Successful Blogging.com: April 2009

Twitter Getting More Popular!

Twitter becomes more popular on a daily basis.
It has become the latest craze among certain celebrities.

According to Hitwise, thanks to celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey Twitter is soaring to stardom around the world,

Twitter's growth in Australia "has been nothing short of phenomenal," rocketing 1,067 percent since the start of this year, reported Alan Long, research director at the Internet intelligence gathering firm.

The number of visitors to Twitter has more than tripled in New Zealand since the beginning of the year. In Singapore, Twitter is among the 50 most popular online destinations in the country.

Twitter's share of online visits in the United States and Britain had increased by 570 percent and 621 percent respectively since the start of the year.

Oprah Winfrey has been on Twitter for a couple of weeks and has more than 560,000 followers.

Wordpress and IntenseDebate

The folks at WordPress say IntenseDebate Comments enhance and encourage conversation on your blog or website. Custom integration with your WordPress admin panel makes moderation a piece of cake. Comment threading, reply-by-email, user accounts and reputations, comment voting, along with Twitter and friendfeed integrations enrich your readers' experience and make more of the internet aware of your blog and comments which drives traffic to you!

Full comment and account data sync between Intense Debate and WordPress ensures that you will always have your comments. Comments made in IntenseDebate are automatically backed-up to your WordPress comment system, while your existing WordPress comments are automatically imported into IntenseDebate. You always have all of your comments so uninstalling is a one-click process if you change your mind.

Moderate and reply to IntenseDebate comments from your WordPress admin panel using our custom moderation page that looks and feels exactly like the WordPress page that you are used to.
IntenseDebate outputs the standard WordPress comments enabling your comments to still be indexed by search engines that ignore JavaScript, while ensuring that visitors surfing with JavaScript disabled will be able to interact with comments made in IntenseDebate.

Your trackbacks and pingbacks are all automatically synced to your IntenseDebate account so you won't have to sacrifice one bit of link love by installing IntenseDebate.

The drawbacks of course, include a more difficult method of commenting for non-users.

Find out more

Promote your new blog

When you start out, take it slowly and do not overwhelm yourself or your blog. You do not want to burn yourself out. Also, you need to take it slowly to make a proper evaluation of what works for you.

Here are some tips.

* Comment on other blogs. The blogsite holder reads them as well as their visitors. Start by leaving a comment on my blog. You can also use a site such as blogs of note where there are bound to be plenty of good blogs with plenty of visitors

* Check out sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and Reddit . They can actually send you quite a few visitors. Don't do all at once though as your blog will become tired fast.

* Invite a fellow blogger to guest blog on your site. A reciprocal guest blog is like sharing the wealth. I enjoy the invitation myself.

* Have something that everyone wants and give it to them. Free downloads are a good way to get visits.

* Purchase advertising through Google, Yahoo or even other blogs.

Basic Blogging Tips

Sites that make it hard to find information sometimes do this to plug their advertisements or make money by some other means. What really happens is that the visitor loses patience and feels ripped off. The result is low credibility for the site and lack of return visits.

Here is how to get to the point and avoid losing your visitors in a maze.

* Keep your posts short and sweet. Have an introductory paragraph, a conclusion paragraph, and several explanation paragraphs in between. Anything more may seem like you have more than one topic and you need to break it up into more posts.

* Do not make your visitor have to "click here" more than once. Twice is the maximum to ever have to "click here".

* Edit out all of those filler words. Nobody wants to read Blah, Blah, Blah and Blah.

* Bold, Bullet and Number to break up monotony and get ideas across.

* Be descriptive enough to get the facts out. Your goal is to not make anyone have to read your mind. Start with the major points and explain them.

* Don't make people have to sit through a Flash or other intro to get to where they are going. Six seconds can feel like an eternity when you are searching for information.

* Keep your advertisements in their own territory. Don't make people have to scroll or deal with something popping out at them when they are in the middle of reading an article.

* Make your links make sense. That is, if you use link a word to something, that something should be a further explanation of that word. A definition or research site works well.

* Test those links. Readers don't want to land on a 404 page.

The idea that I am conveying to you is to get to the point, keep it short and sweet. Credibility and a good reputation are things that take time and hard work. The results pay off with many new and returning visitors.

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How to Make a Computer Run Better

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Ever felt like it took 10 minutes to load one program? This will tell you how to make it take a little less time to do things you need done.

