It never hurts to go back over the basics of blogging, something all the more important today as bloggers abandon their sites in favor of Facebook. You can make your site stand out, providing a respite for web users who are weary of all the social media noise.

1. Customize

A blog should not just be a blank web page with your thoughts scribbled on it. No, a blog is how you express yourself. It is how you choose to show what is important to you to the whole world. When you design your blog, make sure you customize it to better represent who you are and what messages you want to get across. For example, if your blog is about living green in an eco unfriendly world, you may not want to have a plain black background template with boring fonts for your text. Make it yours! And make sure that your post-customization product is readable and fun to look at.

2. Post

It may seem like a given, but remembering to post articles is a big boost to your blog readership. Many bloggers start out on their first blog swearing that they will post every day. In a few months they have fallen rather short of that goal, disappointing readers and themselves. For your blog, be sure that you pick a blogging schedule that you know you can stick to. If you are busier than others, tell readers upfront that you will only post something once a week. That way readers won’t simply believe that you are lazy or don’t care about what you’re doing.

3. Comments

When your readers comment, I’m sure you read them. But even more important that checking on those comments that they post is communicating with them further. If a reader has taken the time to read a post and to comment on it, the least you as the blogger can do is to let them know that their comment is appreciated and that you encourage them to keep reading and interacting. This is important to the readers, and readers are important to the success of the blog.

4. Guest Posts and Themes

One good way to shake things up a bit if your blog is becoming stale is to get a guest blogger to post send you an article. A featured guest blogger of the month may be a fun way to get a fresh voice out to your readers. It may even excite them that they may be chosen as your guest blogger one month. Also, try having a theme to each week or month. This will give people something new to think about and will add structure and excitement to your articles and topics.

5. Interaction

Finally, be careful what you post about. Though readers generally love to hear about what is going on in the blogger’s life, it is always nice for them to be able to express how their lives and situations relate to yours. When you write a blog post, be sure that you make some part of the post interactive. Inspire thought; ask questions; maybe even play the devil’s advocate once in a while. This leaves readers with the sense that they are not only spectators, but that they are actually significant contributing members to the success of the blog.

Author Information

Jonathan Walker is a blogger and writer for Car Insurance Comparison. Over there he most recently wrote about New Jersey Car Insurance.

Though such ideas are out there, I have yet to uncover hard data supporting these kinds of statements. But I can imagine that there may actually be something to this sort of thinking especially since Facebook now has more than 400 million registered users and my email inbox seems to be under control. Concerning the latter I can say that the number of messages I receive daily has finally plateaued, this coming after many years of relentless growth.

I’m registered with all of the major social networking sites as well as with a handful of relatively unknown sites too. But if you think that I’m going to become a Facebook Farmville devotee and give up my blogging, you’re cluck crazy!

So should you give up blogging? Well, if your blog isn’t much to speak of then go ahead.

For the majority of people who have been maintaining blogs for several years, giving up blogging now seems to make no sense. Especially if you have created a regular following and have steady traffic. Of course, should you decide to do something completely different with your life, then exiting blogging makes sense. But don’t leave your blog twisting in the wind if you think that Facebook should replace your time online.

Here are some reasons why I am not about to give up blogging any time soon:

I enjoy creating my own work. Blogging gives me a platform or bully pulpit to say what I think. Certainly you can do that on many social networking sites, but you are competing in a noisy marketplace of ideas. By maintaining this blog I can control it and give people the chance to respond and be heard.

I don’t want to lose money. This blog certainly is not a money maker but I do manage other blogs that are. Losing a couple daily Adsense clicks may not be much, but that tends to add up. Why should social networking sites get the benefit of that and more especially when I am providing to them unique and (hopefully) interesting content?

For posterity’s sake. I can’t imagine my blog writings being around long after I am gone, but if they are then I want to receive credit for what I wrote. Even for the short term I need to point my potential clients to my writings; without a blog as reference then I have one less resource to show.

