Start Auto-Pinging
Sign up Free to have your blogs and podcasts auto-pinged for you. Registration is fast and easy.
What's autopinger?
AutoPinger is a FREE and convenient service for all bloggers and podcasters. It is an easy set-and-forget service that lets concentrate more on developing your favourite blogs and podcasts.
Auto-pinging refers to the action of checking your blogs and podcast feeds at regular time interval and ping your updates to your selected to-ping services. This way you will have more control on the pinging process and it keeps you away from some headaches like:
1) Blogging software will ping immediately when you press that "Submit Post" button, hence there is some waiting time if your ping list is long and you can't do anything about it. Autopinger will not affect your blog posting time as the pinging is done at our server.
2) If you do own more than 10 blogs, you could find it frustrating to update your ping list every time there is a new service to ping. Autopinger makes it easy for you to change just once at one place as we are constantly informed of new services to ping.
What autopinger does is simply handling this task for you automatically at one common location without you worrying which services to ping. You have the control! Register to be our member for FREE and you just simply set your blog and podcast information, and that's it! Autopinger will do the rest :-)
Manual Pinging
For Blogs:
If you have just updated your blog and would like to ping immediately to all services, you can manual ping your blog posts at http://www.autopinger.com/blog.aspx and we will immediately ping your blog to your selected number of services.
For Podcasts:
If you have a podcast feed that you would like to ping immediately, you can manual ping your it at http://www.autopinger.com/podcast.aspx and we will immediately ping your podcast feed to your selected number of podcast services.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
AutoPinger-Automatically Pings Your Blogs FREE
Thursday, November 8, 2007
November 2007 Winners- Floyds Best Bloggers Award
In The Blogosphere there are Bloggers that shine a little brighter, always helping others, using kind voices to enrich this Beautiful World we share. Each of these Winners deserves to be applauded by their peers! Thank All of You for Your Amazing contributions to the International Blogging Community!
And the Winners for November 2007 Are:
From MyBlogLog
TNT-Computer TNT (Tips and Tricks)
oylinki-News, Tips and Information Blog
PetLvr-Battling Depression
From BlogCatalog:
Sn0wTigressJ0-The Laidback Buddhist
purpleladycentre - ART FROM THE HEART
LadyBanana-Lady Banana
From Blogging to Fame
Deborah Petersen-Life in the Fast Lane
I have Saved the Best for Last! You have to see this to believe it!:
Congratulations to all the Winners!
If you are a winner, copy the Blue Ribbon to your site and Link it to this Post!
Judges:
You have been hand picked as the Cream of the Crop by:
Floyd Craig and William Thomas
Previous Winners From BumpZee Are:
malawika
parisukat
sidewinder
KiwiPulse
Johblogs
Previous Winners From MyBlogLog are:
Imhar
cooper
carolynloveman
Texas_Jam
Oggin
whydowork
MissladybugNeoAuteur
Previous Winners From BlogCatalog Are:
Lynda Lehmann
coreyirwin
Wilbau
Reasonable Robinson
Previous Winners (Sept. 2007):
Previous Winners From BumpZee Are:
hotdogman
karenlim
thanate
Suzie
ejcooksey
Previous Winners From MyBlogLog are:Shinade
MorganLighter
Previous Winners From BlogCatalog Are:
Promotion World-Free Tool-autosubmit to 30 Top SE
Search Engine Submit
This program will automatically submit your site to 30 search engines, including the best known. Best of all, this very simple submission program does it right. You will get the same results as if you submitted by hand! The perfect mass submission program.
SUBMIT FREE HERE
Thursday, November 1, 2007
"Green" WordPress Blogs Up For Grabs-Support Conservation
In order to fund our continuing efforts to Educate and Promote Conservation of our Beautiful Planet, Two WordPress Blogs Have been created and will be auctioned off to the Highest Bidder! This is your chance to own a Beautiful "Green" Blog and to support us as we continue our work! We need Sponsors and Benefactors!
