WP 2.7 has a number of changes which I really like. For starters, you will be able to upgrade to the next version from within the admin panel. I have been using the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin for a couple of months now, and it’s made life a lot easier. But having the upgrade function built into WordPress should be an improvement.

Modules – many of the functions on the edit screens (like ‘Categories’, ‘Tags’ and ‘Custom Fields’) have been changed to modules, which you can move around as you like. You can also decide which ones to show, using the new ‘Screen options’ tab.

Quick Edit – this allows you to edit most of the meta data for a post or page (the title, author, tags etc) without having to load the full edit page. This functionality is based on the Manageable plugin by Aaron Harp (which I discovered a month ago!)

Comments – comments can now be paginated (split into multiple pages) and can be threaded (a commenter can reply to a specific comment in its own thread).

Built-in Plugin Browser – you can now search for and install plugins from within the admin panel.

There’s a complete list of the changes on the WordPress site.

Upgrading to WordPress 2.7 is a post from: Online Business Blog

Although the Automatic Upgrade plugin makes it really quick and easy to update your installation, it would always de-activate all my plugins and not reactivate them again. Manually reactivating plugins over a slow Internet connection is tedious – I get sidetracked while waiting for the page to refresh, so it takes me 10 times longer than it should.

There are a bunch of other minor issues that have been changed or improved in WordPress 2.6 – you can read about them at Technosailor’s blog

WordPress2.6 Released is a post from: Online Business Blog

Some people attempt to paint themselves as an expert by telling everyone what an expert they are. Unfortunately this approach–even when it is true–tends to create the opposite impression.

Here are some tips to help you make an “expert” impression:

• Talk Like an Expert without Apology

  Sometimes even when we are an expert we feign false humility. We pretend we aren’t as accomplished as we are.

  Go ahead and speak with authority. Others will see the difference between your absolutes and imposters’ weaknesses.

• Teach Others How to Do Something in Your Niche

  This is one of the best ways to show your expertise. Don’t just do it, teach it. Let others learn from your expertise.

• Expose Little Know Tips, Tricks and Experiences

  Often the difference between someone who has real expertise and one who has none is the detail they provide. When you provide real details of what your readers will experience as they follow your direction you build your credibility. Your “little tips” and anecdotes will establish you as a real expert.

• Admit Your Lack of Expertise When You Don’t Have It

  One characteristics of true experts is their willingness to admit when they lack expertise. I can teach you hundreds of ways to make money online, but I know absolutely nothing about making money on eBay. If someone asks me about eBay I just admit I have no clue. It’s not something I’ve done before and I’m secure enough in my expertise that I can admit that without any embarrassment or fear.

• Never Attack or Be Defensive

  This is a tough one at times–even for someone with real expertise. If you are online long enough you will see someone doing something that makes your blood boil. You will want to attack them. Or even worse, someone will attack you.

  In almost all (if not all) of these cases your best course of action is to ignore it. When you attack someone else you hurt, not help, your credibility in the minds of many of your readers. When you get defensive, you often look weak.

  If you do have to make a statement, use something neutral. One I like is: “I’ll let my track record speak for itself.” You appear strong and make your accuser appear weak.

Whether you are an expert in trading stocks or in knitting, following these tips will help you to project that image online.

This article is a guest post by Aaron Abber of FullTiltBlogging.com. I am a part of Aaron’s mentoring program where he is teaching me and others how to make money blogging. Go visit the site now and grab his free report “How to Retire on 200 Visitors a Day”.

Blog Marketing: Establishing Expertise is a post from: Online Business Blog

The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy is a post from: Online Business Blog

Akismet
If only I got one non-spam comment for every spam comment Akismet automatically removed…

aLinks
aLinks automatically inserts a link when it detects a predefined keyword in my blog posts. Like when I say “Clickbank!”

Dofollow
Denis de Bernardy has some great stuff on his website, including a free version of his Semiologic theme. This plug-in makes sure that commenters on my blog will get passed a little link love, when I eventually have some to give…

Feed List
Feed List updates the Online Business News section of my sidebar. Not the easiest to use, but it works really well.

Post Schedule Ping Optimizer
This neat little plug-in makes sure that when I edit a post, the directories in my ping list don’t get pinged again. It also ensures that if I create a post with a future date and time, the pings only get sent out when that date and time arrives.

Sociable
This is a great plug-in which adds a configurable cluster of links to social networking sites under each post.

Ultimate Tag Warrior
UTW lets me tag posts easily. It’s an incredibly powerful plug-in, which I need to use more effectively.

