September 2008

September 7th in Premium Plug-ins by .

Have you ever wondered how some people keep posting to their blogs each and everyday without getting overwhelmed by the amount of work that is needed to keep multiple blogs up-to-date. For a long time, I wondered about the very same fact, and I always thought that there got to be a WordPress plugin/script out there that could help automate the process. I got to admit that I have tried many free scripts and plugins but none has come close to Autoblogged as far as the features and flexibility offered by this plugin. Not only can you import your RSS feeds to your blog, you can also take advantage of the template provided to make each and every post unique. What does this mean for your WordPress blog? Simple. If you have enough combination of words and phrases in your template, you can make your blog look as if it’s being updated personally by you each and everyday (For me that was a big deal as I did not want my readers to know that I am actually taking time off).

So here is how autoblogged work. You can add your feeds individually to your Autoblogging center through WordPress Dashboard. You then get a chance to define how the tags are going to work out for your feed and what category you want your posts to show up under.

You also get to choose a different author name for each feed or choose a random author for each post. Now I don’t recommend using multiple author names to deceive your users, but it is certainly possible. You can also post vidoes from YouTube to your blog, if you are running a video heavy Wordpres blog.

The template feature is my favorite. It simply sets this WordPress theme apart from any other I have seen. It’s one thing to have the ability to import RSS to your blog. It’s another to have the ability to actually modify each and every post and make them unique.

You can use the template to rotate sentences before and after each RSS post. In addition, you can define where you want the video/image to show up with each post. If you are a bit more advanced, you can use the built in regular expression search and replace feature to take the post optimization feature to the next level (keep in mind that the system automatically recognizes duplicate posts and avoids them. So you can import then RSS feeds from different sites, and just set it and forget it).

This plugin has been a life saver to me. I run over 35 blogs and unlike this one, a lot of them run on autopilot. It is certainly helpful for me to have the ability to automate some of my tasks without having to put hours of time researching for new posts. The price is affordable too. You can get the single server version for only $59. If you are really hardcore, you can get the developer version for only $129, which is a steal really.

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September 6th in Wordpress Books by .

You may have seen this book already, but I just came about it when I was surfing through a list of books that Amazon was recommending I should take a look at. It’s amazing the gems that you can find using the Amazon’s recommendation system. Well. After finishing up this book, I can tell you that this book is indeed a gem.

You have probably seen all these books that claim to teach you something unique. But when you are done with them you feel cheated as they show you only the theory but nothing pragmatic. Well. WordPress Theme Design shows you how to build a custom design WordPress theme from scratch. That’s right. It’s like having someone walk you through the code, showing you how WordPress themes are designed. If you are familiar with PHP, but don’t know your way around WordPress, this book is a must read. In fact, it’s the shortest way to finding your way to WordPress mastery. And if you know programming but don’t know PHP, you can pick it up fast by reading this book. I do recommend you getting one of those PHP in 24 hours books to get you started, but you can certainly follow the code provided in this book and proper explanation is giving as well. Regardless of your level, after rading this book, you will understand the anatomy of a good WordPress theme.

After reading this book, there is no doubt in my mind that Packt Publishing is the best publisher for Open Source technologies out there. They are the best.

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September 4th in Free Plug-ins, Plugin Tips by .

Have you ever wanted to show a note at the top of each of your posts (RSS subscription would be one) to your new visitors but keep them hidden to your regulars? If so, then you should definitely check out the free WordPress plugin WWSGD. It’s an excellent plugin that allows you

What Would Seth Godin Do is a plugin that allows you reach out to your new readers and provide them with a call to action.

As you can see in the image above, you can use the box provided to you by WWSGD to communicate all kinds of information to your visitors. I use it to talk about the latest GPS or PC Deals on my tech blog. The good thing abut it is that you can specifically target the new users and make them feel welcome. At the same time, you can give them the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter or feed, or join your YouTube subscribers.

WWSGD is a free WordPress plugin and is compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Check it out here.

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