Why indeed? Simple. It’s a lot more secure than the earlier versions. If you’ve been reading up on the latest internet developments, you’ll learn that Robert Scoble’s Blog has been hacked, and now he says he’s not feeling too secure about wordpress anymore. Nor should you or me though we’re way down the blogging food chain compared to the Scobleizer.

Matt Mullenweg however says you shouldn’t be and this is why.

I recently helped a friend upgrade his Wordpress account to the latest release. It took quite a bit of work because he was still on version 2.3.3 which means we had to install the Auto Upgrade plug-in and start from there. If your blog is running much recent versions of Wordpress, then it’s just as easy as clicking on the update now that show when you’re in your admin page. It only takes a couple of minutes and voila, you’re updated.

Upgrades or updates are there for a purpose, more often than not these upgrades are released to counter or fix a vulnerability that allows unscrupulous people to exploit such weaknesses. By installing your upgrades, which is free by the way, you remove the risk of getting attacked. And really that’s a no brainer.

Here’s me trying my hand at explaining the ramifications of these terms. First two words have something to do with comment links (you can argue that these two words may pertain to any link and you will be right, but in this case I am limiting my explanation to the links found in the comments area) while the last one goes well with hotdogs and bonfires and is generally considered delicious.

Ok, here we go.

Most blogging platforms are inherently NoFollow, which means that any link (usually author’s URL) included in a comment will not pass PageRank. I say most because I haven’t tried out all the blogging platforms out there. And even if I say “All” I could still be wrong. Either way I’m screwed. The relevance of not passing PageRank is that the link that you included in a comment that you made will not have any value as far as your PageRank is concerned.

We all know that backlinks are supposed to count as a vote of approval for your blog, however if that backlink is NoFollow, it’s like shooting blanks. Alright control your overactive imagination. Now what it doesn’t mean however is that search engines will not crawl these nofollow links, they will, and they’ll come a-knockin’ on your door, but that’s just it. Although these links are still counted as one of your backlinks, they’re just not that valuable.

DoFollow links on the other hand are the kind of links you want. Spiders crawl them and they’re considered an affirmative vote in your favor. So if you’re on a link building mission with the intent of skyrocketing your PageRank via a commenting strategy, you would be much better off seeking out those DoFollow blogs. Here’s a DoFollow community that you could join to get you started.

So You Want Your Blog To Be DoFollow Eh?

A bit of caution on this one. DoFollow blogs are easy target for spammers so I recommend that you enable comment moderation for you to sort out which ones to grant your precious Dofollow link. If you don’t have the stomach for this, better stick to nofollow. Still there’s a valid argument to be made for making your blog DoFollow. For one, it motivates your regular readers to comment which could result to a lovely discussion on your posts. Fair enough?

Now, if you use WordPress, you’re in luck. There are a lot of DoFollow plugins out there starting with this one. Or if you want to make things a bit more manageable(remember my note on spamming? this is a good tool to mitigate that), you can use this one– this is an interesting plugin that only activates DoFollow for commenters after they’ve posted a number of comments. Very nice huh?

Now if you’re on blogspot, go switch to Wordpress!

Kidding. Actually here’s this tutorial for blogger’s beta template that you can use. It’s actually very easy to follow. Again, better turn on that comment moderation thing before you do this.

But What About CommentLuv?

What about it? It parses the visitors last blog post and that’s it. Unless the DoFollow plugin is installed, it’s still NoFollow.

I wasn’t able to update this blog as much as I wanted to because of some whatever reason. But now that I’ve finally gotten around to doing what’s supposed to be done, I came face to face with a rather daunting task for a wordpress newbie– modifying my free wordpress template so it won’t look like one of those cookie-cutter themes.

