Entries Tagged 'Wordpress' ↓

As I mentioned in my blogging challenge last week (which can be continued each week by the way *wink wink*), one way to improve your blog is to update your WordPress theme.

If you happen to be on the lookout for a fresh new design for your blog, I found a free WordPress theme over at TopTut.com that would be perfect for a “work at home mom” blog. It’s a vector-based theme which is really popular.

A few months ago I was emailing back and forth with one of my readers, and I suggested to her that she update to the current version of WordPress since she was running a really old version. She insisted that she wanted to wait for a few months and that she didn’t need any of the new features so it didn’t matter to her.

I wanted to smack her with the “Doh!” stick.

Even if the newest version of WordPress doesn’t include updated or new features, it’s still important to upgrade to keep your WordPress blog as secure as possible.

Upgrading is easy as long as you have access to your server. Even if you don’t have Fantastico installed – which makes upgrading idiot-proof since you just click one button – it’s just a matter of replacing old files with new ones. Once it’s done, you can sleep a bit easier at night knowing that your blog is more secure.

On The Other Hand…

I know from experience that upgrading (which should only take a few minutes) can leave you with a busted blog. Sometimes it just doesn’t work, sometimes plugins don’t work since they aren’t supported for the latest version, sometimes things just work funny. It’s annoying as hell when that happens, but I find that it doesn’t happen that often, and the fixes are usually quick and easy.

If you’re hesitant to upgrade to the newest version of WordPress, you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons. But my thinking is that it’s better to have a broken plugin than to have a hacking jackass destroy all your hard work.

I decided to do a week-long blogging challenge for myself and thought it would be a great idea to share it with you as well. (Since I blog with WordPress, these ideas are mostly tailored to WP users.)

This week, beginning Monday, I’m going to do daily improvements to my blog. I don’t usually post every day and I know that a lot of other bloggers don’t either, but there are still improvements you can make to your blog without actually uploading any new content. Here are a few ideas:

• Update to the newest version of WordPress. If you’re blogging on the WordPress platform, you should know that the latest updates ensure more security and features for your blog. If you have Fantastico, upgrading to the current version of WordPress is as easy as one click. [Latest version of WordPress]
• Increase the number of comments your blog receives. Most blog posts have the option to “comment”, but if you change the wording you can encourage your readers to leave even more comments. Try something like “15 people have already commented. Have your say.” This requires you to dig around in your comments.php code, so don’t attempt this unless you have a general idea of what you’re doing. And don’t forget to keep a backup copy!
• Cutting down the number of plugins you use. Having a lot of plugins not only clutters up the look of your blog, but it can also cause your blog to load slowly. Do some inventory and decide which plugins are unnecessary. To see how much of an improvement this can make, time how fast your site loads with this tool before you delete any plugins, then test it again after you’ve uninstalled them. Even just a few seconds faster can make a world of difference, especially for visitors with a slow internet connection.
• In addition to cutting down on plugins by deleting them, you can also keep the features that each plugin provides by changing the code in your blog’s theme yourself (or getting help from someone else who knows how.) That way, you can get rid of the plugins, speed up the load time of your site, and keep the cool features. If you want to do it yourself, a simple search in Google or the WordPress forums should get you where you need to go.
• Update your theme. If your blog design is a little outdated or doesn’t serve it’s purpose, consider breathing some new life into it by installing a new theme. I usually start by checking out the themes at the WordPress Theme Directory.
• Scan through your older posts and add related links to increase your pageviews. You can insert links throughout each post, or include them as a list at the end of each post. Better yet, you can do both! This can be a bit time consuming, but if you can manage a few posts a day, it can make a big difference in your traffic.
• Check how your ads are doing. If you have advertisements on your blog, analyze their performance and find ways to help them perform better. You may need to tweak their position and overall look, or you may need to replace them with something completely different. Make your changes, then test and track your results to see what works and what doesn’t.
• Ask someone to do a review of your blog. You can post your request in a forum, ask a fellow blogger, or pay to have a professional review it for you. Whatever you decide, it’s a great way to get someone else’s opinion and understand how your blog looks and feels through a different set of eyes. They can also offer some suggestions to make your blog even better. Make sure you read this post first on website Do’s and Don’ts.

These are more than enough ideas to last the week, but I’m sure you can think of even more ideas on your own. The important thing is to make a positive step forward each day to improve your blog, even if it’s something small.

Here’s a cool new WordPress widget you can download for free. It displays how many visitors your blog currently has, as well as how many visitors you’ve had in total that day, plus the country each of the last 5 visitors are from.

Here’s what it looks like.

A widget like this is a fun way to make your blog a little more interactive. Your readers can see how many other people are reading your blog at that very moment, and they can get an idea of where your visitors are from.

You can download the “Online Now” WordPress widget here.

I generally try and take my weekends off (even though I still sneak a look at my traffic stats a few times throughout the days) but I’m wondering if any of you do the same.

Working at home gives us a lot of freedom over when our work hours are, but I find that the days (weekdays and weekends) are more of the same than if I worked out of the home. For instance, I don’t look forward to Fridays as much as most people. My work is AT home so I can’t exactly get away from it. Even when I’m relaxing on the couch with a movie or a book, I can still see the computer out of the corner of my eye and there’s always that nagging feeling like I should be writing something.

Even so, I try and take some well-deserved “me time” which is usually on the weekends so that my leisure time coincides with my friends’ and family’s leisure time. However, I see a lot of my fellow mamas on the web are still diligently writing and posting.

There’s always the auto post feature in WordPress that allows you to write a post and have WordPress automatically submit it for you at a later date and time, but I’m not using it today. It’s Saturday and I should be spending time with my family. Instead, I’m sitting here with about 20 tabs open in Firefox and 3 posts on the go.

How about you?