“You down with OPP, yeah you know me!”
The OPP, or Old Post Promoter, is a plugin designed for WordPress by the Blog Traffic Exchange. The primary function of the plugin is its capability to promote older blog posts by reviving them and returning them to the front page and sending them back in to the RSS feed. The Old Post Promoter randomly chooses a post from the eligible posts in the blog and updates the publication timestamp on the post in question. When the timestamp on the post is updated, the post will appear to be the latest post on your WordPress blog, returning it to the front page of your blog and revitalizing its content accordingly.
** Do not use this plugin if your WordPress Blog’s permalink structure includes dates! **
**Remove Date from Permalink Structure.**
The installation process is easy and you can begin using the plugin immediately, bringing old content back to the forefront of your blog again.
Installation Directions:
1 – Download the plugin using the link below or this one: Old Post Promoter.
2 – Once the zip file has been downloaded, unzip it into someplace that will allow you to easily retrieve it.
3 – Locate the folder and upload it to your WordPress Plugins folder in the web space where your blog is hosted.
4 – Activate the Plugin in the admin section of your WordPress blog.
5 – Optional: Adjust the options for the plugin to better suit your needs.
Some of the options that are included with the Old Posts Promoter plugin include:
- Minimum interval between old posts promotions, allowing you to determine how often the plugin will automatically choose and revitalize a blog post for you.
- Randomness interval, which will be a contributing factor in when posts are randomly chosen and revitalized in your blog.
- Post age, which allows you to designate how old a post must be at the very least in order to be eligible for the post promotion process.
- Show original publication date, which will add the original publication date to the bottom of your revitalized posts if you choose to.
- Categories to omit from Promotion, which will protect posts in certain categories if you do not want them to be eligible for promotion by the plugin.
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Old Post Promoter WordPress Plugin:
Q: Isn’t this plugin simply creating duplicate content?
A: No, because all the plugin is doing is changing the original timestamp of the publication. In other words, there is only ever one copy of the post in your blog.
Q: If you change the timestamp of your blog post, won’t that affect permalinks that include the date?
A: Yes it absolutely will, which is what the warning is all about. This plugin should not be used with any permalink structure that includes dates, which is just another obvious reason for why you should not follow such a structure.
Q: Your plugin is really awesome. I would like to remove the dates from my permalink structure so that I can use it – So what do I do?
A: Thank you, I am glad that you asked. Here is a blog post written specifically to address how to remove dates from permalink structures.
Download
- Old Post Promoter Current Version 1.4
** Once again, do not use this plugin if your WordPress Blog’s permalink structure includes dates! **
Donate
Change Log
- 8/15/09 – 1.7 – Now Shortening twitter url via Blog Traffic Exchange url shortener: http://bte.tc
- 8/12/09 – 1.6 – Added reping and tweet
- 7/12/09 – 1.5.1 – Added 365 day option to keep posts seasonal
- 7/12/09 – 1.5 – Tested and Confirmed on WordPress 2.8.1
- 01/23/09 – 1.4 – Refactored cod to facilitate long term code maintenance.
- 12/30/08 – 1.3 – Better Options Control.
- 12/20/08 – 1.2.2 – Fixed link to BTE showing when not appropriate
- 12/19/08 – 1.2.1 – Minor Documentation fix
- 12/18/08 – 1.2 – Added Promote position
- 12/8/08 – 1.1 – Release to public.
Originally posted 2009-02-02 05:25:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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84 comments ↓
Just downloaded your plugin, I will give it try
Fantastic plugin! I’ve just uploaded it to my blog and it works great and the interface is soooo easy to use! Thanks BTE!
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
Regards
Thanks Kevin, I’d never heard of this before, gonna check it out, its a great idea.
Thanks for your submission to the Thirtieth edition of the Blog Carnival: Blogging. Your post has been accepted and its live: http://thatsblog.com/?p=178
-ThatsBlog.com
Is there a way I can use the plug-in but to remain the NEWEST POST (for example, today posts) always on top? This way I can promote old post on the second scroll and keep the fresh content on top.
@Hernan
That is a great idea… I will implement that for the next release in a week or so.
