March 31, 2009

Disable Right Click on Blogger Blogspot

Right click on any internet browser is very important element. And we must use it when it comes to copy or editing texts and etc..
And it’s very important when it comes to webmasters too.

But some people may use it in a bad way, and you may want to make click right disabled on your blog.
To protect your text, images links and etc….

So all what you have to do is only simple steps.
You’ll need to add new Html/Javascript element to your layout.
Now go to your blogger account.
Navigate to Layout >> Add a GadGet >> and select html/javascript

Then copy the next code and past in in html/javascript text box area

<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
//Disable right mouse click Script
//By Maximus (maximus@nsimail.com) w/ mods by DynamicDrive
//For full source code, visit http://www.dynamicdrive.com
var message="Function Disabled!";
///////////////////////////////////
function clickIE4(){
if (event.button==2){
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
function clickNS4(e){
if (document.layers||document.getElementById&&!document.all){
if (e.which==2||e.which==3){
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
}
if (document.layers){
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);
document.onmousedown=clickNS4;
}
else if (document.all&&!document.getElementById){
document.onmousedown=clickIE4;
}
document.oncontextmenu=new Function("alert(message);return false")
// -->
</script>




Then save the html/javascript. and view you blog.



When you try to do right click a message will tell you that “Function disabled”



And if you want to change this words” Function Disabled” find the next line in the code.





var message="Function Disabled!";




And change Function Disabled! to what ever you want.



I hope it helps.

Continue Reading...

March 29, 2009

“Email This Article to a Friend” WordPress Plugins

emailIcon You probably noticed that most mainstream media websites have an “Email this article” link on most of their pages, right? Lately many blogs started employing this feature too. But how do you add that feature to your own blog? There are two plugins that you can use for that purpose.

The first one is called WP-Email. It will basically insert an “Email this article” link below your posts, and once the user clicks there he will be sent to a page where he just need to fill in the details to send the article to someone. Here is a screenshot of how that page looks like:

 

wp-email

Another plugin that does that job is the email2friend. The only difference is that instead of sending the user to another page it will open a new window where the forms will appear, as the image below illustrates.

email2friend

I think the “email to a friend” feature is a cool one, although I am not sure how often it is used. Have you ever used it on your site? How often did your readers used it?

Continue Reading...

March 27, 2009

How to Add Google Analytics to Your Blogger Blog

Google Analytics is a free service that lets you track the performance of your websites and blogs from one simple, easy-to-use interface.google-analytics-results

Grab Your Google Analytics Code Block

  1. Login to Google Analytics at http://google.com/analytics/. The main Settings page loads.
  2. Click on Add Website Profile. A form displays.
  3. Select Add a Profile for a New Domain.
  4. Enter the URL of your site or blog.
  5. Select your country and time zone. Click Finish.
  6. Analytics provides you with a code block - a swatch of HTML - to add to your site's pages.
  7. Highlight the code block and then copy it by selecting Edit > Copy or Ctrl-C or Command-C.

Add the Google Analytics Code Block to Your Blogger Blog

  1. Login to http://www.blogger.com/. The Dashboard loads.
  2. Under the blog you want to add Analytics tracking to, click on Layout or Template.
  3. Click on Edit HTML. An editing screen for your blog template's HTML displays. Don't freak out. Just scroll to the bottom.
  4. Look for the end of the template. It'll look like:

</div> </div>
<!-- end outer-wrapper -->
(Google Analytics Code Block is going to go here!!!)
</body>
</html>

  1. Put your cursor right before that </body> tag.
  2. Paste the Google Analytics Code Block by selecting Edit > Paste, Ctrl -V or Command-V.
  3. Click Save Changes.

You have now added the Google Analytics Code Block to Your Blogger Blog.

Check Your Work

  1. To ensure that you have successfully added the Google Analytics Code Block to your Blogger blog, go back to http://google.com/analytics/.
  2. Next to your blog's URL it will say either Receiving Data (you were successful) or Tracking Not Installed (something is amiss).
  3. If it said Tracking Not Installed, click on Check Status. Google then checks your blog for the Analytics Code Block and reports back if it find it or not.
  4. If not, try re-pasting the Code Block in.
Continue Reading...

March 26, 2009

Display Your Location on Your Blog With Google Latitude

Google Latitude

If you use Google Latitude, you can now display your current location on your blog using a Google Public Location Badge.

