Sunday, December 26, 2010

When Does Blogging Addict Good?

As they say, “Everything that is excessive is bad.” Yes it is true. And this is indeed very true in blogs. Becoming a blog addict is cost you a good amount of money, without any return. And we don't want that. We don't want anything that will get you into debt with blogging.

We aim blogging to be a good source of income. We blog not just because it is a hobby, but because we want a real good amount of return. We want something that will help us to have a better life and not something that will drag us to debt.


So becoming addicted to blogging is only good when the following things are met:

1.You enjoy sharing good quality information. What profit can it give to you when people see your blog as something full of spam and crappy content? You do not help other people find what they need, instead you annoy them with your low quality, uninformative content. But if you enjoy sharing those quality information that you have, then it is good.

2.You earn a good amount of income. I think this is just something that should come natural to someone who loves what he is doing. Though earning only comes secondary in blogging, earning is probably the most addictive part in blogging. It is always better to earn in what you are doing than simply enjoying it.

Unless these couple of things are met, blogging can be an expensive hobby.

For more blogging tips you can visit my website: www.brandbuildit.com

Read more...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Brand Build It: New Website For Better Services

I started a new website and it will be the portfolio of everything. Please know that this blog will continue to exist though. But most of the updates will be published at www.brandbuildit.com.


I aim to serve my readers better and so I started to host my own website. So, if you want to learn more about Ubuntu, technology, website making, blogging, etc. Come and visit my new website as well. This is also in-lined with what we really want to achieve, to build a better brand that will carry us to a better business.

Feel free to subscribe to it. If you have any other questions, just email me using the email form provided at Brand Build It. That will be the fastest way to contact me.


What Will Happen To BloggerVince?


This blog will continue to exist, but it will be more like a personal blog that will talk about all my experiences in blogging and website making. Brand Build It on the other hand will be my tech blog on website making and blog making. It will more like the tutorial blog. 

So there is really nothing wasted here. 

Oh and by the way, for those who subscribe to Brand Build It will get a FREE Ebook just by becoming a member. So, I suggest that you go there and visit Brand Build It. Subscribe to Brand Build It, and you will get your gift on the first update that you will be receiving. Sign Up Now for Brand Buid It!!! 

Read more...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

5 Importance of Having A Brand

To effectively build a good business, you must have definitely have a good brand. Just like all successful companies, they are maintain brands. So therefore whether you are engage in an online or offline business, building a good brand is A MUST.

Just think about coke for instance. What do you remember about coke? I guess you'll say, a fine sexy bottle, red and white color, a good lettering of ”Coca-Cola”. You definitely remember what it looks like right? It's because they already have embedded their brand inside you, that whenever you talk about softdrinks, you immediately remember coke.

coca-cola brand having red and white colors

All companies just like that of Coke, desires to build a good brand. Now, we will be talking a lot about the factors that affects brand making later. But first, let us see first what brand can do to your business.
  • It gives your business identity. – What is your business about? When you talk about Coke, you talk about softdrinks. When you talk about Toyota, you talk about cars. When you talk about CNN, you talk about Cable News. Brand gives identity to your business.
  • It is easier for your clients to remember you. - Now that you already have identity, there is no reason why your clients should not remember you. Granted that you have a logo and your brand has already been established, people can easily identify your logo. Just like Linux, whenever I see an animated penguin, I remember Linux. How about Twitter? Whenever I see a blue bird, I remember twitter. It is because their logo also possess their brand.
  • It is easier to implement viral effect with brands. - Since people know about your product, and granted they trusted it and they are satisfied with it, these people are simply the ones who will talk about it when ever opportunities apply.
  • It gives you a quality name. - In the corporate world, quality of service support and quality of products is the name of the game. Just try to look at the web, there are now probably hundreds or maybe thousands of webhosting companies out there. And people simply asks, which one is the best? Webmasters and bloggers usually choose the host that has a name of delivering good service support and reliable hosting service. It is just very similar to all other kinds of products.
  • It adds trust of your clients. - Granted that your brand is already known, new clients simply trusts you to deliver high-quality products. They trust you to be reliable. More trust, mean more clients, and more clients, mean more money.

I'm sure there are still lots of things that brand can do to you, this is just a short list. So if you are going to start a business whether it is an online or offline business, I suggest you start building a brand now.

Read more...

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Copyblogger Is No Longer With Thesis

Brian Clark Left Thesis
Undoubtedly, self-hosted Wordpress is one of the best platforms there is on the net. And Thesis theme is one of the best themes out there. But just imagine if one of its known founders and highly respected in the world of blogging parted its ways with the other equally genius guy? Intriguing isn't it?

If you have been a fan of Thesis, you would have heard of Brian Clark, the author of Copyblogger.com and one of the co-founders of DIYThemes.com. On the other hand, Chris Phearson is the lead brain of the theme software Thesis of DIYThemes.com.

The SHOCKING NEWS? Brian Clark left Thesis.

What exactly happened? Why did Brian left Thesis? In the interview, he said that Chris and him doesn't have the same out look for the future of the company. And so he is leaving it.

He was asked by Aaron about the GPL issue which has been a long issue concerning the development of softwares that can't stand alone with the parent software. And in this case, Wordpress is the parent software and Thesis is the child software which definitely cannot stand alone without Wordpress.

I'm not a lawyer, but the GPL license say that those software being developed that can't stand alone without the parent software which is GPL licensed, should also be a GPL licensed software. However, this is not the case of Thesis and other themes developed.

Thesis is being marketed out there where it should have a GPL license because Chris insist that it is copyrighted.

According to Brian, it is not all about what the law says and in fact there are really some loopholes with the issue of GPL. However, he does respect the main purposes of GPL and it's not just the GPL issue why he left the company. It's about the future plans, and seems like he doesn't see any bright future with Thesis for his purpose.

On Chris, he was rumored to be a cyber bully. I myself read his comments in one of Thesis fans who is trying to work on a Thesis “look-a-like” themes. And he threaten the poor blogger that he will be suing him if he will not remove the download link. This is exactly why I also decided not to buy Thesis anymore. Because of the attitude of the owner.

Thesis is a great theme for Wordpress, no doubt. But the attitude of the owner does matters. Planning to buy Thesis? Think again...

Brian Clark even quitted.

To read the whole interview, kindly visit: www.technosailor.aaronbrazell.com

Read more...

Friday, September 10, 2010

How to Write an Ebook in Fast Phase

The hardest part of writing is the first sentence.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an
impossible task. That's why you have to break it down
into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain.
You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at
its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you
possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?

There is only one way to climb a mountain step by
step.

Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You
must create it step by step, and one day, you will
take that last step and find yourself standing on the
summit with your head in the clouds.

The first thing you have to do, as if you actually
were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead
of climbing gear, however, you must organize your
thoughts. There are some steps you should take before
you begin. Once you've gone through the following
list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your
ebook.

Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook

First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down
a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find
that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to
focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in
anticipating and answering your reader's queries. Many
non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity
in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell
books as long as it's not too cute. For example,
Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count
sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans
to whip you into shape.

Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a
sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are
addressing and how your book will solve that problem.
All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement.
Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned,
you've built your foundation. From that foundation,
your book will grow, chapter by chapter.

Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your
ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis
statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your
book. For example, your thesis statement could read:
We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives,
but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to
give you back a good night's sleep.

Once you have your thesis, before you start to write,
make sure there is a good reason to write your book.
Ask yourself some questions:

* Does your book present useful information and is
that information currently relevant?

* Will you book positively affect the lives of your
readers?

* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's
attention?

* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful
and significant?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel
confident about the potential of your ebook.

Another important step is to figure out who your
target audience is. It is this group of people you
will be writing to, and this group will dictate many
elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction,
and even length. Figure out the age range of your
readers, their general gender, what they are most
interested in, and even the socio-economic group they
primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion
magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in
longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you
can pin down your target audience, the easier it will
be to write your book for them.

Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your
ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you
want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you
want to enhance your reputation?

Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do
you want to sell it as a product on your website, or
do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out
a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use
the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook
to attract affiliates around the world? The more you
know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.

Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction,
keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly
consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to
your chapter topic, and then divide it into four
subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five
parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.

How to make your ebook "user friendly"

You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging.
Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos,
graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning
the pages. Sidebars are useful for quick, accessible
information, and they break up the density of the
page.

Write with a casual, conversational tone rather than a
formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader's respond
to the feeling that you are having a conversation with
them. Break up the length and structure of your
sentences so you don?t hypnotize your readers into
sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and
structure tend to be a good aid for insomnia!


Good writing takes practice. It takes lots and lots of
practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a
day. Read books and magazines about the process of
writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The
art of writing is a lifetime process; the more you
write (and read), the better your writing will become.
The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales
figures.

In an ebook that is read on the screen, be aware that
you must give your reader's eye a break. You can do
this by utilizing white space. In art classes, white
space is usually referred to as "negative space."
Reader's eyes need to rest in the cool white oasis
you create on your page. If your page is too dense,
your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes
begin to tear.

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered. This
makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the
reader a mental break from dissecting your paragraphs
one after the other.

Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design. Find a font
that's easy on the eyes, and stick to that font
family. Using dozens of fonts will only tire your
readers out before they've gotten past your
introduction. Use at least one and a half line
spacing, and text large enough to be read easily on
the screen, but small enough so that the whole page
can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to
experiment with this to find the right combination.

Of course, don't forget to run a spell and grammar
check. You are judged by something as minor as correct
punctuation, so don?t mess up a great book by tossing
out semicolons randomly, or stringing sentences
together with commas. (By the way, that's called a
"comma splice.")

Last of all, create an index and a bibliography.
That's it! You've written a book! Now all you have to
do is publish your ebook online, and wait for download
request from your website visitors.

Read more...

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

How To Open Rar Files in Ubuntu

If you have installed Ubuntu as your operating system, your Archive Manager might not be able to open .rar files.

Your Archive Manager can open almost all kinds of Archiver such as zip, but not rar files. Funny isn't it?


But don't worry, here in Ubuntu, you can do almost all things. This is very simple to solve. All you have to do is to download and install "unrar". You can do this by following this very simple step-by-step instruction.



1. Open the your terminal.
2. Type this following command:

sudo apt-get install unrar
3. Wait until downloaded and installed.
4. After installation, be sure to close the terminal.

Then you can now open your .rar archived files.

Read more...

Monday, August 30, 2010

Introducing Blogger Stats

Finally, the long awaited Blogspot Blogger stats is finally here!!!

No need to install Sitemeter or any other blog stats in your widgets to track your traffic. Blogger has now adopted the Traffic stats that was first released in July of this year.



Highlight Features:

  • Real-time tracking. Each time your blog is viewed, you can immediately see the changes in stats. Unlike other stat widgets, it's being refreshed from time to time for the updates.
  • Insight about your audience. The blogspot stat will let you know the top search keywords, the countries where your traffic is from, the browser used and many more.
  • Great user interface. It's easy to read and easy to use. If you are familiar in using the Google Analytics, this is somewhat similar when it comes to tracking.

You can see it now running in your blogger accounts.

When you login, you will immediately see the tab on the right most corner option of your blog beside "monetize".

Blogger Buzz: Introducing Blogger Stats

Read more...

How To Put Adsense At the Bottom of Each Post

Putting Adsense at the bottom of each post in blogspot is easy. It's not that complicated. It is very similar to our post of putting Adsense within the post.

Here's how:

1.Login to your Blogger account.
2.Click Design> Edit HTML.
3.Tick the Expand Widget Templates
4.Find the following code:


<div class="post-footer-line post-footer-line-1"> 
 
5.And post this code format right below the above format:


<b:if cond="data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;">
YOUR PARSED ADSENSE CODE
</b:if>
 
6.Click Save


Additional Notes:

What do I mean with “PARSED ADSENSE CODE”? Parsed Adsense code is your Adsense code that has been changed into xml code format. It has to be parsed to function in blogspot because blogspots are xml type of blogs and not php.

To parse your code, simply copy the Adsense code, paste it to this parser tool, and click parse.

Then copy again the new parsed code and that's the one that you are going to paste in your template as seen above.

The code:

<b:if cond="data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;">
</b:if> 
is being added so that your Adsense will only appear in every single post, but not in your index pages such category, searches, and main home page.

Remember that you are only allowed to use 3 Adsense ads at a time. And if the Adsense will be seen in your index pages in every post, you will be violating then the terms and conditions of Adsense.

Not to mention that it destroys the beauty of your blog.

Read more...

How To Install Offline Dictionary in Ubuntu

Ubuntu usually comes with pre-installed dictionary. However, the dictionary that comes is usually an online dictionary. We need to install offline dictionary so that the dictionary will still be usable even if you are offline.


Step By Step Guide in installing Offline Dictionary in Ubuntu


1.Check if you already have installed a dictionary application. Click Application> Office. If you already have a dictionary, proceed to step 2. If you don't open the terminal and type the following command:
sudo apt-get install dictd
2.Install the dictionary definitions:
sudo apt-get install dict-gcide

After download and installation:

1.Click Application>Office>Dictionary
2.Click Edit Tab>Preferences
3.Click Add
4.Input the following settings:
Description: Local Server
Hostname: 127.0.0.1
Port: 2628
5.Click Add
6.Restart the Dictionary

Optionally, you can also install WordWeb which is equally helpful dictionary. And it is good that it runs well in Ubuntu without any hastle. Kindly follow the following guide:

Install WINE

1.Click Application> Ubuntu Software Center>
2.In the search box, type in WINE and press enter
3.Highlight Wine Microsoft Compatibility> Click Install

Install WordWeb

1.Download WordWeb from this link: www.wordweb.info/free/
2.Locate your download which you will find most likely in the Folder “Download”
3.Right click the “.exe” file of the WordWeb download.
4.Click Open With WINE
5.Follow the instruction.
6.After installation, you can check if it was successfully installed.
Click Application> WINE> Programs> WordWeb.

