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Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed

Are You Blogging Through The Holidays?December 23 2008

The holidays are here, and most of us folks will most likely be taking some time off of blogging to spend a few precious moments with friends and family, whichever religion you belong to. For those of us who don't necessarily observe the holidays out of faith, but out of some secular reason, then you would most probably be vacationing, too. Not in the holiday mood yet? Oh don't be such a grinch. Go have some fun, or spend time with your loved ones.

But then what happens to your blogs during those times when you take a break?

You blog through the holidays. I'll be on break these next couple of days, but I will most probably still be publishing a few blog posts in my free time, or while on the road visiting relatives. That's the power of mobile computing, anyway. I can either use my mobile phone or my netbook (coupled with a 3G modem) to do this. Why? Because I can!

You have posts saved in advance, and to be published at pre-defined dates. A handful of people I know have the habit of future-posting, so they can take a few days off from their blogs without their readership missing them. Some would clearly tell readers that the posts were done in advance, in case some new developments in the online world override the information in that blog post. Some would not be as transparent.

Your blog takes a break, too. This might be frowned upon by folks who believe in consistent and regular updates. But for those of us who are very much concerned about qual

What Should Go On Your About PageDecember 22 2008

Just a few days ago, I put out the reminder to check over your about page to make sure all of the information is up to date. However, I noticed at least one person ask, "What should go on our about page"?

By no means is there a complete guide on what should absolutely be presented on the about page but keep this in mind. If a visitor comes across your blog and their first impression doesn't tell them what the blog is about, they will head straight to the page that provides more information. Here is my non-concrete guide of suggestions to what I think should be on your about page.

Short And Sweet - Right at the top of the about page, you should be short and concise as to what the blog is about and the information that is covered. There is no need to provide a mile long description of why the site exists because you can provide that further down the page.

Personalize - Let me tell you, going to a blog conference and not being able to match your favorite blogger with a face is pretty weird. To keep that from happening, place a picture of yourself on the page. This gives the overall blog a human touch and also enables your fanbase to recognize you out in the real world.

Detailed Information - As far as detailed information is concerned, depending on the type of blog this is, you can add your real name,

I'm sad to report that my Related Posts plugin for WordPress which was created by W-A-S-A-B-I no longer fits the bill with WordPress 2.7. This means I had to replace an old favorite with a new plugin that provided related posts. Upon browsing through the plugin repository, I came across one that I've heard about throughout the community called YARPP or, Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I found YARPP easy to configure and was happy to know that it comes bundled with a widget that I can place in my sidebar. YARPP has two critical elements. The first being that it limits the amount of related posts to display and the second, displays posts based on a relatedness score that is configurable. The relatedness score is what is called a match threshold. With various options, you can configure how tight or how loose that threshold score is by editing titles, bodies, tags, and categories.

Last but not least, you can also configure the output of the plugin by adding bits of html to the before and after sections of the related posts. As a bonus, YARPP also has a new option to display related posts in the RSS feed. If you're not using a FeedBurner FeedFlare to provide this functionality, this plugin makes a nice substitute.

All in all, I think I can qualify this plugin as my new rec

Time To Update That About PageDecember 20 2008

Well, it's near the end of 2008 and I think now is a great time to remind everyone to check your About page on your blog and update it with current information. I think too many of us create the About Page when we initially launch a blog and then we never update the darn thing. Take this opportunity to mark down your achievements for prospecting employers to see, rethink your priorities for the blog and update your goals for the new year as they relate to the site. All in all, just make sure the information is current. Try to make it a habit to update that page at least once a month if necessary because I feel that it is the most sought after page that visitors look for, especially new visitors. Also, I can't tell you how dumb I feel when I read a persons bio information on a podcast only to be told that the information is out of date and that they will need to update their about page.

So what do you say, will you help me spread the word?

Jonathan Bailey On PerfcastDecember 18 2008

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Join David and I as we interview Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday.com. We'll be talking about content theft, ways to prevent content theft, copyrights, blogging, podcasts, and more. We'll also talk about his work with the BlogHerald and the opportunities that have been presented to him through blogging.

Please refer to how to participate in perfcast live for information on how to be part of the show.