No Bull Webmastering

Been doing more playing with Wordpress Feeds, and have come to the conclusion, that it does make you money, but you need to really think things through first. I wish I had done that when I set up my blogs for RSS FEEDS.

Take my Naughty Pics Blog, where I opted to make it automatic, simply because I just don’t have the time to add galleries. Oh I got the program, but just not the time to go hunting for sponsors with good download content available. Then too, the time to FTP the finished galleries up and all that crap, so RSS FEEDS was a blessing.

IF I HAD SET IT UP PROPERLY

The key to me, is to first off, set up a whole slew of new ‘authors‘ in your blog. This is good for a few reasons, but mainly to give the ‘appearance‘ that your blog has many members adding content to it. I know, a bit of trickery, but hey, I need the money, don’t you?

Depending on the wordpress theme, most will list the author of every post. Now, if you have the same name always appearing, well, it can indicate a rather small, unpopular blog, right? So, if you add a few ringers to the list, you might also be able to solicit some comments, if you have ‘comments turned on’ that is.  Myself, I usually have them OFF, to avoid comment spam.

Bottom line, is by adding several ‘authors‘ you help foster an opinion that the joint is busy.

Now, the trick is to when you add a RSS FEED, to assign it to the right author. Frankly, the more I look into using feeds, the more I am convinced that PRIOR to adding a NEW FEED, I need to ADD a NEW AUTHOR. That way, unpopular feeds, or those that don’t update often, can be better tracked, and deleted. It also helps in the perception, that there are multiple posters.

The other trick, is to make the username something meaningful. I mean they are all keyword food, in a sense. So by using usernames like ” dick lover, cum whore, porn nut ” and so on, you are adding some keywords to your blog, that might help get some push in those old rankings.

Now don’t think that is going to suddenly shoot your rankings up, but my motto is simple, every little bit helps.

Now the other issue, is to assign the feeds to a category. I’d recommend you create a new category, in your blog, to use. To begin with, it helps you in identifying the feeds, from perhaps other users, if you are lucky to have them posting.

The other reason, is to keep them from your own original content, posts, as well as being able to better monitor their updates. I mean some of these sites, haven’t updated in eons, so why bother to keep the feed active? You can just unsubscribe from it, and keep the posts, for those who search your archives.

More to come, once I figure out why they are adding a link to my blogroll. Again, something I wish I had experimented with, at the beginning, not after a few hundred feed posts.

Sep 14th by Malcontent

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The time you spend now, in setting up your blog to take feeds from sponsors, is time well spent. It will save you down the road, big time. And I mean that, given that I spent most of today, fixing my stupid goofs, for just a few of the blogs, that I have added feeds to.

KEEP IN MIND, NOT ALL FEED PLUGINS WORK THE SAME. I AM REFERRING TO THE PLUGIN I USE, WHICH IS  “ FEEDWORDPRESS “

Now earlier, we discussed setting up multiple ” authors “ to use to assign specific feeds to. Now that does make sense, and is not so time consuming as one would expect. In fact, it is relitively simple. For my own purposes, I have assigned them as “authors” rather than any of the other roles available. Just makes it sound better, though you could use any of the other roles, but I’d certainly NOT USE the ” Administrator ” role.

Another important PRE FEED STEP, is to decide on where you want the feeds to go, in your blog navigation. For example, you should place it in a category that is unique and not mixed up with other content. Just easier to keep track of, and find.

Myself, I am using existing categories, which in hindsight, I would have changed. I would make it a top level category, and something rather generic in name. A good example would be PORN or something like that. You also want to make sure its a good ‘category slug’ so again, top level makes a bit more sense.

You should also get together a small list of keywords, generic in order to add them to the feeds. It is one of the options available, and I suppose you can make them less generic, but then you’ll have to add them to each feed. Now, myself I am too lazy for my own good, so I just set a global set of keywords for all feeds I am using in my blogs.  However, I do change them for each blog, so as to not compete with myself.

Now once you have added a feed, you do have some set up work to contend with. Feedwordpress for example will add each feed, to your links or blogroll.  So BEFORE you set up any feeds, ADD A LINK CATEGORY to hold all of them in, or to list them on.  NOTE » These will be automatically added to, with each feed, so I think it makes more sense to seperate them from other linking partners, such as for link trades. It can become confusing.

I’d use something that is not bland either, but not a tip off either. For example, ‘contributor‘ is a bit naff, and boring too. I’d use something like ‘other porn homes’ or something in that vein. Keep in mind, that once you assign feeds, you are still going to have to do some initial work, in making sure the links are more enticing. I mean many of the feeds get listed as  twinkspay feed or some other banal crap.

Once you have added a feed or two, you should go and check them under the ” LINKS ” drop down, and alter the names to be more enticing or clean sounding. Like it really makes no sense to let the surfer know they are feeds. Kind of defeats the whole purpose, don’t you think?