Google Latitude is a feature of Google Maps which, should you choose to enable this, allows selected friends and family members to see your location. You can also give permission for Latitude continuously update your location in the background.

The Public Location Badge is a gadget which you can easily add to your Blogger blog to provide readers with your current location. This feature may be especially useful for travel bloggers or personal bloggers who wish to share their location with friends and family members.

How to add a Public Location Badge to your Blogger blog

In order to add a Public location badge, you will need to use Google Latitude. If you have a compatible mobile phone, you can install the latest version of Google Maps on your handset and use this application to update Latitude with your current location. Those who do not have a compatible handset (or who choose not to use this option) can add Latitude to iGoogle and interact with this application from their desktop/browser.

Visit this page to choose which method you will use to update Latitude with your location.

Once you have set up your handset or iGoogle Latitude settings, you can visit the Latitude settings page to choose with whom your location is shared or add a Public Location Badge to your blog.

Choosing which settings to use for sharing your location

When you visit the Public Location Badge page, there are several options available to choose how your location will be shared:

  • Disable Google Public Location Badge (default setting) - this means that no-one will be able to view your current location, except of course for Google and any friends with whom you have chosen to share your status.
  • Enable and show city-level only - this setting enables anyone to view your location at city level only (not your actual, precise location). Even if you have not added the badge to your blog or website, your status may still be accessed through Latitude searches.
  • Enable and show best available location - this setting enables anyone to view your location on a more precise level. Again, even if you have not added the badge to your blog or website, your status may still be accessed through Latitude searches.

Your choice will depend on your personal preferences. If you have set up Latitude but prefer your status to remain private, be sure to disable your public location badge. And if you do choose to share your location through a badge on your blog, be sure to take into account Google's privacy notice:

If enabled, your location will be publicly available to everyone. You will not be able to limit where and with whom you share your location through the badge.

Add the badge code to your Blogger blog

It is very easy to add your public location to your Blogger blog. Once you have chosen the settings and tweaked the width and height of your gadget according to your needs, you can simply press the "Add to Blogger" button which will transfer the code directly to an available widget location in your layout:

google-latitude-blogger

After adding your gadget to your blog, you can visit the Layout>Page Elements page to move the gadget to an appropriate location in your blog's layout.

Another option would be to paste the code for your location into a blog post. Simply copy the HTML code in the box to your clipboard, then paste into a blog post when editing using the "Edit HTML" tab. This will embed your gadget directly into your blog page.

Important note: once you create and publish this snippet on any web page, anyone with access to your web page could copy the code elsewhere so that your location is still accessible even after you remove the code from your page. If you want to stop broadcasting your location, you must disable this by visiting the Public Location Badge page.

Will you be using the Public Location Badge in your blog?

Personally I prefer not to use this gadget in my own blogs, since this has no relevance for the subjects I write about, but as I mentioned earlier, this new feature may be a useful gadget for travel bloggers or those who wish to update family and friends with their location.

Have you added this gadget to your own blog? Or would you consider using it? Please let us know your opinions and experiences of the Public Location Badge by leaving your comments below.

Continue Reading...

March 25, 2009

20 SEO Ranking Factors

1. Title Tag:
Type your targeted keyword phrase in ANY search engine and notice how 9 of the top 10 sites have that targeted phrase somewhere in their title tag.

Learn from your competitors and remember keyword density and prominence.

2. Heading Tag Structure

H1, H2, H3, H4 and no more. Remember H1 is what the whole page is about and the other 'sub' H's are explaining each section under that heading. A good way to look at this is to look at it in a standard outline format.

A. = H1
--- a. = H2
------ i. H3
--- b. = H2
------ i. H4
------ ii. H3 & H4
--- c. = H2
------ i. =H3
--------- 1. H4

3. META Description

The META description is there to describe the page. So describe the page. Remember your page is about your targeted keywords. Make sure those keywords are scattered throughout the description of each page. Also, sometimes the search engines will display your description under your listings on the SERP's (Search Engine Results Page). Therefore make the description captivating enough to make the visitors want to click on your website and not your competitor's.

4. Age of Site

Arguably, this is the deciding factor when picking between 2 sites with great stats. Search engines trust websites that have been around for a long time. This is because if the site wasn't valuable, it would not be on-line any longer. Even though this factor is a huge factor, it's only a factor for old active domains. Old, yet active domains that have history of constant updates and consistently acquiring links are the hardest sites to beat.

