Akismet is a Word Press plug-in [...]]]> It seems everyone receives a mind-boggling amount of SPAM these days – and having a blog leaves you open to receiving even more. For your email account you set up filters to ‘sort’ through the messages you receive. For your blog you install Akismet to help filter unwanted SPAM comments.

Akismet is a Word Press plug-in that acts as a ‘spam blocker’. Once you install the plug-in into your blog you will need an API key to activate and use Akismet. This API key is obtained by signing up for a user account at WordPress.com. Your key will be emailed to you once you sign up.

When registering for an account at WordPress.com, you will have the option of signing up for an account that includes a free blog that you can actually use for blogging or you can get an account with a ‘user name’ only. In either case, you will receive an email with your unique API key to activate and use the Akismet plug-in for your blog regardless of its location.

What’s the difference?

Having an account at WordPress.com allows you to have free space to blog and get an API key. A WordPress.com blog is personal. It has limited capabilities and it is not recommended that you use it for commercial purposes.

Having an account with “user-name” only means you get an API key for use and activation of Akismet on your own stand-alone blog hosted elsewhere. If you have a blog set up under a stand-alone domain name using a .com, .org, or other domain extension, you can use that blog for commercial and/or monetization purposes.

The API key you receive from WordPress.com will be free, however, there are paid options available for commercial or business blogs. Some of the other API Key accounts available are:

• Commercial – more benefits for the business blog, i.e., faster service, updates plus more
• Pro-blogger – a personal blog site that is making more than $500/month
• Enterprise – for corporate or network blogs
• Access – allows you to use Akismet as part of any product you develop
• Non-profit – for registered non-profit organizational blogs

For more information on the different types of API keys visit Akismet/Commercial.

Note:   There are some free graphics and backgrounds now available – visit Images/Graphics or use the Image/Graphics Page link in the left-sidebar.