Blog post not showing problem?
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by Cat in How To
I just went to publish a post in WordPress and it wouldn’t show up in my browser even though the post was cleared published.
Fortunately, I quickly realised that I had the WP Super Cache plugin installed which makes my blog more static so that it calls on my web hosting’s server less, thus uses less of its resources. If that all sounded like gobbleygook – basically it makes your blog perform faster.
However, you have to remember to delete the old cached copy (which will show the new updated version of your blog) or else your new stuff won’t show.
I went and checked my options (It’s under WP Super Cache Manager in Settings) and sure I found that the “Clear all cache files when a post or page is published” option was unchecked. I checked this and clicked on “Update Status” and any new posts now show up immediately without me having to clear the cache.
Here’s a screenshot of the option which should be ticked:
What is an RSS Feed?
Posted on 05. Oct, 2009 by Cat in Blogging
One of the most useful aspects of blogs is that they have these things called “feeds” or “RSS feeds”. RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication” and it allows your readers to subscribe to your blog, be notified when it’s updated and read your blog updates through a feed reading service like Google Reader.
Not everyone uses a feed reader but many people do and so it’s a good idea to make sure your blog has its feed prominently displayed.
The standard way to display a feed is to use the RSS feed icon – which is like a couple of broadcast waves coming out from a dot, generally on an orange background like so:
Be aware that web designers sometimes feature this feed icon in different colours and incorporated into different objects. Sometimes the feed icon doesn’t show at all and instead you’ll see the words “Subscribe to my blog”.
It can sometimes turn up in the address bar of some web browsers. Here is an example of it in Firefox:
However, don’t rely on it! It is important to make sure that there is a clear way for people to subscribe. I have seen too many poorly designed blogs where there is no obvious subscribe button anywhere.
Feedburner
FeedBurner is free (it is now owned by Google) and gives all sorts of tools to make your feeds that much more powerful. Of particular use, it lets you analyse your feed traffic as well as add advertising.
If you decide to go with FeedBurner, and you probably should, then switch over earlier from your blog’s default feed sooner rather than later so that you can ensure as many as possible of your readers are using your FeedBurner feed.
Full feed or Exerpts?
Either through Feedburner or your blogging software, you will usually have the option to allow people to subscribe to your full posts or you can just give your readers a small excerpt in your feed. If you only allow small excerpts to be published, then readers will have to visit your blog to read the rest of your post. There are pros and cons for both ways. It’s probably best that you err on the side of giving your readers convenience – after all, a primary reason for having a blog is about building a relationship with your reader. Excerpts can be annoying as it forces them to read you in a way they don’t want to.
There are other ways of getting people to visit your blog from an RSS reader – for example you can link to your other blog posts. You can also ask a question that encourages people to comment (and they’ll have to visit your blog to do so).
Introduction to blogging
Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by Cat in Blogging, How To
I’ve had quite a few of my friends ask me what a blog is, so I thought I’d put together this article explaining exactly what one is.
What is a blog?
Originally, “blog” was a shortening of “web log” – or a web journal. What differentiates a blog from a traditional website is that blogs facilitate the publishing of “posts” or stories in reverse chronological order. So you will see the most recent blog post first. Like a news feed, blogs meant that a reader could quickly see which entries were the most recent. Also like news feeds and also like a journal, it is expected that blogs are regularly updated. While if a traditional website hasn’t been touched in a number of months, most people wouldn’t notice – if a blog has had no updates for the same time, it’s considered at the very best “dormant”, but most usually, it would be seen as “dead”.
Blogs are now an important component of online publishing. Major newspapers and many magazines have incorporated blogs into their websites. There are influential publishing companies like b5media and Weblogs Inc that are based solely around networks of blogs.
That’s not to say that big companies have an advantage when it comes to blogging, they don’t, and in fact, the big media companies have been relatively late to jump on the blogging train. A big part of the popularity of blogs is linked to availability of blogging software which allowed blog authors (bloggers) to post entries to their blog with very little or no coding ability. The main thing that separates blogs is the quality of the writing, the dedication, the personality and the insight of the writer/s – not technical resources. This has meant that blogging has really levelled the playing field and it has provided, and continues to provide, countless opportunities for individuals.
Blogs have really opened up the world of independent publishing – now anyone from kids to grandparents can easily become web publishers.
