This post is a transcript of the discussion and talk taken directly from the Twitter Stream of the #Blog101 Chat. If you want to participate in this chat, it is held most Fridays from 11 am until 11:30 am EST. This particular chat was regarding  latest WP security upgrades and a few plugins.

Chat transcripts are hand transcribed and may contain errors.

Transcription Begins

• @AllisonDDuncan:
  • #blog101 Chat will start at 11 am. Our first chat after the holidays. Topic: The latest WP security upgrades and a few plugins.
• @ecoNick1: Is that 11 am EST? #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
  • And it’s 11 am. Sorry slight delay on my end #blog101
  • Today, if you are following the chat the topic is the latest WordPress update. #blog101
  • @ecoNick1 It is EST. #blog101
  • The last Update is WordPress 3.3.1. This is a maintenance and security update. #blog101
  • Basically this is a security fix that closes a cross-site scripting issue. It affects WP instances using an IP addy ONLY. #blog101
  • As such, you should make sure you always update your site anyway to the latest stable release. #blog101
  • Another fix in this latest release is related to tabindex. Basically it would cause users to lose an edit or reply. #blog101
  • Also, Script Loader would crash and burn after the 3.3 update. So the 3.3.1 update fixed that bug. #blog101
  • This of course could affect both your themes AND your plugins so this is a fix you really need. #blog101
  • If you run a Multi Site, this new update will also fix your upload limit which would be stuck at 50 mb. #blog101
  • And of course, you’ll laugh, the 3.3 update allowed users to change a logged-in admin to a Subscriber. o.0 #blog101
  • Those are the most basic and important changes. The rest is a bunch of small fixes. #blog101
  • Any questions thus far? #blog101
  • For my next topic, I want to get into some plugins I have discovered. #blog101
  • Now these plugins are useful for eCommerce type sites and photographer or graphics sites #blog101
  • First of all, there is WP System Health. Now this is an excellent plugin if you are hitting a memory wall. #blog101 http://t.co/IhfPLjYQ
  • It can also give you an idea of why your system is taking forever or even crashing. It’s a lite plugin so not much strain. #blog101
  • This is a general good to have plugin especially if you are advanced user. #blog101
  • If you are offering files, images, or some sort of other download, I highly recommend Download Manager. #blog101 http://t.co/DJpm7Ccy
  • You can see an example of this in action on one of my new sites: http://t.co/inwGoHhK #blog101
  • Pardon the fact that the site is political. But the plugin in action is really nifty. #blog101
  • In fact, you can offer practically anything and change the download icon depending on if it’s DOC, jpeg, a vid, or zip. #blog101
  • On that site, the offerings are images, but to be able to allow a video download or do download, is handy. #blog101
  • I would say this plugin is best for an intermediate #Wordpress user, but it is easy to pick up for a beginner. #blog101
  • The hardest part as an advanced user is finding the short codes. #blog101
  • However to insert, you simply put [dm]number assigned to download by download manager[/dm]. Presto chango. #blog101
  • I am also recommending the Relevant Adsense Ads plugin. http://t.co/fDIyCE0j #blog101
  • This plugin is useful for forcing Google Adsense ads to reflect the topic your site or post is discussing. #blog101
  • I think I may have mentioned this in the chat about Adsense, but it’s good to mention again. #blog101
  • And a last plugin is the WordPress SEO plugin. #blog101
  • Now this plugin is good because it adds the sitemap xml functionality on top of seo and some other things. #blog101
  • Basically it eliminated the need for my normal XML sitemap plugin, lightening the load on my site. Always a plus. #blog101
  • WordPress SEO can be found here http://t.co/HEV4Z8Lj and is a Yoast offering. So a good source right there. #blog101
  • For my newbie #wordpress users, Yoast is one of the WP Plugins ‘gods’. Most of his offerings are excellent. #blog101
  • I’m down to the last 5 minutes, so here’s a great time to shout out your name/link/site. #blog101
  • This transcript will be posted on Monday at the GetFoundConsulting.com site, which offers this chat. #blog101
  • If you want to see what you have missed in past chats, check out the site for posted transcripts. #blog101
  • Also, if you want to request help or ask for a specific topic be sure and let us know using the #blog101 hashtag.
  • Remember, this is your chance for some free WordPress/site IT support. #blog101
  • We’ll be back here next Friday at 11 am EST, so be sure to tell your friends and head back over for 30 mins. of Tech. #blog101
  • Hope you have a great weekend, gang! #blog101

Wrap Up

WordPress’s 3.3.1 update is a tech/security update. As always, make sure you backup not only your database but your core files before updating, in the event you need to roll things back.

Remember to check out the plugins we covered as well: WP System Health, Download Manager, Relevant Adsense Ads, and WordPress SEO.

This post is a transcript of the discussion and talk taken directly from the Twitter Stream of the #Blog101 Chat. If you want to participate in this chat, it is held most Fridays from 11 am until 11:30 am EST. This particular chat was regarding the use and installation of the WordPress 3.3 update “Sonny”.

Chat transcripts are hand transcribed and may contain errors.

