I’ve been writing on and off about this little project I’ve been working on. I had planned on a soft launch and a testing phase this week and an official launch by next week. Unfortunately my net troubles have set me back by a week or so.

However, I think it is time I gave you guys and gals some hints as to what the project is. And if you are interested be sure to subscribe to this blog (option in the top bar).

Head on over to MiniSitePacks.com

Pretty soon minisitepacks like these are going to be available for download from this website. In the meanwhile make sure you download the Christmas pack as it is only going to be free till the launch.

I am looking for beta testers. So if you love bug testing and don’t mind downloading a minisite pack as thank you for your help, be sure to be subscribe to my RSS feeds or sign up for the mailing list at MiniSitePacks.com

You can also leave a comment here if you are interested in being a beta tester.

That is not a question you think of when everything is working out alright. Not when you can get up in the morning and start work as soon as you are ready.

However, this is a question you are forced to face the moment your net dies on you. In my case it was my phone line. Since I have a DSL connection, that is pretty much the same thing. What makes matters worse is the company I have my phone line and DSL connection from chose this very moment to be a chaotic mess. In other words, I cannot get someone to get my phone line and DSL connection back up.

Three full days without the Internet. Let me tell you it wasn’t fun. It is sad but I cannot remember what I used to do in the pre-Internet era. How did I spend my day? How did I pass my time?

Since I work from home and all my work is Internet related, my entire work world revolves around having a stable Internet connection. So living without the Internet wasn’t very pleasant.

Anyway the good news is I now have a wireless connection so no more dependency on the phone line. And that feels great! It is good to be back

So what do you think your life will be like if you lost your Internet connection for three days?

Good news! There is a new version of CForms that is out and has got great features. The best thing about it is it has got most of the features on my wish list

So here goes…

Plugin Compatibility

CForms is now completely compatible with three of the most used comment plugins.

• Subscribe To Comments
• CommentLuv
• WP AJAX Edit Comments

First Step is to install the above mentioned plugins and activate them.

Next… adding Subscribe To Comments and CommentLuv

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If you have just upgraded to WordPress 2.6 you might notice one slight problem. You are no longer able to upload your images. They show up as broken images. It doesn’t matter whether you use the AJAX option or not, the result is the same.

Surprisingly not everyone is facing this problem.

A client of mine has the exact same configuration on his blog (give or take a couple of plugins) as mine. However, he faced the broken image problem while I did not. Of course we have blogs on different servers so that might have something to do with it.

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It is amazing how many blogs do not do this. They have the messiest comments section with a zillion comments, trackbacks and pingbacks all jumbled up. And it is almost impossible to make some sense of out of the entire mess. Want to follow the conversation? Try evading the trackbacks and pingbacks along the way.

What’s the solution?

Separate the two, of course.

But How?

That’s a good question. You will find plugins that do this but if you can manage something in the theme design, it is best to do so rather than install plugin upon plugin. Plugins are best used where you cannot achieve your objective without touching the core WordPress files.

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If you scroll down you will see a live preview option for comments. Just try it out by typing in a comment. Pretty cool, huh!?

A friend asked me why this was useful and why anyone will want to see their comment twice?

My answer: If your comment is pretty long, the textarea will start to scroll and you won’t be able to look at your entire comment in on go. The preview on the other hand shows the comment in its entirety. This way you can see how it looks and proof read with ease before you post.

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I have already discussed a few techniques and plugins you can use to increase your comments. Here is a re-cap of some old and some new plugins I haven’t discussed before. All are must-haves if you want to explode your comments:

1. Subscribe To Comments
   I am absolutely staggered that so many bloggers don’t use this one. Don’t they want their commenters coming back? When I comment on a blog, I really want to know when there is a reply. And subscribe to comments is the perfect plugin as it sends me an email whenever a comment is posted.

   Without this option, your commenters may just get sick and tired of checking manually or not bother at all. Not everyone subscribes to the comments RSS feeds so make sure you provide this option.

   I cannot stress this one enuff!

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Cforms II is a WordPress plugin which makes it easy for you to add a contact form to your website.

Once you install and activate the plugin, don’t get intimidated by the dozens of options available. It is pretty easy to set up. Click on CForms from your WP admin menu.

Click to view the bigger image
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You have to motivate your visitors to leave comments.

How do you do that?
By giving them a good enuff reason to do so.

Like they say there is no such thing as a free lunch.

We have already discussed one approach and that is by making your blog do-follow.

Another option is the CommentLuv Plugin.

This plugin searches the commentator’s RSS feed and adds the title of their last blog post to their comment.

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As soon as you make your blog a Do-Follow you will notice a slight if not a large increase in comments.

Some of these are great as they contribute something. Fair enuff for a link back to your website.

And then there is the category who want a link back for nothing. If they could they would leave a blank comment. Since they can’t they just leave comments like ‘Thank you’ or ‘ I came upon your website and wanted to say hi’.

Bring Something To The Table

As much as I love new comments, they need to have some substance. It is ok to add one line comments as long as you add to the discussion. Don’t just say thank you .. show that you are by adding something meanigful.

Fair Exchange

It is only fair that if someone is letting you add a do-follow link to your blog or website then you give something back in return as well. A simple thank you is just not enuff.