Because I used to be a Blogger fan boy (I think I still am except that I’ve migrated my blogs to wordpress), I am somewhat perplexed as to what to do first. Since I have a self-hosted wordpress installation, I had to deal with changing permissions and making sense out of all the wordpress .php files. I guess all that practice in modifying blogger templates did pay-off. Still I managed to make a decent (still not perfect) job I guess. Although, man, Internet Explorer likes to make a mess of things.

How I Came Up With My Gorgeous Wordpress Template

Let’s see, I started with a whole lot of searching in the internet for the template that would suit my needs perfectly. I wasn’t really sure what I want exactly but I know I want a widget-ready wordpress template, and it has to have 3 columns. I also wanted a template that would allow me to display ads in the sidebar, and something that’s adsense ready as well.

The good thing and the bad thing about Wordpress is that it has a lot of beautiful templates that are offered absolutely for free. It’s a good thing because you have a lot of choices but at the same time it’s a bad thing as well because without a clear template in mind, you could be overwhelmed by the choices in display.

After several days of searching for the perfect wordpress template, I finally stumbled on Dezzain Studio where I got to see the Timeline Theme for the first time. I was instantly drawn to the color combination and the features embedded in the theme. So I worked on putting all the necessary wordpress plugins and widgets and did a little template tweaking until I was satisfied. Now it still retains its proud form but somehow I’ve managed to insert a little of me here and there.

And then I came across this wordpress template collection at WPZoom. Holy guacamole, I may have to change my template again. Gah.

Next up, I’ll be compiling my ten best free wordpress templates.

This free SEO eBook could not have come at a better time. I have recently migrated my free Blogger blog to Wordpress and I was anxious to do everything right the first time. Luckily I found a good Wordpress resource from the Search Engine Journal site. This resource is a FREE WORDPRESS SEO eBOOK authored by Mihaela Lica of http://ewriting.pamil-visions.com. I have been an avid subscriber of Search Engine Journal and have religiously read their articles everyday. I find most of their posts to be very helpful for bloggers.

The FREE SEO eBOOK is especially written for Wordpress although it can be adapted to apply to other blogging platforms as well. Although the SEO techniques described therein is very basic from the point of view of an SEO expert, to a newbie blogger like me, the techniques were very helpful. The FREE SEO eBOOK covers general topics from installing Wordpress to link building tips.

I especially liked the part where that very helpful Wordpress plugin, All-in-one SEO Pack was discussed. It’s very enlightening and made me realize the mistakes I’ve been doing all along.

I strongly suggest and recommend that you download and read the FREE WORDPRESS SEO EBOOK.

Man this is some work. I have read almost all the how to’s on painless beta blogger migrations to wordpress and I have to say this is excruciating work! Still after having finally done it, everything seems worth the hours spent in front of my computer. A lot of the experts agree on two things to do the migration but with usually the same goal/s in mind– ensuring that the previous links don’t get broken and all that google juice and pagerank will not go to waste.

In my previous free blog I have already cranked up the PR meter to PR4 and have managed to land in the first page of some very competitive keywords. The problem was I was using a free account. I really should have started with a dotcom from the very start. Had I done that, I wouldn’t have to go through all the research I did in order to migrate successfully.

But still, there is a silver lining in all of these. Had I started with a dotcom from the get go, I wouldn’t have learned about 301/302 redirects, .htaccess, and all those meta tags redirect methods that a lot of experts were betting their nuts on as surefire remedies to the pain of migration.

The first instructions I did consider was Techcounter’s instructions, but the loooongg queu of questions scared the heck out of me. Then there were a lot of others in between before I arrived at bloggerbloke’s site. At first I had it made with his very nifty .htaccess system. It really worked for him and I think for others too. Even I was convinced I had it down pat. I typed my redirected blog address and voila, I was taken to blogger’s redirect page and then eventually to this site. It’s all good, except that in bloggerbloke’s case, there’s none of that temporary blogger stop.

