Strategic Blogging Manifesto
There are many people sharing tips on blogging, a little here, a little there. So you have to learn a bit from one person then learn a bit more from another & basically put many pieces of the puzzle together, all by yourself.
This time, I will open up my wordpress settings & plugins, showing you EXACTLY what I use & how I set it. At the end of it I will give you a precompiled zip file with all the plugins inside. Go grab your favorite drink, make yourself comfortable & start reading because this post is gonna be long…..
Before we get started, have you set up your wordpress blog? If not, you should set up your wordpress quickly before we get started.
Are you ready? Let’s put your wordpress blog on steriods right now!
Login to your wordpress interface now. We will begin with your settings before we talk about plugins.
- Click on manage, followed by categories, look at the categories you have, make sure they are all keyword-rich. This means that each category should be using relevant keyword or key phrases that you would like to rank well in the search engines.
- Click on options, followed by general, look at your blog title, make sure it is keyword-rich. Once again, this means that your blog title should be using relevant keyword or key phrases that you would like to rank well in the search engines.
- Click on options, followed by reading, for your blog pages, show at most 5 posts. In this way, there will not be too many conflicting keywords on your main page. For your syndication feeds, for each article, show summary rather than full feeds, this is a great way to get peoeple to your blog to read the full post.
- Click on options, followed by permalinks, now you need to make your permalinks friendly for both visitors & search engines. Here’s how you fix your permalinks.
- Click on presentation, followed by theme editor, then click on comments.php, which is the side. Make sure you CHMOD comments.php to either 666 or 777 so that you can edit it.
- Look for this piece of code: <?php comment_author_link() ?>
- Replace it with: <a href=”<?php comment_author_url(); ?>” target=”_blank” rel=”no follow”><?php comment_author(); ?></a>
- You know what you just did? You just made all the links of your commentors open in a new browser. This will prevent you from losing traffic unnecessarily.
- Look at the HTML code below, replace www.blogurl.com with your own blog URL & paste that piece of code on your sidebar or anywhere else you prefer. This will allow others to add your blog as a Technorati favorite. This link will open in a new browser & it is also a “no follow” link.
- <a href=”http://technorati.com/faves?add=http://www.blogurl.com” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”><img src=”http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/tech-fav-1.png” alt=”Add to Technorati Favorites”></a>
- Click on options, followed by writing, then look at update services, it contains your ping list, simply add the links below into it.
- 1470.net,/api/ping/,80
- api.feedster.com,/ping/,80
- api.moreover.com,/RPC2/,80
- api.moreover.com,/ping/,80
- api.my.yahoo.com,/RPC2/,80
- api.my.yahoo.com,/rss/ping/,80
- bitacoles.net,/ping.php,80
- bitacoras.net,/ping/,80
- blogdb.jp,/xmlrpc/,80
- blogdigger.com,/RPC2/,80
- blogmatcher.com,/u.php,80
- blogoole.com,/ping/,80
- blogoon.net,/ping/,80
- blogpeople.net,/servlet/weblogUpdates/,80
- blogroots.com,/tb_populi.blog?id=1,80
- blogshares.com,/rpc.php,80
- blogsnow.com,/ping/,80
- blogstreet.com,/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi,80
- blog.goo.ne.jp,/XMLRPC/,80
- bulkfeeds.net,/rpc/,80
- coreblog.org,/ping/,80
- lasermemory.com,/lsrpc/,80
- mod-pubsub.org,/kn_apps/blogchatt/,80
- mod-pubsub.org,/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php,80
- newsisfree.com,/xmlrpctest.php,80
- ping.amagle.com,/,80
- ping.bitacoras.com,/,80
- ping.blo.gs,/,80
- ping.bloggers.jp,/rpc/,80
- ping.blogmura.jp,/rpc/,80
- ping.cocolog-nifty.com,/xmlrpc/,80
- ping.exblog.jp,/xmlrpc/,80
- ping.feedburner.com,/,80
- ping.myblog.jp,/,80
- ping.rootblog.com,/rpc.php,80
- ping.syndic8.com,/xmlrpc.php,80
- ping.weblogalot.com,/rpc.php,80
- ping.weblogs.se,/,80
- pingoat.com,/goat/RPC2/,80
- popdex.com,/addsite.php,80
- rcs.datashed.net,/RPC2/,80
- rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com,/RPC2/,80
- rpc.blogrolling.com,/pinger/,80
- rpc.pingomatic.com,/,80
- rpc.technorati.com,/rpc/ping/,80
- rpc.weblogs.com,/RPC2/,80
- snipsnap.org,/RPC2/,80
- trackback.bakeinu.jp,/bakeping.php,80
- topicexchange.com,/RPC2/,80
- weblogues.com,/RPC/,80
- xping.pubsub.com,/ping/,80
- xmlrpc.blogg.de,/,80
Alright! Let’s dive right into the plugins…..
