XD Web Solutions » Wordpress

Interview: Keys To Building a Successful Blog

Kesha — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:52:18 +0000

It is such a great pleasure when others ask me to share my expertise and/or experiences. I was overwhelmingly enthused when Kim Foster, of Digital Media for Women of Color, asked me to be a part of her interview series.

Check it out (audio hosted on Kim’s website)…

Highlights of our discussion include:

The biggest myths about building a blog
How personal should you get when blogging?
Where to find inspiration for blog posts?
How often should you blog?
The best ways to promote your blog
Brand monitoring tools
The key to building a successful business online
and more!

Your turn…

I’d love for you to check it out and if you have any feedback, leave a comment and let me know!

Also, Kim is looking for more women of color in tech and digital media to interview and would love your suggestions!

Thank you for subscribing to our RSS feed and keeping up with the latest articles! Be sure to connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.

Why You Should Always Upgrade Your WordPress Blog

Kesha — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:53:09 +0000

Hey guys, did you see one of the new cool features on your WordPress website/blog in the latest WordPress 3.1 upgrade?

Cool New Admin Bar

Pretty cool eh?

You can also hide or disable the Admin Bar if you aren’t as excited about it as I am. Go to your User Profile options and deselect it.

Reasons Why You Should ALWAYS Keep Your Blog Updated

Keeps your site secure and safe from idiotic hackers. Geesh, don’t people have anything better to do!?!?
The WordPress folks are continuously giving us new cool things to play with like the new admin bar that’s on our site when we’re logged in!
Could eliminate the need for certain plugins by giving us the functionality “out of the box” – can’t beat that.

Fun Fact!

WordPress 3.1 “Reinhardt” is named in honor of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Version 3.1 is available for download, or you can update from within your dashboard. -WordPress News

Notes

You should make it a best practice to back up your WordPress database and files before upgrading.
Then update your plug-ins immediately after updating WordPress itself.

Thank you for subscribing to our RSS feed and keeping up with the latest articles! Be sure to connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.

Mobile Blogging: How to Keep Your Blog Running On the Go

Kesha — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:43:58 +0000

Have you ever had some great blog post ideas when you were away from your computer? Ever wondered how you could manage and maintain your WordPress blog on the go, including moderating your comments?

Well, question no further! I’ve seen people blogging on their phones a lot lately and with faster, bigger screens and keyboards, it’s getting a whole lot easier to blog from your phone and, in a lot of cases, is a lifesaver.

Gone are the days where you need to wait to get to your computer to blog. If you have a mobile phone or other device with an Internet connection, you can post blog entries while you’re on the road.

If you have a WordPress blog and an Android/Blackberry/Nokia/iOS platform based phone, then you are in luck.

Select your phone’s platform from the options below, and download WordPress to your phone. Easy, simple, quick

Blackberry: http://blackberry.wordpress.org

Android: http://android.wordpress.org

iPhone/iPod touch/iPad: http://ios.wordpress.org

Windows 7 Phone: http://windowsphone.wordpress.org

Is it Useful?

The greatest advantage of using cell phones for blogging is the portability.

However, the greatest disadvantage is that it’s not your laptop so you are working on a smaller space and for some people, it’s not optimal.

**Watch the WordPress for Android Quick Video (each platform has a similar version)**

Sources: ArtDeal, WordPress

Your turn…

Do you blog on the go? Do you find that it helps to manage your blog while you’re away from your computer? Please comment below as I’d love to hear your story!

Thank you for subscribing to our RSS feed and keeping up with the latest articles! Be sure to connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.

Poll: How Many WordPress Plugins Do You Use?

Kesha — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:00:24 +0000

Okay ya’ll, it’s poll time! I recently realized I now have 23 active plugins and considering more (like the top commenter’s widget)! I asked myself, “Kesha girl, how many is too many???“

Yes, I have conversations like this with myself…LOL : – )

So I thought I’d ask others how many plugins are installed on their blogs. Of course there is no correct answer as this is not a test, but it will be interesting to see if there is a particular number of plugins that most people use (if you have multiple blogs, just provide an average number).

So go count your plugins and cast your vote!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: It just seems easier (and faster) to install a plugin than to hard code/adjust functionality to the theme. As of today, 1/21/2011, here are the plugins currently installed on this blog:

However, if you have ideas on what I can do to easily add functionality to the blog and remove some of these plugins, please let me know!

Your turn

Please share this poll with others to gain more poll data. Also, let us know in the comments what your top/favorite plugins are and what you can’t live without!

Thank you for subscribing to our RSS feed and keeping up with the latest articles! Be sure to connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.

What The Heck Are Trackbacks & How Do I Use Them?

Kesha — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:22:51 +0000

Have you seen the section called Trackbacks on people’s blogs? Or maybe you’ve seen in a blog’s comment section, it lists links next to people’s names instead of an actual comment. I used to wonder what the heck that was. The more I visited others’ blogs, the more I saw the word “trackback“. Suddenly, my curiosity got the better of me and because I can’t stand not knowing something, I looked it up. I had to see what I was missing out on.

So what is a trackback? Susan, from 5MinutesforMom.com said it best, “A Trackback is like a remote comment.”

Well, lo and behold, I’ve learned trackbacks can be extremely useful in a number of ways.

For one, trackbacks can extend a conversation from one blog to another. If, for instance, on somebody else’s blog there is a great post with stimulating conversation and you think your followers would benefit from learning and chiming in, you essentially create a blog post about the same topic and link back to that blog post (as a trackback). That blog owner will be notified that you’ve linked back to their site which may prompt him/her to come over to your blog and see how you’ve extended the message and (hopefully) chime in as well.
It’s excellent promotion for both bloggers’ posts. Not only can it help your Link Juice (which search engines love by the way), but also the original owner’s Link Juice as well.
Just as you cite references to content works, using trackbacks is like “citing” a reference which happens to be a blog post. It’s like having another valuable and useful train of thought on the topic in addition to your own.

So, Kesha, how do I use trackbacks? Okay okay, I’m getting to it. I found two great tutorials for you. Aren’t I so nice!

Resources:

How to Use Trackbacks to Promote Your Blog
How To Use Trackbacks Tutorial (Google Video)

I’m definitely gonna be using this tool more often, when necessary of course, and I urge you to do the same!

It’s so easy, a Caveman can do it! Go ahead and try it. It’s fun!

Thank you for subscribing to our RSS feed and keeping up with the latest articles! Be sure to connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.