I was prepared to live with it until I clicked on some of the permalinks pointing to my own blog. It did the usual redirect and ended up with a 404 error. I kinda slipped back down to earth after that. I had to play my final ace. I tapped on the great Wordpress reserve for help. And there it was, the plug-in created by Sam Wong — the Blogger Redirector. I installed the template and removed the .htaccess code I pasted earlier. Everything worked real well after that. Including the permalinks.

I have already placed the noindex,nofollow meta in my old blog hoping that I won’t be penalized for duplicate content. I’ll also try to do a little 302 redirect so the search engines would know that I have moved to a new location and then later on will do the permanent 301 redirect.

Right now, my concern is how to get out of that blogger temporary stop when any of my link or my url is typed. I also have to work a little bit harder promoting this site. Also some of my internal links (of course they came with the migration) are still pointing to the old blog! I still have to see if there’s a quicker way of changing these internal links behaviour so they will recognize their new location. However I only have very few internal links to modify in case I decide to do everything manually.

It may take me a couple of weeks more to finally say that I have moved successfully and comfortably here in my self-hosted Wordpress. But I’m not really that worried. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

If you happen to be here and you have some questions about migration, shoot me a note, I may not be an expert yet but with all the internet literature I’ve read and the kinks I’ve encountered, I may just be able to offer a few insights.

Cheers!

Before reading further, I suggest you read this article first — Why Do You Want To Blog — this is my way of ensuring that you get your head straight. Blogging may be easy and fun but it burns a lot of time. Make sure that you don’t waste yours by thinking about the questions posed in this article.

Ok, assuming that you already have all your ducks in a row, the first and very important thing that you need to tackle is this.

Should you get a .Com or not?

There are many arguments surrounding this question. But most of the time the counter-argument is always THE COST. Why would I shell out money for something that I will be doing for fun and only in my free time? Why indeed?

I believe a little background is in order.

There are two very powerful blogging platforms in the internet today– Blogger, and Wordpress. Sure there are others like Xanga and Typepad and if you’re Pinoy, there’s I.ph. And all of these blogging platforms are free. Before I get ahead of myself, blogging platforms are the sites/technology that allow you to do your blogging. So if these are free, then why the need to go the .Com way?

For one, it’s for aesthetic purposes. These platforms will allow you to use their services for free and will assign a sub-domain for you. Example; if you use blogger, your blog site’s name will be http://your-blog.blogspot.com; for wordpress it will be http://your-blog.wordpress.com and so with other blogging platforms. You see how many characters you need to put in the browser window to get to your site? Whereas if you get your own .com or your own domain, your blog will be http://your-blog.com. It’s like getting a free rent (using free blogging platforms) and owning your own real estate (with your own .Com). See the difference?

Another counter-argument for having your own .Com is that you need to host it. By hosting it means that you need to have some place or a ‘host’ that will allow you to store your articles, pictures, videos. And yes, you have to pay for that too. An exception to this is Blogger. Blogger allows you to host your articles, pictures, videos in their servers even if you want to have your own domain name or .Com.

Cost Considerations

Oh yeah, costs money versus free. Actually a no-brainer right? But let’s have a clear mind about this and examine how much all this will cost you, assuming that you are curious about having your own internet real estate.

First is the domain name. The running rate now is around $6 – $10 USD/year. If you take advantage of Yahoo!’s offer, you can get a domain name for $1.99 for the first year and then regular pricing for the second year.

Next is the hosting company. You can get a hosting plan for as low as $14 a year. I even got a hosting plan a couple of months ago for only $7/year.

So in terms of economic comparison, there’s the free ==>$0 versus your own home for around $25/year. How does this feel for you now?

Now What?

My suggestion is you keep a cool head about this one. Nobody is rushing you. You have all the time in the world to make this decision later (but not so later). I say, get your hands dirty first with blogging. Sign up for one of those free blogging platforms first and then see if you can hack it for a period of time writing stuff that interests you. I’m saying this because with blogging it’s easy enough to get hooked. Once you get to interact with other bloggers, see people visiting your site, there’s a surreal thrill that comes along with this very popular media.

