Tag Archive: wordpress tips


Why Is My Blog Missing Schedule? What is Missed Schedule in WordPress?

A single rock in the sand isn't such a big deal. But if the rock is a post that missed schedule, and the beach is my blog... it's not very zen.

A single rock in the sand isn’t such a big deal. But if the rock is a post that missed schedule, and the beach is my blog… it’s not very zen.

My best blogging coping mechanism for posting regularly about how to self publish a book was my ability to schedule blogs in advance.

I could write ahead of time, have them post at a designated time and date, and keep a nice regular flow of self publishing advice.

Until I discovered “Missed Schedule” in WordPress.

My posts started to miss schedule. At first, I thought it was because the time I’d chosen for the post was conflicting with the time I’d chosen for backup. But it turns out that there’s a complicated conflict regarding hosts and posts and pieces of toast.

Not pieces of toast, I just said that because it sounds good, and the real reason, which is that somebody turned off my cron, just sounds weird.

It sounds like it could explain much more than my blog missing schedules. I think this explains my entire position in today’s economy!

The good news is that there’s a plug-in for that! (missed schedule, not my position in society.)

But the trouble is, I already have too many plug-ins. If I load any more, it could slow my site down. So while I’m pleased there’s a plug-in, I’d be more pleased if the posts would simply post on time.

While I am chewing on the fact that a WordPress post can be “missed schedule”, I am going to the site each posting evening and manually publishing the missed ones. Grrrrrrrr.

Once it started to miss, it missed a lot.

Once it started to miss a lot, it missed them all.

Installing plug-in now….

 

 

 

 

Learning WordPress Is Worth The Effort, For Self Publishing And More

 

Learning WordPress Builds Bridges To Other Knowledge

WordPress knowledge is a bridge to other website builder software… it is worth the time to learn it.

WordPress is a free blogging tool which can also be used to build entire websites. I highly recommend it for self publishing websites, particularly if you are a Do It Your Self Publisher, like me.

WordPress first came out in 2003, but I didn’t really catch on until after 2009. By then, everywhere I turned, I heard the advice to “learn WordPress” if I was going to blog about how to self publish a book.

So I did!
I learned enough to be dangerous, that is.
(Meaning, enough to seriously brick my own website if I am not careful…)

At first, I was kind of sulky, because everyone said that WordPress was easy peasy… and I didn’t find it so peasy.

Sure, it’s easy to get set up and going on a free blog at WordPress.com, which is an absolutely awesome site… but once I started to get cocky and stretch my wings a bit, I found that I needed to learn more advanced applications of WordPress.

For instance, I ran into my picture upload limit at WordPress.com so I migrated to self hosting, using BlueHost (which I am happy with) and built up my blog but did not install Akismet.

Those of you who know WordPress already know what happened…. within a couple of months I had over 30,000 comments on my blog, all from Viagra.

So I rolled up my sleeves and knuckled down, buckled down, and learned WordPress. And installed Askismet.

And I’m really glad I did, because I am able to build and maintain this website for my self publishing work, plus another website for the feathers I sell for crafts. And when I went back to tune up my website for my blown eggs for crafts, I was able to take that site-builder software much farther than before, because of everything I’d learned while learning WordPress.

So a big thank you shout-out to the original authors of WordPress and the world of developers who keep it growing… and now I join my voice to those who say: “If you are self publishing a book, learn WordPress and build your site and blog away…”

 

How Many Plugins Is Too Many Plugins?

Lots of eggs of self publishing advice

This is how many plugins I have. Is it too many?

You would not believe the trouble I’ve had in getting that question answered.
I think if a writer is going to post with that question in the title, they should answer the question!

So here is the answer…

If you are having to ask “how many plugins is too many plugins?” then you probably have too many plugins.
They can slow down your site. So if your site is loading too slowly
… more than 4 seconds…
then you have too many plugins.

It was tentblogger.com who finally quoted numbers… thank you tentblogger!

Plugins should number 10 – 15 in general, and max out at 20 if you are using W3 Total Cache.

That sounds accurate to me because my website started to slow down with less than 20 and the last 5 plugins I installed were intended to try and speed it back up.
And it also means I need to give up some plugins, cuz I am at 29 and already installed W3 Total Cache (and configured it). Wah.

But another important point I came across was… why do I have so many plugins?  Perhaps I am fighting with my theme… or trying to do too much… or under-utilizing the other plugins.

That’s a big 10-4 on all of those points. Back to the dashboard…. Because a slow site is worse than any other website flaw.

I wonder if there is a plugin for figuring out how many plugins I can get away with.
Is there a plugin rehab?
because I think I may have a problem.

 

 

 

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