Web Design Discussion

Word Press blogs have the ability for visitors to leave comments at the bottom of each post however this feature can easily be abused by spammers. Your blog may receive 1000s of spam comments that are annoying because they take time to remove and if left alone, accumulate and use up a substantial
amount of hosting space.

How to Mass Delete Word Press Comment Spam

If you want to quickly remove 1000s of spam comments read my article on
How to Mass Delete Word Press Comment Spam

How to control the volume of comment spam

1. Edit Word Press administration settings

Login to the admin panel-settings-discussion-uncheck the box…”allow people to post comments on the article”. Keep in mind this will still allow visitors to post comments on future articles.

“I have disabled comments, but comments continue to be posted”

If you have unchecked “Allow people to post comments on the article” on the Options > Discussion panel, then you have only disabled comments on future posts. To completely disable comments, you will have to edit each past post and uncheck Allow Comments from the Write Post SubPanel. lternatively, you could delete the wp-comments-post.php file, or run this MySQL query, from the
command line on a shell account, or using phpMyAdmin:

UPDATE wp_posts SET
comment_status=”closed”;

Source
Word Press.org

2. Activate Akismet plugin

This plugin reduces and automatically removes comment spam. It’s already included with your Word Press blog. To activate it go to-plugins-akismet-activate. Under the akismet plugin you’ll read:

Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.”

To get the WordPress.com API key sign up for a free account at WordPress.com. You’ll get emailed the details of your login information. Login to your free blog then go to profile to view your API key. Copy and paste the code into your own blog. You’ll get prompted for it when you activate the Akismet
plugin.

3. How to completely remove all evidence of spam comments

You may ask “why would anyone would want to do this if they are running a blog…isn’t that what a blog is for..to encourage interactivity?

Well, some of my clients don’t have the time or want to reply to comments.Other people want to use their blog as a static site and have all evidence of comments removed.

Here is the procedure to remove the comment code from your Word Press Blog

Go into your template folder and look for single.php
Remove the code:


<?php comments_template(); ?>


If you don’t have the file…single.php… look inside index.php or home.php and remove this code:


<?php comments_popup_link(__('Comments (0)'), __('Comments (1)'),
__(’Comments (%)’)); ?>


If you have other ways or plugins to remove comment spam leave add your comment to the bottom of this post.

Resources
Combating Comment Spam

***************
Learn the step-by-step formula to start and build a money-making blog
by picking up a copy of WordPress Goldmine

* Provides you with a money-making formula that has been tested and proven to work
* Is inexpensive and provides you with the results you’re seeking
* Is like no other Internet marketing product, course, or membership on the market today
* Provides you with the blue print to building your very own Internet marketing empire even if you know absolutely nothing about marketing right now.

One of the most important factors web site owners leave out at the end of their articles, blog posts or sales pages is the “call to action.”

Why spend time crafting your content that places your visitor in the buying mood only to leave them hanging? The call to action invites them to take the next step. It helps build a relationship with them so you can offer them ongoing information or future products.

7 ways to get visitors to take action:

1. Opt-in box

Create an opt-in box on your web site asking them to fill out their name and email in exchange for a free giveaway. A double opt-in is best. This is where the visitor fills out the form first then they receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription.

2. Free or paid reports

People love to receive free information particularly if it contains valuable nuggets of information they can act on. Your report doesn’t have to be long. 10-20 pages will be sufficient. The beauty of this method is that you are first giving something to your visitor before you receive something from them ie email address.

You don’t always have to offer something for free. Often a short report priced at $7.00 will generate more visitors than a free one because it is perceived as being more valuable. You can upsell your visitor after she has read the report by offering something even more substantial ie a series of instructional videos.

3. Free software download

You could offer a free trial download of your software. By actually using the software themselves your visitors will see how useful it is to them. For example after the 7 day trial they may decide to purchase the full version of the software.

4. Free web site evaluation

This is something web designers can use to attract potential clients. Suggest ways to improve their design, optimization and web copy so they can increase traffic and sales. After sending the report offer a more comprehensive analysis or send a proposal for doing all the improvements for them.

5. Free articles

Articles are great because they prepare your visitors mind ahead of your offer. At the end of your article place your call to action. This includes any one of the free offers mentioned above, a link to your web site (or offer) and who you are as an author. You may even link to related articles where you offer the same or similar product.

6. Free contest

Most people love contests if there is a chance they can win something they want or desire. For example offer a free ipod to the person that writes the most helpful comments on your blog to increase traffic to it.

