As a general rule of thumb most errors you’ll encounter with your WordPress blog are the result of excessive or incompatible plugins. While many find the selection of essential plugins a conundrum I believe in testing each plugin one-by-one with the latest version of WordPress so I can isolate the problem to determine the cause of the slow load times, call function errors or php memory limit warnings. The most valuable tool I can tell you when it comes to plugins is that when possible look for existing code that can accomplish the same result.

Of course there are certain plugins that even I use in my WordPress Blogs. I’ve compiled a list below of the top 10 plugins that I use on a daily basis that I believe will help any tech blog:

* AdSense Now – There are many ad insertion plugins for WordPress, but if your tech blog is using AdSense – this is the plugin I recommend. It allows you to insert your ad blocks aligned left, center or middle in 3 sections of a post. It also gives you the option to suppress ads on pages, category pages, tag pages, archives and more.

* Audio Player – Being able to insert mp3 clips or podcasts into your blog can be a problem. Audio Player is a plugin that makes this process simple – simply create a music folder on your site via FTP and then upload mp3 tracks to the directory. You can insert the built-in audio player into any of your posts or pages with a simple line of code – painless, simple and easy.

* Facebook Sharecount – It’s no secret that social networking sites like Facebook are effective ways to create a fanbase, but being able to harness that power relies on an easy way to share your great content. Facebook Sharecount will make it easy for visitors share your posts and monitor your content.

* Foliopress Descriptions – Once your tech blog has hundreds or even thousands of posts you will need a way to mass edit your descriptions. While the importance of meta descriptions is debated, I still believe that a hand written summary should be written for each post. Foliopress Descriptions supports post excerpt, These and All In One Seo meta description fields.

* Google XML Sitemaps – If you’ve read my previous post on how to get indexed by Google and Yahoo you know that having a sitemap is essential. This plugin auto generates your sitemap in a nice and neat XML file and let’s search engines understand the content on your tech blog. After installing and activating the plugin Google XML Sitemaps will take care of the rest.

* NextGEN Gallery – Managing your images and photo galleries can be a pain, but NextGen Gallery makes this simple. With features like auto resizing, watermarks, thumbnail creation as well as gallery effects – NextGEN Gallery is a must have plugin.

WordPress is a free blogging platform that you can easily customize through WordPress themes and where you can publish your posts without knowing HTML or PHP. If it is free and so easy to use and there are so many of them provided for free, why would anybody invest money to purchase them? Here we would like to help you by describing the benefits of custom WordPress themes.

4 Pros of WordPress themes you may want to consider:

1. More Chance To Be Unique

Free themes are not unique and may look unprofessional. If you still want to make them look different from the others in the crowd, you need HTML and CSS skills and several hours to change it, or money to pay a developer who does it for you. If you have a business website and want your customers to differentiate your brand from others you may want to consider investing into a paid WordPress theme.

2. It Is Only Up To You What Are You Advertising On Your Site

Free WordPress themes usually contain links of the creator and most of them are encrypted. It drives traffic away from your site and uses precious place that you would also need for your own purpose.

3. They Can Be Purchased in Packages

In this case you can choose from different versions of the same WordPress themes and usually as an extra, packages come with other themes for the same and for different niches that you can use on other websites as well.

4. Paid Themes Are Made By Professionals

The structure of WordPress themes are very complicated and if it is made by a beginner who does not know too much about it, it can happen that certain things like navigation won’t work correctly. Paid themes usually contain features and plugins collected or built for them that are handy and help you to build your site more easily. If you use free themes you can spend hours searching for the right plugins. Reading blogs and forums to find out what you need and if you are a newbie you may don’t even know what kind of options are available for you.

Setting up a WordPress blog on your own website is fast and it is easy. The entire process becomes all the more simple if the installation is offered by the web hosting provider that you are already with. The web hosting company can install the WordPress blog from their own control panel and they will give you a choice of free WordPress themes or premium WordPress themes, also. If this is not possible you still have the choice of the default theme that is WordPress 3. However, if you are using your blog for your business or to attract a large amount of readers, using the default theme will make you look like everyone else which is not good for business. You can still obtain free themes or you can spend from your business budget and obtain a premium WordPress theme. Before doing anything, you should research so that you know the difference between free and paid WordPress themes.

You will notice the difference between the two due to one very obvious reason: one type is free and the other, premium, is paid. If you are asked to pay for a website, there will be obvious aspects of the theme that make it premium, such as different layouts or increased functionality. The default theme is very minimal in its functionality options which is just one of the reasons that this is a non-paid theme.

The support that you receive should be of quality if you opt for a paid WordPress theme. Theme designers test and retest their themes to assure the end user that the end product will be user friendly and free of viruses and any bugs in the system. There are also add-ons and extensions that you can purchase to extend the use of your theme, and some are even free. The main difference between the two is that the designer of a premium theme will pay much more attention to the design and the outcome of the theme, whereas designers of free themes do not put in as much work to ensure that the theme will work correctly simply because there is truly nothing in it for them except for the notoriety. It is also noteworthy to mention that the support that you receive if you have paid for a theme comes freely given.