What Would Seth Godin Do
This plug-in invites new visitors to subscribe to my RSS feed.

WP PlugIM
This plug-in adds a nifty graphical link to PlugIM at the beginning of each post – you can hardly miss it.

What are your favorite plug-ins?

My Top 9 Plugins is a post from: Online Business Blog

Mona Weathers over at iwebis is hosting a “Mass Buzz Experiment” to grow the community at BlogCatalog. Read about the experiment here.

The great thing about these kinds of ‘interventions’ is that you come across terrific blogs that you might otherwise miss. Here’s a list of the participants so far:

1. iwebis – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz Experiment
2. Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Blog – Why I Love BlogCatalog
3. That Dress is Divine! – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz
4. Blog-Blonde – BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
5. My Life and My Views – Do you also love BlogCatalog?
6. Geeky House Wife – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz
7. Franzone.com – 5 Reasons I Love BlogCatalog
8. RATPage Entertainment Plus -BlogCatalog is My Favorite Social Network for Bloggers
9. RK Web Blog – BlogCatalog: The Power Users Social Network For Bloggers
10. RK Web Portal – Social Networking For Bloggers at BlogCatalog
11. The NHL Arena Program: The virtues of BlogCatalog
12. One Day At a Time – The BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
13. Nukilan Jejari Azhad – BlogCatalog
14. Bryan’s Blog Personal Finance – Let’s Hang Out
15. Slurping Life – The BlogCatalog Buzz
16. I am Who I am: BlogCatalog
17. Journalist und Optimist – BlogCatalog Massenposting-Experiment
18. Joezul – BlogCatalog: The best blog community!
19. 7 Confessions: BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
20. Nusuni – Why I Like BlogCatalog
21. Make Money Online – BlogCatalog
22. Success University -Team Sand – Get Yourself Listed @ BlogCatalog
23. Mom-azing Kreations Blog – The BlogCatalog Buzz!
24. Master The Web – BlogCatalog Social Networking Strategy
25. the beginning – Social Networking BlogCatalog Buzz Experiment
26. Epic Web Strategies – Are you using BlogCatalog?
27. Data Minor Advantag – Meet Me at BlogCatalog
28. Mrs. Mo’s New Jersey – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz
29. blog memories РVoc̻ conhece o Blogcatalog?
30. Creative Writer US – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz – cyber-experiment for bloggers
31. WAHMedia Blogzine – BlogCatalog is a Must Have Networking Tool
32. “To Russia” Blog – BlogCatalog
33. Writer’s Piece – Getting Yourself Listed at BlogCatalog
34. cymru66 – The Power of the BlogCatalog Buzz
35. blog.gkaindl.com – BlogCatalog Community Buzz
36. The SOHO Quest – BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
37. Blog Op – BlogCatalog- Are You In?
38. Keith D Commiskey Et Al. – BlogCatalog: Become a Neighbor , Become a Friend
39. Free Affiliate Marketing and Online Promotion Tips – Are You Using BlogCatalog?
40. The SEM Zone – The Great BlogCatalog Buzz Experiment
41. The BenSpark – BlogCatalog, See it there on the right…
42. RennyBA’s Terella – BlogCatalog Buzz Experiment
43. MomReviews – Are You Using BlogCatalog?
44. New 2 Blog – Social Networking- BlogCatalog
45. My Melange – Choose BlogCatalog
46. Blue Beaver Beer -BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
47. Neonscent.com – BlogCatalog: The New Fire
48. WengOnline – Viral Marketing and BlogCatalog
49. Save. Save. Save. – BlogCatalog Mass Buzz
50. www.tammiebeagle.com – BlogCatalog Rocks!
51. **Untwisted Vortex – BlogCatalog Community Mass Buzz
52. Crisis and Management – BlogCatalog Buzzing

The BlogCatalog Mass Buzz Experiment is a post from: Online Business Blog

I like Fred W. Black’s explanation the best, and he tells you how to do it as well.

Removing the “NoFollow” tag is a post from: Online Business Blog

Cutline has a couple of nifty features, and it claims to be search-engine friendly.

Cutline does nifty pullquotes like this

However, I did a few tweaks to improve my score on James Brausch’s Rasof On-Page Ranking Software. Most of them are counter-intuitive, or the opposite of what the SEO gurus teach – I’m interested to see the results.

James’ blog is currently at #1 on Google for the key phrase “internet business”.