5. Total Pages Indexed

The total # of pages indexed is very important because usually the more pages indexed the more keywords you will be targeting. This is not always true, however considering this is USUALLY true; this is definitely a factor in search engines' algorithms. The more pages you have, the more chances your site has to get found. Furthermore every page linking within your site (if done right) could build strong internal page rank.

6. Anchor Text of internal Links

It's important that the links within your site that leads visitors from one page to another describes that page with the keyword it's targeting. IE: Get directions to our San Diego Location

7. Total Backlinks

YES, the amount of back links still matters. The more links you have, the better. BUT, it's the more relevant links from the greatest variety of sites, the better. You need links from blogs, forums, authority sites, educations sites, local area sites, industry sites, etc. They all must be relevant to you. The more accurate the relativity, the more closer you are to being the most relevant site to the searcher's query. The more (relevant) links, the merrier.

8. Anchor Text of Incoming Links

Originally if someone linked to your site, that someone was a different person with a different website giving you a link titling your company name. So if someone Googles your company name, you'd be the first to show up because other sites said that's who you are. But, new potential customers aren't looking for your web site. People are searching for your services. So you have to find ways to get links describing the services you offer.

This way other sites are vouching that you are "men's clothing". The SERP's already know you're Men's Ware House.

9. Average Time on Site

One factor that helps Google determine if your site is a site that will give visitors a pleasant user experience is to record how long visitors stay at your site. The longer you can keep a visitor on your site the more likely you are providing that user with an experience worth sticking around for.

10. Bounce Rate

Like Average Time on Site, Bounce Rate is a metric that measures the worth of your page. Do visitors come to your site and click the back button more often than not? Normally if 80% of the people visiting your site are clicking the back button, that site is not relevant to what they were searching for.

11. Strength of Competition

To be honest, this really isn't a factor in its own. The strength of the competition is probably the backbone of every factor. Ranking results are based on a comparative scale. Meaning the number 1 site is more relevant then the number 2 site based on ALL of these factors. Good ways to measure the strength of the competition is analyze their Alexa Rank, Total Pages Indexed, Total Backlinks and their Google Pagerank.

12. Total Character Count

The more content you have, the better chance you have at satisfying your visitor's query. Google looks for special keywords within your content to back up the keywords you are targeting. If you are targeting men's clothing, Google looks for terms that will answer every visitor's query. Like pants, shirts, prices, location, xl, discounts, customer service, socks, fitting room, fabric, fashion, etc. Usually to cover all of the visitors' possible questions, you need to provide a lot of unique and informative content.

13. Page Rank

(Ceterus Paribus) Yes, page rank still counts. Many "SEO's" will tell you that this doesn't matter. But, the core of Google's algorithm is based on Page Rank.

14. Keyword Placement

Where amongst all of your content and web pages is your target keywords located? Keywords should have prominent placement in paragraphs supporting their matching headings. Naturally placing your keyword in rich related content the right amount of times is arguably the top ranking factor.

15. Types of Media

Have you noticed videos on the SERP's ranking higher than you? Or, have you ever ended up at a site through a picture? Having a variety of media types shows that you are presenting your targeted keywords in various forms, this is most likely pleasing a variety of visitors.

16. HTML Validation

Content : Code ratio is a ranking factor. It must be easy for the bots to run through your site. Also when spiders run through your site, it's necessary that you prevent any traps that could prevent the spider from crawling your site completely and finding all of your content. Broken links are also a big no, no. The bots hate getting led to nothing.

17. Navigation and Architecture

How your site is built and themed is very important for spider indexing and visitor navigation. The paths your visitors take are being recorded. So make sure the pages you want to rank well are easy to find for the user. Having your targeted keywords categorized and your page structure in a siloing format is best. Also add a site map to your website so the spiders could have a one stop page to your whole domain.

18. Click-through-Rate on SERP

Google wants to provide results the visitors want. And to help them determine what they want is to record how many times out of a 1,000 impressions do people click through to your site. If your listing has the highest click through rate it must be because your title, description and or brand are what the users was most likely looking for. This is why title tags and META descriptions are 2 of the other 20 factors in ranking well on the SERP's

19. Total Search Queries Conducted After Leaving Site

If the user searches for that same term over and over again, they must not have found what they were looking for. Your site should answer the visitors query by proving data to the engines that proves that visitor don't need to look any further.

