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Increasing Your Blog Traffic with SlideShare

2012-01-27T23:43:00.001-08:00

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Increasing Your Blog Traffic with SlideShare

via Daily Blog Tips by Gregory Ciotti on 4/01/12

If I were to ask you about expanding your content marketing efforts for your blog, and chose you to pick a single "untapped" platform, what would you say?

Obviously it's not things like Twitter or Facebook, and even videos on YouTube are getting utilized by more and more bloggers each day.

Want to know the biggest sleeping giant of content marketing platforms?

SlideShare!

That's right, the platform that allows you to upload slideshow presentations…

Wait A Minute… Slideshows?

Yes.

You might be wondering how slideshows could possibly be considered "untapped" (considering their age), but let me tell you, if there is one platform that most bloggers are missing out on, it's SlideShare.

SlideShare allows you to upload and "share" PowerPoint (or other styles) of slideshows, either on your own site or others.

Largely, SlideShare offers the same benefits of YouTube in that it can bring traffic to your site from the large amount of users on SlideShare.

What kind of traffic are we talking about, with just a simple slideshow presentation?

Well, on the SlideShare homepage right now (undered the "featured" section), I see a 15-slide presentation that as already garnered over 30,000 views!

Imagine getting that many eyeballs on your content, all for a simple (but informative) 15 slides! (Here's the presentation in question, notice it's only a few high quality images with simple text on top)

But… how does content marketing on SlideShare really work?

Content Marketing on SlideShare

In order to drive this point home, I thought it would be silly to describe the process in text only.

After all, I'm about to highlight the benefits of creating slideshows, so why not tell you about smart marketing on SlideShare… in a SlideShare presentation!

Too small to read? See the full-sized version here.

As I'll get into, you'll notice a few key elements about my slideshow presentation above:

It's quick and to the point (11 slides, 3 lines of text at max)
It's visual (images obviously do well on slides, always include them!)
It's clean (SlideShare degrades image quality a bit, but I used a clean design to make it easily read and browsed)

However, there are some other great benefits I'd like to elaborate on in this post that I didn't include in the slide.

Beating the Crowd

SlideShare has been called the "quiet giant of content marketing", which means if you want to take action on utilizing this service, the time is now.

In the same way that early YouTube users learned to effectively utilize the service to grow their brands, so too can you hop aboard the SlideShare train before it gets too crowded.

Building your brand on a service is much easier in the early stages, and while SlideShare certainly isn't "new", it definitely isn't as crowded as places like YouTube, and content creation for it is far easier.

It also gives you a chance to stand out with amazing content: if you have any design skills, you can make a BIG splash on SlideShare, as many presentations are very basic.

While the world hops from social network to social network, you can get to work on evergreen content that will send you traffic for as long as it's uploaded (just like YouTube).

Last but not least, SlideShare allows you to create content that not only draws visitors from the site, but can also drive traffic from SEO.

Given the sites high authority presence, creating presentations that rank for keywords can be much easier than ranking a post on your blog.

You can also create presentations a lot faster than 3000+ word blog posts, so as long as you are providing a lot of quality, you can grow you SlideShare views with SEO along with the embedding feature, letting your presentations have an impact that far outreaches their presence on your site and on SlideShare.

Don't be fooled: PowerPoint presentations are still in style, you just have to utilize them the smart way with SlideShare and content marketing!

Gregory Ciotti writes about WordPress and online marketing at Sparring Mind (make sure to check it out). He also writers a weekly column for Daily Blog Tips.

Want to start making some money with your website? Join my OnlineProfits.com training program today, it's free!

Original Post: Increasing Your Blog Traffic with SlideShare

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6 Tips to Speed Up and Optimize Your WordPress Plugins

2012-01-27T23:41:00.001-08:00

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6 Tips to Speed Up and Optimize Your WordPress Plugins

via Daily Blog Tips by Daniel Scocco on 10/01/12

The WordPress engine is pretty efficient out of the box, but once you start loading plugins the performance and responsiveness of your site might go downhill. On top of that the consumption of resources might become too big, possibly leading to a suspension of your hosting account (especially if you use shared hosting).

Over the years I played with and tweaked my WordPress plugins trying to achieve a good performance level, and below you'll find the tips I learned along the way:

1. Use a Cache Plugin

Serving cached versions of your pages is one of the most efficient ways to speed up your site and to reduce the CPU and memory consumption on your server. Also, if you are not using the W3TC plugin yet I highly recommend you switch to it, as it works much more efficiently than the other plugins available.

2. Remove All Unnecessary Plugins

Unless your site absolutely relies on a plugin to work I would recommend removing it. Sure, you might need to lose a functionality or two, but in the long run this will keep your site running fast and securely. Keep in mind that it's possible to hard code what some plugins do, as well. For example, instead of using a plugin to generate a list of "Popular Posts" on your sidebar you could create the list yourself with raw HTML. Instead of using a contact form plugin you could simply write a paragraph on your "Contact" page including your email address there. So on and so forth.

3. Pay Special Attention to Post-Level Plugins

On most WordPress sites and blogs, the bulk of the traffic goes to the posts. The homepage, the category and archive pages receive around 20% of the overall traffic, if that, while the posts receive 80%.

This means that plugins that act at post-level will consume most of your resources. Examples include plugins to change SEO aspects of your posts (e.g., All in One SEO Pack), plugins to display related posts and so on. As a result you should put an extra effort to either remove or optimize those plugins (more on that below).

4. Consider Substituting All In One SEO Pack

The All in One SEO Pack plugin is certainly one of the best SEO plugins around, but it's also pretty intensive on the resources of your server. For small sites this won't be a problem, but once your traffic starts growing you might start to feel it.

A good alternative is called Greg's High Performance SEO. According to the author All in One SEO Pack outputs 2000 lines of code per page load/view, while Greg's plugin output only 700 lines.

In my opinion the main benefit of those SEO plugins is the ability to customize the title tag. If that is the most important factor for you as well you can be even more extreme and use no plugin at all. Instead use the piece of code below to create optimized title tags for your posts:

<title><?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo('name'); } elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo ' - ' ; bloginfo('name'); } elseif (is_single() ) { single_post_title();} elseif (is_page() ) { single_post_title();} else { wp_title('',true); } ?></title>

5. Consider Substituting YARPP

Along with All In One SEO Pack there's another plugin that is very popular and yet very resource intensive: YARPP (Yet Another Relate Posts Plugin).

One alternative you can consider is the Efficient Related Posts plugin. The main difference is that the database of related posts is updated only when a post is created/updated, while other plugins tend to build the list on the fly, whenever a post is loaded.

6. Optimize Your Database Tables

As with any dynamic content management system, great part of the work your WordPress site does is related to getting, storing, removing and updating information on its database. That's why optimizing your database tables can affect your site's performance.

A nice plugin you can use for this purpose is WP-Optimize. It will remove your post revisions, clean your comments (e.g., spam and deleted ones), run optimization queries and so on.

Want to start making some money with your website? Join my OnlineProfits.com training program today, it's free!

Original Post: 6 Tips to Speed Up and Optimize Your WordPress Plugins

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AdobeTutorialz.com updates

2012-01-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

AdobeTutorialz.com updates

How to create Abstract Colorful Valentine’s Day Card with Beautiful shiny hearts in Photoshop CS5

Posted:

We have another great tutorial available for our readers today. If you want to learn how to create Abstract Colorful Valentine’s ...

Play SRT Subtitles Over Videos with Greenfish Subtitle Player

2012-01-25T05:49:00.003-08:00

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Play SRT Subtitles Over Videos with Greenfish Subtitle Player

via Raymond.CC Blog by Raymond on 25/01/12

Most of the popular video players such as VLC Media Player and KM Player already support playing subtitles together with the video. However there is a restriction that the subtitle will only be displayed when the video is played. You cannot use it to play just the subtitle itself. The ability to play only subtitle can be pretty important for deaf or hearing impaired people. An example is Netflix still doesn't offer closed captioning or subtitles for streaming movies and TV episodes even after announcing on mid 2009 which may[...]

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Lessons Learned Running a Small Business in 2011

2012-01-25T05:49:00.001-08:00

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Lessons Learned Running a Small Business in 2011

via Pro Blog Design by Michael Martin on 1/01/12

As 2012 begins, I want to look back over the past year to see what can be learnt from it. Learning from your mistakes is less glamorous than a list of grand New Year's Resolutions (Though I do like those too), but often more effective at ensuring the next year is even better than the last.

With that in mind, what follows are some of the lessons I have picked out from my own 2011. I would love to hear if these resonate with you.

When looking back at your own year, I'd encourage you not to look for when things went "wrong" as such, but simply to think of how things may have gone differently. That's what I've done. If I were to go back, I may well do some of these things the same, but considering the alternatives is a great way to learn.

Plan For the Follow-Through

When working on a large project, launch day is the natural target. All of your work is dedicated to releasing the product.

That is obviously crucial, but equally important is planning in advance to build on the momentum from your big release. That could mean anything from analyzing its success, planning the next release, or simply capitalizing on the good PR.

I learned this lesson from the relaunch of this site in May. We had been working on it on and off for almost a year, so it had been a huge project, but in the push to launch, we built up a backlog of other work.

I worked on this and wrote a number of articles following the launch, but not enough. The backlog took priority because as far as schedules were concerned, the relaunch project was complete. The follow-through should have been a clearly defined of the project.

Short-Term is More Tempting than Long-Term

How many times have you heard a freelancer say they can't find the time to work on their site or a personal project? Even though they really enjoy it?

All freelancers hit this issue, and I was no different. I think the reason for this is extremely simple; short term benefits have a clearer and more obvious benefit than long term ones. In my case, PliablePress has been hurt by this. Improving the framework brings me incremental benefits over time, but taking on a large client project pays off right away.

The trick here I believe is a balancing act. If you spend all of your time on short-term goals, you'll never get past where you are right now. But similarly, if you only work on long-term plans, you may not survive that long. Don't let one overcrowd the other.

Focus Beats Multitasking

This is a common enough productivity tip that you have likely heard before. Only work on one thing at a time. It makes sense, and it will come as no surprise to you that closing down Twitter and Skype etc. will help you work better.

The bigger lesson is to organize yourself each day so you know which projects you will be working on. You don't need a step-by-step breakdown of the tasks (Though some people swear by that), a simple list of the top x projects that need your attention today will do.

This is something I see in my work again and again. The days in which I have a clear list of projects to work on, and I tackle them one by one, are my most productive days. Sometimes you can even spend a whole day on just one project, which is fantastic. Focus only on the next task, not all of the tasks.

Sidenote – When making your list, try to avoid adding any murky tasks that don't have clear completion objectives, e.g. research can go on indefinitely so before you start, make sure you're aware of how you will know when you're done.

New Does Not Necessarily Equal Worthwhile

In the tech world, we all love the speed at which things change. The impulse is to try as many new products and services as we can, because who knows what the next game changer will be?

And therein lies the problem. It could be anything, and there are new things coming at you every day. You can't try them all, and the attempt is a waste of your time. I think a better approach is to let the community try them out for you, and join in when a winner seems to be emerging.

A good example of this is social networks. There are a million different variations out there and new ones all the time. Most won't catch on, and the time put into them is lost to you. I joined Quora after consistently reading good responses on it for months, but I'm not on Pinterest, Path or any of the other current "hot" networks yet. I'll check back again in a few months.

The exception is tools that really add value to your business (Webapps you use, development software etc.). Again, I wouldn't try every single one as it comes out, but every few months, take a look around. It's fun too, playing with new toys is hard to count as work!

Join The Communities You Value

The web is full of little communities, and you could take part in them from morning to night. On a productivity note, you might try to cut down on this when you have deadlines to meet.

It's possible to go too far with this though. Once you've read a lot on a particular site, and especially after you've started enjoying the comment discussions, you can get a lot more out of taking part as well.

I used to post thousands of comments in forums when I was younger, and then again on blogs as I started Pro Blog Design. That's been somewhat lessened in 2011, so I'm looking forward to starting again. In particular, I've massively enjoyed reading Hacker News and Stack Overflow, so it's about time I joined up.

Planning is Both Impossible and Essential

A slight paradox, but it's true. It's impossible to plan for everything that may happen, even over just a short period of time. But with no plan, things inevitably fall into chaos.

I like to think I'm quite organized, and I always have a good idea of how the next 3-4 weeks will flow. I don't think any of my "ideas" have ever gone 100% to plan though.

Things change. Something will crash, a client will take longer with their feedback, an awesome new project will come up etc.

You need to plan enough to help things run smoothly, but be flexible enough to cope with the inevitable curve balls that come at you. I'm still not sure of the exact formula for this, but it seems that the more experience you have of it, the better your plans and estimates become.

Fight to Work On What You Love

When you run a small business, you're responsible for everything. I have the pleasure of working with a number of other people throughout the year here, but no matter what, the final responsibility is still mine.

In practice, what this means is that the tasks you can't easily find someone else to take care of, you do yourself.

That's fine in the short term, and often even beneficial (Knowing you have to submit your accounts yourself keeps your finances very organized throughout the year!), but it isn't a long term solution.

You didn't start a business to work on things you don't enjoy. There will always be some jobs you just have to do, but when the ones you don't enjoy are the majority, you need to fix it.

I'm quite happy with where I am in regards to this now; the trick for me was angling towards certain types of projects. Great clients with interesting projects means that more or less everything is fun!

The Truest Test of a Business is When You Leave It

Again, this is something you've likely read before, and it's spot on. In September, I was away for around 3 weeks, and it likely affected every part of the business.

I planned in advance as much as I could, but every change has a knock-on effect. By prioritizing the projects that could most likely be finished before I left, I was leaving others to be done largely after I returned. I was also lining up new projects to be worked on while I was away, but I was still needed at various points to give my thoughts.

In other words, the month before and the month after the trip were crazy. There is no easy fix to this, but removing the dependency on you is definitely a big area to work on if you want your business to grow.

Conclusion

Those were the biggest new "lessons" I would take from my 2011. I've deliberately chosen from when things could have gone better, not from when they went great. I'd be happy to share those as well if you like, but learning from mistakes is often the more revealing analysis so they weren't included here.

In return, I'd love to hear about your year. What have you learnt from it and what will you do differently this year?

Before I finish, I want to apologize for how quiet the past months have been. They've been some of the busiest months I've ever had, but I've missed blogging greatly. January will be a quiet month as well, sorry, but after the 29th, I will be back with a vengeance. I've learnt a lot, so there's a lot I want to share!

If you reached this far in the post, thank you for still being a reader after all this time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Main photo by razvan.caliman.

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Un-dull Your Blog Posts: Four Fiction Techniques to Try

2012-01-25T05:48:00.003-08:00

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Un-dull Your Blog Posts: Four Fiction Techniques to Try

via @ProBlogger by Guest Blogger on 24/01/12

This guest post is by Harry Bingham of Writers' Workshop.

Most blog posts are dull.

They might be well-informed, offer interesting insights, teach useful things—but they can do all those things and still be dull.

Although readers do come to blogs to learn, they are only ever two clicks away from rival offerings, which means you're under constant pressure to retain those eyeballs.

And eyeball-retention is a learnable, replicable skill. I'm a novelist, after all. People don't come to my books in order to learn anything: they come for entertainment and will desert me if I don't satisfy their expectations. So I—and my peers—made darn sure we satisfy them. What's more, the approaches that work for books are eminently transferable to blogs.

Story

One driver that always works is story. Let's suppose you're writing about an SEO technique which yields, on average, a 30% traffic increase over a three month period. Clearly that technique is, in principle, going to be of interest to your readers.

But isn't that presentation dull? I mean, don't you feel your heart contract just a little when you hear those stats? You know you need to read the post but, gosh, it doesn't excite you.

Contrast that with a post that starts with a story. Jed Edwards is a fishmeal seller who's struggling to make a go of his business in recessionary times. He hits on a new SEO technique that doubles his online traffic in the space of three months. He renegotiates a bank loan on the back of a new business plan and for the first time in years, things start to look up.

Now that snippet still feels a little poor. We want more detail, more personalization, more that is specific to Jed and his business. But enrich that one paragraph to, let's say, three and you have a human, empathic connection. Your reader is hooked.

Of course at that point, you'll need to backtrack. You'll need to say that the Jed's experience is unusually positive, that 30% increases are the norm, not 100% ones. And you'll need to get into the nuts and bolts of the technique. But all that doesn't matter. You've got the reader into your article. You've won their trust. Your task isn't finished—but it's very well started.

The trick to this approach is to start (and ideally finish) with the personal, the specific, the detailed. You can see one example of this approach on our blog here, but you can also view countless examples of it in the newspapers. If a journalist is writing about the Japanese tsunami, for example, they'll likely start by picking out the experience of one particular family, or one particular village. Start with the particular, move to the general, and move back to the particular with your close.

Controversy

Another good alternative is to go for controversy. You don't necessarily need to believe 100% in the position you are presenting. Obviously, you need to have some real belief what you're saying, but it's okay to allow yourself to express things more strongly than you truly believe. That's not about lying: it's about helping to clarify things for readers. By making strong statements, you can let your readers test out what they do and don't believe on a subject.

In the end, a controversial stance is simply a way to keep the reader interested in what follows. A recent guest-blogger on our own writing-related website made a big splash with an argument that alcohol could be used to promote creativity. It's a controversial position—but that post scored almost three times as many hits as one of our regular posts. (His post can be found here.)

Facts

You wouldn't think that novelists spend much time wrestling with facts, but we do! Historical fiction, for example, nearly always relies on a novelist finding some extraordinary aspect of the past and bringing it to life via story. But if the background material weren't compelling, the book wouldn't be either. Philippa Gregory's international hit book (and movie) The Other Boleyn Girl worked primarily by bringing an extraordinary aspect of King Henry VIII's colorful life to public view.

