In these "Blog Update" posts I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.

You may wonder why I make these Blog Update posts, where I mention very small or seemingly unimportant improvements and modifications. Well, while they may not seem too notable by themselves, over time these small things can (and do) make a big impact. The key is to keep looking over your blog or site with a very critical eye and to constantly try improving it.

By simply making small improvements here and there, my blog has evolved by leaps and bounds since its genesis four years ago. So, maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two by reading my blog updates. Feel free to search for my past Blog Update posts to get even more ideas on how you can improve your blog. 

New RSS Record

A few days ago, on February 10th, I set a new RSS record of 2,456. During my last Blog Update post on November 17th 2009, my RSS was 2,345 (a new high at that time), so it has only grown by 110 during the past 3 months – roughly +1 per day.

But, it is a new record so I like to acknowledge it anyway.

I’m continuing to fall behind most of my online blogging colleagues (their growth > my growth):

• ZacJohnson.com: 9,264
• WinningTheWeb.com: 5,502
• JonathanVolk.com: 3,766

This isn’t too surprising though. It’s been a week since my last post and I just haven’t been posting very frequently lately. This is mostly due to having too many projects going on these days.

I’ll try to make a conscious attempt to ramp up the frequency of my posts though. 

Special Modifications

While the amount of comment spam has always seemed to be on a steady increase the larger this blog grew, I started to receive a ton of spam from one particular user (spambot) in particular a couple months ago.

The spammed comments were made under the guise of “mary” with a URL I will not name here as to not reward their spammed efforts. Now, all of her spam was correctly being identified by Akismet and being placed in the Spam folder, but I was getting around 100 of her comments a day which clogged the Spam folder, making it a real chore to weed out any legitimate and incorrectly identified comments.

If I didn’t check the Spam filter in a week then I’d have over a thousand of her comments messing up the place.

I asked John Chow if “mary” had been comment spamming his blog as well, but he said no.

However, he reminded me that I could use .htaccess to simply deny its IP from visiting my blog.

Instead of simply denying the IP, I came up with a slight variation. I find this method to be more effective since it allows me to redirect the spammer to a page with a custom error message. This way, if a legitimate user is somehow accidentally blacklisted, they still have the opportunity to notify me of the mistake instead of simply seeing a 403 – Forbidden status error.

So now when ‘mary’ (or any user with a blacklisted IP) tries to visit my blog, they are redirected to http://www.tylercruz.com/spammer.html

To do this, I added the following code to the very top of my header.php file:

<?php

// This section blocks chronic spambots by specific IP or IP range, so that they don’t fill up the Akismet spam filter

// Code for multiple IPs: $block = array("xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx");
$block = array("112.65.19.126"); # comment spambot: "mary" of nobacklinksforyou.com

if (in_array ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'], $block)) {
    // Used to display a custom error in the case of potential legitimate users being blocked accidentally
    header("Location: http://www.tylercruz.com/spammer.html");
    exit();
}
?>

Feel free to use my little modification if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

WordPress & Plugin Upgrades

As always, WordPress and the various plugins I use are constantly coming out with new versions, and I try to keep up with them the best I can.

Upgraded WordPress from v2.8.6 to v2.9.1

I always like to keep up-to-date with the latest WordPress versions to help protect myself from any security or bug exploits. Therefore, I upgraded WordPress from v2.8.6 to v2.9 which was the “Carmen” major release, and then again from v2.9 to v2.9.1.

I still do all the WordPress updates manually (as opposed to the automatic upgrading) as I trust that method better and also have to modify a few other files by hand each time as well due to certain special tweaks and modifications.

One of the inevitable downsides that occurs when a new version of WordPress is released is that all your plugins suddenly have new updates as well. When you’re updating everything manually and keep records and backups of everything, this can be quite the nuisance… especially when you have over a dozen plugins to maintain.

Upgraded WordPress Exploit Scanner from v0.7 to v0.93

I installed this plugin a few months ago and wrote about it in my previous Blog Update post. I also wrote how 0.7 version caused the plugin to stop working for me. I was therefore hopeful that the 0.93 version would fix those bugs, but unfortunately it didn’t…

You can download the plugin here, and read the thread in which people are having issues with it here.

Upgraded Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.3 to v2.1.1

I upgraded the Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.3 to v2.1.1. This is a pretty useful plugin which allows you to embed Flash inside your posts. This is great if you need to add Camtasia videos or Flash games to your posts, for example.