The Blogs are: The Coral Reefs
You can buy it Here:
EBay Item number: 260177522689
The Second New WordPress Blog for sale:
Natural World Site
You can buy it here:
EBay Item number: 260177170410
starting bids are 25.00 (costs of domain name and ebay ad)
Please dig deep and support our work!
Floyd Craig and William Thomas
You can also help by making a small donation here:
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Ping-O-Matic
Ping-O-Matic is a service to update different search engines that your blog has updated.
We regularly check downstream services to make sure that they're legit and still work. So while it may appear like we have fewer services, they're the most important ones.
Make sure to only ping specialized services if they're relevant to your blog, otherwise you'll cause an undue burden on them. ping here free
Friday, October 26, 2007
Free submit your link to hundereds blog directories and search engines
King Ping--Update 57 Search Engines,free
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
8 Tips To Get More Traffic From Yahoo
8 Tips To Get More Traffic From Yahoo
By Vishal Rao
With the new Yahoo! "Pay-For-Review" model it might be relatively easier for sites to get into the directory butgetting traffic from your listing is altogether a different story. And now with it's new annual recurring payment policy you have to be extra careful while submitting your site for a review.
Here are 8 things to keep in mind while submitting your site to Yahoo!
1) Selecting your domain name is the most vital step in getting a top ranking in Yahoo! and also other directorieslike Dmoz and Looksmart.
Make sure your domain name is "Keyword Rich". You can make your domain keyword rich by simply inserting hyphens to separate words in your domain name. Yahoo! gives more relevance to sites with keywords in their domain name.
Take our domain name for example: http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com/
It is made up of 4 different high-in-demand keywords: "Home Based Business", "Home Business", "Home Business Opportunities", "Home Based Business Opportunities".
While crafting your domain name, even you should try to keep your domain name such that it is made up of one, 2-4 words main or "parent" keyword; which in turn is made up of 2-4 high-in-demand "child" keywords.
You may or may not get a top ranking for all your targeted keywords but you can be sure of getting one for your main or "parent" keyword (If you do everything else right).
Even if you have to get a separate domain name for this purpose, GET IT! It is absolutely crucial for your ranking.
2) Sites which are placed higher in directory structure are given more relevance than sites which are placed lower ordeeper.
For example a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities will be given more relevance than a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories
Here's a great tip to select the most trafficked category for your website...
Once you have short-listed 2 or 3 category to place your site in to, check out the cost of Sponsor Listings of thosecategories.It's really simple. Visit the following URL: https://ecom.yahoo.com/fast/sponsor
Enter the URL of any website that is listed in your desired category (The URL should be same as it appears in Yahoo! and the category should be a commercial category).
You'll be asked for your Yahoo! ID. Once you submit the information, you'll be provided with the Sponsorship charges for that certain category. Repeat the process for your remaining short-listed categories.
Now compare the prices of all your short-listed categories. Naturally the one with a higher price is the most trafficked one!
3) Yahoo! considers keywords in the directory structure while ranking.
For example, if someone is searching for "Business Opportunities Directories", a web site listed in category -B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories will be given more relevance than a web site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities
4) Yahoo! DOES NOT spider websites to determine ranking. It ranks web sites based on keywords in domain name, title and description. So having META tags does not make any difference to your listing.
5) DO NOT try to stuff as much keywords as possible in to the description. Yahoo! editors are notorious for cuttingdown the description if they sense even slightest hype. Try to avoid words such as - no.1, proven, turnkey, excitingetc.
Also, make sure that the heading of your home page is same as the description you provided for your site. There should be no confusion in the mind of the editor reviewing your site.
6) Make sure your domain name and business name is the same since Yahoo! is known to use the business name as the title for your listing.
7) Make sure your website is "Content Rich". This is very critical for two reasons. One - to get your siteaccepted by Yahoo! and Second - to maintain and get a higher listing.
Yahoo! determines the popularity of a website by the amount of time a visitor spends on your website. If a large no. of them hit the "back button" of their browser as soon as they hit your web site, you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a possible higher listing.
Once you get a lower listing, it can get very difficult to make up as visitors will not be able to find your site easily.
