In 2.7 the Plugin browser was introduced that allows you to browse and install plugins right from your WordPress control panel. With version 2.8 of the ever popular WordPress platform the WordPress team has added a theme browser that lets you search and install theme right from your admin panel. For those that are a little bit technically challenged this is a great option for finding and installing Themes without having to use an FTP program.

Next the sidebar widgets section has been revamped giving more control and flexibility to your sidebar widgets. You can organize and customize all your sidebars in one screen now and the new java script makes it even easier than before to drag and edit your widgets in the sidebars. You can even drag a widget to the inactive widgets section and retain your saved setting to use later.

Take a look at the video for all the other WordPress coolness in the new 2.8 update.

Like anything you have to revise your guidelines. Commenting is no different. If your getting hundreds of comments a day you may have to change the way you approve your comments as to not take up too much time.

So how do you moderate your comments on your blog?

1. Why are you starting the blog? This question is important, because starting a blog just for the purpose of traffic will not get you the traffic you want. Blogs take time to establish a place on the Internet and a blog full of self linking posts will not get you ranked by the search engines.

2. Do you have the time? Blogging takes time. Many businesses believe that a few words here or there will do the trick. That is simply not the case. A blogger for a business needs to keep the blogs current and up to date on a daily basis. There are no vacations from blogging, no Saturday’s off. The more the blog is updated with REAL information, the higher the ranking will soon become.

3. Do you know how to write for the Internet? Writing for the Internet is not like writing memo to a colleague or a note to your friend. There are rules and tricks that help make the content relevant and useful to the blogs traffic rating. If you can not write for the web, who can?

4. Do you know what blogs are for? Knowing the art of the blog can help a business thrive. But, when a business wants to start a blog and does not have any previous knowledge about blogging, the results can actually harm the mother site. Learn about blogs first and start the blog later.

5. Are you ready? Blogging is a job. You already have a full time job. When you are ready to start that blog, taken into consideration the real time you have and the real knowledge you can provide to the reader. You business blog will need to give the reader information from an expert level on your business topic. Can you do that alone? Or, do you need to hire someone to blog for you?

Think heartily about that blog before linking it to your main business site. The blog needs to be just as professional and helpful as the site is to the visitor. If not, the blog may hurt the business more than help it!

One thing that has always helped me is to take a drive. Nowadays this might seem to be environmentally irresponsible, but when the words just won’t drop, nothing is more helpful to me than a drive. A teacher of mine once told me that the method of performing a task that you really are not consciously doing helps to clear your mind.

Now, I don’t mean to say that I was not conscious while driving but as I whipped around those well-known corners, my mind was in a sort of hypnotic state. Does this sound a little crazy? Too bad. It works.

Other writers have told me that they turn on their favorite music, and blot out all other thoughts. Some tap dance, take a walk, or do deep breathing exercises.

One rather eccentric writer friend of mine told me that he would go to the refrigerator, stare lovingly at the contents, and then go back to his writing chores. God knows why this works. But, it did, for him. I think every writer has their own way of writing.

And in the end of it, we all find out own way of kicking the block. No matter how weird, how unique, how totally over the edge, writer’s block can not keep a good writer down. We will find a way around those bricks and come out fighting for those next few words.