You can download the plugin here.

Advertising Changes

I recently increased the price of my Top Sitewide 728×90 Leaderboard banner slot from $300/month to $325/month simply because I value my traffic quality and don’t mind substituting my own affiliate/referral banners if it’s not sold.

It was just purchased a couple days ago so I need to put the new banner up and mark it as sold out again!

Guest Bloggers Needed

I’m always looking for more guest bloggers to occasionally submit posts on my blog. Why do I want guest posters? It’s simple really: there are times when I’m too busy to write a new post and could really use a guest post to fill in the gap. Since I try to post every day, having a few guest posts on file for when I need them is very useful.

I’m looking for good writers who can write about affiliate marketing, making money online, blogging, marketing, or web development and the articles/posts must be written specifically and exclusively for TylerCruz.com.

In return, you’ll have your name attached to each post which can be linked to your own website. This is not so much for backlinks as it is to gain a bit of exposure and traffic. I’m also fine with you writing a small blurb (1-2 sentences) plugging your own blog within the actual post, either at the very beginning or end.

In addition to having over 2,400 targeted RSS subscribers reading your posts, you’ll also get the benefit of receiving a lot of feedback from readers with the knowledge that you’re writing to a large targeted audience. And, of course, you’ll be helping me out as well

The way it currently works is once a guest blogger submits a draft, and when I don’t have time to write a blog post, I then publish the draft into a post on the site.

If you’re interested, please contact me with a sample post or two. Please understand that I’m looking for fairly long, well-written posts that I think my readers will enjoy.

If I think your writing style and post-length is suitable for my blog, I’ll upgrade your account to Contributor status within WordPress, so that you can submit a post whenever you’re willing.

These blog post updates are continuing to become less frequent because I believe that I have my blog set up pretty much the way I want it.

However, as usual, I do implement a small number of modifications to my blog so here is a list of the changes and improvements I’ve made during the past few months.

In these "Blog Update" posts I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.

You may wonder why I make these Blog Update posts, where I mention very small or seemingly unimportant improvements and modifications. Well, while they may not seem too notable by themselves, over time these small things can (and do) make a big impact. The key is to keep looking over your blog or site with a very critical eye and to constantly try improving it.

By simply making small improvements here and there, my blog has evolved by leaps and bounds since its genesis four years ago. So, maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two by reading my blog updates. Feel free to search for my past Blog Update posts to get even more ideas on how you can improve your blog. 

New RSS Record

This isn’t anything to celebrate since I actually only beat by RSS subscriber count by 3, but it is a new record so I like to acknowledge it anyway. I made the new record on November 17th, which is actually exactly 2 months from when I had last set one.

I’m continuing to fall behind most of my online blogging colleagues:

• ZacJohnson.com: 8,818
• WinningTheWeb.com: 5,122
• JonathanVolk.com: 3,296

This isn’t too surprising though. It’s been a week since my last post and I just haven’t been posting very frequently lately. This is mostly due to having too many projects going on these days.

I’ll try to make a conscious attempt to ramp up the frequency of my posts though. 

Christmas Tyler Added

The holiday season is approaching so I thought I’d dress up for the occasion…

I am accepting gifts

Wordpress & Plugin Upgrades

Upgraded Wordpress from v2.8.4 to v2.8.6

I always like to keep up-to-date with the latest Wordpress versions to help protect myself from any security or bug exploits. Therefore, I upgraded Wordpress from v2.8.4 to v2.8.5, and then again from v2.8.5 to v2.8.6.

I still do all the Wordpress updates manually (as opposed to the automatic upgrading) as I trust that method better and also have to modify a few other files by hand each time as well due to certain special tweaks and modifications.

One of the inevitable downsides that occurs when a new version of Wordpress is released is that all your plugins suddenly have new updates as well. When you’re updating everything manually and keep records and backups of everything, this can be quite the nuisance… especially when you have over a dozen plugins to maintain.

Upgraded Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator plugin from v3.1.6 to v3.1.9

This is one of those plugins that constantly gets new updates and can be a pain to stay up-to-date with.

But since this is an important plugin, I upgraded this first from v3.1.6 to v3.1.8, and then again from v3.1.8 to v3.1.9.

You can download this free plugin here.

