If you remember, a few weeks back I talked about the need to avoid URL shortening websites such as TinyURL because of potential risks to you, not only as a blogger but from a readers perspective too. As always, a bad apple in the bunch ruins a great service and people were “hiding” URL’s in these shortened links, sending people to pornographic websites and/or websites that contained viruses. So, all in all, the safe way to avoid this was to not visit any “shortened” url.
However, today I’ve found some great news from the folks over at Wordpress.com. They’ve introduced the new “WP.Me” URL shortening service which will automatically be generated in all Wordpress.com blogs.
Below I’ve listed the new features of the service:
- WP.me is the only two-letter .me domain in the world.
- Every blog and post on WordPress.com has a WP.me URL now.
- These are all exposed in the <head> using rel=shortlink.
- It doesn’t work for any URL in the world, just WP.com-hosted ones.
- The links are permanent, they will work as long as WordPress.com is around.
- WP.me is spam-free, because we are constantly monitoring and removing spam from WP.com.
WordPress.com bloggers should now see a ‘Get Shortlink‘ button next to your permalink when you edit or write a post.
Even more interesting is that self hosted Wordpress.org users can now use this feature as well. You’ll see it in your “stats” page.
For more information on the WP.Me links, visit the Wordpress.com blog by clicking here.
If you’ve recently moved to your first hosting package you may be struggling to get to grips with getting the files you want online. When using a web-based host, such as Wordpress.com, you don’t have access to your root domain but once you move over to Wordpress.org (or another self-hosted platform), you’ll need to learn how to properly use an FTP Client as it will be instrumental in the installation and maintenance of your blog.
First, the term “FTP” stands for File Transfer Protocol which in simple terms is the program you’ll use to transfer files from your computer to your website. Think of it as the car which will get you from home to work.
There are many places to download FTP clients and most are free. I personally suggest you visit a trusted website like Downloads.com (click here to visit) and download whatever FTP client you’d like. They’re sorted by popularity, so, pick one of the more popular ones in case you need some support.
Once you’ve installed the program after download, the next thing you’ll need to do is input the needed information which will be the “address”, “username”, and “password”…all information you’ll receive in an e-mail from your host once you’ve paid. There might be some additional fields that would like information, such as “description” or “name” and you can fill those out if you are so inclined. Once done, “connect” and you should be connected to your blogs root domain. One final tip you might want to look at however is the “Transfer File Type”. There will be an option for “auto”, “ASCII” or “binary”. You’ll want to leave this on “auto” unless told otherwise.
After you’ve completed these steps, the last thing you’ll need to do is transfer files. You should see the files and/or folders on your computer to your left and the directory of your blog/website on the right. Simply drag them over and they’ll then be begin to transfer. That’s it! You’ve transferred files!
If you are setting up a Wordpress.org blog, once you’ve transferred over the folder/files that it tells you to do in the Wordpress instruction/readme file, you then will need to actually go to that directory (literally type it out in your web browser). For example, once the files have transferred over, you will need to type out “http://www.YOURSITENAMEHERE.com/wordpress/wp-admin” and let the script run, which will install your blog.
One of the things that makes the Wordpress.org self hosted platform more beneficial than the standard Wordpress.com platform is the flexibility. Well, that is, in most cases.
Today as I was searching a few sites, I found a great post about a new plugin that is only available for Wordpress.com users. The new plugin is called the “Gravatar Widget” which is a very advanced, easy, and updated version of the “About Me” section that you find on all Wordpress.com blogs. But before we break down the neat features of this “Gravatar Widget” plugin, let us actually discuss what a “gravatar” is. A “gravatar”, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Think of it as your blogging identification card. You only need to sign up once, and as long as you use compatible software, it will work universally - personally, I think it’s awesome.
So, back to the plugin now. The “Gravatar Widget” is a drag and drop widget that you will put into your sidebar, but unlike the default “About Me” section, you do not need to edit your template file to update your “About Me” section with this new “Gravatar Widget”. In addition to that, it obviously includes your “gravatar” image that you select when you set up your gravatar profile. I should add, this will now replace the old “About Me” section on Wordpress.com (you do not need to download or install this…it’s already been done).
Below, I have an included an image that displays how easy it is for you to update your information:
This is one of the first plugins/widgets that I’ve seen that outshine any similar ones on the Wordpress.org platform. So, if you’re using a Wordpress.com blog, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for -go use this awesome little tool! It is now the default “About Me” area in all Wordpress.com blogs.
To sign up (for free) for a Gravatar profile, click here.
Today I was reading an article on BloggingTips.com written by Ryan Edmunds of Press Riot. In his piece, he mentioned a few points as to why it’s beneficial to sign up for a Wordpress.com account even though you have a Wordpress.org account. (Wordpress.com is a free hosted blog with limitations, hosted by Wordpress themselves…Wordpress.org is a self hosted blog with more freedom).
There are some neat features associated with Wordpress.com such as Akisment (a popular spam blocking tool) and an OpenSource ID (OpenSource is a new system which allows you to use the same name and password among a variety of websites)…but the greatest feature I saw was the ability to promote your main blog.
Ryan’s idea was you would create a number of free Wordpress.com blogs and keep them updated with “teasers” of your main blogs content. I admit, the thought never crossed my mind before but this seems incredibly beneficial.
By having a Wordpress.com blog, your blog is automatically placed in their blog directory so you’ll always have a nice flow of traffic to a Wordpress.com blog unlike a stand-alone Wordpress.org platform blog where you are required to do all of the promotion and advertising to get traffic.
By maintaining these Wordpress.com blogs and putting “teaser” information on them, you could then link back to your main Wordpress.org blog and gain quite a large bit of traffic in return.
This is not a method I’ve tested, but after reading Ryan’s article and doing a bit of mild research, I see some people have had some really great results with this format.
Have you tried it and if so what are your thoughts? It’s a lot of work to maintain a few extra blogs - so is the extra effort worth the reward?
To read Ryan’s article, click the link below:
Resource: BloggingTips.com
