Posts Tagged ‘WordPress’

How to Add Related Posts to Your Blogger or Blogspot Posts?

Dec 3, 2008 Blogging Tips, Layout/Design

I am running several blogs using Blogger or Blogspot as my platform. From the very beginning, I always thought that the inability to add widgets to the main entry area, has been a disadvantage of Blogger. Well, except maybe if you know a little CSS and HTML. But for basic bloggers who usually rely on downloadable widgets and codes through the internet, this can be a disadvantage.

One of the most used plugins of WordPress blogs is the related or similar posts plugins, which Blogger users can only envy of. But who says similar posts have its only place in WordPress blogs?

Realtrix relates a detailed steps on how to add similar posts to Blogger blogs by adding some codes to your XML template. This hack shows a list of related posts (under similar category) below an exsisting post.

One way of showing similar posts is by adding your blog feed as page element under the main blog entry.  You can do this by modifying your layout.  However, this will only give an effect of showing the related posts of a certain entry because this only lists the recent posts made to your blog.  Nonetheless, it can also be a way of “gluing” your visitors and adding traffic to your website.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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TechBlue Adsense-Ready Theme

Nov 3, 2008 WordPress

A couple of months back, I released some themes that had gained fairly enough downloads from the WordPress community.  Due to busy schedule, I have not had the time to create some theme until recently when I thought of giving it a try again.

So I am releasing another theme I called TechBlue Adsense-Ready Theme.  By its name, it’s an adsense-ready WordPress theme that’s perfect for tech and other related blogs.  You can also use it on any other blogs.  It is widget-ready, has fixed-width, and three-columns.

Screenshot:



Download | Preview

Download from the WordPress Theme Viewer

Popularity: 90% [?]

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Premium Wordpress Themes

Nov 2, 2008 Blogs, RSS and Podcasting

Summary of Wordpress Premium Themes

There seems to be a growing demand for higher quality themes for WordPress. Whether to choose a Premium theme or a Free theme is sometimes a difficult choice. Some free themes are really top notch so depending on what your needs are there may be no need for you to purchase a Premium theme. But, there are more and more high quality (and some unfortunately low quality) premium themes as well.

There are usually three types of Premium themes available - single site, multiple site and developer license, although some sites just have either single site or developer licenses. In most cases you would normally go for the multiple license unless you are certain you will only use the theme for one site. If you are a developer, obviously you would want to choose the developer’s license.

One thing that has changed recently is Revolution going Open Source, so you can now download some of their Premium themes for free. But, you have to pay for support. This is probably a smart move as more people will try their themes out and realise they then need support. Hopefully this move will get rid of some of those people trying to make a quick buck by selling cheap and nasty generic Premium themes.

My current favourite theme is the one I use on this site, which is WP-VYBE. It has a lot of flexibility in the admin menu, great support and a great design.

Below is a description of some of the best Premium Themes that I have found. I’m constantly adding to this list so hopefully will be putting a few more up here soon.

1) WP-VYBE
No. of themes: 12
Pricing: $99 (single), $199 (multiple), $299 (developer). But there are cheaper themes from $49 up.
Type of themes: Magazine
Customization services: Possible through other developers.

Notes:Theme settings page in your Wordpress control pane, 2-column or 3-column layouts, 10 different color options, Gravatar integration, Optional banner ad integration, Optional built-in post thumbnails, Optional logo/header image integration via control panel, Built-in drop-down navigation for sub-categories and sub-pages, widgetized sidebars and alot more….

2) ARTHEMIA
No. of themes: 1 (but customization through admin panel is possible)
Pricing: $70 (1 site), $140 (5-site), $240 (developer’s pack)
Type of themes: online magazine, corporate, personal blog
Customization service: Nothing mentioned

Notes: Flexible theme admin panel, category colour assignment, auto-thumbnail old posts, banner and adsense management, show or hide headline spoilers, adsense friendly.

3) PRESS 75
No. of themes: 3
Pricing: $75 (single), $150 (mulit-site), $250 (developer’s license)
Type of theme: Video/TV themed
Customization service: None listed

Notes: Ability to post using videos from several sources including Blip, TV, Flickr, MetaCafe, MySpace, Veoh, Viddler, Vimeo and YouTube. You can separate the blog from the video and there is an embed code allowing others to embed videos on their site.

4) WOO THEMES
No. of themes: 10
Pricing: $70 (single) , $150 (multiple) for each theme
Type of themes: Business, CMS, Magazine/News, Personal blog, Portfolio
Customization services: none advertised.

Notes: Theme options backend, custom write panels (to make the addition of custom fields easier), same base backend for all themes.

5) ZIDALGO
No. of themes: 2
Pricing: $75 (singl), $249 (developer’s license)
Type of themes: News/Magazine
Customization services: None advertised

Notes: Google adsense, Widget, plugin ready, custom category search, author pages, 100% Valid XHTML/CSS, cross-browser tested.