Transcription Begins

• @AllisonDDuncan:
• 5 MInute warning for the #blog101 chat. Let your followers know if you’ll be participating!
• It’s 11 am so time for the #blog101 chat. Today’s topic is the recent WordPress update “sonny”.
• If you’ll be participating, please remember to use the hashtag #blog101 so everyone can see your tweets!
• As we are coming close to Christmas, I’d like to take the opportunity to mention a joint fund raiser that GetFound Consulting and I #blog101
• Are running for a local school’s computer lab. If you’d like to find out more, check out the blog post! http://t.co/6fIac4nm #blog101
• If you are participating, please give a shout out and feel free to drop your site or blog links! #blog101
• Today’s chat is going to be a bit open mic in that we won’t be doing a chat next Friday. #blog101
• So if you have site questions, feel free to jump in at any point and we’ll change gears as possible. #blog101
• “Sonny” we discussed in some depth about 4 weeks back, i believe. But the actual roll out happened this week. #blog101
• For a lot of folks, the most obvious difference is the User Interface [UI] on the backend of the site. #blog101
• However, you should have seen a remarkable decrease in load time on the backend as well. #blog101
• This is due in MAJOR part to the inculcation of the Java stack into WordPress. #blog101
• Most plugins call JavaScript’s library every time a new plugin starts a process. But with “Sonny” that no longer happens. #blog101
• Or at least it won’t when all the plugin authors update their plugins. So what will happen is you’ll have a LOT less calls. #blog101
• If you have a JS heavy theme with built in plugins, you should already have noticed a remarkable speed/load time ratio. #blog101
• If you are looking at your media library, you’ll see that you now have drag/drop ability to add media. #blog101
• I would suggest that this in and of itself is an awesome new aspect that a LOT of WordPress sites have been wishing for. #blog101
• Of course there has been a lot of behind the walls rewriting of WP core files, but average users won’t notice a huge difference. #blog101
• But it is those behind the walls reworking that makes the UI so much better, and more advanced users may want to peek at MORE #blog101
• The newest release notes which document all those heavy changes. #blog101
• And you can find all that info here: http://t.co/etj20uwN on the WordPress blog. #blog101
• For the average user, you’ll note that you no longer have to reattach your widgets when changing themes. #blog101
• This is because the WP core now carries forward your widget settings to the new theme. Great feature if you are a theme horse. #blog101
• Which, I’ll admit it, I was when I started out. I think I changed my theme every other month. #blog101
• You may have noticed that your SEO plugin All IN One SEO updated as well to version 1.6.13. #blog101
• This version update pretty much just made sure the plugin was optimal for “Sonny” as well as previous versions of WP. #blog101
• And because Sonny changed so much, you’ll probably see a lot more plugins do updates like this. Functionality should stay the same. #blog101
• Ok, we are about half way through our time. I’m going to open mic it at this point and take questions. #blog101
• In other blog related news. the SOPA bill seems to be headed forward. This is of course, the internet censorship bill. #blog101
• Normally I avoid politics in the chat, but this is a major game changer as it would majorly change the blogger sphere. #blog101
• Here’s a nifty blog post with some good links for further reading: http://t.co/S0vcuIF3 #sopa #blog101
• If you aren’t sure of what this bill means to you, it means that the government can randomly shut down and cut off web sites. #blog101
• Without the benefit of due process. Basically this can apply to your URL, site, and even 1st amendment abilities. #blog101
• While there are a lot of folks who support this from the anti-pirating crowd, this is of major concern to Internet operators. #blog101
• Most of the major Search engines [Google, Yahoo, Ask] have already made their opposition clearly known. #blog101
• he reason I bring it up is because if you haven’t taken the time to contact your representative &you’re a blogger, now’s the time. #blog101
• In other internet news, Google has assured us that they will not put out any more Panda Updates until next year. #blog101
• For those who are still struggling to regain their traffic from earlier this year, the news should come as welcome relief. #blog101
• You can find out more about that at Search Engine Land news: http://t.co/Bd1NwGxU #blog101
• And for you #internetmarketers, Mashable put out a good Holiday marketing post today: http://t.co/39jkRiot #blog101
• Most of it may be old hat, but it’s a good [and brief] refresher course for those dealing with holiday sales on the net. #blog101
• They also offer a bunch of good links and e marketing software suggestions that you may find useful. #blog101
• And as we approach the new year, Spiral 16 gives us tips for improving Social Media Techniques: http://t.co/39jkRiot #blog101
• Take a look at that and see if you can hone your outreach. #blog101
• We are down to three minutes, so I’m going to remind you all to check out the holiday fundraiser http://t.co/6fIac4nm #blog101
• Please check that out and then make sure you head over and ‘like’ us on the FB page! http://t.co/hfwBiBYm #blog101
• I want to remind you that we won’t have a chat next week as it’s Christmas holidays, so have an awesome time gang! #blog101
• And if you did miss the chat, don’t fret as the transcript will be up Monday or Tuesday of next week. #blog101
• It’s 11:30 so that’s it for us! Thanks for stopping by and remember to tell all your friends. #blog101
• The next chat date will be announced in the Twitter stream and on the transcript. Have an awesome time gang! #blog101
• @dsawyer:
• RT @AllisonDDuncan: Here’s a nifty blog post with some good links for further reading: http://t.co/S0vcuIF3 #sopa #blog101

Wrap Up

WordPress’s “Sonny” is a necessary update for any site. But as always, make sure you backup not only your database but your core files before updating, in the event you need to roll things back.

Expect to have to update most of your plugins as this update changes the way JavaScript libraries are called, so most JS based plugins will be needing to get new versions.

Next Chat

Due to the holiday season, Blog101 Chat will not be happening again until January 6th. If you need immediate assistance before that date, please contact GetFound Consulting on Twitter [@GetFound2Day] or use our Contact form.

Chat transcripts are hand transcribed and may contain errors.