After installing Cutline, my Rasof score for my chosen keyphrase, “online business”, was 1330. Not too bad, but I had done some optimisation with the previous theme. The first thing I did was to get rid of the <H1> tags. Heresy! I hear you cry. But Rasof’s figures are based on statistical analysis of actual search engine results pages, which indicates that the presence of <H1> tags is a negative ranking factor.

Rasof score after installing Cutline: 1330

Rasof score after removing the <H1> tag: 1506

The next thing I did was to add a hard-coded meta description to the header. WordPress doesn’t automatically add a description, and having your keywords at the beginning of the description is a positive ranking factor.

Rasof score after adding meta description: 1604

I also had a look at some of my archive pages. Cutline by default creates an “SEO’ed” title, which looks like this:

Title of the Post — Name of the Blog

Restoring the WordPress default, which looks like this:

Name of the Blog » Title of the Post

had this effect on my previous post:

Rasof score for the Cutline title: 245

Rasof score for the WP default title: 539

Why the difference? Because one of the most powerful ranking factors is having your key phrase at the beginning of the title. My key phrase is “online business”, so my title (and every post title) starts with “Online Business Blog”.

There are good reasons for putting the post name before the blog name, which are to do with useability. Jakob Nielsen wrote an excellent article about writing headlines, page titles and subject lines. But as far as Google is concerned, the keywords should appear at the beginning of the title.

Blog Overhauled For The Second Time In A Month Shock! is a post from: Online Business Blog

It looked dreadful.

I generally only use IE when a site won’t work properly in Firefox, because some idiot programmer assumes that everyone uses Microsoft’s browser. (Unlike me, assuming that everyone uses Firefox…)

OK, I thought, time for a change. The font size was too small, and the line length too short because of the (unnecessary) 3-column layout. I uploaded a bunch of themes I’d got from Guido Stiehle over at EasyWebTutorials.com and had a look through them.

The one I liked the most is called “2C Right SEO” for 2 column, sidebar on the right. I didn’t like the Times New Roman headings, so I started messing with the stylesheet.

The first thing I did was to change the page heading to Century Gothic, a nice “modern” typeface which my previous theme had used. I got rid of a thin border around the whole page, and changed the width of the blog from 98% to 80%.

I tried to change the post headings to Century Gothic as well, but no luck there. Try as I might, I couldn’t get them to do what I wanted. I’m going to have to spend a bit more time on this.

I know that I should really get someone to fix it for me, but I prefer to have the ability to do these little tweaks myself.

New look is a post from: Online Business Blog

Quite often I find that it’s quicker to type in a domain name rather than hunting for the bookmark. If it’s a site I go to regularly, like James Brausch’s blog, it’s easy to start typing ‘jamesbrausch.com’. By the time I get to ‘ja’, Firefox offers me the full URL in a drop-down box, so I can press the down arrow key and then ‘Enter’.

This works for plenty of websites. However, some South African companies don’t play along. If you want to get to their sites, you have to type in ‘www.’ at the start of the URL. Here are some examples (all big corporates):

telkom.co.za
nedbank.co.za
makro.co.za

All of these work with the ‘www.’ but not without.

It seems to me that if you have a big company, you should make it as easy as possible for your customers to find you.

Taylor Coburn has just released a great little video product which explains why you should always redirect your visitors, so that they access the same page whether they use the ‘www.’ or not.
(If you’re quick, you can get it for $7).

Apart from the ‘ease of typing’ reason, there are serious search engine implications if you don’t use a redirect.

In Taylor’s videos, he explains the reasons for redirecting, and shows exactly how to do it using his ‘Process to Profits’ blog as an example.

One quibble I have is that the redirect scripts he gives only work on Apache servers. If your web host uses IIS, you’ll have to find another way to do it.

Some other points to consider:

1. Tim Bromhead has a simple explanation and some suggestions here: Which is better for your site: www or no www?

2. no-www.org gives some reasons for doing away with the ‘www’ in a URL. They also have a great little verification tool – just type in your URL and it’ll tell you if there’s a redirect in place or not.

3. On the opposite site, www.hm2k.com/articles/yes-www/ proposes that using ‘www.’ is a good thing.

4. James Brausch’s Nemeas software is quite clear about this – ‘www.’ is a positive ranking factor. Results for my blog (with no keyword) are:

75,http://www.lxmarketing.com/
-39,http://lxmarketing.com/

Also check out Mike Schinkel’s Well Designed URLs blog.

Cheers,

No-www or yes-www? is a post from: Online Business Blog