Right on the heels of the launch of their Blackberry and Android brethren, it looks like iLovers have finally received several updates to the WordPress app–all of them dealing with comment moderation.

(WordPress for iPhone) I’m very excited about this new version which is focused on improved comment moderation including:

• Reply to Comments
• Edit Comments
• Highlighting the new items in the comment list

We hope this release will make the comment experience on the go much more enjoyable and useful.

These latest features should make it easier for bloggers to not only weed out the trolls, flamers and spammers who make a living harassing others, but also help them engage with their vocal audience (which is a good idea if you want to maintain a loyal following).

The ability to edit comments is useful as well, as it will help users modify comments that are NSFW (or Not Safe For Work for you non-geeks out there) or for users who (foolishly) post personal phone numbers in the comment section.

Despite the update, the WordPress iPhone app is still rather lacking when compared against the Blackberry and Android apps (hint: where’s my VideoPress?!) so it looks like I will still have to rely upon BlogPress and Statistics for Wordpress to satisfy my blogging needs.

Update: It looks like WordPress also allows you to create hyper links easily within a post (a feature they had during WordPress 1.0).

Just yesterday I found out about a new MT blog that I expect to be linking to a lot here in the future. Nick at MTJ is bringing Japanese MT development to the English-speaking world. There’s a lot of great MT work being done in Japan, and with Nick’s help we’ll finally be able to showcase some of it here. For example, Nick has recently written about a few new plugins:

• Escape Code and Action Streams — Escape Code makes it easier to display sample code in your entries. And this release of Action Streams brings that plugin to MT5.
• Bypass Dashboard — Let’s you bypass the dashboard when you log in. Particularly useful for people that only have access to one blog.
• AssetArchives — Create a set of archives for your assets. Could be the easiest way yet to create a photo gallery.
• Crypt — Let’s you encrypted the published file.
• System Menu — Gives you a menu for accessing system-level admin pages in MT5. A handy shortcut for those of us that got used to that menu in MT4.

Also, be sure to check out Nick’s coverage of the MT Developers & Designers Conference held recently in Tokyo.

Speaking of plugins, Chad Everett has announced that MT-Notifier 5 is on the horizon. The big change is this version can store templates in the database, which allows for templates to be associated with a context and blog-level templates.

Last week we told you about Maarten Schenk’s wonderful new Movable Tips blog. Here’s a few more posts from his archives:

• Making a search go directly to an entry if there is only one result — This is a really good idea, and easy to do.
• Sorting items that don’t have a ’sort_by’ attribute — I had no idea that MT template variables could be arrays. Maarten shows how to use those arrays to sort anything.
• Using PHP inside Movable Type’s Search Template — This is a problem I’ve had to jump through hoops to solve. Maarten’s solution is a good one.

Finally, Victoria at violasong has some tips for “decruftifying” MT5. Lots of great tips for those about to take the plunge and upgrade.

What have you done with MT lately? Let us know in the comments.

This strategy of guest posting is not only effective for SEO and referral traffic, but it also builds your reputation, brand, and credibility.

If you want to have a successful guest posting campaign, consider these 3 rules.

1. Relevance

Your post should fit the overall flow of the blog.

Read the last couple entries to get an idea of the style and tone of the blogger. Some blogs are very informal while others have a traditional writing style. Some blogs use many images while others don’t use them at all.

One of the best ways to be relevant is to read the previous guest posts on the blog. Look at what they have published before and create a post that is similar.

2. Quality

Create something so good that it can’t be ignored.

About a month ago, I found out that a PageRank7 blog with 1,800 subscribers and 80,000 monthly visitors was looking for guest posts. As you can guess, the blogger had pretty high standards for the content on his site. I started working on a guest post since PR7 links are hard to come by. I came up with a topic but after 3 hours, I realized the post was not going to be good enough so I scrapped it and started a new post. It took me 7 hours to complete. I did a lot of research and wrote four rough drafts to get the post just right.

