Tag Archives: wordpress plugins

Anchor Sitelinks – WordPress Table Of Contents (Part 1)

With Google now providing convenient anchor links as sitelinks within search results for long structured documents I thought it would be prudent to examine current solutions for WordPress and see which of them is most likely to help you obtain anchor links.

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HowTo: WordPress Multivariate Split-testing With Google Website Optimizer

WordPress Sales & Affiliate Themes

I spent the better part of a week and a few hundred dollars ($300-$400) on various WordPress sales letter and affiliate themes - I came to the conclusion that they weren't something I would use.
  • Some I would class as pretty but lacking substance (polite version of crap)
  • Every single theme was designed around the concept that you run a single theme on your blog at a time
  • They all suffered from what I regard as a horrible plague - theme option pages - if you need to set up lots of options after you have uploaded a theme, you have lost a sale, unless I can also import and export settings.
  • The worst aspect of theme options pages is using them for the content that might appear on a page, because it is a nightmare to set up split testing, and when editing, you really want all the words on the page in front of you.
So I set about creating a solution for myself...
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WordPress Possibly Related Posts With Sphere

The new WordPress.com possibly related posts is game changing - and gaming changing if they get it right. The following are some notes I am taking whilst testing Possibly Related Posts
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Why TrafficJam.com really…

Traffic Jam LogoI could finish that title in all kinds of ways
  • does suck
  • is amazing
  • can bring you masses of targeted traffic
  • can be used for market research
  • can help you optimize your titles
  • can be used for discovery
  • is overrated
  • is underrated
  • is useful
  • is a waste of screen pixels
Get the idea? It all depends on perspective and objectives. Even if you have absolutely no interest in TrafficJam or Blogrush, I strongly suggest you read this post, especially if you are interested in viral marketing techniques that are guaranteed to build you an email list.
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Answers.com Answerlinks Plugin – How Much Are Those Links Worth?

Wordpress.com owners Automattic, working in conjunction with Answers.com and former Wordpress core developer Alex King have just released a new plugin which allows Wordpress.com users, and Wordpress.org users to easily link to topics and definitions on Answers.com.

There are literally hundreds of such plugins for linking to various Wikis and shopping sites, but for some strange reason those haven't been included on Wordpress.com

Users on Wordpress.com aren't really very SEO savvy and thus are most likely to be "link happy" and of course with the plugin being so convenient, they are more likely to link to Answers.com now than rival sites.

A

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Sphinn Greatest Hits – Could The #1 Be Some Useful Content?

John Andrews currently has the top rated article on Sphinn with a truly brilliant display of link baiting and social media awareness.

I am not sure I am going to be able to knock him off the top spot, and this very post will probably gain him a few more votes, but I would like to think that one of my older articles could at least be a contender.

If This Content Is So Good, Why Hasn't It Been Submitted Before?

There are a number of reasons why my old post on Wordpress SEO and Dynamic Linking might not have

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WordPress Plugin – Custom Query String – UTW Edition

This is the first release of this modified "classic" WordPress plugin and is based upon the original Custom Query String by Matt Read which has been looking for a permanent home for a while.

It contains some simple modifications extending the operation to include the UTW is_tag() function. The changes made are not unique, as they are the same as have been described on a number of Non-english language blogs such as 082Net - a little hard to find if you don't speak Korean, and as I have found in the past, if hacks are not provided as a

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Sphinn Support – Antisocial (SEO Friendly Sociable) Wordpress Plugin

I have just added support for Sphinn to my hacked version of the popular Sociable plugin.

For those unfamiliar with Antisocial, these are the differences

  • All links have nofollow added – this might sound strange coming from someone who strongly supports the removal of nofollow from comments, but there is no logical purpose having a followable link to a social bookmark site that just points to a submission form

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Sociable Plugin Error With Wordpress 2.2.1

There seems to be a bug with the Sociable plugin, for which I provide a hacked version with a couple of minor modifications. The bug seems to only be for users of Wordpress 2.2.1 (which you should upgrade to for security reasons)

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Wordpress SEO Masterclass For Competitive Niches

Take a well optimized Wordpress blog in a competitive niche, rip it apart, and help maximise its chances of ranking in the SERPs and raking in some cash. This isn't lame all-in-one optimization plugins, it is totally geeking it out!