I know some people are interpreting the writing on the wall to mean that blogging will eventually go the way of newspapers. Well, newspapers aren’t dead yet and just like print media I believe that blogging will transform to keep pace with “what’s new” while still allowing bloggers to have a voice on a platform they control.

Scheduling your blog posts can help you maintain control over your site, while giving you the opportunity to write when your creative juices are flowing.

This article is dedicated to Dominique who solicited my thoughts on blogging in advance. Make sure you check out her blog, An Unlikely Perspective 2, to find out what is on Dominique’s mind.

How Often Do You Write?

One question that some bloggers have about blogging concerns their writing schedule. At some point, you’ll discover a rhythm that works best for you – perhaps you like posting on Mondays and Thursdays or maybe you prefer a more frequent schedule which includes Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekend. Or whatever.

Regardless of how often you write, you can probably agree with the following sentiment – there are days when inspiration flows, but there are other times when you’d rather not write. However, by not adhering to a consistent schedule your blog could eventually fall to the wayside, perhaps even die. No serious blogger would allow that to happen to their blogs which for some folks serves as an extension of themselves.

Scheduling Your Articles

An important way to ensure that your blog is always fresh is to write articles in advance and schedule them to appear (drip) at certain times and on specified days. Even though I don’t have to tell you, I wrote this article on Labor Day when things were quiet and slow. I completed the article shortly before noon, then took the rest of the day off. Thanks to scheduling, I have enough articles set to appear on my other blogs for the coming days as well.

What this ultimately means is that I can work writing around my own schedule without being tied down – a measure of freedom I want and crave. Likely, you feel the same way too.

Assuming that your blog platform allows you to schedule articles in advance, developing a schedule certainly makes sense. Even though the calendar says September, I’m already thinking about articles I’ll write for the remainder of the year, including seasonal topics such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I may write and schedule my Christmas message in November, especially if I feel particularly inspired.

Three Tips For Successful Article Preparation

Of course, there are a few things to keep in mind when writing in advance:

Don’t Date Yourself – You may think it odd to write your new year’s message when the leaves have yet to change, but that’s something entirely up to you. If I’m writing well in advance, particularly for a holiday, I write as if the holiday is in the present or “today” – not the future. That goes without saying that you should never reference the actual date when you wrote your article – your readers don’t need that distraction nor will they care.

Pick And Choose – With several of my blogs, I usually write one or two articles in advance, but with one particular blog I go much further. For example, sometimes I’ll write an article about a special event taking place one or two months out, then I fill in the remaining dates here or there.

Don’t Force It – One bad habit to avoid when writing in advance is to force yourself to write when you aren’t prepared to write. I have a personal policy that works well for me – I write only when inspired. Maybe I have only one article to write; perhaps three or more. If I write when my creative juices aren’t flowing, then I’ll torture myself to complete the task. And, who wants to read tortured writing?

In the end, writing in advance is something completely up to you. Sometimes, I will write in advance and amend the article before it is published. There are other situations where I’ll change the date when an article is to appear. My readers aren’t aware of these changes, but I like to maintain control over the publication process as that gives me the freedom to write and publish as I see fit.

Photo Credit: Maxime Perron Caissy

Please read on as I share five foundational principles to help you decide whether blogging is right for you:

If you're seriously considering launching your own blog, you'll want to consider several important points first.

Your Topic – Some blogs are narrowly focused, discussing one topic or perhaps a segment pertaining to that topic. For instance, if you enjoy cars but are particularly passionate about car parts, then your blog will likely cover everything and anything related to replacement parts, accessories or other aftermarket products. But, you don’t have to limit yourself to one topic, especially if your blog is along the lines of a “my thoughts” site which, by the way, is what this blog is all about! Generally if something comes to mind, I’ll talk about it and I assume that there are enough people who are interested in listening to what I have to say to check in on me every once in awhile.