7. Autoresponder course

Not many people purchase something after one contact. Often it takes 7 or more contacts before they make the decision to purchase. With a sequential autoresponder you can create a series of messages sent over several days. This helps build a relationship with your visitor plus you’re able to market your product to them with each message you send.

Your call to action should be included in all aspects of your marketing material as there’s not just one way to get a response from your visitors. If you employ any of the call to action methods mentioned above, you’ll increase your conversion rates and make more sales.

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Learn how to start and build a profitable online business with

“Highly Effective Article Marketing Strategies”

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Maryland Web Design

In my previous article I explained how to optimize blog titles. Your content should also be optimized so it attracts search engine spiders and keeps visitors on the page.

7 Steps to Optimize Your Blog Content

1. Include your keywords

The keywords used in your blog title should be woven throughout your blog content. Be sure the first paragraph contains your keyword phrase. This is because search engines typically index content at the top of your web page first. Don’t repeat your keyword so many times that it sounds strange when you read the content out loud.

For subsequent paragraphs weave your keywords into the content naturally.

2. Split content into paragraphs

It’s better to split long paragraphs into smaller ones so they are easier to read. Include sub headlines and make use of bullets throughout your blog content.

3. Give your visitors what they expect

The purpose of your content is to expand on the title. Don’t get off the subject as it will drive your visitors away. Sometimes writers just ramble on without providing any actionable content. Make sure you provide at least one good tip your readers can act on.

4. Tag your content

Your Word Press Blog allows you to enter tags after adding content. This helps search engines to find your content. Enter the main keywords used in your title/content separated by commas.

5. Create title and description meta tags

Word Press automatically adds the title meta tag however it doesn’t add description or keyword meta tags. The description meta tag is what visitors see under your title in the search engines. An attractive description that supports the title could make the difference whether a visitor will click on your web site url or not.

Keyword meta tags are not used by the major search engines anymore but still include them for the smaller search engines.

To make it easier to add title, description and keyword meta tags, install the headspace plugin. It allows you to customize the meta tags for each post.

6. Provide a call to action

After reading your blog content visitors are ready to take action. Capitalize on their preparedness by providing a call to action at the end of your content. Introduce your product, service or subscription to a newsletter and the url of your offer.

7. Proof read your content before publishing

Spelling and grammar mistakes make your blog appear unprofessional and cause visitors to click elsewhere. Before publishing your content check it with a spell checker, read it aloud to yourself or get someone else to edit it. Word Press allows you to save it as a draft so you can edit it before it goes live.

***************
Learn the step-by-step formula to start and build a money-making blog
by picking up a copy of WordPress Goldmine

* Provides you with a money-making formula that has been tested and proven to work
* Is inexpensive and provides you with the results you’re seeking
* Is like no other Internet marketing product, course, or membership on the market today
* Provides you with the blue print to building your very own Internet marketing empire even if you know absolutely nothing about marketing right now.

So you’ve optimized the structure of your Word Press Blog and you’re ready to add some content. If you don’t optimize your content you won’t attract much traffic or visitors. One of the most important aspects of your content is your blog titles. It’s what your visitors read first and will motivate them to read the rest of your post. Before creating any titles or content do keyword research.

How to optimize blog post titles to attract search engine traffic

Keyword research

Enter your main keyword in the search box of the free Word Tracker Tool to see how many searches that term is receiving. If there are no searches try alternative keywords. Try different combinations of keywords to see which one gets the most searches. Often the one you try first may not receive the most searches.

Insert keywords in blog titles

Include your keyword at the beginning of your title. For example I placed “Blog Titles” at the beginning of this post because it gets 4 searches per month according to the WordTracker Tool. The keyword phrase “optimize blog post titles” receives 2 searches per month so I also included it in the title. This means the search engines will spider the keyword phrases in my title and rank my blog post accordingly. It may even get high rankings if there is not much competition.

How to optimize blog titles to attract visitors

Its not enough to create optimized titles just for the search engines. For example the phrase “Blog Titles” is not a very attractive title. You need to place yourself in your visitors shoes and give them what they want. The title must clearly state what they are going to receive in the content so they will want to read more. There I added the sentence “How to Optimize Blog Post Titles to Attract Search Engines and Visitors” to qualify what my visitors will receive by reading the content in my post.

In my next article I’ll discuss how to optimize blog content.