Sandcastles With Perimeter Wall Site Structure

Having previously written that I don't typically undertake consulting work, I do look on any paid blog posts as a form of consultancy. In this particular case Tim from eMonetized decided to order a review of his blog, and we negotiated a little to ensure what you read is totally impartial and any links I choose to give are in an editorial context. The negotiation itself was an interesting process, and I will be writing about that separately. It should be noted that just because I mention improvements here, that doesn't mean that Tim the site owner isn't aware of something, and as also is almost always the case, I haven't applied many SEO tweaks to this site yet. That being said, some of the linking structures I talk about in the more geeky sections of this article I have never seen anyone talk about, and it is my belief that the resulting linking structure is highly unique, extremely powerful, whilst remaining flexible.
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Akismet False Positives & Spam Karma Configuration

Spam Karma for me is the most effective comment and trackback spam management solution because it doesn’t cause me problems with false positives on many blogs where I comment on a regular basis.
As a blogger, it is a huge time saver by sending me email notifications a few times per day if it finds entries that are “possible” good comments and trackbacks, but which tripped up one or more of the various algorithms it uses.

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Results: Top Wordpress Plugins (April 2007)

It is hard work giving money away, and it seems it is hard work voting for which Wordpress plugin author should receive $100.

Whilst it might appear that there was an increase of votes this time around, with 29 votes instead of 24, that doesn’t allow for the fact that 8 votes were added as a bonus. Thus there were only 21 fresh votes.

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Best Wordpress Plugins (April 2007) | Poll

I have opened up the voting for the second round of my cash giveaway for Wordpress plugin authors.
Nominations for the Best Wordpress Plugin each month are made by my readers, and half my income from paid reviews is given away as donations to help support development costs of the best Wordpress plugins.

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I Have A New Pet

Tumbleweed

If you happen to click through to my site from your feedreader (I know it is a huge sacrifice) then you will see I have a new pet in my sidebar.
He is actually quite a smart little guy, because unlike you, he knows which posts on my blog you might have missed over the last 3 months, based on the number of comments that were posted, or in this case, lack of comments.

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The Ultimate Way To Show Reader Appreciation

Reader Appreciation
If you weren’t already aware, this week is reader appreciation week. Now the idea of reader appreciation is fairly good, give out some prizes, give a reader a link, etc etc.

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Results: Top Wordpress Plugins (March 2007)

Competition was fierce but with only 24 votes, the winner could easily have been decided in the last few hours.

I have checked the ballots and there doesn’t seem to be any scandals – rigged voting would have been news worthy and actually profitable, it just goes to show how honest people in the Wordpress community are.

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Best Wordpress Plugins (March 2007) | Poll

I have opened up the voting for the first round of my cash giveaway for Wordpress plugin authors.
Nominations for the Best Wordpress Plugin each month are made by my readers, and half my income from paid reviews is given away as donations to help support development costs of the best Wordpress plugins.

Read more on Best Wordpress Plugins (March 2007) | Poll…

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How to Show Top Commenters Only On Your Index Page

I recently wrote that I don’t like Top Commenters plugins, in fact I used a very strong word… loathe. There are some benefits to introducing Top Commenters to give some level of special recognition, but whatever SEO benefits you think it might offer are discounted by having it placed in your sidebar across the whole of your site including your duplicate content pages.

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TwitThis Causes Pages To Load Slowly – Here is a fix

Have you noticed my pages loading extremely slowly over the last few days? I am not talking about my sidebars, which appear after my content, but my articles which always load first, and usually quite fast.