You can do the same. Most pro bloggers recycle the same old facts. You need to avoid that. You need to locate the specific, unknown fact that throws a new light on the issue you are commenting on. You don't need to embellish that fact or wrap it in fancy packaging. If your fact is strong enough, you can hook a post to it without any of that.

Take, for example, Amazon's launch of the Kindle Fire. Countless commentators regurgitated Amazon's sales statistics—to such an extent that no blog advertising this fact could be of real interest. So Clint Boulton did some original research (which he discusses here) and transformed a dull post into a value-added one.

Style and humor

A fourth—difficult—approach relies on writing style and humor. It's hard, because you need real writerly skills. You can't just bolt them on, the way you can with the first couple of approaches. And humor that falls flat is much worse than no humor at all.

On the other hand, there are replicable skills here too. Economy, for starters. Are you saying something in 12 words that could be said in eight? If so, your blog post risks being 50% longer than it ought to be. Pedantic micro-corrections to your text can build into a large macro difference in interest.

Cliché is another grievous sin against good writing. Every cliché kills—just a little—the reader's interest in your text. If you spot examples of cliché in your text (and that means remembering to look for them!), you can correct the problem in one of two ways. Either come up with your own original striking phrase or choose a simple but accurate replacement. So you could change "She was grasping at straws" into either of these alternatives:

She grew desperate, a drowning woman in search of a lifebelt.
Tiny facts now filled her with unreasonable hope.

Both of those options are a big improvement on the cliché.

Examples

Finally, humans aren't particularly rational creatures. Logically, it makes good sense to state general principles and let readers figure it out from there. But readers want examples. They make those general principles leap to life.

The joy of hyperlinks means that you don't even have to slow your prose down with reporting those examples: you can just point to them and move on. The better written and more joyous the posts you point to, the more joy you bring into your own post too. It's like love: you create more by sharing.

Have you used any of these techniques to un-dull your writing? Share your tips with us in the comments.

Harry Bingham is a novelist. He also runs the Writers' Workshop which offers help with all aspects of writing a book.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Un-dull Your Blog Posts: Four Fiction Techniques to Try

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8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog

2012-01-25T05:48:00.001-08:00

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8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog

via @ProBlogger by Guest Blogger on 24/01/12

This is a guest blog post by Michael White of Musings of a PR Student.

Students should be worried about their job prospects. I am. Competition is rife and the top advertised jobs receive hundreds of applications. Our work experiences are not just being challenged by a surge of candidates, but our very degrees are being questioned. Surely only post-graduate degrees now hold credibility?

I began blogging in 2005 (my promoted blog was founded in 2009) and have never looked back. As I reached maturity it became clear that blogging was no longer for the weird recluse yearning for a better life; instead, it's a practical application for furthering a career.

Yet, despite my personal successes, I am still finding it difficult to convince fellow students to blog.

Here are eight reasons why students should join the blogosphere.

1.Your blog is your portfolio

When I submit my resume to potential employers, I always keep my blog's address at the top of the first page as a contact detail. It is my online portfolio, which I can give as an example to organizations before I'm even at the interview stages. It is not only a way for me to stand out from the crowd, but it speaks a thousand words more than my two-page resume will allow.

University courses vary but you will certainly find a blogging format to suit you well. A blog can be used to do all of the following:

Post images of your latest photography, graphic designs, animations, architecture plans, 3D models, etc.
Post videos to present the brilliance of your last feature film project. Friends of mine have posted client work showing advertisements and band music videos.
Post written content which delves into industry matters and theoretical musings, or demonstrates practical experiences.

Your blog doesn't just have to act as a portfolio of content; it can also present links to your social networking profiles. Control your online presence and stand out from the crowd.

2. Blog to control your SEO

What will the first thing your potential employer does when they receive your resume? Either bin it or type your name into Google. When I worked for Microsoft last year as an intern, members of the team took great pleasure in finding information on candidates outside of their resume. Fortunately for you, your blog will be the top result because, through you blog, you can control your SEO.

WordPress is arguably the best blogging software available, especially for those of us who enjoy self-hosting. A variety of plugins are available for WordPress blogs to enhance your SEO:

All in One SEO: This plugin is ideal for amateurs and professionals alike. Simply activate it on your WordPress setup to optimize your site for search engines.
Google XML Sitemaps: Create an XML-compliant sitemap for your blog to help search engines. I highly recommend that once you have activated this plugin that you post your sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools.
W3 Total Cache: Yes, this is a caching plugin designed to speed up your blog. It is still entirely relevant to SEO, though. Speed matters in terms of page rankings.

The art of improving your SEO is a subject for another blog post. The above plugins will prepare you though. Make sure when your potential employer is searching that they click on the link you want them to see.

3. Network with industry professionals

A couple of months ago I published a review on my blog for a book called Social Media Analytics. Within a few hours of posting it, the author, Marshall Sponder, got in touch thanking me for my kind words. An industry professional made first contact with a student! Yes, I did him a favor, but that was partly in a bid to gain his attention. It worked.

In terms of networking, a blog cannot be used alone. Twitter is still one of the best online networking resources available. Couple your Twitter profile with your blog and you could be playing more seriously. You can gain the attention of industry professionals by:

writing reviews of their books
writing a reactionary blog post to something they have written
offering to guest post for their blog (like I'm doing here!)
simply mentioning them in a post with a link.

There are countless methods. Use your own creativity to think of something different.

4. Blogging shows your determination

Make no mistake, blogging is tough. To be successful requires quality content, frequent posts, and networking clout. My blog won a college advisor award in 2010, today I look over the list to find a year later barely half of the blogs are still active. You don't want your employer to be gazing upon a graveyard of a portfolio.

My current blog has been active for four years now. In that time, I have written 310 posts, which approximately total to 160,000 words. This easily out shadows a measly 10,000 word dissertation. Such a task can only be driven by passion. Only a few blogs reach such a high publicity level that you could consider yourself a minor online celebrity—mine has yet to do so.

In essence blogging is about sitting in your room, with a large mug of tea, which is being drunk by a very determined individual (some say he is mad). Blogging will be worth your time. Plan blog posts ahead. Remember, you are preparing yourself for a marathon and not a sprint.

5. Build a reputation before you hit the workplace

Your professional reputation no longer starts once you have found yourself your first job. It starts based upon the information on the internet people discover. Build your reputation upon the strong foundations of your blog.

My uncle could be regarded as old-school. He has a top job in a worldwide recognized media agency, a result of working his way up the ladder. If you type his name into Google, you will find a dozen news stories written about him by reputable magazines. Never has he needed to build his reputation online first; his reputation leaked online due to his "real world" efforts.

The year 2012 is different. Competition is high among students and so you should be building your reputation at all times, even before you study at University. Here are a number of ways in which a blog can help build your reputation:

Focus on your blog's branding. What do the images and colors say about you?
Feature references from industry professionals. Let their endorsements give you credibility.
Show off your knowledge of the industry by providing insights and advice.

Reputation is everything.

6. Blogging expands and tests your knowledge

Blogging can be an excellent way to expand your knowledge by testing new ideas out publicaly. On a few occasions visitor's comments have provided me with fresh angles in order to tackle information. Ultimately the result not only expands your knowledge but allows you to effectively tackle debates and tune your mind to thoughts in your chosen industry.

Don't forget about comments. Whilst the main content serves as an important resource, comments can provide practical feedback (or nonsensical drivel) to take into consideration.

7. Access traditional media opportunities

In the recent post written by the inspirational Chris Brogan he explains how we should view ourselves as media channels. This is exactly what blogs are; frame them as your media channel. If you do then other, more traditional media channels could become available to you.

Over the last year I was fortunate to become a "rent-a-mouth" for a number of BBC radio stations (including their flagship BBC Radio Five Live). It was an opportunity driven by the content they viewed on my blog. Blogging is by no means a perfect media channel as its audience depends upon your activities. Journalists who work for radio stations and newspapers can give you the credibility of opinion, more exposure, and perhaps even endorsement for work you have produced.

This is a priceless reason to blog. Don't ignore it. Get noticed.

8. Earn money

How could we not include money on this list as a reason? In my experience it is possible to make money from blogging but don't think it is easy to earn a living from it.

In the past I have accepted sponsored posts from organizations, but only if they are willing to pay me. Eventually I stopped because posts were lacking detail and shamelessly back-linked to their content. The posts were not useful, informative or entertaining—they were useless. Bloggers need to protect their real estate.

There are number of ways to earn money from blogging. If you chose a path then it may buy a few pints as a student. Don't expect the income to cover your rent. In my opinion earning money is never a goal, only a side effect from doing something you enjoy.

I hope I have inspired a new generation of students to begin blogging. At the same time I may have just harmed by own job prospects … how selfless of me!

Are you a student who is currently blogging? What have I missed in this post? Add to the debate by leaving your comments below.

Michael White is a British public relations student who studies at the University of Gloucestershire. He was a CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) representative in 2009 and completed an internship with Microsoft last year. He regularly updates his blog Musings of a PR Student.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog

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Stand Out Among Freelancers by Communicating with Your Client

2012-01-25T05:46:00.011-08:00

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Stand Out Among Freelancers by Communicating with Your Client

via 1stwebdesigner - Graphic and Web Design Blog by Christian Vasile on 25/01/12

While the internet becomes more and more accessible to everyone, some freelancers rarely use these new technologies to improve their marketing or client relations. These incredible technologies allow us to communicate easier with people from all over the world and to even optimize the communication with someone who is living close to us. Throughout my short career I have learned that communicating with a client is crucial, because his directions might help you too. Moreover, if the product is not heading in the direction the client wants, communicating with him is going to make the product better and, let's be honest, this is what every freelancer is rated on – the quality of the projects they deliver.

Communicating with clients will also increase the probability of you getting more work from them; it can also help you stand out from the crowd. Some freelancers just show up with the product, charge the money and leave – and even if they deliver a good product, the client is still not very happy with the working relationship. Well, this is because there was no communication and the client felt he was not involved. Moreover, following you client's directions is even more important for your working relationship, but be aware and don't become a puppet and try to make your point when you need to, as you are the expert and know the web better than your client does. Following your client's original instructions is totally different than doing what they say. It's called "paying attention" and "caring" about the one you work with.

Follow instructions

The client is the one who pays you, so your final product has to please them. If you don't do this, why would they hire you again? Or tell their fellow business owners to hire you? You don't have to give them what you think is right, but what they think is right.

Following instructions from a client shows a simple, but important fact – that you respect him. When they're paying you, it's totally disrespectful to ignore their requests and do what you want to do – even if you know that your way may be the best.

When you don't agree with a client, the only thing to do is communicate this to him. Talk to him, explain him why you think your way is the right one, show him examples from the web and statistics, and he will probably understand. Clients almost always agree with your ideas if you show them their final product will be better because of it. Don't just jump into modifying that grid system because you know it's right. Explain why you're changing it and they will probably understand you and appreciate you even more – he may even start to see you as the expert you are and may not question your decisions as much in the future.

Photo by ilco

If you are not sure about what I mean by client's instructions, then let's take a look at the following checklist:

The deadline – I can't stress enough about how important this is. Do you respect the deadline you get from your clients? Because if you don't, this is a huge problem. Many freelancers think that the deadlines are not mandatory and that delivering three days late is okay – well, it is a big problem. Most of your clients have a schedule and if you don't deliver your product in time, their whole schedule will fall apart. Keep the deadline in mind, this is one of the first things you are judged for.
Delivery – You can't make a good impression by delivering a project that isn't finished and still needs work. You get paid to deliver a completed project, and that's what you need to deliver to build your client base. Deliver the project. On time, and complete. If you don't deliver a fully finished project, it'll probably be your latest collaboration with the respective client.
Handing in something else – Well you think this doesn't happen – but it most certainly does. You might have done it as well without realizing. Did the client ask for a pink website and, without explaining why, you delivered a red one? Well then you didn't follow instructions. Just because you have a different idea than the client does, it doesn't mean you can just deliver whatever you want – at the end of the day he's paying you, not the other way around. Make sure you talk to your client about each major change you make and always inform him about the minor ones.
Contacting the client – You might not think this is a big problem, but if the client specifically asked you to only contact him by e-mail, don't overlook his wish. It's the same when we ask clients to only contact us between 8am and 4pm, and they call us at 10 at night. Annoying, right? They think the same when we do it. Moreover, if the client asks you to contact him once per week, do it, even if you don't consider it necessary.

Showing professionalism

This is what's going to land you the next job – being professional. By following the simple rules above you could manage to do it, but by following the ones below you will definitely impress:

Keeping in mind what the client requested is important even if you don't follow it. When you want to change something, simply ask to do it, but don't forget to acknowledge the client's request. Saying something like "Can I maybe contact you via e-mail, although you requested to talk by phone? I would be more comfortable with e-mail." will work better than just contacting him by e-mail out of the blue.
A good way for avoiding delivering something the client didn't request is to always ask before making major changes. If they're rejected, try to explain why you believe the changes will be beneficial to him. As said before, he will most likely accept you as the expert and go with your way of doing it.
It is always a great idea to set a more achievable deadline and always deliver before the expected day, this will allow more time for the client to revise the product and he will always be happy thinking that you worked more for him than you should have. Delivering before the deadline is good and will always pay off.
Freelancers not only deliver a project, but quite often will work as consultants as well. Don't forget that you can always make suggestions for next time, even if you are not going to be the one who gets the job. When the client sees that your tips helped him – even if with another designer – he will remember you and might turn back to you if needed again.

Image by Ambrosio

This article is not only about why is it important to communicate with your clients. It is mostly about acting professional. Communicating properly is just one small part of showing a client you mean business, especially today when there are lots of freelancers out there who clearly lack this crucial social skill. Managing to interact with your clients throughout the development process of a project and will insure you get positive feedback and word of mouth business, which will in the end send more clients your way.

Next time you are out there landing a big design project, come back to this article and follow these simple rules. They will only bring you positive results and will make the relationship with your clients better.

How is your usual relationship with your clients? Do you communicate a lot, or do you try to do it as little as possible? How much time do you spend consulting your client?

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Web Profits – Seo Secrets Training (Video + Ebooks)

2012-01-25T05:46:00.009-08:00

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Web Profits – Seo Secrets Training (Video + Ebooks)

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 8/01/12

SEO Secrets is the exact strategy we use at Web Profits to achieve top rankings for our clients in every market we work in. It's a complete blueprint to mastering your online presence. From SEO to website optimisation, SEO Secrets builds an impenetrable fortress around your online presence that the toughest competition won't be able [...]

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Windows XP Awesome SP3 2011

2012-01-25T05:46:00.007-08:00

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Windows XP Awesome SP3 2011

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 8/01/12

Windows XP Awesome SP3 2011 Size | 2 GB Genre: Software This is windows XP SP3 . It install only in 'C' Drive so take your IMP backups if you want. 'C' DRIVE WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY FORMATTED. 'C' DRIVE MUST BE AT LEAST 10 GB All driver and softwares will be automaticaly installed affter you [...]

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ImTOO Convert PowerPoint to YouTube

2012-01-25T05:46:00.005-08:00

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ImTOO Convert PowerPoint to YouTube

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 10/01/12

Searching for a quick and easy way to share all your PPTs on YouTube and other video sharing sites?ImTOO Convert PowerPoint to YouTube allows you to convert PPTs to standard/high-definition (SD/HD) videos in H.264/MPEG4-AVC, WMV, HD-H.264, or HD-WMV format, so you can upload, view and share them on websites such as YouTube.com in various resolutions [...]

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CBT Nuggets Pack 2001-2010

2012-01-25T05:46:00.003-08:00

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CBT Nuggets Pack 2001-2010

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 10/01/12

CBT Nuggets – Computer video tutorials is designed for technicians and other users who want to deepen their knowledge in information technology, as well as to prepare for the exams to obtain certification. This hand harvested 142 course laid out in categories as on the official website (only without repetition as opposed to a site [...]

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Learn Japanese Language Basic Video Training

2012-01-25T05:46:00.001-08:00

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Learn Japanese Language Basic Video Training

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 10/01/12

Learn Japanese Language Basic Video Training English | 2011 | WMV | ISBN: | 1.9GB The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test is conducted both in Japan and outside Japan to evaluate and certify the language proficiency of primarily non-native speakers of Japanese. The test is administered by Japan Educational Exchanges and Services, inside Japan, and by [...]

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Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes

2012-01-25T05:45:00.003-08:00

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Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 10/01/12

Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes English | 2010 | PDF | ISBN-10: 0980455294 | 20MB Wicked WordPress Themes is a step-by-step guide to creating beautiful themes for the world's most popular CMS, WordPress. By following the book's advice, readers can produce designs that are aesthetically stunning, consistent, and for-purpose -whether it's for their own [...]

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AppDev ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX and jQuery Using Visual C Sharp Training Tutorial

2012-01-25T05:45:00.001-08:00

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AppDev ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX and jQuery Using Visual C Sharp Training Tutorial

via TaiPhanMem.org Software Updates by napoleon_tq on 10/01/12

AppDev ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX and jQuery Using Visual C Sharp Training Tutorial English | 8hours | 640×480 | 44100 Hz, mono, 48 kb/s | 1.8 GB AJAX has brought a rich inactive content to web pages and web applications. The newest vision of Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2010 brings many plus to creating AJAX web [...]

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From AdSense to SpamSense to Spam Cents

2012-01-25T05:44:00.001-08:00

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From AdSense to SpamSense to Spam Cents

via SEO Book.com by Aaron Wall on 20/01/12

Google announced they rolled out their anti-overly-aggressive-ads algorithm. They didn't give a specific % on how much of the above the fold content can be ads, but suggest using their browser preview tool. Using that tool on Google.com's search results would of course score it as a spam site, but for some small AdSense webmasters that avoided Panda, Google may have drew first blood.