As a rule of thumb, there are many more free themes than paid themes. In fact, if you do not want to host your own site, you can have your site hosted by WordPress itself. This is a great way to find fantastic free themes and the hosting for free, as well, which is one of the best parts of WordPress.

Content Management System (CMS) websites with dynamic content that can be updated with ease are increasingly becoming a popular choice to build websites. When scouting for CMSs there are a plenty of out-of-the-box solutions out there. So, once you decide to use a CMS to build your website, which one do you choose? In this article I will focus on – WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. These three are the most widely talked about and used open source CMS packages. Also, all the above three CMS are pretty stable, have extensive support and large user groups, and they are all feature rich with access to number of readymade templates and plugins.

The rule of thumb when choosing between the three is that you choose WordPress if you are only interested in blogging. Also, WordPress is great if the number of content contributors to the website ranges from one to few people. If you need a website which can do much more than blogging and have multiple content contributors then you choose Joomla or Drupal. If you are looking for a feature rich website with minimal development work then look no further than Joomla. If you are looking for a fully functional dynamic website and you require extensive customization Drupal is a better option. But, with Drupal be prepared to roll up your sleeves and do some heavy development work or set aside a budget of at least $5000 for the development work.

Very simply put WordPress is very user friendly to install and have it running as a blog. Any blogger with little or no technical know how can set WordPress up pointing to his domain name and have it up and running in a flash. But, the downside is that WordPress allows no real flexibility in accommodating anything more than blogging. It is not very developer friendly either.

Joomla on the other hand can be used to develop a robust dynamic website. It goes beyond blogging and can be the ideal solution for building an e-commerce websites. The one serious drawback with Joomla is that it is not easy to customize. So if you are looking to customize the look and feel, the functionality and the operability of the website it may not be easy to accomplish.

Blogging is used in a number of different ways. It is so popular that it has become perhaps the best way to express yourself in any forum. There are blogs for almost every topic you can think of! Just this morning I found a blog about messed up cakes… it was hilarious!

Many bloggers also set up their sites with the intention of earning a living with it, either by directly selling products or selling advertising and using AdSense.

When deciding on Blogger or WordPress, the first thing you must decide is what you’re using your blog for. For me this is the deciding factor when deciding which platform to use.

Blogger or WordPress: The Comparison

First of all, I’m referring to WordPress.org, where you buy the hosting and install the program itself. That right there is one of the problems with using WordPress because it is a little more technical to set up and maintain than a Blogger site. However, there are thousands of tutorials all over the web that can show you how to deal with problems as they arise. And, after a while, you’ll have a thorough understanding of how to use it.

With Blogger, it’s much more plug-n-play. You fill out a little info about yourself, and you can start posting. Almost that fast too!

However, there are two main important debates with the Blogger or WordPress issue. The first is the domain name. With WordPress, you can purchase your own domain, and it can be whatever you want. With blogger, your domain will have the word “blogspot” as in yourdomain.blogspot.com.

The second issue is that you don’t own your Blogger site. If for someone reason you break some silly rule, or for whatever arbitrary reason Google comes up with, you could have your blog taken down.

With WordPress, you host it on a 3rd party site and you own the domain. Essentially, the site is yours and cannot be taken down.

I have also noticed that WordPress tends to rank better on Google. I’ve had dozens of posts show up on the front page of Google, when Blogger sites are nowhere to be seen.

Blogger Or WordPress: When To Use Each

I personally believe that Blogger is fantastic for two things. One, anyone who just simply wants to share their thoughts with the world completely for fun should absolutely use Blogger. It’s probably not worth the hassle to set up a WordPress site in this case. Also, if you’re just barely, barely, barely starting a business and don’t have any time or money to work with WordPress, you can use it for a little while.

For years, most businesses have used Google AdSense to monetize their blog site, but a changing of the guard could be underway. In November, WordPress announced it would develop a program for monetizing websites that offers benefits that Google AdSense (of which Google AdWords is a part) does not. As it stands, WordPress’ new program will be called – brace yourself – WordAds. If its nomenclature seems a bit obscure, so does the program itself.

What will it offer that Google AdSense doesn’t?

At present, it’s difficult to say. WordPress has taken a page from Google’s book, remaining mum about the details of the new program. But there are indicators that WordPress WordAds will differ from AdSense in ways that many bloggers will appreciate. According to John Burke, ads lead for WordPress; WordAds will be more “tasteful” than Google’s program.

A Matter of Taste

Burke’s comments seem to indicate that WordPress ads will differ from Google ads in at least two ways: aesthetically, and concerning how they sync with a website’s content.

