I've received several requests and questions from readers, friends, etc. that all point to one salient issue. "What can we physically do to improve our blogs?" or "What actual activities should we complete, in order to make our blogs better?". It seems that launching a blog for some new and inexperienced blog owners is a huge exercise (and for some a steeper learning curve than for others). I've often observed clients who have launched their blogs, fail to garner traffic, further excitement and buzz, or for that matter, reach any of their goals and blogging aspirations. After a time they become discouraged as they feel let down by their blog. One of the biggest barriers I've observed (among others) is that often people just don't do anything, mainly because some don't quite know what to do (or how) and others just need more motivation. Some launch their blog and expect the Internet horde to rush over and visit. To be blunt, the days of "Build it and they will come", are long over. A blog is akin to your business tools, if you don't use it, it will become rusty. Defining some of the barriers to improving a blog is well and good, ...

As some of you may know, my primary blogging applications are on Linux based PC's, however a large portion of my clients and visitors are Windows based and several have asked me what I think would be the best software for Windows based bloggers - To improve productivity, safeguard information, enhance research and communication. I prefer to take a frugal approach to answering such questions, after all, why incur extra costs when you don't have to? Side note: Many of these applications are also available to my Linux friends (and Mac) too. For all those who asked, and those interested to know, I'm sure something on the list below will be useful: 1) eMail Communication. Thunderbird is an email client that features intelligent (learning) spam filters, spell checker and customizable layout. It provides IMAP/POP support, HTML email composing, email search, address book, advanced message filtering, address completion, import tools, and multiple email and (RSS) newsgroup accounts. You can add extensions for extra features including: Quicktext email template creation and for super fast addition of predefined text snippets to an email message. Display Mail User Agent so that you can better see what application is sending you email. This helps in avoiding spoofed email. For example, Google ...

I just received an email (about a new blog post earlier today). The questions was "...you mentioned [blog] update services and pingomatic, what is that...?" For those of us who use Wordpress, it's a feature you can configure in the writing settings of your blogs administrative area. Simply log in and go to "Settings" - "Writing" and look near the bottom. You will see the following: "When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services. For more about this, see Update Services on the Codex. Separate multiple service URLs with line breaks." Many readers subscribe to such services and will see that you have new content posted. By default, Wordpress only notifies rpc.pingomatic.com. The list below contains another 145. Make sure you back up your wordpress files and database BEFORE adding this to the "Update Services" of your blog. http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc/ http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://1470.net/api/ping http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php http://bitacoras.net/ping http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://www.blogoole.com/ping/ http://www.blogoon.net/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/ http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php http://ping.amagle.com/ http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2 http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/ http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2 http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2 http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/ http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.newsgator.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://rpc.pingomatic.com http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://www.wasalive.com/ping/ Please let me know if there are any others! - Cheers.

I'm often asked what plugins are the best for Wordpress, or if I know of a plugin that provides some specific functionality. A reader commented in one of my earlier posts, asking "...if there were some plugins that would work well with marketing and other stuff..." (10 Steps to Effective eNewsletter Marketing). Some of the benefits of the plugin list below include: Enhanced blog visitor experience. Increased traffic and blog promotion. Improved security and blog performance. Simplified blog management and productivity. Better visitor communication. More effective search engine optimization. Greater integration with popular Internet communities and services. In my post "Why Every Business Can Benefit From a Blog", I discussed some of the tangible benefits inherent to businesses and people who maintain a blog. How blogs can improve your business growth. These plugins further enhance the effectiveness and usability of your blog. All these plugins work with Wordpress 2.6.3. Without further ado, below is my top 25, most beneficial plugins list (in alphabetical order). 1) Admin Management Xtended Extends admin functionality by introducing: toggling post/page visibility inline, changing page order with drag and drop, inline category management, inline tag management, changing publication date inline, changing post slug inline, toggling comment status open/closed, hide draft posts, change media order, change media description inline, ...

When I launched my first blog (a Linux based niche blog) at Ubuntu Linux Help, initially I did not have much content. As content built and traffic grew, I ended up writing some posts that went viral. Three of them were: Top 100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications. Why I Quit Windows and Switched to Linux. Why is Linux Faster than Windows? I enjoyed the traffic those posts provided (and still provide to this day) as they helped my blog grow. I think they were popular because they provided a valuable resource as well as elicited fair bit of discussion, as some of the posts and resulting comments were very outspoken and opinionated. One of the above posts (Why I Quit Windows and Switched to Linux) was a very personal story describing some of my career experiences and how they effected my professional life and thoughts. Imagine my surprise when I found another blog with the identical content on it. So much so, that the author who scraped my content claimed it as his own! At that time I had more than enough technical knowledge to initiate actions that would catch-out scrapers, but I’d not yet fully experienced some of the nitty-gritty administrative ...