Although the internet with its various tools has made life and business so much easier to conduct on a day to day basis, there are some associated undesirable elements that sometimes rear their ugly heads and cause unnecessary anguish. Everyone who communicates through emails and maintains websites and blogs are now so familiar with the term ‘spam ‘ and doing their utmost to block it, that it makes one wonder if the spammer thinks if what he or she is doing is really worth it. Spamming in the most simplest of terms means gate-crashing or trying to sneak in where not required or invited. This is especially the case with a website/blog powered by some popular software such as WordPress. Let's then take a look at some simple and easy solutions to ward off these intruders.
There are several ways in which one can block or filter this kind of trash from the original content and maintain its integrity. The simplest way to prevent spam from flooding your blog is by installing an anti-spam plugin. There are a number of plugins available that are compatible with WordPress blogs. Most of them are available for free and work just fine. But it is important to choose just the right kind; one that serves the purpose and is going to add some value to your blog.
Blogs when open for all to see on the web are also an open invitation to spam comments. The basic thing you need to do as a WordPress blog owner is to restrict comments only to registered users. Most of the time, spammers uses automated bots to post thousands of comments on your old posts and create quite a mess of the whole thing. You can use the option of limiting comments to a default number of days and have the rest of them turned off the blog. Say for example if you set the default number of days to 14 , it will turn off the comments on posts that are older than 14 days, which means no more spam comments posted by automated bots and no pingback spam either.
Even if you have already installed an anti-spam plugin, you can still go in for an additional layer of spam control by using comment captcha codes. With comment captchas visitors have to enter a series of alphabets or numericals for posting a comment. This can help eliminate spam posted via automated bots since those captchas can only be entered by humans.
Akismet is one of the most popular spam filtering plugin which is available for WordPress blogs. This is available on installation of all new blogs and it just needs to be enabled. This plugin is an effective spam watchdog. Having uninvited guests over is never a pleasant experience. Luckily in web space you at least have the choice of keeping them at bay, so why not make the best use of it and keep your blogs as spam-free as you possibly can.
For popularity, think flexibility. Themes that look good and allow for ease of use and modification; themes that are singular enough to reflect your personality or that of your business; themes that easily allow add-ons are the ones with the 5 star ratings. And if they are free, so much the better! Search engine optimization is a plus for all blogs, while Adsense optimization makes sense for business blogs.
Take for instance, the attractive Pink Tulip theme that works with WordPress – both sweet and smart. You can imagine it to be an instant hit with the early teen female population, just like Simpcalar, which is simple and colorful as the name suggests. Serious bloggers, on the other hand, might opt for a popular WordPress theme called Blackcurrant. Rich as its name, it has better web accessibility, ample room for plugins, sticky post highlighting for the absent-minded and custom callback for threaded comments. Those interested in embellishing their tale with pictures and formats might opt for the Basic Magazine theme while the laconic might choose the austere R755 where content is the be all and end all. Then there’s the Sliding Doors for the systematic, Minimal and Clean Home for the basic-look seekers, Strange Little Town for the fanciful, Desk-mess for the ultra-casual and Elegant Grunge for the chic, image conscious who would like to easily tag their best photographs to the blog. Most of these popular WordPress themes have 2-3 column layouts and a drop down categories menu, which means that you can organize your content attractively and logically. Most of them are widget-ready, so you simply download and attach the new feature to your blog page.
Another versatile theme is the blue and white, oddly-named Fish Lover. The complete support it offers to videos and Adsense makes it the ideal choice for businesses. Ditto for an amazing theme called – Amazing! Or Gear, which comes with a customizable banner. The Corporate theme is more sober and admits customization of intro text. Use the latest version here.
But all popular WordPress themes are not about running businesses. A simple theme called Paper lets artists and crafts-lovers have their fun, as they would on paper; sticking, pasting and folding. There is Acid Rain for the green brigade, Notepad for those who wish to replicate the pen and note pad feel and Aestival for those who need pictures of fruits to remind them of their diet, maybe. The truly unique Atahualpa is rated highly by users of its ultimate customization and professional look. It allows you to practically limitless combinations of themes, admin pages, menus, widths and sidebars. And it offers a choice of 5 languages!
WordPress gives you what you need and more. Most of the popular WordPress themes are widget and SEO friendly and do not require the blogger to know HTML or PHP coding. Moreover, they support tags and plugins and follow the standard Trackback and Pingback methods to link to other sites. Plus, you have a forum to pose your queries. The popularity is clearly justified.
This website uses cookies that are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the privacy policy. By accepting this OR scrolling this page OR continuing to browse, you agree to our Privacy Policy