Business Blogging Pros

Update to WordPress 4.4.1 Causes Redirect Loop

Many people who quickly updated their WordPress sites to 4.4.1 were met with a rude surprise: Accessing the site's home page causes a redirect loop. 

If this has happened to you then log in to your dashboard.  Go to Settings->General.  Make sure there are no uppercase characters in these two fields:

WordPerss Address (URL)
Site Address (URL)

These two values may also specified in wp-config.php:

define('WP_HOME','http://yoururl.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://yoururl.com');

If there is an uppercase character in these URLs then WordPress 4.4.1 will go into an infinite redirect loop

 

WordPress 3.9: Paste From Word

One of the changes in WordPress 3.9 is the removal of the 'Paste from Word' button and the accompanying improvement in the functionality of the 'Paste as Text' button.

There was a 'Paste From Word' button?

Yes, and it worked so poorly that I advised people not to use it. It would will your post with dozens of lines of in-line CSS styling that did nothing. I can't tell you how many times I've answered calls from clients asking me to fix 'something wierd' on a page or post they have written. Invariably they's composed the text in MS-Word and then done a copy-and-past into WordPress.

I understand the attraction of 'Paste from Word'.  People are comfortable composing, editing, and formatting in Word.  It seems very natural to be able to do that, getting the text, fonts, colors, sizes, etc just the way you want them and then just copy-and-paste into WordPress.  O the siren call of that 'Paste from Word' button. And usually - just like the sirens in Greek mythology - it would end badly. The page that had ben beautifully formatted in Word would invariably look almost right in WordPress. Each attempt to 'fix' the formatting made it a little worse until the page looked hopes and they gave up and called me.

My advice has always been to compose in MS-Word but format in WordPress.  By this I mean get the right in word, paste them into WordPress, then add the font sizing, color, etc in WordPress. 

WordPress 3.9's improved pasting functionality makes this approach easier. Turn OFF 'Paste as Text' and feel free to copy text from your MS-Word document and paste it into WordPress now.  Bold and italic formatting will be retained but all the other formatting codes will be cleanly stripped out - at least according to my testing. 

 

Thinking About WordPress Multi-Site? Look (Test) Before You Leap

The WordPress Multi-Site feature has some great advantages if you manage multiple blogs.  From a single login and control panel you can manage them all. You have just a single WordPress code base to worry about. (Think about that the next time there is a new WordPress version and you have a dozen blogs!)

We manage a few WordPRess Multi-Site installations and what follows is based upon our first-hand experience:

The core Wordpress files are pretty stable We've not had a problem initially enabling Multi-SIte nor have we experienced any problems with version upgrades (We recently did a version up grade for a Multi-Site user from WP version 3.0.4 to 3.6.1 and it went very smoothly.) The caveat however is that we've developed our own written procedure for enabling the Multi-iIte feature.

The problem is plugins.  Most plugins are not written to accommodate Multi-Site mode.  Let's say that you have the 'main site' at foo.com and are Using Multi-SIte to create and manage blogs at:

foo.com/Blog1/
foo.com/Blog2/ 
foo.com/Blog3/

While the plugin code resides at "foo.com/wp-content/plugins", unless the plugin supports Multi-Site it will think it is at "foo.com/Blog1 (or Blog2 or Blog3)/wp-content/plugins".  The result is that the plugin cannot find it's own internal files it is looking for.

The take-away is that before you consider Multi-Site you should verify all your plugins support it. Sometimes the only way to do that is to erect the whole thing in a non-production environment and test it yourself.  We've often found ourselves digging into someone else's plugin and modifying it to support Multi-Site because our client needs the plugin and the plugin's author is unresponsive or cannot be found. 

Creating a Client Area for FIle Uploads

We are currently creating a website for a printing company who needs an access-controlled area for clients to upload files. One of the best things about Wordpress is the nearly endless supply of plugins that add functionality. And one of the worst things about Wordpress is the nearly endless supply of plugins.

Many are out of date and do not work with the latest releases of Wordpress. Many don't work at all or are not ready for prime time. We expend considerable energy evaluating plugins and running them through our own internal certification process before foisting them on unsuspecting clients. After all, our clients trust us to deliver websites that work.