Much Quicker Updates

With a limited number of recoveries nearly a year after Panda, the first bite might seem like a big concern, however the "too many ads" algorithm updates far more frequently than Panda does:

If you decide to update your page layout, the page layout algorithm will automatically reflect the changes as we re-crawl and process enough pages from your site to assess the changes. How long that takes will depend on several factors, including the number of pages on your site and how efficiently Googlebot can crawl the content. On a typical website, it can take several weeks for Googlebot to crawl and process enough pages to reflect layout changes on the site.

And for those who got hit by Panda then tried to make up for those lower ad revenues with more AdSense ad units, they probably just got served round #2 of Panda Express. ;)

Is it Screen Layout, or Something Else?

In the past Google suggested to a nuked AdWords advertiser that more of his above-the-fold real estate should be content than ads.

However Google has such a rich data set with AdSense that I don't think they would just look at layout. If I were them I would factor in all sorts of metrics like

AdSense CTR
average page views per visitor
repeat visits & brand searches
bounce rate
clickstream data from Chrome & the Google toolbar (so even if you are using other ad networks, they can still sample the data)

Some sites are primarily driven off of mobile views while other sites might be seen on large monitors. When Google sees every page load & measures the CTRs, tacking actual user response is better than guestimating it.

They could come up with some pretty good metrics from those & then for any high traffic/high earning site they could manually review them to see if they deserve to get hit or not & adjust + refine the "algorithm" until those edge cases disappeared. Google's lack of credible competition in contextual & display ads means they can negotiate pretty tough terms with publishers that they feel are not adding enough value to the ecosystem.

It's Not Just Algorithms Cleaning Up AdSense

In addition to these sorts of algorithms, over the past year they have manually hit networks of sites with the doorway pages label & disabled ad serving on sites or entire accounts where they felt there was a bit too much arbitrage. One of our SEO Book members pointed me to this thread where a lot of Pakistani AdSense accounts got torched last October & another sent me a sample termination email from Google similar to this one:

Notice that in the above:

There was no claim of click fraud, copyright issues, or anything like that.
There was no claim of advertiser complaints.
Google offers no customer support phone number, no "you might want to work on this" advice, doesn't list which of the sites in the account they felt could be improved, and RETROACTIVELY nuked past "earnings" ... depending on where it is in the schedule that can amount to anywhere from 30 to 50+ days (I remember Teeceo mentioned how they waited until the day before the AdSense payday to smoke his stuff way back in the day to have maximum impact!)

On Google's latest quarterly earnings call they highlighted how year on year Google's revenues were up 25% but the network revenues only grew at 15%. They also explained the slower network revenue growth as being associated with improved search quality & algorithm updates like Panda.

Left unsaid in such a statement was that until those algorithms rolled out, Google admitted they funded spam. ;) The whole AdSense & content farm problem was created through incentive structures with unintended consequences.

Is the Garbage Disappearing, or Just Moving to a New Landfill?

If you track what is going on with the Google+ over-promotion (long overdue post coming on that front shortly!) or how Google is still pre-paying Demand Media to upload video "content" to Youtube, Google still may be funding the same model, but doing so while gaining a tighter control of relevancy so they can better sort good stuff from crap (when you host content & track user response you have all the metrics in the world to determine how relatively good you think it is). If they over-promote these sites then in the short run they create the same skewed business model problem.

Sure hosting the user experience makes it easier to sort the wheat from the chaff, but the other big risk here is the impact on the rest of the publishing ecosystem. There will be lots of thin spam from popular people on Google+ (anyone launched a celebrity-focused Pay-Per-Plus site yet?) & in-depth editorial content might not be economically feasible in certain categories where there literally is no organic SERP above the fold.

I will complement them on their efforts to clean up some of the worst offenses (from the prior generation of "bad incentives"). If you were hit by it, Panda was every bit as big/brutal as the famous Florida update. If this update is anything near as significant as the Panda update (in how it impacts smaller independent webmasters) then it is going to force more of them/us to move up the value chain.

That may mean pain in the short run, but (for those who take it as a wake up call to develop brand & organic non-search traffic streams) far more rewards in the longrun for those who remain after the herd is thinned.

Working for "The Company"

Larry Page's view on working for the company:

My grandfather was an autoworker, and I have a weapon he manufactured to protect himself from the company that he would carry to work. It's a big iron pipe with a hunk of lead on the head. I think about how far we've come as companies from those days, where workers had to protect themselves from the company.

I think for many SEOs the idea of starting over is painful, but the best SEOs often enjoy the forced evolution & the game of it all. They don't roll over & play dead or forget SEO. And if Google didn't put hard resets in every once in a while, then the big hedge funds would be mopping up the SERPs and cleaning our clocks with the help of Helicopter Ben.

Areas For Improvement

Of course this could be taken as a positive post toward Google (and it mostly is), but I don't want to come across as a fanboi, so I thought I should do a shout out to a couple things they still need to fix in order to be consistent:

If Google is going to tell people that thick deep content is needed to gain sustainable exposure then they shouldn't be ranking thin + pages in the SERPs just because it is a Google product. Even people who have *always* given Google the benefit of the doubt (full on fanbois) found the Google+ placement in the SERPs distasteful.
Google's AdSense is still sending out some of those automated "you are leaving money on the table" styled emails reminding publishers to use 3 ad units. If such behavior may lead to a smoke job, then the recommendation shouldn't be offered in the first place. Right below the "use 3 ad units" there needs to be a "proceed with caution" styled link (in red) that links to the recent "too many ads" post.
Old case studies that are no longer in line with best practices in the current market should have some sort of notice/notification added to them so new webmasters don't get the wrong idea.
Some of the AdSense heatmaps are roadmaps to penalization. These should have been fixed before yesterday's announcement, but if they are still up there next week then Google is willfully & intentionally trying to destroy any small business owner that follows that "best practice" advice.

Your Feedback Needed

Since this update impacted far fewer sites than the Panda update, there are fewer sample/example sites. Did any of your websites get hit? If so, how would you describe ...

your ad layout
your ad CTR
you mode of monetization (AdSense, other, both)
the level of impact on your site from the update

Categories:

contextual advertising

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4 Online Reputation Management Tips for 2012

2012-01-25T05:37:00.001-08:00

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4 Online Reputation Management Tips for 2012

via Daily Blog Tips by Guest Author on 13/01/12

What are your customers saying about your business, product and/or services? What are your potential customers reading about your business practices? Where do your customers talk about you? Knowing the answers to these questions are the first steps towards building a positive reputation on the web.

If customers aren't talking about your business online (that you know of), why should you even bother with online reputation management (ORM)? Being left in the dark when it comes to your online reputation can be compared to collecting customer comment cards at a brick and mortar store and tossing them in the trash without reading them. Stay active with your company's online reputation.

Proactively monitor your online reputation, be ready to take action and you will find yourself sitting in a better spot should negative information about your business arise.

Looking forward to 2012, below are a few online reputation management tips for the New Year:

1. Know What People are Saying: first and foremost, you have to know what people are saying about your business. If you aren't aware of what's out there, how can you manage it? Browsing the web for your brand and setting up email alerts are just a couple of actions you can take towards knowing what is being said about your business. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts and be informed via email when new occurrences of your brand show up on the web.

2. Be Active in Your Online Community: whether it's via blogging, forum participation or physical community outreach, being active in your community will help give your brand a positive image. When it comes to the online actions, the more involved you are on industry related blogs, forums and other websites, the number of positive occurrences of your brand will increase. Physically participating in your community helps create positive press that you can use online and in turn, contributes to a positive brand image. The more positive citations and sources of your brand you can create on the web the better.

3. Use Social Media to Your Advantage: the following infographic shows how companies are integrating social media as a form of communication and a medium for customer support. Consumers are turning to social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) more and more as a way of reviewing their experiences, both positive and negative. Below is a screenshot of an individual dissatisfied with an experience they had with a company:

Below is a positive Twitter mention.

As a business owner, what do you do when someone shares their experiences with your company publicly? There are a number of different approaches you can take when responding. Based on my ORM experience, the worst thing you can do as a business owner or employee is to ignore these complaints. Whether it's a negative or positive mention, respond! Below is a screenshot of a tweet I made on behalf of my SEO firm to a less than pleased customer:

At the very least, this is showing the customer and the public that we are aware of the issue and are willing to resolve it. Simply ignoring a negative mention on any social media site will not go unnoticed.

All in all, social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook are great ways to interact with your following and one of the easiest ways to get feedback on your product or services. Use social media to your advantage in 2012.

4. Promote Customer Reviews: As I mentioned earlier in this post, potential customers are going to turn to the web in search for reviews of your business. Promoting customer reviews is the best way to keep your information fresh and accurate. Business citation sources such as Google Places will pull information and reviews from a handful of 3rd party review sites. It is not uncommon to come across poor reviews, submitted years ago and in certain cases, they may no longer pertain to your business practices.

Handing out comment cards, including links to your business profiles in newsletters and adding links to your business profiles on your website are just a couple of actions you can take to promote and generate new customer reviews. Be careful how you ask for these reviews though. Business directories are smart enough to detect fraudulent reviews and most of the time, do not promote businesses coming right out and asking for reviews.

To conclude, if you don't already realize the importance of managing your online reputation, don't wait any longer to get involved with it. With consumers spending more and more time and money online, every review counts. Even if you don't offer products online, potential customers looking into your products or services are going to turn to the web as a source of information. They will read what people are saying about your business and they will make decisions based off of this. Know what's out there, know how to react and never take your foot off of the gas when managing your online reputation.

Craig Kilgore is an SEO at MainStreetHost.com, located in Buffalo, NY, specializing in online marketing and business development services. You can reach Craig on Twitter @ckilgs or via email at ckilgore@mainstreethost.com.

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Original Post: 4 Online Reputation Management Tips for 2012

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Six Easily-Preventable Mistakes That Bloggers Make with List Posts

2012-01-25T05:36:00.003-08:00

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Six Easily-Preventable Mistakes That Bloggers Make with List Posts

via Daily Blog Tips by Ali Luke on 15/01/12

List posts are hugely popular in the blogosphere – and for a good reason. They attract readers, and they're easy to write.

Sometimes, there's a bit of a backlash against list posts. That's not because they don't work, but because they're often poorly executed. Here are six mistakes that are easy to make – and easy to prevent.

Mistake #1: Putting the Wrong Number in the Title

Have you ever read a list post where the title promised 17 items, but the post only had 16? Okay, it was probably still a good post, but it feels sloppy at best.

When you're crafting your list post, you may well find that you cut out one item – or add in an extra one. Make sure you change your title to match.

Watch out for any other references to the number of items, too (probably in the introduction). This isn't such a glaringly obvious error, but you can bet that at least some of your readers will notice the mismatch.

Mistake #2: Leaving Off the Introduction

Some bloggers launch straight into their list with #1, without even a line or two of introduction. This can come across as abrupt and jarring (or just plain lazy) to your reader.

You can use your introduction to explain the "why" of your list in the introduction, or to tell the reader how to use the list. For instance, you might encourage them to try out one or two of the ideas, even if they don't have time to do them all.

Mistake #3: Forgetting to Number the Items

Quite often, I come across list posts where there's a number in the title ("7 ways…" "4 tips…" etc) but the actual list items aren't numbered.

There's no good reason not to number your list items. The numbers help readers to orient themselves within the post – they know how far through the list they are at any given stage. Plus, without numbers, your readers may try to count the items as they read – which means they won't be concentrating on the post itself.

Mistake #4: Failing to Order the Items

One reason why list posts get a bad name is because they often jump around all over the place, giving the impression that the blogger threw them together without putting much thought into ordering.

Your readers may not consciously notice if you've ordered your list items, but they will get the sense that your post is carefully constructed. You could try:

Ordering from easiest to hardest
Ordering from start to end or first to last
Alphabetical order
Alternating between two types of item (e.g. "do"s and "don't"s)

In this post, I ordered the mistakes so that they match the experience of reading a poorly-written list post – the first thing you notice is the title, then the introduction (or lack of one!) and so on.

Mistake #5: Having Items of Wildly Differing Lengths

If you're reading a list post where each item consists of several thoughtful paragraphs, then you suddenly hit one which is just one line, it's going to seem odd. (And the reverse applies too – single-sentence items followed by a huge one.)

Obviously, not all your ideas will be exactly the same length, but it's goodl to shoot for a similar range. That might be two – three sentences or two – three paragraphs. The key thing is to be consistent. If you're struggling, try merging together two short items, or splitting up one long one.

Mistake #6: Padding the List

We all know that "100 top tips" is going to sound more impressive than "10 top tips" – but that's not an excuse for writing a padded list post. It's better to have a genuinely useful list of 10 or 20 items than a massive list of 100 that doesn't provide much value.

One great way to ensure a high-quality post is to over-plan your list: if you're aiming to write a list of 20, aim for 24 or 25 ideas. That way, you can prune out the weaker ones.

What other mistakes do you see bloggers making with list posts? Add your thoughts in the comments…

Bio: Ali Luke is a writing coach and blogger, and writes a weekly column for DailyBlogTips. If you're struggling to find time to write great blog posts, click here to get her free ebook "How to Find Time for Your Writing" (plus a bunch of extra goodies, including free chapters from her Bloggers' Guides series).

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Original Post: Six Easily-Preventable Mistakes That Bloggers Make with List Posts

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How to Move A Small WordPress Site Via the Import/Export Tool

2012-01-25T05:36:00.001-08:00

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How to Move A Small WordPress Site Via the Import/Export Tool

via Daily Blog Tips by Daniel Scocco on 16/01/12

Over the past year I have moved a reasonable number of WordPress sites between different servers and hosting companies (around 10), and I picked up some tips and tricks along the way.

First of if you search around the web for advice on how to move a WordPress blog you'll probably get a recommendation to backup all the site files and databases, transfer the site files, and then restore the database on the other server.

While this works, I think it's unnecessarily complicated, especially if you are transferring a small site (i.e., with 300 posts or fewer, and no special sections like a forum). Not to mention that playing around with databases is always tricky, and if you are not tech-savvy you might screw things up.

A better and simpler solution in my opinion is to use the Import/Export feature on WordPress. Here's the step by step guide:

Login via FTP to your old (i.e., the one you are moving from) WP install and download the whole /wp-conten/t directory.
Login to your old WordPress dashboard and use "Export" function (located under "Tools"). Choose the "All Content" option, to export both posts and pages.
Put a fresh WP install on your new server/hosting plan.
Delete the /wp-content/ folder on your new server, and upload the one you had downloaded from your old server.
If you had changed the "Permalink Structure" on your old server, do that as well on the new one.
Now login to the WordPress dashboard on your new server and use the "Import" function (again under "Tools") to import all your posts and pages.
Check that everything is working fine by opening the homepage of your new WP install (you can do this using the IP address of your hosting account). If everything is working fine update the nameservers of your domain name to point to your new server).

This method is easier in my opinion, and it has one big advantage: you start with a clean install, meaning that any hacks or compromises you might have had on your old WP install will be gone.

Next week I'll post about moving larger WordPress sites. Those might not work with this method because your export XML file will be too large, and you might not be able to upload it via the WordPress import feature.

Want to start making some money with your website? Join my OnlineProfits.com training program today, it's free!

Original Post: How to Move A Small WordPress Site Via the Import/Export Tool

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Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-25T05:35:00.002-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

via Daily Blog Tips by Daniel Scocco on 17/01/12

If you visit the English Wikipedia right now (or within some hours) you'll probably see a lot of black. No need to panic though, it's a schedule protest against the SOPA and PIPA bills that are being promoted in the US.

Here's the description from their announcement:

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it's a decision that wasn't lightly made. Here's how it's been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community's discussion.

If I had more time available I would blackout DBT as well to support the protest. If you are planning to do it, though, make sure you do it the right way to not risk damaging your search rankings. Search Engine Land published an article explaining how to do it.

The basic idea is to return a 503, which is the error code for "temporarily unavailable." If you simply return a 404 Google's bots for sure won't like it.

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Original Post: Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

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Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-25T05:35:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

via Daily Blog Tips by Daniel Scocco on 17/01/12

Here's the description from their announcement:

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it's a decision that wasn't lightly made. Here's how it's been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community's discussion.

The basic idea is to return a 503, which is the error code for "temporarily unavailable." If you simply return a 404 Google's bots for sure won't like it.

Want to start making some money with your website? Join my OnlineProfits.com training program today, it's free!

Original Post: Wikipedia Is Doing a Blackout to Protest Against SOPA/PIPA

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Cool Websites and Tools [January 23rd 2012]

2012-01-24T03:45:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Cool Websites and Tools [January 23rd 2012]

via MakeUseOf by Aibek Esengulov on 23/01/12

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool website round-ups delivered to your daily email, subscribe here.

Add Your Website Here!

ReaderShare – Google Reader was recently revamped with a new interface and new features, and a major development was the phasing out of direct sharing and the introduction of Google+ integration. A lot of people have voiced their grievances against this, and ReaderShare wants to help them. It is a Chrome extension that brings back those sharing options. Read more: ReaderShare: Get Back The Old Sharing Options In Google Reader [Chrome]

		ButtonParty – Numerous web services offer ways of sharing songs and audio online. But Button Party brings forward an entirely new concept to online sound sharing by letting you create shareable buttons that play audio from YouTube videos. These buttons correspond to various sounds, all linked to YouTube videos and are all created by users. Read more: ButtonParty: Create Shareable Sound Buttons

		Touchpad Dialer – Smartphones let you easily type the first few letters of your friend's name and their number appears in your contacts. But usually you have to press the same key (number) multiple times to make your desired letter appear. Here to resolve this inconvenience is an excellent app called TouchPal Dialer. Read more: TouchPal Dialer: An App To Find Contacts Quicker [Android 1.5+]

		Decreased Productivity – Are you easily distracted by images, animations, etc, on any webpage? If the answer is yes, you should give the Decreased Productivity Chrome extension a try. It improves the browsing experience by allowing users to control the different elements on any webpage. Users can restrict images, animations, multimedia content and more. Read more: Decreased Productivity. Block Images, Animations & Multimedia Content Any Webpage [Chrome]

		Reading Bear – is an educational project created by Wikipedia's co-founder, Larry Sanger, that aims to teach beginner child readers about vocabulary and the concepts of English. At the same time, the child is introduced to the main phonetic patterns of written English. All of this is done with the help of creatively crafted media. Read more: Reading Bear: An Effective Way To Teach Your Kids English

Add Your Website Here!

