I recently decided that I wanted to place three sets of Google ads side-by-side on one of my WordPress blogs, but try as I might I couldn’t get them to line up correctly. I tried several configurations of DIVs and TABLES, but nothing seemed to work…until I tried the following simple snippet of code:

<div align=”center”>
Code for first ad block
&nbsp;
Code for second ad block
&nbsp;
Code for third ad block
</div>

It worked lik a charm. If you wish to display just two ad blocks, simply remove the third line of ad code from the snippet.

If you’re like most bloggers you want your blog to be visited by as many people as possible, and getting all of your posts indexed by the major search engines is the most effective way to drive traffic to your blog. To make that task easier, Google, Bing and Yahoo have agreed to use XML sitemaps to aid them in indexing as many pages of a website as possible.

Normally a webmaster would create an XML sitemap file for his/her website in accordance with the standards set forth, upload the completed file to the server, and then “tell” the search engines how to find it. The sitemap file itself can be assembled manually (not an easy thing to do if a site is large) or by using an XML sitemap creation script of some type. The problem is, every time a new page or blog post is added, the XML sitemap file must be recreated and uploaded all over again.

Thankfully, if you have a WordPress blog there is an outstanding plugin that automates the entire process for you after the initial setup is performed. The Google XML Sitemapsplugin takes care of all the drudge work for you. After you install and configure it, it takes over and makes sure every post and page you add to your blog gets added to the XML sitemap, which it then automatically uploads to the server. The plugin also pings the search engines to let them know that the sitemap has been updated. What a great plugin!

If you have never used an XML sitemap before or if you have been updating and uploading it manually, you’re going to LOVE this plugin. If you want to add it to your WordPress blog, you’ll find it right here.

Addinga new category in WordPress is easy, but changing the “default” category and removing the ”Uncategorized” category can be a pain if you don’t know how to do it. Well, here is how you do it:

1 – Decide which category you wish to designate as the new “default” category. If the “Uncategorized” category is the only category you have, you’ll have to add at least one new category before proceeding on to the next step.

2 – Choose the “Writing” option on the “Settings” menu.

3 – In the drop-down box labeled “Default Post Category”, select the category that you wish to use as the new default category.

4 – Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

Now that you have selected a new “default” category, you can completely remove the “Uncategorized” category as follows:

1 – Under the “Posts” menu, click “Categories”.

2 – In the list of categories on the right-hand side of the screen, check the box beside “Uncategorized”.

3 – In the “Bulk Actions” drop-down box, click “Delete”, then click “Apply”.

Note: When you delete the “Uncategorized” category, all posts currently filed under that category will be moved automatically into the new default category.

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform out there, and for good reason. Besides being extremely easy to use, it is also quite flexible in what you can do with it. If all you want to do is run a personal blog on which you can share little tidbits about your life with your family and friends, all you need to do is open a free account at WordPress.com and get right to it. And if you plan on doing some serious blogging, you can open your own web hosting account and create your own stand-alone WordPress installation by downloading the core WordPress files from WordPress.org. Either way, you can personalize your blog and make it look pretty much the way you want it to.

One of the most powerful aspects of blogging with WordPress is the ability to use plugins to add functionality and spiff up the site. There is a plugin for just about every function there is related to blogging, and here is my list of must-have plugins for the serious blogger:

1 – Login Lockdown- This simple plugin makes it a lot harder for a hacker to break into your blog’s admin account by using software to try numerous login / password combinations as a brute force method of taking over your blog. After a set number of failed login attempts (set by you), the login form is disabled for a given length of time (which is also set by you). This effectively renders automated scripts that try to guess your login info ineffective.

2 – Remove My Version- By default the code for every page on your WordPress blog contains a line that tells the world which version of WordPress you’re running. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, it isn’t. When a hacker finds a security vulnerability in a particular WordPress version, he simply uses Google to find a bunch of blogs running that version by searching for that line in the code. Then he attacks the blogs that show up in the search results. The “Remove My Version” plugin does just that, making it more difficult for hackers to identify your blog as one that can be easily attacked.

3 – WP Super Cache- When a WordPress blog receives a burst of traffic, all those hits on the WordPress files and MySQL database can reduce the speed of your blog to that of a lethargic turtle. WP Super Cache helps alleviate this problem by storing static HTML versions of your blog’s pages, then loading them into your visitors’ browers instead of brand new dynamic pages that the server must create on the fly. The result is a faster site that can handle much larger amounts of traffic without crashing.

4 – Dagon Design Form Mailer- Contact forms are handy for letting your visitors email you without having to publish your email address on your blog. They are also useful for gathering information from your visitors. There are a number of good form generator plugins available, but the one I use on all my blogs and recommend is this one from Dagon Design.

5 – Ohz’ WordPress Admin Drop Down Menu- The WordPress admin interface is pretty straightforward, but this nifty plugin makes it even easier to understand and use. Give it a try and you’ll probably never want to give it up.