I use my weekends to take care of odds and ends. Laundry, housekeeping, blog shit. Shit I don’t want or have time to deal with during the week.

This weekend, I sat down and finally installed Disqus as the comments manager on both RedheadWriting and RedheadedFury. Feeling so-damn-good about having done that, I realized in the midst of the process (since it encouraged me to backup prior to installing Disqus)…

When’s the last time I backed-up my blogs?

That prompted me to set about cleaning-up my blogs. So, my readers get to benefit from my panic today and read about some simple things you can do to make sure your blog is in tip-top shape. Mind you, I’ll be addressing these from someone who runs a WordPress.org installation on a self-hosted domain. If you happen to run on another blogging platform, there’s still sound advice here for you but I can’t speak to the how-to’s.

CALL THE MAID: Backup your blog!

Oh. My. God. This is like, Computers 101. Considering I’m part of the legion who has not yet converted to a Mac and held captive by Microsoft products, I really should know better. Depending on how often you post, you may want to backup your blog once a week. It takes about five seconds and I’m pretty much an idiot for not having this on my ToDo app on my iPhone.
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• In your Admin Panel, go to Tools then click Export.
• Click Download Export File.
• You’re DONE.
• Optional step: pop-open a beer.

CALL THE MAID: Get an XML Site Map. NOW.

I don’t know what made me compare the plugins I had installed on my two separate blogs, but boy – am I glad I did. Holy Lost Blog, Batman – I had an XML sitemap on one and not the other! Aghast at my behavior, I put away the razor blades only when I realized it was a simple fix. But you ask – Redhead: what’s a sitemap? A sitemap is simply a file that makes it easy for search engines to find shit on your blog. It’s easy to add one to your blog, so why not do it today and do a little SEO housekeeping?
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• In your Admin Panel, go to Plugins.
• At the top right hand corner of your screen, there’s a blue button that says Install Plugins. Clicky-clicky.
• In the search box on the next screen, type in/paste XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress. (This is my personal sitemap plugin of choice.)
• The search results screen will give you Google XML Sitemaps (version 3.1.7 is the most current as of this post). Click Install on the right hand side of the screen.
• When it’s complete, click Activate Plugin.
• Don’t forget to configure the plugin (easy-cheesy) once it’s activated.
• Don’t forget to request an Application Key from Yahoo so that your blog updates are reported to Yahoo.
• Don’t forget to click on the link in the top of your configuration screen to initiate the build-out of your first Site Map.
• Optional step: give a little audible “Awwwwyeah.”

CALL THE MAID: Shut your yap and organize the yapping. Comments, comments, comments.

I’m an active blog commenter and I appreciate those who take the time to comment on my posts. This past month, I’ve seen more and more Disqus-powered comments on blogs. Considering how easy they make it for people to quickly leave a comment without typing in all their vital stats (ad nauseum), I finally took the plunge and installed Disqus.
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I like Disqus because for many reasons. Not only is the visual interface attractive, but as the blog owner, you can help your commenters leave more comments. You can let users authenticate their information by using their Facebook, Twitter or OpenID (bah! poop!). When you create a Disqus account, you can even see everywhere you’ve left comments, just by logging into your account. Now that’s scrumdiliumpcious!
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Disqus also minimizes the spam comments from unauthenticated users on your blog. That. I. Like.
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If you want to ride the Disqus train with me (woo-woooooo), here’s the step-by step:
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• Create a Disqus profile.
• In your Admin Panel, go to Plugins.
• At the top right hand corner of your screen, there’s a blue button that says Install Plugins. Clicky-clicky.
• In the search box on the next screen, type in/paste Disqus.
• The search results screen will give you Disqus Comment System (version 2.12.7121 is the most current as of this post). Click Install on the right hand side of the screen.
• When it’s complete, click Activate Plugin.
• Don’t forget to configure the plugin (easy-cheesy) once it’s activated.
• Cool shit? You can manage multiple blogs from a single Disqus profile.
• Optional step: do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight.

Final thoughts this blog-tastic Monday:

• Are you subscribed to this blog?
• Are you following The Redhead on Twitter?
• Did you turn the iron off?
• Are you a fan of Redhead Writing on Facebook?
• Have you checked out the blogs in Redhead Writing’s blogroll? (look in the right hand margin)

WordPress Plugins Come in All Shapes and Sizes

In this final installment of Your Website Sucks, we’re rapping about WordPress plugins. By now, you’ve read about Three Reasons Your Website Sucks (and one simple fix), some awesome premium WordPress themes and the power that CSS brings to a WordPress-powered website (thanks to Jason Nelson of Visual Adventures Web Design, WordPress-powered site specialists).

A WordPress plugin is simply an add-on for any self-hosted WordPress installation. Like plugins for Firefox. They are the Legos of WordPress, adding virtually limitless functionality to a simple WordPress-powered website or blog. Today’s post will list the ones that I find critical for my own installations and I’d love it if my readers added their own must-haves in the Comments section below.

SEO Nova

If you’re not running the THESIS theme, you’re going to need a kickass SEO plugin. I was turned on to SEO Nova by @Trypnotik, who had previously turned me on to the Headspace plugin to meet my SEO needs. SEO Nova goes beyond both Headspace and the popular All-in-One SEO Pack plugin by leaps and bounds. You can code the page title, description and meta keywords, but you can also specifically code each post and page of your site to varied index/follow settings. Oh. My. Gawd. It has a savvy master control panel to set some universal settings site-wide as well. Visit the SEO Nova site and grab a look-see. This site and RedheadedFury.com both run SEO Nova.

SocioFluid

Every blog or website should have a social bookmarking application. My choice is SocioFluid. Simply stated, I like the rollover/grow-shrink effect that catches a reader’s eye. You can custom select which social bookmarking sites show up in the bookmarking bar as well as set the size of the icons and designate whether they appear at the top of a post or bottom.

Social Homes

Wanna encourage visitors to connect with you on your other social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook? I use SocialHomes. Pick your sites, enter your site-specific information, drop it in a widgetized sidebar and you’re good to go.

Akismet Spam Control

Spam blog comments suck serious nuts and Akismet controls them (albeit, sometimes too well) with ease. Akismet is already installed on every self-hosted WordPress blog – you just need to activate it with a WordPress API key.

Google Analytics for WordPress

If you’re not running Google Analytics as a component of your site’s metrics, for the love of God, why not? It’s the Google Monster, granted, but it’s pretty damn savvy for tracking your traffic, sources and helping you determine ways to generate revenue from your site through AdWords and AdSense. Google Analytics for WordPress is a simple plugin that requires the cutting and pasting of a tracking code and BAM! You’re off and running.