8) Before submitting your website, thoroughly research websites that rank higher for keywords you are targeting (Especially the "Most Popular" sites in the directory section). This will give you a rough idea of what to and what not to include in your website.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Free Program of Your Choice for Webmasters, see if you qualify
Special Offers
Free Program of Your Choice
To receive a free program you must place a PERMANENT link to KeyTech Software somewhere on your website, blog, or MySpace. Once you have placed a link to us on your site send us an email with the location of the link and what program you want. We will check the link and then send you the activation code for the program you requested.
Here is and example of an acceptable link:
KeyTech Software - Product (CD) Key Viewers and Changers for Microsoft Windows and Office.
Please send your emails to rtaylor@keytech-software.com. If you have any other cross-promotional ideas please feel free to send an email.
Your Stickam Player!
Your Stickam Player!
Your Stickam player allows you to place Videos, Photos, Audio and Video Chat on almost any other website, profile, and blog. Adding your player to any of these sites is very simple.
Go to your My Page and click on My Stickam Player.
From this page click on the link to get the code for your default Stickam player or click on Create a New Player to customize and create a new player.
Copy and paste this code onto your website, profiles and blogs.
Now that you have a Stickam player on these other sites, anytime you upload a video, photo, or audio file to Stickam, they can automatically be seen or heard on your Stickam players on other sites.
The coolest thing about the Stickam player is that when you Go Live, people viewing your Stickam player will see you Live on the websites you pasted your player on.
Enjoy!
Get One Free
This is my Player:
Windows Validation removed from Internet Explorer 7 Download it now
Windows Validation removed from Internet Explorer 7 Download it now &
HERE
Finally a good news for IE 7 fans , Microsoft at last removed the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage ) Validation from the IE 7 Setup . This made the IE 7 to get Installed only if you have Genuine Copy of Windows XPSP2 , x64 Server and Windows Server 2003 . But now you can install it like other browsers, just Download & install...
It seems that Microsoft took this Step to meet the competition on Net as most of the users are heading towards other browsers like Opera, Mozilla, Safari, etc. This step of Microsoft allows the pirated windows users to Install & run the IE7 ,which in turn would increase the No. of IE7 users in the World..
Other than this there are some minor updates in the new version.
Windows XP SP2 users can download the New version from
HERE
Friday, October 5, 2007
Nature Unleashed-Amazing Photos - The Start Of Katrina
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Floyds Best Blog Awards- October 2007 Winners
If you would like your blog reviewed, post the link in comments.
use this link (not required) to link your blue ribbon to the announcement post:
The Winners From BlogCatalog Are:
Winners From MyBlogLog are:
Shinade
zublizainordin
MorganLighter
ndpthepoetress
francoyong
Winners From BlogCatalog Are:
RennyBA
gerryPlanetEarth
sandydg350762
Gurushabad
robinsonjoel
Thursday, September 27, 2007
PingMyBlog.com is a free service which does the hard work for you.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Blog Carnival-Submit Your Articles Free, Get More Blog Traffic!
About Blog CarnivalBlog Carnival
Welcome to Blog Carnival! We love the idea of blog carnivals where someone takes the time to find really good blog posts on a given topic, and then puts all those posts together in a blog post called a "carnival".
To understand what a blog carnival is, consider some examples. Here is the first edition of Carnival of the Vanities (one of the earliest blog carnivals). Carnivals can be very descriptive like this one, or very concise, like this one. Find the style the fits your topic and time schedule.
We think blog carnivals are a great way for bloggers to recognize each other's efforts, organize blog posts around important topics, and improve the overall level of conversation in the blogosphere. Carnivals come in edited "editions", just like magazines or journals. The fact that carnivals are edited (and usually annotated) collections of links lets them serve as "magazines" within the blogosphere, and carnival hosts can earn their readership by providing high quality collections.
Since blog carnivals include lots of posts on specific topics, they also serve as a place to connect with those who are expert (or at least highly opinionated!) and those who are interested in that field.
