Archive for the ‘StomperNet’ Category

Some of you may remember an article I did a while back called “WordPress Blogroll SEO Gray Hack ” where I explained how to search engine optimize (SEO) your WordPress blogroll and control the amount Page Rank juice flowing out of your external links.

Well, I was pretty pleased with that article - it got some really nice responses and the best bit is that out of 2,170,000 (two million, one hundred and seventy thousand - yes, you read that right!) pages with the keyword “WordPress blogroll seo” in Google.com, guess which site comes in first place?

Yup, that’s right, Knowledge Constructs. Not only that but my site comes up in the #2 slot too!

I’m pretty pleased with that - it means the money and time I put into Stompernet has paid off and it’s convinced me that I know how to rank well in the search engines . (Trust me… sometimes I *really* need to be convinced that I can do something!).

Anyway, those results are so good, I decided to take a screengrab of this moment.

(click thumbnail for a larger image)

No… don’t get me wrong - it’s not to brag about how well I’ve done (although it’s pretty awesome now I think about it). The reason is very simple. I just wanted to take a moment to enjoy the glory because the “Gray Hack” is now redundant (*sigh*… my page will never rank this well ever again!)

OR IS IT?!?

As I wrote the other day, I’m currently in the process of playing with WordPress 2.5 because I’m building the new FAQ-Tastic Pro site and came across *what I thought* was a really handy field in the new version of WP Breaker (well, for SEO) - it’s a “rel” field:

(click thumbnail for a larger image)

Initially, I thought “COOL! Now I don’t need to keep adding these darn hacks to sites I build to help them with nofollowing links on the blogroll!. Someone over at WordPress must’ve seen how much Internet Marketers and SEO experts need to be able to add nofollow links - they must know their stuff!”.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

On closer inspection, the field is only there to provide a visual display of the selection you’ve made. You CANNOT change the entries, like I thought it would. Try typing into the “rel” field and it won’t let you.

NUTS. Back to the Gray Hack then! Search Engine Optimize your WordPress 2.5 Blogroll: A How To Guide »

Do you need a hack for your blogroll to be able to control to your blogroll and add a “nofollow” attribute to it? Don’t have time to scour the WP Plugin resources to find something which does this? I’m going to admit - I didn’t have time to check if there is a plugin but thought this is a nice tip anyway just to demonstrate how you can get some more control over your WordPress system if you know how.

And I do…

I call this the “WP Blogroll Gray Hack”, named after the Stomper who first showed me it. Gray H, you know who you are - thanks for this little tip. I owe you a beer.

The method I’m going to demonstrate has actually been slightly updated as the original meant losing some of the other XFN options. This version actually adds more to the existing hack and provides a new checkbox to easily add the nofollow attribute.

Here’s the quick how-to guide for WordPress newbies on how you can do this.
Hacking WP Blogroll Links for SEO »

I’ve been ill.

I still am.

My cough just doesn’t want to shift at all and I’m rattling more than an old jalopy… I’ve had more than just a cold - stomach problems but, really folks, let’s not go there!

Anyway, today’s the first day that I’ve felt like doing a proper post - it’s been a while. I had a few partially written but I think they’re off their sell-by date now. If you’re lucky and I feel up to it, I may finish them off and post them anyway…

So… what’s being ill got to do with Internet Marketing? Well, quite a bit really. What's Internet Marketing got to do with Illness anyway? »»

It’s been an interesting week.

It’s been one of those periods where it’s been necessary to take a step back, re-assess the current situation and re-double my efforts. Admittedly, not much has really been done this last week. Not for the lack of trying. Or the lack of enthusiasm. Sometimes the universe just delivers a whole heap of junk mail and you just got to sort out the essentials from the spam.

It’s time to start re-focusing on what really matters. And what really matters right now is Excellence…

To kick off tonight’s show, I’d like to start with another little clip from Bill Hicks… (Get used to it people, he’s a major influence and you really got to listen to what this chain-smoking, dead guy is saying!).

Internet Marketing Excellence? Play from the heart >>

I’m a great fan of Lorelle. She writes some really interesting stuff about WordPress and Blogging and you should all check out her stuff.

Recently (well, last week - but I’m slow at getting round to things as I’m quite busy), she posted up an interesting “challenge” to “help kick [our collective] blogging ass” as she puts it.

Well, I thought I’d share with you all a tip on something that I’ve recently been working on. I’m quite pleased with the result even though the solution isn’t the most ideal and rather raw. It isn’t the most elegant solution as I’d have hoped it to be but it works…

This isn’t specifically a “blogging” tip - it’s more of a theme tip. Or rather a way in which you can push the boundaries of WordPress if you’re inclined to think of WordPress as something other than “a blogging tool”.

And I do.

Now, I know some of you WordPress and Blogging purists are going to hate me. But hey, screw that - WordPress is Open Source and the whole point of Open Source projects is that you can push them to become what you need them to do. Right?

I’m not about to get into a debate on the whole purity of the blog thing right now. Instead, I’m going to show you what’s possible if you put your mind to it.

As you may have gathered, I’m taking up Lorelle’s tips challenge on this one and this post is about creating a Semi-Static WordPress Homepage.

Are you ready? Are you confused? Read on and I’ll explain everything. Semi-Static WordPress Home Page: A How To Guide

What’s a four letter word, ending in K, meaning “intercourse”?

I’m sure I can guess pretty much what most of you are thinking…

Four letter word, ending in K meaning "intercourse"... It's obvious, isn't it?

*THIS IS NOT A PITCHFEST*

It’s 7:15am in Atlanta. I’ve been up since 4:30am. My mind has been buzzing from the exciting and extraordinary developments from the StomperNet Live event. Flying in from England and booking into the Marriott has been expensive. Has it been worth it? S*&% Yeah!

Those of you who are Internet Marketers will understand what I mean by a*pitchfest* - we go to conferences, learn a new technique and gain some really cool information about developments in the industry and then BAMMM, the speaker goes on pitches his latest course… Not for $4999. Not for $3500. Not even for $2000 but for a special conference price of…

Doesn’t that just suck?

And the worst thing is, a lot of us still buy the latest tool or course thinking that somehow this is going to make all the difference to the money going out trying to build our online product or affiliate site. It doesn’t.

So what’s different about the StomperNet Live 2007 event? Let me just say - it is not a pitchfest. There’s much more to StomperNet than meets the eye… Read more »