20. Percentage of Return Visits

The higher percentage you have of returning visitors, the better. High return rate means people who have visited your site before enjoyed their visit and found your site valuable. This factor is used in helping Google help others find a site that the visitor may find interesting. So if your site is relevant to the searcher's query and everyone that visits your site returns, Google will use this as a measure of a relevant and interesting site, thus leading to search engine higher rankings.

Continue Reading...

What is Your Niche?

When you are working to find your blog’s niche, it would be a bad idea to choose one that you think is profitable. That would be the wrong choice to make. Instead, you should consider a few questions in determining your niche. The first is important: Is it something that you are interested in? You will be tasked with generating lots of content, with frequent posting. This will cost you time in terms of research, writing, brainstorming, etc. Without interest in your genre, you won’t last. Motivation will dwindle and the blog will be short lived. Plus, if the blog talks about what you are interested in, you will have a lot of knowledge to start with.

You should also ask if your niche is too specific or general. To specific, and you may find yourself capping off with five readers. Too general, and you will be competing with blogs that are already well established. Try to achieve a balance so that the competition will not be as high, and that you will attract a good number of readers. As an example, instead of a baseball blog, choose a specific team, or state or stadium. Related to this, ask who your audience is. A blog that is targeting senior citizens may not do so well right now, because those individuals may not spend time online. A generation from now, that may not be true. Targeting a specific region, do they have internet?

Now ask yourself, will you be able to easily advertise? This is important if your goal is to generate traffic for revenue. Your blog should be able to reach high in the rankings, advertising should be able to added to the blog without much distraction, and that there are other similar blogs which you could potentially exchange links with. Your searching should also answer another question, who are your competitors? Finding out who these people are will allow you to generate content that is different so that you do can draw readers to your site.

If you are seeking profit, will your niche be profitable? This will not apply to all blogs, as some people are out there to inform, not necessarily make money. This also should not be the only concern with a blog. If in considering the first question, you find a few topics which you have interest in, you can try and pick from the list the one is most profitable. Topics for which you are most passionate should have preference as they will be the easiest to generate content for.

Finding a niche is a process that requires much thought and inner reflection. You should not pick a niche for the profit alone. What is most important is that you choose a genre that you have passion for. Not only will your blog do much better in terms of quality and quantity, but you will not lose interest and find yourself disliking your blog. Make sure that you know the answers to the above questions before settling on a niche.

Continue Reading...

March 22, 2009

Social Bookmarking widget for blogger

social_media_strategies On all Blogger's mind there will be just one question , How to drive traffic to our blog ?
We need to have quality content and backlinks to drive traffic to our blog and occupy first place on google search engines. First one Quality content is in hands of the admin who writes the post. he need to put the main keywords for the article in the post . But for the second one , the author can't just submit each and every post to bookmarking sites . Its very time consuming. But It's a very effective way of driving traffic to our blog. We need a widget for blogger so that visitors/readers can submit our article to bookmarking sites.

This Social bookmarking widget contains Post Link submission to major bookmarking sites like Digg , technorati , Blinklist , Del.icio.us , Furl , Stumble Upon , Reddit , yahoo , Simpy and Spurl .

I hope those are the most famous social bookmarking sites with higher pagerank and traffic.

Just Follow this simple steps to add social bookmarking sites widget to blogger :

Step 1 :

Log in to your Blogger Account and navigate to Layout Section. Then go to Edit HTML Page and check the Expand Widgets box.

Step 2 :

Now search this code : <p><data:post.body/></p>

Step 3 :

Copy and paste the below code immediately below red text.

<p><data:post.body/></p>
<!-- Start of social bookmarks. Check http://bloggeraccessories.blogspot.com/ for updates -->
<span class='post-author' style='font-size: 95%;'><br/>
Add Post To: |
<a expr:href='&quot;http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&amp;url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Digg</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://technorati.com/faves?add=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'>Technorati</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://tipd.com/submit.php?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Tip&#39;d</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>del.icio.us</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Stumbleupon</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://reddit.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Reddit</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://www.blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&amp;Url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;Title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>BlinkList</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?t=&quot; + data:post.title + &quot;&amp;u=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'>Furl</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://www.spurl.net/spurl.php?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Spurl</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?t=&quot; + data:post.title + &quot;&amp;u=&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'>Yahoo</a>|
<a expr:href='&quot;http://www.simpy.com/simpy/LinkAdd.do?href=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'>Simpy</a>|
<br/></span>
<!-- End of social bookmarks –>

That's it. Now you can see social Bookmarking sites widget in your blog.

