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10 Must Have Tools for Effective Blogging

manchingjp — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:40:33 +0000

Bloggers have many tools available to them to not only make their posts eye-catching, but to also attract new readership to their sites. Below are ten applications that not only make blogs more alluring but also make the process of posting much more efficient.

1. Windows Live Writer (Windows)

This free application is made just for bloggers and it allows them to see their posts just as they will appear on their Windows Live blog before they are actually published. Multiple blogs can be managed with Windows Live Writer and some of its features include the ability to add and edit photographs and video, create headings, specialized fonts, background colors and images, margins, borders, and block quotes.

2. AdesClrPicker (Windows)

Appearance is important which is why bloggers love AdesClrPicker, an application that makes it easy and fast to add color to blog posts as well as advertisements. Users can automatically add colors from a floating menu and create a personalized color library. You can also easily modify colors to your liking by adjusting the hues, saturation, and brightness. AdesClrPicker is small in size, can store ten captured colors in its memory, and is free.

3. Snagit (Windows)

This applications provides a simple way to capture images, video, and text exactly as you see it on your computer screen. You can then edit images and use the Snagit Studio to customize the shots. Bloggers love this app because it enables them to illustrate their points without the need for readers to click on a link. Earlier versions can be downloaded for free.

4. Tweetdeck (Windows, Linux & Mac OS X)

Spreading the word about your blog is essential and Twitter is one of the best tools out there today to attract new readers. Tweetdeck is an application that makes your Twitter experience much more efficient, simple, and fast.

5. Digsby (Windows, Linux & Mac OS X)

Connect with all of your IM and social networking contacts all through this application that happens to be available for free. Not only can you keep up to date with everything on Twitter, Facebook, and other popular networking sites, but you can also manage all of your email accounts and have one buddy list for all of your IM accounts no matter what service they are on.

6. Flickr (Windows)

A blog with only text may not hold the attention of visitors for very long. Adding interesting and relevant imagery is a great way to create instant appeal. This application shows images that are freely available for use under the Creative Commons license, but you should must check that you aren’t using images protected under copyright. Keep it in mind that you’re expected to attribute the image to its creator with a link to their profile on Flickr.

7. Notepad++ (Windows)

Bloggers frequently use this free text editor to tweak the design of their theme. One of the major benefits, apart from its price tag, is the ability to auto-highlight code for a variety of programming languages. Notepadd++ offers syntax highlighting that can be defined by the user as well as syntax folding along with multi-document and mulit-view features and the ever-useful auto-completion. Users can drag and drop code, and also record and play back macros.

8. Mozilla Firefox (Windows, Linux & Mac OS X)

This free web browser is great for bloggers because there are so many ways to customize it with plugins. Not only will it meet your exact needs, it will have a look that is all your own. Firefox is super fast, offers private browsing, has anti-phishing and anti-malware protection, and one-click book marking. If you’re always browsing the web for stories to report, then Firefox is definitely recommended.

9. Feeddermon Feed Reader (Windows)

This is a popular feed reader for bloggers that allows users to read news even when the internet is down. It organizes feeds easily and access pages quickly with links that open a built-in browser.

10. RSS Bandit (Windows)

Read multiple blogs and sites from just one interface with this advanced feed reader application. IRSS Bandit is free and works right from your desktop. Direct synchronization gives it the ability to work with Google Reader and NewsGator Online.

From creating a blog that has appeal to a wide readership to promoting it through the most effective channels, these applications are essential for dynamic bloggers. Not only are they fun to use, they also assure that blog authors have access to the most up-to-date technology and information.

Written by Tom Walker, a web designer and writer from the UK working for an online supplier of Epson Stylus Photo inks. Check out CreativeCloud for more of his writing on advertising, art and design.

Backlink Quality; How Much are you Getting?

manchingjp — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:34:47 +0000

Apologies for being too late with my new update, I have been very busy with my job as a part of an SEO group doing new extensive projects that requires a hell lot of work!

For today, I want to discuss about the quality of links that we are getting and are about to get. Backlink building doesn’t end up in just getting a backlink from the site. We should also look at the quality of the links that we are getting. If you notice, there are websites that rarely updates, and too few backlinks yet they get a good PR and traffic. This is because the quality of the backlinks that they are getting is high.

I will share this lesson that I heard from as SEO webinar that I attended which targeted the quality of links.

Content Inlinks – HIGH quality – Articles/contents that attracts links from other site or referring the article. Anchor or mentions from other articles.

Link Trades – MODERATE – Partnerships, Link Exchanges (blogroll to blogroll)

Paid Links – LOW – Links on the sidebars or blogrolls. This can be high if related to site but can be devalued or penalized if not.

Link Reclamation – HIGH – If link source finds broken links, it re-points to active and valuable pages.

If you have something to add or questions to ask, feel free to put it in the comment section below. Thanks for reading and keep coming back for more

A Backlink for a Helpful Commentator

manchingjp — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:58:40 +0000

I have been thinking about a contest in this blog for a long time, maybe a top commentator contest, It’s a common strategy for bloggers to increase readership and increase comments, but I don’t have that enormous traffic yet that I can start with. Maybe there’s 4 or 5 commentators but it’s not yet enough, so I was thinking maybe a backlink for those who comments in this blog. But not every commentator, of course there should be a reason for me to give them a backlink.

I have already linked out to bloggers that helped me including Alan Mater, Simon, Toan, Sire, Mitch and Lee Ka Hoong. The very reason why I linked out to them is that their comments are very informative, very helpful and fills out the things that I forgot to mention in my articles.