These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

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28 Anti SOPA/PIPA Artworks and Memes [Pics]

2012-01-24T03:44:00.003-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

28 Anti SOPA/PIPA Artworks and Memes [Pics]

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 19/01/12

If 2012 is really the end of the world, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) could be the first sign. Though it is constructed in the way that it might protect the intellectual property from the possible copyright infringement, it is so powerful that the big industry players could even take down a website first without any investigation, and this is called Domain Name System Blocking. Basically it has no much difference from the censorship seen in certain countries.

(Image Source: sakimichan)

The great news is that the DNS blocking feature is finally intended to be discussed by the sponsor of the SOPA bill, which could mean the semi-victory of the Anti-SOPA people. Today, we're still in the great war, that's why we want to showcase to you a collection of precious anti-SOPA artworks from the brave people who fought for American's freedom of speech.

While the war against the SOPA and PIPA hasn't ended, we can understand more about the SOPA from these quality works, and even share them to the world to let every people stand up to fight for the American's freedom of speech, and to protect user-centered sites like Google, YouTube or deviantArt from being taken down or censored! Full list of fearless artworks after jump!

SOPA: The Internet Blacklist Bill. First one of the list is the infographic from Stop American Censorship website to help you understand more about the SOPA, and how it will severe the American's freedom of speech and potentially industry. If you're an American, join the strike! (Image Source: Stop American Censorship)

SOPA Infographic. Another infographic that focuses more about how SOPA will influence the business and innovation, and ultimately what we can do to stop the SOPA. Be noted that the SOPA supporters could change from time to time though. (Image Source: Business Insurance)

Anti-Protect IP Act. Though the DNS blocking feature of SOPA has been proposed to be discussed, we must remember the similar version of SOPA, the PIPA! Again you can join the strike to bring it down! (Image Source: Neoridgeback)

I Can't Hear You. So Rep. Lamar Smith is the author of the SOPA, according to the Wikipedia. (Image Source: ChadRocco)

Fight SOPA. Awesome modified version of The Social Network's movie poster, and the message is the truth! (Image Source: lapdog)

Image Violated SOPA. If SOPA is passed, this is what we will see often in our future. (Image Source: kisa4ever13)

We Hope You Have Enjoyed. Now it's your time to fight for your freedom of speech, which should have no trial period at all. (Image Source: My[confined]Space)

Access Denied. We certainly don't want our websites to face this destiny. (Image Source: hogosha-1)

Censorship is no fun. SOPA could be harmful for web business too, imagine what those who hate you and your business will do. (Image Source: BananahMan)

Website Has Been Blocked. "If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to jump off a bridge." (Image Source: Get Your Censor On)

Feel The Burn. Though it's funny, it could become the truth if SOPA is passed! Feel the burn! (Image Source: Get Your Censor On)

Google 2012. This is what you get from Google search result if you allow the SOPA to be passed. What could be worse than this? (Image Source: meh.ro)

STOP SOPA Bill. A great number of artists have risen up to fight against the SOPA in the artwork form or text form, as the SOPA could mean the end of the creative industry. (Image Source: sakimichan)

Konachan Says Stop SOPA. Stop SOPA! That's what every artist should think and do. (Image Source: Marcvilzal123)

Freedom of Speech. SOPA is not the answer for piracy and freedom of speech. (Image Source: 4th-reset)

Life After SOPA. YouTube, deviantArt, 9GAG, all the user-submitted content sites will be in risk if the SOPA is allowed to censor the Internet. (Image Source: ToaJacbobofPsychic)

Stop Before It's Too Late. With the SOPA, all fan arts will be impossible. (Image Source: Antooncartoon)

Corporotopia 01. A dark comic about how industry players will threaten you if SOPA is passed. You could never trust those who tried to take away your freedom of speech. Follow the full comic after the link jump. (Image Source: alexiuss)

Unprotected IP. How we gonna talk freely if SOPA exists? A simple message could get you sued if big players are willing to, and the comic below shows you the situation, full comic after link jump. (Image Source: 8Biticon)

Stop SOPA Cartoon. All of us will be in jail if the Internet gets censored. No freedom for your speech and works. (Image Source: Tobibrocki)

Freedom Reddit. Brave Reddit has been involving greatly in the Anti-SOPA movement, and this is what every famous site should do. (Image Source: Reddit)

Destructoid Censored. A picture of Destructoid showing that it stands against the SOPA, amusing and bravo! (Image Source: Destructoid)

Fight Fo' Your Rights. The best way to stop SOPA and PIPA is to join the fight! And this comic will show you how. Full comic after link jump. (Image Source: Loonafictation)

Thunder and the Pack go to Washington. "I decided to show some support for the opposition by creating this little comic in which my hunter, Tunderbrew, takes the pack to Congress to testify against S.O.P.A. Long live Internet Freedom!" (Image Source: wc3troll)

This is SOPA! Except the fact that the Entertainment Industry won't be as great as the Leonidas, especially with their attempt to block the DNS just because of the possible copyright infringement that might not exist at all. (Image Source: quickmeme)

Shouldn't Censor. I thought US is the nation of freedom, I could be wrong. (Image Source: quickmeme)

The Worst That Can Happen. A short yet amusing comic that talks about the worst thing that can happen if SOPA is passed… get ready to know. (Image Source: Imgur)

Censorshit. With all due respect, no one likes censorshit. (Image Source: Ars Technica)

Reflection

From the fight against the SOPA and PIPA, we really witnessed the unity and courage of the American people to fight for their freedom of speech, and the great spirit of the people worldwide who helped to raise the concern. Hat tip to all the creators of artworks and those who are still fighting to preserve the freedom of speech, all of you are heroes.

The fight has to go on as like what we've mentioned before, the SOPA is not down yet, and the PIPA will be voted on 24th January. So if you're an American, join the fight for your rights immediately, else you can contribute by sharing this post or these images to every people or everywhere you know. Internet Freedom relies on you to win it back!

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How To Create CSS-Based Content Accordion

2012-01-24T03:44:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

How To Create CSS-Based Content Accordion

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 19/01/12

In today's tutorial we are going to learn how we can create a horizontal and vertical content accordion by just using CSS3. There are many jQuery plugins out that can do this job for you but what do you do if the visitor has Javascript turned off, then the accordion won't work correctly. If your accordion is purely in CSS then it will work for all your visitors.

We are going to create a horizontal and vertical content accordion. On clicking the headline text the slide will open displaying the full content, and here's a quick preview (screenshots) how they look like.

Like what you see? Let the coding begin!

1. Preparing HTML and Content

To start with we are going to create the HTML for the accordion.

The structure needs a container div and then have a section for each slide in the accordion. In this example we are going to have 5 slides. Each of the slides are going to have a title and a paragraph for the content.

<div class="accordion horizontal">     <section>         <h2>About Us</h2>         <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p>     </section>      <section>         <h2>Services</h2>         <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p>     </section>      <section>         <h2>Blog</h2>         <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p>     </section>      <section>         <h2>Portfolio</h2>         <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p>     </section>      <section>         <h2>Contact</h2>         <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p>     </section> </div>

Now we have our slides we can begin to style the accordion.

2. CSS Styling

First we need to style the containing div of the accordion. This will give us an idea of how to display each of the slides and each of the headlines.

 /*Define Accordion box*/ .accordion {      width:830px;      overflow:hidden;      margin:10px auto;      color:#474747;      background:#414141;      padding:10px; }

Next we are going to create the headlines for each of the slides.

 .accordion section{       float:left;       overflow:hidden;       color:#333;       cursor:pointer;       background: #333;       margin:3px; } .accordion section:hover {       background:#444; }

We are setting the background color to be dark grey on the section to be the headline where the visitors will click to display the slide. We are using this section for both the headline and the content which means we are able to use less HTML and reuse the title of the slide as the headline of the content.

 .accordion section p {       display:none; }

At the moment all the slides will be closed so we need to make sure that the paragraph is hidden from view until the slide is open, so for now set the display of the paragraph to none.

 .accordion section:after{       position:relative;       font-size:24px;       color:#000;       font-weight:bold; } .accordion section:nth-child(1):after{ content:'1'; } .accordion section:nth-child(2):after{ content:'2'; } .accordion section:nth-child(3):after{ content:'3'; } .accordion section:nth-child(4):after{ content:'4'; } .accordion section:nth-child(5):after{ content:'5'; }

With the slides closed we want to display a number at the bottom of the headline to say which number slide we are on. For this we are going to use CSS to add content after the section headline, this can be done by using the :after pseudo-class selector.

Now we have created the headline for the slide we can make the click event to display the slide in the accordion. But there is a problem, CSS doesn't have a click event, which is why the accordion is normally created by using jQuery so we can attach a click event to the headline text.

We need to mimic the click event in CSS which can be done by using the :target pseudo-class selector.

3. Using :target pseudo-class Selector

:target allows us to style the fragment identifier. Sometimes we use an on-page anchor tag to point to a place on the page. On clicking the link the id in the anchor tag becomes the target and you can style this by using the :target selector.

To add this into the accordion we need to add a link around the headline pointing to an id of the slide.

 <section id="about"> 	<h2><a href="#about">About Us</a></h2> 	<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse id lobortis massa. Nunc viverra velit leo, sit amet elementum mi. Fusce posuere nunc a mi tempus malesuada. Curabitur facilisis rhoncus eros eget placerat. Aliquam semper mauris sit amet justo tempor nec lacinia magna molestie. Etiam placerat congue dolor vitae adipiscing. Aliquam ac erat lorem, ut iaculis justo. Etiam mattis dignissim gravida. Aliquam nec justo ante, non semper mi. Nulla consectetur interdum massa, vel porta enim vulputate sed. Maecenas elit quam, egestas eget placerat non, fringilla vel eros. Nam vehicula elementum nulla sed consequat. Phasellus eu erat enim. Praesent at magna non massa dapibus scelerisque in eu lorem.</p> </section>

 .accordion section:target {       background:#FFF;       padding:10px; } .accordion section:target:hover {       background:#FFF; } .accordion section:target h2 {       width:100%; } .accordion section:target h2 a{       color:#333;       padding:0; } .accordion section:target p {       display:block; } .accordion section h2 a{       padding:8px 10px;       display:block;       font-size:16px;       font-weight:normal;       color:#eee;       text-decoration:none; }

The above code will change the size of the slide to fit the rest of the accordion and changes the background color to white. The paragraph was hidden so now on target we need to display the paragraph.

Now when you click on the headline of the accordion the slide will change style to display the content of the slide.

4. Horizontal Accordion

The above code will create the general accordion now we can start to make the CSS changes for the differences between the horizontal and vertical accordion. Both these accordions have the same functionality but the headline styling would be different.

 .horizontal section{       width:5%;       height:250px;       -moz-transition: width 0.2s ease-out;       -webkit-transition:width 0.2s ease-out;       -o-transition:width 0.2s ease-out;       transition:width 0.2s ease-out; }

First we set the width of the headline section to 5% so it is a closed slide. As the section is both the headline and the content for the slide we need to add the animation to display the content by using the transition property.

 /*Position the number of the slide*/ .horizontal section:after{       top:140px;       left:15px; }

The position of the number on the slide will be the same position on each closed headline these are positioned differently to the vertical headlines.

 /*Header of closed slide*/ .horizontal section h2 {      -webkit-transform:rotate(90deg);      -moz-transform:rotate(90deg);      -o-transform: rotate(90deg);      transform: rotate(90deg);      width:240px;      position:relative;      left:-100px;      top:85px; } /*On mouse over open slide*/ .horizontal :target{      width:73%;      height:230px; } .horizontal :target h2{      top:0px;      left:0;      -webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);      -moz-transform:rotate(0deg);      -o-transform: rotate(0deg);      transform: rotate(0deg); }

The above code will change the size of the slide to fit the rest of the accordion. The headline was rotated vertically to run down the headline but now with the slide open we need to change the text back to be horizontal by rotating the text back to 0 degrees.

5. Vertical Accordion

The vertical accordion works the same way as the horizontal accordion except we need to change the height instead of the width and we don't need to change the alignment of the text.

 .vertical section{      width:100%;      height:40px;      -webkit-transition:height 0.2s ease-out;      -moz-transition:height 0.2s ease-out;      -o-transition:height 0.2s ease-out;      transition:height 0.2s ease-out; }  /*Set height of the slide*/ .vertical :target{      height:250px;      width:97%; }

On the target event of the vertical accordion we are going to change the height of the headline to display the slide.

 .vertical section h2 {      position:relative;      left:0;      top:-15px; } /*Set position of the number on the slide*/ .vertical section:after{       top:-60px;       left:810px; } .vertical section:target:after{       left:-9999px; }

The above will change the position of the headline text on the closed slide. With the closed slide we need to set the position of the number which is located on the right of the accordion. When the slide is open we need to hide this number on headline when the target is set so we change the left position off the screen.

Now when you click on the headline of the accordion the slide will change style to display the content of the slide.

Demo & Download

View the demo to see this code in action or download the files to see how it's all put together, or download the file and browse them offline.

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How to Colorize Old (Black & White) Photo [Photoshop tutorial]

2012-01-24T03:43:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

How to Colorize Old (Black & White) Photo [Photoshop tutorial]

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 19/01/12

Today we are going to do some photo manipulation with Photoshop. In the tutorial below, we are going to guide you through patching up spots in an old black & white photo and then colorizing it.

First we'll run you through on removing white patches from photo and then we'll proceed to coloring it. The steps are pretty standard. Load up your Photoshop, and off we go.

To follow through the entire tutorial, we suggest you download and use the following image.

Step 1

We'll start by removing the white patches on the image. Choose Clone Stamp Tool and by pressing Alt key pick the plain and appropriate surface near all white patches and apply it on white patch. Continue this process until all patches get removed.

After removing all patches your poor image will look clean as shown in image:

Step 2

Next, we'll proceed with coloring the image. It would be bad idea to colorize the image as a whole; we'll do them one by one, an object at a time.

First, we'll select the hat by making the use of Magnetic Lasso Tool – like this:

Step 3

To colorize it, we will use the Hue and Saturation (HSL) option. There are many ways to colorize an object, but HSL is perhaps one of the easiest and most flexible.

Proceeding to colorizing the hat, add these values to the (HSL) 360, 35, – 26 appropriately. (While using HSL, on that window, do not forget to turn on Colorize option.)

Step 4

After applying color, the hat may look a little plain. Let's add some Noise to it. Select Filters -> Noise -> Add Noise and give amount "5" to it.

Check Monochromatic option to get a smoother noise effect. See the next image for its differences.

Step 5

Next, the coat. The process is same – only different HSL values, which are respectively: 42, 10, – 63.

To make the overall look of coat more natural, instead of using Noise tool, we take advantage of Grain Texture option. You can find it under Filter -> Filter Gallery -> in Texture tab -> Grain.

Select the following options – Intensity: "10", Contrast: "50" and Grain Type: "Soft".

And then you will see the output:

Step 6

Moving forward – the shoes. To give shoes a shiny effect, we are going to use Image menu -> Adjustments -> Variations. Select "Midtones" and click Ok.

Try some combination of CMYK colors until you get a boot of this color:

Step 7

Next up, the door. First, let's color the door borders.

Select one side border of door by using Rectangle Marquee Tool. Add 15, 45, -53 values in HSL tool. Then select Filter -> Filter Gallery -> in Texture tab -> select Grain option and keep Intensity: "12", Contrast: "50" select Grain type: "Enlarged".

Follow the same procedure to all the borders of the door.

Step 8

Next, we proceed to coloring rectangles between the doors with the following HSL values: 55, 20, -26 and in Texture Grain, keep intensity: "12", contrast: "50" and Grain type: "Enlarged".

Step 9

We'll wrap up coloring the door by adding colors to the borders, HSL values of : 25, 7, -69. Then under Texture Grain keep Intensity: "12", Contrast: "50", and let's add extra noise by selecting Grain type: "Regular".

Step 10

After the door, we proceed coloring the soil. To color the soil, select that portion by using Magic Wand Tool and then keep HSL values: 20, 24, -56.

Step 11

Last but not least, we will color the wooden background of the image. To give it a it a wood look and feel, we give it a HSL value of: 31, 53, -45, and then add Noise "5" by checking the Monochromatic option.

After all this procedures finally you will see the output like this:

Color Correction

We are done coloring the image. Now, we proceed to the final and most important part – color correction. Color correction when done right, will give image its correct mood and make it more realistic.

To increase the brightness of the image, we go to the following option: Image menu -> Adjustments -> Curves, and add "186" for Output and "164" for Input.

Let's brighten up the following section of the image (where arrow in pointed to). First we select the portion with Rectangle Marquee tool. Then go to Filter -> Filter Gallery -> Distort tab and select Diffuse Glow with the following values: Graininess: "0", Glow Amount: "11", Clear Amount: "15". And finally, proceed to Image menu -> Adjustments -> Curves and add "200" for Ouptut and "188" for Input.

Follow the above process for the remaining parts of image but with different values in Diffuse Glow: Graininess: "2", Glow Amount: "5", Clear Amount: "15". Curves' not required.

To darken the shadows of the hat and the coat, let's use the Burn Tool and by selecting Range: Midtones and decreasing the Exposure value to "20%" apply it on shadows part appropriately.

We'll use the Dodge Tool to brighten up the coat and hat so it looks as though the lights are coming in from the right side, and to give a sense of thickness for the door borders, we use the Burn Tool.

And here's how your final output will look like (or similar) after some color corrections.

