Got A Problem With Your Blog – Just Ask the radical blogger

Posted by Les Scammell on January 23, 2008
Posted in: Blogging, WordPress.

Do you have a problem with your blog – just ask the radical blogger.

I am starting a new section where each week I will respond to the various problems that get thrown at me. I often get problems thrown at me and being a kind sole I look at the problem and offer some solutions. Like all great ideas, this idea came to me in the middle of the night. Why not collect these problems and solutions and write a weekly post where everyone can share in the solutions – if one person is having this problem then the chances are, so are others. So here are this weeks problems and some of the solutions available. If you have a problem with your blog – send it in to me and I will see what I can do to solve it.

My thanks goes to Collin from YourWorldGallery for these little problems ( I hope you don’t mind the free plug). For Collin, his Google Analytics reported a lot of 404 page errors and that he had too many Meta Tags.

Problem 1 – To many Meta Tags. This is caused by using plugins such as the All In One SEO pack. This plugin writes a description and keyword meta tag that is unique for each page that you create. This is a great tool. However, you main header file will most likely have Meta Tags for your description and for your keywords so effectively, each page has two sets of Meta Tags for Description and two sets for Keywords.

Solution – edit your Header file to remove the Meta Tag for Description and for Keywords. Let the SEO pack create them for you.

 Problem 2 -  404 page errors. These errors occur when either your web page cannot be found, or, most commonly, when you have bad links.

Solution – use a plugin like Broken Link Checker to identify any broken links. You can then go in and either remove the link or repair it.

My next problem comes from a domain I helped to install. Due to the heavy use of graphics, the blog was experiencing problems during heavy demand including temporary suspension of the site. A pain for both the blog owner and for me.

Problem 3 – High traffic, slow loading and bandwidth. If you use a lot of graphics then your page is going to be slow. Every time you receive a visitor their browser will load the page – this means loading everything from data base. Get 100 simultaneous hits and that is  a heavy load.

Solution – there are three solutions for this problem that can be used either individually or all together. The first solution is to reduce the drain of the server by either reducing the number of graphics, reducing the size of the graphics, or loading the graphics from other sites such as flickr.

The second solution is not so obvious. Reduce the number of plugins paying particular attention to those that are installed but not activated. WordPress still loads those plugins even though you are not using them.

The final solution is one that I recommend for all WordPress users that slower than normal pages and that is to install either WP Cache or WP Super Cache. WP Cache is a good all purpose caching program that saves a completed page into a cache. When a browser loads the page the completed page is loaded straight from the cache – this saves placing a heavy load on the server. WP Super Cache is even better but I have encountered problems with it on some blogs – it seems to work better on Linux/Unix hosted servers.

I hope these tips help. If you have a problem either email me or leave a comment. I would appreciate any feedback on whether a dedicated page for problems and solutions would help.

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12 comments on “Got A Problem With Your Blog – Just Ask the radical blogger”

  2. I have a question…which plug in can I use that will allow me to have related posts displayed on my main page and not just when I click in for a comment?

  4. Great tips les. I just finished redesigning my recipe blog and this tips have come in handy.

    Using flickr as an outside resource for pictures it is a very good idea. However, flickr’s policies are that you must link back the images to flickr and not web design images are allowed. I just wanted to mention that so your readers keep it in mind.

    Cheers!

  5. Excellent idea on many levels! Getting questions from readers is a very good source of writing inspiration and can help eliminate that “what the Heck am I gonna talk about today.” Nice, often overlooked benefit.

    Cheers…..T

  6. Hi Less,
    Thanks for the help. I have what I think is a simple php question. I have 2 blogs using WordPress that have very narrow side bars. I love the concept of a ‘tag cloud’ but the themes I’m using just don’t offer the room requires in the side bars.

    Is there a way to call the tag cloud widget into the main content area after the main post?

    Thanks, Brian

    ps I added you to my Blogroll

  7. The only way that I can think of getting a cloud into the end of your post would be to manually create one and then put the code in at the end of the post. You can manually create one here http://tagcrowd.com/ and then paste the code into your page. Interesting problem that I will spend some time researching more.
    Thanks Brian

  9. Hi Brian,

    There is a way to call a function within the loop of your wordpress theme. The tag cloud plugin you are using should have the code to call the function in the documentation included with the plugin. I am using the sensitive tag cloud plugin on my blog and the code is something like this:

    I recommend you read the documentation or visit the plugin homepage. Or if you tell me what plugin you are using for your tag cloud I might have the right code.

    I hope you find this information useful

  12. Nice tips Les. For graphics rather than using flickr, etc. you might want to put them on an underutilized site of your own on a different server – assuming you have one – and then link to them.

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