For providing client upload functionality, we like Smartypants Client Document Manager the best. It does require the use of an additional plugin, Theme My Login in order to make access control be seamless for the user, but the end result works very well and gets along nicely with the other plugins and themes we use.

 

Wordpress Security Tip

Here is a security tip that is often overlooked: Change your Display Name so it is different from your Username.

By default, Wordpress sets your Display Name to be the same as your Username.  Your Display Name is displayed with every post as the author name.

If you leave your Display Name the same as your Username then you've cut the effort in half for anyone trying to guess your login credentials.

Wordpress Dropping IE6 Support

That's right.  As of Wordpress 3.2 IE6 will no longer be supported.  I think that is a bad move.  I know of some very large corporations for whom IE6 is the one-and-only standard. I fear this may cause a lot of trouble.

Online Image Resizing Tool

I found a great (and simple) online tool for resizing images.

While both Typepad and WordPress can automatically resize images in the body of a page or post, often you need to resize an image manually for placement in the sidebar.

This tool at http://www.photosize.com does exactly that and nothing more.

iPad Wordpress App

The Wordpress iPad app appears to finally be working.  I tested earlier versions and was unable to connect or was unable to login.  

This app provides an easy way to edit and create posts and pages.

 

If you install it, be sure to FIRST log in to your wordpress admin panel from your desktop and turn on XML-RPC Remote publishing on Settings->Writing.

"My Blog Posts aren't Showing Up on Facebook and LinkedIn"

At least once a month someone calls me or send me an email with this problem.  The purpose of this article is to help you troupbleshoot it.

The fact that your posts aren't showing up in TWO places is significant.  It means the problem is not at either Facebook or LinkedIn.  What else is in common?

• Are both Facebook and LinkedIn being fed from Twitter?
• Are both being fed your RSS feed via Feedburner?

If the answer to either of those is 'Yes' then you have an additional point of commonality to investigate.

The Most Common Cause

Note the date of your last blog post that appears on Facebook and Twitter. That's important because the problem is mostlikely associated with the very next post, the first one that didn't get published on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Usually when I investigate the problem, I discover the culprit is the client has pasted directly from MS-Word.  Most people have 'Replace straight quotation marks with smart quotation marks' turned on, for example.  Smart Quotes are not legal characters in an RSS feed and will bring things to a halt.

Follow these steps to fix the offending post:

1. Carefully look for curly single and double quote characters.  Replace then with the stright variety.
2. Switch to HTML mode (There is an HTML tab at the upper right of the Body field).  Strip out everything that is not the text of your post.
3. Switch back to Rich Text mode and reformat.

Help for our Wordpress Clients

We're providing an exciting new service to clients for whom we set up a Wordpress-based blog or website. I've written a Wordpress plugin that adds "WP Help Videos" to the Admin Panel. Clicking on it displays a list of video tutorials designed to help you through the most common tasks.

While there is a lot of commonality in every Wordpress-based site, we go the extra mile by providing several tutorials that are specific to that client and blog or website.

For example, the site we creating for a recent client had a photo rotation on the front page.  I created a video tutorial for her that explained exactly how to administer this function.

Our mantra at Business Blogging Pros is to provide a very personalized 'lead-you-by-the-hand' service  that also leaves you fully empowered and in control at the completion of our engagement. This new Wordpress plugin is just one more way we achieve that.

 Note: this plugin is not available separately.  It's available only as a part of our gold-level (and above) Blog/Website Setup clients.

New WordPress Version Released

2.8.6 fixes two security problems that can be exploited by registered, logged in users who have posting privileges.  If you have untrusted authors on your blog, upgrading to 2.8.6 is recommended. 

We've seen a flurry of new Wordpress versions recently:

11/12/2009 - Version 2.8.6
10/20/2009 - Version 2.8.5

08/12/2009 - Version 2.8.4
08/03/2009 - Version 2.8.3
07/20/2009 - Version 2.8.2
07/09/2009 - Version 2.8.1
06/20/2009 - Version 2.8

That's seven versions in less that five months. Frankly that's too much for you - a business owner with a company to run - to have to deal with. 

