4 Wordpress Plugins to Make Your Blog a Fast Mean Machine

Blogging Tips For the Fastest Blog on the Racecourse

Wordpress Plugins and FireFox Add-Ons

This blog is always a work-in-progress.  Since I switched to Wordpress, I’ve become plug-in happy – there are so many Wordpress plugins that can enhance a site’s performance.

If you’re thinking of starting a blog (or perhaps are already an established blogger) and may be wondering whether you should be using Blogger or Wordpress – Trisha and Kim from Top Mom Blogger offer a great explanation of the differences.

Should you make the decision to switch to Wordpress – be sure to sign up for the Wordpress Orientation Classes offered by Kelly McCausey.

I’d like to share a few plug-ins that I’ve recently added, that make my blog a smooth-running machine (usually.)

1) WordPress Gzip – This is a plugin that essentially compresses and zips the text on your pages.  If you’re familiar with Microsoft Word, I make use of the “shrink to fit” button quite often when I’m preparing documents.  It allows me to fit that last sentence or two onto one page.

Find at: GZIP

From the site:

I’ve found that letting WordPress gzip pages significantly improves performance, typically slashing the size of the text to a fourth. For my home page, that’s a 30% reduction of total page size—including images, ads, etc. A 30% reduction in bandwidth is nothing to sniff at.

2)  WP Super Cache saves your recently viewed pages, allowing them to be accessed more quickly by readers.  There’s also the ability for you to manually clear the cache, or to set functions as to when it should be cleared.

WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly.

Find at: WP Super Cache

3)  Link Cloaker – If you monetize your blog and have affiliate links of any type that aren’t cloaked, you may be losing out on affiliate commissions.  It’s happened to me in the past.   If you don’t cloak your links, they’ll show up in the URL whenever someone clicks over to your hop page.

This Wordpress plugin is an excellent add-on that not only cloaks your links, but tracks the click-throughs to see how each affiliate link is performing.

Find at: Link Cloaker

4) TTFTitles WordPress plugin enables me to have my own font listed on my post titles.  Right now, I’m using the Miama font, which matches the font on the header of Moomette’s Magnificents.

This plugin lets you use images to replace the titles of your posts, thus circumventing the problem of guessing what fonts your end-users might have installed.

Eve, from Designing With Eve clued me into this wp plug-in.  Eve, a fellow WAHM, has been designing websites since 1998 and has a degree in computer programming and design.   She recently opened up her new design services company and will be redesigning my recipe blog for me – Moomettesgram’s Favorite Recipes – so watch for my announcement when it’s up and running!  Be sure to check out Eve’s design porfolio!

Find at: TTFTitles

5)  WiseStamp – Lastly, this isn’t a Wordpress plugin tip – but be sure to check out the new Fire Fox browser addon that enables you to customize your email signature by adding your social networking buttons, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and Friendfeed to it!

Hat Tip to: Blogging Basics 101

If you found these tips helpful, please let me know!  Happy Blogging!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Blog Hop Time Again at Friday Follow

More Followers!

It’s the 4th Friday Follow Blog Hop going on!

Spread the word about Friday Follow by grabbing the button for your blog and come celebrate again every Friday.  Feel free to also send out a tweet, blog, stumble or share the news in your own special way!

On Fridays this meme is a great way to meet new friends and get more blog followers! Welcome to the second Follow Friday Celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades!   They invite you to join them every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

• Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.
• Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.
• Follow as many blogs as you’d like to have followers
• Comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow
• Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Pepsi Refresh Project: Giving Back to Community Projects

Help Make Communities Better

Pepsi can help make their – and your friends’ and families’ – ideas happen with the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Our family has always been pet-friendly.  We had a purebred Black Lab before the girls were born and as they were growing up.  Now I have a grand-dog, also a Black Labrador.

My own Lab was leash-trained, and didn’t roam freely, even in our own backyard.  The grand-dog, however, was trained off-leash, feels quite at ease responding to commands, and is quite social with other dogs and people.

Through combined efforts and donations, my town recently opened a dog park. Dog Parks are becoming more and more popular. Not only  are they fun for our dogs but , but are also a great place for humans to interact. They provide a place for dogs to run off leash and socialize with other dogs, as well as allowing for owners to socialize at the same time.

Unfortunately not all communities have Dog Parks available for our canine friends.

