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

When you add the comment form you will notice two extra fields: Subscribe To Comments and CommentLuv. Adding these will make sure that the two plugins now work seamlessly with CForms. Yes it really is that simple!

And … WP AJAX Edit Comments
This is the simplest one to work with as all you need to do is upgrade to the latest version of this plugin. The plugin authors of both CFORMS and WP AJAX Edit Comments have worked together to make sure the plugins are compatible. So hats off to them.

Comment Template

When you post a comment using the CForms comment form, you might not get to see the comment posted until you refresh the page. This is because there is one last setting that needs to be adjusted.

1. Click global settings.
2. Next select ‘WP Comment Feature Settings’
3. The most important setting here is ‘Parent Comment Container’. Your comments are wrapped in an ol tag. Whatever id is set for that must be added to this field. Example:

   <ol id="commentlist">

   In this case the ‘Parent Comment Container’ will be ‘commentlist’

4. Next we design the look of the comment template to match the one in comments.php. This can be done under ‘New comment HTML template’. If you click on Supported Variables you will see a list of all that you can use. The good news is that there is now a gravatar option. Also if you use the Default Template as the starting point, it also has the option of alternating the class.

   <li class="alt" id="comment-{id}">

5. Lastly you can also set the gravatar size to your liking.

You should now be able to preview your comment without re-loading te page plud have the option of editing it if yo are using the WP AJAX Edit Comments plugin.

Troubleshooting

There are some problems you might run into.

1. You might note that your first comment needs refreshing while the follow-up comments can be easily viewed without a reload.

   There is a reason. Your most probably have your comment code like this:

   If Comment {
   <ol id="commentlist">
   <li>
   Comment Here
   </li>
   </ol>
   }

   Note that the ol tag is only displayed if there is a comment. Your blog doesn’t know there is a first comment until the page is re-loaded. Since the ol tags are not used, CForms cannot show the comment. If you have them outside the ‘if comment’ and the ol tag is rendered regardless of whether there is a comment or not then Cforms can work its magic.

2. You might find that you can no longer access your Wordpress admin or that pages go blank after you save settings. Check to make sure that cforms.php in your plugins/cforms folder does not have any empty spaces at the end. If the problem persists, then it can be a PHP memory issue. This can be set in your php.ini file if you run your own server or you can ask your host to increase PHP memory to say 32 or 64.

Enjoy the new version of CForms … I’m sure this plugin will continue to improve. In which case there will be a part 3 to this tutorial someday.

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!

2. Do Follow
   Another plugin I have dedicated an entire post to. Reward your posters by removing Wordpress’ default rel=nofollow from comment links. A do-follow blog is more prone to comments especially if it is one that is just starting out. Read more about no follow, do-follow.
3. CommentLuv
   Give your commenters additional incentive using CommentLuv. This plugin searches their RSS feed and adds a link to their last blog post in their comment. Your commenter gets a keyword rich anchor link to his/her blog. It is Google heaven for them
4. KeywordLuv
   This brings me to the next plugin and more Google heaven You might have noticed people using spammy names with keywords in place of their real name. This is because they are trying to get keyword rich links back to their blogs.

   This plugin makes the job easier without the spammy name bit. Just add your name as YourName@Your Keywords and Your Keywords will be used as the anchor link and your name will be shown separately. So if I write my name as Erum Munir@DotsnDashes Website Designs, my comment will show it as:

   Erum from DotsnDashes Website Designs

   Pretty cool, eh?

See it is just four basic plugins which offer so much in return.

A couple of other comment plugins which may help are:

1. Top Commentators
   Adds a list of your top commentators to your sidebar. Will work best once you have a few comments to start with. Believe me when I say you don’t want an empty list. This plugin adds an incentive for repeat comments as one needs to have some comments to get to the top. How many really depends on how popular your blog is. I have seen people specifically commenting at blogs with this plugin. So it might work for you, too.
2. Recent Comments
   This plugin works with the recent comments widget already a part of Wordpress 2.5.1 and Wordpress 2.6. It offers the option of styling your recent comments display to be a bit better looking than the default. You can use it to add a link to the commenter’s blog from your sidebar.

And remember when the comments start rolling in, these plugins will help keep you organized:

1. Akismet
   As always keeps most spam at bay. Comes with the core Wordpress installation.
2. Better Comments Manager
   It can get a bit tedious going to each post and replying to comments from there. Better Comments Manager lets you do so via the Wordpress admin - all in one place. A definite time saver if you have a lot of comments.
3. WP Paged Comments
   Having too many comments can also be nightmare if your page flows on forever. Enter WP Paged Comments which adds pagination to your comments. Phew! What a relief and great alternate to that mile long page of comments.

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.

Benefits to the Commentator

1. Increased Visitors
   You are sharing your visitors with your commentors. If their post titles are attractive enuff, people browsing your blog are sure to click on these links.
2. SEO and Page Rank Benefit
   Normally your commentator’s get a link using their names. The anchor text has no keywords and hence the link benefit not so much. A post title on the other hand may be full of keywords and hence great for Page Rank benefits. Not to mention it is a page rank benefit for their inner pages which may not get much Page Rank Luv normally.