SocialbookmarkingWidgetsforBlogger

Continue Reading...

March 20, 2009

8 Wordpress Blog Theme Design Considerations

wordpress-logo1 Most blogging platforms offer a wide variety of different themes to chose from, and most can be altered and edited to suit your needs, or left alone exactly as they are. Some themes are plain and dull while others are colorful, modern and inspiring. There are thousands of themes out there for different blogging platforms, and there are more WordPress themes than any other blog themes out there. While there are hundreds if not thousands of WordPress blog theme designs out there, here is a small list of themes that are well worth considering.

- Grid Focus Public -

This is a three column style WordPress theme. The navigation bars for the blog can be found both at the top and the bottom of the pages, in order to give visitors an ample opportunity to explore. This theme offers a very clear hierarchy and structure.

- Copy Blogger -

The is a really cool WordPress theme that allows you to modify colors, fonts and all kinds of tiny details by utilizing a custom Style Sheet solution that comes included with the downloader for the theme. Thanks to open source development, you can also implement add-on styles as well.

- Jello Wala Mello -

This is a news themed or magazine themed WordPress theme that was created primarily to suit multi media sites. Some of the positives include the fact that it has a beautiful color scheme, plenty of subtle design touches, and is easy to implement and begin using.

- K2 -

This is an advanced template that is only available for WordPress, though it also offers AJAX powered features including live commenting and live search. It also allows rolling archives, a navigation system designed specifically to suit K2.

- Whyte -

Monochromatic themes do not necessarily have to be boring, and Whyte is definitely a testament to this fact. It offers plenty of features including AdSense Ready, Widget Ready, Comments, Recent Entries and pinging separated on post pages. You can also create your own logo, add active navigation and do plenty more with this unique and versatile WordPress theme.

- Vertigo -

This is a modern WordPress theme that is available both in two column format and three column formats. It is a widget ready theme, making it easy to implement and even easier to customize to suit your needs.

- Grid Lock -

This is a cool WordPress theme because it is designed not to look like a blog, but rather like a standard HTML website. It also has a standard HTML help page which helps you customize your Grid Lock Theme, which is something most WordPress themes do not come with.

- Long Horn -

This is a minimalist style two column Wordpress theme with a simple design that can easily be used and implemented. This WordPress theme is compatible with a number of browsers including IE 6 and 7, Opera, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari.

Continue Reading...

March 19, 2009

Tips for Writing Your Blog

blog-blogging Whether you are blogging for business applications, or for personal growth, the process of writing daily is a rewarding activity in many ways. The individual writer is able to benefit from the satisfaction that is gained from personal reflection. Blogs afford the writer the means to distribute information and ideas everywhere the internet can reach. For the business, blogs enable a conduit within which real time feedback and communication with customers can occur, as well as dissemination of information in order to bolster a company’s credibility with peers and customers.

When it comes to writing a blog, there are various techniques that one can employ. One such technique is the implementation of Search Engine Optimization methods, where by the blog is ranked higher in search engines through manipulation of how the algorithms work. This is usually done by careful cross linking, adding blog keywords, including terms similar in meaning, and other similar steps.

Choosing the keywords for blog posts can also serve to provide focus to writing. Knowing the keywords for a blog’s post of the day will enable you to make sure your post stays on point. You can also use the keywords to make sure that you are not very repetitive, by avoiding using the same keywords constantly. You can use the keywords to ensure that your posts cover a variety of topics, even within a particular area of interest.

Another writing tip is to make sure you are posting in great frequency, with at least a post a day. If that cannot be managed, then one should at the very least shoot for a couple of posts over a week. Traffic to a blog tends to be proportionate to how often one posts in the blog. The posts should have value and be interesting and relevant. One should not write just to write, there should be meat to blog postings.

The average web reader will have 96 seconds worth of focus. That means they will read your posts for only about a minute and a half. So blog posts should be short and to the point, making sure that the most important information appears at the beginning. Well written posts will captivate the interest of the readers, and be within three to six hundred words in length.

In line with keeping posts short, limit posts to one important topic. Scatter shot posting will fail to keep interest for very long. Rather, the successful blogger will keep postings focused on single points. If there are multiple directions you wish to cover, turn them into blog posts, and distribute them over the week. This will help to make sure that postings stay regular, especially during those patches of time where writers block can hit.

One of the most important decisions the blogger can make is the domain and blog titles. This is essentially branding, creating a name that is memorable to your readers and will give them avenue to keep returning to your blog. It should be on point, related to the theme of your blog, and well thought out.