Transcription Begins

• @AllisonDDuncan:
  • This is your two minute warning for the #blog101 chat. Let your followers know if you’ll be participating!
• @SynapticJam:
  • RT @SVAllie: This is your two minute warning for the #blog101 chat. Let your followers know if you’ll be participating!
• @AllisonDDuncan:
  • If you do intend to join us, please introduce yourself and drop your link for your site or blog! #blog101
  • Also, please remember to use the hashtag ‘#blog101′ so all the attendees can see your tweets!
  • It’s 11 am on Friday so it must be time for the #blog101 chat, brought to you by GetFound Consulting [@GetFound2Day]
  • Today’s topic is the content Delivery Network “CloudFlare” #blog101
  • How many know what a CDN or Content Delivery Network is? #blog101
  • If you don’t know what a CDN is, basically it is a service that delivers a cached version of your site. #blog101
  • This increases site stability, speed, and to a certain extent security. #blog101
  • All these things help you as you gain readership and visibility on the internet. Plus site speed is always a good thing. #blog101
  • I utilize two separate parts for blog caching. The first is my W3TC cache plugin. The 2nd is Cloudflare. #blog101
  • The plugin stores a local version of the cache. Cloudflare serves an off site version of the cache. #blog101
  • Depending on what your server load is like, you may find the better option is just going straight to cloudflare. #blog101
  • Now it’s fairly easy to set up, free to boot, and doesn’t interfere with updating your site. #blog101
  • If you want to do this along with the chat, you’ll need access to your Cpanel, an email, and a browser. #blog101
  • If you have that and are ready, head on over to the CloudFlare site: http://t.co/tDQTYS0v #blog101
  • Once you are here, you’ll need to take a minute and register for your free account. #blog101
  • Once you are into the Cloudflare system, you’ll see a box where you can type your site url. Do that and click ‘Add this website” #blog101
  • The CloudFlare system will start a scan of your site. What it’s looking for is your current DNS settings. #blog101
  • Basically, this means that it’s figuring out the phone book of your site. Where are computers sent when they go to your url. #blog101
  • What CloudFlare does is insert itself as a separate phone number, so to speak. PCs now call it instead of your server. #blog101
  • And that happens when we go to your DNS host and point your name servers at Cloudflare. Which we’ll get to. #blog101
  • Now once the CF system finishes it’s scan [and accompanying video], you’ll hear a bell. #blog101
  • Click ‘go to step 2′ at the bottom of the CF screen. #blog101
  • Step 2 of 4: Check Your Missing DNS Records. This will be your new page header. #blog101
  • You need to access your site’s DNS records in CPanel. Make sure the CF scan hasn’t missed anything you’ve got set up. #blog101
  • If it has, you’ll need to manually add it to the CF copy of your DNS record. #blog101
  • Questions so far? #blog101
  • I’ve rarely found a problem, so let’s assume you are good to go and move on. #blog101
  • Scroll down to the bottom of your CF panel screen and click ‘I’m done…continue” #blog101
  • Step 3 of 4: Configure CloudFlare. Now this page is going to show you what CloudFlare is ADDING to your DNS record. #blog101
  • The only real issue on this page is if you are running SSL, which is more ecommerce sites than a normal web site or blog. #blog101
  • If you ARE running SSL, CF has step by step instructions to help you, but for time’s sake we are going to assume noone here does. #blog101
  • If everything looks good here, scroll down and click ‘my settings look good, continue’ #blog101
  • Step 4 of 4: Update Your Name Servers. This is where you get the major change. You’ll need to go to your name server. #blog101
  • In most cases this is a service like Go Daddy, NameCheap, or something similar. #blog101
  • Depending on your DNS, you should be able to find your name servers under ‘manage my domains’ #blog101
  • Find or look for your ‘Nameserver settings’ or possibly ‘Point my domain’ #blog101
  • If you can’t find it, give a shout out and I’ll try to assist you. #blog101
  • Once you DO have that page open, you need to change the first two DNS URLs to what CloudFlare gives you on Step 4. #blog101
• @Staticulator:
  • “@AllisonDDuncan: Depending on your DNS, you should be able to find your name servers under ‘manage my domains’ #blog101″
• @AllisonDDuncan:
  • This is going to tell the main internet directory service that from now on, if someone wants YOUR urls, they call the CF server. #blog101
  • Basically the internet is one huge phone network. It doesn’t seem that way because PCs call so fast. #blog101
  • But what we are doing will NOT affect your site visitors [except possibly bringing more] or make you lose page rank. #blog101
  • People won’t notice a change except that you should have a faster page loading time. #blog101
  • There are only positives to this. And should you experience a problem, you will be able to undo everything simply by … #blog101
  • Undoing step 4 and pushing your DNS servers back to your hosting service’s DNS. #blog101
  • Once you’ve done the Step 4 process, click on CF “I’ve UPdated my Name servers, continue” #blog101
  • I’m going to give you a few more seconds to finish this bit up. #blog101
  • Now you should get a final message from Cloud Flare letting you know this process may take a few hours. #blog101
  • Don’t panic. Your site isn’t unaccessable or even down. Rather, it’s going to slowly update [propogate] the phone books. #blog101
  • Basically, some computers may get redirected to Cloudflare sooner than others. But everyone is going to still access your site. #blog101
  • And if for some reason you get panicky and start wondering why you did this, you can always UNDO it. #blog101
  • So don’t panic #blog101
  • And it’s that simple. Now I don’t know if CF has a limit on free accounts as to how many sites you can do this to. #blog101
  • So you more adventurous sorts may start doing this for all your sites. #blog101
  • If you are using google apps for your site, this shouldn’t cause any problems. #blog101
  • All that got covered when CF pulled info from your DNS settings. #blog101
  • We are almost out of time. Questions? #blog101
  • One final thought, you can still access your admin side and ftp the way you always have. #blog101
  • CF sometimes says how it’s got separate links blahblah, but I’ve never had to use them, and access has remained the same for me. #blog101
  • The transcript to this chat will post Monday, so if you missed it, no worries. #blog101
  • Thanks to everyone who participated, and please make sure you give GetFound Consulting a like on FB! http://t.co/RASCLnrD #blog101
  • It’s 11:30 so have an awesome weekend, and we’ll see you back here next Friday at 11 am EST. Tell your friends! #blog101
• @BrandG:
  • @AllisonDDuncan just showed everyone an easy, free way to speed up any website using the CloudFlare CDN. Did you miss #blog101 ?

WrapUp

A CDN is a service that delivers a cached version of your site allowing you to drop load times and serve up data even if your site goes down. The CDN I recommend and use is Cloudflare. Take a few minutes and add your site and watch how your speed improves!

Image courtesy of Cloudflare

This post is a transcript of the discussion and talk taken directly from the Twitter

Chat transcripts are hand transcribed and may contain errors.