I sent off the post and the blogger really like it. He published it within a week.

You might balk at the thought of spending hours creating one post, but oftentimes that’s what it will take to get popular bloggers to notice you. Now you may not have to spend 10 hours like I did but don’t underestimate the time and effort it takes to produce quality content.

3. Persistence

The old saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

If your post gets rejected or you don’t get a reply, don’t give up. Send it to another blogger. You worked hard at creating a top-notch post, so someone else will be willing to publish it.

About three weeks ago, I sent a guest post but the blogger said they already had similar content. I thought my content was unique but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I moved on. I did some research and found a blog with better stats. I sent them the guest post and they published it within a week.

For some that includes blogging, which might explain many of the “how do I start a blog” questions that I  receive, as well as all the costs associated with starting one (at least for those who choose to self host their own content).

While there are many excellent blog platforms out there that do not require a person to have a server, for some the price range might be beyond their budget (especially those with monthly plans).

After scouring the internet for more hours than I care to admit, here are four blogging platforms for aspiring probloggers that cost less than $25 a year.

(Note: I based this list on 4 criteria: customization, cost (under $25 which is about $2/month), security and the ability to insert ads)

Blogger

Backed by the muscle of Google, Blogger has become the most popular blogging platform in the world.

Users can easily customize the template (or import their own), as well as host the site upon their own custom domain.

Users can upload up to 1 GB of images as well as video (the latter which thus far has no limit), and supports mobile blogging (especially on the iPhone).

Price: Free, although users can pay $5-$20/year for 20GB-80GB of image space.

Live Journal

Considered one of the oldest blogging platforms around, Live Journal has an interesting history which includes being acquired (and then sold off) by Six Apart.

While Live Journal does offer a basic account for those who embrace all things free, the platform really only begins to shine once users take advantage of its premium features.

These include the ability to customize the layout, as well as insert ads (like Adsense) upon the blog.

Price: Premium features costs $25/year, although users who embrace automatic drafts will only pay $19.95/year.

OnSugar

Powered by Drupal, OnSugar made what was once regarded by many as a CMS for geeks to an elegant blog platform for the masses.

Users of OnSugar can customize the template of the site, as well as use Getty images without the threat of being sued (provided you maintain the onsugar domain name).

OnSugar (to my knowledge) does not offer a premium feature of any kind, although that may change once the platform becomes more popular.

Price: Free

Tumblr

Sometimes seen as a cross between Twitter and a traditional blog, Tumblr embraces a “keep it simple” approach when it comes to blogging (or microblogging as the platform blurs the line here).

Despite its simple layout, Tumblr natively supports video, audio and imaging uploading, making it a full featured blog platform that (in some ways) rivals the previous three mentioned above.

Price: Free

Any others?

If you know of any other sites, feel free to enlighten us in the comment section below.

As far as the sites above, all of them allow users to blog upon a custom domain, which should help users short on cash compete against those who choose to host their own content.

Right after WordPress launched their Android app, the WP crew finished the final touches on their Blackberry app that rivals the one they built upon Google’s mobile OS.

Somewhere in the dark my iPhone cries out in jealousy.

(Blackberry for WordPress) So what’s new in version 1.0:

• Ability to record and upload videos from your phone. We now support both 3gp and 3g2 formats on older generation BlackBerry devices.
• Introducing support for the HD video service VideoPress.
• Streamlined UI and functionality relating to comment moderation
• Overall enhancements to the speed and stability of the app

WordPress’s inclusion of VideoPress within the app may signal that the company is taking mobile video blogging seriously, and may help it to distinguish itself when compared against its rivals (like Squarespace, Typepad and Joomla).

Whether or not this translates into video support for iPhone fans is yet to be seen, although for now it’s good to see those loyal to the Blackberry brand finally have a decent blogging app (although I will admit that I am now jealous of my Blackberry buds).

