Here’s a great list of plugins blogged by @EricHamm.
Updates from July, 2009
-
Wordpress Plugins
Shawn Brown
-
MP3 Flash Player Plugin For WordPress
Shawn Brown
I came across a great plugin for WordPress for playing MP3 files. This player is very easy to install and makes putting your MP3 files on your posts a breeze. I installed and had my first MP3 post up in less than 10 minutes. This plugin can be located on 1pixelout and is called Audio Player Wordpress plugin.
Enjoy!
-
Weird Characters After WordPress Upgrade
Shawn Brown
After upgrading my WordPress site I noticed a bunch of strange characters in all my articles. A came across a very easy solution to fix this issue on the WordPress forum. Here’s the solution as posted on the forum:
This problem appeared first in 2.2.x The problem (as you surmised) is a problem with the character set.
FIX: Commenting these two lines out in wp-config.php fixed it.
// define(’DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);
// define(’DB_COLLATE’, ”);This was a very simple fix and worked perfectly with no issues.
-
Lost in MyBlogLog
Shawn Brown
MyBlogLog is a interesting social networking site geared for bloggers. I recently joined MyBlogLog, created my profile, dropped the widget on my site, and started exploring.
After creating your profile you can drop a widget onto your website. The widget displays a picture of the latest visitors to your site (MyBlogLog users). You can click on the users profile picture and it will take you to their MyBlogLog profile. Visitors to your site can also click the widget to join your community.
I have found it interesting exploring the sites of those who have visited Cool Web Finds. It has also been nice putting a face my readers.
Until next time….
More sites about MyBlogLog
-
Blogging for Laymen
Shawn Brown
Blogging has become a very popular web tool. Individuals and companies alike have setup blogs. Although blogging is becoming a great tool, I’ve noticed that as I talk to people in the passing I discover there are still many who really have a lack of understanding about blogging. To many, a blog is for someone to journal about their latest vacation or latest romance. True a blog can be used for that, but that is not the full scope of a blog. I hope to give my readers a better grasp on the full use of a blog.
A Brief History of Weblogs
Modern blogging began around the mid 90’s and was referred to as weblogs. While in the beginning a blog was basically an online journal. For online businesses many had a “what’s new” section where they posted an index of articles posted by date. As an example in 1993 Netscape posted a What’s New section on their website. Around 1994 a weblog emerged named the Drudge Report by Matt Drudge. The Drudge Report was primarily headline links to major news services. In April 1997 Scripting News was launched by Dave Winer. Dave Winer’s company, Userland, would release Frontier, Manila, and Radio Userland which are all web and blog content software. About the same time a website was published known as Camworld. Camworld was launched by Jesse Jame Gerret and featured a list of weblogs he found similar to his own. In the late 90’s the word weblog was changed to wee-blog and then finally to blog. Those who published blogs were known as bloggers. In 1999 Pyra released a blogging tool called Blogger. Blogging has continued to grow to this present day.A Look At Blogging Today
Today blogs combine text, images, audio, and video to create a unique experience for readers. A blog in it’s simplest form is a website where information is posted on an ongoing basis. The newest entries will show on top and will order by date. Blogs range on topics such as product reviews, news, health, fitness, politics, spirituality, crafts, hobbies and more.Unique to most blogs today is the ability for readers to post leave their comments about the given topic. By posted comments readers can connect their blog with other blogs. When a reader posts a comment the poster is able to provide a link back to their website. In addition, blogs have a “feed” that users can subscibe to by using a feed readers. Feed readers allow readers to know when new content has been posted to the blog without having to check the individual blogs. For more information about RSS feeds you may want to read What is RSS/XML/Atom/Syndication by Mezzoblue.
So You Want To Blog
I’ve been remodeling my house this past year. I’ve learned having the right tools make life easy when it comes to remodeling. The same is true with blogging. With the popular growth of blogging there are many tools available for free and pay. Services such as Blogger.com, MoveableType, and WordPress.com make it easy to get started. I would recommend reading Choosing a Blog Platform by Darren Rowse to help you better determine what platform to use.Additional Blogging Resources and Information
-
10 Easy Steps to Drive Traffic To Your Blog
Shawn Brown
New to blogging? If you are new to blogging then you are probably seeking out helpful ideas on how to drive traffic to your website. A simple google search will return a slew of advice on driving traffic to your blog. Here’s my compilation of things that have helped me grow CoolWebFinds.com over the last year.
- Post original articles on a regular basis that relates to your blog.
- Use meaningful keywords in your blog post and blog title.
- Link to other blog postings that others have written.
