BlogConsulting.com - Movable Type and WordPress Blog Consulting

User to Blog Association in Movable Type

2009-10-29T03:52:54Z

Today, while working with one of our corporate customers I was asked to provide a report that lists all their Movable Type 4 users and the blogs those users are associated with.

Unfortunately Movable Type 4 doesn’t provide any type of reporting functionality, especially in the form of CVS file that can be imported into Excel for further manipulation.

So the solution was to use phpMyAdmin that comes pre-installed with most blog hosting accounts, and create a query that would display exactly what we need. After about 30 minutes of studying Movable Type 4 tables I was able to come up with the following query that does exactly what we need. Since I wasn’t able to find anything like that on Google, I decided to make the code available to anyone with a large Movable Type installation, looking to see users to blogs association.

SELECT `mt_author`.`author_name`, `mt_author`.`author_nickname`, `mt_author`.`author_email`, `mt_blog`.`blog_name`, `mt_blog`.`blog_site_url` FROM mt_author, mt_blog, mt_association WHERE ((`mt_author`.`author_status` = 1) AND (`mt_author`.`author_auth_type` = 'MT') AND (`mt_author`.`author_id` = `mt_association`.`association_author_id`) AND (`mt_blog`.`blog_id` = `mt_association`.`association_blog_id`)) ORDER BY author_name;

I hope this solves someone’s problem!

FirmDot is now BlogConsulting.com

2009-10-26T17:46:23Z

Dear FirmDot Customer,

We’re excited to announce a new name in blog consulting — namely, BlogConsulting.com. We’re adopting the new name to better reflect who we are: your partner of choice for understanding how to get the most out of your blog.

What does this mean for you? It doesn’t change the way we do business, or what you can expect from us. You can still access our site at FirmDot.com, in addition to BlogConsulting.com. Our invoices and other communications now read BlogConsulting.com, but you can continue to pay us the same way you always have. We’re working on a new Web site to introduce the name, along with a suite of new services to better serve our customers, and we’ll notify you when it is available.

We appreciate your business, and we look forward to providing you with even better service as BlogConsulting.com.

How to add Google Analytics to your WordPress Blog

2009-06-10T22:42:05Z

Many of you have asked us how to add Google Analytics to your WordPress Blog. Google Analytics offers a host of compelling features and benefits for everyone from senior executives and advertising and marketing professionals to site owners and content developers. Google Analytics has all the features you’d expect from a high-end analytics offering. It also provides tightly integrated AdWords support, so you can view AdWords ROI metrics without having to import cost data or add keyword tracking codes.

Please see our video tutorial below on you can add it your WordPress powered blog.

Monetize Your Blog

2009-04-24T20:06:30Z

Blogging is big business these days, with some bloggers reporting six-figure or even million-dollar incomes. There are a number of ways that these bloggers earn such large paychecks, and the best know how to do it in a way that won’t scare off readers.

Announcing our new custom blog service called Monetize Your Blog. For a small fee we will help you integrate Google AdSense onto your blog so you can start making money off your blog traffic. It’s that easy, and we have years experience monetizing blogs.

Feel free to contact us for a free quote and receive a reply within minutes.

Use Your Own Domain Name

2009-01-15T02:28:57Z

The subject says it all. It is very important for you to use your own domain name with your blog instead of using one that you get with some free blog services such as Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and other less popular blog platforms.

I will explain why it’s important. Let’s assume for a moment that you decided to start a blog, and instead of going the “right” way from beginning, and using your own domain name on your own blog hosting account, you opted to use a free blogging service such as wordpress.com or blogger.com. Your new blog address is you.wordpress.com or you.blogspot.com

One year forward. Your blog is all over Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. Your blog is getting thousands of visitors per month. You decided to quit your full time job and run your blog full time because you are now making a living off your blog by running Google Adsense.

Everything is great, right? Well, not really. Let me throw a couple of what if’s:

1. What if wordpress.com or blogspot.com decided to shut their business, or change their domain name? In an instant you can lose all your traffic that you’ve generated over the years, because you don’t have control over the parent domain name. Time to go back and look for a full time job again.

2. What if you decided to switch to a different platform like Movable Type, or decided to get your own blog hosting account for one reason or another (i.e. to get more control and really grow your blog) – now you have to change your blog address because you can no longer use you.wordpress.com or you.blogspot.com, and all the links and blog traffic you’ve built over the years can be lost. Your blog has a new address now!

I can go on and on with reasons why you should invest $10/year to get your own domain name, and link it to your blog from the very beginning to avoid having issues I mentioned above, and then some.

If you are using a free service such as Blogger, TypePad or WordPress and don’t have your own domain name yet – feel free to contact us for assistance and we’ll help you get a domain name and map it to your free blog hosting account before it’s too late.

Next week I will discuss why I think it’s better to start off with a paid service instead of free.

New FirmDot.com Design

2008-12-31T20:30:59Z

After a couple of months of hard work, I’m happy to announce the release of the new FirmDot.com website / blog design. The site is proudly powered by WordPress 2.7 platform, which makes blogging and website updating a breeze.

Why did we choose WordPress to power our company site? Simple – WordPress 2.7 comes with a lot of functionality that we’re taking the full advantage of; software and plugin updating are really simple; I really like the simplicity of it – less is more.

I see more people and businesses switching to WordPress in 2009, and FirmDot is here to help for those who need assistance.

Your feedback about the new design is very welcomed!

Movable Type 4.23 Security Upgrade

2008-12-27T04:04:48Z

Six Apart just released Movable Type 4.23. This mandatory security release is recommended for all users, and fixes a number of bugs in 4.21. As always it’s recommended that you upgrade your Movable Type to avoid software compromises and other issues.

There was no Movable Type 4.22. It’s a long story. But you didn’t miss anything.

If you require assistance upgrading to Movable Type 4.23 please contact us for our blog services.

WordPress 2.7 Upgrade

2008-12-27T04:01:46Z

WordPress is planning to release a new version of their software, version 2.7, sometime on or around November 10th, 2008.

As you may know, WordPress developers have been working behind the scenes on the design and development of version 2.7 of the WordPress software that powers your blog. The administration interface you’re used to will be changing as a result of your feedback and the results of the usability testing we conducted over the summer. It looks absolutely great!

Version 2.7 is due to release officially on November 10.

I strongly recommend upgrading your WordPress to take advantage of the new dashboard as well as all the bells and whistles that come with it.

If you need some help upgrading your WordPress 2.7 please feel free to contact our blog services team.

Blog Services for Realtors

2008-12-27T04:05:15Z

I just wanted to announce our newly redesigned website – ResidenceDot.com where we offer blog services for real estate agents and brokers.

The company is offering Realtor blog services to Realtors without a blog, as well as agents and brokers that already have a blog and might need some help customizing or redesigning one.

Blogs Explained section really demonstrates how important having a blog is, especially for real estate agents / brokers.

Check it out!

BlogWorld and New Media Expo

2008-12-27T04:05:45Z

For those who don’t know, the 2008 BlogWorld & New Media Expo will take place September 20-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

BlogWorld features the largest blogging conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology and internet-savvy business. If you are currently blogging, vlogging, podcasting, producing other forms of new media content, entering the new media industry, or just want to know what the blogosphere is all about, then you need to be at the most comprehensive blogging convention–BlogWorld & New Media Expo.

Six Apart (MovableType.com) will have a booth there, and so are some of our customers I work directly with. Looking forward to seeing you all there and talking about blog services.

Happy blogging.