WordPress Plugin, Recommended Reading, and My Week in Review

Posted by Dave on 14 June 2007.

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WordPress Plugin

Rob Nevilles FireStats Popular Plugin – This plugin allows you to highlight a number of your most popular posts, in a sidebar widget, based on the data collected by the FireStats plugin. Since that reporting tool was one of the first plugins I installed, it covers all of my posts from the past 5 months. Finding a way to highlight these posts to new readers was long overdue. See the left sidebar for my current top 5 most popular posts (based on total page views).

Recommended Reading

Brave New Traveler’s post about two travel writers getting a new TV show in Canada turned me on to two great sites for those interested in long term travel. I subscribed to both of them at work today.

The first is Modern Gonzo, which is my favorite of the two. The author/traveler writes with in the style of original gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and his website is darn well designed too. Sometimes I look at others who’ve gone before me in the ‘Round the World realm with envy. So many seem to successfully transfer their experience into motivational speaking, and travel writing careers. It doesn’t take me long to snap out of it though, given I’m making my adventure travels a reality as I write!

The Travel Junkie (aka Julia Dimon) also seems full of great advice. She is one of those travel writer/speaker combos I just mentioned, currently living in Vancouver. She’s a hottie too. Julia…if you’re reading…email me and maybe we can get a soda pop sometime!

7 Things That Every Blogger Should Know About Tax – This post is solid gold for us bloggers. Specifically, tip 3 caught my attention, and I confirmed it’s accuracy with a friend of mine who is a CFO and CPA (but neither my, nor the poster’s advice, should take the place of professional tax advice).

3. Expenses related to your blogging are deductible so long as they are ‘ordinary and necessary’ and only then to the extent that the expenses are attributable to your blogging. In other words, if you mix business and personal, you must be able to separate out the business use in order to claim a deduction. Examples of potentially deductible expenses for bloggers include internet connections, hosting fees, cell phone connections, back-up tapes and computer software.

You better believe I’m going to itemize my home internet and website expenses before leaving so I can help offset the money I’m earning from Text Link Ads and other advertising on my taxes! Tip 7 goes on to say if blogging is a hobby (as opposed to a business), you cannot deduct more in expenses than you earned in income.

My Week in Review

I hit 100 subscribers to GoBackpacking’s RSS feed for the first time today! Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, and/or reads this blog daily. Knowing you’re out there keeps me energized and enthusiastic about sharing my past and present experiences while encouraging others to try backpacking as an approach to short and long term travel!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe by e-mail or RSS feed!

This post was written by:

Dave - who has written 997 posts on Go Backpacking.

Dave Lee (Editor-in-Chief) blogged his way around the world from 2007-2009, and then started Travel Blog Success to teach others how to do the same. When not writing, he can be found salsa dancing, and lamenting his untimely departure from Medellin. Follow him on Twitter @rtwdave

Contact the author

Stu

the #1 tax reason on his site is real suckage. we enquired about moving to aus and my wife would have to pay us tax on everything she earned in aus! pure suck. and the usa is the only country that does this. its imo very unjust.

Dave

Stu - I didn't give it much thought but you're right, that does suck!

1. The US Tax Code is based on the idea of ‘worldwide taxation’ which means that, more or less, if you are a US citizen, you are subject to tax on your global income no matter where you are located or no matter the source. So, if you’re a US citizen blogging for, say, a Canadian company, that income is still taxable in the US. And if you’re lucky enough to be a US citizen blogging from some remote garden spot outside of the country, still taxable. Don’t get fooled into believing that you have to live in the US to be subject to US tax.

ianmack

congrats on the 100 subscribers! where's the shot of vodka? here's a link to mine for inspiration:
http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2007/02/27/100-...

Stacy

Did you find the video? It made me shiver. Vodka at 7am (another shiver)
http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2007/02/27/100-...

Dave

Funny video! I'm not the best shot-taker, though if I hit 200 subscribers before leaving the USA, I promise to take a shot of something (in the tradition of BNT). Maybe the Irish Jameson whiskey I brought back from Ireland in '98 and have yet to open (because I later realized I can't handle Irish whiskey straight). :)

Though to my credit, earlier in the week, I took my first shot of "dirty bong water" for a friend's birthday.