• @AllisonDDuncan:
• #blog101 Chat is BACK this week. We’re taking open mic requests for topics and discussion. Starts at 11 am EST.
• @KristaHolle:
• .@AllisonDDuncan @SVAllie New to blogging. I’d love to discuss ways to physically enhance you site. Maybe help with HTML. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle That’s an excellent topic, though you’d need to clarify if you are speaking of widgets or scripts. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• I love open mics! #blog101
• @SVallie:
• #blog101 starts in 2 minutes.
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• #blog101 starts in 2 minutes.
• Today’s topic is more or less #openmic though we do have one #blogger based blogger looking for an assist. #blog101
• It’s 11 am on a friday. That must mean it’s time once again for the #blog101 chat. Woohooo *confetti*
• If you are participating, please shout out and say hi. Feel free to drop your site link as well! #blog101
• Blogger user @kristaholle got in a request early as she is having some trouble with her site: http://t.co/xq3Z5Yk4 #blog101
• So I’m going to assume you are near a browser and can see what I’m talking about as I go over her site. #blog101
• First off, this is a Blogger site. That means that there might be a lot more limits on what can be changed. #blog101
• @kristaholle Can you tell us some of the issues you are having with the site? #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan Hi Allison. I’m here. I had to step away for a minute. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @nugzthepirate haha I try to get up at 11 on Fridays for #blog101 twitter chat
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Quick reminder, please use the hashtag #blog101 when you participate so we can see your tweets!
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan I look at other blogs and they’re clean and crisp. Mine has become jumbled over time. Not sure how to fix. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle Ok. How much control do you have from the back end? Do you have html/css/php control? #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan I can work a little with html. I understand what you mean by css & php, but need to study more about them. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @Kristaholle’s site has a widget at the top that pushes one image to top left, leaving a huge gap across everything else. #blog101
• @KristaHolle Ok. Well first of all, your image widget at the top is probably where you should be most concerned. #blog101
• AS it is right now, that widget is the entire width of your column, but the image it displays is only about 200 px wide. #blog101
• @Svallie:
• @KristaHolle The widget itself takes up about 900px. Can you change the size of that widget from the admin panel? #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Now the reason I’m hoping she can do this from admin side is because otherwise you have to hack a widget. Never fun. #blog101
• And since this is a Blogger blog and NOT #wordpress, there is even more limitation on what can be accomplished. #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan Blogspot allows me total control over the html. I’ll take a look and see what I can do. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle Well we don’t want to use html at this point. Some of these widgets let you change stuff in ‘settings’ #blog101
• @KristaHolle However, for time’s sake, let’s put it this way, not all widgets react well to html changes. #blog101
• What I would recommend if there is no easy fix, is to temporarily remove the widget and post your image in the sidebar. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• It loooks like the image at the top is the header #blog101
• So she basically needs a new header that is thinner and takes up less room imo #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @thecatholiccoup You would think so, but you’d be wrong. The header tag is already closed by the time you hit that image. #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup The header itself is pretty much all in the tan box with her site name. The book cover isn’t in it. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan oh okay I was on blogger and thats always how mine looked. #blog101
• @Svallie:
• @thecatholiccoup makes a good point though. I think the problem might be that your widget is in the ‘tabs’ section. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan oh okay yeah your right sorry #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Basically this means that the widget is in a navigation size area. Tabs are usually a menu. #blog101
• @KristaHolle You may want to look at moving that widget out of the tabs section and seeing if it makes a difference. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan yeah sometimes the default is at the top when you add a widget #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• However, without more than one image, you’ll still have a huge gap, so the sidebar might be a better decision anyway. #blog101
• Another handy way of achieving the same effect is to create a short blog post 100-200 words with an image and sticky it to the top. #blog101
• Or, you could try putting in a carousel. This would allow you to have a rotating banner at the top of your blog with 1+ images. #blog101
• But let’s take a look at some other things. I’d recommend moving your ‘about me’ widget to the top of your sidebar. #blog101
• That will give you a more polished look right away. #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan @thecatholiccoup a lot of good ideas. Thanks. My husband is working on it now. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• I would also suggest that you pear down your blog so that only 1 or 2 posts show on your front page. #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan Done! It does look better. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Scrolling is the enemy of reader time on a site. The more they scroll, the less they stick around. #blog101
• @KristaHolle Great! I would also recommend you create an ‘about me’ page and add it to the site. #blog101
• Such pages give status to a blog and more weight with search engines as it adds to trust. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan really? I didn’t realize that I think I have 5 posts on the homepage #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Basically, if it’s a one page site, it could be a fly by night site. But an ‘about me’ page says ‘real person/real site’. #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup I do recommend you leave a full post instead of lots of little excerpts to 4 or 5 posts. #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup Unless you are running a major site, there’s no reason for a magazine effect in most cases. #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan I’ve heard people talk poorly about Blogger. It’s easy to use though. Would you recommend another blogging site? #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @kristaholle I’d also recommend you put some SEO on your site. You need to have a description of what your site is about #blog101
• @kristaholle Self hosted #wordpress is always my number one recommendation. #blog101
• @KristaHolle But if you aren’t ready for that, you can use the wordpress.com site #blog101
• @KristaHolle The nice thing about that is that when you are ready to self host, it’s EASY to tranfer your WP.com site over #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan SEO?? #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle Search Engine Optimisation.SEO. In simple terms, information that helps readers find you #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @KristaHolle I think because blogger is owned by google and google has randomly shut down blogs #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan I don’t mind swapping hosting, but will I lose people when I swap? #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @KristaHolle which is why we need to make sure to back up our blogs regularly #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle If you look at my site, you’ll notice that my header clearly states who I am, what I do #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @thecatholiccoup Great idea. I haven’t done that yet. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle You might, but if you have your rss feed through Feedburner you are less likely to do so. #blog101
• @KristaHolle Having it through feedburner will mean folks will get your posts regardless of who’s hosting you #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan Your site is awesome. Is yours through WP? #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Feedburner is a funnel. Just because you switch brands of sugar doesn’t mean the sugar doesn’t go through the funnel. #blog101
• @KristaHolle All my sites are self hosted [bluehost is my remote host] and my Content Management system [cms] is WordPress #blog101
• Blogger is a GREAT starter site. You can dig your teeth in, get your blog going, and start learning. #blog101
• If you are looking for a pro effect though, I seriously recommend you get self hosted. Much more control. #blog101
• I’m down to 3 minutes. How does that happen? #blog101
• Questions? Comments? #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan @thecatholiccoup It sounds like I need to get my husband to read up on blogging so we can make these improvements. #blog101
• @giles_corey:
• RT @AllisonDDuncan Such pages give status to a blog and more weight with search engines as it adds to trust. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• @KristaHolle It is incredibly easy to start up wordpress, and WordPress’ newest release is going to really be awesome. #blog101
• @KristaHolle Don’t just put it on him hang around with me long enough and you’ll find your courage to do it yourself. #blog101
• I hope you found some useful tips today. Next Friday we’ll go over using Cloudflare as a Content delivery Network. #blog101
• It’s 11:30. So i’ll wish you all an awesome weekend, and a great beginning to the christmas season. #blog101
• Tell your friends, and of course, come back next Friday at 11 am! Cya. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan thanks for the great chat! I have no idea what Cloudflare is so I guess that means I should look for next weekschat #blog101
• @KristaHolle also you have a pic of your cat but it’s kind of just randomly there you might want to put it on your “about me” pg #blog101
• @KristaHolle and you can go more in depth of your family #blog101
• @KristaHolle:
• @AllisonDDuncan I am the author, but we work together on this. I won’t just dump it on him. #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup Good idea. I’ll probably leave well enough alone until I decide if swaooing to WP is the way to go. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan @thecatholiccoup Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @KristaHolle your welcome #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• The #blog101 Transcript will be available Monday on the GetFound Consulting site for any who missed it.

Wrap Up

Blogger is an awesome CMS for beginning bloggers, however to really have control GetFound Consulting and Allison D. Duncan recommend using the WordPress CMS. If you find that you are not getting the results you would like to see on Blogger, but aren’t sure you are ready to switch to self-hosted WordPress we recommend you migrate your blog to WordPress.com.

While you may not achieve all the open resources of a self-hosted WordPress blog, you will find that a lot more control is open to you. So definitely check it out and see if WordPress is the Content Management System you’ve been looking for!

Due to an audience request, the CloudFlare discussion was delayed until next Friday’s chat.

This post is a transcript of the discussion and talk taken directly from the

Chat transcripts are hand transcribed and may contain errors.

