I made some tiny but important upgrades to my blog.

1. Upgraded to WordPress 2.6.3 to prevent getting hacked! I read some horror stories of old WordPress blogs getting hacked and I am not taking any chances.
2. Widened my sidebar to accommodate 2 125×125 pixel ads. I added a total of 6 square ads, which are managed by my OpenX ad server.
3. I deleted the useless date at the top right.
4. I moved the search box to the top right and it is now displayed everywhere on the site. Previously, my search box could only search for blog posts. Now, with the Search Everything plugin, my search box can search literally everything on my site.
5. I updated my newsletter bonuses and installed the “You Can’t Block This” pop over script, which you can get for free if you sign up for my newsletter.
6. I have a new RSS section in my sidebar. Subscribe to my blog feed via email or RSS.
7. I installed the Tabber tab script to display all the new posts and comments lists.
8. I highly recommend that you install the plugins by Rob Marsh. I installed his recent posts, popular posts, similar posts and recent comments WordPress plugins and they work great.
9. I separated my comments from my trackbacks.
10. My own comments are now highlighted.
11. I installed the WP-Gravatar plugin to display avatars for all blog comments.
12. First time comment posters will receive a thank you email letting them know that if they post 10 comments or more on this site, they will receive a “Follow” link back to their web site instead of a “Nofollow” link.
13. I installed a list of social news voting buttons at the end of each post. Please vote for my posts if you like them.
14. I installed the cool Contact Form 7 plugin to replace the previous contact form that was not spam-proof.
15. I removed MyBlogLog and BlogRush from my sidebar. I might add them back in the future but I have not decided yet.
16. I installed the excerpt reloaded plugin to display a shortened version of my posts in my archives and blog index pages.

I still have a lot more ideas to enhance my blog. I need to learn to use Twitter and integrate it with my blog. I will compile an updated list of all the new WordPress plugins I use and include some of my personal hacks.

Categories: Blog Updates, Social Networking | You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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