I’ve been asked to let you know that through the Pepsi Refresh Project, Pepsi will give away more than $20 million dollars to fund projects – both big and small – that help make communities better. The company invested significant resources, and opted not to advertise at the Superbowl this year, in order to support meaningful social engagement.

Through grass-roots community effort, our town has also upgraded a local playground to make it more handicapped accessible as well as added new lights for the football field at the high school.  Neighboring towns were able to build a skateboard park, and another one built new sports fields for youth lacrosse, baseball and football programs.

Pepsi wants to hear what needs they can help fulfill for you and your community.

Each month, you have the opportunity to submit a project in one of six categories:

• health
• arts & culture
• food & shelter
• the planet
• neighborhood
• education.

At the end of the month, Pepsi will post the top submissions on their website and let the public vote on who should win grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 (totaling up to $1.3 million dollars!)

Lauren Hebart, Mom and CMO of Sparking Brands at Pepsi was interviewed and states:

Why is Pepsi Refresh Unique?
The program is unique because it puts the power in the hands of the consumer. Individuals submit their ideas and then the nation votes on the idea that moves them the most. This is done in a very ground up way. Essentially, we’ve democratized the process.

As a Mom what types of lessons do you hope children learn by getting involved in community projects?
Parents want to instill good values in their children and encourage them to act on their ideas and beliefs. As a Mom myself, I’ve shared this program with other moms in my community and have found that it sparks a cord with everyone. I’ve also seen my own children get very excited about it. I think it just feels right to them

If you and your family have a fantastic idea for an improvement you’d like to see in your community, submit it for consideration for the March round of grants.

When I do drink soda, Pepsi is my beverage of choice.  You can connect with the Pepsi Refresh program via Twitter (@pepsi) or on Facebook

Vote for your favorite submissions for February’s grants at RefreshEverything.com

There are many creative, fun and unique meaningful ways to give back, and Mom Central thinks it’s fantastic that Pepsi wants to help.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Pepsi Refresh. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Land a Job With These 9 Job Search Tips

Career Choices

Each day news sites such as CNN, or MSNB, along with local and national print newspapers are featuring articles regarding unemployment figures in the USA.

You or a family member might even be out of work yourself.  We all know people who are unemployed or underemployed. Unless you already know absolutely what field you’d like to work in, do some research on the alternative career choices.

Start a list of potential career choices.  Explore the possibility of turning your hobby into a career.  Are you a wine connoisseur?  Recently I did a post about how I’m a new aficionado of Ice Wine that my brother helped me to discover.  You might look into wine jobs. Then thoroughly investigate each one and find out what the job tasks are and what training and/or skills are necessary.  You should be able to narrow your list down the more information you discover.

Searching for a new job is becoming a common occurrence these days what with all the layoffs from companies downsizing or going out of business.

However,  searching for a job doesn’t need to be as painful as you might envision it, and there are definitely things you can do to make it go smoother.  Here are some job searching tips:

Treat job hunting like a full time job.

Work on your search every day, just as you would a job.  Looking for a job is a full time job. If you need to, get dressed in work attire, sit down in your home office, and get to work making phone calls, searching online, networking, sending out your resume and cover letter, etc.

Don’t wait to find a job.

Even if you’ve been given a nice severance package, don’t procrastinate.  You don’t know how long it’ll take to find a job and you don’t want to run out of benefits before you nail a new position.  If you have experience in the beverage jobs field as a barista, research transferring those marketing talents into the coffee jobs field.

You might find that you need to take some courses at a local community college to get yourself up to speed in your industry, and the sooner you find this out in your job search, the better off you’ll be.

Create an e-resume.

If you make a master e-resume, then you can personalize and change it to match different job positions that you’re applying for. It’s easier to do if you can work off a master copy rather than recreate a new resume each time. Likewise, you can do the same for your cover letter.

Educate yourself.

Learn as much as you can about the company you’re applying to so you can showcase your knowledge and gear your resume and interview answers around the company’s mission statement, business direction,  and  philosophies.

Get online and offline help.

Don’t be afraid to use all the resources available to you such as resume posting services, headhunters, job search emails, job boards, career counselors, State Department of Labor, etc.

Have your reference info handy.

Have a paper with all pertinent facts – names of at least 3 references; the companies they’re employed by; their business titles; plus email addresses and phone numbers.  When you’re going through the interview process, give your references a heads-up that they may be contacted shortly.  That way they don’t get a phone call out of the blue and they’ll be prepared to speak to your strengths.

