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With the release of WordPress 2.3 yesterday bloggers are stampeding to upgrade their blogs.  In fact, I upgraded Newest on the Net yesterday and boy was it easy.  What made it so easy?  The WordPress Automatic Update Plugin.  In 6 easy steps my WordPress blog was upgraded from WordPress 2.2.2 to 2.3.

Like any other plugin, you have to download, extract and upload the plugin to your server.  Once the plugin is activated, it walks you through a 6 step process.  The WordPress Automatic Update Plugin does the following:

1. Backs up your current installation
2. Downloads the latest version of WordPress
3. Puts your site in maintenance mode
4. De-activates your plugins
5. Upgrades the WordPress files
6. Re-activates your plugins

Once your plugins are reactivated, you are ready to blog on your new WordPress 2.3 blog.

Whenever I start a new WordPress blog, one of the first things I do is install Google Analytics so that I can monitor my stats. However, when I first started using WordPress, I found this task to be very confusing. So as my first of many WordPress tips, here is my guide for how to install google analytics.

Step 1 - Download the Semiologic Google Analytics Plugin. If you need other WordPress Plugins, here is a recent article listing places to find WordPress plugins.

Step 2 - Extract the Plugin Folder from the .zip File

Step 3 - Upload The Plugin to Your /WP-contents/plugins/ Folder

Step 4 - Activate the Plugin in Your WordPress Administration Panel

Step 5 - Login to Google Analytics at http://google.com/analytics

Step 6 - Add Your WordPress Blog to Google Analytics

Step 7 - Copy Code Snippet Generated By Google Analytics

Step 8 - Go Back To The WordPress Dashboard and Add Code Snippet to Options > Google Analytics

Step 9 - Go Back to http://google.com/analytics and Verify That It Has Found the Code

I hope that this has helped!!

One of the best things about using Wordpress is the great plug-ins that are available.  Because Wordpress is an open source blogging platform, the community of Wordpress users are able to develop some awesome plug-ins.

If you ever need a plug-in, these are the first sites that I go to find them.

• Wordpress.org Plug-in Directory
• weblogs tools collection
• Wordpress Plugin Database
• alexking.org Wordpress Plugins

If you still can’t find your plugin, you can always try a google search.