Also, you should have all ” OUTGOING LINKS ” open in a new window. I know, many will object, but it keeps them on your site, if they don’t care for the feed site. And who knows, it might result in them (the surfer/customer) choosing another feed, and actually signing up.

Keep in mind, this is all in YOUR SIDEBAR. You really do want it to look as clean as possible.

Sep 15th by Malcontent

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The beauty of Wordpress and it’s Plug-ins, is you can really do a lot with your blog, that does save time. Adding Feeds is one of them, but as I have said before, YOU NEED TO SPEND TIME SETTING IT ALL UP.

First off, you should add several ‘authors’ to your blog, so you can assign a particular niche feed, to a different author.  Easy to then add more similar feeds to that particular author, and that makes it easier to track down feed posts as well, if you want to edit or alter the text.

To ADD A USER, you simply go to the sidebar of your admin, click on USERS, then ADD NEW and the registration portion will appear. (magic is such fun, but hey, this isn’t magic, it is work.)

Add the user info in the boxes,

IF you are planning on adding several feeds later on, I’d go ahead and add a few users at one time. It doesn’t matter if you never use them, least they are there when you decide to add a new feed. It will make the feed addition go a bit faster.

I assume you are going to use the plug-in, FEEDWORDPRESS.

In your admin section, down the sidebar on the left, you will see the SYNDICATION option (assuming you have installed the plug-in.)  When you click it, a nice form opens, listing all your feeds.

The area we need to concern ourselves with, is the ‘add new source’ zone, which is just above the list of sites. Here is where you will add the url for the feed.

I am going to add a feed from AEBN.  When I click the Syndicate next to it, it will then give me a view of the feed, and ask if I want to use this feed.

After clicking ‘use this feed’ you are returned to the main form, but with the feed info listed at the top.

Now comes the fun part. You click the CONFIGURE SETTINGS option listed, and you will get this form showing up.

Now comes the tricky part, sort of. IF you want to simply let it be, and have the new feed added to your default settings, then really you don’t have to do another thing. However, if you want to assign the feed its own tags, it’s own author, then this is where you do it now, to avoid having to clean up the posts later on.

And that isn’t fun, by the way. It is why you need to PLAN AHEAD, otherwise it becomes a cock up.

This is where you get to have some fun, and get your feed assigned to one of the new authors you first set up. In other words, the planning ahead begins to pay off here.  You can use this option, EVERYTIME TO ADD A NEW FEED.

This brings up a new form, and be careful here, or you will assign the feed to the wrong author.

And that is basically it.

HOWEVER, there are other options to explore, and you need to consider them carefully, such as where to place the feed, in other words,  what category to place them.

IF you followed my earlier suggestions, you will have already set up a category to use, for your feeds. OF COURSE you can simply integrate them into existing categories, but that is a personal choice.

TAGS are near the bottom of the same page, which is where you can add specific tags for the feed. I use rather generic one’s for all my feeds, mainly because I am a lazy git. Hey, a guy has a right to just not work 24/7, and my 3 minutes of not having to do tags for each feed, is well, my break.

The last step is to actually get those feeds into your blog. AND here is also where you can screw it up a bit, and also wind up being very frustrated.

FOR STARTERS, if you don’t pay attention, you will wind up updating all your feeds at once, which is okay, but annoying at times, unless you have a ping optimizer that prevents unnecessary pinging. 

You need to find the ‘NEW FEED’ and check it’s box in the list of feeds. This is located when you click ‘syndication‘ in the admin sidebar area.

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO IS CLICK THE VERY PROMINENT BUTTON TO UPDATE.  That will update all your feeds, but you want to look down, for the inconspicuous button that says UPDATE CHECKED.  It is just above the list of feeds.

By doing this, you will ONLY UPDATEthe new feed, adding all of its previous posts to your blog. I don’t know, but for myself, I’d rather just add the current post, but unfortunately, I haven’t found that option in this plug in.

Oct 18th by Malcontent

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We all have our BLOND moments, and sometimes you rush through and find out, that somehow you missed a step. Or maybe you simply assumed something would automatically (go/format) a certain way. Yet when you check, you find oh oh, it didn’t go as you thought. FEEDS can do that to ya.

EACH NEW FEED NEEDS TO BE CONFIGURED, OR IT WILL USE THE SYSTEM/FEED DEFAULTS.

HOWEVER, all is not lost, because with the plug in, you can re-assign feeds to a different author, without having to go through each post, and change it.  You can simply go to the ‘author’ page and do some surgery.

It really isn’t complicated or time consuming either. All you need to do is highlight the original feed author, then highlight the new author you want all the feed posts assigned to, and then click fix it.

And without you having to wade through the posts, well, it is all done for you. 

NOW the problem is, if you assigned the feed to an author, that has other feeds. Then well, yes you do have to wade through and fix it, which is one more reason I recommend using a separate category for feeds, and authors.  IT IS EASIER TO WADE THROUGH ONE CATEGORY INSTEAD OF ALL YOUR BLOG CATEGORIES, TO FIND THE ERRANT POSTS.

Oct 18th by Malcontent

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