- Ultimate Google Analytics: Without touching a single line of PHP or HTML code, you can add Google Analytics on your blog. It also includes options to also track external links & links to downloads.
- Add Signature: Instead of just adding a signature, you can add a link to some affiliate offer, your own product or even an RSS button. You will be surprised how effective this little plugin can be.
- AdSense Deluxe: This is for adding AdSense ads on your blog without messing around with your theme. I rarely use it as I have moved away from AdSense for quite some time already.
- Akismet: Probably one of the most important plugins, it helps you keep your blog from spam.
- ALinks: It automatically links keywords in your blog post, it also tracks the number of clicks you get on your links. Some people use it to add affiliate links all over, some people use it to link back to their other blog posts, which encourages the reader to read more.
- Contact Form: Forget about messing around with php code just to create a contact form, simply use this plugin to get a nice looking contact form on your blog. There are a few other plugins that does the same thing & have more functions but so far, I am happy with it & will continue to use it.
- Run PHP: Allows you to put PHP code into a post. You will rarely use it but it is convenient to have it there. Works with Extended Live Archives.
- WP PHP My Admin: It allows you to access your PHP My Admin from your wordpress interface. I am not a PHP expert, neither can I do much coding, the reason why I use this plugin is so that when I hire someone to fix my blog, they can access it quickly.
- Feedburner Replacement: If you use feedburner, you will love this. This plugin makes it easy to direct your traffic for your RSS feeds to your feedburner feed. It can then track all your RSS subscriber traffic.
- FeedWordPress & SmartRSS: They automatically post RSS feeds on your blog. FeedWordPress has the option to create new catagories as the feeds are posted. SmartRSS will post feeds on categories of your choice. Personally, I prefer SmartRSS but I sill like FeedWordPress.
- Google XML Sitemaps: More more details about google sitemaps plugin.
- Sitemap Generator: This can be used to create an archive page. First you create a page instead of a post & you add either of the code below & there you have it, self updating archives based on your categories. The first code did not work for me but the 2nd did work fine.
- <!– ddsitemapgen –>
- <?php echo ddsg_create_sitemap(); ?>
- Headspace2: Meta-data manager which allows you control over all SEO needs such as keywords, tags, titles, description, stylesheets, and many other things. As useful as it is, I am not too sure how to use it in the most effective way, also I do not bother much with meta-data.
- SEO Title Tag: More details about SEO title tag plugin.
- Live Comment Preview: Allow your readers a live comment preview, an optional plugin but it sure is nice to look at.
- MyBlogLog Tracking ID: This plugin allows you to mybloglog.com tracking code to your blog without having to touch a line of PHP or HTML code. If most of your blog readers do not have blogs, just leave this out.
- MyAvatars: This plugin allows you to add mybloglog.com avatars to blog comments. Once again, if most of your blog readers do not have blogs, just leave this out.
- <?php if(function_exists(”MyAvatars”)) MyAvatars(); ?> add this code to your theme. (comments.php)
- OnlyWire: This is a self serving plugin. Only you will bookmark your own posts on multiple social bookmarking services. In case you are not sure what is OnlyWire, it is a free service that allows you to bookmark your blog post with multiple social bookmarking services all at once.
- <?php onlyWire(); ?> add this code to your theme.
- Permalink Redirect: This plugin will help you prevent duplicate content within your own blog. Example, your blog URL is http://www.yourblog.com, and accessing http://yourblog.com will be redirected to http://www.mydomain.com.
- Remember, with & without www. does make a difference. Usually we would have to mess around with the .htaccess to do that but this plugin allows us to do it in an instant. I also like the function that redirects all RSS feeds to a Feedburner feed address.
- Post Schedule Ping Optimizer: (Not sure about the URL but I included this in one single precomplied plugin zip file.) It optimizes pinging function, (which saves your blog from getting black listed at ping services), by avoiding unnecessary ping as well as it make sure to ping your blog when pinging is actually needed. Just set it up once & forget it.
- Post Teaser: This generates a preview or “teaser” of a post for your blog pages, with a link to go to the full post page. After you installed this plugin, use this setting: (It helps with your overall link structure & encourages people to click as well.)
- <a href=”%permalink%” title=”Permanent Link: %plain_title%” rel=”bookmark”><q>%title%</q> - Click Here To Read Full Post</a>
- Related Posts: This plugin displays a list of the related blog posts based on active keywords. It helps to make your blog more sticky, as it encourages your readers to read even more. Display about 5 links, do not display more than 7 links, it will confuse your readers.
- <?php related_posts(); ?> add this code to your theme.
- RSS Auto Submit: (Not sure about the URL but I included this in one single precomplied plugin zip file.) This plugin will automatically submit your RSS feed to several RSS directories once per month. Grey hat stuff, I like it!