There is promise to this plugin. I recommend using it with the the redirection plugin and while your at it altering your old post slugs to remove trash words.
Congradulations! This post has been picked to feature in the Spotlight on SpotlightBlogger.com!!!
Check it out at:
SpotlightBlogger.com
This is a good plugin. I think you should make the full name show up in the WP-Admin Plugins list (Old Post Promoter, not OPP for the name, so it is memorable what this plugin does when you look again later). Also I have had problems with OPP forgetting the options I had set when I deactivate, reactivate, or upgrade it. I have had to reset the options sometimes. Other than that, it is a very useful plugin. Thanks again.
@DG
With the latest 1.2.2 the settings are held during deactivate, reactivate, and upgrade. I apologize for the inconvenience.
I will also change the menu with the next release. Although I am not current planning on anything large enough to justify a release, so if you have feature suggestions lay them on me.
glad you like it…
Nice job it works great! I’m curious to see which posts pop up at random!
just another note, BEST WP PLUGIN!!!!!!!
Wow I am impressed. I wanted a solution to a problem of introducing old posts to new visitors, now I have it. Great job!
I got this error: Fatal error: Call to undefined function wp_category_checklist() in /home/outsidem/public_html/thatsmyanswer/wp-content/plugins/old-post-promoter/BTE_OPP_admin.php on line 160
it’s in the place where I could omit categories. What do I do?
@indigo
Please upgarde to wordpress 2.7
Your plugin is very cool and i like it very much, thanks man for sharing such a nice thing.
I am using wordpress 2.3.3 and your plugin is not working properly as it randomize the posts but dont show
“categories to omit from promotion”
and
Update OPP options button so i dont save settings.
Plz tell me how to show options button to save settings ?
I know i can solve this problem by updating my wordpress but i dont wanna update it so plz plz tell solution for wordpress 2.3.3
Thanks for this plugin, works great!
I will use this plugin.Thanks you
i like it
Very good plugin, thanks for share!
Hi,
Is it possible to add a mention “OLD ARTICLE” for all the posts which are promoted to the homepage ?
Thanks
@w
With different wording this is already a feature.
nice plugin, i will try it, i will come back soon, after something changes in my blog
Thanks… I’ll be giving this a go. I’m currently using your related plugin, but am having a high bounce rate – so figure that I can re divert some traffic back into my old posts before sending them away.
It’s a great plugin but it would be better if we can choose post not only by category but a post that we want to promote.
I am wondering if this will effect my archives. I like letting people know that my blog has been around since 2004 which is obvious when they see the archives list in the sidebar. If the date/time stamps are being changed it could eventually make the blog look like it is much “newer” as posts are recycled and the archive for the old year is whittled down until it’s gone. Make sense?
Hi,
Am trying out this plugin. With old posts being brought up again. Is there a possibility of duplicate content and punishment from search engines?
Will the present version work with 2.8?
** Do not use this plugin if your WordPress Blog’s permalink structure includes dates! **
@lancerbear
This plugin works great with WordPress 2.8.1
Hi,
I must say this is one of the good & useful plugin around.
But it is missing one ping feature which is very much required to make it more powerful & effective.
At present this plugin simple change the time stamp and publish it to the front page but it does not ping due to which updated post does not get updated by the search engine.
Incorporating the ping will be very helpful.
Regards,
Ajay
India
I was wondering how quickly it starts to promote old posts. I have set mine to go every 3 to 4 days. It’s been more than that and it has yet to bring any old posts to the front of my blog. When can I expect it to start working? Thanks!
The Niche Blogger’s question is my question, as well. Though I have the Minimum Interval Between Old Post Promotions set to 12 hours. I’ve had the plugin activated for days and have not seen any old posts appear yet.
@thepete
I contacted the niche blogger via email… His had started working…
My one suggestion is to look at the option “Post Age Before Eligible for Promotion” and make sure you have eligible posts.
for further help please email me kevin at blogtrafficexchange dot com
Ah, OK–well, I’ve got posts dating back to the 90s so I know I have eligible posts. I’ll give it another day and email you if I still don’t see old posts showing up. Thanks!