Your Voice – Many bloggers aren’t particularly gifted writers but don’t let that stop you from sharing what is on your mind. Having passion for a particular topic is important as readers can quickly determine if you’re interested in the topic at hand or not. Over time, your writing will improve, if you stick with it and are open to constructive criticism. The operative word here is “constructive” because you’ll always encounter anonymous trolls who are destructive and care nothing about you.

Your Site – Though many bloggers will disagree with me on this point, it is perfectly fine for you to start a blog through Blogspot, Live Journal or WordPress, but keep this in mind: you may not have full control over your site which in some cases may forbid you from running ads on your site. I use WordPress to power this blog, but WordPress doesn’t manage it. I do. I own the domain and I pay for monthly hosting; I downloaded the free WordPress files and have added everything related to the blog myself. Clearly, if you’re not knowledgeable enough on how to launch an independent blog, then by all means use a blog platform’s service to get the job done. You can always move everything to your own web address at some point.

Your Schedule – Once you make the decision about starting a blog, you’ll need to think of a writing schedule that fits your lifestyle. There are people who write multiple articles every single day while others are content to post one or two times per week. Of course, if you’re attempting to build a following, then higher frequency is the key. But don’t let other people determine how often you should blog, because when you come down to it, you’re responsible for the site.

Your Satisfaction (and Theirs) – I purposely started each point with “your” to emphasize what establishing a personal blog is all about – you. Well, not quite. Yes, you can treat your blog as an “online journal” where you share your thoughts with no expectation of return, meaning no readers. But, most people blog to communicate with their readers who are either like-minded folks or someone who may be interested in what you have to sell. Your personal satisfaction could be based primarily on a desire to share your thoughts which involves interacting with your readership through comments. Therefore, make certain that when you launch your blog that you allow readers to comment, preferably without registering. Then, answer their comments to foster dialogue.

Blogging: Staying The Course

Most bloggers quit blogging within the first year with very few blogs owned and maintained by the same person after three years. After five years only a tiny cadre of bloggers are still at it, committed folks whose passion for sharing what is on their mind remains strong.

Blogging is a journey that begins with one step, but once you step out you’ll be in the good company of millions of other online journalists.

See Also — Where Has All Of My Traffic Gone?

Although I’m not directly involved with this site, I reviewed his pages and then assured him that the drop in traffic was probably seasonally related. After all, we’re in the middle of the summer months and when your site is seasonally themed, then there are times in the year when an even steeper drop will be noticed.

When Your Blog Loses Traffic

My client’s concern brought up an issue that many bloggers contend with too – a sharp drop to their blog’s traffic. Blogging can be immensely frustrating especially if you pour your heart and soul into it and the returns are just not there. After all of that work you notice that your Alexa number continues to rise, your PageRank sinks and your traffic numbers plummet. But on closer inspection and after an honest assessment of your site, you may discover a number of reasons why traffic is down. Let’s take a look at five of the more notable ones here:

Seasonal Traffic – If you have a Christmas season site, you’re probably going through one of the biggest drops since December 26th. Very few people are thinking about Christmas shopping, but I would venture to say that once Labor Day has passed your traffic will begin to tick upward, increasing noticeably in October and surging by early November. For everyone else (in the northern hemisphere), the months of June, July and August are generally slower as even web addicts like to take a break, head to the beach, visit their families, etc. They haven’t logged off completely, but they’re making good use of their warm weather time. Surf’s up!

Blogging Frequency – Have you been blogging less frequently lately? Check back to when you first launched your blog and compare how often you blogged then with how often you blog now. Over time, you may have gradually slipped to where you’re posting less frequently. Perhaps when you got started you wrote 15-20 articles per month but have since slipped to around 12. Fresh articles bring in the traffic, so consider ramping up your production to match or even exceed previous levels. Don’t let your quality slip!