6) MIMBO PRO
No. of themes: 1
Pricing: $99 (single), $199 (developer’s license)
Type of theme: Magazine
Customization services: none advertis

Popularity: 59% [?]

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Make Money Blogging With Fresh Dynamic Web Content That Keeps Users Happy

Oct 29, 2008 Blogging Tips, Blogs, RSS and Podcasting, WordPress

Webmasters planning to make money blogging and preparing to launch their new blog should always bare in mind that it is extremely important to keep the design as simple as possible as this helps the site visitors to focus on your site. These days, most website visitors are most interested in being able to quickly and easily find the dynamic web content that interests them without getting bogged down with fancy bells and whistles.

Dynamic content has proven to be one of the most important elements in not only attracting targeted traffic to a website, but also in encouraging them back to the site again and again. Webmasters across all over the internet agree that it is much better to provide the things that web visitors crave so that they come back rather than constantly trying to attract new visitors. It is much easier to make money blogging when your blog attracts repeat visitors as most experts agree a site visitor often needs to see your message up to seven times before making a purchase.

Dynamic web content is not only of great importance to site visitors, but it is also a key element in how the search engines value the content and place the page in the search engine ranking pages, or SERPs. The major search engines all place a lot of value on content that is not only fresh and relevant, but also on content that is user generated as well.

Because of these factors, having dynamic content throughout a blog or site can weigh heavily in favor of a site that is diligently trying to make the most of search engine marketing. Good search engine optimization, combined with great web content that is regularly updated, is a powerful combination that can improve your potential to make money blogging dramatically.

Ranking high in the search engines for specific keywords that are directly related to the topic and purpose of a website is an essential internet marketing strategy and one of the cheapest ways to assure a regular stream of visitors, without having to go to the expense of advertising your blog or site. At the same time, once visitors arrive at a site that is filled with dynamic content that provides the kind of information they are after, they are more likely to bookmark the site, subscribe to your rss feed, or subscribe to your email auto responders that promises additional free web information on the topic they are interested in.

One key to generating dynamic content that visitors enjoy and benefit from and that the search engines are attracted to is to provide a way for visitors to interact and add to the content. Allowing visitors to submit comments about your posts will encourage open discussion and debate amongst your visitors. This encourages repeat visits plus the search engines love the fact that your pages are constantly changing and growing with more content.

WordPress is a popular blogging platform and it is a website development tool that can also be used as a dynamic web content type of management system. WordPress is free and easy to use, and it is widely used so there is a great deal of support, training and enhancements for the platform. With a WordPress blog even a person who has never built a website can quickly become a webmaster and start to make money blogging.

Popularity: 91% [?]

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Best WordPress Plugins: WordPress Automatic Upgrade

Sep 11, 2008 Uncategorized

I have decided to start a new series for this blog relating on best plugins available for your WordPress installation. To start with, I will be talking about the WordPress Automatic Plugin.

One of the main steps in maintaining a WordPress blog is trying to keep the publishing software up-to-date, which is often forgotten by some WordPress users. Admittingly, I am one of those few who always choose forget or must I put it, neglects upgrading.

The main reason why I always neglect upgrading my WordPress install is I think that the steps on upgrading itself is too tiring for me. I think the job is tedious, especially because I have to manually upload the the files on my host’s server. Also, the compatibility issues on plugins that always tie up with WordPress’ new installation makes me cautious on upgrading.

Good thing, there’s a plugin available that will do the job seamlessly. WordPress Automatic Upgrade, as the name implies, automatically upgrade your WordPress database to the latest one without the need to manually transfer the files to your server.

WordPress Automatic Plugin does these important steps in updating your database:

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the site in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.

I have used it personally on my other blogs and it worked as expected. However, I still advise to:

1. Create your own backup file.
2. Always consider plugin compatibility issues. To avoid future problems with the upgrades, always consider reading user’s experiences at the Support Forums.

Popularity: 24% [?]

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Ikarus, the King of All Premium WordPress Themes!

Sep 10, 2008 Layout/Design

The KING of all premium WordPress themes!

The KING of all premium WordPress themes!

And it’s available for FREE!

In search of great themes to blog about and probably use it on one of my blogs, I stumbled upon wpthemespress.com which offer great WordPress themes, including the IKARUS Premium Theme. I thought it was a paid theme but apparently what the theme author means by premium is a great, elegant layout.

The theme author spent over three months of developing the theme to assure a well-developed theme for the WordPress community. It has over 2,000+ user selectable variations and options all managed from the admin area.

