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Recommended WordPress plug-ins for blogs

I do not call myself a WordPress guru. I am far from it. However, I have been following the swelling tide of the blog script since its baby days as b2. I have been thrilled with a lot of the developments. There are a lot of tools offered to allow bloggers to become seen by search engines, and overall, get the audience they need. Of course, Wordpress does more than that, so I thought I might divulge a few nifty plugins that I use either here or have for clients.

1. All In One SEO Pack by Michael Torbert. This plugin allows the author to insert keywords into their site. There is one downside. If you have several blog entries show up on a page and a lot of keywords (example: more than 20), it might not work in your favor. On the other hand, this plugin could prove powerful if you are keen and able to choose valuable keywords to describe your posts.

2. CommentLuv by Andy Bailey. CommentLuv allows your visitors to not just leave a comment, but a footprint leading back to their own website with the title of their most recent post. This is great because not just the blog owner can see, but any visitor might also become interested in visiting your other commenter’s sites.

3. Dagon Design Form Mailer. This form is extremely customizable and contains a great verification system.

4. Google XML Sitemaps. This plugin is something I say is extremely essential in making a sitemap that Google will definitely recognize. Although I was going to mention the one by Dagon Design, I have not been able to get it accepted in the Google Webmaster Tools.

5. Sub Pages Widget by Alper Haytabay. The Sub Pages widget allows you to organize your subpages from section to section and choose whether you want to list your root pages on your sidebar. This helps get rid of some of the long list of pages and gives it a more hierarchal look.

I almost made 6 choices, but the WP Link Directory by Sean Bluestone did not make it due to a few captcha errors. I was trying to put this on Blondish.net to help me maintain my link exchanges more efficiently.

However, for the moment, these are the ones I have enjoyed the most. Do you use any of these?

Tags: internet, wordpress

Need Internet Marketing?

Sometimes when you cannot market yourself due to time constraints or lack of knowledge, especially if your site is important to you and you want to increase your site’s popularity, it may be a good idea to invest in an internet marketing agency. One of the places I came across, Pepperjam, is highly popular and is a full service internet and search engine marketing agency.

What does that mean? Well, anyone who invests with Pepperjam will receive services that will do things like maximize the traffice and leads volume to a site. Search Engine Optimization is one of the specialties this company can provide. They focus on areas like meta tags, content optimization, and URL structure. Some of these points I have touched base on within my Webmaster Resources in the Articles section.

Pepperjam is very prestigious with it being the 75th company in the top 500 Inc. With clients like eBay, DNKY, and even Playboy, they are the real thing when it comes to what they do. The great thing about Pepperjam is that they provide services that are organic, search engine-wise so your site is indexed properly! It might cost a bit of money depending on what your expectations are, but my philosophy is that if you cannot do it, then get it done right even if it might cost. As Donald Trump says, “You have to play big to win big.”

Of course, if you are not sure about Pepperjam, they offer a free analysis and proposal which will allow you to see what they can offer.

Tags: internet, paid to review, websites

Are you digitally distinct?

What is digital distinction? Well, digital distinction in regards to social media, though it has no official meaning, is describe as:

Digital Distinction(in my own words): It is a description in the development your own internet branding or your internet reputation. It is how you brand yourself online to be unique and how people can find you.

Why is it important to be digitally distinct? The internet is a huge place with a lot of people in it. Many people have similar interests and may even have the same name. You can have a negative or positve distinction. People will look you up in search engines like Google and can get the gist of what type of person you are online or even perhaps, in real life.

If you have a bunch of negative against you, then you could be hurting your reputation and deterring people from your site. You should try looking up your name in Google and seeing what comes up about you. If it is hateful, the beauty is that you can give a rebuttle if the information found is false. However, if you do, it is a risk, and you should be as diplomatic as possible.

If you do not have any negative marks against you in the search engines, then that is great. You are literally on your way to successfully making yourself unique online. If you have found that you have no negative commentary, try social bookingmarking sites like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon. There are quite a few social bookmarking sites, but remember, a social bookmarking site helps spread the word about your blogging, and thusly, spreading your digital distinction.

To give an example and in-depth look, if anyone were to look up ‘Nile Flores’ in Google, not only is my blog listed first, but about every site I have maintained, or important aspects of my professional life, home life, and online life come up in the search engine. This goes on for the first three pages of 363,000 results, before even starting to pan out.

The general key to making yourself digitally distinct is being yourself. If you are a bitch or an asshole, then you are, and if you are a somewhat of a sweetie, then go on with your bad self. Make your site reflect you and connect with people who you will fit in. Being digitally distinct is like being unique in real life. If you truly want to be unique, then you will make it happen. No one else can do that for you and it really shows when you do a search about yourself in the search engines.

Here is a fun related link on calculating your digital distinctiveness: Online Identity Calculator.

Tags: blog, internet