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The Benefit of Screenshots in Communication | Iconize Your Clickthrough Rate

Icons Increase Clickthrough Rate

I use quite a lot of screenshots when blogging as I find the old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” very appropriate.
Michel Fortin also pointed out in his top plugins and blogging tips article today how graphic icons with each post help with clickthrough. He has been using eye tracking software to prove it, and is a fanatical tester.

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Is Akismet a Spam Magnet? Plus a little on Trackbacks

I am going to keep this fairly short.

I was just reading Paul’s post on trackbacks as there seems to me some kind of meme floating around started by Steve Rubel that trackbacks are dead.

Read more on Is Akismet a Spam Magnet? Plus a little on Trackbacks…

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Spam Karma 2.3 Still The Best Comment Spam System For Niche Websites

Spam Karma is one of my favorite plugins and despite rumours to the contrary, it is still being supported.

Dr Dave has just released a new version

New in 2.3 of Spam Karma:

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Ugly In Pink?

Whilst the traditional saying is “Pretty in Pink” that saying is not universally true. Vlad clearly demonstrates how ugly a website can be when dressed in pink.

I digged it

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Wordpress Plugin: Antisocial

You could blame this plugin on Lorelle for suggesting this weekend as a “Code Marathon Party“. Honestly though her code weekend idea just gave me a kick up the backside to finally just archive something on my harddisk and stick it on the web for public download.

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Best Wordpress Plugins – Nominations and Results

I earn money from this blog, but as I have hinted in the past, that isn't my primary goal. I write paid reviews for products that take a fair amount of time, but nothing compared to the amount of time Wordpress plugin authors spend on their creations, only to give them away for free and often still provide support.

Admittedly I have been a little lax with my donations to other authors, though I have invested money in plugin development, only to publish the plugins myself under a GPL license, thus in my own way giving to the community.

What I have

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Multiple Reasons Why I Loathe Top Commenters Plugins

I benefit from being a top commenter on a number of blogs simply because I am consistently active on those sites, and I have gained the benefit without changing my commenting habits.
Some of my blogging friends are aware of the problems, but have opted to use such a plugin anyway – I fully respect that decision, but many make that decision “blindly” without being aware of the possible consequences.

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How to Setup Email Notifications to Avoid Your Wordpress Blog Being Suspended

Shift This

I have always been attracted to the Subscribe-to-Comments plugin, but at the same time installing it has always filled me with dread. Whilst it can be a great community building aid, and a useful tool for regular visitors who like to interact, it can be a liability.

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Introduction To Ultimate Tag Warrior | Lorelle

Lorelle has posted a great introduction to Ultimate Tag Warrior. She covers almost all the basics on what makes UTW my favorite plugin.

She has also been reporting on feed stats. Now whilst I don’t want to be accused at looking at her “details” again, if you add her Wordpress.com subscribers to her Feedburner subscribers then her total is approximately 2500 subscribers. I am sure she also gains a lot more readers through various other interfaces on Wordpress.com who don’t use a feed reader.

Read more on Introduction To Ultimate Tag Warrior | Lorelle…

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MyBlogLog Spam Hack Update & Widget Performance | Linkbait Idea

MyBlogLog

MyBlogLog Spam

Lots of people are aware that there was a problem over the weekend with co-author requests being sent out, and some forced adding as authors to communities.

It was a long weekend in the US, but it seems the MyBlogLog team have already fixed it, rolled back any changes, and hopefully it won’t happen again.

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Ultimate List of DoFollow & Nofollow Plugins – Banish Nofollow From Comments and Trackbacks

Wordpress by default, just like other blogging platforms, has automatically been adding the "nofollow" microformat extension to all links from user generated content such as comments and trackbacks. To support the growing rejection of NoFollow for blog comments, I have compiled this list of plugins that help you remove nofollow from your blog forever.