Article Appeal – Maybe your subject matter simply isn’t of interest to your readers. I always tell bloggers to write about their passion as their enthusiasm will shine forth. Enthusiasm is contagious and people are drawn to blogs where the blogger knows his stuff, is excited about the topic and offers a unique and helpful perspective to his readers. If you’ve gotten in the habit of producing boring articles, then your uninspired audience will flee. Time to ratchet up your blog’s appeal!

Check Analytics – I use Google Analytics to review my traffic on a regular basis. Analytics and similar free or low cost tools give me clues on where people are coming from, what search terms brought them to my blog, which articles were most read and a host of other nifty features. You don’t have to be a statistical geek, but it is certainly helpful if you have a general understanding of these types of programs. You’ll also want to make sure that your sitemap is up to date, that Google webmaster tools is indexing all of your pages and you’ll want to check the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to see how high your pages are appearing for certain traffic generating keywords. Make adjustments as needed and your traffic numbers should increase.

Promote Wisely – I’ve noticed that some bloggers aren’t very active in promoting their articles. I arrived on the blogging scene late, launching the forerunner to this blog in December 2005. For the first full year, my site wasn’t set up to encourage commenting (people had to register which means few left comments) and my articles were stilted, not conversational in nature. By Spring 2007, my traffic numbers began to increase sharply as I understood that making my blog user friendly would be a big help. I also joined StumbleUpon, which soon began to bring more traffic to my site and carefully chose several other social media sites where I began to establish a presence and a following (Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, to name just a few). Needless to say, when I stoke the social media flame these days, my traffic numbers increase; if I neglect adding fuel to that fire, then my traffic gradually slides.

Thoughts For Your Day

Technorati tracks blogs and regularly issues a “State of the Blogosphere” report which offers excellent insight into the world of blogs. This report gives a fascinating and comprehensive look at blogging and what all of this means to you. The top blogs out there have been around for three years or longer but as you might guess, the vast number of bloggers eventually give up.

If you plan on being around for the long haul, then develop a strategy to increase your visibility in order to bring in more traffic. Quite a few of my blogging friends are committed to blogging until their fingers fall off, creating interesting and engaging posts on a regular basis. These people know where their blogs have been and they know where they’re going, setting themselves up for long term success.

Oh, what about my client who was worried about his traffic? He decided that a marketing campaign wouldn’t be worthwhile and is the process of making some changes to his web pages. The coming weeks should reveal whether these changes bring in more traffic, but if not I may have another gig to take on.

See Also — Is Your Work To Marketing Ratio 2-1?

Modifying Your Articles After The Fact

Barry Welford of SMM Internet Marketing Consultants recently made a compelling case for making later updates in his piece titled, “10 Reasons For Editing Your Published Blog Posts.” Without rehashing all ten of his reasons, I encourage you to read his article to see how you handle your own blogging. It turns out that after finishing reading his narrative I realize that I do modify previous pieces on occasion, although not with the same degree of intention as Barry. Allow me to share with you four of Barry’s points that resonated with me.

You fix mistakes, don’t you? I like to think that I catch every mistake before I publish, but that isn’t always the case. I proofread as I go along, but I also do one final, comprehensive read through to make sure that what I wrote makes sense and that all words are accounted for and spelled correctly. Usually, it is one of those smaller words such as “an” or “and” that I get sloppy with. Not that I have a grammatical problem, rather I sometimes type faster than I think which means I’m bound to miss something – even what should be obvious.

Image Addition? I must say that I do not add more images to an article later on. On most blogs (such as this one), I’ll include one image with the article, while on my car blogs I’ll include as many as six pictures if the article is discussing a new product release. I understand that images can add SEO value to an article, so maybe I should give this some closer scrutiny.

Update Developments – This is a good one. If I update my html pages I use on sites not powered by WordPress, why not update my blog posts too? It seems that a policy that we web developers used to follow — update fixed pages as needed – should apply to our blogs. But for some reason it doesn’t, so we don’t. Hmmm….

