Plugins are cool. Every WordPress powered blog uses different plugins. They give your blog wings. There are few things you must be aware of before using plugins. What I do, I just test the plugin before I actually use it. All the plugins out there are not trustworthy. Even if any plugin comes by a trusted source, it can have bugs which will make your blogging life a bit complicated. I regularly check plugins, update plugins whenever any update is available and remove the plugin which contain any bug. Here are few popular WPplugins I noticed some bugs in them recently.

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Darren Rowse from Melbourne Australia first discovered blogging in 2002, and initially thought he'd turn it into a hobby to supplement his full-time job. These days, Darren runs a handful of successful blogs, his most popular being Digital Photography School, and has co-authored a book. He also posts regular tips and advice on ProBlogger.net, a respected and successful resource for bloggers around the world.

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Matt Mullenweg (A founding developer of WordPress) talks about how blogs can change reading habits of a blog reader and blogger himself at WorldCamp 2008.

I find it true by myself that a blogger/blog reader has to digest much information in short time and he/she just tries to scan the whole thing whatever he is reading and gets the material of his interest. So the attention span for reading decreases in this way. When some one has been blogging for a while or has been reading blogs for a while, he will find it difficult to read the whole thing also in case of reading books.

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I just updated my blogs to WordPress version 2.7. Upgrading can be tricky if you are doing it manually taking care of many precautions. You will have to download latest WordPress Version, unzip it, have to take backups of files and database, .htaccess, themes, plugins, uploads directory and much more. Then have to update files and database. Manually if anything goes wrong you will find yourself helpless. There are pretty good instructions about upgrading though at WordPress website (Links are at bottom).

I would recommend Wordpress Automatic Upgrade Pluigin. You do not have to do anything. just activate the plugin, follow the instructions and with some clicks you will be safely running your upgraded fresh and better blog, fastest than before. Version 2.7 is really cool and faster than before including turbo tools in it.

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WordPress 2.6.5 is immediately available and fixes one security problem and three bugs. I recommend everyone upgrade to this release.

The security issue is an XSS exploit discovered by Jeremias Reith that fortunately only affects IP-based virtual servers running on Apache 2.x. If you are interested only in the security fix, copy wp-includes/feed.php and wp-includes/version.php from the 2.6.5 release package.

2.6.5 contains three other small fixes in addition to the XSS fix. The first prevents accidentally saving post meta information to a revision. The second prevents XML-RPC from fetching incorrect post types. The third adds some user ID sanitization during bulk delete requests. For a list of changed files, consult the full changeset between 2.6.3 and 2.6.5.

Note that this is skipping version 2.6.4 and jumping from 2.6.3 to 2.6.5 to avoid confusion with a fake 2.6.4 release that made the rounds. There is not and never will be a version 2.6.4.

Version WordPress 2.6.5
Download WordPress 2.6.5

Ever Witnessed 3 Hours Old Content At Front Page of Google? I Did Just Now.
You can reach at the front page of Google in hours time, may be in minutes. I will tell you how!!!

Have a look at the image below. It is said by SEO guys that it takes 3 months at least for SEO of any new content and to bring it at the front page of Google. Google is sharp and can distinguish between popular and simple content. Last evening (23 Nov 2008) was Lahore Bloggers Meetup in LUMS. We attended that and in the morning today (24 Nov 2008) I posted the event review.
By chance after 4 hours, I hit search button to find some new information about the event by any other blogger but Guess What?

I found my post at the first page of Google which was published before just 4 HOURS. You can find other posts too in following image which was published before 3 HOURS long period. Sounds like twitter, eh!

Right!!! What does that mean?

- Am I a Super SEO Guy?
- Did I do something special with the content?

NO...

I just published a recent event at my BLOG and some friends came along and shared their thoughts. Post got attention and Google picked it up. I am slow in posting. My blog gets updated, not much. I am not much popular either (To tell you the truth).

THE BIG SECRET

• Get a BLOG.
• Write Original Content.
• Be Social.

You will be noticed. I believe that every IT professional should have a blog.
Go get one... Unfortunately, there are just two choices I can recommend and fortunately both are great.

WordPress:

Blogger:

* UPDATE *

A friend told me that try http://www.Google.com and not http://www.Google.com.pk
I did and here is the result and answer to the comment. Blogs has got real potential.

Update Services are tools you can use to let other people know you've updated your blog. WordPress automatically notifies popular Update Services that you've updated your blog by sending a XML-RPC ping each time you create or update a post. In turn, Update Services process the ping and updates their proprietary indices with your update. Now people browsing sites like Technorati or Sphere can find your most recent posts!

Most people use Ping-o-Matic which, with just one "ping" from you, will let many other services know that you've updated. WordPress makes this easy for you by listing Ping-O-Matic's server (rpc.pingomatic.com) by default. You can also add additional pinging services in your blog under admin > settings > writing tab where it asks for Update Services.

