Blog Updates – New Plugins and More
I've recently instituted several changes on my blog and I'd love to share them with you:
Upgrading WordPress Plugins Automatically
I never realized just how awesome the latest version of WordPress was until I was able to automatically upgrade most of my plugins from within the WordPress admin control panel! I was looking to add some new plugins to my blog and when I was going through my list I noticed a link underneath several of my WordPress plugins that said 'upgrade automatically.' Now I'm usually hesitant to try something new like this for fear of things going wrong, but I decided to make a site backup and give it a go anyway. If you'd like to do this yourself just follow these steps:
1. From the plugin page in the WordPress admin control panel find a plugin that has the option to 'upgrade automatically' link and click it
2. Enter your FTP login info
3. Select 'Yes' to the Use SSL option to be more secure
4. Click 'Proceed'
I was surprised the first time that I did this because I expected things to be more difficult. However, sure enough it worked like a charm for every single plugin I use that had the option to upgrade automatically. So after I spent some time upgrading my current active plugins I set about looking for and installing new ones.
New WordPress Plugins
This plugin allows you to add a copyright message or advertisements in your footer. I'd love for something like this to be integrated into OIO Publisher so the advertising could be managed through one plugin, so in the mean time I think I'll just use this to add a copyright message.
This plugin allows you to set how many posts you want to have display their full text or if you wish to only show a certain number of words before adding a 'continue reading' link. I chose to have the first post display the full text and the rest of the posts to display 100 words. The primary reason why I installed this plugin was to get rid of any concerns about duplicate content; however, an additional benefit will be an increased number of page views because it will require visitors to click into a post to read the full contents. I'm going to keep my eye on this though as I may set all of the posts on the front page to display in full as I find it irritating to go to blogs where every post requires you to click a link to continue reading. That's primarily why I did a compromise and had only the first post display in full.
What do you think though? Should I display more posts in full or do you believe it's a perfect balance?
I really like this plugin because it allows you to display icons for all of the various social networking sites after each and every post to allow readers the chance to submit to them easily. So please use the icons if you like the posts 
I used this post to replace the 'Share This' plugin that I had been previously using because that plugin causes some errors on my blog.
This requires this Post-Plugin Library to operate which can be downloaded here. But this is another fantastic plugin. I used to run a different plugin for my related posts but after I tried taking the code and putting it into my new theme the plugin broke. This turned out to be a good thing though because the Similiar Posts plugin is much better than the previous plugin I was using.
Those are all of the new plugins (besides OIO Publisher) that I'm using now and if you care to see some of the older plugins that I was using check out this post.
Sidebar Ad Price Dropped:
When I finished the plugin updates I decided to drop the price on the sitewide sidebar 125x125 ad block to only $15 a month. While the rest of my advertising inventory has been selling well the sidebar blocks haven't done as well as I expected them to. So if you're looking for a bargin you can pick one up by clicking here.
So what do you guys and gals think of the new plugins?
Got something to say? Click here to reply
Looks like you’ve been busy Chris. Some very nice plug ins there love the sociable one especially.
[Reply]
I haven’t upgraded yet, and dunno when I will. At least there’s a few cool things waiting.
Funny thing, I went from a sociable type plugin to share this as the other was too cluttered on my blog.
[Reply]
I am very disappointed with you. I thought when you upgraded the whole forum, you would have done these already :p Those are some must needed plugins. At least you finally added them.
[Reply]
@Dennis,
Yah I really like the share this plugin but when it didn’t work on the new blog I figured that it was time to find something else. I always worried that the share this plugin would require too much effort for some end users by having to click one button and then follow up with another… but perhaps I’m just underestimating the typical web user
@Tony
I assume by forum you mean blog
but yes I should have added them earlier but I didn’t. I always get worried about adding new plugins to my blog but sometimes I forget it’s much more forgiving than adding new plugins/mods to vBulletin forums.
[Reply]
I use the auto upgrade plugin as well. It’s really nice, but just a warning: if you have top commentators installed, you need to do that one manually
You run a tight ship here, I’ve been checking in and out and finally subscribed today
Keep up the good work!
[Reply]
How come I missed all these plugins? Thanks for sharing
[Reply]
Yeah, I meant blog. I been messing with my forum so much, I keep mixing up the two. I was looking up no follow for vbulletin…anyway, I always have a test blog to make sure everything works before I use it.
[Reply]