That's why - for most business owners - I prefer TypePad.

Which is Better? Convertible Sportscar vs Pickup Truck?

It's a ridiculous comparison and it's meant to me.  The two are designed for two completely different types of people and two completely different types of driving.

Mashable doesn't seem to see the distinction.  Last week they did a 'WordPress vs TypePad' poll, and it's just as ridiculous as the 'Convertible vs Pickup' comparison - the two are designed for two completely different types of people.

WordPress' template system is simpler and easier to understand.  If you need to heavily customize your blog then you are probably better off with WordPress (Having said that, I customize every client's TypePad blog and so so with only a few CSS changes.  I never modify the templates themselves).

The big issue is this:  Do you have the technical ability to host your blog, and understand all the maintenance issues that go along with it?  New Wordpress versions seem to appear every month.  Yes, WordPress has made the upgrade process easy, but is your theme compatible with the new  version? Are your plugins compatible? What if they are not? Are you prepared to handle it if something goes wrong?

My clients are business owners.  Their business is running their business, not running their blog.  For most of them, TypePad is a better choice.

WordPress Attack Underway

So here we go again. From the WordPress.org blog:

Right now there is a worm making its way around old, unpatched versions of WordPress. This particular worm, like many before it, is clever: it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.

Granted, if you have already upgraded your WordPress installation to 2.8.4 you are protected.  Chances you you haven't.  I'm not scolding you, I'm commiserating. You have a business to run.  Receivables, Payables, Payroll.  Not to mention working your tail off to produce your company's product or service. 

You have important things to do. Keeping your blog's software up-to-date to insure that the latest security holes have been plugged should not have to be one of them.

Wordpress' overly-simplistic answer is:

the WordPress community has tried its darndest to make as easy as possible with one-click upgrades.

The problem is that in my experience the one-click upgrade seldom executes flawlessly.  In fact, here's a lovely little snippet from the Upgrading Wordpress page:

if you run into problems Upgrading WordPress with the three Steps described here, you need to revert to your old version first before using the more detailed upgrade instructions (ie. restore the backup made in step 0). Even though you might not run into any errors with this process right away, you might run into problems later down the line. Then it may not be possible to revert far enough back to fix the problem without losing any recent changes. So 

If you use Plugins and Themes other than the ones that come with the default WordPress installation, it is advisable to start over with the more detailed upgrade instructions.

Isn't that just dandy?

So when people ask me why I I am so passionate about TypePad as the best platform for your business blog, This is why.  Or at least one of the big reasons why.  If you have a Typepad blog then all this stuff is taken care of for you. No worries.  Just blog.

Ten Must-Have Wordpress Plugins

When we set up a blog for a client, we want it to be 'firing on all cylinders'.  Here are the plugins we install on every Wordpress blog we create:

• Akismet.  Great anti-spam plugin.  It comes standard as part of the Wordpress files but neds to be set up, including the creation of an account on Wordpress.org.
• WP-Tags-To-Technorati Most people do not understand the Google juice that technorati tags give you.
• Feedburner Feedsmith  The plugin will detect all ways to access your feed (e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/feed/ or http://www.yoursite.com/wp-rss2.php, etc.), and redirect them to your FeedBurner feed.
  
  
• WP-Security-Scan  Use this plugin to make sure that you are complying with best practices for WordPress.
  
  
• All-In-One-SEO-Pack Provides complete control of meta tags and title tags to give your blog its best shot at high Google rankings.
  
  
• WordBook Each time you publish a new blog post it will automatically appear on your Facebook wall.
  
  
• ShareThis Probably the best general-purpose chicklet for allowing readers to share your content.
  
  
• Twitter Tools Each time you publish a new blog post it will automatically also tweet it.
  
  
• TweetMeme Provide you readers with a visible way to tweet about your content.  Also display the number of times the article has been retweeted.
  
  
• WP-DB-Backup Automatically backs up your Wordpress database at scheduled intervals.