• @AllisonDDuncan:
• If you have a chat request, now’s an awesome time to throw it out! #blog101
• Because we are coming up on the holiday season, Todays #blog101 chat will be about site holiday upkeep.
• @JAHite:
• RT @AllisonDDuncan: Because we are coming up on the holiday season, Todays #blog101 chat will be about site holiday upkeep.
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• I’ll be running this chat off my laptop as my ‘s’ key seems to have died on my desktop. #blog101 #oneofthosedays
• @SVallie:
• Anyway, it’s 11 am, so it’s time for the #blog101 chat. Go ahead and wave hello if you’ll be participating and/or lurking.
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Anyone planning on going away for the holiday? if you are, you may be concerned over site safety and traffic.#blog101
• @PaulKellis:
• *waves* I’ll be in and out #DayJob keeps getting in the way #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• One of the best ways to prepare for the holidays is to start writing your blog posts ahead of time and scheduling them. #blog101
• Of course that strategy comes as no surprise to folks who have been around a while.So what do you do when WP refuses to cooperate? #blog101
• The problem with scheduled posts is that if you go into them and change things once they are scheduled [but not yet posted]… #blog101
• Sometimes WordPress is just stupid enough to not post them at all. And then when you manually try to post them. Nothing. Nada. #blog101
• So what’s a blogger to do? http://t.co/Vf6d4YO3 I offer you the Force Scheduled Posts Plugin #blog101
• This plugin is one of a few that will do this same feature. So if it doesn’t work on your site, find a similar one. #blog101
• Basically what happens is that the scheduler gets confused. This plugin sort of fixes that problem . #blog101
• Ideally, I’d love if this got sorted in #Wordpress as this has been a lONG standing problem/issue. #blog101
• Another thing to consider around the holidays is getting a notice up that you’ll be off the site for a while. #blog101
• This is especially helpful if you are a normal every day=a new post type of blogger. #blog101
• But what if you want to do that AND have scheduled posts but might not reply to comments? #blog101
• Well a helpful thing is to sticky a certain blog post to the top of your feed. #blog101
• If you want to do this to a post that you’ve already published, you can do it through your Posts admin panel. #blog101
• When you put your cursor on a post in the listing, a ‘Quick Edit’ feature will appear in the little menu. #blog101
• You can then chose to ‘sticky’ this post by ticking a box on the far right of the post you are hovering over. #blog101
• This of course will keep that post and ONLY that post at the top of your blog while still allowing new posts to popup underneath. #blog101
• This can be used for a lot of things, but is especially helpful if you are just putting a 2 line post up about the holidays. #blog101
• If you are into the holiday spirit but don’t want to put up tons of photos, you can pull in a flickr feed as well. #blog101
• Some folks put up one photo in each post. This makes for an annoying scroll for readers. #blog101
• You’d be better off having a page that features a photo album or flip book. #blog101
• There are several handy plugins that can help you put this together or you can use a Flickr Widget to pull an album there. #blog101
• But what if you are a pro blogger and want holiday cheer and are limited in what you can do? #blog101
• Well there are several options. YOu can change your favicon to something cheery. #blog101
• That is of course something that may go against your branding, but it’s up to you. #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• Here for the last bit of #blog101 just got back from the dentist #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• That means the picture in the tab of your reader’s browser will change to something. It’s a tiny image [16x16 px in most cases] #blog101
• You may also want to put a static image in your sidebar with a holiday message. #blog101
• This can be accomplished by using a text/html widget and then putting your image in that widget. #blog101
• As far as site security goes, you should already be covered if you are using the Wp security scanner plugin. #blog101
• I am also beginning to recommend the CloudFlare free service. #blog101
• This is a content delivery network or CDN that speeds up your site AND provides a huge barrier of security. #blog101
• I’ll be discussing that in depth at another chat as it is a bit time intensive, though easy to set up. And FREE. #blog101
• Any questions so far? #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan I know at halloween a blogger made social media icons for halloween letting anyone use them #blog101
• What plugin do you recommend for scheduling posts? I have editorial calendar but curious if thats the best out there. #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Suddenly experiencing severe Twitter lag. #blog101
• I’m not getting much love from Twitter, so I’m going to press ahead. #blog101 #tweetsoritdidnthappen
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• I need to look into these security plugins I have jetpack and askimet #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan when twitter cooperates you can answer my questions #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan:
• Well it is now after 11:30. I hope you all have an awesome weekend, and I apologize for the weirdness here at the end. #blog101
• If you have ideas or questions, be sure to get them into the next #blog101 chat and tell your friends about us.
• @thecatholiccoup The scheduling feature on WordPress is usually enough. #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup I would say for a smaller blog Akismet is a great plugin and more than sufficient for spambots #blog101
• @thecatholiccoup Jetpack is great for a lot of things, but I don’t trust my security to them. I use wp security scanner. #blog101
• As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I also recommend a firewall plugin. It is a great extra barrier. #blog101
• Ok. I THINK i caught up with everyone’s questions. thanks for participating gang! #blog101
• @TheCatholicCoup:
• @AllisonDDuncan okay thanks! I’m still small but good to know for when I get more readership #blog101
• @AllisonDDuncan scheduling posts helps if you schedule them for the right date #blog101

Wrap Up

The holidays can be a stressful time of year for any blogger, but if you prepare your site you can walk away knowing that it will run without your attendance. One of the best ways we discussed was to make sure you schedule posts if you’ll be out of town and to make sure your spam filter and security settings are in pique condition.

Be sure to check out our next chat where we’ll be discussing the Content Delivery Network CloudFlare. Please be aware there will be NO CHAT this upcoming Friday as it is the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This post is a transcript of the discussion and talk taken directly from the

@synapticjam:

@SVAllie

What is the best way to access the #Blog101 chat?

-#blog101 I really like Jetpack, but is that the best plug-in for what it does?

-#blog101 What’s your recommendation for the backup plug in? I’ve played with bei fen, but don’t really like it that much

@SVAllie: @SynapticJam The best way is by using the hashtag and following the stream in Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. #Blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-It’s 11 am. Welcome to the #blog101 blogchat. Your blogging and WordPress one stop chat for IT support and ideas.

@SynapticJam I see you’ve been busy. Well let’s take this one question at a time. #blog101

-First off, if you are following along, please use the hashtag #blog101 when you respond so everyone can see it.

-Second, jump in and introduce yourself and your blog/site link! #blog101

@SynapticJam Jetpack is an awesome plugin because the weight of what it does is on wordpress.com instead of your site. #blog101

@SynapticJam It is handy because it can do analytics for you as well as providing some editing tools which are great as well. #blog101

@SynapticJam To be honest, for the weight of the plugin and use I haven’t seen a better plugin. Stick with Jetpack for now IMO. #blog101

@SynapticJam: #blog101 I seem to see a lot of discrepancy between jetpack and google analytics, why?

@AllisonDDuncan:

@SynapticJam I’ve used several backup plugins. Right now I don’t have any. WHy? Because it’s safer to do a backup manually. #blog101

-Backup plugins make a zip file that has your MySQL database copies and or your site file copies. Or that’s the theory. #blog101

-However, some backup plugins are stymied by your hosting service because of how the server is setup. #blog101

@synapticjam:: #blog101 I have friends who use backup plugins and swear by them, but I’ve had problems. I do manual for now as well

@AllisonDDuncan:

-For example, I used this one nifty plugin that would auto backup every week and then EMail me the files. Awesome, right? #blog101

-Problem. The file was 0 kb. Every. Time. Didn’t matter what I did. The server was set up in such a way that it didn’t work. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne: Hey guys – I’m Andrea and I blog at http://t.co/AaCofvtB #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-And there was nothing I could do about it. #blog101

-In a lot of cases, it is easier for a non-tech newbie to go into CPanel, and use the file backup system your provider has in place. #blog101

-Simply let the server do all the heavy lifting, then download the backup from the server. 1 a week is usually sufficient. #blog101

-Besides, if something goes wrong, you can blame your hosting company. #blog101 #evil

-Ok, so let’s get to the updated list of plugins I’m currently using. #blog101

@synapticjam:#blog101 I seem to see a lot of discrepancy between jetpack and google analytics, is it just different metrics?