There you have it, you can now enjoy your offline dictionary in Ubuntu.

Read more...

Friday, August 27, 2010

How To Add Comment Form in Blogspot

This is the updated version of adding a comment form in blogspot blog.

There are times that you are using a pre-made template in blogspot and you find out later that the comment form is not working well. Therefore, you might need to tweak your template a little bit.

First things first, you need to try this before tweaking your blogger template using the HTML editor.

  1. Login to your blogger.com
  2. Click Setting> Click Comments
  3. In Comment form placement, tick “Embedded Below Post”
  4. Click Save Settings.

Note: Notice the warning below Embedded Below Post? It says:

The embedded comment form can not be used if you have Post Pages disabled.

There are some premade templates that will not really work on this. In that case you need to tweak it in HTML editor. If it doesn't work, follow instructions below.

Tweaking it should not be so much pain though.

Step by Step Guide to Put a Comment Form Below the Post:

1.Login to your blogger.com

2.Design Tab> Click Edit HTML.

3.Tick Epand Widget Templates

4.On your keyboard, press Ctrl+F and type in the following line:

<b:include data='post' name='comments' />
 
This will enable to quickly search for this line.

5.Once you find it, immediately after this line, add this code:

<b:include data='post' name='comment-form'/>
 
6.Save the Template.

Your visitor can now see the comment form below your post that functions.

Read more...

Monday, August 23, 2010

Copy As HTML Link Firefox Add-on

Being a blogger, you will have to face the reality that blogging is not an easy task. It takes time to format your post and most of the time, you will have to copy and paste anchor text links. And just imagine if you are making a post and you will have to make around 4-5 anchor text links from other websites. It will really become a pain in the long run.

Today, I will introduce to you a new Firefox Add-on tool that will make this task a lot easier. All you have to do is to install the Add-on.

Once installed, you simply go to the webpage where you want to link. Highlight the words that you want to use, right click and click “Copy as HTML link”, then finally paste it to your post.


To check whether you have installed it correctly, simply open a notepad or any text editor you want, and paste what you just have copied. And you will see a coded text link.

Creates an HTML link to the current page using the selected text and copies it (into the clipboard) for pasting into other applications.

Read more...

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Wordpress MySQL Gone Away Error Solved

My wordpress blog is having a MySQL Database Error like "MySQL  Gone Away" where I was compeled to look for some solution immediately. At first, I really thought that my blog was hacked especially that my other blog hosted in another hosting company was literally hacked where I end up canceling my account.

But this blog of mine is more than a year old and is doing well now in Google page rankings. Losing it is definitely not an option for me. So I tried to search for solution.

Read more...

Monday, August 16, 2010

6 Immortal Hot Niches

Hot topics on the net is not so difficult to find. In fact, by just visiting the home page of Yahoo, you will readily see there the hottest searches in Yahoo in a particular day. Hot topics can be a good source of a good choice of hot niche.

However, as a blogger, you are bound to find hot topics for your blog. Getting hot topics, with matching SEO of the post can definitely give you a good amount of traffic coming from that post. Just try to imagine that you have about 50 hot topic posts that ranks well over the search engine, that alone can boost your blog's popularity.

Read more...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

How To Activate Smartbro in Ubuntu

Do you have a Smartbro Dongle and you are using Ubuntu? Many Ubuntu users find it hard to install Smartbro internet dongle. Today, not anymore. I listed here the detailed, easiest way to install it.

Ok first, I want you to know my system and my current Ubuntu OS. I am using an Acer Aspire 4330 model of laptop, and in it, is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, known as the Lucid Lynx. I am using the Smartbro HSDPA Dongle Modem MF627 made by ZTE corporation.

Read more...

Monday, August 9, 2010

How To Install HP D1660 in Ubuntu

If you have Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and have an HP Printer Deskjet D1660, and you found out that it is not printing, don't worry, below is a detailed instruction on how to make it work. And I do hope it will help. 


  1. Go System> Administration> Printing
  2. Right Click Deskjet d1600 series
  3. Click properties
  4. Click Settings
  5. "Change" in Make and Model bar  ....it will search for driver
  6. Click HP, click deskjet 1600 series
  7. Choose the driver HP Deskjet D1600 Series, hpcups 3.10.2
With this, it simply means that HP Deskjet D1600 series still runs in hpcups and not with the latest hp printer drivers for linux.


Please know that I am a proud user of Ubuntu. As I said, this blog will let you experience the power of FREE resources.

If this post helped you, I would appreciate if you will leave a message of thanks below.:)

Read more...

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Ubuntu For More Blogging Security

I finally went back to Ubuntu. After my newly started blog was hacked, I finally decided to go back to Ubuntu Linux.

I certainly understand that there is no such thing as "secured" in this world. There are many hackers out there that are just waiting for bad security password to appear for them to hack.

There are several things that I have learned from my experience and I hope you will also try to implement these security measures for your blog sake.



Read more...

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Article Content vs. Real Life - Original Content

Here's a very funny video about article content making vs. the real life -original content. So if you are planning to engage in article marketing and submit to various content websites like Ezine Article, I suggest that you follow their advice at the end of the video.



So what can you say? Planning to write articles?

It is very important that people within your niche can relate to your articles.

Read more...

Friday, July 30, 2010

What is Virtual Real Estate

You have probably heard the phrase “virtual real estate”. I am not referring about any games like that of owning a huge farm from Farmville or Farm Town. I am referring on your real estate where you earn an income. But this time, your real estate is inside the world wide web.

I am referring to your website or blog. Though it is something that you own, you cannot touch it, you cannot hold it. All you can do is to control it.

Your blog or website is your online asset where you can generate lots of income opportunities. It’s just something that you should not be neglecting.

There are several advantages in acquiring virtual real estate:

Read more...

How To Create Google Adsense Account

Yesterday, I posted about setting up a blogspot blog. Today, to ensure that you can maximize the income of your blog, I bring you the instructions on how to create a Google Adsense Account.

But of course, it is up to you whether or not you will implement Adsense to your blog.  Just remember that Adsense  is a source of passive income. It may not make you that rich, but it definitely can bring you  a fair source of passive income.



Just some tips on how to effectively implement Adsense

Read more...

Thursday, July 29, 2010

6 Sources of Free Blogger Templates

Where can I find pre-designed blogspot templates? I don't want to make my readers hanging with the templates. Yes, everybody can customize their own templates now, but in case that you want to use other professionally designed free blogger templates, I listed the 5 good sources of these blogspot templates.

  1. FreeTemplates.blogspot.com
  2. BTemplates.com
  3. Creativejuice.blogspot.com
  4. InstantShift.com
  5. Blogger-Templates.blogspot.com
  6. Blogtemplate4u.com

Read more...

How To Set Up A Blogspot Blog

Most of you probably know this already but I just want to make sure that those of you who visit this blog will really get what they need so I posted here how to set up a blogspot blog in Blogger.com.