Research and target your market.

Find out where the jobs are in your market.  Is it a growing field with new opportunities that might interest you?  Is one company merging with another? Is the current CEO retiring?  Do your research and keep abreast of current events and go after the position you want.

Spread your net.

Tell everyone from friends, neighbors, past co-workers, to fellow church and organization members that you’re looking.  Use social media like LinkedIn to list your credentials and resume.  Network with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  Many people have found jobs via Twitter by simply tweeting what their area of expertise is and asking people to “retweet” their message.

Have a plan.

Start a spreadsheet to record what you’ve done and where you are with your searching.  That way you wont’ duplicate your efforts and you’ll  have a clear idea of what to do next.  Being proactive will help you from becoming too discouraged.

Searching for a new job after you’ve been let go sometimes feels like the end of the world, but there are ways you can speed up the process and become successful at finding the job you want.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Smartphones To Network Your Way to a Better Job

Use Your Connections

It’s a fact that many of the prime jobs never get posted publicly and are filled quickly.  Yes, some of these are filled in-house by present employees who have been groomed for the job, but that’s not the case with all of them. Many are filled through informal networking paths.  It’s a fact that networking can play an important part in finding a good position.

Offline

When you think of networking, you probably picture informal face to face conversations and handshakes.  Traditionally, this is how it’s been done, and it still works today.

When it comes to looking for employment, consider all the people you know and all the relationships you have.

• fraternities and sororities

• civic organizations

• sports-related such as your bowling league

• college alumni association

• previous employers

• coworkers, past and present

• work-related organizations

• neighbors

• family

• fellow church members

• your kids’ friends’ parents

• your hair stylist, doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant

Some possible paths to a new job are obvious, but the improbable happens too. Open up all lines of communication.

Online

Online there’s a whole networking world called social media at your fingertips.  This opens up so many more avenues for you, but if you’re not already involved in social media, it’ll require a little work and time to get set up and growing your networks.

The benefits are many; recruiters can find you, you can establish your brand, beneficial connections can be made, and those hiring can see you’re up to speed with technology.

LinkedIn is considered one of the best career networking tools online.  You create a profile with your professional accomplishments.  You find and get found by others you already know in business and then others who want to connect with you based on your profile.  You can see how your network web grows exponentially as your connection’s connections become your connections, and so on.

Twitter can be used as a business tool or a social tool, but it’s best not to mix them. Basically, you join; gather followers in your field of interest (the more the better if you’re job hunting), build relationships and send “tweets” or messages in 140 characters or less. It’s not a bad idea to let some of the better aspects of your personality show through, but know that anybody, including potential employers, can read your tweets. Be sure to tweet that you’re searching for a job.

Facebook is another social media tool that’s free to use. Again, it’s best not to use your profile for both business and personal. Create your profile as you would a resume, and consider that millions of people can potentially view it. Posting a picture of yourself is up to you. If you do, make it a professional head shot.

The basis of networking is building relationships that benefit both you and others.  It’s not a one way street. The best time to establish these relationships is before you’re looking for a job, but it can be done after the fact too.  Use networking, offline or online, to help you land that job before it gets posted to the public.

Smart phones today play an important part in helping us to keep up-to-date with our contacts.  Make it a New Year’s Resolution to check out a cell phone trade in and upgrade your existing phone to take advantage of all the applications that iPhones and Blackberry’s provide.  With the new applications, you’ll be able to access your e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter and other social media networking sites accounts.

At Flipswap, you’ll be able to sell or trade in YOUR old cell phone and help to reduce eWaste on the planet.  You can also recycle or take advantage of a cell phone donation.  Flipswap offers fast and free shipping.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Charter High Speed Sweepstakes – Win a 2010 Camaro SS

Win A Camaro

My husband and I started dating when we were 18.  Over the course of these 35 years, he’s had many cars.  The one that we remember best is the one we had when we got married.

My then-boyfriend, now-husband had taken over the payments of his brother’s 1972 Camero.  It was a 2-door, brown standard.  I don’t think it had air conditioning, but it was so long ago, I don’t remember!  All I know is I can’t drive a standard well, and actually drove it only a few times.

I’m short, and the seats weren’t adjustable like they are now, so I really had a tough time reaching the pedals and the clutch.  When we left our reception, his friends had written “Just Married” all over it with shaving cream- papered it, and generally, just did a number on it.  We actually took it to the carwash while we were still in our tux and wedding gown before we left for the airport!