Related articles
How to start a blog
How to set up your Word Press Blog
How to optimize your wordpress blog

***************
Learn the step-by-step formula to start and build a money-making blog
by picking up a copy of WordPress Goldmine

* Provides you with a money-making formula that has been tested and proven to work
* Is inexpensive and provides you with the results you’re seeking
* Is like no other Internet marketing product, course, or membership on the market today
* Provides you with the blue print to building your very own Internet marketing empire even if you know absolutely nothing about marketing right now.

Have you been inundated with spam comments in your Word Press Blog?

Recently I helped a customer that had accumulated over 4000 spam comments on her blog. She tried removing them from the Word Press dash board however it only removes 20 comments at a time. This would take forever because there multiple pages of comments to delete.

How to mass delete comments from your Word Press Database using phpMyAdmin

1. Go to phpmyadmin in your cpanel

This is the management panel that comes with your hosting account if it uses the Apache environment. Once you’re logged in cpanel click on the mySQL databases icon then click on the phpmyadmin link at the bottom of the page.

2. Click your Word Press database link

This is located in the top left and will display all the data in tables.

3. Remove all comments

If you want to remove all comments check the wp_comments table then in the drop down box select empty then press go. Remember this will remove both approved and unapproved comments.

How to remove unapproved comments and keep the approved comments

1. Back up your database - this is to make sure you can restore all your files should you make a mistake. To do this click on your database, click export, make sure all your tables are selected, check SQL, click save file, click go. Follow the rest of the screen prompts to download the database to your computer. You can save it as a text or zipped file.

2. Click on the comments table. ( You can click browse to view all the approved and unapproved comments).

4. Click the mySQL tab. This will open up a query box. Delete the default query and type in:

DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = 0

Click go
This will delete all the 4000 unapproved comments

5. Remove overhead. These are fragments still left in the database that must be removed. To delete them go to ” check all tables with overhead”, select “optimize table” from the drop down box.

Your database size will now be reduced because you’ve removed the 4000 unapproved comments.

If you check your blog you’ll notice all the comments have disappeared.

Tip
To prevent spam from accumulating install the activate the Akismet plugin. This is a spam filter which allows you to mass delete comments within the Word Press administration panel.

Here’s a video tutorial showing how to use phpmyadmin to remove WP Spam Comments:

Read my previous article if you want to learn How to Start a Blog

If you want to attract search engine traffic and get thousands of visitors to read your content you need to optimize the structure and content of your Word Press Blog.

7 Steps for Optimizing Your Word Press Blog Structure

The plugins below are highly recommended as they save you lots of time, no knowledge of coding is necessary and it’s easy to accomplish.

1. Install the headspace plugin
http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/headspace2/

This plugin allows you to easily add titles and descriptions to your posts and pages.

2. Install the Google Sitemaps plugin.
http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/sitemap-generator-plugin-for-wordpress/

A site map provides a way for Google to index all your pages. It functions similar to a table of contents so your visitors can also view the contents of your glob without scrolling through all the categories. The site map plugin submits your pages automatically to Google whenever you create new posts on your blog.

3. Install the Google XML Sitemaps generator plugin
http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/

This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO. It helps Google to index and crawl your pages better which may result it attracting more visitors from the search engines.

4. Install the similar posts plugin
http://rmarsh.com/plugins/similar-posts/

The beauty of this plugin is that it helps visitors to stay longer on your blog. After a visitor reads your post they can view other content related to it. It displays a highly configurable list of related posts. Similarity can be based on any combination of word usage in the content, title, or tags.

5. Create a permalink structure

The basic Word Press installation will display the pages with unfriendly URLs in the browser. This means the URL will have a bunch of numbers after it. It not makes them hard to remember should a visitor try to type it into their browser but it makes it more difficult for search engines to index your pages.

To change your permalink structure you need to login to your Wordpress admin panel, then go to Options > Permalinks. Choose custom. To create a permalink structure like
http://www.myblog.com/category/postname.php enter the following code:

/%category%/%postname%/

If you prefer a permalink structure like http://www.myblog.com/postname.php enter:

/%postname%/

6. Add a newsletter sign up form

You’ve probably heard “the money is in the list”. If you have a large list of subscribers you can send a newsletter to them every 2 weeks thereby keeping in touch with them. From time to time you can promote your products to them and make money from your list.

To add a contact form to your blog download and install this plugin:
http://chip.cuccio.us/projects/contact-form-ii/

7. Allow visitors to comment on your content.

To encourage visitors to comment on your blog posts make sure you enable comments in the admin panel. To do this login to your admin panel then go to: settings-discussion settings and check the boxes for allowing comments.