- Comment on other blogs frequently. By commenting on other blogs a link will be provided back to your blog.
- Get involved in web forums that are in the same industry/topic as your blog.
- Publish your blog on your social networking pages.
- Submit your blog postings to sites such as digg, newsvine, del.icio.us, etc.
- Create a google sitemap
- Read How To Market Your Blog in 2007 on Problogger. This is a very extensive list on promoting your blog.
- Enjoy your blog
Do some research on each of these tips. Of course this is only a start. Take time to enjoy what you are doing. I think that will show and your readers will be more interested in your blog.
Have fun!
-
How To Have A Great Blog using WordPress Themes
Shawn Brown
Having a great looking blog is made easy with WordPress Themes. There are hundreds of Themes the choose from to give your site a unique look. WordPress makes it easy to Install different WordPress themes. Let’s walk through four easy steps to get you on the way.
1. Pick your favorite theme using the WordPress theme viewer. Using the viewer you can test run themes to see what they will look like. You could always use Google to find great WordPress themes. Today I came across Karen Blundell’s website that has a some XHML template themes. Once you’ve located a theme you will need to download it.
2. Upload your theme. After downloading the theme you will need to extract and upload it to the themes directory on your site. The theme directory is located wp-content >> themes.
3. Activate your theme by accessing the Presentation page in the admin section of WordPress. In your admin area locate and click the Presentation link. The presentation page will show your active theme and all available themes you have uploaded. Click on the theme and it will active it.
4. Edit your theme using the Theme Editor. For those feeling a bit adventuresome you may want to add your own logo, background picture, or make minor changes to the look of your theme. To make those changes you will use the Theme Editor. The Theme Editor is located on the Presentation page. From this page you can really do some damage to your page… or not. The Theme Editor will allow you to:
- Edit the CSS file
- Edit all the HTML from any of the pages available in your themes package.
Happy Blogging!
-
How To Install Plugins with Wordpress
Shawn Brown
One of the many great features available in WordPress are plugins. Plugins add a lot of great functionality to the WordPress application. On a previous post titled Must have Wordpress Plugins I listed some plugins you should consider installing. Today I’d like to give a few step by step instructions on how to go about installing plugins in WordPress.
The first step would be to locate the plugin you are interested in. A good starting point would be the official WordPress plugin directory. After finding the plugin you will need to download, extract, then upload it to your plugin directory. The path should look something like wp-content > plugins.
Once the plugin has been uploaded, open your WordPress admin area and click on the plugin link. This will show you all the plugins you have installed in WordPress. Find the plugin you installed and click the activate link. Once the plugin has been activated you may have other configuration steps. You will simply need to follow the directions.
-
Get Your Own Blog Started With Wordpress
Shawn Brown
Blogging has become a very popular activity in the online world. It’s a great way for you to publish your ideas to an online audience. Perhaps you would like to get started but really are not sure how. I hope these pointers will point you in the right direction.
Getting A Domain Name
If you are interested in blogging then chances are you have an idea picked out for your blog. So go ahead and start jotting down ideas for a domain name. Try to keep it short and descriptive to your topic. After picking out some names you will need to see if those names are available. Most domain registrars have a search feature to check to see if that name is available. I use Godaddy to check availability and register my domains.Find a Hosting Company
After the registration is complete, you will need to find a hosting company for your website. I use Site5.com to host my websites. The monthly fee is very reasonable. Plus once you have the domain setup there is a great control panel that will install the blog software.The next steps
After your domain is setup on your hosting company, I would recommend installing Wordpress. Wordpress is very easy to use and has a huge selection of templates, plugins, and plenty of support from other users. I use Wordpress on this site and ALifeToday.com.Stay tuned as I begin my Wordpress blogging topic. I’ll be providing helpful information to make your experience getting started a good one.
-
Must Have WordPress Plugins
Shawn Brown
Are you new to WordPress blogging and want to know the plugins you can’t live without. Here’s my list of favorites.
WP-DBManager
Manages your WordPress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.FeedBurner FeedSmith
This was once called Feedburner Feed Replacement. This plugin will redirect your feed to feedburner.Google Sitemap Generator
If you are new to blogging you need to look into creating a sitemap for your blog. This will help Google better understand your website.SEO Title Tag
This great plugin will help you optimize your title tag on your blog.Sociable
Automatically add links on your posts to popular social bookmarking sites.Spam Karma 2
Spam Karma 2 is a must to have. This will help fight spam on your blog.If you’ve got a favorite WordPress plugin we’d like to hear about it. Happy blogging!