Is Google Experimental going to change our Google search rankings forever and further more?

Apparently Google is experimenting with enhancing search results. The first experiment deals with ‘Alternate views for search results‘. This includes the list view (current option), info view, time line view and map view.

Now the interesting thing to note here is that each view gives different results. So although you might have worked hard to get your web pages to the top 10 in the current Google scenario (list view), you might find your listing missing in the three new proposed views.

Just imagine if Google were to introduce these as actual search options. The face of Google SEO will not be the same. It will be better for some, worse for others. May be nothing new about this but it is going to cause some upheaval and shifts in results depending on what view gets to be more popular.

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I’m still figuring this one out, folks. Personally, I am the laziest person when it comes to writing. Designing I can do all day long but writing … that is a completely different story.

So how do I motivate myself to keep at it?

1. Get Motivated By Others
   When I am really out of it and I don’t feel like writing at all, I go and read blogs at random. Not only does that give me ideas and get my creative juices flowing, it gives me the extra push I need. After all if so many people can keep blogging day after day then so can I.

2. Look at my RSS Subscriptions
   Alright so the current number isn’t exactly anything to write home about. But I like to see numbers go up (who doesn’t ). So every time I make a post, there are chances of that number going up. (Psst you can help … go subscribe up there). Anyway that gives me a little push sometimes.

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It is time for an updated list of useful WordPress Plugins that work with the 2.5.1 version.

I’m not going over 2.6 as it is still in its early stages and not all plugin authors have successfully updated to this version. But I will get to this soon.

Some of these are going to overlap with my previous list as they have been upgraded to work with this version and some I have already discussed in detail in several other posts.

1. Accordion Tabs
   This lets you add WordPress functions in a tabbed interface. Not only does this look pretty neat but it also saves space. A must have for any blog!

2. Add This Social Bookmarking Widget OR Add To Any
   Both plugins offer your visitors the chance to bookmark your posts and pages. Instead of adding several icons under your post and making them look cluttered, the whole menu pops up AJAX style on mouseover.

3. Adsense Deluxe
   This is a classic and should not need any introduction. It lets you add adsense or YPN ads to your posts at the click of a button. Manage the codes on the plugin settings page.

   An alternate which lets you add either adsense or YPN is the All in One Adsense and YPN. However, I haven’t tested this one yet.

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Sticky Posts

There is no option to make a post sticky when you add it. However, once you have added a topic, click to view it. Then browse right down. You will see a link ‘Stick Topic (to front)’

If your click STICK TOPIC, this topic will become a sticky in its respective forum. However, if you click TO FRONT, it will stick to the front page Latest Discussions list. One downside of this being, the topic is no longer shown in its respective forum. It is still counted there but no longer viewable from within the forum.

What purpose can this serve? Well for one you can use this to add General Forum Rules that you might not want appearing in any of the forums but visible on the front page. Any announcements can also be added here.

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After going thru many bbPress plugins here are some that work with bbPress 0.9.2 and provide added functionality to your forum.

1. bbPress Latest Discussion

   This is actually a WordPress plugin which displays up to the last 10 discussions going on at the forum. Let your blog visitors know what is going on at your forum.

2. bbPress Signatures

   Let registered users add a signature to their posts. You can also add the option to individially toggle this option on or off per post.

3. bbRatings

   Add the option of post ratings. Let registered users voice vote on the posdt on a star rating of 1 to 5.

4. Censor

   Want to filter posts for bad words? This is the plugin. There is just one issue at the moment … its settings page doesn’t show up in the bbPress admin. A slight tweak will do the trick.

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When I first started installing bbPress for a client, here are some issues that I faced. I’m giving you the solutions so you don’t have to go thru the entire process of searching for an answer.

1. What is the link to the theme directory?
   In WordPress if you need to link to the theme directory you just use the tag:
   bloginfo(template_directory)

   For the moment there is no such option in bbPress. The basic documentation does not provide this very essential piece of information. After much research this is what I found:

   < ?php bb_option('uri'); ?>my-templates/your-template-directory-name

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bbPress is what you can call a sister script of WordPress. It is a lightweight forum script which is just as flexible and adaptable as WordPress. There are lots of plugins available that add to its functionality with new ones being added every day.

The downside to this script is that there is no official documentation available. And that can have you going around in circles for quite a while especially if you are new to bbPress.

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Once you have visitors to your blog, the point is to keep them reading and keep them coming back. For that you need to keep your content in front of them. Give them easy access to posts they might be interested in.

This means you need to show listings of your most recent posts, popular posts, posts with comments on them and so on and so forth.

And as always WordPress plugins help.

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I joined Twitter a while but never bothered much with it. That is until I found this very simple to use WordPress plugin.

This plugin not only displays my last X twitters but also lets me add Twitters from inside the WP admin. Now that is a God send for people like me — what a time saver!

This can be called as a function or added as a widget. And that is the way all plugins should work. Give both options! You never know what might be needed.

Now I can tweet to my heart’s content and it is quite a lot of fun to do so, too.

For those of you who are still as yet unaware of Twitter, it is reminiscent of its name. Think of it as constant status updates of your life. It is the answer to one simple question: What Are You Doing? You can twitter away, let your friends and family follow your escapades or make new friends and see what they are up to.

Check out the My Twitter Plugin.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

The problem with being a web designer is that when you get tired of your blog design and want to change it, you can. And I seriously need to stop doing that considering I just re-designed less than a month back.

I just wasn’t too happy with that design, though. It was just too different from my business site DotsnDashes. This one isn’t exactly a replica either but it has similarities and uses some of the basic design features from that website.

I’m thinking I’ll stick to this design for a bit.

So what do you think?