Search Engine Visibility – This is important, but I also think we miss out on keeping up with it. How many times have you written a piece that rushed to the top of the SERPs only to slide back down over time? Perhaps we should pay more attention to who has surged ahead of us because I’m sure that it isn’t just newer articles that are pushing their way to the top, but updated information as well.

Update Or Perish?

With so many new blogs and websites launching daily can we afford to neglect our sites? It seems as if we are doing just that if we fail to take advantage of the opportunity to make changes later on, especially when those changes may have a positive impact on our readers as well as on our visibility via the search engines.

See Also — You Can Blog Better Than That!

Avoid That Lawsuit

Instead of rehashing what the WSJ had to say, I’ll echo a few points while including my own take on writing, free speech and using common sense when offering an online critique. You certainly don’t have to agree with me on my main points, but you can avoid the headache and heartache a lawsuit can give you whether it has merit or not.

Full Disclosure — I’ve read enough stuff online over the past fifteen years, but I never take anything seriously unless the author’s real name is used. That can be more difficult to do (even unnecessary) with forum comments, but if you publish an article, why not take full ownership of what you wrote? Including a brief biography at the end of the article or posted someplace on the site can enhance your professionalism.

Constructive Criticism — So a certain service or product has let you down. But, should you simply bash that product or the person delivering it? I don’t think so. Instead, why not instruct your readers by offering a review that manages to take into consideration all aspects of the service or product offered?

For example, there are times that I don’t particularly like a car that I am reviewing. I may even tell people that I don’t recommend buying it, but I also will mention whatever positive features I’ve found in it. These days, there aren’t any absolutely crappy cars on the market so I try to mention some of the redeeming values as well as what I don’t like about it.

Personal Attacks – If you personally attack an individual, then you deserve to be sued. That suit may not have merit, but if you demonize or at least cast someone in an untrue light then all bets are off. Besides, your readership — if they’re not a bunch of juveniles — may dismiss your attacks as a personal vendetta, perhaps casting you as troublemaker or a vindictive SOB.  Raise someone’s ire and you’ll get the legal punch in the nose you deserve.

Protect Yourself — You may not have done anything wrong, yet you’re still getting sued. That is the unfortunate part of living in a litigious society — some people will come after you simply to intimidate you.

Suing Without Merit

As the WSJ article said, even a suit without merit can get expensive to defend. The article outlined some low cost insurance options which can offer legal counsel in the event that you are sued. Usually, this coverage is for personal blogs not business blogs, therefore if you are blogging on behalf of a business, you’ll need to make sure that you are covered from that aspect too.

Yes, state shield laws might offer some sort of protection, but I can see where they can be circumvented as well.  Shield laws are designed to protect journalists, but some might argue that bloggers are not journalists. The plaintiff may lose that argument, but as a defendant you’ll still need to respond or face worse consequences.

Free Speech & The First Amendment

Free speech is all well and good — I’m a firm believer in the first amendment (to the U.S. Constitution). But, what you say can still come back to bite you so make sure that you have the protection you need to avoid being muzzled, impoverished or both.

See Also — You Can Blog Better Than That!

Photo Credit: Steve Woods

Growing Traffic, Great Links!

The traffic numbers across my small, but tight blog network has been growing steadily as I incorporate the very best optimization tactics and seed each blog with helpful and relevant articles. Recently, I discovered that one of my articles not only went viral, but appears to have become the de facto reference for that particular topic (top SERPs for several keywords and phrases). Another article on that same blog regularly brings in 200+ unique visitors per day as it was linked to by a major corporation.

All that traffic means one thing: spammers love my blogs!

But, that means that I use Akismet and other tools to block unrelated and spammy comments, which also means that my spam folders fill up pretty quickly on a weekly basis.

Spammers I can handle as their comments never see the light of day. But other commenters can be annoying especially if they post unrelated or silly responses. Yes, all six blogs are “do follow” which means they are a magnet for lazy comment people, those type of bloggers who want the juicy backlink but aren’t willing to work for it.