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Networking Guide for Bloggers: Why It Is Important (Part 1)

2012-01-24T03:42:00.003-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Networking Guide for Bloggers: Why It Is Important (Part 1)

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 20/01/12

In today's blogosphere a lot of discussion is going on about various aspects of positioning and growing a blog. Even though the space gets more and more crowded every day, and the game is changing constantly, there are still some things everyone tells you to do – things considered as mandatory for any kind of success.

Among various aspects of promotion, advertising, search engine optimization, social media, and all kinds of other stuff lies the need of contacting other, fellow bloggers, and being in touch with people in general.

Quick note:
This post is the first and a part of a series titled – Networking Guide for Bloggers. Be sure to check back next week for more!

Networking?

Networking is a fancy term, and one that I don't especially like, to be honest. It strips the whole experience of interacting with other people from all emotion and personal aspects.

Networking sounds strictly "businessy," which simply doesn't give a good impression. Reaching out to others, or even making friends are a lot better terms here.

Anyway, we all know that meeting new people is essential for both our own and our blogs' growth, however in many cases we don't know how to make the initial step, in a way that we don't get burned from the get go.

By the way, sending an email with a subject like "link exchange proposition for X" is not an optimal solution! (Please, stop sending me those.)

Furthermore, getting in touch with other people can be even more challenging for people not speaking English natively (myself included). And even when you are a native English speaker it's not much easier anyway.

Challenges of networking over the internet

You see, communicating with anyone over the internet consists mostly of writing. Essentially, written communication is just that – written, so things like using certain words, and proper punctuation are especially important.

For instance, when you are speaking to someone in person, your tone, voice, and volume of speech create more than 50% of the message, I'd say, but when you are writing the same message none of these things can be used. That's why there's so much room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. And I'm sure the last thing you want is to sound aggressive or maybe even offensive.

(Image source: Fotolia)

And then there's the problem of building up the relationship along with time… not asking anyone to marry you too soon, so to speak.

What I mean here is that most of the time, asking a stranger for help doesn't work. Simply because they don't care about you. But asking a friend for help works almost every time. How to turn strangers into friends?

Well, the challenge of making new connections online has to be tackled from more than just a single angle, and this is exactly what we're trying to do in this series.

What is networking?

As I said earlier, I don't like the word networking. However, I think I'll continue using it anyway, purely because it's a single word, and it's much easier to apply then a two or three word description.

Anyway, networking is not about getting hundreds of pointless business cards during an event. And it's not about sending hundreds of spam emails in hope that one or two will get a response. So what is it about then?

(Image source: Fotolia)

For me, networking is the art of meeting new people. Both in the real world and in the online there can be multiple reasons why you want to meet a specific person. It can be business, romance, friendship, let's-have-a-beer, or whatever else. Here, of course, we're talking blogging and growing your blog. But blogging is neither purely business nor purely social. It lies somewhere in between.

This makes it particularly difficult because in a purely business-like communication you can send an email starting with "Dear Sir, I'm writing to you to propose my blah blah blah." In a social relation, on the other hand, you can start with "hey dude, how is U today? Wanna meet 2nite? Blah blah blah." And in blogging neither one of these is acceptable.

Benefits of networking

Big part of this is obvious. The benefit is that you meet other, likeminded people. So what's the point of meeting new people? – That's the question we should be asking.

First of all, there are very few blogs or websites that grew into mainstream popularity all by themselves. Most of the popular sites gained their popularity due to the popularity of other sites. By ways of borrowing it.

Borrowing popularity is a fancy sounding term, but essentially it boils down to getting multiple mentions on other sites. It can happen by obtaining backlinks, being featured in interviews, contacting the webmasters directly, or thousands of other ways.

However, one fact remains, no one, not one webmaster/blogger/website owner will mention you or your site if they don't have any amount of trust in you and what you do.

(Image source: Fotolia)

You see, it's easy to mention and link to sites that are already popular – those that have a massive amount of social proof working for them. For instance, if you see a new product at Problogger you don't need to hesitate whether you can link to it or not. You don't have to be afraid that the product will turn out awful and people will be very mad at you for pointing them to it. You know that Darren produces great stuff, to some degree you trust him, and he seems like a credible person … the social proof simply does its job for him.

But if you stumble upon something new, you find it a lot more difficult to endorse such a thing or even link to it … "what if it turns out a scam?" … "what if the site disappears tomorrow?" and so on.

It all becomes a cycle of death, so to speak. Here's the cycle: If you're just starting out you can't get no one to endorse you because no one knows you because you're just starting out. So what's the best way out of this cycle?

Yes, you guessed it – networking. By networking with others you can break the cycle at the point of "no one knows you," and then, sooner or later, all the other pieces shall fall as well.

Borrowing popularity through networking

Ultimately, once you know some people you can borrow their popularity to build your own, and that's a big benefit.

Don't believe me? Try to imagine what a plain endorsement from both Darren Rowse and Hongkiat would do for your business. I mean, the case where they both say "go there and buy." Of course, getting it won't be easy, but I just needed an example.

All I'm trying to explain here is that building relationships with other fellow bloggers and website owners is the best thing you can do for your online presence. There's nothing that will do a better job at keeping you on the radar.

You can work on SEO, social media, advertising and all the other tools, but these are all things that greatly depend on other company's opinion of you.

(Image source: Fotolia)

For instance, if you build a good position on Google, but one day you get dropped due to an algorithm update, the next day you wake up with nothing. If Facebook or Google shuts down your advertising campaign same thing happens.

But still, no matter what happens you can work with your network of contacts, participate in their projects, do joint ventures, make partnerships, and so on. Essentially, you're making friends, and I'm sure I don't need to explain the value of that.

Moreover, by working with other people you're positioning yourself alongside them. So whenever a complete stranger is considering whether to promote your new product this social proof is something that is very likely to work in your favor.

When people can see that you've been working with "Mr. Authority" in your niche then some of that person's credibility falls on you. Something along the lines of: "if they've been working with X then they must be the real deal."

If you work on this consistently then you can build up your brand in a relatively short span of time. And I'm not saying that anything will get you overnight results here. You still have to be able to put some serious work, but the benefits make it worth the effort.

Is blogging really a strictly online thing?

Even though blogging or blogging as a business seems like a purely online activity it's not exactly like that. Most of the things happen online, that's true – you're publishing your content on the internet, and interacting with other people via various online services, and so on. However, the basic offline world's principles of growing your venture/business still apply. And the online world didn't change anything, it just made certain things easier to do.

For instance, the whole concept of networking is nothing new. However, since the internet is around you don't have to leave your home, and you can connect with multiple people at the same time, but the whole idea still remains the same. And it's not much different from what your father or grandfather used to do over the phone.

In essence, I think networking is that valuable because people don't like to do business with companies, or websites … they like to do business with other people. Until you introduce yourself to your online community nothing significant is going to happen in terms of your brand going viral. If you don't do this yourself no one will bother to take this step for you.

This concludes the first part of the series, next week we'll have a word on setting goals for networking. Until then don't forget to subscribe to get the posts delivered straight to your inbox.

Lastly, feel free to tell me what you think about the whole concept. Do you find networking valuable? Which side you're on – do you think that who you know matters more than what you know, or the other way around?

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Effective Time Management Tips for Freelance Web Designers

2012-01-24T03:42:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Effective Time Management Tips for Freelance Web Designers

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 25/12/11

A good freelancer requires efficient time management skills to succeed. This is especially important for freelance web designers. Many freelancers lose the plot by being a victim of improper time management.

Image Credits: Time by iotdfi

While working for an employer, time management may not be such a big issue as it is for a freelancer. A freelancer requires his own set of skills and abilities to manage his own time. If effective time management skills are used by a freelance web designer, he can deliver the best service to the clients. Some of the key elements to be kept in mind for time management are:

Valuing time is important: Lost time can never be regained, so respecting the time at hand is essential. A freelancer needs to understand that if he wastes time available to him, ultimately he is at loss.
Spending lesser time on social networking sites and other PC applications. A freelancer web designer will have his work cut out on a computer. Surfing the internet and using other time-wasting applications will only result in loss of precious time.
Keeping track of the time spent is the important thing. Many applications are available on the internet today, which can help to keep track of the amount of time spent online.
Every task requires a certain amount of time for its completion. Devising that amount of time to the task, in advance can save a lot of time. Setting a time span, within which to complete the task can work well too.
Creating a priority list of the tasks to be done is also an effective time management process. Writing down the various tasks and their priority, can help to arrange them in a sequential order. Tasks with higher priority can be addressed first than the tasks with lower priority.
Splitting the work hours can also work in the favour of a freelance web designer. A freelance web designer is always burdened with a lot of creative work. Working at a stretch may mean less output and lack of creative ideas on the given project. It is very important to identify such phases and split the work routines accordingly.
Having a cool and interesting workplace is important. A workplace is an area which neat and clean. It must be never allowed to get messed up, as it hinders the workability. The environment; in which a freelance web designer works, helps to finish the given work on time.
One of the most important and often neglected aspects of time management is the removal of distractions from a workplace. Distractions put a block in the path of proper time management. A simple example is the use of social network sites while designing a webpage for a freelance web designer. Such events only result in poor time management and interfere with the work. Setting aside a proper time span, to these activities will result in non-interference with work.
Handling multiple projects at the same time is another factor responsible for poor time management. A freelance web designer needs to understand his capabilities and allot proper time to his projects. Taking projects beyond the capability of a freelance designer will only result in poor time management and ultimately incomplete work.

While time management is just one aspect in the success story of a freelance web designer, there are certain other aspects as well which are just as important. Time is the fundamental quality for success in case of a freelance web designer and the below mentioned issues, exemplify these facts:

Many freelance web designers have the negative ability of neglecting the workload available in front of them. The workload then piles up and then it becomes boring as well as tedious to sort it out. Completing the work on time is the key to success for freelancers.
Enjoying the work is the chief ingredient for accomplishment. A freelance designer must feel the pleasure that the work provides. As the old saying goes 'When you enjoy what you do, work becomes play'.
A freelance web designer must never compromise quality even if it sometimes means exceeding the deadlines provided. A quality project is what the client looks out for. Allotting time to check the quality of the finished work is a must for any freelance web designer.
Taking some time off, when not working on the given projects is essential for a freelance web designer. It helps to energise the mind again, when coming back on the next set of work. A relaxed mind always produces higher output.

Time management is the most fundamental skill for any freelance web designer. Mastering this ability is sure to provide success. Enjoying the work and making a proper schedule of working time, is enough to guarantee success.

About the Author!

The above article is composed and edited by Roxanne P. She is associated with many technology and designing communities as their freelance writer and logo designer. In her free time she writes articles related to technology, mobile applications, logo design, business logo design, etc.

Useful Productivity Guide Articles for Web Developers and Designers

A Step Process All Website Designers Should Follow To Complete Every Project

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How to Optimize your Social Media Presence with WordPress – Best 2011 Tutorials

2012-01-24T03:41:00.009-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

How to Optimize your Social Media Presence with WordPress – Best 2011 Tutorials

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 3/01/12

Social media website such as twitter and facebook today is become a powerful tools that can help you to expand your business. Social media also can bring communication, brand exposure and traffic to your wordpress website.

But how we can optimize the benefit of social media with our wordpress website? Below we have collected 20 best wordpress tutorials that can help you in optimizing your social media presence.

The Complete Guide to Optimizing Your WordPress Site for Sharing on Facebook

by Sarah Goding
In this article we'll cover seven key ways to optimize your site for when people share it on Facebook. You don't need to go overboard and implement all of the tips below.

How to Add Facebook Open Graph Meta Data in WordPress Themes

by WPBeginner
Well in this article, we will share how you can add facebook open graph meta information in WordPress themes which will solve all of those issues.

How to Get Facebook Insights for Your WordPress Site

by WPBeginner
In this article, we will show you how to get facebook insights for your WordPress site, so you can take full advantage of what facebook has to offer.

How to Add Facebook Send Button in WordPress

by WPBeginner
In this article, we will show you how to add the Facebook Send Button in your WordPress blog.

How to Add the Official Twitter Follow Button in WordPress

by WPBeginner
In this article we will cover what is the twitter follow button, and how you can add it in your WordPress site.

Get Twitter Follower Count with PHP

by Pippin Williamson
Almost every web design / development blog, and the majority of other blogs, like to display the number of people they have following their Twitter account. Their are a variety of ways to do this, and dozens of plugins that do it for you, but as a developer it is a really good if you know how to do it without relying on a plugin.

Create a TwitterRSS Stats Widget for WordPress

by Ajay Patel
In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the steps of setting up a widget, its settings form, and displaying it on your site. At the end of the tutorial, you can download an example plugin to build from. Of course, you can apply this to your themes as well.

Create a "Mashable-Inspired" Sidebar Social Widget for WordPress

by Ariff Shah
I've had a lot of requests lately to share a tutorial on how I created the sidebar widget on my personal blog. It looks nice and most important, it works! With some simple PHP and CSS, I'm sure everybody can implement this on their blogs easily. Today I'm going to show you how to create mine… in hopes that you'll be able to create your own custom version for your own projects!

Easy Way to Add Social Media Count Button in WordPress

by Eko Setiawan
In this tutorial, we will learn how to add manually social media count widget button on wordpress site.

How To: Show Off Your Social Counters in WordPress

by kovshenin
You know it's all about social these days, and this post is about showing off how social you are on your WordPress website. I'm sure you're using tonnes of social networks and all of them have friends, followers, fans and subscribers metrics, but let's start from simple: Twitter, Facebook and RSS.

Social Buttons: Adding them to your site & Tracking them

by Joost de Valk
I've had a lot of questions recently (like literally, several a day) on how I implemented the social buttons in WordPress, whether I was using a plugin or using a theme. First of all I'm glad to see all of you noticing my social buttons section so much. Second, I'd love to share with you how I built this, because I actually made it load nice and fast too and would love for you to have that.

How to Create and Setup Google+ Brand Page for Your WordPress Site

by WPBeginner
n this article, we will show you how to create and setup your Google+ Brand page for your WordPress site.

How to Post From Google+ to Your WordPress Blog

by Sarah Goding
Follow these simple steps to give yourself the ability to post from your Google+ account. Don't worry, it won't post every update – just the public ones that you identify with your chosen #hashtag.

Adding A Google +1 Button To Your WordPress Blog

by Tom Chubb
This tutorial will show you how to make some simple modifications to your WordPress blog to show the Google +1 button – without using a plugin.

Three Ways To Display Your Latest Google+ Updates On WordPress

by Kevin Muldoon
In this tutorial I will be showing you three ways to can show your latest updates from your Google+ profile on your WordPress website.

Building An Awesome Flickr Widget: Screencast Included

by George Gecewicz
Today, we're going to look at using this process to generate some jQuery that pulls in images from a Flickr account. This particular widget is super simple and probably not something you'd release as a full WordPress plugin, but it'll hopefully get you comfortable with the Widget API and the flexibility it has.

Create a Basic Flickr Widget Using the Widget API

by Rohan Mehta
In this tutorial, we will be using the WordPress widget API and the Flickr API to create a basic Flickr widget. The widget will be a multiple-use widget; it asks the user for a username and number of pictures to display, and uses that information to display Flickr photos.

Daily Tip: Set up a News Aggregator on Your WordPress Blog

by Tim Gregg
If you're looking for a way to add more content to your WordPress blog, it's fairly easy to incorporate a Google News-style aggregator into your site.

Add the WordPress RSS Feed Anywhere In Your Theme

by Craig Morgan
This tutorial will show you how to take an RSS feed and put it anywhere in your theme, including a page or post template. This is a great solution for you folks out there using RSS feed generators (say goodbye to small footer credits) or plugins (say hello to a faster website)!

How To Publish RSS Exclusive Posts

by Briley Kenney
In an effort to boost RSS readers and subscribers it might be beneficial to sometimes release an RSS exclusive post that doesn't show up on a blogs home page or in regularly scheduled postings.
This would basically provide followers with a great reason to subscribe to an RSS feed, especially if they are fans of the blog in question.

Conclusion

We hope you found this tutorial collection is useful. Or do you have another wordpress social network tutorials? Please share with us in the comment below.

[Editor's Note: There's still time to get your 2012 calendar printing orders in, check out Next Day Flyers for super fast turnaround]

Easy Way to Add Social Media Count Button in WordPress

Best WordPress Tips and Tutorials of September 2011

30+ Best WordPress Tips and Tutorials of November 2011

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5 Ways to Beat Your Competitors and Get More Customers

2012-01-24T03:41:00.007-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

5 Ways to Beat Your Competitors and Get More Customers

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 6/01/12

As a small business owner or freelancer, the objective of your business is to get new customers and boost sales. To see your business rise to the next level, you must concentrate on the various factors which influence your existing customers to return as well as ways to gain new customers.

There are many ways to get existing customers to return to you, but they may require you to spend money. If you are on a budget and looking for other ways to showcase the trust of your business, check out the following list.

1. TrustedBusiness.com

The one example of a business page that use TrustedBusiness.com

TrustedBusiness.com may be one of the coolest ways to showcase the trust you have earned from clients. This service is totally free, and the best thing about it is that you can create a really cool looking page that will let your prospective customers know how much others trust your business. It would also be a great way to get new clients because you will be able to showcase the trust your current and past clients have had with your service/product. As if that was not enough, you get awesome perks as more people say that they trust you. To get started read Small Business University's Guide to TrustedBusiness.com.

2. Profiles on Freelancing Sites

If you participate on freelancing sites such elance.com or freelancer.com, you should use your personal profile to show your ratings and testimonials that you have received. A few of your clients will be familiar with these sites will value your ratings, however, if your potential clients don't know about these sites, then you definitely need a better way to showcase your trust.

3. Facebook Page

Creating a Facebook page and sharing it with your past clients and potential buyers is a superb idea. There, you will be able to share updates concerning your business and have a chance to engage with your clients directly.