@AllisonDDuncan:

-Security: I use WordPress Firewall 2. This one makes it harder for folks to hack your site. It is usually site friendly. #blog101

@SynapticJam Some analytics is java script based. Others pull from your server’s request log. #blog101

@SynapticJam Analytics is a tricky business in that sometimes plugins overinflate stats and other times underreport. #blog101

-At this point in time, I’ve got my server stats running. I use Google Analytics. AND I have jetpack going. #blog101

-I’m hopeful that by the end of December I’ll be able to pull some real comparisons and figure out which is best. #blog101

-I’ve even gone so far as to use cloudflare. Their stats aren’t JS based and have a much higher count. #blog101

-I’m also using WP Smush.It. This plugin is handy for optimizing your images. This decreases page load times. #blog101

-I’d recommend you optimize your images anyway, but the Smush.it plugin automates most of that. #blog101

-It is also possible to optimize the images you’ve already got in your media library. Saving you TIME. WOOHOOO. #blog101

-I luvs me some time saving plugins. #blog101

-Currently, I’m running Wp Security Scan on all my sites. Like Firewall, this plugin gives you a buffer layer by closing off .. #blog101

-Some of the less known open doors that WordPress exploiters try to use. #blog101

It’s a good safety precaution, even if you are a small site. Remember, if readers can find you, so can hackers. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan so should i use both WP Firewall 2 AND WP Security Scan? #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

@thecatholiccoup had asked how many plugins to use. I always recommend 20 or LESS. It cuts overhead and lag. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne Yes. As long as they both play nice with your site as it is. They perform different functions. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan oh ok……. #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

@CouponDivaOne Firewall prevents executable files from uploading and activating as well as some other similar hacks. #blog101

-Security Scan closes ports, looks through files you already use for hacks in place, and generally lets you know if files change. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan and this newbie appreciates all the info……. #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-This is handy in the event you are offline and someone…uh…starts changing things. #blog101

-I’ve had the bjeebies scared out of my by receiving emails headlined 2 Major security warnings. #blog101

but the changes are usually my hosting service updating files in the root folder. Still, good to know. #blog101

-Ok, happier plugins. I love the CommentLuv plugin. It adds Do-follow to commenters links, which draws in more commenters. #blog101

-I’m using the pro version, but if you are a small blog the free version is usually sufficient. #blog101

-I am also using Better Delete Revision and Wp-Optimize. Same idea of a plugin, but I don’t use both on the same site. #blog101

-Wordpress LOVES to save. It auto saves. It saves revisions. It saves all the time. #blog101

-But once you publish, you really don’t need 50 revision copies in the database. It clogs the pipes and slows things up. #blog101

-These plugins go in and clear all that clutter out. If you’ve had your blog for a LONG time and never done this…go. now! #blog101

-You’ll be shocked how much faster your front site runs AND how much faster your admin back side runs. #blog101

-I think I’m starting to prefer the wp-optimize plugin because it also hits your site tables clearing old plugin junk. #blog101

-However, these plugins are no replacement for a good manual clean of the overhead column in your Database. #blog101

-But that will be a different chat #blog101

@synapticjam::#blog101 Very cool info. I’m jumping back and forth between work

@AllisonDDuncan:

-FOr mobilization, I am loving the Wapple Architect plugin. Free to use. But most PRo/advance plugin I’ve seen to date. #blog101

-MTV and other sites use it. So grab it before the folks at Wapple come to their senses and charge. #blog101

-Best SEO plugin is All In ONe SEO. Some folks prefer others, but this one is the easiest to use and understand. #blog101

-I use it on my sites and recommend it to all the newbies I come across. You can’t go wrong with it. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan I love ALL-in-One SEO!! #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-Google XML Sitemaps with qTranslate Support. This one is a MUST HAVE. #blog101

-It does exactly what it says. Creates an xml sitemap for the spiders to see what you have on your site. #blog101

-It also helps your site to support multi language translations. Most of your visitors will probably be english speakers. #blog101

-Don’t be rude. Make sure you put something up there for the non-english speakers. #blog101

-And that’s what that plugin does. It allows google to perform the ‘would you like to translate this page’ action. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne It is an great little plugin. You’d agree it’s easy to use, right? #blog101Currently I’m using the About ME 3000 plugin on some of my sites. This lets you put a 140 character blurb and image about yourself #blog101

-In the sidebar. Looks pro and lets you tack on some social follows in certain cases. Excellent way to save space and get sleek. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan that’s for sure…… #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-Follow Me is a nifty plugin that provides a hover bar on the right or left side of your screen. #blog101

-This is great for a pro effect for sharing your twitter/FB/rss links. Doesn’t always work depending on your theme though. #blog101

-Dublin Core for WordPress is a little known missing feature needed in WP. #blog101

that plugin ads meta data that a lot of spiders use but don’t advertise about. get this plugin and get free traffic. #blog101

-You won’t hear about Dublin meta much, but it’s something that real site pro’s take care of. #blog101

-And it’s 11:30. Where did the time go? #blog101

-Anyway, I’ll put the transcript up at GetFoundConsulting.com and toss in some bonus mentions you may want to try. #blog101

@CouponDivaOne:@AllisonDDuncan time passes when you’re having fun……. #blog101

@AllisonDDuncan:

-Questions? #blog101

-Alrighty. Well you guys have a great weekend. I salute my fellow veterans. #blog101

-And I will see you guys at the next #blog101 chat. Be sure to spread the word

Bonus Mentions

Here are some plugins that are helpful but weren’t mentioned in the chat due to time constraints!

• LinkWithin - Displays recommended stories and associated thumbnails from your blog
• SexyBookmarks (by Shareaholic) - Shareaholic adds a (X)HTML compliant list of social bookmarking icons to each of your posts.
• W3 Total Cache – Improves the speed and user experience of your site. Add browser, page, object and database caching as well as minify and content delivery network (CDN) to WordPress. Can and has been known to not play well with others.
• WP Greet Box - Show a different message to your visitor depending on which site they are coming from.

Wrap Up

Remember to always back up your site before you start hacking away at it. If a plugin kills your site so badly that you can’t get into the admin panel, go to your site via an FTP program like Filezilla and delete the plugin file manually. You’ll need to delete any .maintenance files as well but the site should return.

If you have a favorite plugin, be sure to share it in the comments!

This post is a transcript of the directions and lesson given taken directly from the Twitter Stream of the #Blog101 Chat. If you want to participate in this chat, it is held most Friday’s from 11 am until 11:30 am EST.

Today we’ll be discussing Password recovery as an Admin in #wordpress.

