Optimize Your Web

People have made wordpress plug ins for everything, but there are certain ones that every blog needs. The following plug ins are compatible with WordPress 2.6.1:

Askimet – http://akismet.com/ and use your Wordpress API key http://wordpress.com/api-keys/
aLinks – http://alinks.headzoo.com/ – Automatically links keywords
All in One SEO Pack – http://semperfiwebdesign.com/ – Add SEO techniques to your blog. Change your settings once, get the benefit each time.
cforms – http://www.deliciousdays.com/cforms-plugin
Google XML Sitemaps – http://www.arnebrachhold.de/redir/sitemap-home/
Sociable – http://yoast.com/wordpress/sociable/
SRG Clean Archives – http://www.idunzo.com/projects/clean-archives/
**Replace Smart Archives on nickswitzer.net

Subscribe to Comments – http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/
WWW Redirect – http://www.justinshattuck.com/wordpress-www-redirect-plugin/
WP-Cumulus – http://www.roytanck.com/2008/03/15/wp-cumulus-released
or Another Tag Cloud Program

Optional Plugins
FlickrRSS – http://eightface.com/wordpress/flickrrss/
Exec-PHP – http://bluesome.net/post/2005/08/18/50/
LinkXL – http://www.linkxl.com/wp_plugin/ – for TLA

This is just a quick little list, if you have any questions or want some advice, please contact me.

One main reason that you should require authorization for every comment and trackback/pingback for your blog is this:  If you don’t, spam will get through and that will negatively rank your blog/website.  It even has the possibility to show up your search results on search engines.  I have seen this first hand, and it makes your site look very unprofessional and very spammish.  I would take the extra 2 minutes and look through your comments and approve or mark as spam.  This is minimal effort with great benefits and should be undertaken by any serious blogger or website administrator.  Setup your options so it notifies you of any comment awaiting authorization and keep your blog looking great and appearing professional.

The first thing to do is to have a site. You can either go to one of the top blogging spots and get a site off of their domain, or what I would recommend, buy a domain. If you plan on either blogging for fun (family, etc.) or for business, a unique domain name is the way to go. Take a look at a few sites which you may want to take a look at which also offer hosting of the site also: (in no particular order) (continue reading…)