Blog Carnival simplifies carnivals for two kinds of people:
People who read and contribute to blog carnivals, and
People who organize and publish blog carnivals.
Blog Carnival blog carnivals...
You may have noticed that we run some of our own blog carnivals. We started Blog Carnival by choosing some topics that we liked and went at it.
As time went by, we developed some tools to help us write our carnivals and blogs. We're sharing our tools with the blogging community. If you have suggestions for other tools or services for blog carnivals, please let us know.
We invite your feedback! Feel free to contact the Blog Carnival team.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Submit Blogs and Blog RSS Feeds
Blog Digger - submit your rss feed for your blog
ReadABlog - submit your blog
Blogarama - submit your blog
BlogStreet - blog submissions
Globe of Blogs - submit your rss feed for you blog
Kmax Blog Links - blog submission
BlogDex - submit your blog
Blog Universe - blog submission
BlogSearchEngine - submit rss feeds for web logs
BlogHop - submit feeds for blogs
BlogWise - rss feed submission for blogs
EatonWeb - submit feed for online blogs
PopDex - feed sumbission for web blogs
Blizg - submit rss feeds for web logs
Blo.gs - blog submissions
BlogCensus - submit your rss feed for your blog
BlogTree - blog submission
BlogStreet - rss feed submission for blog
BritBlog - blog submission
BlogLines - submit your blog to the directory
Bloogz - submit your blog
Australian Blog Directory - submit your blog
BoingBoing - submit blogs for review
RootBlog - enter the URL of a RSS feed you want to added to the database.
Weblog Directory - submit blog to directory
BlogoSphere EcoSystems - add your weblog
Blogz - add your blog
BlogWatcher - submit the url of your web log
BlogMatcher - submit your blog url
BlogPulse - automated trend discovery system for blogs
BlogCatalog - The Ultimate Blog Directory - Search For Blogs
Blogdir - spanish blog community
Blogs R Us - add feed
Blogs By City - add your blog!
FeedMap - submit a blog!
BlogSearch - submit blogs
PubSub - blog feed submission.
BlogSweet - blog feed submission.
BlogFlux - blog feed submission.
Blogtastic - blog feed submission.
Blog Introduction - submit blogs.
Finding Blog - blog submissions
Bulletize - blog submissions
BlogTopSites - blog submissions
Blog Fuse- blog submissions
Blogion- blog submissions
AddUrlBlog- add blogs
Blogbib- add blogs
BOTW Blog- add blogs
Blog Directory Submit- add blogs
BlogTopSites- add blogs (they will provide required code that must be inserted in your website, in order for blogtopsites to rank your blog)
iBlogBusiness - add business blogs only
BlogSiteZone - manually add blogs to directory.
BlogTopList - adds blogs to directories.
BlogBurst - adds blogs to directories.
Podcast Submissions
Podcasting Station - submit podcasts
Podcast Submission Directory - submit podcasts
Submit RSS Feed Free- big list
the following sites allowing you to submit RSS feeds:
Consider RSS Submit to automate submissions!
RSS FeedsRSS Network - submit RSS feeds & select category
RSS Locator - submit RSS feeds
Syndic8 - submit RSS feeds
DayPop - post your RSS feed or blog
Feedster - submit your RSS feed
Rocket News - post your RSS feed
Technorati - submit your RSS feed to be pinged
Userland - submit rss feeds
Postami - submit rss feeds
Finance Investing Feeds - Only submit finance or investment related feeds.
Security Protection Feeds - Submit only security or protection related feeds RSS feeds select appropriate category.
Realty Feeds - Submit only home related RSS feeds. Be sure to select the appropriate category.
Medical Feeds - Submit feeds related to medical care or health.
Religious Podcasts - Submit only podcasts that relate to religion, sermon or spiritual beliefs.
Sports Feeds - Submit sports related RSS feeds and podcasts.
Political Feeds - Submit political feeds and podcasts.
Government Feeds - Submit feeds ONLY from government agencies. Feeds from both Local and federal governments are accepted.
Educational Feeds - Submit feeds and podcasts related to education.