Typepad vs Wordpress Again

No, I'm not picking on Wordpress. I just want to point out that you have important things to do.  Running your business is one of them.  Keeping your blog's software up-to-date to insure that the latest security holes have been plugged should not have to be one of them.

The other day, I woke up to see this:

Do you know how to do a Wordpress upgrade?  Probably not.  And you shouldn't have to.  For example, here's a wonderful little snippet from the Upgrading Wordpress page:

That's enough to give even me pause. As I write this, I am doing this upgraded for  my main website.  I performed the upgrade on my 'staging' website first just to make sure, and now - with anxiety level elevated just a bit - I'm doing the upgrade for the production site. 

So when people ask me why I recommend Typepad, This Is Why. Or at least one of the reasons why.

If you have a TypePad site all this stuff is taken care of for you.

Does Your Wordpress Theme Support Printing?

Today a new client came to me wanting some minor tune-up work done on her blog.  It's Wordpress, installed on her server. Unfortunately - like a lot of Wordpress themes - no accomodation was made for printing.

If you are shopping for a Wordpress theme and can view a demo, do this:  RIght click and click on 'View Source'  Then look for something that looks like this:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="...." type="text/css" media="print" />

That "media=print" is the key. It means that the theme's author has thought about printing and if someone prints the page it has a higher probability of looking good when printed.

What About Typepad?

Typepad includes the print version of the stylesheet automatically. It probably won't print your fancy banner but it will print the name of your blog and look presentable.

Some Wordpress Security Considerations

A few weeks ago a good friend called me and said that something was wrong with his site.  I took a look at hi site, a Wordpress-based website and saw nothing but a php error message.

The long-and-short of it was that he had been hacked.  Every now and then, a vulnerability is discovered in Wordpress.  The release a new version to patch the hole, but it is up to you to keep up with the new releases in order to avoid the same fate as my friend.

This is another reason why I like TypePad: It's always up to date and I never have to worry about keeping the software up-to-date.  Typepad takes care of that.

Since I'm on the subject of security, the biggest vulnerability of a Wordpress blog is typically the username: When you install Wordpress, it automatically creates an administrator account with the username 'admin'. If you don't change it, you've just cut the hacker's problem in half.  The first thing you should do upon installing Wordpress is to create a new administrator account with a unique name and delete the 'admin' account.

And then there's your FTP account

If you host your own blog (using Wordpress, for example) don't forget about the security of your FTP account.  FTP is the method for uploading and downloading files to and from your server. (If you installed Wordpress on your server, FTP is the tool you used to get the files onto your server in the first place.)  If your FTP account password is compromised it may take days to figure it out.  Make sure you have a good strong password there too.

Use Your Blog to Create Landing Pages

Almost everyone needs to create a Landing Page now and then. 

If you are using Wordpress, most themes contain a 'No Sidebar' template and you can use that. For this client we created a special template that removed the theme's extraneous background colors. 

Typepad users may be frustrated because they can't select the template on a page-by-page basis and don't have a way to eliminate the sidebar. Here's the trick but it requires a PRO level Typepad account: Create another blog in the same account. Select the same theme and give it all the same stylesheet customizations. Then select a Layout that contains no sidebars. 

The final thing you should do is to give the landing page it's own short memorable domain name. GoDaddy makes it very easy to forward a domain name to a specific page on your blog.

Why I DIslike Wordpress.com, Reason #46

The Navigation Bar

OK, first some background: I build blogs for small business owners.  What happens when your blog is also your website? (a good example is here)  You need some extra pages: Perhaps one to describe your services, one for your public speaking schedule, another for your press releases, etc. Maybe even one for your online store.

The logical way to provide visibility and access to these pages is via a horizontal nav bar, typically positioned just below your banner or header. Many (but not all) Wordpress.com themes support a nav bar.

The Wordpress.com nav bar has two serious deficiencies:

1. If it's not a page, I can't put it on the nav bar. I may want to have a link to something on another site (such as my website, an online ordering page, another blog for my podcasts) up there on my nav bar.  Can't do it with a Wordpress.com blog.
2. I'm stuck with my page titles as navigation items.  My page may be titled "Explore our exceptional, personalized services" but I probably want something shorter like "Services" on the nav bar so it doesn't take up so much space.  Again, I can't do it with a Wordpress.com blog.

