Launch your self-hosted blog to new heights!
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
WordPress recently announced a very neat service and WordPress Plugin that you will definitely need to install and use: Jetpack!
It enables many features on your self-hosted WordPress blog that have been typically available only to the WordPress.com folks (read more about the differences between the two here).
I’ve been spending the last week testing out some of the features and I’m now very confident that it’s a must-have for your blog. Here are a few things that I especially like:
1. The updated version of WordPress.com Stats is sweet! No longer are you using a Flash-based reporting system!
Even more advanced features!
There are even more features available and stats are much easier to read. Please note that this takes the place of your current WordPress.com Stats Plugin so you’ll want to deactivate that one for this updated one!
I mention the need for Analytics on your blog here as well as WP Stats being one of the top WordPress Plugins I always install on every blog here.
2. Advanced Gravatar functionality in your comment section is pretty neat! You can hover over gravatar-enabled commenters and see more info about them. Try it on any post here on this blog! Make sure you get one if you haven’t (and then update it)!
Sweet new features for Gravatars!
3. Sharing is now even easier with Sharedaddy functionality! Here’s a brief overview video that’ll give you the details:
Bonus!
4. Custom Contact Forms are now available! I blogged about this here but this is a super-awesome addition to an already-great plugin!
Wow!
And more! Those are just some of the new features available that you’ll want to check out. Again, I put this on the “must-have” list of WordPress Plugins, so go get it today: Jetpack.me!
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
That is sweet. I will definitely be grabbing this plugin for my sites today =D
it is pretty darn sweet.
I was wondering what your thoughts on this would be. Thanks for sharing. I will add it to the things going into the blog update
Love the look of the new stats. Refreshing.
it is very refreshing… i dig it… a lot.
Downloading this one now. A kind thank you for letting us know.
sure thing keiki!
John,
How does JetPack integrate with Standard Theme?
it works perfectly. … like on this site!
Not related, but do you know why my RSS Feed might be feeding only partial feeds instead of full feeds when I have full feed selected?
settings either in wordpress ( http://tentblogger.com/wordpress-settings/ ) or in feedburner (http://tentblogger.com/feedburner ).
Thanks, John!
I noticed the media-embed is now automatic, but is there a way to get it to recognize and do auto-width like we used to be able to? Or are we stuck with adding the “&w=570″ after each youtube url?
Also curious why the Sharedaddy’s “Like” button for facebook won’t show up on the bottom of posts. I know I can add it to the slider, but maybe I don’t want it there :-p
perhaps it’s because you’re using a FB plugin already with your share widget? are you having any cacheing?
ben,
i shared this here:
http://tentblogger.com/embed-videos-wordpress/
automatically!
Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. I think WP’s been updated since so the auto-embeds don’t work anymore using your tutorial. Jetpack has the “shortcode embed” which almost works, but you have to add the extra code after.
I’m probably just doing it wrong, here’s the link to the post with the video I’m trying to auto-embed: http://goo.gl/Owrk0
Video link is at the bottom, and you’ll notice it’s not a clickable link.
that’s really odd… the video seems to be able to be embedded… and that’s how I still do embeds.
Thanks for sharing, I’m checking it out right now!
sure thing jd!
I cannot get the new stats stuff to work with jetpack.
It says that a plugin might be messing with it, but I have deactivated all of them and still saying it is triggering a fatal error.
Anyone else having this problem?
uninstall/delete wp-stats and any of the other plugins that jetpack has. clear cache, disconnect to wordpress.com/api, and then re-install/re-activate plugin from scratch.
Downloading! Thanks John for the great information! Your the best!
dude, sure thing!
Thanks for sharing my Gravatar image. Cool. Thanks John
sure thing man!
if I delete wp.com stats to activate Jetpack, will it lose all my previous data?
also i noticed that you’re not using the share functionality. is it redundant when using standard theme?
no, it’ll be moved over since it’s the same service. and yes, don’t need it since i’m using standard, but it’s awesome for those that don’t have it!
Awesome plugin! I installed it and it works great. I love having the WP stats!
seriously!
Hmmm…there is really nothing in here that I am not already using through another plugin. I guess it’s nice to have them all in one plugin though…
yes. are you using wp stats?
I just installed JetPack and am liking so far. I saw some chatter about it elsewhere on the interwebs, but was waiting for you to weigh in.
haha.
i’m digging it!
I’m getting a message that there’s a glich in connecting with wp.com. I’ve deactivated all other plugins–no luck. Ideas?
try again. try deactivating everything and reinstalling jetpack, re-authenticating, etc.
Having some issue with stats. Sometimes they work and sometimes it says failed to authenticate wordpress.com API. You seen anything like that?
a bit in the beginning.