Installed WordPress Exploit Scanner plugin (Highly Recommend)

I found this plugin when I was upgrading Wordpress and it was recommended on the download page.

This plugin searches the files as well as posts and comments tables of your database for anything suspicious on your Wordpress-based blog or site. It also examines your list of active plugins for unusual filenames.  Think of it as a virus-scanner (not anti-virus, but virus-scanner) for your blog.

I installed it as I felt it was a good idea for a plugin and wouldn’t hurt to try since I have so many plugins and other modifications implemented on my blog. It’s a good thing too, as it discovered 2 IFRAME-injected exploits in 2 different posts!

I had seen these occur several times on my blog in the past, but never did find out how they came to be. I assume it was due to an exploit on an earlier version of Wordpress or a plugin, as they seemed to stop popping up around a year ago.

However, the Wordpress Exploit Scanner did find old 2 posts with the IFrame code injected, so I must have missed a couple in the past:

So already this plugin has proved its worth to me.

I originally downloaded v0.5 of the plugin and then upgraded to v0.6 and then again to v0.7. However, I recommend downloading v0.6 (if you can) and laying off v0.7 because I had no problems with the first two versions, but v0.7 is very buggy and slow and doesn’t work well. I therefore hope that a v0.8 is released soon.

I’m not the only one having issues with v0.7 as can be seen here.

You can download the Wordpress Exploit Scanner plugin at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exploit-scanner/ or the author’s site at http://ocaoimh.ie/exploit-scanner/, but the first link seems to have the most recent version.

You may be surprised what malicious things it finds. Most are just warnings and false alarms as it appears to be pretty hyper-sensitive, but the safer the better.

I highly recommend this plugin, just try to grab v0.5 or v0.6 until v0.8 comes out.

Upgraded Email Users plugin from v3.1.6 to v3.1.8

I upgraded the Email Users plugin (description follows) from v3.1.6 to v3.1.8.

“A plugin for Wordpress which allows you to send an email to the registered blog users. Users can send personal emails to each other. Power users can email groups of users and even notify group of users of posts.”

You can download the plugin here.

Upgraded Exec-PHP plugin from v4.8 to v4.9

I upgraded the Exec-PHP plugin from v4.8 to v4.9. The Exec-PHP plugin, just like its name implies, executes PHP code in your posts, pages, and text widgets.

You can download the plugin here.

Uninstalled the Executable PHP widget plugin

Not to be confused with the above plugin (they have essentially the same name), I removed this plugin which allowed you to execute PHP within widgets as I hadn’t actually used widgets for years since I had my old blog theme. My new one doesn’t use side widgets at all, making this plugin pointless for me.

Plus, I believe the Exec-PHP plugin can now do that anyways.

Upgraded Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.2 to v2.0.3

I upgraded the Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.2 to v2.03. This is a pretty useful plugin which allows you to embed Flash inside your posts. This is great if you need to add Camtasia videos to your posts, for example.

You can download the plugin here.

Guest Bloggers Needed

I’m always looking for more guest bloggers to occasionally submit posts on my blog. Why do I want guest posters? It’s simple really: there are times when I’m too busy to write a new post and could really use a guest post to fill in the gap. Since I try to post every day, having a few guest posts on file for when I need them is very useful.

I’m looking for good writers who can write about affiliate marketing, making money online, blogging, marketing, or web development and the articles/posts must be written specifically and exclusively for TylerCruz.com.

In return, you’ll have your name attached to each post which can be linked to your own website. This is not so much for backlinks as it is to gain a bit of exposure and traffic. I’m also fine with you writing a small blurb (1-2 sentences) plugging your own blog within the actual post, either at the very beginning or end.

In addition to having over 2,300 targeted RSS subscribers reading your posts, you’ll also get the benefit of receiving a lot of feedback from readers with the knowledge that you’re writing to a large targeted audience. And, of course, you’ll be helping me out as well

The way it currently works is once a guest blogger submits a draft, and when I don’t have time to write a blog post, I then publish the draft into a post on the site.

If you’re interested, please contact me with a sample post or two. Please understand that I’m looking for fairly long, well-written posts that I think my readers will enjoy.

If I think your writing style and post-length is suitable for my blog, I’ll upgrade your account to Contributor status within Wordpress, so that you can submit a post whenever you’re willing.