4. Better Business Bureau (BBB)

That is another popular technique to gain trust which is usually not applicable to freelancers. This can be more appropriate for businesses that have a physical location. Also, BBB certification demands that you pay a yearly fee to keep your certification.

5. Yelp Page

This is again a service more fitted for businesses with a physical location. In the event you have a Yelp page, make sure you are monitoring it and taking notes of peoples feedback. Keep improving your services according to the feedback and you will slowly earn the trust of the customers.

We hope this post can be your guide to get more costumers for your business. Do you have another ways to get more costumers? Or maybe you have an experience in use one of the ways above, don't hesitate to share it with us in the comment below.

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Update Free WordPress Theme: UpSide Version 1.1

2012-01-24T03:41:00.005-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

Update Free WordPress Theme: UpSide Version 1.1

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 11/01/12

Hi today, we're glad to release an update for our other popular free WordPress Theme that has released on Six Revisions. A personal blog theme style, and comes with 5 color schemes and 2 different layouts that you can set up on the theme's options page in the WordPress Admin panel.

New Features

Below are the UpSide v1.1 New Features:

Ready for WordPress 3.0 and above
Support wordpress post thumbnails features
Support for wordpress custom post types
Support for custom background
Other features, please check on SixRevisions

Preview

[Subscribe DynamicWP RSS Feed or follow us @dynamicwp, to keep updates for our Free WordPress Themes or a new Free WordPress Theme release]

Enjoy!

[Editor's Note: When you need quick flyer printing, check out Next Day Flyers for awesome prices]

Update Free WordPress Theme: Pongsari Version 1.1

Update Free WordPress Theme: Light Folio Version 1.3

Update Free WordPress Plugin: DynamicWP Pop-Up Menu Version 1.1

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20 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins

2012-01-24T03:41:00.003-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

20 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 14/01/12

Today, simply by using a website you can sell your products or anything all over the world. Thanks to the internet technology and wordpress as your website engine. And of course with the power of wordpress ecommerce plugins, that allow you to easily add catalog and sell anything on a WordPress-powered website.

Below I've collected the best free and premium wordpress ecommerce plugins, to set up your online shopping website.

Premium WordPress eCommerce Plugins

PayPal File Download WordPress Plugin

PayPal File Download for WordPress is the easiest way to sell digital content to your visitors. Easily sell and automatically deliver e-books, PDFs, ZIPs, and any other kind of file to your customers—with built in IPN , email delivery, and download expiry.

Screenshots Buy Now

PayPal Payment Terminal WordPress

Start accepting paypal payments on your wordpress site in 2 minutes! This script would be ideal for taking donations/contributions on your blog, or accepting payments from your clients or receiving payments for pre-defined services!

Live Demo Buy Now

Credit Card Payments WordPress

This script allows you to have a quick & easy payment terminal for your clients to pay with major credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover) on your WORDPRESS website without leaving it. Installation and configuration of the script takes less than 5 minutes (however you do need to have SSL and one of 4 merchant accounts (PayPal, OptimalPayments, Moneris US or Moneris Canada, Authorize.net).

Live Demo Buy Now

WPdeposit

This deposit wordpress plugin is similar to the deposit they use here on themeforest (and other envato sites).

Live Demo Buy Now

Free WordPress eCommerce Plugins

WP e-Commerce

WP e-Commerce is a free WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin that lets customers buy your products, services and digital downloads online.

More Details & Download

WooCommerce

Transform your WordPress website into a thorough-bred online store. Delivering enterprise-level quality & features whilst backed by a name you can trust.

More Details & Download

WordPress eCommerce – MarketPress

MarketPress is the easiest to use, best designed and most powerful ecommerce / shopping cart plugin available for WordPress today.

More Details & Download

eShop

eShop is an accessible shopping cart plugin for WordPress, packed with various features.

More Details & Download

WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart

WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart allows you to add an 'Add to Cart' button on any posts or pages. It also allows you to add/display the shopping cart on any post or page or sidebar easily. The shopping cart shows the user what they currently have in the cart and allows them to remove the items. It can be easily integrated with the NextGen Photo Gallery plugin too.

More Details & Download

TheCartPress, eCommerce Shopping Cart

The Professional WordPress eCommerce Plugin. Use it as shopping cart, catalog or framework.
You can extend its functionality with plugins and themes to customize your store exactly in same way that you do with WordPress. It is compatible with many existing plugins in the WordPress repository.

More Details & Download

Ecwid Shopping Cart

Ecwid is a free full-featured shopping cart and an e-commerce solution that can easily be added to any blog or Facebook profile. It offers the performance and flexibility you need, with none of the hassles you don't.
"Ecwid" stands for "ecommerce widgets".

More Details & Download

wpStoreCart

wpStoreCart is a free, open source, and full featured e-commerce platform built atop of WordPress. It is easy to use, lightweight, heavily supported and constantly updated with new features.

More Details & Download

Jigoshop

Set up shop in minutes with physical and downloadable products or even services. Jigoshop provides you with the features necessary to set up an eCommerce web site lickety-split.
With the option to create a multitude of product types and apply detailed attributes customers can easily refine your catalog, ensuring they find what they're looking for in just a couple of clicks.

More Details & Download

Zingiri Web Shop

Zingiri Web Shop is a WordPress plugin that turns a great content management system into a fantastic e-commerce solution.

More Details & Download

YAK for WordPress

YAK is an open source shopping cart plugin for WordPress. It associates products with weblog entries (in other words, posts), so the post ID also becomes the product code. It supports both pages and posts as products, handles different types of product through categorisation, and provides customisable purchase options — cheque or deposit, basic credit card form, basic Google Checkout integration, standard PayPal integration, PayPal Payments Pro, and Authorize.net and MiGS (Mastercard Internet Gateway Service, add-on only).

More Details & Download

Welcart e-Commerce

Welcart is a program made in Japan, which assists you to build e-commerce system on WordPress.
It has not only simple shopping cart function but also other functions necessary to run your store, such as "Order management function" and "membership function". Welcart corresponds to various types of WordPress template. 8 widgets included in the program will help your blog to become an online shop.

More Details & Download

WordPress Ultra Simple Paypal Shopping Cart

WordPress Ultra Simple Paypal Shopping Cart allows you to add an 'Add to Cart' button on any posts or pages. It also allows you to add/display the shopping cart on any post or page or sidebar easily. The shopping cart shows the user what they currently have in the cart and allows them to remove the items. You can also add a form between the cart validation and the paypal submit if you choose a 3 step process.

More Details & Download

WP Auctions

WP Auctions is a revolutionary plugin which allows you to host auctions on your blog or website and to sell anything, completely fee free! It uses an attractive AJAX powered popup for optimum user experience and lets you run personal auctions on your site.

More Details & Download

DukaPress

DukaPress is open source software that can be used to build online shops quickly and easily. DukaPress is built on top of WordPress, a world class content management system. DukaPress is built to be both simple and elegant yet powerful and scalable.

More Details & Download

Cart66 Lite

Cart66 is a simple to use yet powerful ecommerce plugin for WordPress. With features:

Sell digital products with Amazon S3 integration
Sell physical products
Sell services
Manage orders
Promotions
Tax by state (United States and Canada), zip code, or all orders
And more

More Details & Download

Conclusion

The plugins above is our best choose based the popularity on WordPress Plugins directory and the most buy from CodeCanyon wordpress plugins directory. Do you have another best wordpress eCommerce plugins? Or do you have an experience with the wordpress ecommerce plugins? Don't hesitate to share it with us in the comment below.

Easy to Sell Products Online with eCommerce WordPress Theme

Giveaway: 5 Developer Licenses from Tokokoo WordPress eCommerce Themes (Closed)

Showcase of Creative WordPress eCommerse Sites

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40 Best WordPress Tutorials of December 2011

2012-01-24T03:41:00.001-08:00

Sent to you by Phan Duc via Google Reader:

40 Best WordPress Tutorials of December 2011

via DynamicWP by Eko S. on 17/01/12

Why wordpress is one of the most popular CMS and blogging platform around? I think it because wordpress is free, customizable and have a great support by community or other developers. And as wordpress users, we should keep updated with the new development, tips and tricks shared by other developers. So every month we tried to collect the best of wordpress articles around the world.

In this article we are going to share very useful wordpress tutorials for December 2011. We hope this post will help you in solving problems on your wordpress site and as a source of inspiration to develop your wordpress site.

WordPress Tutorials

Creating your first WordPress child theme

by Cameron Chapman
For this tutorial, we'll be creating a child theme based on the newest WordPress default theme, Twenty Eleven. We'll also be using some handy plugins and other tricks to make it even easier to create a child theme.

How to Make a Unique Header for WordPress

by Tara Hornor
It's easy enough to use the built-in tools in WordPress to modify CSS and sidebars, but arguably the most important identifier for your site is the header. So how do you find this, create your own, and get it in place? In this article we will discuss how to do all three of these tasks.

How To Create A WordPress Author's Page Template

by Kevin Muldoon
If you run a multi-author website, you may want to consider adding an author template to your website. Author templates help present more information about writers and make it easier for visitors to find other articles the author have written. In this post we will be breaking the author template down and showing you how you can improve it.

How to Build an E-Commerce Website Using WordPress: Part 1

by Soumitra Chakraborty
Today we will be creating a simple but powerful e-commerce site using one of the most popular WordPress plugins called WP e-Commerce. Using this plugin we will be creating a website which sells holiday gifts!

Building Dynamic Taxonomy Pages With WordPress

by Marc Thomas
This tutorial will show you how to setup your taxonomy, build a template for it and then implement a dynamic generation of content and links to the artist in your taxonomy elsewhere on the web.

Create A Product Listing With Infinite Categories Using Custom Post Types

by Barry Walsh
In today's tutorial we're going to leverage the power of custom post types, taxonomies, and custom loops to create a dynamic products listing.

Create A WordPress Archives Template for Your Theme

by Kevin Muldoon
An archives page is great way of linking to all of your important archives such as monthly archives and category archives on one dedicated page. It's a great alternative to simply linking to your older posts in your sidebar and footer. Surprisingly, a lot of themes out there don't include one by default… so today, we're going to show you a quick way of building one from scratch.

Getting Started with AJAX & WordPress Pagination

by Soumitra Chakraborty
Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a web technology that allows a web page to dynamically update content without reloading the page within the browser. The website becomes more interactive and responsive with the use of this technology. Ajax is supported by almost all the visual web browsers… so today, we'll show you how to setup some custom WordPress Pagination magic using AJAX.

10 Quick Tips: Optimizing & Speeding Up Your WordPress Site

by Avinash Zala M
Today, we'll be looking at how to optimize your site to run as fast as it possibly can. So, without further adieu, here are 10 quick tips for optimizing your WordPress site!

11 Quick Tips: Securing Your WordPress Site

by Avinash Zala M
This section will going to cover the tips related to securing your WordPress site. Tips includes protecting files, login restriction, WordPress admin restriction, database protection, etc.

WordPress Theme Development Training Wheels: Day Two

by Nur Ahmad Furlong
After a short break since our first post in this series, we're back to take things a little further. So far we've only just made our HTML template ready for activation as a theme, and made some minor changes to integrate a few WordPress functions which replace certain Hard Coded HTML contents. I hope you've been practicing your WP pedaling!

Reusing Template Files

by Bill Erickson
WordPress' built-in template hierarchy is very useful for reusing template files on standard websites. If you have something you want used for all category archives, use category.php. If you want a template file to be used on all archives (category, tag, search…), use archive.php.

How To Create Custom WordPress Cron Intervals

by Alex – Viper007Bond
Here's how to have WordPress code execute on a different schedule than the default intervals of hourly, twicedaily, and daily.

How To Remove (Or Change) "Private" Or "Protected" From WordPress Post Titles

by Alex – Viper007Bond
If you make a post private in WordPress, the post's title with be prefixed with "Private". The same will happen if you password protect the post, although it will be prefixed with "Protected".

Everything we know about the newly released WordPress 3.3

by Ryan Imel
With a new version of WordPress out and about, one might wonder just what's new under the hood. Wonder no longer dear friend, because in this post I'm going to walk you through everything about WordPress 3.3 "Sonny" that we're aware of. Before you know it you'll be the coolest kid on your block.

How I built a micro-site within a WordPress theme (for The WPCandy Quarterly)

by Ryan Imel
In this post you can expect a smattering of code snippets, a good deal of me explaining my weird website preferences, and of course some bouncing between functions.php files and functionality plugins.

Boost Your Likes by Creating a Facebook Giveaway Using WordPress

by WPBeginner
In this article, we will show you how you can boost your likes by creating a facebook giveaway campaign using WordPress. This will get very interesting in terms of results, so read along.

What, Why, and How-To's of Creating a Site-Specific WordPress Plugin

by WPBeginner
So you are probably wondering what a site-specific plugin is, why you need it, and how you can have it for your WordPress site. That is exactly what we plan to share in this article, so keep on reading.

Case Study: Behind the Scenes Look of List25 – Plugins and Hacks

by WPBeginner
In this article, we will take you behind the scenes of List25 and show you the plugins and cool hacks that we are using to power that site. Perhaps reading this article will give you some feature ideas for your own site.

How to change your WordPress Permalink Structure

by Joost de Valk
Quite often I give people the advice to change their WordPress permalink structure, this post details the why and, more importantly: how to make such a change without losing the traffic that you already have.

Daily Tip: How to Insert Shortcodes into a WordPress Theme

by Joe
Shortcodes, which many plugins take advantage of, are an easy and quick way to insert special kinds of content into your posts or pages.

How to Create a Unique WordPress Category Archive Page

by Joe
In WordPress, if you would like make your category archives different from each other (for example, giving them different styles or including different types of information on each), then it's pretty easily done. You will only need to make a new category template file for the categories you would like to change.

Easily Style WordPress Posts According to Tag

by Joe
But what if you had non-sticky posts in various categories that you wanted to stand out?
The solution is to add a special tag to the post, and then style all posts with that tag.

Spice Up Your WordPress Site by Giving Categories their Own Icons

by Joe
One way to liven up your site a little and give it a little extra flair is to associate different icons with different categories. Or, you can do it for only one or two categories to really mark those off as different.

[Tutorial] How to Add Authors' Images to your WordPress Blog

by Joe
Have you ever wished you could display the photos of your site's authors (i.e. their avatars) in a more creative way, such as showing the author's avatar right beside the headline of each post?

WordPress Tutorial For Beginners: Creating & Managing User Profiles

by Tom Ewer
All WordPress sites must have at least one user, who is invariably the owner of the site. If you are new to WordPress, you will want to take a moment to customize your user profile, as the information within may be seen by your site's readers.

How to Use WordPress Category and Tag Base to Improve Your SEO

by Joe
These two boxes are your "Category base" and your "Tag base," which can be found on your Permalinks page (Settings >> Permalinks), that many people ignore; however, taking a few seconds to fill these boxes in may just help your SEO efforts.

Stop Your Clients From Deactivating Important WordPress Plugins

by Tim Gregg
There's nothing worse than a client stumbling through their WordPress installation and messing with things they don't understand.

How to Move Multiple WordPress Posts to a Subcategory with Bulk Actions

by Joe
Many people have the situation of starting a site, setting up categories, and then discovering down the road that one of their categories gets a lot more content than the others. When this happens, it can get difficult to navigate, and it can be hard for users to find just what they're looking for.
The answer to this problem is pretty simple—just create subcategories (sometimes called "child" categories). But there's an easy way to solve it.

Another 5 Things Your WordPress Site Doesn't Need

by Tim Gregg
So here we go with yet another 5 things that you can remove from WordPress, all in the name of making your site faster, simpler and more secure.

Understanding Dynamic WordPress links

by Brady Nord
When a developer is transitioning from basic HTML website development to using a framework like WordPress these are important principles to understand. Here is a list of my most commonly used URL functions with example usages.

Displaying Theme Data with WordPress

by Jeff Starr
A cool trick you can do with WordPress is display information directly from your theme's style.css stylesheet. I recently used this on a site where the theme's version number is used throughout the template to keep things current and consistent.

The Complete Guide to Branding Your WordPress Website

by Noumann
In this post we will discuss a few things that you can do to rebrand your WordPress based website and make it your own.

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Perfect WordPress Plugins

by Noumann
So, how do you spend less time troubleshooting plugins? The most wonderful thing about an open source development environment is that it puts responsibility not only on developers but also on users by providing them choices to make smart decisions. In this post we will discuss these choices to find out how we can choose better plugins.

Make Your WordPress Titles SEO Friendly

by Kevin Muldoon
The general consensus is that you should use an H1 tag for your logo or site title on your home page but on posts and pages you should ensure that the page or post title is using an H1 tag.

How To List All WordPress Posts From A Category On One Page Or Post

by Kevin Moldoon
You can either create custom templates for each category or you can use a plugin. In this post I am going to show you how you can do both.

WordPress hook: Automatically add a Google+ button to your posts

by SpyreStudios
Today, I'm going to show you a simple piece of code to automatically add a Google+ button to your posts.

Display number of Facebook fans in full text on your WordPress blog

by WPSnippets
Today's recipe will help you to get your Facebook fan count, in full text!

Super useful WordPress hacks and snippets

by Jean-Baptiste Jung
For one of my last posts of the year, I have decided to share with you a list of the most exiting, useful and awesome WordPress hacks and code snippets to make your blogger life easier. Have a great read, and happy coding!

How to Add Custom Image Sizes to WordPress Uploader

by Jean Galea
A new feature in WordPress 3.3 that I'm digging is the image_size_names_choose filter, which enables us to add new image sizes to the media upload/insert interface.
Check out the code below and the resulting screen:

A Guide to HTML Post Comments in WordPress

by Jean Galea
Your blog readers can post comments with HTML tags. For their convenience, you can display a list of all allowed HTML tags in the comments form using the following PHP code in functions.php:

Feedback

I hope you enjoyed this post! Do you have another wordpress tutorials? Please share with us by leaving a comment below.