2RSS - submit rss and assign category (on bottom)
NewsMob - submit rss news feeds
RocketInfo - submit your rss content and feed
Edu RSS - harvests only feeds dealing with educational technology and related issues. All feeds are reviewed before being added to the list.
Sourceforge.net- submit News using XML
Complete RSS - enter the url(s) of the feeds you wish to add to the directory.
Feeds.com.br - add rss feeds
MoreOver - Moreover connects to thousands of online sources handpicked for excellence and trustworthiness. In order to maintain the quality of the directory all submission are evaluated prior to inclusion.
GeneCast - RSS news feed submissions
Memigo - submit a news link to memigo
PubSub - PubSub reads more than 2 million syndicated feeds, matches messages to subscriptions and delivers messages to subscribers in real time.
BulkFeeds - submit an rss feed
Ping-O-Matic - rss feed submissions (pings site)
Yenra - submit RSS news feed
easyRSS - gives you a direct access to the content you are interested in.
NewsXS - submit rss feeds
FeedFarm - all submitted feeds are reviewed
FastBuzz - submit feeds
RSSFeeds - submit rss feeds
Search4RSS - submit RSS feeds
DeskFeeds - rss feed and blog submissions
Terrar - rss feed submissions
The Feed Spot - submit feeds
StepNewz - submit rss news feeds
RSS Verzeichnis - German feed submissions
4Guys from Rolla - submit feeds
DevASP - add feed listing
FuzzySoftware - submit XML listings
ASP Index - submit RSS feeds
SourceForge - submit news feeds
Feed Directory - submit RSS feeds in the feed directory.
FeedBeagle - submit feeds (scroll down)
FeedPlex - submit feeds
Feeds4All - submit RSS feeds
NewsFeedFinder - submit RSS feeds
Plazoo - submit RSS feeds
Newzfire - submit RSS feeds
Feed24 - RSS feed submissions
Shas3 - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
RSS Feeds Directory - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
FeedCat - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
FeedMiner - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category
RSS Clipping - add RSS urls
Read A Feed - add RSS urls
Loomia - add RSS feeds
Feeds2Read - add your RSS feeds
Feedzie - add your RSS feeds
RSS Portal - add your RSS feeds
RSS Feed 4U - add your RSS feeds
StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds
StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds
Thomas Korte - automated feed submissions
JordoMedia - suggest RSS feeds
RSS Mad - add an RSS feed (on bottom right side)
FeedBomb - Navigate category and suggest a feed.
nFeeds - Submit RSS feeds only. Auto Feeds - Submit automotive feeds only.
News Goblin - Submit automotive feeds only.
Wordum - Submit automotive feeds only
FeedSee - Submit feeds using keyword searches.
Ez2News - Submit RSS feeds
Submit Feeds - RSS submission feeds
Feedooyoo - Submit RSS feeds
Science Port - Add RSS feeds
FeedAge - Submit RSS feeds
GoldenFeed - Submit RSS feeds
RSSMicro - Submit RSS feeds
FeedDirectory - Submit RSS feeds
Octora RSS Feeds - Submit RSS feeds
FeedFury - Submit RSS feeds
National Lib for Health - Submit Medical feeds
RSSMotron - Submit RSS feeds
FindRSS - Submit RSS feeds
FeedBase - Submit RSS feeds
RSSMotron - Submit RSS feeds
MoreNews.be - Submit RSS feeds
Day Time News - Submit RSS feeds
FeedGod - suggest a feed (on the right)
RSSBuffet - submit an RSS feed
SolarWarp- submit an RSS feed
Videocast Feeds
Videocasting Station - Submit RSS feeds
Regional Feeds
RSS Feeds.be - Beligian RSS feeds. (no obvious way to submit feeds)
RSS Nachrichten.de - German RSS feed directory.RSS feeds Israel - Israeli RSS feeds
Spanish Feeds - Spanish RSS feeds
Japanese Feeds - Japanese RSS feeds
Submission Tools
FeedPark - submit RSS feeds automated submission helper
FeedShot - fee based feed submission
SubmitEmNow - addon for feed submissions
Feed Validator
RSS Feed Validator - validate your feed to ensure your code is correct
Friday, September 21, 2007
WHY SUBMIT TO ARTICLE DIRECTORIES...Submit Articles to Promote Your Blog
It is a marketing truth that "Content Is King". Good, keyword rich, content is what drives online traffic through search engines and gives the visitor a reason to keep coming back to your website. This is often referred to as "sticky content". As a traffic-generation tool it is unsurpassed.