There are some changes already in Blogger that you may want to know. So I tried listing them down here:

Read more...

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Domain Extension “.co” Is Not Marketable

Domain name extension doesn’t really matter in ranking well over the search engines. However, there are several factors that will affect your blog concerning domain extensions.

There is a new domain name extension, “.co” as to "www.yourdomain.co“. Accompanied with it is a discussion to whether or not it is a premium domain extension or not.

Read more...

Monday, July 26, 2010

The 5 Pieces of Money Magnet

I frequently read ebooks, reports, and blogs about internet marketing. And there are five pieces to create a good money magnet that all internet marketers and bloggers agrees on. Of course, my short list is a huge topic to discuss, but I assume that in one way or another, you are very familiar on what the following money magnet is about.

Ready? Here they are:

1.    Valuable Content – “Content is the King” of blogging and website making. This is undisputable truth of any online marketing. Content attracts traffic, builds credibility and increase the possibility of your monetization.

Valuable content is friendly to both the search engines and the real people. They just simply dive into your content and read what you have posted and place a comment as long as it is relevant. This is the foundational element in making money magnet online.

Read more...

Friday, July 23, 2010

Philippine Bank Codes for Paypal

Paypal is probably the largest and the most well known online payment company. And I have here the list of Philippine bank codes that you need in connecting your bank to Paypal. 

You will definitely need paypal if you are an online marketer or an online business owner, maybe a blogger or webmaster. If you don't have one, kindly open a paypal account for you will be needing this in your future online transactions.

Read more...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

How to Improve the Earnability of a Blog

Last time I posted some tips on things to focus to make your blog earn. Today, I will give you five main reasons why blog fails to earn.

Perhaps some of you over looked these things. But that’s ok. All of us are probably offenders in one or two of these things. Blogging needs a lot of disciplines to perfect the method and multiply it hundreds of times.

Now let’s go to these barriers of success.

Read more...

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Who Else Wants a Blog That Earns?

Most people who want to have a blog probably desire to have a blog that earns income.  Though laborious, blogging for profit is pretty much doable. It is not too complicated to work on but it is doing repetitive profitable actions.

In my two years of blogging experience, there are only about 5 proven ways to really build up a blog that earns for a longer period of time.

Read more...

Monday, July 19, 2010

Enriching the Central Theme Of Your Blog

It is very important for any blog to have one central theme, a topic where everything you post will revolve around it. Keeping this will put your blog in a more favorable situation in search engines.

However, many bloggers struggle in working on one single theme. Most fell into the temptation of creating a whole new topic apart from what was decided earlier.

This is very true especially if you are not really familiar or you are not the expert of that particular central topic. It is very important therefore that we need be at least highly knowledgeable to the central theme of our blog.

Read more...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Mind of an Internet Marketer

Being around the net for a couple of years now has opened my eyes in a deeper view of what a blog could do to a business.

As I scanned hundred of blogs (maybe close to a thousand blogs now) for the past two years, I have probably seen all kinds of different blogs.

There are blogs that were used as a literal “Dear Diary” journal, others use their blog to speak about their cause, others to give news, while others use it to boost their business, while still others made blogging as a business.

Read more...

Monday, July 12, 2010

Affiliate Marketing For Your Blog

In our previous article how to make money on your blog, I mentioned about affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is simply selling some other people’s product. Once a sale is done, a commission will be credited immediately to the affiliate’s account.

An affiliate is simply the one selling the product of others for commissions.

To have a wider view on this, simply put this in this way, imagine yourself selling some products like Avon, or Amway, or Ganoderma etc. These products were products of others. We call this kind of monetization model in the offline world as networking. The rule is very simple, you apply for the company as a member of their sales force, and then you sell where you get commissions when a sale is done.

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Saturday, July 10, 2010

How To Make Money With Your Blog In the Philippines

There are lots of money making models that you can do on the net. However, if you live in the Philippines, online money making is a little bit limited. This is why we will only tackle money making models that are proven to be working even if you are living in the Philippines.

Some consider blogging as a hobby, while others consider it as a business. But why not consider it to be both? Your hobby can be a good start of business. And this is where blogging comes in.

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Friday, July 9, 2010

How To A Choose Blogger Template

Your world maybe turning upside-down for having hundreds of Blogger Templates to choose from. You know you need to choose the right template that will reflect your theme, your attitude and personality.

To make it easier for you to choose, you need to ask the right questions to yourself to arrive in a smaller number of options for a template.  But before that, let us review first what a template is and what a theme is.

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

How To Post A Cut and Paste Code in Blogger

Have you ever tried posting a code in blogger like java code or something like a link code using plainly the code tags to be copied and paste by your readers? Have you seen anything happened? Most probably you didn’t see anything appeared on the post, and probably you are also getting error messages from blogger.

Posting a cut and paste code in Blogger though it’s not that easy to do, yet it’s not too complicated to work on. Let us go ahead and understand first what is happening why it is not appearing on the post.

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Sunday, July 4, 2010

5 Important Rules of Blog Design

When it comes to your blog, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are five principles to observe to make sure your blog performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages


Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive on  blogs. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Make your visitors want to click through your site and not the back button! Give them the value of your blog up front without the splash page.

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How to Add Meta Tags to Individual Posts in Blogger Blogspot Blog

Previously we added meta tags in the homepage of your Blogger blogspot blog. Today, we will add another set of meta tags.

Please, do not miss the note at the bottom of this instruction.
1. Login to Blogger account.

2. Click Design > Edit HTML

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How to Add SEO Meta Tags in Blogger Blogspot Blog

Today we will be learning how to add Meta Tags on your Blogger blogspot blog's home page. This will also be the first of our series in optimizing your blogger blogspot blog.


What In The World Are Meta Tags?



Meta tags are html tags that is being read by the search engines as they rank the pages of your blog. It is very important in the sense that they are the one that is telling the search engines to rank your this particular page higher in particular keywords.

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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Characteristics of A Good Blogger Template

Blogger is almost totally different from Wordpress. Blogger templates are usually in xml code formats while Wordpress is composed of php’s and plugins. But basically, both of them have the same requirements to be considered as a good theme.

I already used several Blogger themes that you can find over the net. But finally, I decided to modify my own theme to fit my wants and needs. And at the same time, I tried to list the characteristics of a good blogger blog. Below is my short list.

Search Engine Friendly –
One of the most difficult decisions that you will have to decide is to whether or not you will choose a beautiful fancy template or a minimalist template. Unfortunately, most beautiful fancy templates are not search engine friendly.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New Share Buttons For Blogger Users

Blogger.com just released a new feature on blogger users. The new Share Buttons of blogger are just so simple that can make article sharing a lot easier than you think.

If you are a Google user, you will certainly love this set of share buttons.

Gmail - Easily share blog articles and send it to your friends using Gmail.

Blogger - If you want to blog more and expand a particular article a little further, you can just simply click the blogger button.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Blogger Buzz: Make Money With Your Blog and Google AdSense-Tips on Effective Adsense Monetization

Adsense is one of the best way to make money with your Blogger blog.

