See, I’m about to embark on replacing over 1,000 videos in thousands of posts across 9 blogs, becuase I didn’t think to plan for this a few years ago, and I don’t want YOU to suffer this same pain!

Here’s the thing. Video hosting is just now starting to get stable but the industry is changing rapidly, so the host you have today may not be the host you need in a year or two. Just look at VideoEgg – first they were a video host, then they dumped video hosting to become an ad network, then VideoEgg bought SixApart with aspirations of being a  media dynasty.

Plan for a Change in Video Hosts Now

So plan smart, plan for video content with the knowledge that you’ll migrate hosts someday.

You need to be able to replace your video embed code easily and without searching through thousands of blog posts.

It would be ideal if you could do it in your database, wouldn’t it?

Well….yes! And here’s how.

• First, choose a video host.
• Second, just embed your videos using Simple Code Embed.

And that’s it!

Here’s Your Embed Code in the Database

You know what your embed code looks like in content – it looks like a big blob of code in the middle of your nice content, and it often gets stripped out if you’re not careful. Keep it in the database where it’s safe.

Well, here’s what it looks like in the database:

Video Embed Listed Code in PHPMyAdmin

And here’s that embed code, just ready for you to swap it out.

It's Easy to Replace Video Embed Code in PHPMyAdmin

I’m obviously a little bit infatuated with Simple Code Embed, but it’s because you really need a good way to MANAGE content and media, and this underappreciated plugin can play a big part in your content management process.

Use Simple Code Embed to manage your video content and you’ll always be ready to switch video providers in a planned migration, when you need to get it done in a hurry, like if they shut their doors.

Well, I think custom fields disappeared from some of my sites when I updated to WordPress 3.1, and I didn’t even realize it had happened until now. I knew something ‘looked different’ but now I really see what’s going on…

Custom Fields Missing From WordPress

I want my custom fields back, damnit!

The solution is really simple. I found a post about custom fields missing/disappeared where  Esmi pointed me to a support topic for Extra Fields dissapeared in New Post.

The solution? Custom Field display is turned off by default in WordPress 3.1, so you just need to enable it.

To enable Custom Fields

Click on Screen Options

1. Click on Screen Options in the top right corner of your Add/Edit Post screen.

2. Click on ‘Custom Fields’ to select it, then click on ‘Screen Options’ to close and save your selection.

That’s it – simple! Just remember that the Screen Options settings apply to the screen you’re currently on, so these directions apply to the Add/Edit Post screen only.

Simple Code Embed Plugin

Using Simple Code Embed

1. Install Simple Code Embed
2. Under Dashboard > Settings > Simple Code Embed, set your prefix. The default is ‘code’; I prefer ‘video’.
3. Go to your Add/Edit Post screen and create a new Custom Field. Name it ‘code1′ and place your embed code in the ‘Value’ field.
4. Put your Custom Field value in your post where you want your embedded stuff to show, for instance:%code1%
5. Publish and enjoy.

It’s really that easy.

If your Custom Fields aren’t available to you, you’ll need to enable them in your Screen Options. I show you how.

Admin Bar in WordPress 3.1

I manage over 20 sites and keep them all open in multiple tabs. Now I don’t need to switch between browsers and tabs to view changes – I just view them right there in that one browser tab.

Brilliant stuff.

Ok – it’s the little things I like most. That shortlink widget and little reporting graph really make me happy. That’s just nice.

The site started on Typepad way back in 2006. Since migrating to WordPress in May, 2010 Kit Up! has increased monthly traffic by over 200k pageviews.

Kit Up! is built on Thesis, which provides a great authoring experience.

A content page from Kit Up!

Read more at Kitup.Military.com

 

Things are always interesting at Military.com Diana was asked to pen a relationships blog, and I was honestly expecting a bit of Maxim and I don’t know what else. But Diana comes hard out of the gate with serious content and lots of it, and then she brings in guest bloggers Dr. Dale Archer and Deepak Chopra!

Now things are getting fun again!

This is a new site and a new content twist for the demographic at Military.com, but Diana had a good reception, and her traffic started strong and continues to climb.

My Wingman Diana uses the outstanding Urban Elements theme from Press75.com.

My Wingman Diana

Read More from My Wingman Diana

The site was started many moons ago, back before anybody knew what a blog was. It moved to Movable Type back in April 2006 and quickly earned honors for great content and great spammability.

I migrated the Op-For from Movable Type to WordPress and the Genesis theme framework in January 2011. I really like the built-in author archives provided by Genesis and the Prose child theme.

Comment spam has been halted by brute force use of IP blocking, Akismet, Bad Behavior and a checkbox. I’m still evaluating SEO and other gains from the migration but the site has been running without problems and steadily gaining traffic.

Op-For.com Author Archive

Read more from Op-For.com

Kate Kashman continues to provide outstanding content about living on military pay. I love this site – it should really be an Oprah site! The content is engaging, practical and timely.

I migrated The Paycheck Chronicles from Typepad to WordPress, and after starting with a theme that I wasn’t happy with, I’m now quite pleased with the results we’ve had using Justin Tadlock’s Theme Hybrid.

Stats tell the story – from Jan-2010 to Jan 2011, traffic increases were tremendous:

• uniques visits increased by 555%
• visits increased by560%
• views increased by 550%
• views per visist 99%

Great numbers yes, but 85% of these gains occurred after switching to a theme coded right using Theme Hybrid.

Read more from The Paycheck Chronicles

WordPress makes authoring so easy that managing multiple authors is really no bid deal.

SpouseBUZZ.com originally started on Typepad, and while that platform has its strengths, we gained more control and ease of use by moving to WordPress.

This site does a lot of cool things.

SpouseBUZZ Author Archives

We use Wufoo forms to register folks for conferences, and the outstanding Wuphooey WordPress plugin makes using Wufoo with WordPress SO damn easy.

The content slider on the homepage is nice because it allows the editor to bring out some of the excellent content that’s been written over the past 4+ years.

The author archives are hot – not only do we feature each author and their content, but we also give them links to their sites and their twitter URLs too.

And we use RSS feeds from sister sites to promote content to the target demographic.

The theme I chose for SpouseBUZZ.com really taught me a few lessons. Always listen to your first instinct about doubts! Always check browser compatibility for a theme BEFORE you invest development time into it. I don’t want to say where I bought the theme, but I will say that it’s a very reputable source and the theme author ranks real high. I guess none of his customers care too much about compatibility with IE7 and IE8.

Read more from SpouseBUZZ.com

 

DefenseTech.org

Anyways, when it was on old Movable Type Defense Tech was both “the intersection of technology and defense from every angle” AND the intersection of comment spam from every spammer. It was definitely an epic migration, to migrate from Movable Type 3.2 to WordPress 2.something. Too many redirects, too many lessons learned, but it resulted in a great site.

Defense Tech is a big site, with over 5,400 posts, 80,000+ comments and a dedicated community of readers.

The site uses the Thesis theme which I really love…for authors, but not so much for coding. I also do a lot of IP address blocking to prevent comment spammers.

Read more from DefenseTech.org