Sarah | Using WordPress with the Blogmistress

7 vital plugins for your Multi Author Blog

On October 6, 2010 By Sarah

Yesterday I wrote about how to set up your collaborative blog, today I am giving you 7 plugins that will save your life – I mean help you manage the multi author blog. I find these plugins not only make my life easier, but also make it easier for all the bloggers that are involved. Editorial Calendar Plugin – if you could only use just one plugin ever… it should be this one. OIO Publisher for adverts RSS Footer SEO Smart Links WP Greet Box Category Page Photo Dropper The Editorial Calendar [...]

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How to set up a collaborative blog

On October 5, 2010 By Sarah

Recently I realised I had, with the Blogmistress, become expert on collaborative blogging, also known as multi author blogs. We have half a dozen growing group blogs under our belts and they work well, both for us and for the bloggers involved. A collaborative blog is a blog with many authors around a central theme and that central theme is the framework that holds the blog together. The first thing needed when setting up a collaborative blog is your central topic, so have a good brainstorm on that – this will help you when you [...]

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Playing with Thesis

On September 27, 2010 By Sarah

Being the Blogmistress’ apprentice has its bonuses and I am not talking about borrowing her whip . Every now and then when she deems I have been good she lets me loose on a theme to break it The theory being, if I don’t or can’t break it then it’s good. This weekend just gone she let me loose on Thesis (*this blog contains affiliate links, they don’t bite you although they may pay a commission in a certain set of circumstances*). It blew my brain up, there are three ‘dashboard’ areas with different options and I nearly cried when [...]

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Retention email marketing for dummies book (free)

On August 2, 2010 By Sarah

Well I guess the title says it all really EmailVision Ltd are offering a free PDF version of retention email marketing for dummies. If you are a fan of the Dummies books or looking into email marketing and how it works, drop by and take a look. Enjoy success with email marketing <—- link to the page with more details. Why send emails out when you have a blog? Simple really, well, maybe not. Where does your traffic come from if Google kicks you out for some reason? How do you reach your customers and educate them? [...]

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Africa Rocks…

On July 30, 2010 By Sarah

Back in June, Ida Horner approached us to see if we wanted to do ‘Africa on the Blog’. Knowing how much the Blogmistress loves a challenge she swiftly set to work on setting up Africa on the Blog (why change a winning formula ). Given the brief of , colour it like Africa, she came up with a golden brown design on the Studiopress framework that is consistent theme on the ‘On the blog’ sites. It’s visually stunning. Ida in the mean time started recruiting bloggers – please welcome @naomiestment @AshantiGirl @taluta @Chocolat_a_toi @jkainja @TonyBurkson @STM95 @sportinkenya @Chiira [...]

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Today I am all ears

On June 7, 2010 By Sarah

Well, literally not figuratively . Or is it the other way around? I was thinking about premium WordPress plugins. What do you use? If you don’t use them, why? I have two. One I lost. Yup, forgot what it was called and where I downloaded it. The other one is an RSS bomber, which I have yet to use. At least I know where that one is! Out there in the big wide WordPress plugin world, there are many premium plugins that enhance your SEO, promise to fetch you traffic and even bake you a cake of you let them. [...]

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Sharing is caring

On May 15, 2010 By Sarah

really it is . I recently read a guest blog by Jackie Barrie, she wrote a lovely guest blog about email marketing and left a tip on the post that was very useful, read it here (sorry, can’t give away the punchline). That lead me thinking along the avenue of what people share when they read and write on the web. Image via Wikipedia When I comment on a blog that doesn’t use Disqus as a commenting system (which allows me to add my comments also onto my facebook page and twitter updates) then I [...]

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Writing blogs is like using a muscle

On May 14, 2010 By Sarah

Writing a blog isn’t rocket science. It can be formulaic if you want, it can be as complex as you make it. The more complex something is, the less it’s likely to happen. That’s why we are not all rocket scientists. Looking after several multi author blogs one of the things the bloggers say from time to time is – What do I write and I have run out of things to write. Crowdsourcing via twitter, Facebook and Forums really comes into it’s own here. People who know you through the forums, often make excellent suggestions as to what to [...]

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