However, I have to make it clear that not all adsense ad can effectively generate income. There are some techniques that you need to do in order to maximize your adsense income.

Here are some effective ways in making Adsense monetization effective:

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Monday, June 28, 2010

How Can SEO Kill Your Content

Undoubtedly, search engine optimization or what we call SEO is really helpful in making a huge amount of traffic.  There is no successful blog that was not search engine optimized. 

But what is the limitation of optimizing your post?

A post can become a turn off when a blogger starts applying all he knows about search engine optimization in one single post.

We all know that Search Engine Optimization is about putting meta tags, keywords, using the right title, repetitive keywords, etc. A Blogger kills his own blog when he is tempted to place all kinds of meta tags and reuse unnecessary keywords in just a single post. Doing this can definitely lose the voice of your writing.

Voice is one of the most important elements of a successful blog. Period.  - Joy Tanksley

To understand the voice of your writing, try to do this very simple activity.

Go to your room and get a recorder (maybe a MP3 recorder). Get someone to listen to you. It can be your younger brother or someone else.  Start talking to him as if you are teaching him while you are recording it. Don’t let him interrupt you as you try to become a teacher to him in as short as 10-15 minutes. Tell him to just listen to you. And just go on with the flow.

Did your younger brother listen to you? Are you getting his attention? After 10-15 minutes, stop and go back to your recorder. Listen to it. If your younger brother is listening to you, it is most probably because he understands what you are saying and he believes that it is important. Furthermore, he recognizes your voice and he know he needs to respect that. 

This is exactly what we want to do in blogging. Your voice needs to be heard. Though there is no literal voice that can be heard, your writing must be compelling enough for your visitors to stay.

Here are some tips in putting a voice in your blog.

1.    Try to talk normally.
Use almost the same words just as you physically and literally talked to your younger brother.
2.    Use the lingua franca. Use words that are normally understood by most of your readers. While conventional writing is important, you have to remember that blogging is communicating to your readers. It is important that you use the same language, a language that is understandable.
3.    Just go on with the flow. Do it normally. Imagine yourself to be talking to literal people. Don’t be over-acting. Just let it flow.

But why SEO freaks loses the game?


They will lose the game simply because too much SEO’ing can affect the grammar, form and voice of your article. Those who are trying to fool search engines will never be successful in blogging. Blogging is not all about money making nor SEO’ing, it is about delivering a high-quality useful content.

Just come to think of this, why would someone stay in your blog when all he is reading are repetitive and unnecessary keywords that do not make any sense?

People use and search the net for information.

They did not arrive to your website by accident. They made the click believing that you have their information that they are looking. So what if they have found your blog? Was it useful to them?

Remember this, most of your blog-visitors arrive in your blog because they are looking for information, they want to learn something, they want to listen to you. Giving them bunch of useless information does not only destroy your integrity and credibility as a problogger, but also gives them the reason to unsubscribe and forget everything about your blog.

If you want them to stay, give them the reason to stay.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Helping Your Audience: The Key To Blogging

Undeniably, many bloggers blog in order to have a decent source of income which is not bad.

However, the idea of earning something from blogging has become the source of all hypes. Yes, there is evil in blogging.

The Bible clearly said,

The love of money, is the root of all evils.  - 1Timothy 6:10

There is really nothing wrong in earning something through blogging. There should be a return to your efforts. You spend time, effort and money. You don’t want it to be an outright expense. Monetizing your blog is just fair.

However, if you just blog all because of money, I believe that you are in the wrong track. It just won’t work. Go and try to read the posts of successful bloggers, there you will see that there is no such thing as a “get rich quick scheme” in blogging. If you see some promises like this on certain bloggers, then most probably it is one of the internet hypes.

If you really want to earn money, first, you need to forget all about money. Think about what topics that your audience will love because it helps them.

You gain more subscribers when they trust you. When they know that you deliver the things they need. They will love you by being someone that helps. Remember that having a good number of subscribers is very essential for successful monetization in the future. And to do this, you need to attract them to subscribe by giving them the reason why should they subscribe.

Most successful blogs that I know were blogs that really delivers what their audience need.


Let me give you an example. I already considered myself to be a blogger and I considered it to be a profession and not just a hobby. And so I need some good copywriting tips. I need to improve my writings; I need help to make me a better writer.

As I try to search it over the net, I found the blog named “copyblogger.com”. It has a very simple theme yet because this blog delivers what I need, I bookmarked it, subscribed to their updates, and even post questions and comments once in a while. To make things clear, I became a part of the community of probloggers.

Though I struggle a lot in writing, this blog just have the power to keep me going. It uplifts my inner being to show what’s inside me. To share what I know by putting it in words. And this is exactly what your blog should deliver, helping your audience, helping your niche.

I listed below four things that you can do to make your blog a blog that helps.

1.    Know your audience – First and foremost you need to know your audience. You must know what they need. You must know what they want. For example, if your target audience is bloggers, then blog about blogs, write things that will help them like giving them some tips in effective blogging. If your audience is Christian leaders, then write something about becoming an effective leader. Or something that will help them in their ministry.

2.    Be the expert of the niche -
You are the blogger; you are the so-called expert of that particular niche. If you talk about planting, then you are supposed to know more things about planting compared to ordinary people. You have to be the guru of the niche. Even if you do not know everything, but at least you should be more knowledgeable than the rest.

3.    Recommend what you have tried – One of the most common pitfalls in blogging is recommending something they haven’t tried themselves. It is important that when you recommend a certain product, first you should have tried it yourself. This is the way

4.    Answer your audience’s inquiries –
Granted that you have delivered what they need but they have some inquiries about it, and so they emailed you or left a comment on your blog. Try to answer them back. Tell them what they need to know.

Blogging isn’t just about money. It should be helping your audience. It should be delivering what it is about. You need to make a good content that helps.  

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

How to Stop Spam Comments

I am running my religious blog The Disciplers on a self-hosted Wordpress. My blog has been gaining a good momentum of traffic for the past three months. Most of my visitors came from organic searches. But as it gain a good amount of traffic, it is also gaining a good amount of spams.

Before, I used to delete and monitor about 4-15 spams a day, but now, I used to review about 30 spams a day. I hate to see these spams flooding my spam comment section. I am tired and frustrated of deleting them, and reviewing them one by one.


Why do people spam and how they do it?

Some bloggers who spam wants to gain one way links from other blogs. One way links are very essential in gaining page rank from search engines. Most of these frustrated bloggers places a mediocre (sometimes it’s still related) comment containing the link going to their blogs.

They do this with the hope of gaining popularity believing that those websites and blogs where they comment were set in “dofollow”. While in reality, many of professional bloggers and web masters nowadays apply the “nofollow” code on their blog and website.

Frustrated Internet Marketers spam to market their products. Many of them were really bad spammers. They use software bots to automatically detect blogs and automatically leave spam comments. Most of these spams were about Viagra, sex products, dating sites, etc. There are hundreds of them. And this is what I hated the most, my blog is a religious blog and they post comments all about sex.

