Time once again for blog updates where I talk about and list the things I’ve added or changed in my blog.
First stop, I added the FeedBlitz email service so that you, my beloved readers and future readers would have another option of receiving this blog’s feeds through email. It’s easier than using a RSS reader or aggregator because all you have to do to subscribe is enter your email address and confirm it. Everytime a new post is published, a copy would be sent to your inbox. Btw, you will find the subscription forms in the upper portion of the sidebar in the index page and right above the comment form in each post.
Next, I installed the plugin called DoFollow by Kimmo Suominen. What this plugin does is that it disables the automatic rel=”nofollow” attributes added to external links after a specified number of days. You can set the number of days from the DoFollow Options in the Plugins section. I’ve seen this plugin a few months back but I didn’t even consider using it until I saw Jhay install it on his blog. This is another way of rewarding my loyal readers and commentators.
I also installed the Live plugin. If you’re familiar with Digg, I’m sure you know about Digg Spy and how it works. Live does the same thing for your blog. You get to see your website activity in real time. You can watch people visiting your pages, leaving comments, and grabbing your feeds. This is a fun plugin if you have lots of spare time and have nothing else to do (assuming that your blog has a good steady flow of traffic). Just grab a chair and a bowl of popcorn and you’re set! Hehe
Last but not least, I added a post rating feature for each post. This is made possible by the WP-Post Ratings plugin. I’ve had this plugin for quite a while but wasn’t sure if I should use it or not. I decided to use it because I wanted to know which and what type of posts readers want. So far, only a few readers and visitors have used the rating system. I was hoping that it would be used more often especially by the regular readers. I would really appreciate it if you could give your honest opinion about each post by rating them. I’m doing this not for myself but to better cater to my readers needs.
Of course, a more detailed feedback or suggestion would be much better. You can use the Contact page for that.
Btw, do you wonder why I post my blog upgrades and updates? Here’s a good article entitled, Should You Announce Upgrades On Your Blog? from Blog Herald that explains why you should or should not announce blog upgrades or updates.
[image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/clement127/]
@Colleen – Yeah, the DoFollow plugin is great and a good way of rewarding your regular readers who leave comments. :)
Love the DoFollow and just started a list of blogs using it on my site to make it easy to find others.
@ron – Thanks! :D
congrats for being one of the finalists in Philippine Blog Awards! m/
@K – Yup, same here. I enjoy tweaking my blog especially if I have a newly installed plugin. It's one of the joys of having your own hosted blog. Thanks! I hope you won't get tired of visiting my blog. :D
I miss downloading/trying new plugins when I used to have my own domain. Believe it or not, it keeps me awake all nights & mornings just to see them work "live" on your blog. But really I'm not a fan of any other RSS stuff, however I do prefer coming back to a blog personally whenever I want because I like it, like yours.
@dimaks – You definitely should get your own domain. When can we expect this? :)
Wait til i get my own domain, hehe
@fruityoaty – I installed Live just to try it out. It's not a keeper though, I'm thinking of uninstalling it later. Post ratings is a good plugin. I wish I could've used it earlier. :D
I installed Live last December and DoFollow last month, but I've never heard of WP-Post Ratings until now. Hmm, it looks like something I'd want to install.
@Joni – Thanks! I'm glad to know that my blog provides useful information to it's readers. :D
Yey. Nice blog updates! I get a lot of great WordPress ideas from this site. ;)