Several months ago I did a post about how Charter was giving away a laptop every day for two months.  Now Charter switched to giving away a brand new car – a Camaro! And not just any Camaro, the hard to get 2010 Camaro 2SS. (Sales Tax included in the prize)

The contest runs from September 15 through November 26 at noon.

In addition, you can get a $100 gift card when you buy 3 Charter services, $50 gift card for 2 services, and $25 gift card when you buy 1 Charter service!

Charter loves fast. And this new 426 hp Camaro is one of the fastest and hardest cars to get in North America, and they’re giving it away free.

Charter services have always brought your home to life, now they’re bringing your garage to life!

The Gift Cards Charter is giving away are from major retailers in clothing, home and accessories, restaurants and more!

Visit Camaro Sweepstakes to register today and to view the complete rules, specifications on the Camaro and more.

Charter continues to outpace the industry in creative and newsworthy contests from giving away an HDTV every day to Xbox 360s to a Hybrid Car last year.

Follow Charter on Twitter

Follow Charter on Facebook

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Will You Stay Or Will You Go? Find Missing Friends

Our country has become a very mobile and transient society.

Years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to be born and live in the same town their entire life.  Nowadays people move from state-to-state at the drop of a hat.  Parents may be on one coast, and the kids and grandkids on another coast.

I’m one of those people who has lived in the same town my entire life.  I’ve watched my friends leave, one by one.  Some of my high school friends I’ve kept in contact with, while others have drifted away.

I did go away to college and had a roommate and friends from all over the country.  I often think I’d like to reconnect with my roommate and friends to find out what has transpired in those almost 40 years since we’ve first met.

Now there’s a site called MyLife where you can find everyone all in one place.  MyLife uses sources from Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr and other sites to try to locate everyone you knew at one point in your life.

I tried to locate my roommate from college, but would have had to have a membership to pursue the search further.

If there’s someone you’d like to connect with – a childhood friend, stray family member, college buddy, or the one that got away – give this site a try.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Did You Have Mommy Hair or Farrah Hair?

Those Were the Days

Me with Farrah Fawcett - The Feathered Hair Look

Feathered Hair

Back in the early 1980s when I was a new Mom, Farrah Fawcett hair was all the rage!   All my friends wanted to look like her, and we drove our hair stylists crazy!   For a short while I had that “Farrah” look,  feathered and highlights  – rather than “mommy hair” – where I cut it short because it was so much easier!

You’ve got to check out the JuiceBoxJungle widget on my right sidebar and click if you’ve ever feathered your hair (who hasn’t?!?!).

Now is the perfect time to honor Farrah and help tally up the true magnitude of her hair-legacy, and it only takes (literally) a second.

Click the widget to register your voice and to find out how many of your Facebook friends have ALSO feathered in the past!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Paperspring – Social Stationery Site – Review & Promo Code

Fresh Ideas On Paper

Paperspring

I’m an old-fashioned type of gal and was brought up following Emily Post and the rules of ettiquette.  I was taught by my mom that one should always acknowledge a gift with a handwritten Thank You note.

Whenever I’m a houseguest or attend a dinner party, I always send out a nice note to the hostess acknowledging their kind gestures.  In this modern day of  emails, tweets and text messaging, some things can’t be expressed as when you receive a handwritten note.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to review personalized Thank You  notes from Paperspring.  I received the Tiny Bouquet style, in chocolate brown, with my full name imprinted on the front.   I always try to have several styles of personalized, blank note cards on hand and use them for many occasions.

Paperspring is a new social stationery website that allows personalization of many special occasion cards and announcements. They’ve been in the printing industry for 40 years but just recently launched their new website.  And it’s quite obvious that they love what they do.

The company was started in 1969 and their corporate clients include ESPN, Paramount, and the Westin hotels.  All printing is done in-house, assuring that all orders will process faster and with greater quality control than most anywhere else.

Paperspring offers photo baby announcements, photo birth announcements, photo holiday cards, baby shower invitations, birthday party invitations, baptism invitations, thank you cards, moving announcements, graduation announcements, birth announcements for twins, adoption announcements, photo Christmas cards, wedding invitations, bridal shower invitations and save the date cards.