Making The Best Use Of Commenting

I actually believe that some commenters really want to leave a decent response but they don’t necessarily know how. Believe me, I understand the importance of backlinks and trackbacks, but I also know that I will never let my blog network disintegrate thanks to an onslaught of Xanax, viagra and porn tags.

If you really want to benefit from leaving comments, then I suggest you employ the following tactics wherever you leave comments:

Stay On Message — The first thing I notice are those comments totally unrelated to the article. Off topic comments are immediately deleted. But, I’ll also delete comments that repeat, often verbatim, something I said in my article. Golly, if you can’t come up with something original to say then why should I show you the linky love? Bye!

Use A Real Name — In the “name” area of the comment section, I don’t want to see your business name, a sexually suggestive name or anything other than your real name. Please don’t tell me that your name is Payday Loans even if your comment is a really good one. Recently, I had someone leave a very good comment with that silly name, but instead of deleting it I edited their comment and changed their name to Bill. Get it? Bill?

URL — Please don’t leave a URL within the body of your comment unless it is directly related to the topic at hand. Instead, for whatever URL you want to feature put that link on the designated line to receive link juice. As long as it doesn’t link to a porn, hate or some goofball site it will get approved (yes, I often return the favor by visiting your site).

Do The Math — On one blog I’ve gotten so many spammy comments, that I decided to add the “Do the Math” plugin to try to gauge who is spamming that site. Guess what — if you get the answer wrong, your comment vanishes. So do the math correctly before leaving your helpful, relevant and erudite comment.

My Two Favorite Social Media Sites

Just to let you know I do appreciate most of the people I come across online. That is why I’m active on StumbleUpon and Twitter, sites where I’ll frequently leave a comment, a tweet or pass along helpful information to others.

Related Reading — StumbleUpon: A Whole Lot Of Fun!

I’m not your average blogger nor am I your typical freelance writer. I maintain six active blogs, four of which are updated daily, with the remaining two updated once or twice a week; I’m also currently serving as the automotive columnist for a pair of print publications.

Most particularly as when the news has something to do with cars, I’m often the recipient of requests to review a product, make an announcement, tell a story or share something else with my readers.  Admittedly, I can’t respond to every request personally and I sometimes miss the announcement completely.

To that end, I want to share some tips with those of you whose responsibility it is to disseminate news, particularly when you’re trying to see if I will follow up with what you have.

Not all news is equal, but not all press releases and announcements are either.  This means that you have a better chance of getting a “read” and an eventual article placement if you follow my advice:

Contact me carefully — I no longer publish a phone number where people can contact me. My current clients have that number and I also give that information out to people who are part of my trusted circle of news providers. For everyone else, contacting me via my on site contact forms or direct email address is the best way to go.

I put a lot of weight on those contacts who provide all of the information I need from the get go including at least one related photograph. I just don’t have time to play email tag — be thorough and I’ll have a clearer understanding of what you want and can make my decision based on the information you supplied.

Please be patient — I don’t always respond to contact requests as quickly as I probably should. No excuses, but life does happen to get in the way. Juggling a number of responsibilities means that some tasks get pushed to the side. Plus, there are times I am on deadline and absolutely nothing will get me to stop what I’m doing to focus on your news.

More often then not, I’ll go through my inbox several times during the week to catch up on my messages. Yes, if I detect that something is spammy or isn’t relevant, I’ll simply delete it and move on.

Follow up with me — If someone has something that is very interesting or truly believes that what would benefit my readers, I have no problems with receiving a follow up note. Pushy people are usually ignored while polite folks get moved to the head of the line.

Just to let you know that I’m from the old school: I value personal relationships and I enjoy long term business dealings. I’ve been online steadily since 1995 and have managed my own sites since 2002. I like to think that what I do now will be something that I’ll be doing the rest of my life. I love my job!

