ButlerBlog

Automatically closing comments to boost commenting

As I am getting back in the saddle of blogging, I am wondering how I might boost the commenting on this site. When it was predominately content about WP-Members, there were always a lot of comments – mostly in terms of support questions, which is what eventually led me to launching rocketgeek.com to handle WP-Members support.

Now that I am back to focusing my posting on WordPress, blogging, and plugin development, I am hoping to also boost comments. Is that too ambitious?

I remember a while back that I read a guest post on Darren Rowse’s blog about automatically closing comments after a certain number of days in order to boost comments. The theory was/is that this helps push users to more recent posts to continue the discussion.

That sounds reasonable. I am wondering if it works. Does anyone have any experience with that? Has it worked for you?

I’ve also recently installed Disqus to manage comments. I am hoping that leads to better discussion (and hopefully easier for me to manage). I’m open to comments on Disqus, too, for those that have experience with it, good or bad.

Monetizing Pinterest

By Chad Butler 2 Comments

I have had some success in (a) early adoption of various social networks and (b) seeing the marketing opportunities in terms of using them to generate blog traffic and income. But I must admit, Pinterest has been one that has eluded me.

So I was very happy to see Kristi Hines write a great post over at MonetizePros.com.

If you are looking for some good ideas of how you can not only jump on the Pinterest band wagon, but also turn that into some additional income for your blog or other ventures, you should definitely read this post.

While you’re at it, you might want to also read Kristi’s post . That should give you some additional ideas for monetizing LinkedIn as well.

i. If you don’t follow her blog, you should. She regularly posts good content that is rich with ideas for better blogging. You can also follow her on twitter: @kikolani.

Does anyone have any other ideas on how to monetize Pinterest?

Switching to Genesis Framework (or “Born Again Blog”)

By Chad Butler 1 Comment

I have spent the last year really focused on building out RocketGeek.com to support the WP-Members plugin. The plugin had reached a point where I could no longer handle completely free support based on the donation model. I think that the donations of $1 or less (yes, really) were what pushed me over the edge.

Forced with needing to change the model to better monetize the product, I set up RocketGeek.com to support the plugin, and hopefully more in the future. That has taken a lot of time and effort, but it has been a worthwhile journey. The project was able to sustain itself.

When I did that, the intention was to get this blog back to what I had originally planned for it – to blog on plugin reviews, plugin development, and WordPress in general. But that requires actually spending some focused time doing it.

I’m sorry to say that hasn’t happened.

And the site has suffered. While RocketGeek.com’s Alexa rank soared, ButlerBlog.com’s dropped like a stone.

I don’t know if it was the fact that the blog needed a facelift, or what, but I just did not have the motivation to get in and revitalize the site.

Until now!

I recently installed the Genesis Framework from StudioPress. I’ve been a big fan of Brian Gardner for many years. In fact, long time readers (if there are any left other than my dad) may recall that one of the earlier iterations of the ButlerBlog theme was a customized version of Brian’s Vertigo theme. If you can say you remember themes like Vertigo and Blue Zinfandel, you truly are a grandparent of the WP generation. You can get in line behind me to get fitted for your walker.

Spending the time updating the site’s inner workings may have breathed life back into my desire to get back to blogging. So thanks Genesis and StudioPress for saving me from the trash heap of blogdom.

I am ready to get back in the saddle and start posting worthy content. I hope you’ll come back to read some of it!

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