Tag Archives: wordpress

WordCamp is for WordPress lovers

Leave a reply
WordPress
Image via Wikipedia

I find myself thanking my friend Brian Copeland in back-to-back posts for being the brains behind not one, but 2 stellar events in Nashville this week. I just posted about Tennessee’s first REBar Camp on Wednesday, 4/28. That was followed on Thursday by a WordCamp – a day devoted to the very popular blogging/website platform – WordPress.   If you are a blogger or if you have a website you should consider WordPress for a number of reasons, which I won’t go into in this post. (I still refer to my copy of  WordPress for Dummies )

The “camp” featured speakers ranging from geeky WordPress design, plugins, etc., to blogging legal issues, to internet and site security, analytics, and other topics revolving around this primo platform.  Like REBarCamp the day before, there was a lot of excellent and useful information as well as an incredible level of sharing.

Thanks to everyone who helped pull this WordCamp together.

6 must-have WordPress plugins

9 Replies

I am little more than a rank beginner in WordPress, but like so many others, once I tried this popular blogging platform, I was hooked. WordPress plug-ins make the blogger’s life a lot easier, and developers are coming up with new ones all the time.  Of the hundreds of plug-ins I have checked out, and the scores I have in use, these are my favorites.  You can find them in the search for Dashboard|Plugins |Add New – just search the names and install directly from the “Install Plugins page”. See the video for visuals.  That is the easiest way to install.  Links below lead to plug-in info or development sites.

Apture allows you to add contextual images, links, maps, music, news, video and other media on the fly as you write your post.  2 Icons in the toolbar of your WYSIWYG editor let you find material to either link or imbed in your post.  The resources are comprehensive, and differentiate between copyrighted and permitted use material. [I used Apture to find and add media to this post]

Easy Adsense –Looking to monetize your blog?  Easy Adsense allows you to paste the ads you create in Adsense into the admin panel, choose where you want the ads to appear (location within the post, on pages, in widgets, etc.) and never have to think of them again until you want to change the parameters

Google Analyticator – If you use Google analytics, this plug-in adds a new dimension.  One very cool feature is that you can see stats for your blog on the blog’s dashboard when you sign in.

Lifestream – Lifestream for business, for your friends, or as a dynamic newsletter.  The lifestream plugin draws from your activities in any of your social media accounts that you choose to display, so the output might be very personal, very business-like or a mixture.  One very simple piece of code lets you make a Lifestream page.  You can also publish your Lifestream as a RSS feed and publish a daily or weekly summary as a blog post – a great substitute for an e-newsletter.

What Would Seth Godin Do– Worth clicking the link to see an explanation of how this plug-in came to be.   Options allow you to automatically add a small note at the beginning or end of a post to thank new visitors to your site.  There is a separate option to thank and engage returning visitors. [see the box at the bottom of this post]

Yet another Related Posts Plug-in -  Ever wondered how much trouble it was to note related posts, even old ones at the end of a blog post?  It’s incredibly easy with YARPP… after a little setup, the plug-in recognizes categories, content and keywords, weighs them and finds similar posts which are automatically linked below the current post.

I have some more favorites I will share in future posts.  Any suggestions?

Social Media Weekend in the Southeast

Leave a reply

I met Matt Fagioli and Brad Nix earlier this year at the incredibly high energy RETech South, a Real Estate oriented event they staged earlier this year.  Last Friday they produced New Media Atlanta that created a lot of buzz in the SM Community.  I was sorry that scheduling conflicts kept me from attending.

getting started

WordCamp BHM -Getting Started

But, I did make it to another new media event, down the improved US Hwy. 78 from Memphis, WordCamp Birmingham, which focused on the WordPress blogging platform.  The event , held at Innovation Depot was well organized with the exception of the need for PA systems and  better projectors.  Those minor glitches were probably the result of the huge number of folks in attendance- triple last year’s turnout, which blew out the original rooms designated for the sessions.   Among the presenters that I got to see  were  Dougal Campbell, Mitch Canter, Sara Cannon, and Andy Ford. Mr. WordPress, himself, Matt Mullenweg,  was the keynote speaker, discussing future WP developments and taking questions from the audience.  The day of sessions was exhaustive and exhausting.  Some of the content was over my head, but much was very useful.

Matt

Matt Mullenweg talks WordPress

Day 2 featured a different venue, the very cool Shift Workspace, with  “roundtable” discussions, which, for me, proved a good time to ask questions I thought too stupid to stand up and ask in front of scores of people.  The experts were open and helpful with their  answers and insights.  I especially enjoyed chats with Mitch Canter of Studio Nashvegas and Travis Finseth  of Nuzu.

Observations and Reflections:

  • The thing that makes social media so captivating is the sharing.  You may not think you know as much, but you always know enough to help someone else.
  • I am doing better with WordPress than I thought I was.  And SEO, too.
  • Engagement is the best marketing.  I met 2 providers I will definitely work with in the near future.
  • WordPress Rocks!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...