Branding yourself and then playing with your brand can be a useful marketing tool that self-perpetuates itself. Think Google, and how they use stylize their logo on special occasions and anniversaries. They often commemorate unusual anniversaries such as the dates that famous scientists and inventors created something special.

It’s all about your image and how you want people to think of your brand. In my case, I want to show that I don’t take things too seriously and like to have fun. There’s no monetary benefit for me having my special seasonal mascot made, it’s purely for fun and playing with my brand’s image.

My Halloween mascot is now live and located in the top left of my blog, but here it is below for regular RSS and E-mail subscribers:

So what do you think? Gory enough for you? I love it. Now just don’t piss me off or else I’ll have to get some more blood added to my knife… BUHAHAHAHA!

I now have a total of 4 different mascot looks… watch out Barbie, Tyler Cruz is coming out with accessories to stores near you:

The Talent Behind the Mascot

Ever since I had my mascot commissioned 2 years ago I’ve constantly had people ask me who designed it, even though it clearly says who in my Recommended Resources page and I have several posts like this one stating who did it.

Sergio Ordoñez Suanez from SOSFactory.com (hence the SOS…) is the talent behind my mascot, and has done a total of 3 variations for me now as well. Without hyperbole, I can confidently say that Sergio is a world-class calibre artist in his field of mascot design.

I don’t throw around such praise easily, so that’s really saying a lot. When it comes to custom cartoon/mascot work, Sergio is really one of the best in the world.

He charges $600 per logo or mascot and while that may sound expensive, it’s really not. In fact, it’s quite cheap!

First of all, you’ll be getting a world-class logo or mascot which you’re guaranteed to be happy with. I say guaranteed because he’ll provide you with early sketches and revisions along the way to make sure you’re happy with the way it’s taking shape. If not, he’ll do it until you are (unlimited revisions).

Secondly, he’s pretty fast for what the quality of what you’re getting. While he’s been getting a steady stream of work lately (since more and more people are starting to find out about him), his turnaround time isn’t quite as fast as it used to be, but it’s still pretty fast considering the level of quality you’ll be receiving (1-2 weeks depending on what’s needed).

Lastly, you’ll be provided with the PSD and any sources used in high resolution so that you can print offline material such as business cards, posters, or T-Shirts with your mascot or logo. I can personally say that the my mascot has easily paid for itself with the level of branding and awareness is has brought me.

In fact, it’s almost too good, as I’ve had roughly a dozen people blatantly copy my mascot’s design… which is flattering, but also annoying!

In addition to mascots and logos, Sergio also does illustration, web design, colouring, and print work.

Here are a few samples of Sergio’s other mascot design work. A much larger portfolio can be found as his website SOSFactory.com:

Learn How he Does It

Sergio also runs a very high-quality blog at http://www.sosfactory.com/blog/. Designers love it as he provides free in-depth tutorials on how he designs. Just check out this post to see the quality and step-by-step detail of his tutorials.

He also provides inspiring videos showing how he does what he does. Here’s one below:

His portfolio speaks for itself and I’m sure you’ll agree that he really is one top-notch designer.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy “Halloween Tyler”! He’ll be up until November.

Since the other post was so popular and everyone seemed to get a big kick out of it (including the matches), I thought I’d make a sequel.

Therefore, here are 7 more “make money online” bloggers and their celebrity matches. If you never saw the original post, check it out as there are 11 more matches listed there.

Ed Lau and Jimmy Vee

Ed Lau isn’t the biggest blogger out there, but avid John Chow readers will recognize him as a regular in the Dot Com Pho videos. The other day, I somehow happened across Jimmy Vee’s blog at GravitationalMarketing.com when I instantly thought “boom – he’s the white version of Ed Lau” and made note of it for this post.

Andrew Wee and George Takei

Here I have Andrew Wee paired up with George Takei. Remove Takei’s facial spots, hand him a pair of glasses, and you have Andrew in 25 years.

Jonathan Volk and Michael Cera

I actually made the above image back in May when I was doing my weight loss challenge against Jonathan Volk. Clickbooth had sent him a shirt and headband to aid and support him in the challenge and when I saw the photo I immediately thought of Michael Cera in Juno. Note how spookily similar the headband, circle logo on the shirt, and right hand placements are.

