WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er

If you have installed WordPress 2.2 you absolutely MUST upgrade to the latest version 2.2.1. This new version not only addresses the few bug fixes but most importantly several security issues. Read all issues addressed here.

At least one of them already has an exploit out “in the wild”. XML-RPC exploit affects ONLY WordPress 2.2 and only blogs that allow registration or blogs that already have registered members as it relies on existing account to perform SQL injection and allows attacker to take full control of your blog. Here are some details on this exploit on WordPress support forums and here is a post by someone who already been hacked.

Second security issue addressed was PHPMailer and if you use Sendmail on your blog for mail function – you need to check this one.

Upgrade Notes: If running 2.2 then you must upgrade, this is not optional if you want to save yourself pain of recovering from hack. Here is some information you might find useful.

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What do all these things have in common? Actually quite a lot …

But lets start with Jack London. He is one of the most known American writers and he was also “one of the first Americans to make a huge financial success from writing” (Wikipedia). Well guess what?! You are NOT him! And neither am I, or do I ever expect to become like him. So here is the Big Question:

• Why Give Me A Cut-off Feed From Your Blog?

Yeah, there I said it. Feel free to blast me for it in comments but before you do perhaps my short explanation will be worth reading?

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Web 2.0 is all about interaction about people without boundaries. Unfortunately not everyone speaks English and I think giving an option to people to read your pages in their native language is a definite fit for any web 2.0 blog. Should you add an option to have your pages automatically translated or not is up to you but here is what I have found:

• After just 2 weeks my logs show that an option to translate my pages have been used over 300 times. Not much you might think but I look at it as I managed to reach a market that I would have never got a word to before.

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Not all plugins created equal and while all of them enhance [tag-tec]WordPress[/tag-tec] core functionality in one way or another some go way beyond and take [tag-tec]blog[/tag-tec] platform beyond its intended use be it a new way to present content, earn via AdSense or other affiliate programs, etc.

What you are about to read is my view of what innovation is and my personal opinion based on my own experience with these plugins. I’m creating it as much for my own reference as for your enjoyment. Perhaps you will find some of them useful to your bloggin efforts and disagree with me on others. Either way I welcome your comments and contributions.

If you think I have missed a [tag-tec]plugin[/tag-tec] that fits this list – please provide a link in your comments, as I’m sure everyone would love to know about it.

• FeedSmith – formerly known as Feedburner Feed replacement this plugin is a must have to extend options available for your RSS feeds. Perhaps one of the most useful functionalities of this plugin is extended stats about your feed readers.

• aLinks – an awesome plugin that allows you to monetize on your blog without annoying your readers. Simply specify keywords you would like to be linked in its admin panel and what affiliate product to link it to and all your keywords will be automatically replaced by affiliate links. My favorite part is ClickBank module that you can install with it but can also be used with Amazon associate program, which is essential for many niche blogs for income.

• Sphere Plugin is an easy to install addition that increases contextual value to your visitors by scanning your content and on-click generates a list of related articles. Without the need to write anything extra you get opportunity to give your visitors what they are looking for – information.

• Ultimate Tag Warrior and Tagalize It – these 2 in my opinion should be combined as once you install them – your blog turns into super tagged traffic machine loved by Technorati. Use of these plugins takes your WordPress blog into Web 2.0 generation and provides a way to easily identify all your posts.

• Share This - This plugin will allow your visitors to share your content via social bookmarking sites and/or e-mailing the post to a friend. Provides support for multitude of social networks without taking much of your precious blog real estate.

• Spam Karma 2 is one plugin I can’t imagine myself without. Once installed and activated with default options it has completely removed any comments SPAM from my blog while allowing everyone to comment without any issues. In over a month of usage I have only had one false positive, easily recovered.

• An-Archos – Anarchy Media Player plugin for your WordPress blog. One of the most feature-rich media player’s available, with excellent support and frequent updates. If adding all forms of video is important to you, I highly recommend you check this one out.

• PodPress – install this plugin to turn your blog into ultimate podcast platform. With complete support for iTunes, mp3 and other popular podcast formats it gives you freedom to create and capitalize on one of the most popular trends on Internet.

• GaMerZ WP-Plugins. There are too many to list here and each one is of excellent quality with great documentation. While each of them extends only small functionality of your blog I have found myself using so many of them that their combined effect makes these plugins a true modification of my blog. They are independent from each other and can be installed as needed, so feel free to pick what you like.

• AdSense Deluxe – most of the bloggers rely on AdSense for a source of income or as simply a way to at least partially pay for their efforts. AdSense-Deluxe is a WordPress plugin offering advanced options for managing the automatic insertion of Google AdSense or Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) ads to your WordPress posts.

• All in One SEO Pack – search engine optimization is a must for your blog. This plugin takes care of some of the most daunting tasks associated with this effort and gives you freedom to do what you do best – write great content.

• Page Link Manager – yes, I consider this one an innovation! WordPress is great but I have found that controlling pages is not an easy task and requires some manual intervention and code editing. This plugin will become your savior when it comes to solving this problem. Now you can decide which pages are displayed in Navigation and which you can add to credits.

• Automatic Stats – extends core functionality of your blog and gathers stats on your blog that actually matter to you as blog writer. But the best part is – all stats are hosted by WordPress and don’t take up any of the resources on your server.

• WP-Translate is a simple drop in way for users to view your blog in their language. Its easy for any most users to add this functionality to their site. I haven’t tested it with latest version of wordpress so any comments on this one would be appreciated.

• WordPress Mobile Edition creates a version of your blog easily readable in PDA and new breed of cell phones that become so popular now days.

And last but not least a small trick that provides you access to extended functionality of WYSIWYG editor that I have found on Solo technology:

• To enable additional formatting options in your WordPress editor simply hit alt-shift-v (Firefox) or alt-v (IE) to toggle extended editor.

Please remember that this post was created to provide list of WordPress Most Innovative plugins, if you are looking for a more extended list of plugins that make your blog rock visit my WordPress Web 2.0 Guide. Now I leave the floor for your comments. Let’s see how many I missed!

One of the best things I like about WordPress is a wealth of documentation available for the platform. With [tag-tec]WordPress[/tag-tec] 2.2 being released 2 weeks ago I have decided to make a plunge and perform in place upgrade of my blogs.

What I have learned in process is that there are a few things missing in Upgrading WordPress documentation. Although following it to the letter has helped me to overcome and possibly remove any chance of serious problems – I still managed to run into some undocumented issues. This post is to share those details.

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Why have I waited almost a full month to share my thoughts on John Reese’s controversial report “The Rebirth Of Internet Marketing” and how could it be possibly related to [tag-tec]WordPress[/tag-tec] Web 2.0 theme of my site? A lot more then you could possibly imagine …

Let me elaborate on some of the finer points that will prove to you that in fact connection is so strikingly direct that you better know about it now or be among the 99% of people that John predicts will fail …

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I have to admit – I’m a control freak. I track and check stats for every effort (or almost every): every post, every email I send to my list, every article and sometimes I find myself spending more time looking at stats and tracking results then actually producing something that helps me earn.

Since starting this blog I have discovered so many more different statistics I can track that it scared me … So I decided to stop the insanity and find a tool that will remove the work that has no real meaning and no impact on final results and provide me with stats for [tag-tec]WordPress[/tag-tec] that actually matter. Well, lo and behold!

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