-click install feature, you are not assured that the installed version is working properly. To avoid this, you can create a test blog to work all your changes before applying them to your blog.

    3. Do not forget to back up your currently working database before upgrading. I am re-emphasizing it because it seems that many users forget this very important step. I take myself as a very good example.

    4. Do not immediately upgrade a working installation of WordPress to a newest released version. Chances are, some plugins might not be compatible with the latest version.

    5. Check all the possible causes of your problem before making any drastic moves such as deleting or removing your database out of frustration. Solutions are always available, you only have to find out how. Be patient. Find answers through help or support topics available on the web that may serve as your guide.

    6. Always ask help. Post a support topics at the WordPress support forums or at your web host support forums (if any). Members always have good suggestions.

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    Read 41 times by 18 visitors

    Theme Support: Jammed and Green

    Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

    I’ve received complaints from several users about my Jammed and Green theme breaking their WordPress installation. They get an “odd”error when they try to login to their Dashboard
    Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by
    (output started at
    /home/simplypr/public_html/contents/wp-content/themes/
    jammed-and-green-10/functions.php:6)
    in /home/simplypr/public_html/contents/wp-includes/pluggable.php on
    line 275

    If you downloaded the latest version of the theme at the WordPress Theme [...]

    New WordPress Theme: Jammed and Green

    Sunday, March 18th, 2007

    Ever since I started making themes for WordPress, I’ve already contributed a total of 8 themes at the WordPress Theme Viewer. It’s quite a fulfillment for me seeing that most of my themes were appreciated by hundreds of WordPress users.
    I aim to continue creating more themes for all WordPress users. It’s also one way [...]

    New WordPress Theme: Grayed

    Monday, March 12th, 2007

    After days of fixing it, because I have to admit that I am not adept with PHP language and coding, more so with CSS, I finally finished the theme! I tried to fix some issues before I made it available for downloads at the WordPress Theme Viewer.
    This Theme is under GPL License.
    How to install:
    1. [...]


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