“You pour a lot of time and effort into your blog and you deserve better than AdSense,” said Burke, who also commented that WordPress has resisted developing a monetization program because it saw that Internet advertising wasn’t “terribly tasteful.”

For bloggers whose websites have been sacrificed for ad revenue, Burke’s words should be a breath of fresh air. How WordPress ads will look is unknown, but if “taste” is a deciding factor, they won’t look like garish bumper stickers that someone sticks on a Cadillac as a joke, which is how Google ads can look.

In the end, web ads that cohere with a site’s design and sync with its interests do more than please the webmaster; they make the site more appealing to visitors, which can translate into a larger blog following and increased web traffic to business websites via backlinks. Serious bloggers pay attention to how their website looks and feels, and there’s no reason why web ads should be an exception to the rule.

Website Aesthetics and SEM

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) experts know that a website’s appearance impacts how web visitors respond to it. Ecommerce websites that under perform are often aesthetically off kilter, with a smattering of Google ads adding to the visual purgatory. When a blog is used to generate interest in a business and/or direct traffic to its website, it is incumbent upon the Webmaster to make the blog visually appealing. Apparently, WordPress WordAds will help webmasters do exactly that.

Learning the SEO basics can at first be a daunting task. You’d have to know the terms, how search engines work, how to optimize, then you’ll be faced by the bigger words like on page optimization or keyword research. I admit, facing those terms you’d be more than daunted by the seemingly complex art of SEO.

But before you close the book on your SEO journey because of your fear, let me tell you right now that it just sounds like it’s complicated, but it’s actually one of the easiest things to learn. But don’t let that factoid fool you, for though it is easy to learn, it sometimes takes a lifetime to master. Many SEO experts continue researching and learning about it to keep up to date to all the changes in the field. Since search engine optimization is deeply rooted in technology, so too does the changes that go with it. We all know that technology changes at a fast pace. Computers grow smaller, search engines grow smarter and more complex, and what may work perfectly five years ago, may not work at all, or worse, may even cause more harm than good.

If you are familiar with the history of SEO, which you might learn once you get to research more about it, you will know how during the infancy of the Internet, some SEO techniques involve just typing the keyword over and over. Now, if you are old enough to remember it, these sites may seem strange to you, but as you grow more knowledgeable, you will understand what it all means. Now, if you used those techniques today, not only won’t it work, but it may even lessen your chances to be ranked since search engines may block it as spam.

When it comes to search engine optimization, it is important that the role played by backlinks not be ignored. While many people today are becoming more aware of the fundamental value of proper keyword usage in their optimization strategies, these links are often neglected. Without them, most websites can never manage to reach their maximum rate of exposure across the internet.

A backlink is exactly what it sounds like: a website link that sends a computer user back to a given website. A link of this nature is strategically placed on other websites, and can be found either within various content or in a list of such sites. Most links take the form of text that includes the website’s name. Users who click on the text will be directed to the site.

The concept behind the back link strategy is one that every website owner needs to understand. As important as keywords are for developing and maintaining a fully optimized website that search engine users can easily find, they cannot achieve their full potential without using backlinks. Forum postings, blog content, and article marketing all rely upon back link usage to connect the content to a specific website.

When the search engines crawl through and evaluate websites on the internet, the crawlers collect data related to content and links. This information is then evaluated by the engines’ ranking programs in an attempt to determine each site’s relevancy and value to potential viewers. Websites are then ranked in accordance with the number of links they have, since that is deemed to be a sign that others find the site useful.

Of course, the need for relevancy colors every aspect of this process. Though there are some companies that have adopted a strategy of flooding the internet with website links, this strategy is not always successful. The fact is that the search engines have become ever more adept at winnowing out links between sites that bear no relationship to one another.

This has altered the way that the best internet marketers approach linkage from one site to another. Since search engines only give credence to a link if the site on which it is found is somehow related to the target website, it is no longer enough to simply place links wherever they are permitted. Someone who posts a link to a furniture website on a forum devoted to political discussion will find that the search engines give that link little or no credence.

It should preferably start with the keyword and the ideal length of the Meta title is 70 character including spaces. The Meta description section although not very important from the seo perspective should be written with care. It should be promotional in nature however make sure that it doesn’t look like a sales speech. Make sure to use the keywords in the Meta description section. The ideal length of the Meta description should be 156 character including spaces.One should be very careful while using the Meta keywords.

Make sure that the keywords that you mention in the Meta keyword section is also present in the content of the page. As Google judges the relevance of a page by matching the keywords in the Meta keyword section and the ones in the content of the page its very important to include the same keyword in both places. Google is providing higher preference to the domain names, which contains the keywords. Therefore it would be better to choose the domain name which contains the main keyword of the website. One should never use hyphens in the domain names. However they can safely be used in the urls of different keyword basis pages.