How to Stop Spam?


There is no 100% solution of stopping these spam comments especially if spammers enter the comments manually. However, there is a good way of minimizing it for more than 90%. As I try this method, I almost get rid of spam especially those nasty spams from auto bots.

The solution that I am talking about is using a “Captcha” plugin or script or whatever you call it. What I installed in my blog is “reCaptcha”. A Captcha is a small program that identifies to whether the commentator is a real human or a computer (bots). Captcha uses (most of the time) a distorted images of characters where bots cannot read while humans can.

I personally used reCaptcha on my blog. It is owned by Google and is completely free just like all other Captcha plugins that you can see in Wordpress.

I know that this process of protecting your blog and website is not new. In fact, Blogger.com has been using this as a built in feature on their blog platform. And as you can see, most blogspot rarely get spam. But let us accept it, most bloggers don’t use Captcha so that they won’t hinder people to put comments on their blogs which love interactivity.

The only downside that I am seeing from Captcha is the interactivity of blog commentators. Most commentators don’t like to have any difficulty in commenting. They want to have a smooth way of commenting.

However as a blog owner, you will have to choose between securing your site from unwanted and unrelated spams and links which can definitely drag you to the bottom of page rankings or getting some real commentators who really value what they read? The choice is definitely yours.

But as for my personal opinion, placing a Captcha plugin is one of the best ways to protect and value your blog and website. Furthermore, it can also help you get real valuable links that can really help your blog. From about 30 spam comments a day, I rarely get 1 spam comment now.

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wordpress 3.0 Thelonious Released

I just want to keep this post short and simple. Wordpress 3.0 was finally released a few days ago. This release is one of the historical releases of Wordpress. The old default theme was already retired and here comes the new Twenty Ten default theme. This release was named after Thelonious Monk.

Those who are new to Wordpress will surely like this because the default theme Twenty Ten comes with some customizable feature without touching the codes.

It comes with a lighter interface, 1217 bug fixes and feature enhancements. There are more features in it than you ever know. It also includes some security feature enhancements.  Why don’t you go ahead and watch this video for more information.



If you are hosting your own Wordpress blog, don’t forget to update it because there won’t be a new release for a while. For those who are on free hosting with wordpress.com, Twenty Ten is already available for your use and test.

You can see the whole release here.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

Reasons Why Blog Fail

In 2007, there are already 70 million blogs out there in the World Wide Web. Today, there could be more out there. But more than half of those blogs failed to deliver what is expected from them.  What do I mean by the word fail here?

Failed to have a good amount of traffic. Most blogs barely have 50 visitors a day. Blogs, just like websites, their life blood lies on its traffic. I know that there are lots of bloggers who blog for personal use only. But let’s face it, we blog and post it in World Wide Web to share it to other people, and all other reasons follow like having extra income, establishing credibility, making a name, building a brand etc.

Without traffic, our blog is useless.

Failed to give its intended purpose. Blogs has its intended purpose. All bloggers think of sharing what he knows to the world. His purpose is to be the expert on that certain topic. But when there is no traffic, the very purpose of its existence has failed. The blog is useless.

Here’s 5 reasons why blogs fail.

Lack of Focus. One of the main issues that a blogger should resolve first is the focus. Just like all other websites, it needs a theme, a topic, the central thought of the blog. It is what you are going to deliver, it is what you want your readers to know about you, to be the expert of that topic. If it is blogging, then talk about blogging and all other things that surrounds it. If it is about faith, talk all about that faith. If it is about being a father, then talk about fatherhood.

Avoid diverting yourself to other topics unless it is related. If you are after of monetization, don’t worry, there are ways that you can best monetize your blog without getting off topic. For example if you talk about faith, something about spirituality, don’t sell your readers about money making ebooks. Sell them something that will enhance their faith.

Getting off topic is not only bad for the search engine but also for your monetization process. It is a turn off for your readers whenever you offer them something that is totally unrelated with the topic they subscribed for.

Lack of Consistency. Blogging needs consistency especially when you are just starting. Consistency means having a good average rate of posting every day, every week, or every month. It has to be on a regular basis. It’s difficult; we all know that, but “no pain, no gain.”

Blogging is not an automatic income generating machine that you just set it up and that’s it. It is not an overnight process to get a good reputation in the World Wide Web. It takes time. It takes a lot of effort. It takes a good number of posts.

Give your readers a good deal of information they are expecting from you. Just as they regularly read newspaper or watch news on TV on a regular basis, the same thing that you need to apply for your readers. It needs consistency. Blogging once every blue moon will never lead you to a profitable blogging.

Lack of Strategy. Just like any other profession, blogging needs some strategy. Different niche may have different strategy. Successful bloggers apply strategy which depends to their goal. Strategy usually guides the blogger to what course of actions has to be taken.

One of the first strategies that have to be implemented in blogging is to know your readers. Simply ask the question to yourself, who will be my readers? Get that picture in mind and place yourself in their place. Imagine yourself not as a blogger, but a reader of your blog. What are your expectations? What are the things you want to read from your blog?

Monetization also needs strategy. What monetization models are you going to apply to your blog? Identify it and weigh it carefully. Some monetization process can definitely hurt your blog if you are not careful enough.

These are just a couple of topics on strategy. I suggest that you read and study some more. Read outstanding blogs like: www.copyblogger.com and www.blogussion.com.

Lack of Quality Content. Just like all other professional bloggers, we will definitely agree on this one. We need to produce good quality content.

SEO is good, but it will not make your blog popular by itself. It needs to be meaty, it needs to be something of value.

“SEO can’t, by itself, make a popular blog. First, you need remarkable content, and then you optimize it for search engines. Skip the remarkable part, and all the optimization in the world won’t help you. –Jonathan Marrow “

SEO can bring a good amount of traffic to your blog. But what’s the use if your visitors do not stay? Give your visitors a reason to stay.

Now this is just an observation, simply try to visit some of the most popular blogs. Try to observe how long is their content? How meaty are they? Are you convinced that you need to follow their blog?

Lack of Long Term Plans. One of the best advices that I’ve got through reading other blogs is this: “Write TIMELESS content.” Well of course blog is originally a “web log” a sort of diary that you update from time to time. But just like in any other book, write something that will last for a life time. That even if we die, the truths of what we wrote will continue live.

It is like asking yourself, who will be reading your blog for the next 3-4 years? Who will continue to stick with you and follow what you are saying?

For about 3 years now observing the whole blog world, I seldom follow a blog. I only bookmark and follow those that I believe have excellent content. And I can feel it in myself that I need to follow them because they are the reliable gurus on this matter and I am their disciple. In the same way, your articles and your content will be a summary of something what you have learned from them. And if possible, develop it into a more reputable post.

Try to work on these main points and you will see a huge difference on your blog in comparison to other blogs

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Friday, June 18, 2010

7 Reasons Why I Blog

Since from childhood I always want to write. I don’t have the skills in writing and I struggle in English a little bit. But I really want to become a writer someday. I want to express myself through writing. I want to let the world know what I feel, what I think.