So simply, I will link back to those bloggers who gave help and that’s it. Even though I don’t know you yet, as long as you helped me and the other readers, you deserve a gratitude for doing that. Because you know, not every blogger does that. There are also bloggers who doesn’t help other bloggers because they are afraid to be competed which I think is not healthy as a blogger.

So what do you think? Will it increase readership and comments?

Branding Effectively (an Update of my Previous Post)

manchingjp — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:16:09 +0000

In my previous post “A Simple Tip for Choosing a Domain Name“, I mentioned ways on how to choose a domain name. I actually forgot to mention Branding, in which this tip is not applicable in some ways.

A comment from Lee Ka Hoong of MyBlog2Day opened this topic which I am really thankful because it’s an additional helpful information that I should mention on that post. Well, it’s not too late for an update right? (lol)

Here is goes…

Using a keyword on your domain is good if you want to target specific audience or a larger traffic from people with the interest of the niche that you are blogging about.

But if you want to brand your blog, like what Lee said, it’s better to use unique domain names. Branding, simply making you popular from that word. Example, you are popular when it comes to health tips from a domain name www.dailyfreshies.com. You are not using the keyword that relates to the health niche but you are popular when it comes to health or any related topics when it comes to health.

There are popular bloggers who use the “Branding” strategy like Yaro Starak and John Chow.

When it comes to traffic and SEO, you don’t have to worry that you will not get the amount of traffic that you’ve been wanting. Like what every bloggers say, patience, eventually you’ll get known with that niche and you’ll get the traffic maybe doubled from a keyword domain name

And don’t forget to check out Lee’s article of “5 Ways To Build Your Brand Effectively”

Here’s a glimpse of his article: Blogging becomes very famous and popular on the web, number of blog used to be increased everyday and there is thousands or million blogs on the blogopshere.

A Simple Tip for Choosing a Domain Name

manchingjp — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:45:57 +0000

I remember last year when I was planning for my blog, choosing a domain name really sucks up time that you have to spend a day or two to think whats the best for my blog. It’s not easy to choose and think a domain name, almost all of the words that you can think of is already been used.

Follow these simple tips that will help you choose the right word/s for your domain:

Like what Alan Mater told me before, when you choose a domain name it’s better to include the keyword that you want to be ranking for. The reason for this is that this is SEO friendly, and being SEO friendly blog or website is what every blogger wants.

Example: www.resortspasalon.com – people who will search resort, spa or salon will find your site easily since the domain name that you are using is the keyword that you want to be ranking for.

Be general when choosing the domain name. It’s better not be particular with the domain as this will also affect the articles and topics that you are going to write.

Example: your domain name is www.abcdefg-phones.com – your audience will be limited with the fans of that phone only, in other words, limited traffic. So why not use www.phoneaddictcentral.com – this will help you not to get stuck when you ran out of phones to write a review since you are not talking about 1 brand of phone only, meaning, larger traffic.

Read this article for more information: Think Before You Stuck-Up

So do you have anything to add to help other readers understand or learn more? Feel free to share and comment below.

Thanks for reading and keep coming back for more

How to be a Helpful Commentator

manchingjp — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:08:38 +0000

Commenting is not just leaving a simple statement saying “Hi” or “Nice article, thanks”. To tell you that’s not a comment and it’s not helping at all, you are a spammer (lol). From the word itself “Comment” – A statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information.

There are lots of ways on how to be a good commentator and earn that respect from blogs that you are commenting, and in return you might be linked by the author or mention you in one of his articles. These tips are common but in case you forgot, it’ll remind you

1.) Watch out the end part of the article, there might be a question of what type of comment the author wants – maybe a statement telling them they have potential, or grammar, and or maybe advices.

2.) Do not criticize the writer if you found faulty statements or grammars, instead, give them advices and tips on how to correct and make it right to perfection . Give suggestion that you think might help the writer improve the writing skill.

3.) Suggest links of references that can help them or can give both additional and new information for his article. And make sure to be relevant as I always say.

4.) Don’t be too boastful because you once suck too, we all sucked too. Do not think that your comment is needed by that blogger unless the writers asked you to, there are more than perfect commentators out there and you better watch out or else you’ll get bombed.

Comments are very important in this kind of business, criticisms are the most source of perfected mistakes but it doesn’t have to be rude sometimes being polite gives more help.

Anything to add? please feel free to comment and give me more suggestions and advices.

Thanks for reading and keep coming back for more

Work at Home Limits and Boundaries

manchingjp — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:55:11 +0000

There are too many challenges when working at home. Maybe others can say working outside home has more advantage but to tell you it’s just a little, just a slight advantage.

Working outside home can be more productive – Yes it’s true, but do you think working at home can’t be productive as that? or maybe more productive than working outside? That’s why descipline existed in this world.

Setup

Having limits and boundaries can lead to more productivity and happy lifestyle . If you talk to people online while working there is a small chance that you can finish the article that you are working on. You have to put limits on it no matter how hurting it is not to talk to people online (lol), work is work.

The Time Frame

No matter how good you setup your limitations are boundaries if you don’t stick with it, it’ll never be effective.

No work related stuff on personal time. Set aside you work emails, IM’s or phone calls, or whatever that has nothing to do with your personal life. And, No personal stuff on working time. Turn off personal networks, games, and chores when it’s time to work.

So what do you think? Is there anything that you want to add? I would love to hear them.

Thanks for reading and keep coming back for more