There’s behind the scenes maintenance; a task some of us would rather forget about.

Today’s Lesson

Over the past few weeks, I learned two great lessons.

1. If my blogs load slow, chances are, I haven’t done my homework.
2. If I don’t empty out my spam folder, I may be in violation of the terms of service for my web host.

When I first noticed my blogs were loading slow, I blamed it on my old computer. Then I thought it was Firefox. But after I tested my blog speed on WebSiteOptimization.com and YSlow (a Firefox addon), I found

1. I had too many images on my home page.
2. I had images which were not compressed.
3. I wasn’t utilizing my caching plugin to it’s fullest potential

To correct the above problems,

1. I removed a few of the images from my home page.
2. I installed the “Smush It” plugin – which compresses photos.
3. I chose more options for the WP Super Cache plugin.
4. I also made a note to myself: when I make changes to my blogs, test the blog page loading time.

With regard to my second problem, my web host (BlueHost) sent me an email stating my account had been deactivated. They requested a call from me to discuss the problem(s). When I called them, they stated I had “inappropriate” content in my spam comments folder and I was in violation of their terms of service, which reads, in part:

Prohibited Offerings. No Subscriber may utilize the Services to provide, sell or offer to sell the following: controlled substances; illegal drugs and drug contraband; weapons; pirated materials; instructions on making, assembling or obtaining illegal goods or weapons to attack others; information used to violate the copyright(s) of, violate the trademark(s) of or to destroy others’ intellectual property or information; information used to illegally harm any people or animals; pornography, nudity, sexual products, programs or services; escort services or other content deemed adult related.

Profanity. Profanity or profane subject matter in the site content and in the domain name are prohibited.

Because I wasn’t able to access the back side of my blog (dashboard), the technician (patiently) gave me instructions on how to delete the spam comments via my cPanel. When I was done, I was instructed to call them back, which I did and they immediately reactivated my blogs.

This problem taught me two lessons:

1. Read the terms of service for your webhost
2. Empty your spam folder(s) on a regular basis

In order to avoid having the same problem in the future, I

1. Installed the G.A.S.P. plugin which verifies those who comment are not spammers or spambots, thus reducing spam.
2. Delete any spam comments which do come through.

As much as we’d rather spend our blogging time writing or commenting, in order for our blogs to run smoothly, regular maintenance needs to be performed, too.

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

How often do you do maintenance to your blog(s)?

When’s the last time you tested your blog’s loading time?

Care to share?

P.S. All of my blogs have been hosted with BlueHost* since March 2007. The problem I had resulted from me not reading their terms of service and not deleting the inappropriate spam comments.

*Affiliate link

Unfortunately, some of those comments which make us so happy, can be spam.

In the past, spam comments were easy to spot. They were usually comments filled with links to pharmaceutical drugs or sexual topics, or comments which didn’t apply to our blog topic.

Over the years the spammers must have realized that technique wasn’t working so they’re now playing on our ego; leaving positive comments that look authentic, however the words they choose could apply to any blog or blogger; copied and pasted throughout the blogosphere.

Their hope is to build their sites by receiving more backlinks and rank higher with the search engines and as far as our blog is concerned, they’re only using it as a vehicle to benefit themselves.

Bloggers who treasure comments can have a hard time differentiating between what is a real comment and what’s not.

Today’s Lesson

Since this blog gets thousands of spam comments, I thought I’d share a wide sampling of spam comments which have landed and stayed in my spam folder. (Feel free to skim through the spam comments. )

The words are nice, but the sites they link to are spam.

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So there you have it, comments which look real. but are instead, spam.

Today’s Assignment

Are you seeing a difference in the types of spam comments you’re receiving?

Are you tempted to approve these “positive” comments?

Care to share?

To quote the author, Renee Oricchio, she says,

…If it’s not filtering out spammers, then it’s leeching away your psychic energy while you figure out how to respond to that 800 word 10 point comment that eviscerates you, your posting and/or your company. Enough already!

Renee also shared a link to a study which states, in part,

…most posts contain negative emotions and the most active users in individual threads express predominantly negative sentiments.

Digging deeper, I also found this information:

…Growing evidence indicates that negative emotions may influence the development of CHD [coronary heart disease]. The focused and specific consideration of negative emotions and their possible role in the etiology of CHD gives insight into current knowledge and suggests important directions for future research.

Today’s Lesson

Of the blogs I frequent, I don’t see a lot of negative comments. Maybe it’s because 1) I don’t always have the time to read the comments, or 2) the blogs I frequent are not the type which would attract negative comments.

That said, I have landed on sites (usually political) where the comments are horrendous – filled with negativity as well as bleeped out curse words and innuendos of how some people should never have been born. The words make me cringe.