Why Blog? (more…)
Ten Ways to be Happier
Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 by Cat in Productivity
There have been huge advances in the study of happiness and how to attain it in recent years. Forbe’s Rebecca Ruiz writes about Ten Ways To Be Happier Now, prompted by a new book The How of Happiness by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California.
To summarise, the ten ways are:
- Be at the Center of Your Network: People at the centre of their networks are more likely to be happy and those on the fringes are more likely to be melacholic. If you feel you’re at the edges, organise regular get togethers with your family, friends and neighbours.
- Surround Yourself With Happy People: Happiness (and depression) are contagious – even up to three degrees of separation!
- Watch Less TV: Watching too much TV and gaming have been known to make people feel less in control of their lives. Dr. John P. Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland found that unhappy people watch over 30% more TV per day than very happy people with no other differences in their lives.
- Lead an Active Life: Dr. Robinson found that happy people spend more time socializing with relatives and friends, attending church, reading the newspaper, working and being active.
- Manage Your Time Wisely: Dr. Robinson found that using time unwisely–having too much of it or not enough–was recently correlated with increased levels of unhappiness. He found that 51% of unhappy respondents felt they had too much time, compared with 19% of those who felt very happy.
- Find Ways to Cope: Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky found that developing an effective coping strategy is key to overcoming most troubles. There’s also no single way to cope, though she recommends trying to develop strengths you didn’t know you had–like the ability to manage a household budget in the midst of a financial crisis.
- Set and Pursue Goals: According to Dr. Lyubomirsky, goals give us a sense of purpose, they tend to cultivate self-esteem, since the sense of accomplishment can segue to feelings of confidence and they add structure to the daily routine of life, which Dr. Robinson’s findings on time-use revealed can be an important component of long-term happiness.
- Don’t Think Too Much: Dr. Lyubomirsky often encountered a behavior known as self-focused rumination (in other words, obsessing over the unknown), which many people believe might lead them to clarity or resolution. But according to studies conducted in the past 20 years, such behavior actually fosters biased thinking, impedes concentration and diminishes a person’s ability to solve problems. Breaking this habit can be tough, but Lyubomirsky recommends distracting yourself with engrossing activities.
- Practice Gratitude: A study conducted by Dr. Lyubomirsky required a group of 57 participants to write down five things for which they were grateful once a week. A second group of the same size did so three times a week. A third control group of 32 did nothing. Six weeks later, participants in the first group were happier, healthier and exercising more.
- Experiment With Happiness: If the so-called secrets to contentment don’t exactly work for you, try another version or interpretation of the guidelines. You may not have the same success with a particular strategy as others do, says Dr. Lyubomirsky, because achieving happiness doesn’t happen in a uniform way. Instead, think of it as a sliding scale on which some methods work better, while others make little or no difference.
I also liked that there was some clinical evidence for the benefits of practicing gratitude – writing down five things that we’re grateful for everyday is a wonderful habit to cultivate.
In a related story on How to Buy Happiness, giving money away – not buying things for yourself – is more likely to bring happiness. And if you give to registered charities, you’ll also have the bonus of it being tax deductible!
How to set up a Google Alert
Posted on 23. Sep, 2009 by Cat in How To
Google Alerts are a handy way of monitoring conversations. Whenever there are updates to Google’s index on a particular search term, you can arrange to be notified.
You can use this to keep up to date with your company’s name, your product/service brand name, your own name or your company’s key personnel. You can also use this to monitor keywords that are relevant to your product/service so as to keep up to date with news in that area.
Go to Google Alerts, and you’ll notice a small box.
Fill in the search term you want – just choose one keyword or keyword phrase (you can make 1000 Google Alerts per email address).
Enter the email you want it sent to.
The default option is “Comprehensive” which you’ll get anything that turns up in Google’s search index, but this may be too much or irrelevant so you can limit it to news reports, Blogs, websites, video or Google Groups results.
You can also choose the frequency that you’ll receive email updates – once a day or week or as Google gets updated itself.
When you’re happy with your settings, hit “Create Alert” and you’ll get any updates on your search term straight to your inbox!
If you want more than 10 Google Alerts (you can have up to 1000 per email address), you will be asked confirm/verify that you want to receive these alerts via your
At any time you can stop getting alerts by using the “delete alert” link at the bottom of your alert emails.
If you have a Google account linked to your email, you can manage your alerts by going to the Google Alert page and finding the “click here to manage your alerts” or by using the “Manage your alerts” link at the bottom of your alert emails.
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