What I liked best about Paperspring is that it has a Green, eco-friendly policy.  The matte cards are printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled card stock  Paperspring is one of the few social stationery sites that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as a custodian of environmentally sustainable products.

Ordering was easy, and shipped promptly. They offer excellent customer service, high-quality designs and an easy-to use website.

Best of all, Paperspring always offers FREE ground shipping!

Paperspring is offering readers of Moomette’s Magnificents a 20% discount promotional code from now through October 1, 2009.

At checkout, use Code: Moomette20

For more information visit at: Paperspring

Follow Paperspring on Twitter: @Paperspring

Become a Fan on Facebook: Paperspring

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

WAHM Shelly Hill – Tupperware Direct Sales Consultant – Guest Post

Meet My Friend

Tupperware – Shelly Hill

I’d like you to Meet My Friend -Shelly Hill. I met Shelly through several of the work-at-home forums that I belonged to.  We met up again when I joined Ryze, where Shelly was the forum moderator for Chic & Classy, which had a huge, huge following.  Our paths have crossed many times over as I joined forces at one point at Affordable Mineral Makeup, and again through social media sites on Twitter and Facebook.

Shelly is one busy work-at-home mom and we  share several common interests – long-marrieds, kids, grandkids, work-at-home businesses as well as an interest in cooking.  Shelly is a Tupperware Manager and was kind enough to share with me one of the latest items from her Tupperware product line.

I received the medium long container in Azure from the FridgeSmart® line.  We’ve been doing quite a bit of camping this summer (you have to read my mosquito post) and this is just perfect for packing our produce, vegetables  and other food items that need protection.

Size-wise it’s 8 ½-cup (2 L) capacity—6″W x 12″L x 3 ½”H (15 x 30 x 8.5 cm) and fits quite nicely in the cooler.  You can regulate the airflow within the container by way of a unique venting system.  Of course, Tupperware virtually sells itself!  I’ve been a fan since I was first married, and that’s 35 years!

Follow Shelly on Twitter @Ravish30

In the past, I’ve touched on topics about tapping into your interests and hidden talent, and parlaying them into a career where you turn your interests into a business. Many readers or their families have become victims of the current recession, and are actively seeking gainful employment. Some, like me, are considering either retiring, or trying to determine a move to another career that will spark our interest – whether it be something entirely different from what we’ve been doing in the past, or entirely new venture.

Perhaps you are off-ramping from corporate life to take time out to raise your children.

I have been inviting bloggers and writers to Guest Blog on my Meet My Friend meme to share their ideas and experiences with my readers who are interested in becoming a mompreneur.

If you have a WAHM or Momepreneur topic of interest that you’d like to share and be a Guest Blogger on Moomette’s Magnificents, please contact me (see Contact tab above).

Thank you Cindi for allowing me to do a guest blog post here on your fantastic blog.

My name is Shelly Hill and I am a 42 year old wahm and wife living in South Central Pennsylvania. I have been happily married to my high school sweetheart Sam for over 24 years. We have a beautiful daughter who is 24 years old who just gave birth to our first grandchild (a little girl) 10 1/2 weeks ago.

Back in 1986, I decided I wanted to supplement my income by trying my hand with Direct Sales, at the time I was working for a local hospital and hated working every other weekend. The first Direct Sales company that I represented was called House of Lloyd and I stayed with that company until they folded in the early 90’s. I then decided to try my hand at Avon since I love Avon products and I stayed with Avon for 5 years until I left as door to door sales were not my cup of tea (although I did well with the business).

I then joined Tupperware back in February 2003 just for the personal discount as we were remodeling our kitchen and pantry. After a few months, I decided to work Tupperware as a home business and I have been with them since.

Over the years, Tupperware has continued to impress me with both their products and their business model. We sell some unique kitchen items that save you time and money but yet allow you to prepare healthy meals from home.

Our business model rewards those who work hard at their business in regards to both sales and team building. This company truly gives back to their sales force members.

In addition to running my Direct Sales business, I have been managing an online group of Direct Sales professionals for 6+ years. I am also an article writer and ghost writer and mainly write about food and recipes along with Direct Sales topics.

I feel very blessed to have met so many great women in my life who continue to strive for greater heights within their businesses. When it comes to Direct Sales, it’s not about who you know…it’s about what you know and about working your business consistently.

Bio: Shelly Hill – Tupperware Manager;  Shak’in & Bak’in in the Kitchen with Shelly; Affordable Mineral Makeup.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

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