4 Things Most People Don’t Know About Being a Professional WordPress Blogger

by Seth Czerepak July 24^th, 2012 7 Responses

So you want to make money blogging?

I remember being there, it’s an exciting feeling.

You read an ebook or article about these bloggers making thousands and thousands of dollars a month, working in their pajamas, sleeping in and “firing their boss,” to “live the dream” of working at home.

If you’ve got a creeping suspicion that you’re not getting the whole story, I’d like to share four things the ultra-enthusiastic “I’ll show you how to make over $100k working in your pajamas if you buy my $47 eBook” people won’t tell you…

#1: You Have to Be Self-Motivated

Opinion

What Type of Hosting for WordPress – Shared, VPS, or Dedicated?

by James Dunn July 16^th, 2012 3 Responses

Finding the right host for your website can be an interesting adventure, but when you add WordPress (and even WordPress MultiSite) to the equation, it can be even more interesting. Whether you are building your first WordPress website or your seventy-fifth, your hosting platform must be tailored to fit your needs while delivering a quality experience to your visitor.

Let’s look at the various hosting platforms generally available to most website developers.
Shared Hosting

Opinion, Plugins, Themes

To Bundle Or Not To Bundle WordPress Plugins? That Is The Question!

by Hyder Jaffari July 13^th, 2012 1 Response

I recently came across an article by Alex King regarding the “right way” to include a plugin into a theme. In it, Alex integrates a plugin called Social, available here, into a theme they sell called FavePersonal. I understand they want to provide a great user experience out of the box, but rather than integrating a plugin, why not just direct their user to install it from WP.org? You could even use conditional statements to limit certain functionality till it’s installed.

Opinion

In Which I’ll Talk About What You Can Do This Summer

by Thord Daniel Hedengren July 12^th, 2012 Leave a comment

That’s one helluva title for a column, isn’t it? I thought so, although I have no idea if I think that is a good or a bad thing. It doesn’t really matter, luckily.

Folks, it is summer and that means vacations for everybody!

Well, not exactly, I’ll be working all summer, with both Odd Alice (still time to apply for a job there /shameless self-plug) and other things. You know, projects. Some of them are WordPress related, but not all. That’s the life of a freelance writer and author, I go and do what the work tells me.

Opinion

What’s The Next Big WordPress Powered Idea?

by Hyder Jaffari July 11^th, 2012 6 Responses

Once upon a time, everything connected to WordPress was free. The only thing you had to pay for was hosting and a domain name, i.e if you did not use WordPress.com. The 5 minute install was all you needed and a theme, if you really wanted to go crazy you would get a theme that supported sidebars! Yes, there was a time when a widgetized sidebar was an amazing thing.

Opinion, Plugins

3 WordPress Plugins for First Impressions

by CP July 11^th, 2012 1 Response

If you have a website for your business there are a few plugins I think you should have no matter what your goal is (make contact, make a sale, etc.)

To start, contact forms will always make you look more professional than using a naked email address, especially if it’s with gmail or hotmail (get email on your own domain).

Aside from the impression someone gets from your website, there’s the impression they get on the search engines that list your website.

Opinion, Plugins

Is There a Proliferation of Subversive Plugins on WordPress.org?

by Tom Ewer July 11^th, 2012 11 Responses

As some of you may know, I spend a lot of time looking at plugins.

In fact, I cast my eye over every single new plugin release on WordPress.org, and test any that I feel may of worth. So I end up testing a lot of plugins.

The ones that I like get featured here at WPMU. You never read about the countless plugins I test that don’t make the grade. Unless of course I need to vent about something (which I do today), in which case, plugins that I don’t recommend get free publicity.
What is a Subversive Plugin?

Opinion

400 WordPress Security Vulnerabilities?!

by Paul Kaiser July 9^th, 2012 2 Responses

Trust me: It’s not as bad as it sounds.
Searching the National Vulnerability Database using keyword “WordPress” blasts you with 400 listed vulnerabilities! I’ve seen this number quoted recently when comparing WordPress to other content management systems, and it puts WordPress security in a negative light.
“Holy hole in a firewall, Mattman! How can you sleep at night, knowing WordPress is putting the world at risk?”
Never fear! Read on to see the truth I found just beneath the surface of those numbers.
Statistics explored
Time periods

Opinion

Coping With Coding Fury

by Thord Daniel Hedengren July 6^th, 2012 Leave a comment

I’m angry. Annoyed at everything. Pissed off even. It is all WordPress’ fault. Stupid weird stuff happening on a client project and it makes my skin crawl. If you’re a developer and have even the slightest little inkling of a tendency to get angry, then you know exactly what I mean.

Writing a column while angry, well why not? I haven’t been much of a potty-mouth lately after all, and I bet there’s someone to piss off on my list of pisser offers.

Opinion, Plugins

WordPress Plugin Directory – a Better Way?

by Tom Ewer July 5^th, 2012 10 Responses

Every weekday, I drag myself out of bed, have a quick shower in order to make myself feel human again, get dressed, and head downstairs to my home office (couch). I fire up my trusty MacBook Pro and get started on my writing work for WPMU.

My first port of call is a quick visit to the WordPress.org plugin directory to take a look at the freshest plugins. And there are a lot of them. A tentative count shows that over 30 new plugins were released yesterday. So more than one new WordPress plugin is being released every hour.