WordPress 2.7 is here -- the "Coltrane" upgrade is this blogging platform's best work to date.

Back then, I was managing three blogs and finding it difficult to follow what I thought was fairly complicated upgrading instructions. There were times when it took me over an hour to do just one blog as I missed a step or ignored the orders not to delete a key php file.

These days, upgrading with WordPress is a snap and this morning I upgraded all nine blogs that I’m in charge of, updated plug-ins, approved comments and deleted spam all within an hour’s time. With WordPress 2.7 the process of future upgrading is now easier as FTP tools are no longer be necessary. Instead, with just one click of a button from the admin interface WordPress will download and install the updates for me.

Sweet! I never thought that WordPress would be so easy and enjoyable to use.

But, it gets even better than that: with the latest version — code-named “Coltrane” in keeping with WordPress’ affinity for jazz related names (John Coltrane was an American jazz composer and saxophonist who died in 1967) — bloggers are given a truly clean and easy to user administrative panel or interface. Obviously, I’m using it now and am finding that the layout is easy on the eyes and all the commands are within easy reach.

No scrolling around looking for which category to check (they’re in my lower right corner) and I can reply to comments directly from the dashboard. WordPress cut out several steps in the blogging process which makes posting new articles quicker and easier than ever before. I like the drop down menu on the left side and the drag and drop capability to move things around if I prefer a different layout…customization, baby!

The future of WordPress appears to be very bright and, according to WordPress boss Matt Mullenwag, it’ll soon be more adaptable to social media. Matt explains where WordPress has gone this year and where it is heading in the following quote:

Those of you following along at home might have noticed this was our second major redesign of WordPress this year. Whoa nelly! While that wasn’t ideal, and I especially sympathize with those of you creating books or tutorials around WordPress, there’s good news. The changes to WordPress in 2.5 and 2.7 were necessary for us to break free of much of the legacy cruft and interface bloat that had built up over the years (gradually) and more importantly provide us with a UI framework and interface language we can use at the foundation to build tomorrow’s WordPress on, to express ideas we haven’t been able to before. So at the end of 2009 I expect, interface-wise, WordPress to look largely the same as it does now.

You can read all about WordPress 2.7 and what others are saying about it on the blog platform’s website. Meanwhile, I’ve got to get back to work and see how this baby drives. So far I like what they’ve done and I’m eager to put WordPress 2.7 through all the paces.

Maximizing CTR

One area where I seem to get more calls for help than others involves the placement of Google ads or similar type advertisements. On static HTML pages you go with Google’s recommendations and hope for the best, but when it comes to blogging, trying a number of different approaches seems the best way to go.

Admittedly, this blog is my worst example of ad placement, simply because I haven’t approached the blog all that seriously as far as its set up goes. MK|SEO exists primarily to provide SEO for other sites and to showcase some of my work. I realize that this is a poor excuse, but AdSense just isn’t a biggie here for me here.

Google Lends A Hand

Getting back to ad placement, if you are using AdSense you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the Adsense Help Center where Google has set up optimization essentials and strategies to help you succeed. After all, if they click through while on your site and at greater numbers, then Google can prove to customers that AdSense works (and they make more money, ‘natch!) Whether sales are converted or not is a different discussion.

A Nifty Plugin For AdSense and YPN!

My most recent strategy is to test a WordPress plug-in which allows ads to appear within the body of the article. I’ve tried this in the past, but was always dissatisfied with the results until I came across the All In One AdSense and YPN plugin, which makes configuring ads a snap. What I like best about this particular plugin is that it serves ads where you want them — left, right, center, upper, lower, random, etc. — lots of choices and places for them to appear. YPN, btw is Yahoo! Publishers Network. The plug-in can be used for other CTR programs, not just these two.

I’ve only used the plugin for two days on three different sites, but I am already seeing an increase in CTR which spells more money for me. This is especially good news as AdSense lost its sheen for me me three years ago when my income suddenly dropped. Though I don’t expect to make a bundle off of AdSense again, there is room for growth and I plan on optimizing my blogs to take advantage of my discovery.

In conclusion, I can tell you that massaging your ad placement from time to time makes good business sense. I’ll know better in a week or two whether the AdSense/YPN plugin consistently brings improved results, but for now it is off to a good start.

Making money through your site is more difficult than a few years back, but if you update your mindset you can succeed and make money online.

When I began writing this post, I had one blog left to upgrade — the one that you are reading. I was a bit nervous doing this one thinking that there could be some glitch that would distract me from other projects I am working on today. I have an important deadline for Friday and the last thing that I needed was to be saddled with fixing a problem that shouldn’t of happened in the first place.

To shorten what is already too long of a story, I saved this post, backed up the database for this blog, and completed the upgrade. Simple. Painless. Quick.

All nine blogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.5 and not one presented a problem. I’ve heard of a few horror stories from others who tried to upgrade and failed, but mine made it without incident. I am a bit surprised as one of the themes for a customer’s site is rather old and outdated.

One final note: I realize that this blog is featured on various “No Follow” lists which is fine with me. However, if you can’t figure a way of leaving an intelligent comment as a means of gaining some link love, then don’t expect me to keep your comment around. ‘Nuff said.

Hooray for FileZilla

Thanks to FileZilla, I was able to FTP everything inside of 10 minutes and, yes, I remembered to back up my database, turn off my plug-ins, and leave my config-sys file alone.

No Problems This Time

I recall one particular upgrade from hades that took me hours to complete simply because I was multi-tasking (read: not giving the upgrade my full attention) and having to re-do everything to find out what I missed. What a geek!

I Like The Tag Feature

So far, so good: I like the tags feature and the “Pending Review” under the post status is a nice option, particularly for multiple bloggers. One plug-in has been updated and I assume the other dozen or so are working fine.

Have you upgraded yet? What has your experience with the latest offering been so far?

WordPress Tosses Technorati In Favor of the Google Blogs Directory

BTW, I like when I click on the blog comments section on the management panel that it returns to be Google Blog directory results, not Technorati. I bet that change is causing some controversy.

Excellent Work, WordPress!

All right, the plug-ins have been reactivated and I think I’ll head over to WordPress to read about all of the nifty features of v.2.3. Kudos to the WP gang who spent a lot of time making sure that this version was delivered well tested and on time.