Keeping your Wordpress Plugins up-to-date is a good idea for many reasons, not the least of which is keeping your blog secure. Good plugin developers will track and fix known security probelms with their plugins, but if you aren’t upgrading then it isn’t going to do you much good, is it?!?!
The last few releases of Wordpress have made it very easy to upgrade your plugins with one click per plugin. But when you are installing a new blog, sometimes you have to upgrade twenty different plugins. And this can take a few minutes to do.
So for those of us who are too lazy to upgrade each plugin, there is a savior:
One Click Plugin Upgrader
This free wordpress plugin will give you something like this:
Click on the image above to see a larger version.
Anyways, I really suggest adding this plugin to your arsenal of Wordpress plugins. If it helps you to keep all of your plugins up-to-date, then you are going to be very happy to have it.
Best,
Brad
Are you Looking for ways to make your blog better?
Do you want your blog to stand out from the crowd?
Are You Wondering why your Blog doesn’t get the search engine traffic it should?
If you answered yes to any of those questions then we need to talk.
By taking a close look at your site before our hour-long consultation, I can offer you custom tailored advice for maximizing your blog or website’s traffic. Together we will create and define a long-term blueprint for your blog, and I can offer you the tools and troubleshooting to get you on the right path!
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Wordpress is getting more and more attention. USA Today (see the article) recently came out with a profile of Matt Mullenweg- the CEO of Auttomattic and the creator of Wordpress. It makes me so happy to see Matt getting the press he deserves.
Here’s a few quotes from the article if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing…
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Chris Pearson is a wonderful asset to the Wordpress Community. If you haven’t heard about the new Thesis Theme, then you should go check it out now.
I’m not going to rank and rave here about the Thesis Theme because there is plenty of that on the rest of the web. Let’s just say that I’m impressed with it enough to take the dive and put it into use here at BradleySpencer.com…
There is one HUGE problem with the Thesis Theme though…
And it is that without much background in PHP, it can be very difficult to make any significant changes to the theme without breaking it. Because Thesis is so advanced, there is a super-steep learning curve for Wordpressers who just want something done the way they’ve always done it. You just aren’t going to get that with Thesis. [click to continue…]
Client: “OK, so my main site is doing well. We’ve got a bunch of links, some age on the domain name, a decent pagerank, and a couple hundred indexed pages. But the domain name itself doesn’t have our main keyword(s) in it. And I see a bunch of the highest rank websites have the equivalent of a “vanity URL”… it’s chock full of keywords. So what do we do?”
SEO: “Well gee, it depends” (aka: The SEO’s Standard Response)
It’s a question that all of us SEO’s have had to answer at one time or another. And there isn’t a whole lot of agreement across the board (so I invite anyone with expert experience in this department to chime in below in the comments section.) Until we have a tested answer to the question, I’ll wildly speculate on the best approach.
The Problem: Let’s re-phrase the question with an example to make sure we are all on the same page:
Let’s say Ying’s Teahouse and Yum Yum is trying to rank for “Columbus Chinese Food.” And Ying bought www.yingsteahouseandyumyum.com when she started the business 5 years ago and has added a bit of content slowly over the last five years. The domain is five years old and is getting steady traffic and has picked up some decent links along the way.
But now Ying is thinking that maybe buying www.columbuschinesefood.com will get her higher in the rankings. And to boot, she also bought up clintonvillechinesefood.com, centralohiochinesefood.com, ohiosbestchinesefood.com, and a handful of other keyword rich domains. So what do we do now?
My Opinion: Google’s search algo. is constantly searching for a balance in the importance of keywords in the domain name. About a year ago, domain name keywords didn’t have a whole lot of importance, but lately there seems to be a good deal more importance placed on the keywords in the domain. Who knows where it will be in 6 months? [click to continue…]
There’s a very cool free chapter from Wiley Book Publisher about What’s New in Wordpress 2.5.
I was looking for something thorough and yet concise for a client, and came across this ebook.
It’s a good overview of Wordpress in general, but has taken into account some of the recent changes for Version 2.5.If you are anything like me, you’ll enjoy being able to print this out and have it next to your desk.
You can download the pdf here: What’s New in Wordpress 2.5
NOTE: If you are into free ebooks, you can grab my Wordpress Search Engine Optimization Blueprint too. Click here for that. [click to continue…]
There comes a time in every blogger’s/webmaster’s/designer’s life where you get tired of working with a site. Maybe your interest in the niche slipped into non-existence or you got tired of the work and updates that seem never-ending. Sound familiar?
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There are literally thousands of SEO blogs, a handful of SEO books, and almost a lifetime of SEO tidbits that might make your site preform better in the Search Engines. In this post, I’d like to distill everything you’ll ever hear about Search Engine Optimization. I’m going to pare it down to an easy-to-understand picture so you can easily cut through the fog of Search Engine Optimization. Whether you are looking to hire a stellar SEO, want to do some SEO yourself, or just want to get an idea of how Search Engines interpret their results, this should help in your endeavor.
Search Engines are getting better everyday and giving better results. Slowly, Google and the gang are getting better at knowing if your site is authoritative, unique, and worthwhile to their searchers. We don’t know how they determine it, or quantify it, and we likely never will. But they know, and they are getting better at filtering the good and bad with each and every algorithm tweak.
Everything in SEO falls into two camps: On-Page SEO factors, and Off-Page SEO factors.
-On Page SEO Factors Include: Links around your own site, title tags, meta tags,your written content, etc. and optimizing all of this to give a clear picture to the Search Engines about your subject matter.
-Off Page SEO Factors Include: All the links to your site and their anchor text, all the buzz about your site, people remembering your site or message, viral linking, linkbait, and everything else that the creative marketers think up to get links and headspace.
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Riding back and forth to work from Victorian Village to German Village and straight through the Short North District of Columbus, Ohio today was pretty interesting.
Not only is the night air starting to feel a bit more spring-ish, but I noticed that there was a certain Buzz about downtown Columbus. And, oh yeah, there were lots of very big and strong people strolling around with huge bags.
It turns out that it’s the Arnold Classic time again. And it might be the perfect storm of events for Columbus with an Arnold Classic, First Friday, and Cage Fighting match all in one night. Geez.
The only thing that would make this more nuts is a Michigan vs. Ohio state game. Thank God for the off-season.
-Brad
Let’s collectively cut through all of the “Consultant” red tape.No matter who you are, what your budget, or your knowledge of Wordpress, I am happy as a clam to work with you to make your Wordpress site kick butt.
Check out my page devoted to Wordpress Consulting and let’s get started on your project this week!
My name is Brad and I love to help people drive traffic and make great blogs. Thanks for coming by. If you like what you see here then check me out on 