Blackberry fans can download the app from the Blackberry App World, which (like its mobile siblings) is priced at the premium price of free. ;-)

(Hat tip: Mashable)

After stumbling upon signs that WordPress was creating an Android app earlier this year, Mashable broke the news that the app has officially entered Google’s playground, thanks in part to Dan (from wpToGo).

While the WordPress team has created a video highlighting many impressive features (note: reply to comments within the app?! Dude!), what’s really interesting is WordPress’s plans to add video support and native stats within the app itself.

(Dan Roundhill) It’s been a busy few months for me. wpToGo has grown up and become the official WordPress client for Android! I added a lot of new features to it including creating and managing pages, replying to comments and a lot more! I’m also very excited to open up the app to the developer community to make the app super awesome! Video upload? Stats viewing? UI Sexiness? All should be coming

(Note: Emphasis Mine)

By baking in video uploading and stats within the Android app, WordPress may have just created the most powerful mobile blogging app ever–at least across the 3 of the hottest platforms (Apple, Android and Blackberry smart phones).

In order for iPhone lovers (like me) to duplicate the same functionality upon our iDevices, we not only have to download the official WordPress app, but two other third party apps as well (BlogPress and Statistics for WordPress).

Although there is still no word whether WordPress will release video support for their iPhone app, their entrance upon Android should help make the mobile Google OS a little more relevant and may help convince rivals (like Squarespace) to throw their hat into the Android ring as well.

Have you ever tried to cook a steak without checking the time, temperature and (most importantly) the steak itself?

As silly as that sounds, the same is true when it comes to analyzing your blogs traffic and stats, which can provide invaluable feedback on the health of your blog.

For those fortunate enough to have an iPhone, here are four apps you should consider owning.

Analytics App (price: $5.99)

If you are a Google Analytics freak (note: I say that in love) then you will enjoy this app.

Although Analytics App does not have the greatest user interface (when compared to rivals like BAM Analytics), it does offer one feature that you will not find elsewhere on the app store–the famous “Today” stats, allowing me to view stats that happened today, rather than glimpsing at yesterday’s traffic.

Analytics App supports multiple accounts and despite the steep price, is worth every penny.

iEarn ($1.99)

Believe or not this is NOT my favorite AdSense App (truth be told SenseEarn is).

However, with iPhone password cracking slowly gaining popularity, I have made it a general rule that all financial apps require an “in app” password for security reasons, a feature iEarn has (that it’s rivals do not).

Security aside, iEarn does contain a few interesting features, the main one being the ability to see your earnings in different currencies.

While basic compared to other apps, the developer is promising to add extra features (RSS, search and mobile earnings) which should make it more appealing for stat geeks (like me).

Stat Fever ($0.99)

Created by Paranoid Ferret Productions, Stat Fever is in my opinion one of the best apps for FeedBurner addicts.

Stat Fever allows you to analyze your subscribers via graphs and numbers (the former which I’m a huge fan of).

While not much has changed since I last reviewed this app (which is unfortunate), Stat Fever still retains its crown as one of the most elegant and powerful FeedBurner apps thus far.

Statistics for WordPress ($2.99)

For those of you sporting the WP brand (and fear Google “knowing” everything about your blog), Statistics for WordPress is a perfect alternative to Google Analytics, and perhaps has the best user interface as far as analytics apps go.

What I like about this app is that it supports multi-touch, allowing you to compare different data points (which is useful if you’re trying to spot a trend).

Any others?

To my sorrow I was unable to find apps supporting a few other analytical apps or ad networks (i.e. for Yahoo! Publisher, Pheedo, Sitemeter, Quantcast, etc.),  although hopefully more will appear (unless they are all holding out for the upcoming iPad).

• Corrected category code for sending all comment notifications.
• Corrected ordering of permissions for widget installation.
• Fixed template tag name in widget.

Licensed users can download that update now.