I have used a lot many pinging services myself for experimental purposes but its not a good practice because it can slow down blog posting and causes load at your hosting server. Here I am writing my all pinging services URLs. Some are working and some may not be working:

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://bblog.com/ping.php
https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/
http://www.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/
http://www.zhuaxia.com/rpc/server.php
http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/
http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php
http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.wasalive.com/ping/
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

Some which WordPress confirms are as followings:

RECOMMENDED LIST

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.wasalive.com/ping/
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://blogping.unidatum.com/RPC2/

WordPress Article On Update Services containing List

WordPress Compressed All-Inclusive Ping List

I do not recommend to use too many Update pinging services. Just Ping-O-Matic and some other URLs recommended by WordPress or confirmed ones will do. Or you can check those extra URLs for response they provide to guess whether that URL pining service exists or not.

Did you ever experimented with pinging services? How many services do you use?

Lahore Bloggers Meetup - Sunday, November 23, 2008
Time: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), DHA Lahore, Pakistan
Auditorium SC-4 (adjacent to super store), LUMS, DHA, Lahore

Host:

LUMS IEEE Students Chapter
(in collaboration with CIO Pakistan & Google Pakistan)

Management: Khurram Amin, Adnan Ali, Badar Khushnood

Event InfoHost: Pakistani Freelancers

Type: Meetings - Informational Meeting

Network: Global

Goals:

Socializing offline & sharing the secrets to earning online!
Who Can Benefit From Blogging?
Students: Discover how you can earn your own pocket money.
Housewives: Learn how you can earn & support your family while staying at home.
Professionals: See how you can enjoy a second income while still doing a full-time job.

Event Summary:

The idea was to encourage Internet users & bloggers to meet offline as well. Senior bloggers got a chance to share knowledge & experience. New wanna-be bloggers could learn from the local success stories and network with leaders & professionals in this field.

Success Stories:

Sizlopedia.com (Saad Hamid)
Pinkwool.com (Maryam Nasim)
Sizzledcore.com (Haris Nadeem)

Facilities:

WiFi connectivity; live blogging, twitter, etc.
Give aways from Google Inc. and CIO.

My Views:

From the morning I was very excited about the event. I tweeted a bit also about that where I caught Adnanbwp tweeting there too. Infact I saw some Pakistani bloggers using Twitter. I was in doubt however that there would be discussion at Pro-Level Blogging. I was not wrong yet altogether it was worth gathering and listening to the success stories and watching others having the same passion of Blogging.

12 Things That Amazed Me

1. 2nd ever Meetup in Pakistan arranged over just a Facebook message 3 days prior to the event date.
   Just before 3 days at Face Book this meetup was called and around 100 bloggers from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad Pakistan responded immidiately, tweeted, blogged, spread the word and arrived in time to attend the meeting.
2. Friends can not sit together.
   This thing really amazed me. As the meeting started, Mr. Badar asked us to split up randomnly because the whole idea was to mix up and get connected with each other and build community rather than just sitting with your friends and listening.
3. I never knew before, that people of Pakistan (including young and aged) could be so much enthusiastic about blogging.
4. There is large number of community of non-bloggers folk using Social Media websites in Pakistan.
   I met a person who told me that he used Twitter and never been a blogger.
5. I realized the potential of blogging using Blogger.net
   WordPress is used for blogging platform widely known comparetively but there is huge potential and own benefits of using Blogger.net as a blogging platform.
6. There are some people in Pakistan who never cared about earning from blogs even they are doing it for past several years out of passion.
7. Twitter was discussed and named widely.
8. Managing 115 blogs
   A lady who was the author and managing around 115 blogs altogether.
9. Earning $1000 US Dollars per month with blogging and Adsense.
   A Really young student who just cleared his 10th grade, was introduced who was earning round about $1000 dollars per month by blogging.
10. The guy who was managing and promoting blogging, never run a blog in his life long and he never knew enough about Adsense either. i.e. How many ads we can place at single page?
    (I hope this will finally bring him towards blogging, If he reads this...)
11. WordPress or Blogger
    This meeting was sponsored by Google and meant to promote Blogger.net but almost all the successful bloggers and major success stories came from the bloggers who choosed WordPress as a platform.
12. A ten years of age little girl was there to have some information about blogging.

What Actually Was Discussed?

1. Blogging and how to start earning from it?
2. Tools for professional blogging! (Blogger.net, Google Analytics, Adsense)
3. Twitter
4. Adsense
5. Other Ads Networks
6. Social Media Websites
7. Money Transfer Ways

1- Blogging and How to Start Earning From It?