Typepad Gets It Right

Typepad, on the other hand, lets you do what you want.  

Want a nav bar item pointing to something offsite?  No Problem.  

Want to use something other than the page's actual title?  No Problem.  

Want to use a special post category as a navigation item?  No Problem.

Want to point to another blog containing your podcasts or videos? No Problem.

This is the way it should be: empower the user. Yes, there is a little more copy-and-paste involved, but since Typepad introduced this functionality I've taught dozens of business owners how to add pages to their site.  And They Love It.  They love the fact that they can do it themselves without relying upon a webmaster who may later hold them hostage. (I'm working with a client for whom their ex-webmaster disappeared with the only copy of their website passwords.)

Understand that I use both Typepad and Wordpress.  When I have a new client, I spend time with them understanding what they want to do now, as well as what they may want to do in 2-3 years.  Then I pick the best platform for the circumstances.  Typepad's implementation of the navigation bar is one of the reasons the client usually ends up on Typepad.

Typepad vs Wordpress vs Wordpress.com

Updated 1/5/2011: It’s been two years since I originally wrote this post and it is one of the post popular posts on my blog. A lot has changed since then and as a result it’s time for an update:

"Which platform should I choose?"

I see this question a lot. It pops up on Twitter about once a day. All three choices have come a long way, even in the past year. Here are my own admittedly biased opinions:

WordPress, the software you download:

Commonly referred to as Self-Hosted WordPress.

You can take WordPress farther and do more with it than any other choice. It is far more customizable than either of the other two alternatives. WordPress has evolved into a powerful Content Management System. What does that mean, exactly? It means that non-technical people can maintain their own websites. It means that you are in charge and in control of your website’s content. Need to update a paragraph? No problem: a few keystrokes and it’s done.

There are so many themes and so many plugins available that you can do almost anything with WordPress. One of my favorite plugins adds an event calendar to your site, for example.

The new built-in menubar system in WordPress 3 is a thing of beauty and IMHO was one of the final pieces that allows a website to be maintained by the non-techy. If you need to create a full-blown website then Self-Hosted WordPress is your best choice.

CONS:

WordPress wants to be installed in a Unix/Linux environment. You can install it on a Windows server but the effort is almost not worth it. Even then, in my experience - unless you are a geek - it is unlikely that the installation will go smoothly.

You need to establish your own mechanism and schedule for backups. Most web-hosting companies provide some sort of automated backup service. If your offers this – even at an extra cost – I recommend you use it. You’ll thank me someday.

You also need to consider that WordPress software is frequently upgraded to address security issues and you'll need to be upgrading your WordPress installation from time to time (more often than you’d like, actually). WordPress now has a ‘click-a-button’ upgrade function built in and it’s been around long enough that works pretty well.

In the past year or so, theme and plugin compatibility has become an issue. While there is an endless supply of WordPress themes and plugins, Many of them don’t play nice with recent versions of WordPress. Freqently we also see plugins that are not compatible with certain themes as well as plugins that conflict with each other. Because we are in this business, we have a list of themes and plugins we have certified for use on our clients’ websites.

And finally, all of that functionality comes at a price: complexity. If all you want is a simple blog then WordPress may be more complexity than you are willing to handle.

COST:

The WordPress software can be downloaded for free from http://www.wordpress.org. You’ll need a hosting account somewhere. Most web-hosting providers charge $10-$20/month for a basic account.

Wordpress.com:

The people behind the WordPress software have created a hosted version, meaning that you sign up for an account at WordPress.com and presto, you have a WordPress blog.

The version of WordPress at WordPress.com is a de-featured (if that’s a word) of the same software you would download from WordPress.org.

It is very inexpensive (in most cases free) It just works, no worries about trying to figure out what's wrong when it's down, no worries about backups. No software to install.