Now you’ve taken the 7 steps to optimize your Word Press Blog Structure you need to optimize the content of your blog.

If you want to know how to start a blog Word Press is software that is freely available and often included in your hosting plan.

To read my previous article on the 7 benefits of starting a Word Press Blog visit: How to Start a Blog

7 steps for setting up your Word Press blog:

1. Register a domain name and set-up a hosting account.

Visit http://www.isitebuild.com/sitehosting.htmto get a domain name and sign up for a hosting plan. The reason I suggest going here is that you will receive personal attention and have everything “under one roof” so any technical problems can easily be solved.

2. Install WordPress

Within your hosting account manager you will find a link to Fantastico. This allows you a one click installation for your Word Press blog.

If you wish to install it manually please read Word Press Installation

3. Choose a template

The default installation of Word Press provides a basic template however you can view 1000s of free templates at: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/Here’s an article on How to Select a Word Press Theme.

4. Customize your blog.

The reason you may want to customize your blog is so that it clearly reflects your particular online business and makes I stand out from 1000s of other free templates. For example you may want to change the header graphic or set-up a blog that looks more like a web site. Here are the steps I took to customize a blog theme for a client:

5. Theme your content

Instead of haphazardly writing about anything, choose a theme that you’re passionate about so you’ll be able to write lots of content without getting bored. There are lots of blogs on the Net that have been abandoned. It takes a solid commitment to create a online business that is profitable. Create a list of topics that tie into your theme then segment those topics for writing your blog posts.

6. Set up categories, links and pages

After logging in to Word Press (version 2.7+) you’ll see a vertical dashboard where you can easily add categories, links, posts and pages based on your theme. You are almost ready to start blogging now however I suggest optimizing your blog for the search engines so you can attract lots of visitors to read your content.

7. Optimize your blog

Optimizing your blog consists of installing plugins, creating search engine friendly URLs, and writing lots of optimized content on a regular basis. I’ll go into more details about this in the next section.

***************
Learn the step-by-step formula to start and build a money-making blog
by picking up a copy of WordPress Goldmine

* Provides you with a money-making formula that has been tested and proven to work
* Is inexpensive and provides you with the results you’re seeking
* Is like no other Internet marketing product, course, or membership on the market today
* Provides you with the blue print to building your very own Internet marketing empire even if you know absolutely nothing about marketing right now.

One of the easiest ways to get a web site online is to start a blog. You can sign up for a free one at WordPress.com however I highly recommend getting a real domain name and getting it hosted so you’ll have much more control over it.

Top 7 Benefits of a Word Press Blog

Word Press is the best platform for starting a blog as it includes a large community from which you can get help any time you need it.

1. No need to learn html

WordPress has an editor built into it that functions similar to Microsoft Word however it’s a little simpler.

2. Keep content separate from design

This allows you to change the design whenever you like without affecting the content.

3. Create unlimited pages

WordPress is database driven. This means you can easily add 1000s of pages to the database.

4. Choose from many templates

There are 100s of free and paid templates to choose from. These can be customized to suit your business web site. You can also get a custom built blog by hiring an experienced web designer.

5. Search engine friendly

Word Press blogs can be easily optimized for the search engines using plugins. Posts on your blog are automatically pinged and RSS feeds are automatically submitted to RSS directories.

6. Integrate social media marketing

Blog posts can automatically be sent to social marketing sites (ie twitter, facebook etc) by installing the appropriate plugins.

7. Active forum support

WordPress.org runs a very active community forum where you can ask questions related to the functioning of your Word Press Blog.

***************
Learn the step-by-step formula to start and build a money-making blog
by picking up a copy of WordPress Goldmine

* Provides you with a money-making formula that has been tested and proven to work
* Is inexpensive and provides you with the results you’re seeking
* Is like no other Internet marketing product, course, or membership on the market today
* Provides you with the blue print to building your very own Internet marketing empire even if you know absolutely nothing about marketing right now.

Recently I received a call from a client who had the front page of her wordpress blog hacked. Hidden in the source code was hundreds of links to spam sites. As a result of this Google removed her blog pages for 30 days. She was upset because she had not caused this and her blog pages had some top rankings that attracted a lot of traffic.

Obviously she did not have a secure WordPress version.