Webmasters and publication editors have an insatiable appetite for tightly written "niched" articles that are relevant to their web sites or publications themes.
Their need is your opportunity...
An editor of an ezine, newsletter, magazine, or website has a never-ending need for good content. Each issue they publish must be filled with useful, relevant content that will appeal to their readers or subscribers self-interest. A publication that cannot provide a steady flow of new content will not long survive.
Deep Earth Model Challenged By New Experiment
Surface phenomena such as volcanoes and earthquakes are generated by what goes on in Earth's interior. To understand some of these surface dynamics, scientists have to probe deep into the planet. The lower mantle is between 400 and 1,740 miles deep (650 km- 2,800 km) and sits atop the outer core.
Coauthor of the paper, Viktor Struzhkin of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory explains: "The deeper you go, the higher the pressures and temperatures become. Under these extreme conditions, the atoms and electrons of the rocks become squeezed so close together that they interact very peculiarly. In fact, spinning electrons in iron, which is prevalent throughout the inner Earth, are forced to pair up. When this spin state changes from unpaired electrons--called a high-spin state--to paired electrons--a low-spin state--the density, sound velocities, conductivity, and other properties of the materials can change. Understanding these conditions helps scientists piece together the complex puzzle of the interior/surface interactions."
The pressures in the lower mantle are brutal, ranging from about 230,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level (23 GPa), to almost 1.35 million times sea-level pressure (135 GPa). The heat is equally extreme--from about 2,800 to 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1800 K--4000 K).
Using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to heat and compress the samples, the scientists subjected ferropericlase to almost 940,000 atmospheres and 3,140 °F. They analyzed it using so-called X-ray emission spectroscopy. As its name suggests, ferropericlase is iron-laden.
It is also the second most prevalent material found in the lower mantle. Previous to this study, ferropericlase has been subjected to high pressures, but only to room temperatures. The new experiments are the highest pressures and temperatures attained to probe the spin state of iron in the mineral at lower-mantle conditions.
Under the less-intense conditions of the former experiments, the high-spin to low-spin transition occurs in a narrow pressure range. In the new study, however, both spin states coexisted in the same crystal structure and the spin transition was also continuous over a large pressure range, indicating that the mineral is in a complex state over a large range in depth in the planet.
"We were expecting to find a transition zone, but did not know how extended it may be in the Earth's mantle," commented Struzhkin. "Our findings suggest that there is a region or 'spin-transition zone' from about 620 miles to 1,365 miles deep, where high spin, unpaired electrons, transition to low spin, paired electrons. The transitioning appears to be continuous over these depths. At pressures representing a lower depth of about 1,365 miles the transition stops and ferropericlase is dominated by low-spin electrons."
Since measurements that scientists use to determine the composition and density of the inner Earth, such as sound velocities, are influenced by the ratio of high-spin/low- spin states, the new finding calls into question the traditional techniques for modeling this region of the planet.
In addition, a continuous spin transition zone may explain some interesting experimental findings including why there has been no significant iron partitioning, or separating, into ferropericlase or perovskite, the most prevalent mineral in the region. The research also suggests that the depth of the transition zone is less than scientists had speculated.
The existence of this transition zone may also account for seismic-wave behavior at those depths. The fact that the lowermost area is dominated by denser low-spin material could also affect the temperature stability of mantle upwellings--the generators of volcanic hotspots, such as those in Hawaii.
"This paper solves only part of the puzzle," cautioned Struzhkin. "Since the major lower mantle mineral perovskite has not been measured yet with this technique, we know there are more surprises to come."