Continue Reading...

March 18, 2009

Easy Tracking Of Your Adsense Earnings

adsense-notifier

 

Are you tired of logging into your Adsense Account multiple times a day to check your earning. Firefox have introduced a new plugin called Adsense Notifier which Displays your Adsense earnings on the status bar.


Download it from Firefox Site

Continue Reading...

March 13, 2009

SEO, It’s About What You DON’T Do

    seo page 1 SEO isn’t as much about what you do as what you DON’T do.

    That is to say, if you’re going to start down the road of search engine optimization, you have to know where the potholes are before you get underway. If you’re getting started doing SEO for your blog, here are some of the most important practices to avoid.

  • Keyword Stuffing. Stuffing keywords is only useful for getting your site penalized or delisted. Period. There is no legitimate reason to do this except to game the search engines, and they’re very good at detecting it. Whether you’re putting them in your content, in alt tags, in meta tags, or wherever, be sure to use your keywords in moderation.

  • Mirrored Sites and Content Duplication. “Why settle for one top 10 rankings when you can have all ten?” Because it can cause all of your rankings to drop. This is the reason that scrapers are dangerous. Ideally, your content should be as unique as possible to a single page. As I mentioned previously, search engines are probably smart enough to recognize content duplication within blogs (e.g., the same post text on your home page and the individual post page), so some duplication isn’t much cause for concern. Generally speaking, though, the more unique your content is, the better off you’ll be.

  • Cloaking. Showing one thing to users and another thing to search engine spiders is a big red flag. To those who think it’s a good idea, here’s a news flash: It’s just as easy for a spider to change its user agent as it is for a browser. You can bet search engine spiders are crawling your site under a variety of names just to see if you’re cloaking or not, so don’t do it.

  • Hidden Text and Images. No matter how you hide content, search engines are smart enough to detect it. Granted, there are legitimate reasons to hide content from users, but it’s pretty obvious when you’re up to something. Just to be on the safe side, consider carefully if you really need to hide your content or if you could find another solution.

  • Cross Linking. Generally speaking, it’s okay to link your sites together. People do it all the time. However, it can be considered spam if you do so excessively (e.g., in the footer or side bar of every page), especially if the sites reside on the same IP block. As with everything else, ask the question, “Is this adding value for the user?” If you can answer yes, it’s probably okay.

    Knowing and avoiding practices like these is the first step toward ensuring good search engine rankings. Only after realizing what not to do (and correcting it if you’re already doing it) should you move forward with keyword research, content development, link building, and all of the fun parts about SEO.

Continue Reading...

March 12, 2009

Go Go Google Gadgets

blogger-16  If you use Blogger in order to manage your blog then you have available to you hundreds of gadgets that Google has released; all of which can add features to your blog. A gadget is a widget that adds small programs to a blog, adding features that show off lists of quotes, mini-games, and other functionality that will enhance your site. Here are a few of the new gadgets:

- HTML/JavaScript.

This will enable you to enhance Blogger by adding your own code. This makes Blogger vastly more usable, with features that you control. You can create a mailing bot, add links and images from other pages that you own, integrate with eBay and PayPal, and other features.

- Feeds.

This gadget allows you to add a feed from other blogs, directories, or other forms of news services. This enables your readers to see into what is in your reading list, and direct readers to other sites and content. If you have an account at an article repository, then you can add a feed to new articles as they are written. You can also reinforce a relationship with another blog not only trading RSS feeds, but also guest posts and more, effectively combining your readerships.

- Followers.

This is a way for you to follow other bloggers and for others to follow you anonymously. Think RSS meets Twitter. It is an easy way to generate traffic to your website, as if you start to follow others, they may start to follow you. You can also use this as a form of gauge, counting your readers and followers.

- Google Docs.

If your blog talks about spreadsheets or other documents, you can provide templates that users can copy and use for their own needs. This allows you to provide your readers with much more than plain content. For example, a finance blog could add links to spreadsheets that implement techniques that are described in your blog. The added benefit is that if your templates are publicly listed, then visitors finding the templates will be directed to your blog in order to learn how to use the docs.

- AdSense.

If you are in it to make money, then adding AdSense to your blog is a great way to start. Google’s technology works well with Google’s technology, and adding AdSense to your blog will be seamless. You will need to have an account with AdSense first, and it is good to run the blog for a while to generate traffic before adding the gadget. Then you can just add the code and it will integrate seamlessly. Then you will start to generate revenue from your writing.

