I’ve been playing a mixed CD a good friend made for me and was reminded of this song that resonates perfectly with the topic of this post. Have you seen this? It’s been around for about a year. I remember immediately falling in love with the sweet n’ quirky, whimsical animated drawings in the video. Kudos to the artist(s) responsible because it perfectly complements the music, lyrics and the singer’s voice.
So I’ve been visiting many blogs lately and have gleaned a lot of great & useful information especially for newbie bloggers like me. One of the articles I stumbled upon was Fiddy P’s CommentLuv WordPress Plugin, written by Andy Bailey, in which he talks about rewarding people who leave comments on your blog with a link of their last post. Brilliant idea. This benefits fellow bloggers and encourages mutual support among the blogging community.
I installed it yesterday, and among the 3 different WordPress plugins I installed - this was the only one I didn’t have problems with. It was easy peasy and worked great immediately. So if you’re a fellow blogger, go check it out. And make sure to give props to Andy for creating and sharing this terrific new tool by leaving a comment. You’ll benefit with a “last post link” of your own too.
Another plugin I installed that also rewards people who leave comments is the Show Top Commentators plugin. After wrestling with my sidebar code for a few hours (hey, I’m new to blogging and only know basic html), I finally figured out how to get it to show up. I don’t know if the problem was me or the WordPress theme I’m using, but it wasn’t appearing unless I used the theme’s default sidebar. I had to remove all my widgets from the second sidebar and transfer all my custom widgets’ codes into the theme’s sidebar.php file. PHP? Bwahaahaaa! The first time I encountered a php file is when I uploaded this blog into my website a couple of months ago. Imagine me tinkering with those files. But tinker I did, got it to work and I’m very happy.
The last one I installed, the Related Entries plugin , I’m having problems with. It’s supposed to give you, the reader, “options” to view similar topics I’ve posted. I think I might have to put off figuring this one out for another day when I have more time…and patience.
Ok, I know this is probably annoying to the regular reader, but to fellow bloggers, it’s pretty sweet. It’s time for another round of linky luv! Thanks again to my blogging mentor, Chessnoid. If you own a blog and are interested in increasing your Technorati rating, just copy the viral links below, add your url to the end, then incorporate it into one of your posts.
Choo-choo! All aboard!!! All aboard the linky luv train! Like that song says, ya gotta give to get!
Signed up for Technorati. I still don’t totally understand it but sometimes the best way to learn about something is to just dive right in. Ping this baby and we’re good to go.
If you’ve ever scrolled down to the bottom of my sidebars, you’ll notice a little blue box with a number. I was quite surprised when this number jumped from 13 to 54 not too long ago. Someone’s been busy, I see. As of this post, Akismet, my spam zapping widget, has prevented 56 spam comments from posting on my blog, saving me much time and aggravation.
I was rather curious to see what these spam comments actually looked like as most of them were just automatically erased. The other day, to my glee, 5 landed in the Comments section of my dashboard, waiting for approval or deletion.
Here’s an edited sample of a couple:
“Midnight Bed” wrote:
You’ll notice that Nancy Reagan never drinks water when Ronnie speaks — Robin Williams
“Master Foreigner” writes:
You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas I’ve only ever had one — Albert Einstein
Not what I expected. A bazillion links pointing to the usual organ enhancing, miracle drugs for less, or whatever else they’re selling websites. The funny thing is, these two posts both came from the same IP address, and the website they listed weren’t actually websites but other types of files. I suspect this is the reason they were marked as “possible spam”.
If you have a blog and don’t allow comments for fear of spam, give Akismet a try. It’s easy to install and a breeze to use. Personally, I like it when I’m able to post comments on websites or blogs I visit. Comments allows your voice to be heard, allows interaction between the reader and writer, and encourages repeat visits.
ON ANOTHER NOTE, I’m trying something new that CHESSNOID told me about. It’s a viral link. No worry -there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s not a virus or anything malicious like that. It works on the same concept as you telling two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. It’s supposed to increase your Technorati Authority rating. If that’s something you’re interested in boosting, and you run a blog or multiple blogs, just copy and paste the tag below and add yourself to the end.
I first learned how to use a computer on Windows so I’m a pretty proficient on it, but have drooled over all the Apple product designs. Everytime they came out with a new product or new version, I grew even more lustful. I toyed with the idea of switching to a Mac for several years but the price always stopped me. It wasn’t until three years ago that I finally broke down and got an iMac.
Today, I use both operating systems. I have Windows Vista on my laptop and a first generation intel-based iMac. Both systems have things I like and things I prefer on the other. But the one thing that has always impressed me right off the bat was how amazingly bright, crisp and clear graphics look on my Apple.
Installing a Wordpress blog into my website a couple of months ago reminded me again at how superb images look on my iMac. I was trying to customize my interchangeable headers and wanted to put a version of my Etsy shop banner as my header. It looked great on my iMac but I had to shelf the idea when I checked it out on my laptop. Check out the difference for yourself.
