WordPress 3.0 is suppose to be faster, leaner, meaner, and safer yet you can supposedly power one blog or 10 million from one installation. See the video tour above. However, when the opportunity came to upgrade my WordPress blogs on Thursday, I only did my ‘Testsite’ to see ‘what if’.

Re: Testsite

While we are at it, let me tell you about my ‘testsite’. I have a testsite blog that I use to see how new plugins, apps, and new themes work before I make changes on any of my regular blogs. The testsite is blocked from search engines even though it is on the Internet. It has been a real help over the years and has kept me from making fatal errors on any of my 10 WordPress blogs.

WordPress 3.0

The upgrade went well on the testsite so on Friday morning I began to upgrade all of my WP blogs from 2.92 to 3.0. This ended up being the fastest upgrade with the least trouble I have ever done. It was one click and Literally less than one minute per blog, what a surprise!

3.0 is a major update and in the past I have always experienced some kind of trouble in upgrading and was ready for a day of it. However, this went way faster than I anticipated. 10 blogs, 10 clicks, in 15 minutes and I was in blog heaven.

Initial Impressions

Everything is working so far so good. Usually with a major upgrade some of my plugins, themes, or apps end up giving me some trouble but so far this has not been the case though it is still early.

I really like the one click new feature that allows you to upgrade a number of plugins all at once. What a time saver with all of the new upgrades coming on line in response to the new version.  

The new notification and upgrade system in place for themes is great but also is a real pain if you have some themes that you are never going to use but have to upgrade just to clear the ‘upgrade’ note off the dashboard. I have found it just as easy to go to the theme menu and delete the unneeded theme rather than to upgrade something I’ll never use anyway.

Note that if it is a theme you are using, any upgrade could eliminate the custom changes that you have made to the theme. Fortunately, WP 3.0 reminds you of that fact before you click on theme upgrade button. A very useful notification and reminder indeed!

I will spend the weekend exploring some of the new features so maybe there will be more to come on the new WP 3.0.

Here’s a link to the WP info site on the new 3.0 version. 

Here’s an article at Tutorial9 that compares the speed and reliability of the most popular Caching plugins for WordPress:

“WordPress Caching: What’s the best Caching Plugin?” by Kyle Robinson Young

It is a comprehensive analysis of best caching plugins. Interestingly Young also presents an effective ‘do it yourself’ alternative. In his conclusions he finds that Hyper Cache or W3 Total Cache are best available and perform far better than the old standbys -WP-Cache and WP Super Cache.

Why is ‘caching’ important?

It increases the loading speed of your site.

It is particularly useful as your traffic increases and will come in real handy if you ever have a post go viral. A Good caching plugin can make your blog ‘digg’ or ‘Stumble’ proof.            *Top

Related articles by Zemanta

• Speed Up Your WordPress Blog with W3 Total Cache (wpjedi.com)
• 3 Powerful Cache Plugins To Speed Up Your WP Blog (bloggingot.com)
• WordPress Plugins We Are Using (ghacks.net)

Self published and available in PDF form and as a ‘spiral bound’ book. The two authors really know what they are talking about when it comes to the WordPress blogging program. Good for beginners all the way through to advanced. Something for everybody.

Best part is that ‘free updates’ are included in the purchase. Initial price seems high till you take that into consideration. WordPress is constantly changing and these guys will keep you on top of any new versions when they come.

<<Here’s a link to where it can be purchased>>

Also here’s a link to the best review of the book that I have found –at BloggingPro: “WordPress Book Review: Digging Into WordPress”              *Top

“3 Ministry Podcasting Options with WordPress”

He looks at and rates the PowerPress and Sermon Browser plugins and then presents a ‘no’ plugin WordPress option. Also deems the PodPress plugin as dated.

