ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

I’m cutting edge here, y’all. By cutting edge, I mean I happened upon IntenseDebate a few months ago and have been beta testing the heck out of their new WordPress plugin, which has some SWEET features that are not offered by their competitors.  So you blogger peoples out there should be thrilled to see IntenseDebate acquired recently by Automattic, the outfit that runs WordPress.  There will soon be even better integration between ID and WordPress and I think the plugin I’ve been testing is the core of this purchase - it’s sweet to be in on something that millions of other bloggers aren’t.

On another note, I LOVE seeing success stories like this go down.  Michael Koenig, the ID support guy, is perhaps one of the nicest people I’ve “met” online - he’s been great in relation to ID support and has taken the time to drop me a personal email during the loss of my grandmother. I really appreciate the attention to detail, willingness to get to know their customers and listen to bloggers, and dedication to creating a better product.  IntenseDebate, with this new plugin, is THE best comment system in WordPress without a doubt.  The trick is getting people to comment on my blog now. :)

Congratulations to Jon and Michael, and the rest of the team.  I love it when people roughly my age succeed at starting and selling a business. I’m sure that the rest of you WordPress users will see IntenseDebate become more popular and an even more awesome comment system in the years to come.

Congrats, guys!

Colin

I recently joined a starting meetup group of bloggers in Atlanta - the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup… It’s an interesting group with a wide range of bloggers, from beginners to people who have been blogging a while, to people like me who start and stop without notice.  Last time we were given homework - write a post about our blogging platform.  So, for those of you who either blog or want to blog, here’s my plug of WordPress and why I like it.

WordPress makes it easy to start blogging.  Whether you’re using WordPress.com - hosted blog solutions (yourblog.wordpress.com) or WordPress.org if you’re hosting it on your own server, WordPress is easy to use. WordPress.org is VERY easy to install (famous for the 5 minute install) and it’s quite the platform beyond that.

WordPress has TONS of plugins. From comment systems (IntenseDebate is the way to go) to stat counters to SEO optimization to spam filters, WordPress has got it going on. Frankly, you can find almost any plugin to modify your WordPress install into a photoblog, podcast, or any other popular blog format.  I think you should have the following plugins, at least… StatCounter, IntenseDebate (currently in private beta), FeedBurner (RSS feed tracker), Akismet (spam killer), and MyPageOrder (lets you order which pages show up in navigation where). Beyond that, make your own stuff up - but if you need it, it’s probably out there.

I think WordPress makes it easy to blog. Easy to write. Auto saved drafts. Always updating, always purchasing new technologies that make blogging easier. And it’s not THAT incredibly hard to modify themes, which, by the way, are readily available… There are billions of free varations out there.  Ok, maybe not billions, but a bunch.

So go start a blog. The trick is consistency, something you should know by now that I’m not good at.

Let me know if you need WP help.

Colin

IntenseDebate is the comment system I employ here at ColinAke.com - if you’ve commented on a post you’ve probably noticed it.  I love IntenseDebate - it threads comments, emails people and brings them back to the site, and improves the comment experience.

I’m currently involved in testing their new WordPress plugin. It’s got some kick-butt features that make it VERY attractive for bloggers, and though I’m not at liberty to disclose those features, let me say that if you haven’t switched over to IntenseDebate, you’ll want to when this new plugin comes out.

In the meantime, comment on as many posts of mine as you can and see if you can figure out some of the new features for yourself. ;)

One of the things I like about IntenseDebate is their great customer service. Michael Koenig is their support dude and is probably one of the easiest support guys to get a hold of.  He’s on Twitter (so is ID) - he’s on Email.  He’s really helpful and generally fast to respond (He does have to sleep some - he’s not superhuman). Anyways, if you run a blog and want a better way to manage your comments, check out IntenseDebate

Colin

If you haven’t yet noticed, I’ve got a different comment engine than most other WordPress blogs.  It’s called IntenseDebate - and it’s pretty much the bomb digity.

IntenseDebate replaces the original comment system and provides some real value for bloggers.  How?  For one, it has profiles with avatars and reputation - giving your community the feeling they belong.  This may not seem big on a personal site like this one, but on larger sites it’s a plus.  Secondly, users can easily subscribe to RSS feeds on comments or strings of comments, staying involved.  Thirdly, IntenseDebate will email a commenter when someone responds to their comment - this drives traffic BACK to the site and encourages conversation.

What does it do for the user?  It helps keep them connected to topics they’re interested on.  It helps keep track of who responded to which comment with nested or threaded comments - it’s easy to see who responded to who at a glance.

There are some sweet widgets and such, but it’s a really easy, painless system to intsall.  And if you have any trouble, you’re not up a creek - everyone I’ve dealt with is really quick to respond and very nice.

Check it out if you have a blog - it’s installable on almost every popular blog system.  And if you’re just a reader, comment on this post for me and let me know what you think about the system - you’re the one that matters.

Take care,

Colin