It’s been just about a week since the final version of WordPress 3.0 was released to the world, bringing with it interface improvements, important core menu and post changes, and of course tons of bug fixes. Check out the announcement video below to get a good overview of the new features of 3.0 along with the new default “Twenty Ten” theme:
I’ve now had a little bit of time to explore and play with the new features and some definitely stand out right away.
The Help tab on the top of every page includes vastly improved contextual help text throughout the system. Click the tab and get a great overview of the current page along with detailed description of options and links to more information and support forums. As someone who trains users to use WordPress, this will result in immediate cost savings for clients as they are able to retain information better and therefore need less follow up training.
The other two big new features that caught my eye combine to push WordPress 3.0 another step towards becoming a viable CMS in some situations. The new release includes custom menu functionality mixing posts, pages, categories, and other content into one menu and also gives developers the ability to easily create new custom post types. For most client projects that MarketNet takes on a more enterprise-level CMS will be the best solution, but these two new features are great additions. If you need to create a site or microsite that is primarily a blog with additional content such as employee profiles or e-mail newsletter archives, it just got a lot easier with WordPress 3.0.
Go checkout the the full changelog for 3.0 and of course download now to take advantage of all the new goodness.
Popularity: unranked [?]
We’ve been talking corporate blogging with almost every client and prospect for a while now. We’ve cited branding reasons and SEO reasons for blogging, among others. Sometimes it’s a hard sell. Companies not focused on web marketing find it difficult to justify budget spending in untested areas.
To start a blog, a company needs available resources: budget, employee(s), strategy, and promotions. How do you convince a company NOT blogging that it’s in their best interest to start? For internet marketing agencies like ours, it always helps when a study is announced that supports your recommendations.
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Popularity: 67% [?]
Has your blog become just a glorified press release page?Are you starting to wonder why you bought into the idea of using this new technology?
It’s a serious transition to go from broadcasting a brand to community engagement. The biggest challenge is conceptual. Let’s not dishonor “old school” marketing. It’s what brought us to this point in history. Advertising / Marketing is typically one of the most cutting edge industries. It leverages the newest technologies and tests everything in order to find the greatest success. So let’s look at one of the biggest challenges everyone faces with experimental corporate blogs and then move into five possible overarching strategies for your company’s blog.
Popularity: 4% [?]
WordPress 2.8 (codename “Baker”) hit the World Wide Web last week and it brought a slew of new fixes, features, and improvements to the reigning number one blogging platform. This version sees improvements to the theme browser (not particularly useful to our clients and their custom themes), sidebar/footer widget functionality, admin usability and functionality, and most importantly optimized code to improve speed and the overall blogging experience. According to the official WordPress announcement post, this version brings “cooler, smoother, simpler blogging” to the masses.
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Popularity: unranked [?]
This blog post isn’t going to be the typical post that you would expect an interactive agency to publish. We aren’t going to address why your business should have a blog, but rather how blogging is good for your health. I started my own personal blog a little over two years ago. The title of my blog is “To Life!” It’s not indexed by Google or others and it doesn’t have any advertising. When I started the blog I was diagnosed with cancer in the lining of my left lung. My lung was totally collapsed and I had difficulty carrying on a conversation. The purpose of my blog was to communicate with friends and family members without taxing my body.
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Popularity: unranked [?]
As more and more of our clients implement WordPress-based blogs on their existing websites, there is training needed to understand how to make the most out of WordPress. First, let me give a plug for the video tips on WordPress.tv – it’s an excellent place to go and hear real people explain different tips and insights into the WordPress platform. But in addition to those killer videos, we’re going to provide some insights into WordPress right here in our trusty internet marketing blog.
Today’s topic is “Must-Have WordPress Plugins.” This is my list of preferred plugins I automatically upload to each of the 31 blogs I’ve set up. Let’s dive in.
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Popularity: 16% [?]
After returning from SXSW Interactive in Austin, I am all hot and bothered again on the subject of corporate blogging. I’m going to do my best to vent elsewhere and make this a straight-up value-add article for those of you still sitting on the fence of blogging.
So with very little warmup, let’s dive straight in, shall we?
1. On-Site Optimization is Rarely Enough for Long-Term Success
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Popularity: 23% [?]
There are two automatic responses to the subject of implementing a company blog:
1. We’re understaffed as it is and we can’t spare anyone to blog
2. We can’t allow negative comments about our company on our own website.
We’ll cover #1 in a later post, but let’s skip #1 for now and move on to #2.
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Popularity: 34% [?]
It was a whirlwind weekend in Frisco, Texas. Dallas WordCamp 2008 was held on Saturday and Sunday at Frisco Town Hall, an impressive building in the heart of downtown Frisco. I was there for all but the very last session, and had a blast. The speakers were all excellent and the collection of talented and passionate bloggers present added to the excitement and depth of subject matter engagement.
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Popularity: 6% [?]