Aaron Wall and Bob Blumer

Whenever I saw photos of SEO guru Aaron Wall in the past I would always think to myself “who does he remind me of?” I didn’t try remembering until I was preparing things for this post. He’s celebrity chef Bob Blumer!

Seth Godin and Patrick Stewart

At first, I had paired the marketing deity Seth Godin with the hilarious improvisation comedian Colin Mochrie, but I couldn’t find the right pairing photos, so instead I used Patrick Stewart.

Wes Mahler and Lyoto Machida

Wes Mahler, owner and founder of Tracking202, is lucky to have the best celebrity pairing, resembling quite closely the undefeated (15-0) UFC champion Lyoto Machida.

Don’t mess with Wes.

Frank Kern and Josh Holloway

The energetic internet multi-millionaire and marketer Frank Kern so closely resembles Josh Holloway of Lost fame, that it’s rather scary. Their hair and facial hair so closely match each other that I’m sure if the whole “internet thing” doesn’t work out for Frank, that he could be Josh’s stunt double on the show.

So there you have it – 7 more make money online bloggers and their celebrity matches. What do you think?

These blog post updates are continuing to become less frequent because I believe that I have my blog set up pretty much the way I want it.

However, as usual, I do implement a small number of modifications to my blog so here is a list of the changes and improvements I’ve made during the past few months.

In these "Blog Update" posts I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.

You may wonder why I make these Blog Update posts, where I mention very small or seemingly unimportant improvements and modifications. Well, while they may not seem too notable by themselves, over time these small things can (and do) make a big impact. The key is to keep looking over your blog or site with a very critical eye and to constantly try improving it.

By simply making small improvements here and there, my blog has evolved by leaps and bounds since its genesis four years ago. So, maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two by reading my blog updates. Feel free to search for my past Blog Update posts to get even more ideas on how you can improve your blog. 

New RSS Record

I used to do everything in my power to increase my number of RSS subscribers and would even hold contests and giveaways in order to do so. However, that was over a year ago when I was focusing more on growing my blog.

I haven’t actually tried to grow my blog since then. Instead, I’ve been busy working on my other projects and am simply trying to keep my blog going by publishing 2-3 posts a week.

As a result, my RSS subscribership has pretty much stayed around the same, although a couple weeks I did hit a new record of: 2,342.

I’m continuing to fall behind most of my friends now though:

• ZacJohnson.com: 8,166
• WinningTheWeb.com: 4,595
• JonathanVolk.com: 2,855

Wordpress & Plugin Upgrades

Upgraded Wordpress from v2.8.1 to v2.8.2 then to v2.8.4

I always like to keep up-to-date with the latest Wordpress versions to help protect myself from any security or bug exploits.

I still do all the Wordpress updates manually (as opposed to the automatic upgrading) as I trust that method better and also have to modify a few other files by hand each time as well due to certain special tweaks and modifications.

Upgraded MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin from v1.7.5 to v1.8.1

I forget what this update did, but I think it was mainly to fix some very minor bugs. This is an awesome plugin, and while it’s not exactly cheap, I still highly recommend it.

Upgraded Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator plugin from v3.0.3.1 to v3.1.6

Since I have so many plugins, I don’t always update them right away since it is too time consuming with close to 20 plugins frequently coming out with new versions.

However, I hadn’t updated this particular plugin in a very long time. In fact, my plugin version was nearly 2 years old, so this was a very important plugin update for me.

Modified AdSense Deluxe plugin with a special fix

I needed to use this plugin a couple weeks ago but kept encountering errors whenever I tried to do so. Apparently, Wordpress v2.8.2 created permission problems with this plugin.

Unfortunately, this plugin stopped being supported by its developer years ago so I was unable to find a solution at the official plugin website.

However, after a bit of searching on Google I found a fix for this issue thanks to this blog.

Added WP-Polls v2.50 plugin

I added a great poll plugin to my blog that can be seen in action here. It’s a great poll plugin that that is quite versatile and works great. You can add polls to the side or inside of posts and it has a lot of customisability.

Removed MyAvatars and Brian’s Threaded Comments plugins

I had been using these two particular plugins for years on my blog, and while they required quite a lot of code tweaking and modification, they worked great.

However, since Wordpress now comes with built-in functionality for the features that both of those plugins provided, I removed them simplicity’s sake. Unfortunately, this caused my comments template to appear real ugly. I spent literally 4.5 hours straight trying to fix and format the comments to my liking, but was ultimately unable to.