[Here's a little article I made comparing the merits of Blogger and Wordpress which I hope will guide you when you choose your blogging platform. You don't want to be thinking about other platforms at this point.]

But, as I said, you need to go back to thinking about getting your .Com after a few weeks or a couple of months(not more than 2 please). The reason for this is because, after your free blog is in existence for some time and you have felt the rush in doing this thing, the powers that be, in this case Google and Technorati and Alexa, will start rating your site. Trust me, when that time comes when you’re getting serious and you have all these nice looking Ranks and Authorities, you’d wish you got your .Com from the very start because when you allow a lot of time to elapse before getting your own domain, you will have to let go of all these beautiful Ranks and Authorities and start from scratch.

Don’t let these things bother you at this time though, I will be talking more about this one as we go along this series. The important thing right now is immersing yourself in this blogging experience. Go out there and write your fingers off. Have fun.

**updated 3.26.08

This is a long overdue follow-up to my 10 of the Best Free Blogger Templates post. I have been restraining myself from immediately doing a sequel to that post after seeing the new batch of free blogger templates templates that were recently released. I guess I’ve waited long enough.

The below templates are some of the coolest templates I’ve come across with recently and I do think each one deserves an explanation why they are cool.

1. Forte Template – this template improves on the functionality of the WP Premium template– the template that I’m using. Instead of just two tabs (if you refer to the upper right portion of this template), the Forte has three, and here you can put in your labels, your categories, and your links. Very cool I must say. But what sets this apart from the WP Premium template is the footer. If you will scroll down on the demo page, you can see that there are a lot of widget ready space down there. You can include a lot of widgets on this baby that you may have to exercise some restraint so as not to cramp your blog. Very, very nice. To Moses Francis, you da man! And for those cool hombres at BlogandWeb, muchas gracias amigos for porting this to blogger.

Live Demo | Download | Notes & Instructions

2. Ads Theme – above all else, I like this one the best. But that’s just me, I’m a closet conservative you see. And I like the way this template reins in the widgets with its borders achieving a result of controlled creativity. In most things design related, I like the restrained flamboyance best, something that this theme unconsciously projects. This cool theme is designed by Blogging Secret and presented by eBlogtemplates.

Live Demo | Download | Notes & Instructions

3. Blogging Pro – this theme screams professional and money! The audacious orange fonts are actually pleasing to the eyes and coupled with the clean white background, very, very fresh looking it’s like a theme that just stepped out of the shower (oopsie!). The banner slot just below the header is also a very nice touch, and the powder blue sidebar background, very nice. If you’re thinking of monetizing your blog without appearing very tacky (like my blog), then this is the template to be. This one was ported to Blogger by the boys of eBlogtemplates based on the design by Design Disease.

Live Demo | Download | Notes & Instructions

4. Leftin – Dzelque, as long as he keeps making those simple, no fuss templates, will always have a space here. This template I like for it’s green-ness and the understated elegance of the design. This one is designed for Blogger by Ourblogtemplates.

Live Demo | Download | Notes & Instructions

5. Blue Steel – this is Amanda of BloggerBuster’s contribution to the Blogger community. And what a contribution it is. I so liked it that I had to create another blog using her template. The installation was a breeze and you can go crazy with all the widget ready elements just waiting to be used. More power to you Amanda!

Live Demo | Download | Notes & Instructions

<
a id="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Zemified by Zemanta">

I am loving my new look right now. Having discovered WP Premium template from eBlogtemplates.com I immediately changed my previous free blogger template to this theme. I think it gives the site a really professional look and also allows the blogger to post as many ads as he wants.

R. Bhavesh’s conversion of the WP Premium them from wordpress to blogger is commendable. When before, I can only drool at the super cool designs of wordpress templates, I’m now actually using one but with one distinction. I’m using this template with blogger– easily the most user-friendly blogging platforms around.