Adding a gadget is simple, just go to your dashboard and add it. Gadgets provide a functionality that will enhance your blog and your reader’s experience.

Continue Reading...

March 11, 2009

17 Ways to Use Twitter

increase-twitter-traffic ‘Big props’ to Dosh Dosh on this great Social Media tool Twitter. It’s very succinct and easily understood.

I’ve signed up for a Twitter account a long time ago and used it sporadically because it never really did appeal to me. Last week I decided to give it another chance and installed Snitter, a desktop application for Twitter.

I started using it actively and gradually developed an avid interest. I think Twitter is a manageable process that can be adopted for all types of lifestyles, busy or inactive. You’ll just need to integrate it within your normal workflow. It’s addictive but once you understand how to use it, it’ll be a very effective tool indeed.

Having read a great deal of other articles on Twitter, I decided a do a quick summary of all the ways you can use Twitter for both your professional or personal life. Some of these methods go beyond the use of Twitter as a lifestreaming device:

Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.

Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.

Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.

Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.

Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.

Make New Friends. Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesting. A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.

Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.

Use it as a ToDo list. Use Twitter to record down what you need to do while you are away from the computer. Mark the tweet as a favorite to file it for referencing. Another alternative is to use an Online task management service that is synced with Twitter. One example is Remember The Milk.

Business Management. Twitter can be used as a company intranet that connects employees to one another. Workers can liaise with each other when working on group projects. Particularly useful when certain workers go out often in the field. Updates could be set to private for security reasons.

Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.

Take Notes. Twitter provides you with an easy way to record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.

Event Updates. Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience

Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.

Provide Live coverage. Twitter’s message size limit prevents detailed coverage of events but it can allow you to provide real-time commentary which may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other Twitter users spread the message. Very useful for citizen journalism.

Time Management and Analysis. Twitter can simply be used to keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily. This might be boring for others but this type of usage is useful when you want to analyze how you spend and manage your time.

Set Up Meetings. Twitter can help you organize impromptu meetups. For example, you can twitter a message while at a cafe, event or art gallery and arrange to meet fellow users at a specific spot. It’s an informal and casual way of arranging a meeting.

Acquire Votes. Send a link to your stories you’ve submitted in other social news sites like Digg. Sometimes your followers will vote up the stories because they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media websites.

I suspect I’ll be writing a little more about Twitter in the future including a roundup and summary of some of the articles I found really useful (there were quite a few).

Hopefully this article gave you ideas on how to use Twitter. If you found this article useful, feel free to share it with your Twitter friends. I’ll love to get some feedback. Do also check out my post on how to increase your Twitter followers.

And yes…please follow me on Twitter and say hi! I’m always looking to follow new people so don’t hesitate to introduce yourself. I’m pretty friendly and open to new experiences. ^_^


Continue Reading...

Add Yahoo Smileys to Blogger Posts - Firefox Hack

AddyahooSmileystoBloggerposts-Firef

 

This Blogger Hack is focused Firefox Users who want to add Yahoo Smileys to Blogger Posts. This hack don't work for other browsers like Internet Explorer , Opera , etc .

 

 

Firefox users follow this simple steps to add Yahoo smileys to Blogger Posts :

Step 1 :

open Firefox browser and install " Grease monkey " by visiting Grease monkey Addon ! and restart browser .

Step 2 :

After installing Grease Monkey , install this Javascript file ( just open the file , Grease monkey will install automatically ) .
step 3 : Go to Layout section of your blog and click Edit HTML subtab . Now add this CSS code above    ]]></b:skin>


img.emoticon {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
border: 0;
}

Continue Reading...

March 10, 2009

Reasons to Start Blogging

thinkbloginversion_1 In the 1990’s people started to set up websites know as web logs, a term which has been colloquially evolved into the term blog. A blog is a internet website where users post regular article, providing commentary, information, news, and various other forms of posts. Why do individuals start blogging? Below are listed a small sampling of the reasons that people get into blogging.

For your Business -

After the wave of the blogs started to hit the internet, corporations and other companies saw the potential to be closer to their customers. As a result, companies started to form blogs which would provide news about what is going on in the company and products that are soon to be released. Comments on the blog allow a dialog to form between the consumer and company, giving real time feedback to a company regarding its products and giving the consumer a feeling of being close to the company.