Blogger.net was choosed to spread the word of blogging. WordPress was not discussed at considerable level. Different successful bloggers shared their success stories. Following points were highlighted:

• Making money by blogging is possible but there is no shortcut.
• Find Your Audience.
• Thankless hardwork (and sleepless nights).
• Be patient and stick with your goal.
• Gather ideas for the content.
• Write original content.
• Socialize with other bloggers.

2- Tools For Professional Blogging! (Blogger.net, Google Analytics, Adsense)

Different tools were discussed and were displayed in action.

3- Twitter

People were more enthusuastic about Twitter rather then blogging.

4- Adsense

A very important issue was discussed about Adsense there.
A person asked:
Why the user will click at ads at all when he/she is there for your content and you have provided or given him enough.
This question was answered as Google serves Contxtual Ads based on relevancy of content. It means that Ads appear according to your content. You have written something, and Google serves ads relating to the products which are relevant to your content. That means user will have more options to browse related with your content.

5- Other Ad Networks

• Kontera (Click based ads network)
• Tribal Fusion (Impression based ads network)
• Review Me
• Symmetry Ads (Local Pakistani Ads Network)

It was told that Google allows other ads network to use with it for a website. (I would like to add that you should describe it plainly that these are advertisements where you use other ads networks and also have a privacy policy page ready and there include your ads policy too to users of website i.e. explain user about cookies and other information which ads network gather in order to serve ads at your website.)

6- Social Media Websites

Social media websites were discussed i.e. Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon but Twitter was foremost.

7- Money Transfer Ways

Almost every ad network allows Money Cheque way of money transfer but that is very slow process here. Paypal is other option which is not available for Pakistanis bloggers, so a suggestion of BankWire money transfer using a bank account was made for the ads network which does not allow Western Union either. There is Adsense which allows Western Union yet. WU is the very fastest way of money transfer so far.

What Should Have Been There, Included and Discussed?

1. WordPress
2. Adsense (How it works)
3. WiFi internet connectivity (nobody knew the proxy settings, we could not bring the event live...)
4. People were hesitant to communicate and mix up (It was second meetup in pakistan, People are still not much familiar)
5. Nobody wore profile badges and nobody was carrying his ID or Profile cards (including me).

Final Words:

We must keep our hopes high and prepare for the next more enthusiastic meetup. Although this meetup was not a failure. The aim was to promote blogging via blogger.net. If you name blogging and are not mentioning WordPress then, my friend, you gonna miss something huge. Its like a Pizza without cheese. Can you imagine that? There are bloggers including me, who would die for WordPress. We like blogger.net too. Infact I am gonna start a blogger.net blog right away. I am inspired and motivated by its potential described by Badar Khushnood. But we love WordPress. Does not matter we loose our Adsense accounts for loving WordPress. Does not matter we do not get any reward for blogging. WordPress is a passion like Blogger is itself a passion for some people. Blogging is a passion. It is not for money. It is not for fame either.

Anyways thanks Google, Thanks Blogger, Thanks LUMS Pakistan. It is beginning of new journey for Pakistani bloggers.

In The End

And did I mention that there was TEA in the end.

PS:
- I mentioned this event in a light and critical way. Comments are welcomed.
- Original Photo Album of event is here.
- There might be some visual situations which only people can guess who were present at the meetup. If you are not getting something above, ask here?
- Lahore Bloggers Meetup review at MetBlogs

As soon as any useful online service is launched and get popular, its copies start to follow. After sometime user does not know that where he is heading is not actually original service. We all know TWITTER. I tweet, you probably also tweet or you may tweet sometime later, my friend tweets, my friend's grandma tweets. I know we are humans but many of us tweet using twitter. Lets see the funny aspect of it. So what are these Twitter, Tweetag and Twollow...

Twitter

Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent tweets (answers) to one simple question: What are you doing?

http://twitter.com

Tweetag

Browse the tweetsphere.

http://tweetag.com

Twollow

Auto follow people on twitter.

{ HOLD ON!!! wow, wow, wow, woowwww. Now now dear! Twitter was probably not built to fake people following each others when they are actually not. Click the link and watch the video demonstration of Twollow. }

http://twollow.com

Before you do anything; Read this: Twitter Suspended Accounts

One of my colleagues told me that Twitter is fake. It is just a waste of time. I thought everybody has his own opinion. Twitter is fun. You share and give something to world, world gives you something back.

Twitter is not just a mini blogging platform. Here is some interesting stuff relating to Twitter:

True Story of a Twitter Marriage Proposal

Getting Fired At Yahoo: A Twitter Log

The 8 Most Entertaining Twitter Users

The Twitter Hall of Shame: 50 Tweets That Will Echo in History

Blogs about: Funny Tweets

You can follow me here on Twitter!
Follow me at ORIGINAL TWITTER

What do you think about Twitter, Tweetag and Twollow? What is your experience?
Is Twitter for just bloggers or everybody? Give me your twitter URL in comments...