Over at Code Monkey Ramblings, Mike has written a tutorial on generating shortcodes in MT or Melody. Besides showing you how to create shortcodes — reusable text replacement tags — Mike’s tutorial is also a great entry-level lesson on writing MT plugins.

Finally, former Six Apart Europe employee Maarten Schenk has started a blog of Movable Type tips. He’s already got a bunch of great content posted. We’ll cover more of Maarten’s posts in the future, but today I just want to highlight a few:

* Using Movable Type tags inside other Movable Type tags – This is a common problem people have as their learning just what MT is capable of.
* Integrating Google maps into Movable Type, without using plugins – Slick use of Custom Fields to pass a location to Google’s Maps API.
* Why you shouldn’t edit Movable Type’s database directly – Maarten gives a brief explanation of why deleting things from the database is a Very Bad Thing.

What have you done with MT lately? Let us know in the comments.

Getting quality backlinks is the best competitive advantage you can get in SEO. Backlinks are a major part of the search engines’ algorithms and it’s much harder to copy someone’s backlinks than their keywords.

You can focus on keywords but keywords are easy to implement. Once a webmaster figures out that they are important, he can look at the free keyword tools, find relevant keywords, and then add on their website. Compare that process to building links on quality sites.

That’s why the search engines place a lot of value to backlinks on their algorithms. With the early search engines, you could just place keywords on your site and you would rank pretty quickly. Savvy SEOs realized this and created many low quality sites that dominated the search results. Google became the best search engine by focusing more on links instead of keywords on a site. This focus helped Google create search results filled with more quality sites than their competitors.

It’s not just the quantity of links that today’s modern search engines look at. Quality of links is much more important. In fact, if you get too many low quality links in proportion to your other links, you could get penalized and lose your rankings. That’s the main reason I often talk about quality sites.

Therefore, we need to figure out what quality means to the search engines. I gave the following metrics in the previous post:

• PageRank
• Number of backlinks
• Number of links from unique domains
• Age
• Traffic from popular keywords

These numbers aren’t perfect but they do give a good picture of the quality of a site from the search engine’s perspective. Once you’ve found some quality sites, you can apply that knowledge. Here are some common ways:

Guest posting: I’ve written that guest posting is the best SEO method for bloggers. You can maximize your guest posts by sending them to quality blogs.

Link requests: At the beginning of this month, I wrote that the key to successful link requests is researching sites, figuring out the type of content they link to, and then creating that content. Once you’ve done those steps, you can confidently ask for a link. You can increase the effectiveness of your link requests by sending them to quality sites.

Reciprocal links: Getting reciprocal links is not a powerful strategy by any means. Still, it can give you a small boost in the rankings. But the most important thing it can do is let the search engines associate you with quality sites. Of course, for this to happen, you need to know which sites are the quality ones.

Buying sites: This application is not as common as the others. But if you ever find yourself in the position to buy a site, it can be very profitable to buy a site with a lot of authority. Also, because not every webmaster focuses on keywords, there are many sites with good links but poor onpage keyword use. Ycan quickly improve the search traffic of these sites by doing keyword research and including those keywords in strategic locations like the title tags.

Fast forward towards today and one will discover Friendfeed to be mostly vacant save for the presence of super geeks (like Scoble).

For those of you who still refuse to forsake Twitter’s former rival, you may want to check out Freshfeed, an iPhone app created by Palaapp.com.

Priced at $2.99, Freshfeed allows users to not only post images into their Friendfeed stream, but also insert audio as well (and thus far seems to be the only app that does this).

While there are about a dozen Friendfeed apps available (many of them free), Freshfeed seems to be the only one that is still under active development.

Although Friendfeed’s ultimate fate is uncertain (as Facebook has yet to announce any plans to terminate the service), as long as the site remains alive, I’ll be Friendfeeding with Freshfeed–at least until someone comes out with something better. ;-)