One of the most attractive things about a WordPress.com blog is the easy migration path to Self-Hosted WordPress. You can start with a free account at WordPress.com and then when you outgrow it (and you will) you can easily move to your own hosting account and Self-Hosted Wordpress. (Note: if you think you may need to do this be sure to register a domain name and map it to your WordPress.com blog so that you don’t end up with a bunch of broken links when you later migrate.)

CONS:

Unfortunately, many of the features and functions that are missing are the very ones that make WordPress so attractive.

The number of themes is growing but still limited. Finding a theme that has (a) a Nav Bar, (b) a color scheme and layout close to what you want, and (c) a customizable banner may be impossible. Few of the themes at WordPress.com provide the same menubar functionality that is in Self-Hosted WordPress. In most cases, every page you create will be on the menubar whether you want it there or not. Want that cool WordPress theme you saw somewhere? Sorry, you can’t install third-party themes at WordPress.com

If you wanted to modify the colors (modify the CSS) or map it to your own domain name then they will charge you.

WordPress.com does not allow you to install third-party plug-ins, reducing your expansion abilities considerably. Many of the coolest tools (like Quantcast.com, Feedburner, formspring, AddThis, ShareThis, etc) won't work with Wordpress.com because Wordpress.com prohibits you from embedding snippets of javascript into your blog. Want that cool event calendar plugin? Sorry, you can’t install third-party plugins at WordPress.com

WordPress.com will sometimes (but not always) display their own ads on your blog. I’m sorry, but to me this is a deal-killer.

Cost:

Probably the most attractive feature of WordPress.com is that it’s free. There is an annual fee for features like domain mapping, customizing your blog’s CSS, eliminating ads, etc.

Typepad:

Very easy to set up even for a non-geek. TypePad’s functionality is a subset of WordPress’ but within that subset TypePad is easier to use.

TypePad’s text-formatting features are still superior to what’s available in WordPress. Suppose you want to make a word stand out by using a different font and font-size than the surrounding text. TypePad makes it far easier than anyone else.

Though there are no third-party themes, TypePad provides hundreds of themes to choose from. You can customize the look of your Typepad blog easily by modifying the CSS and uploading a custom banner.

Excellent (the best IMHO) integration with the most popular blog-related tools (Feedburner, ShareThis, AddThis, etc)

It's a hosted solution so you don't have to worry about downtime, backups, etc.

Though they are a bit hidden, widgets are available to do polls, have an Amazon store, paypal shopping cart, etc. No software to install. There is REAL technical support (They even hang out on twitter - @sixapart ).

Mapping a dmain name to a Typepad blog is easy and is free – other than the cost of the somain name itself.

CONS:

With the merger of SixApart (TypePad’s parent) and VideoEgg into a new company (SAY Media) the long-term future of TypePad is unclear. My personal opinion is that TypePad will evolve into a platform optimized for people who want to build their own personal brand AND generate revenue from their blog.

Typepad's collection of widgets is not as extensive as the plugins available for Wordpress.

If you want to customize the appearance of your blog (modify the CSS) you have to be at the UNLIMITED level which is $14.95 per month.

If you want to host other applications (your own online store, for example), you'll need to put that stuff on your own non-typepad site and link to it.)

If you need to do really heavy customization then Typepad's underlying template code is harder to understand.

TypePad provides far less ability to create a full-blown sophisticated website than Self-Hosted WordPress. Adding things like event calendars and video carousels is just not possible.

Your ability to someday migrate from TypePad to another platform is limited. TypePad’s export facility can export your text but not your images. I recently performed a TypePad-to-WordPress migration for a client who’s blog contained over 500 photos. Each photo had to be manually moved, a process that consumed many hours.

COST:

I recommend that you get an UNLIMITED account at $14.95/month

Summary:

TypePad: Your best choice if you want a simple blog or website that you can easily customize to match your brand, never worry about backups, upgrades, etc, and you just want to write content.

Self-Hosted WordPress: Your best choice if you need more than a blog or website containing just pages of text and images.

WordPress.com: Your best choice if you want to get started with just a blog, envision it growing into something bigger at a later date, and can live with the limited selection of themes.