Computer Chit Chat

Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

I hate when I hit a site, particularly my own, and I see that message that tells me the wp mysql has gone away. Where has it gone? Obviously it doesn’t leave the server. Why does it come back? Really though, I’m only kidding. I don’t know the super technical aspect of it but if I understand what I’ve read apparently it happens when queries to the MySQL server don’t reopen a previously established connection. I just wanted to see if it bugged anyone else besides me?

• Scratchback. Are you in my top spots?
• Blogatiser social bookmarking
• Skribit

At the end of June Entrecard announced that it would be offering a weekly comment rush. Each week a different blog will be highlighted on the Entrecard blog. One post will be selected and the Entrecard community would be invited to visit the post with the hopes that they would leave a comment on that blog. What a terrific idea! It’s sort of like a carnival of comments in reverse, if you know what I mean. I wonder how one’s blog gets chosen?

• Who sez your comments
• Entrecard Credits News
• Entrecard

Entrecard announced that it’s partnering with Sez Who. Just log in to your Entrecard dashboard to register for SezWho. Then install the plugin on your blog and activate. That’s it. Now when people leave a comment on one of your posts a link saying Who am I will appear by their name. If you hover over it a box opens showing the comment author’s website, blog, an about blurb and their most recent comments. Entrecard droppers will be able to search for blogs with Sez Who enabled, and will receive credits for commenting.

• Entrecard Credits News
• Entrecard Comment Rush
• Entrecard

Ever searched for something on a blog and didn’t find it? It’s awful to see that 404 message and not have anywhere to go from there. Have you tested your blog’s 404 page? Try testing it out by trying to go to yourblog.com/testpage or some other page you know isn’t there. If you only see Not found go into your dashboard now and get to work. It only takes a few minutes to customize a 404 page and it might keep someone on your sight longer. You can include a number of things on your 404 page including categories and monthly archives, a listing of all your pages and an offer to subscribe to your feed. So rather than seeing “page not found” a visitor could now see something like ” the page you requested wasn’t found but feel free to browse the pages listed below for what you’re looking for”.

To customize your Wordpress 404 page, log in to your dashboard and click on presentation. Click on Theme Editor and then click on the 404 Template link on your right. Find the message you just saw when you tested your 404 page and replace it with a customized message. You can even include the php code to show your categories, pages and archives. Click update and you’re finished. As always, go one step at a time and test, that way if there’s a problem you can undo your last step. And always backup your files.

• How to turn off the Wordpress visual editor
• How to update Firefox automatically.
• How to change the author name in Wordpress

I just heard of a new blog widget called Skribit. Skribit is an application that allows people to make suggestions on things they’d like to see you write about. Once you’ve signed up for a Skribit account you need to configure and install the customizable Skribit widget on your blog. Once the widget is installed your blog readers can suggest topics, ask questions and find other blogs to read with similar subject matter. The widget can be configured so that users must be logged in to Skribit to leave a suggestion or so that anyone can leave a suggestion anonymously. Readers are able to vote on others suggestions. Bloggers logged in to their Skribit account page can see what suggestions have been left, who left them and how many votes suggestions have received.

I can see where Skribit would be great for some blogs. I don’t think it’s a good match for me. I have a contact form in place and I don’t really want to have to deal with logging in to yet another site. I also would not leave comments on anonymous, which mean my readers would need to log in to use it and I won’t ask readers to log in to something. Are you using Skribit? How do you like it?

• Blog comment policies
• Google reader handles a feed you subscribe to read
• Scratchback. Are you in my top spots?

I received an email a couple of weeks ago promoting a new site called Blogatiser. I finally checked it out yesterday, and here’s the story. Blogatiser allows members to submit articles they’ve written. Other members can vote on the articles. The more votes an article gets the higher it rises in visibility on the site, sending the author more traffic. Right now only seven votes are needed to get onto the front page. Yes, I know you’re thinking that it sounds like Digg. Here’s how it’s different than Digg. Blogatiser is a revenue sharing website, sharing 75% of Adsense revenue with its members. Also, Blogatiser is do follow, that is to say that it does not use redirects for your links so get free back links.