Fellow blogger Vered recently closed the comment section on her personal blog. In her post she shared,

…I am fed up with aggressive, mean comments that are affecting my writing and my mood. You don’t even see these comments – I have been moderating comments heavily for the past year or so – but even if I don’t publish them, I still see them.

My heart goes out to Vered. It was via comments on her blog and mine we become online friends, and although I know I can contact her on Facebook or via email, it won’t be the same as being part of her blogging community. I am saddened it came to this.

As much as comments are something many bloggers live for, there comes a time when we must weigh their benefits. Not only can managing comments take time away from the reason(s) why we blog, as suggested by the above mentioned article, dealing with negative comments could be detrimental to our heart health.

It’s often said “kind words are “heartfelt”.”

And from what I’m reading, it appears the negative words are, too.

Today’s Assignment

Do you think certain blog topics attract more negative comments than others?

What would you do if comment trolls began to attack you and/or your writing?

Care to share?

Today I’m sharing five of my favorite blogging tools.

Today’s Lesson

Although I continue to compare statistical programs, my favorite stats tracker is Woopra.

I’ve been using Woopra for over two years now and thoroughly enjoy all it offers. As the photos show, it’s colorful and has loads of options.

For blogs and websites with under 30,000 pages views per month, it’s free. After that, an upgrade is required (rates start at $4.95 per month).

Some of Woopra’s features are:

1. Live, real time tracking
2. Real-time analytics
3. Ability to manage multiple blogs
4. Deep analytic and search capabilities
5. Live chat
6. Rich user interface

Woopra also offers a plugin so you can easily review your Woopra stats from your dashboard, plus they also provide a desktop application for Windows, Mac & Linux, which I highly recommend.

A good spam blocker is essential to blogging.

I use Akismet which is preloaded in WordPress, in conjunction with Bad Behavior. If you look at the footer of this blog, you’ll see how Bad Behavior stopped over three thousand spam comments in the last week before they reached my spam filter. How cool is that?

CommentLuv is my all time favorite plugin.

I like how it rewards those who comment by adding a link to their latest post. With a catchy sounding title, chances are others will click through and this added exposure can possibly increase your readership, as well.

Gravatars, or avatars are another blogging favorite of mine. I like how just by using a small photo helps to brand us in blogosphere as well as on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. The power of avatars was proven when we played a guessing game in the “Who’s Who In Blogosphere” post.

LinkWithin is a new favorite of mine. The thumbnails it produces and displays at the end of each post adds a little bit of pizazz, plus may inspire our readers to dig deeper into our blogs. Since adding it to this site and The Blog Boutique, I’ve seen an increase in my page views.

So there you have it. My fave five.

How about you?

Today’s Assignment

What blogging tools, plugins, or widgets can’t you live without?

Care to Share?

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Although I don’t check my spam folder often, whenever someone emails me and says they left a comment but it’s not showing up, I’ll start digging.

That’s what happened when Ana of Spiritual Research Foundaion contacted me and said her comment wasn’t showing up on the Blog Registry. Since her comment hadn’t gone into moderation, I assumed it must have landed in the spam folder.

Interesting enough, I noticed those who are now spamming blogs are getting much better at it.

Today’s Lesson

Here’s a small sampling of what Akismet blocked, If I didn’t check the URL, I’d actually think they were real.

This first group of spam commenters must think if they appeal to my ego, I’ll approve them.

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the great work Look forward to reading more from you in the future

I really liked your blog! It helped me alot…

I just sent this post to a bunch of my friends as I agree with most of what you’re saying here and the way you’ve presented it is awesome.

Awesome! I have read a lot on this topic, but you definitely give it a good vibe. This is a great post. Will be back to read more!

Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

Valuable information and excellent design you got here! I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and time into the stuff you post!! Thumbs up

I find myself coming to your blog more and more often to the point where my visits are almost daily now!

These spammers must believe if they ask a question, their comment will be approved.

How do I password my macbook pro so every time you turn the computer on it will ask for the password. I have a password set on here but i seem to only use it for when i download software or unistall things. I really need the password so you cant even get the computer started without one! Is this even possible I am used to the PC and u can password protect it so no one can even do anything on it untill password is typed in correctly. I really need to get one on here so my dumb room mates stop using it when I am not around.

I am not pro, but I wish to write my question here…
How you think what to advise to my friend – to disaccustom to alcohol?

Sports or easier walks in the forest, at open air?

This is a little random but what insurance company do you use? My current insurance company has just told me they’re not paying out on my claim. I’m furious and want to leave immediately. Who do you recommend?

I realize many spam comments are generated by bots, but I’ve also read you can get paid to comment on blogs.

Although this may be a good way to generate additional income, for us bloggers who treasure each comment we get, it could be disheartening to find out what we thought were “real” comments, are instead paid for.

Today’s Assignment

What’s showing up in your spam folder these days?

Would you ever comment on blogs for money?

Raise you hand and share your thoughts.

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