  • Lucia's Linky Love Plugin - I was going to liken this plugin to a Ferrari, because it is built to be fast, but it is probably more like a Subaru, not just fast but designed for rugged terrain and can handle the twists and turns of
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How to Switch Off All Wordpress Plugins

I just picked up a very useful tip on Dougal Campbells blog that I thought I should note down for posterity, especially with so many people planning to upgrade to Wordpress 2.1 in the near future.

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Top Posts By Category Plugin

Top Posts By Category

Macalua has just released a Top Posts By Category Plugin which seems like a great idea that could generate some additional traffic to posts already receiving high traffic.
Hmm, that would be a little bit like what Alister wrote about Knuttz recently.
I am not sure of the easiest way to leverage it.. maybe an invisible category “hot”.

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UTW Wordpress Plugin Upgraded

UTW must be my favorite plugin

Christine has released an upgrade

Ultimate Tag Warrior 3.1415926

I also submitted it to Digg, so Give It Some Digging

Honestly I see so many junk plugins on people’s top 10 list that take almost no effort to create (though sometimes serve a useful purpose).

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Disclosure Policy Wordpress Plugin Now Available

The site is live, the plugin available for download.

I’m exhausted…

There are still a lot of things that need tweaking on the site before I promote it but thought I would at least mention it here before hitting the sack.

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How to make it easy to gain links

You should always try to make it easy for people to link to you, especially if you are running a blog which isn’t using nofollow for trackbacks as additional encouragement.

Thus you should provide copy and paste linking.

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UTW – Tagging SEO Tricks (pt 2)

This is not a technical trick, but something that many people who confuse categories and tagging really need to get a grasp of.
It is also my belief that this is very much a white-hat strategy, but as with all forms of search engine marketing, it can be abused.

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Ultimate Tag Warrior SEO Tricks (pt 1)

On my blogs, I prefer not to use nofollow for comments and trackback.

It is my belief that if someone adds to the conversation on my blogs, the least I can do is offer them a backlink for their trouble.
I prefer people to write a post about me than to add me to their blogroll. I know a blogroll link theoretically gives me more Google Juice, but if they give 200 people a blogroll link, suddenly the value of that link from every page is greatly deminished.

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Wordpress needs an Email system revamp

Here is a little something I just posted to the Wordpress Hackers mailing list.

If you are using a badly coded plugin to subscribe to comments on a blog, take this as a very serious warning.

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Wordpress | Mininet membership site

I have been planning for a long time to launch a membership site based on custom wordpress plugins, and also taking advantage of various mininet strategies, especially those discussed in Revenge of the Mininet (which you can now get free). It is honestly required reading.

Read more on Wordpress | Mininet membership site…

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Tagging and page views

A few days ago on my Wordpress Plugins site, I updated to Wordpress 2.04 (from 1.5.2) and switched to using UTW for tagging rather than Taggerati.

Taggerati and UTW have slightly different functionality. 2.04 is supported by both, but Taggerati isn’t really being updated. I am going to miss a couple of the inline tags I could use when posting using a desktop application, but longterm support I hope is more likely with UTW.

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Where did I get that Wordpress theme?

Just a short plea to all Wordpress Theme authors.

Please make it easy to find who created a theme.

All you have to do is include the correct information at the top of your CSS.

Read more on Where did I get that Wordpress theme?…

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Constant problems with plugins and hooks

A little something for discussion over on my Wordpress plugins blog. I actually have a full-time programmer working on Wordpress plugins for me.

I just asked the following question to the Wordpress Hackers mailing list, and thought it worth publishing it here to a wider audience.

Read more on Constant problems with plugins and hooks…

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How to move your blog or start a new one

21 Surefire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch also contains some great information. Whilst I Digged it, I don't agree with the original comment on Digg.
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Google Reader, Splogs, Linkblogs, Blog Readership

But the Google reader has major flaws, which noone is really talking about. In fact I have noticed a growing tendancy for reporting thee flaws as a cool feature, without any emphasis on the negative aspects of using these "featues".
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