Installed
this first thing. I love it. Especially since I just moved from .com to .org
definitely!
Hate to say it, but this plugin really screwed up my blog. First, I had all the API problems that others are having. Then, after an hour of web searching, got that fixed. Then, I was having problems replying to comments. It wouldn’t allow me to quick reply from the back end.
So I uninstalled it, and now I’m getting error messages all over the place in my back end. Oh, and I’m using the Standard Theme.
I don’t know how you got it working….
Update (for any other users having the same problems). I reinstalled Jetpack, and this removed the warnings. Then I started deactivating the various modules in Jetpack. The culprit on my blog seems to have been the Gravatar Cards. It was restricting me from quick replying from within the comment section of the WordPress back end. All back to normal now.
glad you got this figured out!
Another great tip John!
wah wah!
Bam…installing now!
w00t!
Looks like a great plugin – really useful!
Good find! Particularly like the fact it groups everything together.
seriously.
Just discovered this post and Jetpack….can’t believe I missed this one. The stats alone make Jetpack well worth the install. Thanks!!
sure thing rich! how are things?
Hello John,
Thanks for this awesome series and this post.
I didn’t know about Jet Pack until I read this article and as result I just installed it on my blog.
I see how Gravatar Hover cards could be really neat but do this conflict with comment plugins such as http://www.disqus.com ?
On that note what do you think of Disqus for comment managment, I see your not using it so that might say someting
Would love to read your thoughts on this.
obviously i don’t use disqus so you know where i stand! i’ll write a longer post on this soon.
Hm, I like the look of jetpack! I’m going to try it out, but are you saying it displays social buttons cleanly? That’s a problem I’ve had with the social plugin I’m trying now.
Thanks for the heads-up about jetpack.
yes, it does. shows it pretty cleanly. you can see it in action on one demo here:
http://tentblogger.com/demo/a-post-with-everything-in-it/?themedemo=TentBloggerStarter_10
Dang, that’s nice. Just what I’ve been looking for. Great job on the theme too! I’m tempted to install it and start a new blog for an idea I have… but one thing at a time…
i fight this temptation every single day…….
Honestly, I don’t know how you resist! Major respect.
haha. …
thanks!
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Just installed in at http://pastorhelper.net
new blog?
Everytime I try to download jetpack it asks me to sign in using my wordpress login but I’m confused is the same login I use to enter my wordpress blog.
Because I enter the login I use to access my site but each time it says that it is incorrect.
Please help!
you have to have a wordpress.com account.
Hi John,
I’ve added the Jetpack. I can’t seem to make the ‘share’ settings to show up. Otherwise, it is good. I already have a ‘share and follow’ plugin, but even if I disable it, the one for Jetback doesn’t show up.
I like the ‘share and follow’ one so I’ll stick with it. Let me know if I need to eliminate the ‘share and follow’ plugin all together to make the other one work. Thanks for the post. Sally
Hey John,
Are you having any troubles with Jetpack? Have you heard of anyone else having problems?
Sharedaddy is not working correctly. I can’t get it to show up on current posts, only past ones.
WordPress Stats not working AT ALL.
By the way, I’m using Standard Theme.
there have been some issues… but most of them have been addressed. do you have caching?
Hi john
i don’t really know where to ask my question so i take a guess here.
i want to know wich sharebar plugin do you use and how you configure it
i try a lot but don’t find one like yours
thanks friend
louis
which one specifically?
He probably means the fixed one to the left with the tweet/like/stumble/+1 button.
ah yes, that comes with my theme! http://tentblogger.com/standard-theme/
WordPress Dummy question! Do I need a separate corporate WP.com login for this if I set it up on the company WP.org blog since I don’t want to link it to my personal WP.com credentials? I’m guessing the answer is “yes” but I had to ask to be sure… Thanks!
Yes, Thelma. What I do is create a new wp.com login for every wp.org install just so I can set up a unique Jetpack installation.
I installed Jetpack and “Configured” the “Gravatar Hovercards”, but no dice. Any suggestions on how to get it to work?
are you using caching?
Will this plugin slow down my blog as it has many features?
Hello John,
I have installed JetPack, it worked, but after while it stopped working. Now I have it back working but when I want to see my stats it shows this message – You have failed to authenticate with the WordPress.com API – I have searched almost everything. Is it for you possible to give some short step by step idea how to solve it, or just link where it is solved??
thanks a lot…
have you tried de-activating it and then starting over?
hello,
I did everything possible I guess
I De-activated, re-activated, uninstalled, installed again, disconected from my wordpress.com and connected again. But it is still not working.
It crashes when I want to see the stats. If I go to my iPhone app I can see them, If I go to my wordpress.com account I see them. Only problem is to see them while in my blog’s dashboard.
same with me ! huh