Of course, as always, you need to make sure that you have FTP and MySQL access to do most of this. #blog101 I’d say backup your site, but really if you can’t even get in…that seems pointless. #blog101

We’ll be pulling heavily from the #wordpress codex [which is your friend]. http://t.co/kOJkz1F5 #blog101

Save that link in the event this is more than a hypothetical for you. #blog101

Let’s say for example that you did something to your site and it got hacked. The hacker then changed the admin password. #blog101

the most obvious first thing to do is remember not to panic. Which is difficult when cut off from your site. #blog101

You do need to get to your database, so you’ll need to access the server backend using CPanel in most cases. #blog101

Once into that, you need to find PHPMyAdmin. #blog101

You now have hands-on access to each and every database that your site utilizes. Don’t touch what you don’t understand. #blog101

Databases, while daunting, are fairly simple. They store each piece of data that the computer references for the page. #blog101

You’ll find your posts here, user information, and things like that. #blog101

Now, assuming you only have one site, on the left side of your screen you should see _yoursite as a database. Click it. #blog101

The next thing you’ll see if your list of tables IN the database. Think of the database as a book and the tables as pages/chapters. #blog101

Scroll down to the table “tableprefix_users”. #blog101

Now, depending on how you set up your site, you may have changed the table prefix. Or it could still be “wp_users”. #blog101

What should still be the same is that underscore and ‘users’. This holds all the data regarding all site users. #blog101

Once you click on that table you’ll see what looks like a spreadsheet. One of the column headings will say “user_pass” #blog101

This is an encrypted password for your user. This is why you can’t just contact a site admin and ask what the password is. #blog101

Not only your password, but ever other user’s password is a string of gibberish that a human can’t read. #blog101

For the interim, though you can edit it to something different so that you can get back into your site. #blog101

Find your user name and click ‘edit’. This will let you go from read only to write functions. #blog101

Select your Password and then enter it in place of that long stream of numbers and letters. Remember this is case sensitive. #blog101

Now you’ll need to find the 3rd dropdown box next to a field that says “varchar(64)” #blog101

In that dropdown list you need to find and select “MD5″. #blog101

Verify the password you’ve put in and that you have selected MD5. Click “GO” and then go back to your browser. #blog101

Using your new password, you should be able to get into the site again. #blog101

If you can’t, you need to go through the directions and follow it step by step to double check. #blog101

Your computer isn’t smart enough to hate you. It only pulls info that you’ve put in. So the likelihood is that you missed a step. #blog101

If you manage to screw up your config file password and lock your site out, you can access and change that via FTP. #blog101

Simply find your wp-config.php file in your root/wordpress/ file and find the password field. #blog101

Make sure the user password their matches the password you created for your database user when you set up your site. #blog101

If you continue having problems, try using FTP to uninstall wordpress except for your wp-content file. #blog101

Reinstall all your files and try again. Usually this fixes most WP issues if you do it from a clean install version/fresh download. #blog101

It is fairly simple. And if it doesn’t seem to take, try emptying your browser cache and trying again. #blog101

Of course always remember to change your password via the backside of the site, unless your initial change was a hard password. #blog101

The good group over at CommentLuv is introducing the CommentLuv Pro plugin. Now, your commentors can +, Like, and Tweet your links at the touch of a button.

CommentLuv Plusses

CommentLuv is all about Magnetizing your blog, Socializing your posts, and Incentivizing your comments. If you can make use of all these tips you can make your blog viral.

Right now, if you jump on the low cost band-wagon, you can get the plugin for only $40. So there is a minimal investment for a plugin that is already considered one of the top “Must Have” plugins by Site owners and Pro bloggers.

Better yet, the plugin is used by over 400,000 sites giving your blog a new level of legitimacy to users who are used to seeing it around the web at places like Kikolani.com, Anna Hoffman’s TrafficGenerationCafe.com, and WeBlogBetter.com.

Currently the PRO version is offering 8 plugins worth of software.

• Advanced Features to leave deeper backlinks on 10s of 1000s of blogsout there right now – advanced features that very few people have or even know about.
• Dramatically increase your chances of having your posts go viral.
• Easily add advanced social enticements to every single post on your site.
• Increase your Twitter followers, Facebook Likes, and improve your Google search results listings by having multiple Google +1s made on your posts.
• Get rid of multiple plugins so your site runs faster and smoother.
• Protect your blog from spambots and trackback spam with the built in GrowMap anti-spambot plugin.
• See how many clicks are happening on your last blog post links on OTHER blogs – where you’re getting clicks and how many from each site.
• Find out who is making the most comments on your site so you can link to their blog and encourage them to comment even more.
• Just click boxes to set the name and CommentLuv fields to nofollow or dofollow or you can configure CommentLuv premium to require the number of approved comments you set before commenters receive dofollow links. (Similar to how Lucia’s Linky Love works or worked? Does it still?)
• You can either allow keywords in the name field OR if you don’t like keywords –configure the plugin to automatically delete any keywords and the @ sign if commenters try to leave keywords anyway

What Pro’s Say About CommentLuv

Mavis from AttractionMarketing.com has been pushing CommentLuv for a long time. But she is impressed with the latest version because she, “love[s] the fact that it integrates 8 plugins in one! This is good news as too many plugins contribute to slowing down blogs. So, it was great to get rid of 5 popular plugins at one go!”

Jane Sheeba from ProBloggingSuccess.com went so far as to say, “the social bribing for showing recent 10 posts is like WOW. That’s an amazing idea and I am sure people will be willing to pay for the plugin for this genius feature.”

Installation And Support

Once you’ve purchased the Pro version, you’ll be redirected to the page where you can download the plugin. If you’ve been using the free version, you’ll need to delete that file via an FTP program like Filezilla. However, make sure you don’t delete the FREE version through your On-site dashboard as that will also delete your current settings.

After the FREE version is deleted in the Wp-Content/Plugins folder, make sure you drag-drop your PRO version into the Plugin folder. Then go back to the WordPress dashboard and activate your plugin.

At this point you’ll need to use your CommentLuv account sign-in info to activate the Pro Features.

And you’re done. Simple right?

The CommentLuv Plugin is light-weight and plays well with most sites. However, if you tend to use an Ajax or JQuerie heavy site, you may want to make sure that you test out the Free version BEFORE you purchase the Pro version.

If you find you are experiencing problems, be sure to contact the CommentLuv guys for support over at their Help-Desk.

Time is Ticking

The $40 price runs out TODAY. So make sure you hurry over and get this before the plugin goes off the market. The guys at CommentLuv are actually planning to pull this from the market and do a formal launch in the future, but you’ve got until the end of the day to get a head of the crowd!

So Jump in and get CommentLuv Pro Today!

GetFound Consulting is an affiliate, so purchasing through our links in this post helps us out!

This is an overview of our Twitter #Blog101 chat. If you’d like to participate, the chat takes place every Friday 11 am to 11:30 am EST using the #blog101 hashtag.

Most of us are conscious of good writing and attracting an audience with a ‘sticky’ blog, but to really have the best blog possible you need to do a self-audit. Lots of web ‘authorities’ offer to do deep audits for a couple hundred dollars. While this may be useful further on down the line, you can do your own cheap audit right now.

