“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 

Related Posts?:

1. WordPress Sermons Plugin
2. Re: WordPress 2.8 Upgrade

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:

Related Posts?:

1. New WordPress Plugin: PicApp for Pictures
2. Dressing Up a Blog with Images and Pictures

(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.

Related Posts?:

1. Updating or Changing Posts?
2. Featured Blog: "Blogging Basics 101"

(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.

Related Posts?:

1. WordPress Users Check This Out!!!: Older WordPress Versions Now Under Attack!
2. "Share This"

(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 

Related Posts?:

1. 10 Ways to make Your WordPress Blog Faster
2. Plugin: WP Easy Uploader

Image via CrunchBase

A couple of weeks ago I put the WP Easy Uploader plugin on my WordPress blogs. What a great time saver this one is! Now I can upload the entire program for a plugin or new theme into my WordPress files with only a couple of clicks.

In order to try out a plugin or a new theme, I use to have to download the program then open it up and upload each individual part into my plugin or theme files. Use to take forever–especially on new themes–now it only takes two clicks! Well maybe three-download–browse–and upload.

This makes it fast and easy to check out new themes and plugins. It does take some time and effort to set it up, but it’s well worth the initial effort. Here’s a link to the download site.            *Top

Related Posts?:

1. Re: WordPress Plugins—What I’ve discovered.
2. WordPress Sermons Plugin