Here is what Google said:

While we were indexing your webpages, we detected that some of your pages were using techniques that are outside our quality guidelines, which can be found here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. This appears to be because your site has been modified by a third party. Typically, the offending party gains access to an insecure directory that has open permissions. Many times, they will upload files or modify existing ones, which then show up as spam in our index.

In order to preserve the quality of our search engine, we have temporarily removed some of your webpages from our search results. Currently pages from your blog are scheduled to be removed for at least 30 days.

We would prefer to have your pages in Google’s index. If you wish to be reconsidered, please correct or remove all pages (may not be limited to the examples provided) that are outside our quality guidelines. One potential remedy is to contact your web host
technical support for assistance. For more information about security for webmasters, see
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/09/quick-security-checklist-for-webmasters.html.

What I did to Secure WordPress

1. Removed all spam links from posts and pages.

If you have phpmyadmin, you can scan your posts for links to that particular spam domain, which might make it easier to see which posts have the spam in them. Typically spammers only touch about a half a dozen or so posts per blog, but sometimes more.

2. Upgraded WordPress Blog to the latest version.

Read “10 Steps for Upgrading WordPress”

According to the folks at the WordPress Forum the version she had been using contained many security holes.

Resources

How to harden WordPress
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

9 easy ways to secure your WordPress Blog
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/09/10/9-ways-to-secure-your-wordpress-blog/

WordPress Security White Paper
http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/wordpress-security-whitepaper/

Secure Form Mailer Plugin
http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/secure-form-mailer-plugin-for-wordpress/

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Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to my “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization

Do you prefer a customized blog that ties into the theme of your business?

There are many Word Press themes you can easily install for a Blog however many people want a design that is unique to their subject and prefer to have some input as to what it will look like. You can’t do this if you just grab one of the free themes online without it being customized to suit the desires of the owner.

Recently a client asked if I could create a 3 column web site (blog) . These are the customizations he wanted:

1. New header banner
2. Links, Categories and Admin in the left sidebar
3. Search box and Ads (or Google Ads) in the right sidebar
4. Widen the right sidebar
5. No evidence of comments on the web site
6. Different colors for the template and content backgrounds
7. Change footer color and text
8. Change navigation bar links from brown to white
9. Add a contact form
10. Optimize the blog for the search engines

Here’s is how I proceeded with the customization:

I began with the installation of the downtown-java-3column theme
http://www.briangardner.com/themes/downtown-java-wordpress-theme.htm

Changing the style

1. I created a new header banner with the same name and dimensions as the original then replaced it on the server. I adjusted the height of the header in the header section of the CSS and adjusted the font size of the header text (#header a)

2. I changed the template background by editing CSS body

3. I changed the content body by editing the CSS #wrap

4. I changed the footer color by editing CSS #footer and edited the text in footer.php within the template files.

5. I widened the right sidebar (#r_sidebar) by increasing it from 180 pixels to 190 pixels
then reduced the CSS ID…#contentleft from 500 pixels to 490 pixels. This means the client can now place wider ads in the right sidebar.

6. I changed the navigation link colors from brown to white by editing the color in #navbar ul li a then removed the color from #navbar ul li a:hover and added text-decoration: underline; (instead of none;)

Changing the theme within the admin panel

1. The blogroll (link) was in the right sidebar by default (in the original theme) so I removed the blogroll code in r_sidebar.php and placed it at the top of l_sidebar.php (before the category code).

2. Within design - widgets…I added the search box and a text box. I placed the html code for an ad inside the text box. (You can also place your google ads code here to display Google Ads).

Removed evidence of comments

1. I removed this comment code from index.php in the template files.


<h4>Comments</h4>
<?php comments_template(); // Get wp-comments.php template ?>


2. I removed this code in home.php to get rid of “leave a comment ” under each post on the home page.


<?php comments_popup_link('Leave a Comment', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?>


Added a contact form

I downloaded the contact form plug-in from http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/wp-contactform/ then uploaded it to the plug-ins folder and activated it. I then configured it within the admin panel to reflect the correct contact information.

Blog SEO optimization

1. I added the headspace plugin so the user can insert his own title and description tags for each post or page.

2. Under permalinks I added /%category%/%postname%/ to custom structure then created a .htaccess file to add the code the template produced and uploaded this to the server. This enables friendly URLs to be displayed for each post.

Conclusion.

The customization I did for this Word Press web site can be applied to all word press themes however I found this particular template and related templates clearly commented. This enabled me to easily find the appropriate code to edit.