“Old Post Promoter Going Crazy”
My Old Post Promoter is moving 10 to 15 posts from the back of the list to the front. It worked correctly when I installed it a month ago but now it is malfunctioning. Can you help me correct this problem?
I have it installed on two sites and both are doing the same thing. I had not checked the sites for a while until today. I have temporarily deactivated the plugin.
The settings are as followed:
Minimum Interval Between Old Post Promotions: 72hr
Randomness Interval (added to minimum interval):4hr
Post Age Before Eligible for Promotion:120days
Promote post to position:1st
Show Original Publication Date at Post End:no
Give OPP Credit with Link:yes
Thanks,
Peter
@Peter
The latest version 1.7.2 fixes this issue.
Any chance of adding pinging to this plugin in the next release?
@leanne
pinging is a part of the plugin… I do not reping linked sites. I only reping the global sites (pinomatic, technorati, etc) that you have setup in your wordpress install.
sending a second ping to linked sites would be spam.
Thanks Kevin for clarifying
Feature request: If the plugin can update the post date, can it also be made to revert back after a period of time?
@Mark Adams
Great idea. I will implement it in the next major release.
This sounds intriguing, and I see your Old Post Promoter plugin is still very much of current interest! It sounds like older posts could possibly rotate to the front of the line more than once. Do you know: if I have the ‘Permalinks Moved Permanently’ plugin installed, will multiple updates for posts be followed each time they change? Thanks for your contributions!
does it work with the default permlink? http://www.blogtrafficexchange.com/?p=123
@mira
yes it does
There’s an easy way for those with dates in the structure of their permalinks to use OOP.
Change your post structure to /%postname%/ under costume radio button (if you’re doing it through the dashboard) otherwise check out Kevin’s post on removing dates.
Then go and install BROKEN LINK CHECKER plugin. This little baby is handy and makes finding and fixing broken links very very easy.
i like it, thanks very much kevin
Thanks for this plugin, it works great! This is solution of a problem introducing old posts to new visitors.
Good job
what am i missing with the “enable tweet on promotion:” option? I have filled in my username and password, however no tweets appear from my blog on my twitter page. I know I am missing something simple, anyone care to help?
I’m trying to only have one category go with the promotion, but the first post that comes up is one from an excluded category. What’s going on?
Thanks
The originally posted date won’t show on the top of the post, but will at the end. Is there anything I need to modify from the theme to get this to show?
Wow, really cool plugin. I was actually searching for a plugin to hide the date of a post after a given amount of time to keep it fresh looking, but this is actually a much better idea.
I’m just thinking whether it would have any SEO side effects, but since the original url is not changed, it shouldn’t. Also, since search engines like it when your pages change often, the automated refreshing of the front page of the blog might actually be a positive thing, even though it’s old content that gets moved back.
Just going to install it now and see how it works.
Thanks!
Tom
Hehe, it worked instantly, awesome. I set it to rewrite the date of posts older than 240 days, and seeing the old post in the 2nd position, it sort of feels like it wasn’t even me that wrote it
.
This is a really useful plugin for sites where the content doesn’t really get outdated. For example, on my site I write about learning the guitar, so the vast majority of the content is valid even after years, but visitors might bounce after seeing that the post is too old. For instance, the plugin just promoted a post on learning guitar notes, so the content is valid just like it was 240 days ago, and just like it was 10 years ago, doesn’t get outdated. I would say this plugin is great for sites like mine, but where the content might actually get outdated, it’s not.
Now lets see what google thinks.
Tom
I want to install this plugin, i wonder if this plugin is compatible with WordPress 2.9 or 2.9.1.
Would really like to pick the exact post and the exact date for updating.
May tear into the code shortly, modify it for myself.
Mind if I shoot you some questions?
One question though: does OPP get around Google Reader’s absolute refusal to dislodge an item in a feed once it’s published. I’ve been pounding on Reader for a couple of days, and I’m about to give up. Reader knows best.
I believe I’m going to have to manually recopy articles to get a fresh GUID (used by Reader for caching) and horse with the permalinks after publishing. Stupid.
