Internet Profits Blog

If your website has regular web pages and a blog, you can easily use the same header, footer, and other parts of your WordPress blog on your web pages so they all have the same look and feel.

Here is the trick:

Within the html web page the header information for the blog is incorporated using this code:

<?php
require(’./wp-blog-header.php’);

include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].”/wp-content/themes/YOURTHEME/header.php”;
?>

Similarly, footer information from the blog is inserted into the html page with this code:

<?php
require(’./wp-blog-header.php’);

include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].”/wp-content/themes/YOURTHEME/footer.php”;
?>

Finally, even the sidebar from the blog is included, to add that final touch which makes the web page virtually indistinguishable from blog pages:

<?php
require(’./wp-blog-header.php’);

include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].”/wp-content/themes/YOURTHEME/sidebar.php”;
?>

There is a downside, though, and that is getting better SEO from a static web page since only a default page title, and maybe a description, will be pulled in from the blog header.

This technique was done at Michael Jackson Funeral but then the static pages were replaced with WordPress pages due to these SEO concerns.

The WordPress interface has a list of resources that are pinged when a new post is created.

But what about pages?  Does WordPress ping those resources when a new page is created?

The answer is yes.  Whether a post or a page, when you create or edit it, a new ping occurs.

There are three must-have plugins for every WordPress blog to stop blog spam:

Akismet, Bad Behavior, and Math Comment Spam Protection.

Bad Behavior is your first line of defense.  This plug-in evaluates who is visiting your blog and then kicks them out if they are using known spam tools – such as Java agents.  Spammers are rejected before they have a chance to submit blog comments.

Akismet is your second line of defense.  Once a blog comment is posted it is looked at for spam characteristics.  If it appears to be spam, and Akismet is really good in its evaluation, it is held and not posted.  After 15 days it is automatically deleted.

You need Bad Behavior and not just Akismet because Akismet will show you a list of all the spam comments it is blocking.  The list can be huge, making it difficult to find any real comments.  With Bad Behavior the spam bots are blocked before they can even post their spam, so you never have to review it.

Finally, the third plugin is the Math Comment Spam Protection. This adds a simple math question to your comments. To use the plugin you add it, then get the code at — and copy it into your comments file where you want the math question to appear. While copying the code and editing the file from within WordPress is not ideal, I’ve found this to be better than other similar math-based options, and it gives me complete control over where this appears.

I like the math question instead of the word questions because it is easier for more people, there are no weird letters or background that make it difficult to read, and it is quicker to type. At this point all we’re excluding is the bots – not a human spammer (which will be caught by other methods).

Finally, within the Discussion settings simply choose to moderate any comment with 1 or more links. Voila – any human spam is now caught for review.

Combining these plugins will result in a significant decrease in blog spam.