After giving up, I contacted Dave from LifelineDesign (formerly RealityHosting) who was the one who originally designed my blog’s theme for me, and asked him to fix it for me. After the weekend, it was done, and it now looks just like it did before.

In fact, it’s actually better now since the avatars now display images from Gravatar instead of MyBlogLog which the MyAvatars plugin used. I had received several comments in the past from visitors who had complained that their avatars weren’t showing up – this is why.

Therefore, if you’d like a personalized avatar to appear when you comment, simply sign up for a free Gravatar account, it only takes a minute or two.

Advertising Changes

Updated advertising page stats

It was getting close to a year since I had last updated the stats and metrics on my advertising page so I updated that. It’s too bad my traffic hasn’t improved all that much, but at least it hasn’t diminished.

Removed Embedded 300×250 Banner Rule

I removed a rule on my advertising page that required the Embedded 300×250 Banner to be a static banner image. Previously, I didn’t want to allow animated banners in that spot as I felt it was too obtrusive to readers since the banner was placed within the main post text.

However, I decided that I’d remove this limitation since it’s really not too bad and since all other sites and blogs I found seem to allow 300×250 animated banners. It also gives greater value to the advertiser of this spot.

Guest Bloggers Needed

I’m always looking for more guest bloggers to occasionally submit posts on my blog. Why do I want guest posters? It’s simple really: there are times when I’m too busy to write a new post and could really use a guest post to fill in the gap. Since I try to post every day, having a few guest posts on file for when I need them is very useful.

I’m looking for good writers who can write about affiliate marketing, making money online, blogging, marketing, or web development and the articles/posts must be written specifically and exclusively for TylerCruz.com.

In return, you’ll have your name attached to each post which can be linked to your own website. This is not so much for backlinks as it is to gain a bit of exposure and traffic. I’m also fine with you writing a small blurb (1-2 sentences) plugging your own blog within the actual post, either at the very beginning or end.

In addition to having over 2,200 targeted RSS subscribers reading your posts, you’ll also get the benefit of receiving a lot of feedback from readers with the knowledge that you’re writing to a large targeted audience. And, of course, you’ll be helping me out as well

The way it currently works is once a guest blogger submits a draft, and when I don’t have time to write a blog post, I then publish the draft into a post on the site.

If you’re interested, please contact me with a sample post or two. Please understand that I’m looking for fairly long, well-written posts that I think my readers will enjoy.

If I think your writing style and post-length is suitable for my blog, I’ll upgrade your account to Contributor status within Wordpress, so that you can submit a post whenever you’re willing.

I am using the plugin WP-Polls v2.50 which can be downloaded for free here. It’s a great poll plugin that is quite versatile and works perfect. You can add it to the side of your blog or inside of posts, and it utilizes AJAX to provide seamless voting and results.

I’m actually surprised I’ve never thought about adding a poll to my blog before. Now that I think about it, it should be one of those essential things that all bloggers should have in their arsenal, just like having an RSS feed and contact form. By occasionally polling your visitors, you can learn extremely useful information that will enable you to improve your blog by catering to your visitor’s wants and needs.

It’s also great for helping you to make simple choices. While comments are great for getting specific feedback, polls help in that they can give you a numerical figure. For example, if you’re getting a new logo done and have two mockups to choose from, you can poll your visitors to see which they prefer.

Therefore, I think the larger your audience is, the more polls come in handy. For example, I’ve received 41 comments on my To Merge, or Not to Merge: That is the Question post. I had a lot of great feedback in the comments, but it was very difficult to see which option people were leaning towards since it was so split. Adding a poll to this post would have been perfect. I’ve had other posts with over 100 comments, so in my case polls really do help sum things up.

So to celebrate the addition of polls to my blog, here are 8 that I’d love for you to answer. I may publish a follow-up post on the results.

These blog post updates are continuing to become less frequent because I believe that I have my blog set up pretty much the way I want it.

However, as usual, I do implement a small number of modifications to my blog so here is a list of the changes and improvements I’ve made during the past few months.

In these "Blog Update" posts I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.

You may wonder why I make these Blog Update posts, where I mention very small or seemingly unimportant improvements and modifications. Well, while they may not seem too notable by themselves, over time these small things can (and do) make a big impact. The key is to keep looking over your blog or site with a very critical eye and to constantly try improving it.