Then a few years ago, finally, I had a constant access to the internet and I became interested in website making.  At first, I was really busy trying to discover on how to make a website.  While having my own self study, I found out the latest trend on web development, Blogging.

Yes, blogging. I was more than happy to know that there is now a way for me to express myself. To give myself a freedom to write sharing all my interests in life. Sharing something that I know, something where I am the expert.

And that’s not it. I also found out that I can even monetize my blog which gave me deeper interest into it.  This tells me that I can earn more than the royalties that I can get from writing a book.

You don’t have to be a professional writer to be a blogger. After all, blog was designed to be an online diary. But nowadays, this online diary is being used to boost both online and offline businesses.

Here are few things that you can do in blogging:

1.    Express yourself. There are probably thousands of bloggers out there that use blogging to simply express themselves.
2.    Practice writing. Probably you are not a born writer just like me. So what? You can still write as long as you understand it. And why not practice writing by blogging?
3.    Help you make a book. As time goes by, as you write and express yourself consistently, you will find out one day that you can actually print and author your own book.
4.    Source of extra income. Why not make your personal journaling an extra source of income. It’s like hitting two birds with one bullet. You journal and get some income.
5.    Establish yourself to be an expert of something. Blogging can reveal where you are an expert. It can build you up as a person.
6.    Build a business. If you can have extra income out of it, you can definitely build a full blown business out of it. Talk about your business on your blog. You can build a good list of prospective customer out of it.
7.    Increase your knowledge. Blogging can definitely increase your knowledge on things that you write. As you blog, you will build your own community that has the same interest and as they contribute their own knowledge through commenting, you yourself is increasing your own expertise on that particular thing.

I don’t know if you love blogging. As for me, I already became addicted to it. It’s just so fun writing everything you know while other people read and thank you for sharing it. Blogging did not only fulfill my dream to be a writer, it also builds me up to be a better person.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

How To Increase Your Readership

The readership of your blog is one of the measures your blog on how important and meaningful it is. Marketing aside, you will see the importance of a blog literally on the number of comments that is being generated.

Statistically, you will see how long your visitor stays through Google Analytics. The bounce rate is the statistical data that tells how long your visitors stayed. The higher it is, the shorter your visitors stay on your blog. This means that you will have to decrease that high rate.

How?

Here are some ways to do it:

1.    High Quality Content –
High quality content does not only increase traffic, but also encourages your visitors to read more. The more information you provide the more reason for them to stay.

2.    Plugins That Promotes Commenting – There are several plugins that you may want to install which are very effective in encouraging your readers to leave a comment.

  • Yet Another Related Post (YARPP) – This displays the most relevant posts in your blog based on your post tags.
  • Subscribe To Comments – Enables the one who commented to simply follow the comment thread in a certain post via email.
  • CommentLuv – My favorite. You can read the whole article that I have made for this great plugin here: Why Install a CommentLuv Plugin

3.    Internal Linking – This is done by simply quoting and linking to some of your previously written posts. This is very effective especially if your content is highly relevant.

4.    Comment to Other Blogs –
Commenting to other blogs is also exposing yourself to the whole blogging world. Try to leave comments to blogs that has CommentLuv plugins and those blogs with high commenting rate. In this way, more fellow bloggers will be able to see you with a link going to your blog. This will be a win-Win situation for you and to the blog where you commented.

These are just simple ways that you can do to increase the readership of your blog. Remember, the more repeat visitors you have, the more encouraging it is to write and blog.

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Technical Thought Of You: How To Customize Your Blogger CommentLuv's Skin

CommentLuv was originally created for Wordpress users. When this is still new, I think I'm probably one of the first 2,000 users of this plugin. I installed it in my blog The Disciplers. This one might not be too important for those who really do not know the main use of this plugin. So here's the four main reasons why you need to install CommentLuv plugin to your blogger.

1. Encourage your readers to comment more. Why not? This plugin automatically place a link to the latest post on your visitor's blog. He just need to be sure that he filled up the website form for him to take advantage of this one.

2. It gives more discussion among the commentators. CommentLuv encourages to comment more. More comments, more discussion.

3. It widens your network as a blogger. As you see the links in the comments of your visitors, you will  probably be inclined to follow that blog. And there is nothing wrong in contacting the owner of the blog that you followed if you like his posts too especially if it is directly related to your site.

4. Increases Your Blog's Page Rank. If the blog being commented to is a "dofollow" blogs, then this will take out all the hustles in typing your link in this blog.

So? What are you waiting for? The link below will direct you to the instructions on how can your integrate CommentLuv with Blogger.

The Technical Thought Of You: How To Customize Your Blogger CommentLuv's Skin

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Blogussion Give Away

Just a quick line here, I just want to inform everybody that there is an ongoing contest until June 30, 2010. The prize is the licensed theme of Blogussion for Wordpress.

As we all know, Thesis is just an awesome Wordpress add-on integration which is being used by thousands of professional bloggers around the world. But you might wonder how in the world this young kid blogger was able to improve the designing capability of this awesome software.

Blogussion Theme is $44.95. But how about getting it for FREE???

I know a contest that you might want to join.

You can CLICK HERE if you want to join!

Now to give you a picture of what's inside this theme, here are some snapshots:


Practically, since it is based on the Thesis Framework, this theme is similarly awesome.

Again, this cost $44.95. But you can get for free if you will win the contest. But for easy access and without much-a-do, you can simply click the button below:

blogussion

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Measurement of a Good Hosting Company

efore you start your blog, it is very important that you host your blog in a reliable hosting company. There are basically hundreds of hosting companies out there, but only a few offers a satisfactory service. Barely a handful of these companies can satisfy your need as a web master.


When I first started on pro blogging, I decided to go to the cheapest webhost that I know in the Philippines. To my dismay, I landed on one of those poor hosting companies who does not even mind emailing their clients for trouble shooting. Believe me, it caused me more troubles to salvage my 3 month old blog than starting a brand new one.

So what's the measurement of a good webhosting company? I already made a detailed lecture on this in one of my ebooks that I guess will be helpful for you to read. But here's a short list of the things that you may want to consider before deciding.

Client Support

This is the most important factor that you may want to consider. This is because client support will be the back bone of your blog or website when something goes wrong. Keep in mind that there is no blog or website that is exempted from crashes, errors, virus, and all other threats. Your client support will be your help line when something goes wrong.

As for my experience, my first webhost responds to my questions after 3 days. I usually have problem with my website especially when they started to transfer my files to another hardware. My website is usually down for a week every other week. It is was indeed a nightmare for any webmaster.


So I decided to move to another webhost. This time, I got a far better one. Even during holidays, the owner of the company himself will replies to my inquiry if his employees are not available.

Here's the tip that you don't want to miss. This is worth trying if you find a hosting company and is planning to work in it. Try this; try to send a technical question concerning webhosting in relation with the services they offer. If that hosting company replies within 24 hours, try it again for the second time. If he replies again within 24 hours, you probably have scouted a good hosting company. On the other hand, if that hosting company responded beyond 24 hours, then that company is probably a owned by only one person, or have a very poor service.