For your Career -

Many blogger start their blog with the intent of making money off of it. The primary vehicle for this monetary gain is advertising revenue. When a blog is doing well, advertisements on the site will give the site owner money for every click on the ad. Even if the blog owner will only have one in a thousand visitors click on an ad, given that some blogs experience millions of hits a day. This can add up really quickly, especially if the blog owner is maintaining multiple blogs.

As a Hobby -

A lot of blog owners are not in it to make money or promote their company. Some are in it because they have a hobby and would like to share their experiences. Model builders, athletes, board game enthusiasts, these individuals can share their hobbies, informing others while learning from visitors to the site. Site owners can show off their talents, which can lead to job opportunities for the blog owner in their field.

To spread Information -

Some blog owners are in it to inform their readers, by collecting information from many other sites. These sites will collect information from a number of web sources all related to a common theme. This allows other users a central hub within which to obtain information from many different sources, tailored to a central theme or field of interest. These bloggers may hold other reasons as well, but their passion with respect to their chosen field.

For Personal Reasons -

Another good reason to blog is for personal reasons. There are a number of blogging platforms that are ideal for personal blogging, like LiveJournal for example. Personal blogging is blogging about your daily life, relationships, dreams, beliefs, worries and other subjects relating to your existence. Personal blogging doesn’t involve selling products or pushing brands, but rather is just about sharing yourself with your readers.

Continue Reading...

March 9, 2009

Free PageRank Display Widget

PageRank Widget Spam bots harvest email addresses from web sites and blogs. This email scrambler is designed to obfuscate your email address using Javascript, which ensures only Javascript enabled browsers can read the email address, thus protecting it from email harvesters.

To use this email scrambler, simply enter your email address in the box below and type the link you would like to display to your visitors (eg: "Email Me"). When you click the "Scramble Email" button, you will be presented with javascript code which you can copy and paste into your blog template where you would like the email link to be displayed (eg: in an HTML/Javascript widget in your sidebar).

Scramble your email addres
Email address:   Link text:  
Note: Just leave the 'Link text' field blank if you want your email address be displayed.



Instructions: Paste the code above in your blog template/web page where you would like the email link to appear.

Please note: for Blogger users, the email link will not display in the body of a blog post. Instead, you should use the generated Javascript in an HTML/Javascript widget in your sidebar (or similar).


Continue Reading...

March 5, 2009

How to Revive a Dead Blog?

 

Citing a Gartner study there are eventually "200 million people call themselves ex-bloggers." That's a ton of dead blogs but it won't matter to most blog readers. Lots of these ex-bloggers want to get back to scene. Quoting a question by David-

So, I am not sure how to go about this, but I need to know what everyone thinks. I have a few blogs that I have let fade away, but I really want to revive them, and over the next two weeks especially, I feel like I have the time, energy and hopefully continual focus to make them part of my daily routine.
Do I just start writing on them again and act like they never faded? Do I give up on them, and start again fresh without any of the baggage and the apparent break in posting? What do you think? What is the best way to revive a dead blog?


To start with- This post is about reviving your old blog… and Not starting Afresh.
You may not have been blogging well for a year. Or Your blog has been one of the known blogs of its time, but now everybody seems to have forgotten it. Even I did not blog at regular intervals and other things in life took priority. What happened to “blogging to fame” could have happened to anybody in the blogosphere.

Now you want your readers back. You want them to know about your coming back to the blogosphere. What do you do to revive your dead blog?

Do this and bring your blog back to life…

1. Start Blogging- A No-Brainer you would say… It may sound obvious, but, it takes time. Bringing a blog back to life is not easy. It needs the same energy and enthusiasm that you started your blog once with. Give your blog some time.

2. Reconnect with fellow Bloggers- Blogging is all about relationships. Make your old fellow bloggers remember you. Talk to them, comment on their blogs, and re-build your relationships. Oh great! If you have already kept the friendship alive, but if not, now is the time to do so.

3. Blog Networks- If you blogged earlier, you would be most probably be a member of sites like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalogue. Spend time on them (the site), and with them (the blogger members). Use Twitter, and other sites to get your voice up and going, and trust me, you are definitely going to feel good about it.

4. Redesign for a fresh feel- A full facelift. Like starting a new day, this will help you to get your creativity to flow again. This is totally your choice. You can continue with the old one.

And this time maintain your commitment to blogging... :)

Continue Reading...

 
Blogging Now And Then © 2009 Med ELJAMALI