As you write a post, it only takes a couple minutes to optimize the title tag, post title, and URL. The benefits are well worth it because you’ll rank for more keywords,  get more search traffic, and improve your click through rate on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and the RSS readers.

Here are some things to consider. read more

Whenever I think of open sourced CMS (Content Management System), I often think of Drupal and Joomla which are used by web masters to make powerful websites without breaking the bank.

So you can imagine my surprise when WordPress–software created primarily for blogging–defeated Joomla and Drupal as the Overall Best Open Source CMS for 2009.

Update: Corrections made to article. See below for details.
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Update: Here’s the  link to Matt’s post at the WordPress Publishers Blog explaining his appearance on stage at the PDC.

When I asked a couple of days ago why Matt Mullenweg was in Microsoft’s PDC, I was never really expecting Matt to read my post and answer the question. Back then, it was just reported that he was called onstage by Microsoft’s Ray Oozie but what he talked about was not reported yet then.

A good fellow that he is, Matt was kind enough to leave a comment on my post and posted the link to the transcript of what transpired during the PDC, particularly on what he talked about. read more

This is the second part of a post on how you, your spouse and your blog can live happily ever after. (Part 1)

3. Get them involved. It could be as simple as showing them a post you are proud of. Or better yet, a series of comments reacting to something you wrote. You’re not blogging in a vacuum. REAL people read your words. Once your spouse understands that, you might be given a longer leash to do your work. You should even consider writing a personal blog post about them. Appeal to their ego!

4. Set a schedule. There’s nothing more annoying than being summoned for a household chore when you are in the middle of blogging. If you establish a routine with your better half, they will be more likely to respect your blogging space.

I love blogging, but I do take it seriously. In my mind, the craft could hold the key to an unforeseen opportunity – one that might be life changing. Therefore, I embrace blogging, 24/7. And if my wife doesn’t, we could be looking at a bumpy road. Life deals you enough problems, why let blogging be yet another one. Getting your partner on board might sound silly, but in my view, it’s an imperative task to achieve success.

Recently, startup Pikk.com joined the ranks of Digg, Mixx and other social news/blog links aggregation sites.  In the company’s own words:

Pikk is a link aggregation service that lets users submit and vote on stories. Every story is submitted with two choices, such as “thrive or fail.” Stories with the most votes make it to the front page.

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Are you frustrated by the mundane conversations taking place on your Facebook wall? Tired of spam friend requests on MySpace? Sick of the Fail Whale? The folks at Current TV feel you, and have put together a game that will let you do what we have all dreamed of… kill the social networks! read more

“Who is she?” my wife questioned.

We’ve had this conversation a dozen times.

“No one, babe. I’m just working on my blog.”

“You LIVE on that computer.”

Cue dramatic exit.

If this sounds familiar, the you too are looking for ways to justify all that time you spend blogging to your significant other. Here’s how… read more

While the big boys of publishing are looking at methods of walling their content and then charging for it, smaller publishers such as bloggers will often look to making money from at least some of their content.

With this in mind, GoPayforit has launched its mobile small payments service in the UK, which allows content owners to sell content online and charge very small amounts (micropayments) for it.

It’s simple to set up – site owners add some code to their blog template – and then both pay-as-you-go and contract mobile phone users can purchase the right to view protected content via their mobile phone credit.

Purchasers enter their mobile phone number online, receive a PIN via SMS, then enter the code online in order to read the content. It’s supposed to be much quicker, and more secure, than messing around with credit card payments, even via a service such as PayPal. read more

With the war over blogging apps slowly cooling down, it looks like BlogSpot fans have yet another premium option to choose for their beloved iPhones.

Created by Kiloton Applications, altBlogger provides a simply way for Blogger users to publish text entries to their blogs, as well as check who has posted a comment on their blog. read more

Automaticc’s Matt Mullenweg appeared on stage, together with Microsoft’s CTO Ray Ozzie during their Professional Developers Conference. Ray was talking about Microsoft’s latest foray into the cloud computing niche called WindowsAzure.

According to reports, WindowsAzure will let Microsoft’s corporate clients to write code on a cloud-based OS running on Microsoft’s data centers. WindowsAzure is about to go live sometime in January. It’s obviously a paid service which will have business corporations as the main clients.

But what was Matt’s business there? read more