The work is published in the September 21, 2007, issue of Science.
*Authors on this paper are Jung-Fu Lin, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); György Vankó, KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility; Steven Jacobsen, Northwestern University; Viktor Struzhkin, Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory; Vitali Prakapenka, University of Chicago; Alexie Kuznetsov, University of Chicago; and Choong-Shik Yoo LLNL.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Carnegie Institution.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
10 Blog Traffic Tips
In every bloggers life comes a special day - the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader - you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that’s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.
Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.
It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.
Top 10 Tips
10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.
9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.
You don’t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.
8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need a easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!).
7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.
Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.
6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry - it’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.
This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important - it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.
5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.
4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.
To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.
3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!
2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have - your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.
How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box”. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.
1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.
I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it’s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.
This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.
To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:
http://www.blogmastermind.com/?home=757
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Are mashups the new ‘Java’?
It’s, like, so 1998 again…
Alfred Chuang, chairman and CEO of BEASystems, drew that comparison of nine years ago with today’s new technology climate, but he isn’t talking about dot-coms. Rather, Chuang was referring to the sea change Java wrought on enterprise computing back in ‘98, and notes that today, the converging forces of SOA and enterprise mashups are shifting IT dynamics.
Chuang made is remarks at the opening of BEA World today in San Francisco, which I am attending. (I’ll be providing more updates from there.) He declared that the “era of innovating with traditional enterprise packaged applications is over.” A follow-up speaker, Comcast’s Andy Baer, begged to differ on that point, observing that many of his company’s installed packaged applications aren’t going away anytime soon, there’s no doubt SOA has become a disruptive force in how new applications are brought together and assembled.
I remember those heady days in the late 1990s when Java came on the scene as a language that could run across any platform, freeing applications from the constraints of underlying OSes. Perhaps SOA-mashups will free applications from technology altogether.
Chuang said that the force replacing packaged apps are Dynamic Business Applications, which are sort of like SOA composite applications, but with a Web 2.0 flavor added. It also looks like a new spin for an old acronym — DBA. Chuang was also emphatic on the point that DBAs also enabled end-users to build their own applications.
DBAs are built on SOA and are both external and internal facing, Chuang explained. They’re “designed for people and how people work, no the system they run on.” BEA is embodying its Dynamic Business App efforts within the scope of a new project called “Genesis,” which builds upon the vendor’s Workspace 360 console.
Apple defends iTunes in Berlin, Brussels
Apple CEO Steve Jobs reiterated his commitment to charging the same price for iTunes downloads across Europe as his lawyers defended the company on Wednesday against allegations its prices are not uniform.
"We think prices should be the same. We think anybody in Europe should buy off any store", Jobs told a press conference in Berlin, which he visited in connection with an iPhone deal.
At the same time, Apple executives were defending the company in Brussels.
The Commission charged in April that Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group were forcing Apple to curtail cross-border access to iTunes.
According to a person in the room on Wednesday, a representative of Apple said there was nothing in its contract with Universal obliging it to operate national stores or to set a higher price in countries such as Britain.
Apple, according to the observer, said it had made unilateral decisions, in part because doing business in Europe turned out to be more complex than in the United States.
Apple was represented by Eddy Cue, who heads its iTunes division, and the company's general counsel, Donald Rosenberg.
Originally the hearing was to have run two days, but EMI and Warner dropped out, so it was abbreviated to one day.
The case dates back to 2005, when the British consumer association complained that iTunes stores in France and Germany charge 99 euro cents ($1.38), but Britons must pay 79 pence ($1.58).
'Halo' no longer just a game for Microsoft
Microsoft wants video gamers to "finish the fight" when the last chapter of its Halo trilogy comes out next week, but a carefully crafted merchandising strategy will make sure the space-marine protagonist Master Chief lives on for years to come.
Halo is crucial to the success of Microsoft's Xbox video game business, which has lost billions of dollars since it was started in 2001 as a way to counter Sony's growing dominance.