- Auto Social: You can have your posts submitted automatically to social bookmarking sites, del.icio.us. At the moment you can only submit to del.icio.us with one single account but other sites might be added soon. There is no way they can allow you to add multiple accounts.
- Note: If you are keen to submit automatically to multiple social bookmarking accounts, randomly, using multiple accounts, email me at my contact form & I will tell you more.
- Add This Blog: I prefer it over Sociable, because it looks so much neater. they both add links on your posts, so that your readers can bookmark it to popular social bookmarking sites. If you write crappy content, nobody will read it, let alone bookmark it.
- Subscribe To Comments: It allows commenters on your blog to check a box before commenting & get email updated of further comments. This helps to build a community around your blog by encouraging commenters to come back and stay engaged in the conversation.
- What Would Seth Godin Do: New visitors that visit your blog will see a small box above or under each post telling them to subscribe to your RSS feed. After a few visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location. One of my favorite plugins.
- Wordpress Database Backup: It creates backups of your wordpress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.
- Full Text Feeds: This allows you to publish full text RSS feeds. From now on, every time anyone scrapes your blog via your RSS feed & republishes it they will be deep linking to 5 or more of your existing posts. Not just deep linking but linking to the anchor text of your choice, how do you like that?
- Related Posts On RSS Feeds: This will encourage your RSS readers to read more of your blog posts.
- WP Amazon: It adds the ability to search and include items from Amazon to your entries. You can even add your own affiliate links into it. Amazon affiliate program pays so little, takes so long to pay & has poor affiliate cookie tracking so I rarely use it.
- WP Email: This allows people to email your blog post to a friend. Once again, if you write crappy content, nobody will read it, let alone send to their friend.
- <?php if(function_exists(’wp_email’)) { email_link_image(); } ?> add this code to your theme.
- WP Polls & WP Polls Widget: This adds a poll system to your blog. Forget about buying expensive survey software or some silly survey services. It is so easy to use that once you look at the interface, you will know exactly what to do.
- WP Print: It displays a printable version of your blog post, giving your readers the option to print out & read it again. If you write really long blog posts, you better use this plugin.
- <?php if(function_exists(’wp_print’)) { print_link_image(); } ?> add this code to your theme.
Seems like a long list of plugins! I am not done yet! Here are 2 more very important plugins.
- RSS Footer: This plugin makes it real easy to add a line of text to the beginning or the end of all the blog posts in your feeds. This will also link back to your blog. Why use it? Read point 2, ProBlogger
explains it all.
- Instant Upgrade: Forget about manually upgrading wordpress or even using fantastico to upgrade it. With this plugin, you can upgrade it instantly with just one click, right inside your wordpress interface. Remember to do a backup as you know that no plugin is 100% reliable.
If you were to download each of these plugins one at a time, how long would you take? Forget it, simply grab this precompiled plugin file, all the plugins that I mentioned here are all inside.
Before I forget, here are some important tips to prevent your wordpress from being hacked.
What do you think? Feel free to drop me a comment. Also, do check this out, if you like to receive more updates.
May You Prosper & Be In Health,
P.S. Here's how you can have money-making blogs, quickly & easily.....
12 Responses to “Strategic Blogging Manifesto”
Samuel, I hate you! You just made those blogging gurus go out of business!
Did I? Haha, I don’t really care anyway. I rather post this information on my blog than to package it into some lame $37 ebook on blogging.
Hi Samuel,
Your Strategic Blog Manifesto Rocks. I am going to dig into it with a knife and fork and make some changes at my blog.
Can I ask you some specific questions about my wordpress blog? Let me know - Keep the awesome content coming, bro!
Mark Brown a.k.a Militant Marketer / Warrior Leader
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the compliment. I’m very glad that you like Strategic Blog Manifesto. Feel free to drop me your questions regarding your blog on my contact form.
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Samuel,
This post is simply awesome. The information available here is simply priceless. Solved quite a few issues I was facing with my niche blogs. Thanks!
Samuel: Heartfelt thanks for posting this excellent and timely information. I really appreciate it!
One quick question regarding the Print this Post plugin:
Where exactly in the theme do you ad this code?
Hey Alvin,
Thanks for using the word “awesome” to describe this post. Glad to know that it solved some of your issues.
Hi Val,
Good to know that you enjoy this post. You can add the code on the pages.php, index.php, main.php, all depending on your theme.
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May God continue to bless you and all of yours,
Don D. Morrison
Hi Don,
Thanks for removing my content. Remember not to take content from other people’s blog. Anyway I am glad that you like my content.
If you want to use my content, you can use any of the articles that I posted on ezine articles but you got to link back to me. You can link back to me with your own affiliate link so you get a chance to be paid if someone buys any of my products through your link. In short, you not only have good content to post, you can even get paid for it.
Use my any of the articles here:
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Get your affiliate links here:
http://www.tipsfromexpert.com
Same goes for anyone who is reading this.
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