There is just one problem

And that is if you are redirecting your feed to FeedBurner. The way FeedBurner is set up by default, post titles link to Feedburner. This may give you some stats but guess who gets the page rank benefit?

So how to turn this off?

There is a great post on how to Turn off FeedBurner Redirect in RSS Feeds. Be sure to do this to get the full benefit of this plugin for yourself and make sure to educate your commentators on this issue as well.

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.

4. Akismet
   This plugin is included with Wordpress. Spammy comments are more or less a thing of the past with this plugin.
5. All In One SEO Pack
   One of the simplest SEO plugins. Just a few tweaks and it is ready to work out of the box.
6. Amazon Reloaded
   Lets you add Amazon products to your blog with your affilate ID embedded in the links. Also lets you search for Amazon products when you are writing a post or a page.
7. Better Comments Manager
   Respond to comments from the WP admin instead of going to the respective posts to add a reply.
8. Cforms II
   A really good contact form script which lets you add any number of forms with pre-configured designs. It lets you add your own styles, too. CForms can also be used to replace the regular comment form at your blog.
9. Code Autoescape
   Although this is not main stream plugin and not everyone will use it. it does serve its purpose. Instead of the code being executed, it lets you show it as code in your post.
10. Configurable Tag Cloud
    The tag widget that comes with Wordpress does not offer any configuration options. This plugin is the solution to that.
11. Do Follow
    This plugin disables the rel=nofollow attribute in comments and gives SEO benefit to your comment posters.
12. FAQ-Tastic
    A very useful plugin which lets you add an FAQ section to your blog.
13. Feedburner Feedsmith
    This plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and simply redirects them to your FeedBurner feed
14. Google XML Sitemaps
    Creates a compatible XML sitemap. This is supported by Google, Ask.com, MSN Search and Yahoo.
15. Identify External Links
    Identifies all exteral links and adds class=”extlink” and optionally, target=”_blank” to open the links in a new window.
16. Most Commented Posts
    This a sidebar widget listing some of the most commented posts.
17. Multi Column Category List
    Lets you organize your categories into multiple columns if you have way too many. Lumps all of them together and does not follow the heirarchy. See WhackedOutMarketing Blog as an example (categories are right at the bottom).
18. My Twitter
    Lets you add your last few twitters to your sidebar. Additionally, it also lets you add twitters from within Wordpress.
19. NextGen Gallery
    Easily add image galleries and albums to your blog. Automatic thumbnail creation makes this a breeze. The included widget also lets you display random photos and slideshows in your sidebar.
20. Pagebar 2
    Provide an advanced paginated navigation instead of the basic Next Previous links.
21. Plugin Central
    A plugin which makes it easier to install other plugins.
22. Quotes Collection
    Add random quotes to your blog. I’ve found this to be a really good way to add customer testimonials. This is how I have used it at DotsnDashes Website Designs.
23. Recent Comments
    Adds the much needed customization options to the Wordpress recent comments widget.
24. RSS Footer
    Lets you add a footer to your RSS feed. Add copyright info, a call to action or just a link back to the post for comments.
25. Search Everything
    Gives you the option of adding pages, excerpts, attachments, drafts, comments, tags and custom fields to the Wordpress search option. You can also exclude posts, categories and password protected content.
26. Search Meter
    Keeps a track of what your visitors are searching for. Easy way of brainstorming what content to add to your blog.
27. Subscribe To Comments
    Give your visitors an additional option to subscribe to comments via email. This plugin will not work if you are using Cforms’ comment form.
28. UBD Block Ad Plugin (Wordpress 2.6 Fix)
    Automates the addition of those 125×125 px ads you see on everyone’s blogs nowadays.
29. Wordpress Database Backup
    Thi plugin can send you a daily or a weekly back up of your entire Wordpress database. You can also make a back-up right there and then, download it or get it emailed to yourself. No more lost content!
30. Wordpress Video Plugin
    Lets you display videos from the major video websites.
31. WP Post Views
    Displays a list of the most viewed posts in your sidebar. It also shows the number of times the post was viewed.
32. WP AJAX Edit Comments
    Ever added a comment and gone whoops I need to correct that? Why not offer your visitors a chance to correct their whoops? This plugin lets them edit their comments for as long as your allow them - generally 5 minutes is a good idea. You can try commenting on this post to see how this works.
33. WP Paged Comments
    Add pagination to your comments using this plugin and get organized.
34. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
    Keep your visitors busy at your website by providing them the option to read similiar posts.

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.

1. WP-PostViews

   This plugin displays the last X number of posts with the most views. In other words these are the most popular posts at your blog.

   This provides your visitor with social proof. After all if others are reading these posts, then they must contain good info.