By simply making small improvements here and there, my blog has evolved by leaps and bounds since its genesis four years ago. So, maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two by reading my blog updates. Feel free to search for my past Blog Update posts to get even more ideas on how you can improve your blog. 

New RSS Record

I used to do everything in my power to increase my number of RSS subscribers, and would even hold contests and giveaways in order to do so. However, that was over a year ago when I was focusing my attention more on growing my blog.

I then started getting into promoting affiliate networks and my attention shifted towards gaining referrals instead of blog traffic.

As a result, my RSS has pretty much stayed around the same, although last week I did hit a new record of: 2,232

I’m really beginning to fall behind some of my friends now though:

• ZacJohnson.com: 7,608
• WinningTheWeb.com: 4,120
• JonathanVolk.com: 2,645

Design & Code Changes

Added Twitter Section

Nearly two months ago I finally joined Twitter. As a result, I added a new Twitter section to the right column of my blog, located underneath the RSS section. I added a Twitter counter (from TwitterCounter.com) and link to my Twitter page and made the Twitter submenu image myself.

Made all Blog Links Spawn in New Windows

I used to never open links in new windows on my sites as I felt that if users really wanted to come back to my site, they’d hit back on their browser. However, a few months ago I decided that was stupid logic and since then have began to convert to spawning new windows for external links.

Made Footer Links Spawn in New Windows

In addition, I also made the Merendi Networks Inc. and Reality Hosting links at the bottom footer of the blog open in new windows as well.

Improved Contact Form

I’m using a rather old contact form plugin for my contact page (why Wordpress doesn’t offer a built-in contact form is beyond me) and while I still like it due to its simplicity, it did have a few annoyances which I decided to finally fix myself since the plugin is no longer supported by its developer.

Basically, I improved the plugin to properly display the error and success messages in alignment with the rest of the page (it used to be appear flush against the side) and enlarged the message box so visitors could easily send me longer messages without having to constantly squint and scroll.

Blogroll Changes

Added CashTactics.net

Kris Trujillo from CashTactics.net contacted me a while back to see if I was interested in a link exchange. Since his blog is directly related to the making money online industry, has over 2,000 RSS subscribers, and often serves up some good news posts, I was happy to accept his offer.

Removed SohaibThiab.com

I finally removed SohaibThiab.com from my blogroll. While I usually entertain all blog link exchanges for life, I will remove them if they become inactive. In the case of SobaibThiab, he had only made 4 posts this year so far so I had to remove it.

Wordpress & Plugin Upgrades

Upgraded Wordpress from v2.7.1 to 2.8 to 2.8.1

I always like to keep up-to-date with the latest Wordpress versions to help protect myself from any security or bug exploits. What sucks though is that it was only yesterday when I upgraded to 2.8.1 and then I found out that 2.8.2 came out today.

I still do all the Wordpress updates by hand (as opposed to the automatic upgrading) as I trust that method better and also have to modify a few other things by hand whenever I upgrade Wordpress anyway. I’ll upgrade to Wordpress 2.8.2 within a few days.

Upgraded Akismet Plugin from v2.2.3 to v2.2.4 

Even though it’s one of the few plugins that comes built-in with Wordpress, it’s still one of my most beloved and used to combat comment spam and so I’m always quick to upgrade this plugin when one comes out.

Removed TLA Plugin

To be honest, I can’t remember when I last used this plugin, but I was cleaning out some of my old plugins 2-3 months ago and found this one still installed. The TLA plugin was for Text Link Ads and was supposed to monetize my RSS ads which it never did (I think I made maybe $5-6 from it).

Upgraded MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin from v1.7.3 to v1.7.5

Finally, I upgraded the MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin from v1.7.3 to v1.7.5. This is an awesome plugin, and while it’s not exactly cheap, I still highly recommend it.

Advertising Changes

I started getting a lot of Paid Reviews and Paid Plugs during May and June – so many in fact that many people started to get really angry about them. As a result, I increased my price of them from $200 to $225.

However, this didn’t seem to have an affect on slowing down the demand and so recently I increased the price again from $225 to $250. This latest increase seems to have stopped the strong demand for them so I don’t think I’ll need to make another increase until at least 2010.

Plus, I felt it was justified with 200+ more targeted RSS subscribers (that works out to $0.11 per targeted reader, which is really a bargain in this niche).