Enjoy!

[Editor's Note: Order business card printing online and get them quickly when you use Next Day Flyers as your printer!]

Best WordPress Tips and Tutorials of August 2011

Best WordPress Tips and Tutorials of September 2011

50+ Best WordPress Tips and Tutorials of February 2011

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Free custom MacOS icons

2012-01-24T03:20:00.000-08:00

Ramotion Team has a nice gift for all Mac lovers – Free custom MacOS icons. Now everyone can download batch of six eye-catching icons designed by Ramotion to replace MacOS native applications icons.

Preview

Download from homepage.

Windows 7 S3 Software Download

2012-01-23T19:52:00.000-08:00

Amazon S3 Explorer is a Windows cloud management software form CloudBerry designed to easily manage your Amazon S3 cloud files form Windows desktop. Amazon S3 Explorer gives Windows user a friendly interface to manage Amazon S3 accounts files on cloud just as you would on your own local computer. Using this cloud file management software you canconnect to any number of Amazon S3 accounts and copy or move files between your S3 accounts.

CloudBerry Amazon S3 Explorer for Windows 7

Amazon S3 Explorer for Windows makes it easy to create, browse, and delete S3 buckets and copy or move files between Amazon S3 and your local computer. Sharing buckets and files with other Amazon S3 users or anyone on the internet by creating external URLs is also supported by this Amazon S3 desktop manager.

For security purposes, your Amazon S3 accounts can be password protected and access can be restricted. By supporting MD5 Amazon S3 Explorer ensures your files are not corrupted while transferred to Amazon CloudFront service.

Make your Amazon S3 becomes an extension to your local storage with Amazon S3 Explorer. You are no longer limited to the classic data storage on your local drive(s). You can move large files such as photos, videos, and music to Amazon S3 just as easily as managing them on your local drive(s) using this Amazon S3 desktop software. You can get your 5 GB Amazon cloud storage for free by registering from here.

Download Free CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3 for Windows 7, Vista , XP.
CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3 File Size 7.4 MB .
CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3 Website

Ultimate Defrag V.3.0.100.10

2011-11-03T08:06:00.002-07:00

DiskTrix UltimateDefrag is the world's most powerful defragger in terms of the file placement flexibility it gives you for defragging and strategically placing files on your hard drive - right down to the individual file level. With The Defragger And File Placement Optimizer That Lets You Defrag & Optimize Your Hard Drive - Any Way You Want To! UltimateDefrag is the Ultimate Defragger and File Placement Optimizer. Defragging hard drives helps to restore your hard drive performance. File placement optimizing on the other hand, boosts your theoretical hard drive file access performance by up to 300% of manufacturers quoted averages (typical performance increase you'll experience is between 25 and 100%) by placing the files you want performance from onto the faster performing (outer tracks) areas of your hard drive.

With UltimateDefrag - you can specify which individual files, programs or games you want the best performance from. The "Archive" function places all of your unused files out of the way and onto the slower performing areas of your hard drive. If you run complex games, simulations and applications, UltimateDefrag gives you the capability to place the files associated with these applications in the position on your hard drive that will give you the best performance possible.

Your hard disk drive is the only (data handling) peripheral in your PC that still uses mechanical parts. Hard drives are not even coming close to keeping up with the performance improvements that the industry is seeing in processors, video cards, buses, mother boards and memory.

Don't get us wrong, hard disks are improving significantly - they just continue to be the performance rate limiting peripheral inside your computer.

There are performance gains that are achievable with hard drives. Significant ones at that!

DiskTrix creates products to bring out that performance in your hard drive(s). The results our products deliver can be amazing!

UltimateDefrag Features:
• Achieve Optimum Performance Hard Drive File Access That Gives You A Much More Responsive PC
• Strategic File Placement Gives You Complete Control Over Which Files And Programs You Want Increased Performance From
• Place Unused Data (such as ZIP Files and unused Windows files) Out Of The Way
• Place Directories In The Optimum Position For Superior Performance
• Defrag with as little as 1% FREE space
• Enjoy fast 3 to 5 minute complete defrags
• Choose From 4 Powerful Defrag Methods With Over 33 Defrag Option Combinations
• Make Full Drives Perform Almost Like They've Been Newly Formatted
• You No Longer Need To Consider Partitioning - UltimateDefrag Is Like Partitioning-On-The-Fly!
• The First Complete "DISK" Metaphor In Any Defragger
• Say Goodbye To "Hard Drive Fatigue" Forever!
• Based Upon True Scientific And Natural Laws
• More Than Just A Defragger - It's Also a File Placement Optimizer
• Defragging Defrags Your Files - UltimateDefrag Defrags Your File System
• Nothing "Black Box" about this - you have total control over which files go where
• Flexible Scheduling lets you defrag while you're away from your computer

Download Ultimate Defrag V.3.0.100.10

here

Tunebite Platinum V.7.2.13200.0

2011-11-03T08:04:00.002-07:00

Tunebite is the best way to free music, audio books and videos from copy protection and convert them into the file formats you needSince 2004, Tunebite has been the most-frequently mentioned and often-awarded solution in international computer magazines for legally solving DRM copy-protection problems. With additional support for 100 audio and video file formats, Tunebite is a convenient and comprehensive universal converter for all of your digital entertainment needs. An audio-stream and webvideo recorder is also on board.

Features:
- Copy-protected audio and video files
- Convert unprotected audio and video files
- Custom output video and audio profiles
- High installation record up to 9 files at
- The opportunity to monitor the folder where the files are protected for their automatic conversion
- Listen to one file while recording another
- Homogeneous normal levels of sound
- Record audio streams
- Automatically detect settings sound devices
- Batch mode conversion
- Automatic filling ID3 tags, an album cover, lyrics and lyrics
- Synchronization with mobile devices
- The function of recording on CD for creating MP3 discs
- Built-in generator mobile ringtones

Download Tunebite Platinum V.7.2.13200.0

here

Star rating with MooStarRating

2011-05-11T12:56:00.002-07:00

I'm not lying if I say javascript gives life to lifeless webpages. Javascript libraris make it easier for the developers to develop JavaScript-based applications especially with AJAX. Mootools is such a javascript framework. moostarrating is a mootools plugin which creates a javascript/ajax based attractive star rating system.

Following example shows you how to use moostarrating system and how to save the rating in a database using an Ajax call.

First download mootools core using this link.

Download the moostarrating plugin using this link. This page describes how to use the plugin but I thought it might be useful for all of you if I put here everything from the scratch.

I have deployed this example in a local environment, I recommend you to use xampp.

After installing xampp in windows, inside Apache Documents directory (C:\xampp\htdocs), create a new folder with a name you want, here I will use the name as "starRate". Extract the moostarrating plugin archive inside "starRate", also mootools core javascript should be placed inside "starRate".

Create a html file called star.html and save it inside "starRate". You can customize the default options and even functions in moostarrating.js the way you want.

star.html

 
  
  
 
 
    Select The Number of Stars

In this example I use a php file to save the rating in a database. Create a database "rate_db", with a table "rate" with one column, you can use xampp phpmyadmin panel to create databases.

Create a php file called rate.php and save it inside "starRate" folder.

rate.php

$con = mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
if (!$con){
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("rate_db", $con);

$dataSent = $_POST['rating'];

mysql_query("INSERT INTO rate VALUES('$dataSent')");

mysql_close($con);
?>

Start xampp control panel. Open up your favorite browser and place the following in address bar.

http://localhost/starRate/star.html

Now you'll be able to experience the usage of a fully functional star rating system.

Which Sites and Blogs are Indexed by Google News?

2011-05-10T12:54:00.002-07:00

The English language edition of Google News tracks stories from over 4,500 sites – which includes both news websites and blogs - but that is all we know. Google has never published a full list of their news sources and the only way to determine if a website is indexed in Google News or not is through the source operator.

Google News Sources Revealed

The names of Google News sources are however no longer a secret now.
Krishna Bharat, who is the brain behind Google News, recently released a massive list of 150,000+ news articles around Osama Bin Laden that were published on news web sites around the world after the Abbottabad operation was over.
Since almost every publisher had covered the bin Laden story around that time, it is extremely likely that Bharat’s list contains the URLs of more or less every news source that is crawled by Google News.
Thus, here’s a complete list of Google News Sources as available in Bharat’s list.
You may download this data as a text file for offline parsing while a copy is available on Google Docs as well for online sharing. If you are curious, this human readable list of sources was prepared using the following Linux command.

cat osama_google_news.txt | grep ENGLISH | awk '{print $11}' | cut -d "/" -f 3 | sort | uniq -c | sort

15 Anti-Spam Plugins for WordPress

2011-05-09T12:52:00.002-07:00

During the recent book update, we needed to make some room for the new WordPress-3.1 content. The book is already over 400 pages and growing. So we have to make some hard decisions about which content is useful but maybe not needed in the book. And, as useful as long lists of anti-spam plugins might be, moving them from the book to the blog seems like a good way to free up some room while keeping the information available. So without further ado, here is a quick list of 15 anti-spam plugins to help you run a more user-friendly, hassle-free comment system.

Akismet: The best anti-spam plugin for WordPress. Bundled with WordPress, Akismet requires a registration key, but is easy to setup and provides excellent “set-it-and-forget-it” spam protection for WordPress.
bcSpamBlock: JavaScript-based anti-spam plugin that uses JavaScript to filter out spam quietly and discretely. Users without JavaScript must prove their legitimacy via copy-&-paste CAPTCHA exercise.
Comment Spam Stopper: Blue Anvil’s anti-spam plugin is CAPTCHA-based and includes JavaScript validation to ensure that required fields in the comment form have been populated with data. To save time, the CAPTCHA field is not displayed when logged into Admin.
Comment Spam Trap: Delivers a double death blow by adding a hidden spam field and an identical but required CAPTCHA field. This simple logic tricks mortal spam bots into revealing themselves and getting blocked. Also blocks trackback spam and optionally sends email notifications of anything it blocks.
Cookies for Comments: Takes a different approach by adding a randomly generated stylesheet URL to your theme. When that URL is requested by the browser, a cookie is set that is required for the visitor/user to leave a comment. The plugin homepage is kinda thin, so scan the WordPress Forum to gain more insight about this remarkable plugin.
Did You Pass Math?: Requires the user to solve a simple math problem, like “what’s 1+2?” If they can’t do it, they’re considered a bot and the comment is blocked. Simple yet effective anti-spam plugin with nothing to configure – just set and forget.
JSSpamBlock: Uses JavaScript to filter out spam bots and their filthy comments. Legitimate users prove their identity by entering a given number. Provides fallback for non-JavaScript visitors.
Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam: A full-featured CAPTCHA-based anti-spam plugin for WordPress. Requires all commentators to identify a random word before comment submission. Words are displayed as images and are completely customizable. Features: random font display, no cookies required, no JavaScript required, auto-generated audio for visually impaired users, selective blocking of trackbacks and pingbacks, and much more. First choice for full-flavored CAPTCHA plugin.
reCAPTCHA Plugin: Displays words from old books that users must correctly interpret. Uses the popular reCAPTCHA service that is used on popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. Upside: use of this service helps to digitize old books. Downside: requires a key to work.
Referrer Bouncer: Referrer Bouncer provides powerful protection against referrer spam. Easy to use and requires no configuration. As it says, “It is like the strong silent bouncer at your favorite club.” The instant cure for the referrer spam that ails you.
Simple Trackback Validation: Solid protection against trackback spam. Trackback validation is done with an IP/referrer check and by checking the trackback page for your URL. Bottom line: an excellent solution for stopping trackback spam. Includes Settings Page for easy configuration, including the option to delete or spam blocked trackbacks.
Spam Free: Spam Free is an “extremely powerful anti-spam plugin for WordPress that eliminates comment spam, including trackback and pingback spam.” Spam Free has many features, including no CAPTCHA required for site visitors, a spam-free contact form, and dashboard counter with blocked spam count.
Word Verify: CAPTCHA-based anti-spam plugin that requires the user to enter a simple word in plain text (rather than an image). This makes it much easier for users to get it right the first time, while filtering out lots of automated spam. This plugin is probably best for smaller sites and blogs, as they aren’t generally targeted by the heavier OCR-capable spambots. Or so the thinking goes. Includes Settings Page for basic configuration.
WP-HashCash: CAPTCHA-based anti-spam plugin that claims to be 100% effective at blocking all spam and no real comments. Also blocks most pingback & trackback spam. Features Settings Page for statistics and configuration. And a huge bonus, WP-HashCash is “100% standards compliant XHTML 1.1 and works with both jQuery and Prototype.”

Note that the book now contains an abbreviated version of this list, along with sidebar mentions of some of the other plugins sprinkled throughout the various chapters. Going through this list again for the post, it was great seeing the wide variety of sites and personalities involved in keeping WordPress spam-free. If you know of any good anti-spam plugins that we missed, feel free to share them in the comments.

Admin Bar Tricks

2011-05-07T16:51:00.002-07:00

According to our latest poll, so far the votes are pretty much split on whether people love, hate, or don’t care about WordPress’ new Admin Bar. Over time, it looks like “Hate it” has started to pull ahead, but it doesn’t matter because the Admin Bar is here to stay, regardless of opinion. Already there are many awesome ways to make it do virtually whatever you want. In this DigWP post, we round up a ton of tips, tricks, and plugins for ultimately mastering the WordPress Admin Bar.

Here is our menu of Admin Bar Tricks for WordPress 3.1 and better:

Disable the Admin Bar for individual users

By default, each registered user has the option of showing the Admin on the frontend and/or back-end of the site. Thus, to change your preferences, just visit Users > Your Profile and choose your options as seen here:

Unfortunately, this gets kind of tedious when customizing profiles for many users. Fortunately, we’re just getting started, so read ahead to see more efficient ways of disabling and modifying the WordPress Admin Bar.

Disable the Admin Bar for all users of the current theme

To cleanly disable the Admin Bar for all users of your theme (and thus your site), add this snippet to your theme’s functions.php file:

// disable the admin bar
show_admin_bar(false);

Alternately, you may use this method, which filters the show_admin_bar function:

// disable the admin bar
add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');

Another option is to hide the Admin Bar using CSS. To do so, paste this into your
theme’s style.css (or other stylesheet):

/* hide the admin bar */
#wpadminbar { display:none; }

Disable the Admin Bar for non-Admins only

Expanding on the previous example, here are two snippets that disable the Admin Bar for non-Admins and Editors. Place either of the following in functions.php:

// show admin bar only for admins
if (!current_user_can('manage_options')) {
 add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');
}
// show admin bar only for admins and editors
if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
 add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');
}

As you might guess, any setting may be used for current_user_can(), so it’s easy to show/hide the Admin Bar for any particular group of users.

Clean up User Profile Page

After disabling the Admin Bar, you may want to hide its display settings in each user’s Profile Page. The easiest way to do this is with a simple function:

function hideAdminBar() { ?>

add_action('admin_print_scripts-profile.php', 'hideAdminBar');

Just place that in your theme’s functions.php and you’re good to go. No more Admin Bar Settings displayed in the Admin area.

Always show the Admin Bar

Follow the white rabbit shows us how to show the Admin Bar even when logged out. As a bonus, a handy “Log in” button is added to the bar for easy maneuvering. Just add the following snippet to your theme’s functions.php file:

// always show admin bar
function pjw_login_adminbar( $wp_admin_bar) {
 if ( !is_user_logged_in() )
 $wp_admin_bar->add_menu( array( 'title' => __( 'Log In' ), 'href' => wp_login_url() ) );
}
add_action( 'admin_bar_menu', 'pjw_login_adminbar' );
add_filter( 'show_admin_bar', '__return_true' , 1000 );

You can see it in action at follow the white rabbit.

Move the Admin Bar to the bottom

Want to display the Admin Bar at the bottom of the page instead of the top? WPengineer shows us how with this bit of CSS via the functions.php file:

// move admin bar to bottom
function fb_move_admin_bar() { ?>
 
// on backend area
add_action( 'admin_head', 'fb_move_admin_bar' );
// on frontend area
add_action( 'wp_head', 'fb_move_admin_bar' );

This code adds the required CSS to both the front-end (public pages) and back-end (admin pages). To disable for one or the other, just comment-out or remove the corresponding add_action() line near the end of the code. You could also just copy/paste the CSS into your theme’s style.css file if you only need to move it on the front-end of your site. An even easier way is provided by Coen Jacobs’ Stick Admin Bar To Bottom plugin that makes it happen automagically.

Add or Remove links from the Admin Bar

WPMU.org shows us how to add/remove links from the Admin Bar. This is especially useful for MultiSite networks, where all of the extra links may not be necessary. The following code may be used to remove links and/or menus (via functions.php:

// remove links/menus from the admin bar
function mytheme_admin_bar_render() {
 global $wp_admin_bar;
 $wp_admin_bar->remove_menu('comments');
}
add_action( 'wp_before_admin_bar_render', 'mytheme_admin_bar_render' );

For this example, we use remove_menu('comments') to remove the comments dropdown list. To remove a different link/menu, check /wp-includes/admin-bar.php for the corresponding ID. Here’s a list of some of them to get you started:

my-account – link to your account (avatars disabled)
my-account-with-avatar – link to your account (avatars enabled)
my-blogs – the “My Sites” menu if the user has more than one site
get-shortlink – provides a Shortlink to that page
edit – link to the Edit/Write-Post page
new-content – link to the “Add New” dropdown list
comments – link to the “Comments” dropdown
appearance – link to the “Appearance” dropdown
updates – the “Updates” dropdown

To add links/menus to the Admin Bar, add the following code to your functions.php file:

// add links/menus to the admin bar
function mytheme_admin_bar_render() {
 global $wp_admin_bar;
 $wp_admin_bar->add_menu( array(
  'parent' => 'new-content', // use 'false' for a root menu, or pass the ID of the parent menu
  'id' => 'new_media', // link ID, defaults to a sanitized title value
  'title' => __('Media'), // link title
  'href' => admin_url( 'media-new.php') // name of file
  'meta' => false // array of any of the following options: array( 'html' => '', 'class' => '', 'onclick' => '', target => '', title => '' );
 ));
}
add_action( 'wp_before_admin_bar_render', 'mytheme_admin_bar_render' );

You’ll want to adjust the parameters to fit your needs, and don’t forget to see the Codex for additional information. For even more insight into this technique, see WPengineer’s post on adding menus to the Admin Bar.