   If you are the only registered user, you can set it to count views from guests only. However, if your blog has the option to register, then you may want to count views by both guests and registered users.

   Check out WP-PostViews

2. Most Commented Posts

   This plugin outputs a list of the Last X posts with the most comments. You can choose to display posts from the current month, current year or all posts.

   Again it serves as social proof not to mention that most people love a good discussion. People are more likely to check out posts which have a lively discussion going on.

   Check out this plugin

3. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

   I had to go thru two other plugins to find one that worked the way I wanted.

   This plugin lets you add related posts at the end of each post automatically. You can set the criterion for matching and set the threshold from 1 to 5, 5 being the strictest. Posts are then chosen based on the criterion and threshold. Start off with a lower threshold if you have few posts. You can increase it as you get more posts on your blog and can afford to get picky.

   This makes for a very useful plugin. Once you have finished reading a post on a topic of interest, you are more likely to click links that lead to similar posts. A brilliant way of getting visitors to stick around and may be even subscribe to your RSS Feed.

   Get this plugin.

4. Recent Posts

   Wordpress 2.5.1 already comes with a recent posts widget. Activate this widget via your Design > Widgets section to get a listing of the most recent posts in your sidebar.

You can see an example of how these plugins work at the front end on this blog.

Recent Posts, Most Commented Posts and Most Viewed Posts can be found on the sidebar. Related Posts are at the bottom of every post on the single posts page.

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

This pulgin 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

Wordpress, by default adds a no-follow tag to links in comments.

What that means in very simple terms is that a Search Engine Bot should not follow that link. Your commentator receives no link benefit from this and gets no page rank credit from Google. The reason why this is a default action in Wordpress is to combat comment spam, to stop people from leaving meaningless comments just to get a link back to their websites.

However, all this does is inconvenience the real posters who are genuinely contributing to the discussion. The no-follow tag has not served its pupose and has not stopped spam flooding your comments. Best option is to just use the Akismet plugin (comes with Wordpress) for that and be done with it.

So let’s come back to the people who are contributing effectively to a discussion on your blog. Why are they being punished? They are giving something, they should get something back. It is a fair exchange. And it is a win-win situation as you can be at the receiving end as well by posting comments on blogs that do-follow links.

So from today onwards, this blog is officially a DO FOLLOW blog.

You can use a very simple, set it and forget it plugin called Semiologic Do-Follow

You can add your do-follow blog to this list.

There is a list of more plugins as well as directories you can add your do-follow blog to. Check it out.

If you have tried using the NextGen Gallery Plugin (and mind you it is one of the best image gallery plugins out there for Wordpress) then chances are you might have run into the php memory limit problem.

What this means is that unless you increase the memory limit, you might have problems with automatic thumbnail creation.

There are a few options here:

1. Change the setting at server level if you have access (this will make the change global). The change will have to be made in your php.ini file. Just search for memory_limit and change its value.
2. Increase the limit using your .htaccess file by adding this line:

   php_value memory_limit 32M

3. And the best method is in WP itself:
   Open wp-settings.php and find this code:

   define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '32M');

   Change 32M to whatever you need. I personally needed to change it to 40M and that did the trick.

Another little quirk of this gallery is that it strictly follows a PHP setting called Safe Mode. If it is on, you will have to create the image gallery directories manually. Which kind of beats the purpose of having it all automated. You might also have problems with thumbnail creation.

The options are:

1. Try turning it off for the website in question first using .htacess. Add this line to your .htacess file:

   php_flag safe_mode off

2. A more complicated but apparently a better way is to do this is to add the following to you vhost.conf or httpd.conf files.

   <Directory "/path/to/webroot/for/domain" >
   php_admin_value safe_mode off
   </Directory>

   (Sorry I lost the link where I got this code from or I would have given credit)

Once you get past these two barriers, it is a really great option to showcase your photos.

Want to see how the gallery look? View my Portfolio

Get the NextGen Gallery plugin

This has to be the most useful and time saving plugin ever. What are the steps you follow when you install a plugin? Here’s how I do it:

1. Look for a plugin which performs the needed function.
2. Download the plugin
3. Unzip it and place it in the plugins directory locally
4. FTP the plugin to my website
5. Login to Worpress, go to the plugins page and activate the plugin

Here’s how you do it with Plugin Central:

1. Look for a plugin which performs the needed function.
2. Login to WP and add the name or URL of the needed plugin to Plugin Central’s settings page. It will get the plugin,unpack and upload to your plugins directly.
3. Go ahead and activate the plugin.

What a relief!

And it gets better if you want to install the same plugins at another website. Just copy the list from Plugin Central and copy/paste it in the new blog’s plugin central area. One click install of your plugins.

I wish I had found this plugin sooner. I would have saved myself and my clients so much time.

Agreed you still have to set up some of the plugins but personally, I find the installation part to be the most painful.

Before you go and get this plugin, do know that it works with WP 2.5.1. I do strongly urge you to upgrade WP as the latest version is really great!

Check out Plugin Central