Guest Bloggers Needed

I’m always looking for more guest bloggers to occasionally submit posts on my blog. Why do I want guest posters? It’s simple really: there are times when I’m too busy to write a new post and could really use a guest post to fill in the gap. Since I try to post every day, having a few guest posts on file for when I need them is very useful.

I’m looking for good writers who can write about affiliate marketing, making money online, blogging, marketing, or web development and the articles/posts must be written specifically and exclusively for TylerCruz.com.

In return, you’ll have your name attached to each post which can be linked to your own website. This is not so much for backlinks as it is to gain a bit of exposure and traffic. I’m also fine with you writing a small blurb (1-2 sentences) plugging your own blog within the actual post, either at the very beginning or end.

In addition to having over 2,200 targeted RSS subscribers reading your posts, you’ll also get the benefit of receiving a lot of feedback from readers with the knowledge that you’re writing to a large targeted audience. And, of course, you’ll be helping me out as well

The way it currently works is once a guest blogger submits a draft, and when I don’t have time to write a blog post, I then publish the draft into a post on the site.

If you’re interested, please contact me with a sample post or two.

If I think your writing style and post-length is suitable for my blog, I’ll upgrade your account to Contributor status within Wordpress, and you can submit a post whenever you’re willing!

Therefore, it should come to no real surprise that I honestly never used Twitter before a couple days ago. Obviously I had heard of it and knew what it was all about, but had never visited anyone’s Twitter page or made my own account.

The number one reason I didn’t make a Twitter account until now was because I didn’t like the fact of feeling obligated to keep my Twitter account updated throughout the day, updating it with everything that goes on in my life. While my blog is very transparent and I share a lot of personal information on it, the fact is that I always do that during my ‘work sessions’ and consider it as working, even though it’s usually fun.

I kept my distance from Twitter because I didn’t want to have to be constantly tweeting (is that the right term?) while I was out doing non-work related things.

So why did I end up making an account? In the end, I felt that the potential reach in terms of marketing and viral buzz outweighed any issues I felt regarding it being another chore to keep up with. Plus, I felt I was taking it a bit too seriously. After all, it’s only 140 characters and isn’t expected to be as high-quality or in-depth as a blog post.

As such, I finally created my first Twitter account two days ago. You can find it at: http://www.twitter.com/tylercruzdotcom.

Why Didn’t You Get Twitter.com/tylercruz?

Some squatter took it. I actually tried getting it back after numerous e-mail attempts to Twitter support. I complained that the owner obviously wasn’t using the account (it only has a total of 2 updates) and was just using it to squat on my name, and that I’d turn it into an active account. Plus, my name was Tyler Cruz after all.

At one point, it seemed that I was going to get it, but then Twitter got really big all of a sudden and I hadn’t heard back from their support team for months. When I did hear back, they had gotten so big that they couldn’t help me anymore and said I could only get it back if I had the trademark or copyright to the name.

That’s unfortunate, as I know that people had took Shoemoney and JohnChow’s name but they managed to get it back. I guess it’s easier to argue when you already have an existing follower list of 38,000…

So, in the end I had to settle for http://www.twitter.com/tylercruzdotcom.

Twitter Added to Blog

In addition to creating a custom Twitter background (as seen above), I also added a new Twitter section to the right side of my blog which now has a counter and a link to my Twitter page as can be seen in the screen below:

I’m considering adding a plugin that shows some of my most recent tweets. Does anyone know of a good one for Wordpress?

Also, I’d like for whenever a new blog post is added to update on my Twitter as well. Is there a plugin for that does anyone know?

Bare With Me, I’m a Twitter Newbie

I’m still brand new to Twitter so bare with me if I don’t know some of the lingo, terms, or how it works. It looks pretty simple and self-explanatory though.

As I write this, I currently have 7 followers. I only know 2 of them. I’m assuming the other 5 just auto-added me somehow after seeing that I just signed up. The first person to follow me was John Chow.

I already set my Blackberry up with Twitter which is pretty neat I must say, and could definitely be useful for when I travel. I guess that’s part of the point of Twitter.

Anyhow, I’m now on Twitter, so please follow me. My Twitter address again is http://www.twitter.com/tylercruzdotcom You can expect to see me running a bunch of Twitter contests in the future, so you might as well follow me now