I just installed the latest version of WordPress - as a clean install - for a client. Well, let me tell you that the latest version (2.6) is not ready for prime time. The Permalinks - to me one of the most valuable features - do not work. If Adventures Online installed your blog, chances are the blog uses Permalinks. If you install WordPress 2.6, the links (your menu items and links within your posts) will no longer work.

A feature that has been added is the storage of “revisions”. Now, instead of having one record in your database for each page or post, you will have multiple records - and there is no toggle switch to shut this feature off. So, if you edit a post 5 times, you’ll have 5 records for that one post. It is a disgraceful waste of space, especially since there is no way from the admin to rollback to a revision. So WHY hold on to them? 

I went to the WordPress forum to see what “I” was doing wrong and why these things were happening. I am very discouraged to learn that the attitude of the developer (Otto) responding to the questions (for these two items) was incredulous. Obviously, a person who has no real-life experience - with computer systems nor life in general.

So I am discouraged. After praising WordPress as the only blog tool to be using since 2003, and encouraging all of my clients to invest their time and money in it, they release a version that acutally breaks your blog, wastes a lot of space, and they don’t really care.

 I am hoping that they will listen to the multitudes of persons writing in the forum. 

Don’t upgrade to 2.6 just yet. 2.6.1 is suppose to have fixes for the Permalinks. I don’t know if it will address the storing of “revisions”.

I’ll let you know when I know more.

Duplicate content can be damaging to your website, especially if your site is a lesser-known site to the search engines. When a search engine finds content that it believes it has seen before, how does it figure out which site gets credit for being the originator?

Generally speaking, this is what happens.

1. The most popular site gets the credit.
   Popular can be defined as:
   • The site that has more inbound links
   • The site that has more traffic
   • The site that is known to the search engine (i.e. CNN, Dell, Motley Fool)
   • The site that has the highest PageRank

2. The less-popular site is presumed to have done the copying.
   • In the best scenario, the page that contains the duplication is excluded from the search engine’s index (catalog of web pages).
   • In the worst scenario, the entire website is excluded from the search engine’s index.

Remember that the search engines use programs to determine the authenticity (and rank) of a website. As a blogger, it is your job to convince the programs that your site is worth ranking well. Here’s some tips for writing in your blog that will help the programs understand that you offer fresh, original content.

• Do: Paraphrase or quote small sections of articles, giving credit to the author and linking to the source of the original article.
• Do: Offer your opinion and discuss the content of the article. Search engines are looking for original content and your thoughtful discussion qualifies.
• Don’t: Copy an entire article to your blog even if you give credit to the author and source.

• Do: File your blog post under ONE and only ONE category. Yes, the programs can become confused when you file your post under more than one category. Even the “Archives” can confuse the search engines. Consider asking your webmaster to add rel="nofollow" to the Archives’ links or a robot statement to the Archives’ pages.
• Don’t: File your blog post under multiple categories.

• Do: Work hard at connecting with professionals in your industry who will want to link to your blog - and encourage them to link to specific blog posts. (See my suggestions for best-in-class Inbound Links.)

Okay, now that I have shared this information, I need to go through my blog and make the changes that I have suggested here.

Happy Blogging!

Edit (1/2 hour later): Okay, all posts listed under one category only.

Part 1 of Blogging, at Your Website or a Public Site? suggested a number ways to drive traffic to your website.

An important reason for establishing a blog is to create buzz about you and your company. Creating buzz increases traffic. Increased traffic makes the search engines take notice, oftentimes resulting in more listings and higher ranked listings on the search engines results pages (SERPs). Higher rankings in the SERPs lead to increased traffic…and the cycle of positive energy flows.

Blogs drive traffic to the Source.
Establishing a blog at a public blogging site enables you to create buzz about your company and get your target audience interested in learning more. Your target audience returns to the source of the buzz - the public blogging site - to learn more, resulting in increased traffic for the public blogging site. You’re thinking, but they’ll click through to my website. Maybe, maybe not…If the information they want resides at the public blogging site, why click through? If they do click through to your website, they have already contributed to increasing the traffic on the public blogging site. This pits your website against the public blogging site for listings in the search engines, and, the public blogging site will almost always have higher ranked listings due to the traffic it accumulates from all the other blogs. If the keywords (search terms) exist in abundance at your website and not so much at the public blogging website, you have a better chance of rising in the SERPs.

Writing in a blog takes thought and effort.
What categories will you define? What information will you post in each category? What keywords will you use? How frequently will you post? Experts suggest that you write in your blog as often as you can; from several times a day to once per week. (Read Tips for Adding Entries to Your Blog for suggestions on how to write your entries in order to positively impact your website’s listings in the search engines.)

Recommendation
If you are going to put in the effort to maintain a blog, to think of entries that will create buzz about you and your company, do it at your own website so that your website is the source, your target audience returns to your website, and the traffic for your website increases.

Public Blogging Websites are Good for Practicing.
For the bloggers that I know, the greatest challenge has been developing the habit of writing in their blogs with consistent frequency. Given that, I recommend to new bloggers that they first establish a blog at a public blogging website in order to create the habit. Once the habit of writing in their blogs is established, then create a blog at their own website.

Happy blogging!