Some writers think that it is impossible to be a blogger because the genre is just ‘too different’, but the fact of the matter is that any writer can be a blogger. Follow these audit steps and see how simple blogging really can be for any blog, regardless of niche or current audience appeal.

Check for Visual Appeal

A good blog has a strong visual appeal. This means that when you look at the site your eyes don’t run screaming for the hills. Moreover, you are naturally drawn to the parts of the site that the site owner wants to highlight.

Colors that go well together. Make sure the site isn’t garish or just plain ugly. Most younger bloggers make this mistake in their search for a ‘hip’ look that looks a bit edgy. It is an easy trap to fall into, but what you really want is a polished effect. Tip: Use a color palette generator if you want to find multiple colors to use. Color Scheme Designer is my preferred palette generator.

Easy to read text. If you have a black background, you need to use white text. Yellow or tan blend in and are hard to read. Pink is just about the worst color for text. The best backgrounds are light colors with black text in a large, clear font. 14 or 16px is a good size for the average text. Try to stay away from ‘cute’ fonts. Tip: Times New Roman is a very web-friendly font. Web-friendly means that no matter what browser the user is using to read your site, the site shows up exactly how you want it to look.

Images that make sense. Some people like to take pictures from all over and plaster them on the site. While this might warm their hearts, it annoys the reader. Even worse, it distracts from the rest of the content which is what you are using to keep folks coming back. Make sure your image is apropos of your topic, adds points you don’t actually write in, and is web optimized. Tip: Make sure your images help your message along. If an image is worth a thousand words, don’t waste the free text.

Check for Well Rounded Content

Content is what keeps the reader coming back, and while you may be a good writer you need to make sure you are covering all your bases. The best bloggers are a compilation of journalistic practices and fiction writing practices. A writer has to be able to draw in the audience, give you a reason to ‘feel’ something, and manage to make you keep reading while a journalist has to stick to the point and stay under a word count.

Your journalist checks should be for the following:

Good Headings. Readers like to skim. Make sure you choose headings that not only pull the reader into reading your whole post, but let them come back to a certain section if they are quoting or sharing with someone else. Using these sorts of headers help make sure you are keeping on point as a writer as well. If you can’t find the points for the headers, your audience won’t find the points either.

On topic and to the point. No one likes a rambler. Make sure you know what you are talking about in that post. If it takes more than 1100 words, you should consider breaking it up into more than one post.

Have references. If you are doing a non-fiction post, make sure you list references [use a bullet point section if you are using a long list]. If you are using lots of facts, show that you did research. It lends to your authority on the topic.

Word count. If it’s over 1100 words, consider breaking it up into a series.

Your writer checks should be for the following:

Pull in the audience. Have a good first sentence that restates your title in some way. This is also a best SEO practice.

Make them care. If you can’t make them care about it the way you do, you just won’t get audience participation.

Check for Audience Participation

Not all your audience participation is hinged on the comment section. Make sure you are checking all forms of participation.

Check for ReTweets. ReTweets [RT’s] are an important form of participation, as are ‘likes’, ‘shares’, and Google+’s ‘+1’s’. Search engines now add weight to articles with these forms of audience participation. Tip: Use a resource like Klout to analyze your RT’s and furthered audience sharing.

Run a search for your article keywords. If you are writing timely pieces and using best blogging practices, you should be able to find your articles in the first three pages of a search result on the Google Blog search pages. If you are having trouble finding your articles, consider whether the lack of participation is because they can’t find you. Tip: Make sure you are submitting an XML sitemap to the big search engines and that your syndication services are working.

Make sure your comment system is easy to use. The more the audience has to do to get a comment posted, the less likely they are to actually comment. Take out extra steps if possible.

Look for Results

If you are posting timely topics, following best SEO practices, and have a site with clean code, you can expect your audience to rise. The effect may be slow, but as you garner wider appeal through guest posting and getting name recognition you can and will see a dramatic rise in your audience.

Remember, it is not enough to have good content. You need to make sure you cover the main blogging facets, so run this checklist often and be the best writer/blogger you can be!

Why Google Apps

One of the #blog101 Twitter chat participants, @ObiOrion, asked what the attraction was to use Google Apps instead of the default email. The truth is that there are several very compelling reasons.

First off, you can transfer your email to whatever hosting service you choose to use. This means that if I use GoDaddy to host one year and then switch to BlueHost, I don’t lose my email. I simply update my Google Apps settings and continue as I began.

Second, you can make use of up to 10 other site user accounts in the Free version of Google Apps and more if you pay for the upgraded versions. This is terrific for businesses and corporations. It allows the whole company to have an inner network of emails that are setup to specifically allow cross use of Google Docs, Calendar, and more.

Check out this terrific article at Lifehacker for more information.

So here’s how to set it up.

App Setup

In order to create an App account, you need to 1/ have a pre-existing email account that is not related to your domain and 2/have a domain already setup and in place. If you have that already, you should be ready to setup your new Apps services account.

Go to Google and create your app account using the domain you already have. The new account will begin walking you through the setup process as Google has an excellent setup wizard. The snag most users hit is setting up the email service.

You will need to verify ownership of your domain as a safety precaution. However, this means either inserting a Meta tag into your existing site or uploading an html file to your site. If you use Google Analytics already, Google will recognize that automatically and speed you through this portion of the process.

Email Setup

Google needs you to create MX records on your hosting server. MX records specify which mail server is responsible for accepting email on behalf of your domain and let the server know what priority the accepting servers have. The records also control the sending servers and their priority. ¹

For most people, the point they get stuck at is the MX section. Some servers do not recognize the listings as Google has them. Depending on your hosting service, you may experience difficulties.

Currently, Google lists only 5 MX records that it requires to operate as your email service.

To change your MX records you need access to your hosting server’s CPanel. Once logged in, go to the Mail section and look for MX Records.

Be sure to delete any existing MX records before adding and changing to the recommended settings.

If your hosting service has a specific tutorial about setting up MX records or setting up Google Apps, be sure to follow the instructions carefully as mistakes here can result in loss of your email. BlueHost has an excellent video tutorial that I recommend as the BlueHost servers require different settings than the Google setup wizard states.

Sometimes even following the Google instructions will leave you with email problems. When you use the Google settings on a BlueHost server, you can send email in an App account, but all incoming email bounces. If you find yourself experiencing this, try the following settings for your MX records.

Notice that the priority numbers are different and that there are more of the Google mail servers than listed in the Google App wizard.

Once you have changed and saved all the new records, you will need to go back to your Apps control panel and initiate email. If you are successful Google will notify you and send you three or four introductory emails.

Testing

Before you announce or use this new email for any of your business contacts, be sure to send an email from the account and send an email to the account. This way you can verify that your email is fully functional.

You can also test the settings of your MX listings by using this page. Put your URL into the field and the service will return the current settings of your MX records.

Troubleshooting

Listed below are some references to help you if you find yourself experiencing problems during setup or even after use of the Google App account:

• Google App Status Page
• Google Apps Support Center