Some good info here for WordPress folks wanting to get into podcasting.            *Top 

Here’s another WordPress plugin that makes it easy to add pictures and images as you write a post:

Freebie Images

Once the plugin is installed and activated you are able to drag a picture into post from a side application with over a 100,000 or so free photo’s and images available.  Quite handy! Here’s another image:

(Image by mansikka via Flickr)

Ever click on a link and end up on a 404 page? Everyone has–it is one of those little frustrations that we endure on the net. That’s why it is a good idea every once in a while to check out the links on your own blog. Some suggest that it be done once a month at least since search engine like Google supposedly downgrade or penalize your site if you have too many broken ones. Another good reason to take care of it is for your readers.

I was recently surprised to find that a good number of the links on my ‘Getting Started’ page no longer worked. Not only did I have to get rid of the broken links but in this case find new articles to replace the issues I was trying to cover on that page in the first place.

Actually I was just scratching the surface. Anyone who has been blogging for a while has far more broken links in the archives than one would ever suppose. One thing to keep in mind, anytime you link to an online newspaper, magazine, or news source site after about a month or so they stuff it into their archives and the links you used no longer work. Now what do you do—actually what can you do?

WordPress Plugin: Broken Link Checker

In the process of checking my links over the weekend I remembered that a month or so ago I had come across a WordPress plugin that was suppose to help you find every broken link on your blog: Broken Link Checker

What does it do? Once installed it finds every single broken link on your blog and makes it possible to correct them all. Actually an incredible plugin. Each bad link can be edited or unlinked directly from your dashboard on the ‘Broken Link Checker’ page without manually having to go to and edit each individual post or page separately.

I had 46 broken links on this blog but it only took a half an hour to correct it all—amazing.

The only draw back is this– When the plugin is first activated it sort of locks up the backend for a while till it goes through your entire blog and finds all of the bad links. I found it difficult to do anything else with the blog till it was done. In the case of this blog it took nearly 10 minutes or so. It was much longer for my news commentary site which ended up having 135 broken links.

What was really great—after I fixed all the broken links the home page actually loaded way faster than it did before.

Update: After using it for a week I found that the backend continues to lock up each time I go to the dashboard and you really can’t do a thing until the Broken Link Checker checks for bad links. It’s no big deal on some of my smaller blogs but those with several hundred posts take way to long to load and resolve.

Solution: I deactivated the plugin and will turn it on at least twice a month to correct any broken links.  

*See some of the articles below for more on this issue–Xenu Link Sleuth is another program that some recommend. Also LinkPatch is a service that will monitor your site for a small fee.

(Image via Wikipedia)

Q:  Joe Chavez asked: “I was curious to know what other plugins or utilities do you use/recommend?”

A: There are literally thousands of plugins available to WordPress.org bloggers. I have personally tried out a hundred or so. At one time I was using nearly 30 but in the process discovered several issues that caused me to limit the number I use. Here’s some of the stuff that I have discovered usually the hard way:

a. Some plugins actually cause your blog to load more slowly.

At one time I had 3 or 4 that slowed down the load-in time considerably. You can test this by turning off all your plugins and adding them one by one and see if they make a difference in load time. You might be surprised. I once had a blogging friend who used 40 or so plugins and it was taking 20 seconds or more for his blog to load (not good).

b. Some plugins conflict with each other.

What this means is—if you are using one particular plugin another one may not work right. I have no idea why—it is just that way. Some of the websites will inform you of any conflicts but mostly it is trial and error.

c. Some plugins may not work properly with your particular WP theme.

I have run across this a couple of times particularly with older WP themes and newer plugins. One time after upgrading a plugin it would no longer work properly with the theme I was running at the time.

d. Some plugins have been used by hackers.

There have been several times in the last 4 years or so when hackers have actually used certain plugins to gain backdoor access to WP blogs. WP official sites will carry a warning when this happens along with a remedy and/or upgrade.

e. It is a good idea to upgrade your plugins to the newest version.

See #d above. Also, plugins eventually have to be upgraded to work with the latest WP versions.