Important Technical Features to Consider
Capacity – Let us put this in this way, any file that is made by the computer or through the computer consumes a portion of memory and stored in your hard drive. Similarly, websites are composed of files which uses hard drives. The only difference is that, if you are hosting your website using a hosting company, these hosting companies provides a limited portion of the hosting company's harddrive.

Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data being downloaded every time a visitor access your blog. Usually hosting companies measure it by month. For example, the hosting company says that you have about 2 Gigabite bandwidth a month. It simply means that when you have tons of visitors visiting your website and your bandwidth already exceeded what was required, other visitors will no longer able to access your website until the next month. Therefore, as time goes by and your website gaining readers, you would likely need to consider upgrading your hosting account.

Platform Supported – There are many kinds of platforms out there. There is Wordpress, Blogger, Drupal, Typepad, etc. Not all hosting companies support all platforms. But most webhosting companies support almost all of these platforms. You have to remember that platform is not actually necessary to make a website, but platforms does help a lot in making your life easier in making your blog and website beautiful and easier to use.

As for my experience, I strongly suggest Wordpress since it is the one that I have been using. There are more platforms out there. So simply just choose what seems best for you.

On the other hand, there are hosting companies that do not use the regular platform, instead, they provide their own platform and gives their clients real good deal of tools in website making especially in SEO tools which is very essential for every website.

Here are my highly recommended Web Hosts:

Hostgator Hostgator is probably the most well known cheap Web Host in the net. It supports a wide variety of platforms including Wordpress. There are hundreds of professional bloggers who uses Hostgator.

Site Built ItI ONLY recommend this if you are working on a Website other than a blog alone. Site Build It is easier for you to use if you are building a Website. But it will be a very technical job for you if you only want a blog and want to install Wordpress.

The advantage of this however is that, once you have set up your Website (which is far better than just a blog) you can also set up a blog using its own platform. Please note that they do not support Wordpress.

Aside from that, Site Build It literally provides EVERYTHING you need to have a website. It maybe a little expensive at the first look, but believe me, it is actually the CHEAPEST for it has all the things you need for a website. Such include Autoresponder, platform, email sign up, auto url submission, etc.

You get more than just a "site builder." You don't need to worry about looking for separate hosting, paying for a separate keyword research tool, handling site submissions, integrating autoresponders, etc., etc. See the full list of features here -- pick the most relevant ones for you and your reader.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Official Google Blog: Blogger Template Designer now available to everyone

Good news to Blogger / blogspot users. The template designer that was first used in draft.blogger.com has now been fully integrated in Blogger.com. You can now fully customize your blog the way you want it.

You can choose from several blog designs plus you can customize 2 or 3 columns the way you want it. There are lots of customization choices that you will really like. For years, this has been a great set back from Blogger users. They have boring designs and a very minimal customizations. But this one is a great leap of Blogger.com.

All I can say is congratulations to Google for doing this. I think all is lacking is a more SE Optimization options similar to Wordpress.

Official Google Blog: Blogger Template Designer now available to everyone

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

My Blog Extreme Ezine

If you love reading my blog, I’m sure you will also love reading my Ezine. This is basically the best way to get the latest tips and tricks in blogging and website making.

This is where I share all the things that I know and learned from 2 years of blogging and studying how the internet works and how can it change our lives. No hype included, I will be sharing here tips on how can you best optimize your blog may it be a Wordpress or a Blogger. I will also share some few tips about money making and how can you best use your blog for it.

  • Receive the best tips and updates on blogging.
  • Be updated and increase your knowledge about Web 2.0.
  • Know how you can make money online using your blog.
  • Make a full time job out of your part time job.

These are the goals of blog Extreme.

Subscribe now to Blog Extreme and see first hand just how much the “Real Deal” is. This is how you witness how powerful the FREE can actually be!

Simply enter your email at the Form below!!!

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Friday, June 11, 2010

How to Add Adsense Within a Post In Blogger

Blogger made it easier to embed Adsense using the gadgets. But they don’t have the automatic feature in embedding Adsense within the post. What I don’t like with this method is that, your blog really looks like a “NEWBIE” blog. We want our blogs to look like a professional blog while earning a good deal of income with the most effective monetization model.

It’s easy to add Adsense on the sidebar, in between posts, and even above the posts. But we want more than that. We want to ad Adsense within each post pages. Not in the archives, not in the home page, but within the post pages.

Fact: Most blogs who have used Adsense effectively places Adsense within the top and side portion of the posts below the header line.

With this, I tried my best to have a little research on embedding Adsense within the post matched with the text wrapping of the content of the post. Now, this is very tricky because not all methods of embedding Adsense worked for me. This is why I am very eager to make a post on this so that you can try it for yourself if this can work for your template.

Disclaimer: This method worked for me. If you follow this, it’s completely up to you but I don’t have any responsibility on your blog.

Step 1. Log to Your Blogger Account and Back Up Your Template.
First things first; back up your existing blog. You can do this by simply following these instructions:

1.    Log-in to your blogger account.
2.    Click  Design
3.    Click Edit HTML
4.    Click Download Full Template

The Download will automatically start and save it to your PC. Please note that it is just an xml code. It’s not a virus, but it is composed of codes containing the template of your blog. After downloading you can simply check it by using Notepad or Gedit.

Step 2 Get the Ad Codes and Parse It
. Open a new window and go to www.google.com/adsense. Login to your account and set up the best Ad that you want. I recommend that you use 300 x 250 px Ad within the content. Once you set it up, copy paste the codes to Notepad or Gedit (which I highly recommend than Notepad)

Now you need to parse the Ad codes. You will have to open a new window and Google it. But here’s the link that I used for parsing:  http://www.blogcrowds.com/resources/parse_html.php
Copy paste your Ad code to the space provided and click “Parse”. Your new code will look like this: 




Step 3. Add some codes. What I mean is, you will have to add a div tag codes to wrap it within the post. But if you don’t want to wrap it, leave it as it is. But I love to wrap Ads within the post. It gives more beauty and have a more professional look.  So your new code will look like this:


Note: Some blogs recommend other methods like modifying the CSS codes. But this one works for me.

Step 4. Embed the codes to your blog. Go back to “Edit HTML” (DON’T FORGET TO TICK THE EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATE) then follow the instructions below:

1.    Ctrl-F. This will open the “Find Bar”
2.    Type in:   data:post.body
3.    Press Enter
4.    Click Next, until you find the “last”  data:post.body
5.    Once you find it, copy paste the code that you have parsed with the div tags just before the

In my case I have this code:

 Therefore you need to copy paste the parsed Adsense code in between to look like this:



Click “Save Template”

That’s it. You will be able to see your Adsense wrapped within the post.

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About This Blog

This blog is a portfolio of knowledge about Money Making Online and Blogging. It is full of tutorials and helpful tips on successful blogging and making money online.

To start with, I highly recommend that you read 31 Days To Make A Better Blog.

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