I've been working with these websites for a couple months now. However I can't tell if I've overlooked some features or if they're just not working the way I think they should.
Links to the various sites are in E-R.org's "Links | Publications" section and in my profile.
I'm using Wordpress' "Twenty Ten" theme with several widgets. I'd consider using another theme if I could figure out how to sort the catalog by features I might find useful. Right now they all seem to be just a collection of shiny pictures with no easy way to find, let alone explore, some function that I don't yet know I need. Is there an easier way to pick through the themes? More to the point for you experienced bloggers, is there a specific theme that I'd want to take a look at?
I've made the simple choice of having Wordpress.com host the website URL and the book's blog. Wordpress.com has certainly taken the administrative hassles out of blogging-- at the cost of AdSense revenue, most third-party plug-ins, and perhaps some Google tools. If I wanted to start collecting AdSense money for charitable donations or just experiment with more third-party plugins, then I'd need to go my own way with a Wordpress.org download and a different website host. I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Moving a blog for that reason isn't too painful when it's only a couple months old, but the longer I ignore this question the more painful it'll get. Have any of you bloggers found any reason to leave Wordpress.com? Have any of you elected to break from Wordpress.com and go your own way with just the Wordpress.org software? Any hassles or surprises I should watch out for?
I've registered the blog with Google but there don't seem to be any other Webmaster Tools available (other than those provided by Wordpress.com). However "The Military Guide" has made its way into the top 10 results for that phrase, so whatever SEO is taking place seems to be working. Thanks, Facebook, and all those of you who've been clicking the "Like" buttons.
Any other SEO practices I should adopt with the blog, other than emphasizing keywords like "military retirement" and making the anchor text match the link?
I really really like Wordpress' ability to schedule the release of upcoming posts (for example, 5 AM HST on Mon/Wed/Thu.) I find that I prefer to write several posts in one session, when the muse strikes, instead of 3x/week. Next steps on the blog are to build the blog roll and a long list of "recommended reading" links. I'm working from the reading list in the FAQ Archives for this one, but feel free to suggest your other favorite blogs.
My biggest Facebook question is how to run the book's "consumer product" fan page. When I set up Wordpress to put new posts on my Facebook page, the updates go to my personal Facebook wall (and my newsfeed) instead of to the book's fan page. I guess that's where they should go since that's what my Facebook friends are reading. However I haven't figured out how to also send these updates to the book's fan page, and it seems that I can only update the fan page manually. Frankly the only function the book's fan page seems to offer is to link to the blog. There must be more things to do with that.
So is there a way to automatically update the Facebook fan page? Maybe some third-party plug-in? Or am I condemned to manually update this fan page for as long as it exists? Anything else I could be doing with it that I'm not already doing with the blog?
Twitter is almost an afterthought: everybody else does it and Wordpress can automatically generate a tweet with a blog post, so I might as well use it. I've learned about hashtags (thanks, BMJ!) but it's difficult to search through all the hashtags to find military-related ones. For example I can't search for "#military*" hashtags with wildcards, and I'd never have known to look at hashtags like "#SOT" if I hadn't stumbled across them. So far I'm including #military, #sot, #militarymon, #MilitaryLife, #vets, #honorvets, #militaryretirement, and #earlyretirement as the 140-character limit allows. Otherwise there doesn't seem to be much to do with Twitter besides letting it grow on its own. Any more ideas for Twitter hashtags?
Finally, the book blurb at E-R.org's "Links | Publications" page promises to include an image of the blog provided by Thumbshots.com. I've had that link up for nearly two weeks and Thumbshots.com still claims "Image Coming Soon!" Has anyone else worked with Thumbshots.com? Any idea when it's going to update?
Links to the various sites are in E-R.org's "Links | Publications" section and in my profile.
I'm using Wordpress' "Twenty Ten" theme with several widgets. I'd consider using another theme if I could figure out how to sort the catalog by features I might find useful. Right now they all seem to be just a collection of shiny pictures with no easy way to find, let alone explore, some function that I don't yet know I need. Is there an easier way to pick through the themes? More to the point for you experienced bloggers, is there a specific theme that I'd want to take a look at?
I've made the simple choice of having Wordpress.com host the website URL and the book's blog. Wordpress.com has certainly taken the administrative hassles out of blogging-- at the cost of AdSense revenue, most third-party plug-ins, and perhaps some Google tools. If I wanted to start collecting AdSense money for charitable donations or just experiment with more third-party plugins, then I'd need to go my own way with a Wordpress.org download and a different website host. I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Moving a blog for that reason isn't too painful when it's only a couple months old, but the longer I ignore this question the more painful it'll get. Have any of you bloggers found any reason to leave Wordpress.com? Have any of you elected to break from Wordpress.com and go your own way with just the Wordpress.org software? Any hassles or surprises I should watch out for?
I've registered the blog with Google but there don't seem to be any other Webmaster Tools available (other than those provided by Wordpress.com). However "The Military Guide" has made its way into the top 10 results for that phrase, so whatever SEO is taking place seems to be working. Thanks, Facebook, and all those of you who've been clicking the "Like" buttons.
Any other SEO practices I should adopt with the blog, other than emphasizing keywords like "military retirement" and making the anchor text match the link?
I really really like Wordpress' ability to schedule the release of upcoming posts (for example, 5 AM HST on Mon/Wed/Thu.) I find that I prefer to write several posts in one session, when the muse strikes, instead of 3x/week. Next steps on the blog are to build the blog roll and a long list of "recommended reading" links. I'm working from the reading list in the FAQ Archives for this one, but feel free to suggest your other favorite blogs.
My biggest Facebook question is how to run the book's "consumer product" fan page. When I set up Wordpress to put new posts on my Facebook page, the updates go to my personal Facebook wall (and my newsfeed) instead of to the book's fan page. I guess that's where they should go since that's what my Facebook friends are reading. However I haven't figured out how to also send these updates to the book's fan page, and it seems that I can only update the fan page manually. Frankly the only function the book's fan page seems to offer is to link to the blog. There must be more things to do with that.
So is there a way to automatically update the Facebook fan page? Maybe some third-party plug-in? Or am I condemned to manually update this fan page for as long as it exists? Anything else I could be doing with it that I'm not already doing with the blog?
Twitter is almost an afterthought: everybody else does it and Wordpress can automatically generate a tweet with a blog post, so I might as well use it. I've learned about hashtags (thanks, BMJ!) but it's difficult to search through all the hashtags to find military-related ones. For example I can't search for "#military*" hashtags with wildcards, and I'd never have known to look at hashtags like "#SOT" if I hadn't stumbled across them. So far I'm including #military, #sot, #militarymon, #MilitaryLife, #vets, #honorvets, #militaryretirement, and #earlyretirement as the 140-character limit allows. Otherwise there doesn't seem to be much to do with Twitter besides letting it grow on its own. Any more ideas for Twitter hashtags?
Finally, the book blurb at E-R.org's "Links | Publications" page promises to include an image of the blog provided by Thumbshots.com. I've had that link up for nearly two weeks and Thumbshots.com still claims "Image Coming Soon!" Has anyone else worked with Thumbshots.com? Any idea when it's going to update?