Hailed by some as the Star Wars for Generation Xbox, the Halo franchise has spawned a mini-empire of licensed toys, clothing and tie-ins. The game features a space marine called Master Chief trying to save humanity from an alien army known as the Covenant.
For a company expected to post $57 billion in revenue this year, such licensing deals are little more than a rounding error. Yet Microsoft is driving to make the games division profitable this fiscal year, so every penny counts.
"Halo merchandise is a logical way to earn some extra revenue, and they are trying to collect on as many fronts as they can to turn Xbox into a profitable business," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft.
The most important effect of new Halo-branded products, however, is to make people more aware of the game.
"We make money and making money is great because this is a business. But we want long-term money that satisfies the fan base, not money today," said Steve Schrek, director of franchise development at Microsoft.
Microsoft also hopes Halo will help it "finish the fight" against Sony, whose PlayStation 3 console has struggled in the United States since it made its debut nearly a year ago.
The PS3's high price--still $500 after a July cut--is the biggest factor behind its woes, but Sony has also failed to deliver a true "system seller"--a game so good that people will buy a particular console just to play it.
Halo 3 is just such a title, and Microsoft has kicked off an advertising blitz that includes evocative TV spots featuring live actors recalling events that happen in the game.
Transmuting Halo from geek spectacle to the mainstream is a challenge for a company more used to pitching operating systems and word-processing software than building consumer entertainment products.
Microsoft is wary of watering down Halo, meaning it would rather walk away from deals for Master Chief pajamas or Covenant sippy cups.
"It's a balancing effort to be very, very careful that we don't oversaturate and piss off our 15 million fans," said Brian Jarrard, franchise lead at Bungie, the game studio within Microsoft that created Halo.
"We are obviously looking to broaden Halo and make it accessible...while at the same time, we want to keep feeding our core audience."
Microsoft had little experience in talking to toymakers and others about how to transfer an onscreen experience to real objects. But such experts exist in the licensing arms of movie studios, so Microsoft partnered with 20th Century Fox to act as the main licensing agent for the Halo brand.
Items that did not make the cut were a Halo-themed lottery ticket, lingerie modeled after a female hologram character, and toy guns based on the game's weapons. Instead, fans can expect high-quality action figures from McFarlane Toys, a tabletop game from WizKids, and replica weapons for mature buyers.
"We're very clear with them that this is not about running out and carpet-bombing everything. This is figuring out how in five years we're hitting new customers as opposed to in five years nobody cares," Schrek added.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
BlogRush is a free service that was created to help bloggers
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Eyes Can't Resist Beautiful People
Whether we’re looking for someone to date or sizing up a potential rival, our eyes irresistibly lock on to good-looking people, a new study finds.Participants, all heterosexual men and women, fixated on highly attractive people within the first half-second of seeing them. Single folks ogled the opposite sex, of course. But those in committed relationships more often eyed beautiful people of the same sex.
“If we’re interested in finding a mate, our attention gets quickly and automatically stuck on attractive members of the opposite sex,” explained study leader Jon Maner of the University of Florida. “If we’re jealous and worried about our partner cheating on us, attention gets quickly and automatically stuck on attractive people of our own sex because they are our competitors.”
Maner's research is based on the idea that evolution has primed our brains to subconsciously latch on to signs of physical attractiveness in others, both to find a mate and to guard him or her from potential competitors.
But this evolutionary trick is not without potential romantic peril. Even some people in committed relationships had trouble tearing their eyes away from attractive members of the opposite sex. On the other hand, fixating on attractive people of the same sex as rivals could contribute to feelings of insecurity.
Maner found that men prone to jealousy kept a close eye on attractive potential rivals.
“When it comes to concerns about infidelity, men are very attentive to highly attractive guys because presumably their wives or girlfriends may be too,” he said.
Maner's experiments, which flashed pictures of attractive men and women and average-looking men and women in front of participants and measured the time it took to shift their attention away from the image, surprisingly showed little difference between the sexes.
“Women paid just as much attention to men as men did to women,” Maner said.
The study is detailed in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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