WordPress Plugins

One of the great advantages of blogs is Plugins Facility. Simple website is not flexible enough to modify or enhance its functionality according to the ever changing needs. Plugins are flexible little programs made for blogs which provide extra functionality to it. And these are easy to manage and manipulate. WordPress Plugins can be easily added to the website or can be deactivated in case you don't need them or a better plugin is available. e.g. Default WordPress software don't have custom complete pagination facility in it. You can have it added into your blog via a Plugin called Pagenavi. Default Tags Cloud is not customizable. But you can have a customizable Tags Cloud added via a Plugin called CTC. So many examples like this are there. There are thousands of beneficial plugins available for WordPress and totally free of cost. Depends what you need. Just search it at WordPress website and get it. You don't need a developer to do the task for you. Do it yourself.

How Plugins Are Useful

As I mentioned, Plugins are customizable and flexible. You can customize Plugins, You can add new Plugins, as much as you want and you can deactiveta them in case you don't need them or a better Plugin is available arond.

How To Use WordPress Plugins

Just download the Plugin. Extract it if it is in zipped format. Upload it at your server blog's Plugins Directory. Login to your admin area of blog and go to Plugins Tab. Find that newly added Plugin there and activate it. After activating It might add its widget. You can find widget section under Presentration. Find there if it adds a widget there and add it to your blog's sidebar. Sometimes it also offers some customizations. Go to Options Tab. Find there if the Plugin name is appearing in the menu. If yes, explore it and customize options it offers to you. e.g. Random Posts Plugin offers a widget to place in side bar and also offers some customizations about how many posts may it be placed under customized Title of random posts in side bar of your WordPress blog.

Precautions About Using and Installation of WordPress Plugins

Plugins are usually projects by different contributing developers from around the world. They may update their plugin as WordPress also undergoes updating process. For new WordPress Version there will be a new version of plugins available which you are using. You do not need to be worried about that. WordPress takes care of its essentials. Old plugins for new WordPress version might not work. So its essential to update. When there is an update for any plugin available, WordPress admin Plugin section will inform you where it has a list of all the plugins. Under specific plugin there will be message that an update about this plugin is available and you can download that update from there by a direct link from there.
Always test first a plugin to local or at test blog. Plugin might not suit or work for you blog and that can give it a funny or odd look. In that case your blog visitors will be disappointed to see the disturbed or unwanted change. So always test a plugin before uploading it. Setup a test WordPress Blog at local PC or at online for just testing purpose and there apply it to see the cahnge it may implement at your blog. If it looks great and alright, you can upload it to your functional blog.

Installing WordPress Plugins

Usually every Plugin comes with a readme or install help file. That will guide you through the process if its little bit more than usual installation. But it is simple most of the time to get a plugin installed. Just download appropriate plugin. Unzip it if its in the zipped or compressed format. Upload files into your blog's plugin directory. Go to admin section and then plugins. Find it there and activate it. Customize its options by Options and add its widget in sidebar if it offers, from Presentation Tab. You are done.
Some Plugins offer a code also to place it in your WordPress current theme's files. In side bar files or in template files. Read the instruction which some with the Plugin always and follow accordingly for that. Normally you would be asked to place code in single.php, archive.php, archives.php, index.php, sidebar.php or rsidebar.php or page.php according to needs of Plugin.

Tips For Plugins Usage

Troubleshooting, What If Things Go Wrong With Some Plugin

It happens sometimes. You upload a Plugin and it gives error or nothing happens at all; no change, no enhancement. In that case you do not need to get tensed. Just go to admin Plugins Tab and deactivate the plugin and your blog is safe from error or unwanted mess.

Where To Find Latest Plugins

WordPress official website Plugins directory
Search for Plugins
Essential WordPress Plugins

Which Plugins My Blog Needs

That is the thing you need to ask yourself. Look at your blog and see whether it looks like lacking something, some functionality, some design part issue or some usability issue. While you see other websites and blogs, you get the idea that what other people are using. Only purposeful and needed Plugins are recommended to use for your blog to eliminate extra burden on your server and minimizing loading time for your blog.
When you will browse through the WordPress Plugins Directory, You can get the idea that what plugin is doing what and why you should be needing it at your blog. Browse and read through Plugin's about information that what it actually does. Some of them you might like for sure to increase usability at your website. Some are navigation basis, some provide statistics about blog, some adds more widgets to you sidebars, some adds social bookmarks etc.

Also Read

WP-Plugins Revised
Top 10 Plugins For Blog SEO
Top Essential WordPress Plugins
26 Top WP Plugins For Probloggers