Here’s a list of the plugins I currently use on this blog:

1.  Akismet

     -Takes care of most of the spam—essential.

2.  All in One SEO Pack

     -Provides ability to imput SEO important info—definitely helps your Google rating.

3.  Google XML Sitemaps

     -Google likes it-nuff said!

4.  Feedburner Feed Replacement

     -Replaces blog feed with feedburner feed—helps increase subscribers.

5.  WordPress Database Backup

     -Set up automatic database backups

6.  WP Super Cache

     -Makes the load in faster and Digg proof!

7.  Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

     -Exposes your readers to past posts that may be related. It is worth it even though it slows the load a bit.

8.  WP Easy Uploader

     -Great for uploading both themes and plugins—2 clicks and it’s done!

9.  ShareThis

     -Makes it easy for your readers to Digg, Stumbleupon, or email to friends.

10. WordPress.com Stats

     -It’s always nice to see some stats when you go to your dashboard—I have ‘Site Meter’ for a more detailed look.

The next three are great for making it easy to add pictures and media to your posts:

11. Zemanta

     -Literally don’t know what I would do without Zemanta

12. Apture

     -Pictures and media–added on after post is published.

13. PicApp

     -Great source for pictures

The Following I only turn on once a month to “repair” and “optimize” the database:

14. WP-DBManager

Final Note: —I continue to check out new plugins all of the time. I‘ve found that the best way to discover great plugins is to read posts like this where other bloggers review the ones that they’re currently using.

(Image via CrunchBase)

**Note: The current WordPress.org version is 2.8.4 

If you are running an earlier version it is definitely time to upgrade—older WordPress versions are now under attack. Thousands of blogs have been hit already—all earlier versions before 2.84  (Note-WordPress.com blogs are not affected).

Hackers have Produced some kind of ‘worm’ that attacks all older versions and sets up an additional fake “administrator” that gives them access to your blog using the registration program even if it is turned off.  Here are two more articles on this issue:

Old WordPress Versions Under Attack

WordPress.org under attack; reason to upgrade to 2.8.4

I learned this one the hard way 1 1/2 years ago when 3 of my blogs were hacked during the last major WordPress attack– now I upgrade immediately. It took me nearly a month to get everything back to normal. I ended up having to flush my databases which the hackers had control of and start all over.             *Top

By Lisa Sabin-Wilson (Hoboken,NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2009, 394 pages)

Second Edition is quite an improvement over the already excellent original. It is the essential book for those using WordPress in publishing a blog. This edition is updated to feature version 2.7+ which reflects the last major program change.

The writer introduces one to the basic WordPress blogging program. Then follows with a section covering the WordPress hosted service, next a section on how to set up a ’self-hosted’ blog with the WordPress.org program, and finally, a chapter covering the WordPress MU program used in setting up and hosting entire blogging communities.

This is a great book for all those starting out with WordPress and explains in detail everything one needs to know to properly administer and publish on a blog using the program. For those who have been around a while, it outlines procedures for adding plugins and widgets to a WordPress site—also where to find the best WP themes.

Then, for the more advanced blogger, the book gives tips and procedures for making a blog unique and shows how to customize themes and templates. In easy to understand fashion, the writer presents all the basic CSS code needed to make changes that will make your WP blog different from all the rest.

WordPress For Dummies 2nd Edition is the most complete manual for using any WP program to date– providing good detailed help no matter whether you are just starting out, been doing it for a while, or more advanced—this is now the one essential book.

If you are just starting out however, you might also consider getting: "Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read" by Scott McNulty. It is the easiest and best illustrated book on WordPress for complete beginners though it does reflect the earlier WP 2.6 rather than the current version. Nevertheless, WordPress For Dummies 2nd Edition is the best single overall book for all WP purposes.           *Top

(Logo via CrunchBase)

BlogPerfume Provides a list of essential WordPress plugins along with evaluations and images for each one. This is one of the best articles that I have ever seen on the subject—check it out! Lots of useful info!           *Top