Sure fire away…
I am not sure if it gets around reader. But it does get into feedburner and emailed to subscribers.
What about duplicate content?
As you bring up the posts again they would not only be on a new mixed front page but also reapear as a stand alone post.
How many blog posts should be on the blog before activating the plugin?
Thanks
Ralf
Hi, I am interested in your plugin, but what about pages? Your plugin offer just post and its categories
I have a plugin “rss-include-pages” to add my pages into rss feed, it works great but after creating new posts (pages), these pages are old and not in feed. It would be great to improve your plugin in that way.
can i promote Old Post Only in category page… not in frontpage
This work on my WordPress 2.9
Thanks for the plugin
Thank you for a great plugin. I’m very appreciate it. Cheers!
Hi.. Great plugin! I need it for a couple of years…
Actually, I tried to install plugin but during the activation I am getting a following error:
Warning: require_once(BTE_OPP_admin.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/wwwizna/public_html/wp-content/plugins/old-post-promoter/oldpostpromoter.php on line 28
Do yo have any idea what can be a problem? I am using wordpress 2.9.
Thanks anyway,
Nenad
@nenad
I think you are missing some files… be sure to get the latest zip from either my site or the wordpress plugin directory.
Hey I really like this plugin, it works really well. One question: when a post is ‘promoted’, does it also trigger the WordPress ping action that normally happens when you make a new post?
I just started blogging but it is grat to have such a clever plug in right away! Thanks
This is a great plugin – I was going to ask if there were any filters available to filter out some – I have some date sensitive posts that I wouldn’t want to include.
But then I saw that there is in the catergories bit!
Thank you for a great plugin. I’m very appreciate it.
It’s a great plugin …thanks for this…
Thanks for the great Plug-in!!! Now the older post will again be crawled and index by search engines which can be helpful in SEO.
Thanks again .
Rajnesh
Awesome plugin!
I’ve tried to change my permalink structure without success.
My current structure is
domain.com/2010/05/post-title
added the 301 redirect like this
RedirectMatch 301 /dddd/dd/(.*) /$1
# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
# END WordPress
but then afterwards if I try
domain.com/2010/05/post-title
I get a 404 page.
The weird thing is if I leave my current permalink structure alone and try
domain.com/post-title
it automatically re-directs to
domain.com/2010/05/post-title
Help???
I never got the .htaccess bit to work but I switched to platinum seo and all is well.
Thank you for this plugin, it rocks!
It seems to be a great plugin, i’ll try in my blog today. Thanks!!!
Great plugin. I will try it and I hope it works so great and is easy to use. A super idea. Thanks.
How about an option to restrict OPP to posts older than two years (730 days) instead of the current max of one year (365 days). I find several readers who have been onboard for about a year, but very few hang on for two years.
Looks like a great plug-in, thanks!
Old posts go by so quickly and there’s still relevant information on those pages.
I’d rather not have my post republished in the RSS feed, I feel like it will both readers. Can I change this setting?
The ‘enable tweet on promotion’ option is not working for me either.
It looks like no one is reading or replying to these comments any more.
If I have time, I’ll fix it and post it on my blog.
Thanks so much this is an awesome way to recycle old content get more people linking to you. Thanks for sharing I’m going to use this on all of my blogs especially my older ones with lots of posts.
Awesome plugin!
I’ve tried to change my permalink structure without success.
My current structure is
domain.com/2010/05/post-title
added the 301 redirect like this
RedirectMatch 301 /dddd/dd/(.*) /$1
Great Plugin. Hate I’m just now coming around to finding it. I like how it allows for content that is old but still relevant to have a place on the front page.
Very nice tool. I have found many good articles but they never had the chance to shine. This tool will definitely help.
I’ve been using your plugin for quite sometime with great success. It has been a great help to my website.
However, I noticed today that when older posts are “retweeted”, the original hashtags that are associated with that post are not used at all – instead, the only hashtag on old posts is #OPP – which is not related to the indicated to the intended topic of the posts. It’s only association is with “Old Post Promoter” – #OPP.
My big question is “WHY”? The purpose of retweeting MY posts is to promote MY site, not OPP. Can this be fixed? Thanks!
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