It has several great features:

  • 4 homepage layouts to choose from, Blog, Magazine, List or Magazine List
  • FlickRSS
  • Theme options page and help page in admin
  • Custom values integration for featured images and video
  • Content Gallery (on or off) Slideshow or static header image with link
  • Featured Sidebar post (on or off)
  • Popular content rating
  • Recent posts, comments and feedback
  • TagCloud
  • Clean Page Nagivation (wpNavi)
  • Color coated “read more” buttons
  • Author thumbnails for comments
  • MyAvatars
  • Valid CSS and XHTML coding
  • Live theme preview in admin area
  • Related posts on post pages
  • Next and previous posts
  • Comment Rss
  • Cross browser support: IE, FF, Safari and Netscape
  • 6 125×125, 1 header 468×60, 1 footer 468×60 banners all managed from theme admin area
  • Feedburner integration
  • Feedcount
  • Logo as image or text (controlled from admin)
  • 10 color variations to choose from for header bar, widgets, post titles, links and footer
  • Set global image alignment
  • Set your own global header and font styles
  • Set global font size
  • Switch layout between left and right
  • 3 Columns
  • Widgets 2 columns
  • Tons of custom pages built in, search results, links, archives, pages, categories, comments, author pages and more.
  • CSS multi-level drop down page menus across header
  • MooTabs slider box
  • Featured YouTube Video post
  • Social bookmark tools on pages and post pages
  • Comments on pages
  • Admin area links in frontend when logged in for easy management
  • Tons of custom typography styles like: highlight, different heading styles, code, span, download, numbers, pre, ordered and unordered checklists, speech bubbles, blockquotes and more.

This theme is perfect for magazine websites, community portals, and even ordinary blogs.

Popularity: 22% [?]

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Choosing the Right Tools for Blogging: Client-Based vs. Server-Based Tools

Aug 17, 2008 Blogging Software, Blogging Tips, Blogging for Beginners

In blogging, using the correct blog software tools can help you manage the goings-on of your blog. When it comes to publishing your blog content, there are two kinds of blog software tools that you can use, such as: the server-based tools and the client-based tools. Both of them have their own advantages and disadvantages and it is up to you to choose the one that is right for your blog.

The Client-based Tools

One of the two blog software tools that you can choose from is the client-based tools. These tools’ purpose is to aid you with publishing your blog and they are normally installed on your computer and also run from there. Additionally, client-based tools are also categorized as small blogs that are able to run from your hard drive.

Client-based tools also have text editors that allow you to perform word processing applications from your own computer. Thus, a text blog editor enables you to create and publish your own content at the comfort of your own desktop.

Obviously, the first advantage of using client-based tools, like the text editor, is convenience. Most bloggers choose to publish their work with a desktop tool rather than a Web browser, which entails logging into the blog software’s control panel and accessing the Web-based text editor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 42% [?]

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Blogging Guide for the Best Results

Mar 25, 2008 Blogging Tips, Blogging for Beginners

If you’re looking for an outlet, a blogging career may be the answer to your problems. You can do many things when you’re writing blogs. However, not many people have become successful bloggers. The internet has only room for effective bloggers and not for sporadic and unknowledgeable bloggers. Here are some blogging guides that you can make use to get the best results.

First, you must be a serious and professional blogger. If you want to become a well-known blogger, you must be able to blog frequently. You must post new blogs with fresh contents weekly; if you can post several times a week, even better. Try this and you can attract a ton of traffic to your site. You can gain more exposure by blogging frequently. If you can’t blog often, you have to inform your readers. This way, your readers will not forget you.

If you’re a new blogger, you can request fellow bloggers with high PRs (page ranks) to exchange links. When Google and other search engines rank pages, you can benefit a lot. You can also get high rankings if you have many links with high PR pages. Exchange links are also very useful for bloggers. You can do this with your friends, relatives, colleagues, and other bloggers.

If you want, you can use Google to search for those who want to exchange their links with yours. However, you should only exchange links with those that are related to your blogs. If not, don’t exchange links. Unrelated exchange links will not be of any good to you.

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Popularity: 29% [?]

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3 Useful Free Blogging Features

Mar 24, 2008 Blogging Software

The number of internet users is increasing everyday. This is because there are interesting and knowledgeable discoveries found online. What most people like on the internet is that they are able to send messages in an instant. In addition, they are getting more and more fascinated with other sites.

Sometimes, people use the internet as their online diary or journal. Others would use it to promote a product.  Either way, there is one site that is famous for these things, we call it as Blogging or the Internet Blogging. There are many website providers who are now offering free usage of blogging software packages because of the rapid increase of blogging users.

Examples of the free blogging software are B2evolution, Nucleus and the WordPress. These programs have the same features. This is why most internet users ask which of the software is simple to use and would suit the needs of a specific website.

However, the answer to which one is the simplest depends on the real purpose of the free blogging website. If your main objective is to share your point of view and opinions to the public, you can use different blogging software. However, if it is for promotional purposes, use software designed such purpose because a blog for promotion has completely different requirements.

Below is the list of the free blogging software and their features:

WordPress Free Blogging Software

WordPress LogoWordPress is usually used for personal blogging. It has an open source, modern personal publishing design which is focus on the appearance of the blog. By only using the WordPress, there is no need to gather or your journals and compile it as one. Just write your article. And choose which features you want and the blog will be published immediately to your site.

This software is easy to customize and it offers different functionality. As you get used to it very well, you will learn to add fresh features which will make your site interesting and trendy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 42% [?]

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