I need your people — Got people? I hope so. From time to time I’ll rewrite a press release and add my thoughts to the conversation. However, I prefer the human contact (remember, I’m old school) and am much more likely to go with your story if I can speak to the name behind the story.

This means the person who designed the automobile, runs the division, created the concept or is heading up the ad campaign is of interest to me. I won’t take up a lot of their time (we’re all very busy these days) but if I can have ten to fifteen minutes, that will certainly help your cause. In some cases I’m satisfied with a brief quote sent to me via email.

The bonus round — Last of all, you can increase your chances of having your news published by writing a jam up press release in the first place (I toss away anything smacking of self promotion) and by offering to cite my article somewhere on your website or blog.

I’m not looking for a “pay to play” exchange but if I’m publishing something newsworthy about your organization, product or personnel you can bet that I’m providing a valuable path to your site, one that my readers will likely travel frequently over the weeks, months and, yes, the years ahead.

Photo Credit: Sanja Gjenero

WordPress users jump for joy upon learning about all of the action packed features in recently released v. 2.6.

One thing that users of this free weblog software tool know is that WordPress is updated on a regular basis, usually several times each year. If you manage one blog, that isn’t a problem, but if you manage a bunch of blogs, you can spend plenty of time backing up files, updating to the latest version and making sure that all of your plug-ins are working correctly. I currently manage nine WP blogs, so my work is cut out for me every time a revision is rolled out!

WordPress 2.6 was released yesterday and I’m in the process of making my updates. I’ve completed four blogs today (including this one) and will get to the remaining five over the next two days.

This latest version has some very useful features added, options which can help make blogging easier and your work more professional. As always, before doing any WP update, backup your files first.

What’s Notable:

Theme Previewer — Now an integrated part of WordPress, the new theme previewer allows you to look at your blog before you switch themes. This is tremendously useful for someone like me who has downloaded a theme, switched over to the new one, only to not like how it looked when in use. Undoing what I did doesn’t take long, but those are extra steps I certainly can do without.

Google Gears — Pre-caching pages and speeding up your site is now possible thanks to Google Gears a nifty program that make your WP blog snap into place faster. I have one blog with about one thousand articles on it and an older theme that has been dragging of late. With Google Gears pages load faster — just what your readers want and deserve!

Press This! — I’ll have to take a look at this function closely as it is something that could be used for good or for evil. Specifically, if you are visiting a website and you want to copy the text, a photograph, or something else found on that site, Press This! will let you do that with ease. I just hope that it doesn’t make lifting material off of my sites too much of a temptation for dishonest people.

Compare Post Versions — Have you ever wished you could compare various versions of a post that you wrote? Now you can, with WP’s wiki-style post versioning tool. This is particularly helpful if you collaborate on posts and need to compare revisions. If you decide to go with an earlier copy, you can click on the appropriate link and select that one. It might also be useful if you are running a contest and want to turn that post from an announcement of the contest to announcing the winner of that contest.

Avatar Choices — You get to select different avatar options with WP 2.6 by choosing Gravatars, MonsterID, Identicons, Wavatars, etc.

Improved Plug-In Management — Up until now, I wasn’t too happy with WP’s plug-in management panel. Now, plugins can be activated in one batch, deactivated at the same time, or even deleted en masse. I also like the little number flag that pops up by the Plugins tab alerting me to when an updated copy is ready to download.

Image Captions — I’ve been waiting for this tool to be integrated into WP for some time. I just could never find a plugin that I liked, so being able to put a brief note below a photograph is very helpful. I will say that this feature doesn’t always work well with every theme; one site that I manage forces the text to the left, but I’m sure that this is something that can be remedied with some minor coding work.

Lots of other smaller changes are included with WP 2.6 including full SSL support in the core, reordering of galleries through a drag and drop feature, security updates, and the fixing of almost 200 bugs.

Nope, WordPress isn’t perfect, but as a content management system it is packed with many good functions and can be extended much further with various plugins. Happy updating!

Photo Credit: Sanja Gjenero