Choosing WordPress: Which WordPress to Choose?

There has recently been some confusion over the issue and types of WordPress blogs. Here is a brief summary to help you understand which is which, what you can do with each, to help you choose your ideal WordPress blog system.

The Taboo Topics You Need to Know When Choosing A Web Host

A while ago I asked for recommendations on web hosting features (not web hosts), and while most people recommended their favorite web hosts or complained about them, the list of criteria to look for in a good web host was skimpy. I was thrilled to run across Web Hosting Show’s Secret Taboo Topics in the […]

One Year Anniversary Review: Choosing a WordPress Theme

One of the slick features with all WordPress and WordPress.com blogs is the ability to change the look of your blog in seconds. This feature was added in WordPress 1.5 in the beginning of 2005 and continues to be one of the most fascinating and exciting features WordPress has to offer. With WordPress, you can […]

Genealogy Blog: Choosing a Blog Title and Domain Name and URL

Deciding what your blog name and title should be might be easy for you. If your blog is about cats, then you can call it the “Cat Blog” or “About Cats Blog” and have the domain name/URL (address) be http://www.catblog.com or http://www.aboutcats.com. If your name is Sally Smith, you might want to call it http://www.sallysmith.com […]

WordPress versus Movable Type: Choosing a Winner?

Since June 2005, Problogger’s WordPress vs Movable Type post has gotten over 80 responses and so far, it looks like WordPress is winning. This was followed in January 2006 with an unscientific poll of Problogger readers of which blog platforms users preferred. The results were interesting. The results had a few surprises for me. While […]

Benefits of WordPress: Choosing What You Turn On and Turn Off

There is a lot to love about WordPress, and one of the great things is the ability to choose what you turn on and turn off through the use of powerful WordPress Plugins like the new Admin Revert WordPress Plugin by Owen Winkler of Asymptomatic. The yet-to-be-released WordPress 1.6 is still in alpha-moving-towards-beta testing, and […]

Choosing a WordPress Theme

You’ve successfully installed WordPress to your site and hopefully poked around the Themes that come with the basic WordPress installation. Before you choose a new WordPress Theme, make sure you take the time to look at these Themes FIRST. Begin by making at least THREE posts. Add a comment to one or two of them, […]

Blog Exercises: Page and Post Abuse

If you are on WordPress, you are familiar with the concept of Pages and Posts. If you are on another Content Management System (CMS), it is likely you have similar content with a different name. In WordPress, Pages, with a capital P, are pseudo-static web pages on your site. They exist outside of the reverse […]

Blog Exercises: Who Changed Your Life?

This is one of the special Blog Exercises this year, a chance to really celebrate who you are and those who helped make you. As we travel through life, people change our lives on a daily basis as well as for a lifetime. Today’s exercise is focused on those who stepped in your path and […]

Blog Exercises: Own Your Site and Protect Yourself

I hear it every day. A webmaster, developer, or designer does the site owner wrong and the site owner is victimized, helpless, and frustrated with what to do next. I’ve gotten calls in the middle of the night from people around the world trying to get help recovering their WordPress password because their “web guy” […]

The Brute-Force Password Attack on WordPress Sites

My mother emailed me and asked if WordPress was under attack. With all the news of last week’s attack of the Boston Marathon, the attacks on WordPress and other PHP-based web publishing sites was low on the priority list for myself and others, but this is something to take seriously. As we get back to […]

The Secret Recipe of Comment Spam Comments

Mr. Louis Vuitton just sent me a message in my blog comments I’d like to share with you. I share this touching message because it is highly educational when it comes to the art of spam comments, and serves to remind us of why we love having Akismet, the best comment spam fighter, on our […]

Blog Exercises: How to Tag Posts

Categories are your site’s table of contents. Tags are your index words. While it is simple to explain the two basic organizational and navigation elements of a WordPress site, coming up with tags for each post is a struggle many bloggers battle. Tags represent micro-categorization of your site’s content. It helps the visitor find closely […]

Blog Exercises: Polls and Surveys

Gathering data on the web is an important part of the business of the web. It’s your turn to start gathering. In today’s Blog Exercises, you will be creating a poll or survey. Polls and surveys can be placed in posts or in your sidebar, depending upon the technique you choose. If you are on […]

Blog Exercises: What is the Name of Your Site?

What is the name of your site? In WordPress, every site has a title and a tagline or subtitle. What is yours? Choosing a name for your site can be a challenge and your next Blog Exercise in this year-long series of exercises to help you improve your blog. Sometimes choosing a name for your […]