• Feedjit
• New blog ranking site launched
• Who sez your comments

SocialSpark is a form of blog marketing that combines social networking with the opportunity to make money from blogging. I signed a couple of months ago. I am convinced that this is the perfect opportunity for Mommy bloggers to make some extra cash from the comfort of their home. It’s actually perfect for anyone that’s home during the day.

After bloggers sign up for Socialspark they’ll have the chance to make new friends within the social media environment. Opportunities to monetize your blog are presented in a marketplace. Socialspark offers nofollow opportunities, so there’s no fear of punishment from Google for writing a sponsored post. While browsing the available opportunities bloggers can select open opportunities or be placed into a queue to take other opportunities that aren’t open at that moment.

The queue is what makes Socialspark ideal for Mommy bloggers. Once you’ve queued yourself for an opportunity you’ll be notified by an email when a slot becomes available. That email will be sent at midnight and you have twelve hours from then to submit your entry. While it doesn’t work terribly well for me since I start working at 6am, it does seem to be working well for stay at home Moms.

Moms have a lot to say. They use a lot of products and have a lot of opinions. They know what it’s like to try and make ends meet. Moms value the opportunity to make some money to contribute to the household while staying at home and raising their children. And what better way to to that than while blogging? It doesn’t make a difference if you’re a Mom and you a new blogger or an experienced one. Once you’ve joined Socialspark you’ll be surprised at home many blogging friends you make that are more than happy to help out if you have a question or if you need help with something.

If you’re a stay at home parent, go check out Socialspark and sign up. You’ll be making money in no time right from the comfort of your home and get to continue doing the best job there is, raising your family.

• Journyx, free time and expense management software
• Entrecard Credits News
• Paid blogging - Smorty

If you’ve never installed a theme for Wordpress, don’t worry. It’s pretty straightforward and easy. The hardest part is finding a theme you want to use. Once you find it, download the theme to your computer. Unzip the files and upload them to the themes directory of your Wordpress blog. In the Wordpress dashboard click on presentation and activate the theme. That should be it, you should be all set!

• Review of Blog Oh! Blog
• How to install Wordpress using cpanel 11 on your own domain
• The winner ofthe Chick Wordpress Theme giveaway is

Did you ever see a widget within a post that had a + and said bookmark this, add this or share this? And when you rolled over it a bunch of different social bookmarking sites were listed? You probably have. If you’ve seen the one I’m referring to it’s a free Wordpress widget called Add This. There’s a regular version and a dropdown version of the widget.  To use it first download and unzip the folder. Then upload it to your Wordpress plugins directory. Activate it from within your Wordpress dashboard and you’re all set. There’s nothing to configure, although the ability to make a minor change is available if you want your stats included in the widget. I’ve included a screenshot of the dropdown in action on valmg.com. Do you have a  social bookmarking widget on your blog? I’d love to hear which one, feel free to leave me a comment.

• Blogatiser social bookmarking
• Why Socialspark is great for Mommy bloggers
• How to adjust what appears in the content of your rss feed

Many of you have either heard of Entrecard, know what Entrecard is or use Entrecard. Well, the gang at Entrecard is at it again. Earlier this week Entrecard announced some big news. Entrecard users are now able to buy Entrecard credits directly from Entrecard from a link in the dashboard. There’s more. Bloggers will now earn Entrecard credits every time they publish a post on their blog. Bloggers are eligible to receive 25 credits each time they write a post. The only catch is that this is limited to receiving credits every three days. Lastly, you can earn Entrecard credits by writing on the Entrecard blog. The number of credits a blogger receives depends on the topic, value and quality of the post he/she writes. That’s it for now! Happy dropping!

• Entrecard Comment Rush
• Computer Chit Chat May Entrecard giveaway
• Entrecard toolbar