Disable and Customize the Admin Bar with Plugins

Almost immediately after the Admin Bar was added to the WordPress core, plugins started popping up to disable it, move it, minimize it, and more. Here’s a quick list of plugins and links for ultimate control over the Admin Bar.

If you know of others, mention them in the comments and we’ll add them to the list!

Graphing Blog Comments Over Time

2011-05-07T16:50:00.002-07:00

One of my other blocks, CSS-Tricks, has been around a number of years now. There are nearly 1,400 unique pages of content almost all of which have a comment thread. I had a feeling that in the last four years, despite fairly steady growth in traffic and subscribers, that the number of comments per post has dropped. But how to prove it? I don’t know of a way to easily see that data.
So I built a way to visualize the number of comments per post! I’m sure all you WordPress smarties have some better fancier way to do this, but this is how I did it.
In a nutshell: write a custom query to loop through all your posts and get the number of comments. So combining those two things, I thought I’d just make a 1px wide element with a height relative to how many comments that post has.

Step 1: Figure out the maximum number of comments

This will help us set the scale. The post with the maximum number of with have a line with 100% height, and it scales down from there. It’s easy to figure out the maximum number of comments after you looped through all the posts, but we actually need that information before we even start the loop so we can set the height during the loop.
Fortunately WordPress keeps the “comment_count” for each post in the the database. So we can write a query that will return the post with the most comments and then extract that number into a variable.

$query = "SELECT comment_count FROM " . $wpdb->posts . " WHERE post_type = 'post' && post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY comment_count DESC LIMIT 1";
$results = $wpdb->get_results($query);
$maxComments = $results[0]->comment_count;

Step 2: Loop through every single post

All posts, from the first published to the latest published.

query_posts('posts_per_page=-1&order=ASC');

while (have_posts() ) : the_post();
  // output one line of graph
endwhile;

Step 3: Output a line for the graph

Each line of the graph is going to be an anchor link, just so you can click it to go to that post should you wish. We’ll make those links inline-block, so we can set a height and width. This is the basics of the CSS:

#chart { 
  padding: 100px 0; 
  height: 400px; 
  text-align: center; 
}
#chart > a { 
  width: 1px;
  background: red;  
  vertical-align: bottom; 
  text-decoration: none;
}
#chart > a:hover {
  background: black;
}

Now within the loop, we’ll output those links (lines of the graph):

$numComments = get_comments_number();
$heightPercentage = (($numComments / $maxComments) * 100);

echo "";
echo "$numComments";
echo "";

Step 4: A little more…

There are a couple more parts to this, like listing out the first and last year at the start and end of the chart (for context) and positioning the span with the number of comments at the top of the graph so you can view numbers on rollover.
I’m going to embed the code as a GitHub Gist here, so it’s easy to keep updated once all you smarties tell me all the stuff I’m doing wrong. This is built as a page template:

The Graphs!

Here’s the Google Analytics chart of CSS-Tricks since launch:

And here’s the comment graph we just built:

Kinda interesting. The charts definitely don’t follow each other like I would think they might. This isn’t enough data to infer why that is. You could say social media sites like Twitter have swallowed up some of comment activity. You could also say maybe the quality of the posts have gone down and inspire less comments. Who knows.
Here is Digging Into WordPress’s graph:

Share! Share!

I’d love it, especially if you have a blog that’s been around a year or more, if you snagged this page template and linked up your own graph (or screenshot it) and posted it in the comments.
Maybe with a bunch of blogs graphs we could identify some trends.

How to Put Bidvertiser Code on the Blog

2011-05-03T00:41:00.005-07:00

In the last post I have taught you how to create bidvertiser account. So if you have missed the post, just go over it again. In this post you will learn how to put bidvertiser code on the blog.

I have seen lots of people and some of my friends how dumb they are into this blogging matters. One day I told my friend to create bidvertiser to make money online from blog. After some days he complained that he is not earning anything. Then I asked him the whole procedure he followed for making money online from bidvertiser. I was surprised when I heard that he didn't put the bidvertiser code on the blog. How on hell he is expecting to make money from it. I told him his mistake, actually it happens as he was really unknown to this new blogging and bidvertiser things. So I am sure many other people are too in the same condition, no clue what to do after creating bidvertiser account.

So I thought creating a blog for the sole purpose of teaching people from basic to advance how to make maximum use of bidvertiser to earn money online and this blog was form. So again I am going to baby sit you again. Gosh I hate to do this but this blog is all about make money online with bidvertiser. So I guess I will have to sacrifice it.

So today we are going to learn how to put bidvertiser code on the blog. What kind of blog. Ofcourse in the blogspot blog but this method is same for other type of blog also. So you just need to learn this once and locked it in the mind. Don't let it out again. Do you why we are going to put bidvertiser code on the blog? Don't you?

We are going to put bidvertiser code in our blog so that bidvertiser can show some ads on our blog. If ads are shown on our blog then some people will click those ads and we will make money each time the ad is click but don't dare to click your own ads. Its like going inside the lion cave to be eaten alive.

So do you know how and what kinds of ads will be shown on the blog. You should probably think about this once. Why because let us assume that you have a blog on child care. You don't want to get ads related to porn or sex on your child care blog from the bidvertiser. Thats why its necessary that you atleast know how and what kind of ads are going to be serve in your child care blog. Actually bidvertiser have some scripts code also called bidvertiser code (I will come to explain this bidvertiser code on the last part of this post) with them that is unique script for each individual blog. If you put this bidvertiser code in blog then this bidvertiser code will read blog content and will try to show some ads related to the content. To be fact, bidvertiser doesn't show much accuracy in this as compared to adsense, it might be their algorithm is not good enough or they are helpless due to less advertiser. Anyway lets take the example of child care blog again. Since the bidvertiser code reads the content of the blog, it will try to show some related ads like child, child care, caring child etc. So now you must have got the idea.

Oh my God, what am I talking about. Didn't I mentioned and have the title as How to put Bidvertiser Code on the Blog. I should be teaching you how to put bidvertiser code, isn't it? So back to the point. Lets learn it.

Ok if you have already bidvertiser account and have submitted a blog then thats very good otherwise you will need to create a bidvertiser account first and then submit atleast one blog to continue this journey. So why don't you visit how to create bidvertiser account so that we can finish the job.

Now I guess we all have a bidvertiser account and blog submitted to them. Ok now here's the step to follow:

Open the Bidvertiser account, you will see this kind of screenshot (picture) in the account. Click the image to enlarge.

If you see the image. You will see that one blog is submitted there.

First you will have to choose the size of the ads you want to show on your blog. For this you click on the button called "Choose Template". You will see a new form as shown in screenshot (picture) below

Y have to choose any ad format according to your need. Tick mark the radio button to choose the ad format Like I tick marked the "Free Design 1" radio button. Now after choosing ad format, click on the button called "Update" (which is in the buttom).

Now Click on the button "Get Ad Code". You will see screenshot (picture) like given below.

Copy the html code (bidvertiser html code) from the form and paste it in the blogger blog.

Once the bidvertiser code is put on the blog. The code will read the content of the blog and will start displaying bidvertiser ads on the blog. Hence whenever you get click on those ads, you will make money.

So did you learn how to put bidvertiser code on the blog? I bet you did.

How to put Bidvertiser html code in my blogspot ?

2011-05-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

I have already discussed about how to put bidvertiser code on the blog. Still after reading some people are stuck in some place. One thing I didn't mentioned there is that how to place it in the blogger blog.

I have received this kind of message from some of the readers like

"I have sign up for bidvertiser and received bidvertiser ad code. It says
Below you can find your personalized BidVertiser HTML code. Simply Copy (CTRL+C) and Paste (CTRL+V) it into the BODY of your HTML pages.

So how do I do it exactly??? Do I have to add any gadget for it???"

Another reader asks

"I launched my blog in blogger today and I have made my first post.:) So I registered in Bidvertiser to earn a bit more with my blog. Where can I put the bidvertiser code in the HTML code on blogger? I've just put it everywhere and nothing..."

So these guys know how to create bidvertiser account and where to find the bidvertiser code but they are stuck where actually they should put the bidvertiser html code on the blogger blog. Actually the steps are very easy. If they have explored more about their blogger blog then they could have able to do it alone. But anyway if you still need help then I am here to show you step by step instruction on how to put bidvertiser html code on the blogspot blog.

Follow these simple steps to put bidvertiser html code on the blogspot blog

Open your blogger blog.

Select your particular blog from the dashboard and click on the Layout>Page Elements.

Under Page Elements you will see this screenshots (picture)

Click on the "Add a Gadget".

When you clicked on the "Add a Gadget", a new form will come out.

So when you see this form, scroll down the form until you get "HTML/JavaScript" in the form below.

Click the "HTML/JavaScript". It will open the new form as shown below.

So paste the bidvertiser html code which you have copied from the bidvertiser account of this form. You can leave the title section blank also. After pasting the bidvertiser html code, click on the SAVE button. Congratulation you finished the work and the bidvertiser ads will be shown on your blog.

So isn't the putting bidvertiser html code in the blogspot blog easy? If you do still find problem then you should leave blogging buddy....Just kidding.

Earn More with Adsense: Tips & Layout Optimization Tricks for High CTR

2011-04-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense is perhaps the easiest way to attract advertisers from across the globe to your blog. Just submit your blog or website to Google for approval and if their content team approves your content, you are ready to place contextual text ads on your websites. Every time a reader clicks an AdSense ad link, the AdWords advertiser pays Google a small fee and Google splits the revenue with you.

Now you know how to make money with Google Adsense but to help you improve AdSense performance (and advertising revenue), here are some of the best Google Adsense Tips and Tricks for making more money (profit) from the Google Adsense program.

About me: I have been using Google AdSense since 2004 and my technology blog was recently featured as an AdSense Case Study.

Update: Some of the AdSense tricks in the article are old so you may please check my latest article on AdSense Optimization Tips that includes a PowerPoint presentation as well.

Tips to Increase Google AdSense Earnings

a. Strictly follow the rules mentioned in Adsense policies. You will always earn more revenue from Adsense by playing it clean.

b. Never modify the Google Adsense HTML code. If have trouble embedding AdSense code in your WordPress or Blogger template, take help of the AdSense support forums or send an email to your AdSense account manager.

c. Never ask your friends or visitors to click on your Google ads. Google takes click fraud very seriously. Do not include incentives of any kind on your site for users to click on your ads. Don't label Google ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements.".

d. Don't click on your own ads - Google is much smarter than you think and can discover invalid clicks through IP addresses, site navigation patterns, etc. If you working on a new design for your site, avoid reloading your pages (with AdSense) excessively. You can turn off AdSense temporarily and avoid invalid CPM impressions. Or you can use the unofficial Google Adsense Sandbox Tool that is accessible from Firefox, IE and other browsers to see what kind of Google ads will be served based on content (website address URL) or keywords.

e. Don't place ads in pop-up windows, ~~error pages or even empty pages~~. Update: With the new AdSense policy change, you can probably place ads on 404 pages. Check with the AdSense support team.

f. Don't start a "adsense asbestos" or "home equity loan rates" website merely to make money from accidental clicks. You will never make money out these Made for Adsense websites. Instead, write on topics what you are passionate about. Don't waste your money on high-paying adsense keywords lists. Stay away from AdSense Adwords arbitrage.

g. For short articles, CTR is best when ads are placed just above the content.

h. For long articles, CTR will improve if you place ads somewhere in middle of the content or just where the article ends - when visitors are done reading the article, they may be looking for related resources.

i. Use Text Ads instead of Image Ads as users get more options and the payout is often higher. If you still want to display image ads (for CPM), consider ad formats like the 300x250 medium rectangle or the 160x600 wide skyscraper as they support also support rich multimedia and the new gadget ads.

j. Google Ads with no background color and no borders will always perform better. Make the border color and background color same as your page background color.

k. Always put ads above the main fold. Make sure that the ad unit with the highest clickthrough rate is the first instance of the ad code that appears in your HTML source. Since the first ad unit is always filled before the rest, you want to make sure that ad unit is located in the best placement on your page.

l. Try setting the ad link URL color to a lighter shade. If your text is black, you may make the adlink as light gray or something like #666.

m. Go Wide - The large rectangle (336x280) is the best paying Adsense format especially for text ads. Try using the 336x280 large rectangle, 300x250 medium rectangle, or 160x600 wide skyscraper.

n. Don't places images next to Google ads as that will invite a permanent ban to your AdSense account.

o. Blend AdLinks with other navigation links or place horizontal adlinks at the top of your webpage. AdSense publishers are permitted to click on link unit topics on their web pages, provided that they do not click on any Google ads on the resulting page.

p. You should try adding a unit near the comments senction of your blog. See more AdSense tweaks.

q. You can put upto 3 adsense units on a page. Try putting a large skyscraper on the right navigation sidebar of your website. That area is close to the browser scrollbar. You can also add 2 AdSense for search boxes and 3 adlink units.

r. The first few lines of your content are an important factor for determining what Ads are served on your webpage. That's the right place to put keywords in bold (strong or tags) or header tags (h1, h2, etc).

s. Always select the setting to open Google Adsense search box results in a new browser window, so you won't lose your visitors. Click the Open search results in a new browser window checkbox and this add target="google_window" to your form tag.

t. Maximum people think the search box is on the top right corner. So you know where to put it.

u. Always syndicate full text RSS feeds and then monetize your feeds with a 468x60 ad in RSS feeds.

v. Monitor the AdSense performance of individual web pages with Google Analytics

w. For low CTR pages, try changing titles or adding more relevant content to get better focused ads. Alse see: Get relevant Google Ads

x. Block low paying advertisers with Filters. Why to loose a visitor for an ad that will only pay you a cent. Use Overture or Google Adwords Keywords tool to discover keywords that are less popular with advertisers.

y. Learn how to implement AdSense Revenue sharing if you run a site with multiple authors and need to pay your writers based on advertising revenue generated from their articles.

z. Experiment with color schemes and layouts using split testing. You are the best judge when it comes to choosing ad formats for your own website.

Even Google doesn't offer the best advise always. For instance, in the visual heat map, Google suggests that webmasters are best served by positioning ads on the upper left-hand side of a Web page but if you go to any search page on Google, the ads the mostly in the right.

Bonus Tip: Use the AdSense Preview tool to determine what ad campaigns are currently targeted for your site in different geographic regions of the world.

Enter any keywords or a website address (URL) and choose a geographic location of the visitors to see all the related related Google Ads.

Reader Comments

Good tips. However, I have some questions and would like you to explain or give me pointers.
(a) Eliminate the ad link URL - example needed.
(b) Don't syndicate full content - how?
(c) Block low paying advertisers with Filters - how?

Written on 12/9/05 7:36 PM

Satish,

Here's how to do things:

a. Make the ad link URL color same as your page background color

b. Blogger gives you this option - Check the settings.

c. Use overture to determine low paying ads - block those URLs in adsense

Written on 13/9/05 8:54 AM

Some useful tips there - just a couple of points I'd like to raise:

a) Does making the ad link URL the same colour as your page background (and therefore effectively hiding it) comply with Google's terms & conditions? I'm a bit unsure about this, but would be very careful with it.

b) I like the idea about having an "AdSense Party" to gather some useful feedback, but I'd be careful not to let your users actually click the Adsense links as this could be deemed to be fraudulent activity. O.K., it would probably only be a very small scale test, but even so, you wouldn't want to run the risk of being banned from Adsense!

Thanks,

Google Chrome 11.0.696.57 Stable Released - Direct Offline Standalone Installer Download Link Here Read more: http://www.megaleecher.net/Google_Chrom

2011-04-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

The Google Chrome team has released Chrome v 11.0.696.57 to the "Stable Channel" for all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux). Apart from the usual bug, security and performance fixes the brand new Chrome 11 build features speech input through HTML using which users can translate using text-to-speech into other languages with Google Translate.

Official feature description :

"If you’re translating from English, just click on the microphone on the bottom right of the input box, speak your text, and choose the language you want to translate to. In fact, you can even click on the “Listen” feature to hear the translated words spoken back to you!"

Download Links :

Free Mediafire Softs Download Full

Increasing Your Blog Traffic with SlideShare

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Wait A Minute… Slideshows?

Content Marketing on SlideShare

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6 Tips to Speed Up and Optimize Your WordPress Plugins

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1. Use a Cache Plugin

2. Remove All Unnecessary Plugins

3. Pay Special Attention to Post-Level Plugins

4. Consider Substituting All In One SEO Pack

5. Consider Substituting YARPP

6. Optimize Your Database Tables

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Lessons Learned Running a Small Business in 2011

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Plan For the Follow-Through

Short-Term is More Tempting than Long-Term

Focus Beats Multitasking

New Does Not Necessarily Equal Worthwhile

Join The Communities You Value

Planning is Both Impossible and Essential

Fight to Work On What You Love

The Truest Test of a Business is When You Leave It

Conclusion

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Un-dull Your Blog Posts: Four Fiction Techniques to Try

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Story

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8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog

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1.Your blog is your portfolio

2. Blog to control your SEO

3. Network with industry professionals

4. Blogging shows your determination

5. Build a reputation before you hit the workplace

6. Blogging expands and tests your knowledge

7. Access traditional media opportunities

8. Earn money

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Follow instructions

Showing professionalism

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Windows XP Awesome SP3 2011

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From AdSense to SpamSense to Spam Cents

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