Steps

The best thing you can do to speed up your computer is installing Linux as a replacement for your current OS. Ubuntu is a good option for reasonably new computers, while Xubuntu or, in more extreme cases, Damn Small Linux, should work well for older hardware. If you aren't willing to take this step, however, continue with the steps bellow.
Use Firefox for your Internet browsing. Less spy ware targets Firefox than Internet Explorer, so it will help keep it off of your computer. Also its open-source so it's free to download/modify.
Defragment your hard drive every one to two weeks. This tool can usually be found by right clicking a hard drive in "My Computer" and clicking on "Properties." Then click the tab "Tools."
Some applications install things on your computer that make it run slower. Things such as having hundreds of fonts will make it load slower. Spyware and Ad-Ware will also make your computer run slower so get a good spyware cleaner. And some anti-virus programs although needed for a Windows computer will slow down your computer.
Try not to change in-depth system preferences. This can cause unexpected results. If you do change them and do not like the results and cannot undo them, execute "System Restore." It is much like a time machine for your computer. There are three different ways to execute this program:
- Open "My Computer" and click "Control Panel." There should be a "System Restore" somewhere.
- Click your start button. Then choose "All Programs." Then go to "Accessories." Lastly, choose "System Tools." There should the be a "System Restore."
- In case it is not in both places stated above, it is then in this file directory: "C:/WINDOWS/system32/Restore" with the executable named "rstrui." This is only available in Windows XP, as far as I know.
If you have a lot of videos or music, keep them organized. Also, keeping them all loaded in programs such as Winamp may cause your computer to run more slowly.
Clear your e-mail in box regularly. This helps a bit, but only on Thunderbird or other E-Mail clients that save stuff to your hard drive; with webmail such as Yahoo Mail it will make no difference.
Don't have a huge graphic picture as your background wallpaper. This makes your computer have to work a lot harder just to boot up. It's the same as trying to load a large digital picture; it takes forever, at least for slower computers.
Change the computer theme to "Windows-Standard" (Start > Control Panel > Screen and desktop > Themes)
Change the computers desktop to none, and change the color to black or some other basic color. (Start > Control Panel > Screen and Desktop > Desktop)
Run Disk Cleanup (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup). Select the hard drive you wish to cleanup (usually C:), and once the scan is complete, choose the types of files you wish to remove.
Get rid of unwanted start up programs. Click Start > Run..., type "msconfig" in the box, and click OK. Select the 'Start up' tab, and deselect any programs you don't want to automatically run when you boot up. If you're not sure what something is, Google the name of it and you can usually find a description. Don't get rid of anything you're not sure about. This can have a substantial impact on boot time and overall system performance.
Download and install the latest drivers for your motherboard's chip-set and the video card. You can get the chip-set drivers from you motherboard manufacturer's site. The video card drivers you can get from ATI's or nVidia's website. *** Make sure you make a restore point before installing the drivers. This is also true for Linux computers usually the proprietary driver will run faster/better then the free community driver but this is not always the case.
Download updates for Windows from Windows Updates.
In extreme cases, you may have to "reformat" your computer and reinstall Windows. You can do this with the disks that came with your computer, or a "system recovery" application on your computer. This will make your computer as fast as the day that you bought it, but will delete all of the files that you have put on your computer. Do a complete backup first.
Increase the amount of RAM on your computer. With more RAM, you can keep more programs in memory at once, and they will respond more quickly. For Windows Vista, having at least 2-4 Gigabytes of RAM is recommended for great system performance, for Windows XP usually 1-2 Gigabytes is overkill unless you do a lot of gaming or video editing, Same with Linux unless you're booting from live CD you don't need tons of RAM. Be careful though, if you put too much RAM in your computer that it doesn't actually need, it can actually have an adverse affect on your computers overall performance as it has to constantly be refreshing that extra RAM.

Tips

If you mess around with system files: Make sure you know somebody / someplace that you can get your computer fixed quickly, in case you need it soon after you mess it up.
Back up all the files you need to an external drive.
Make a system restore point.
Do research. Go to blogs or forums and learn the consequences of what you're about to do.
Tread lightly. Don't delete all your files or change them all at once; do simple steps only a few at a time, then restart your computer and check that it still works well.
if you mess up but can still get to just past the login page sometimes you can just about run a window manager by going: ctl+alt+del>run program > then type "explorer.exe" now you can run stuff by finding the program exe"s on your hdd

Warnings

Again, make sure that there is somebody you can contact in case you break something and you need your computer repaired quickly.
Try to avoid messing with hardware inside the computer. If something breaks, it will usually need to be replaced, which is expensive. These take a lot of space causing your computer to go slower.
If you're set on changing hardware, don't be scared of looking inside. Just follow some common sense rules: be clean and dry, and don't force anything.
Before buying a part, make sure it is compatible with your motherboard and other computer parts. At the very least, consider how old your computer is and how old the new part is. Are they likely to be compatible?
Never open up or mess around with the power supply because even after it has been off for a very long time, capacitors inside the power supply can maintain electric charges.
When working inside your computer, make sure the power is off and the power cables disconnected. Static electricity ruins computer components, so make sure you are grounded before reaching inside.
Be very careful when working with the registry; back up everything and double check that you are manipulating the right registry entries.

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Computer Run Better. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Pixazza?

Pixazza is an online adverser that converts photos on Web sites into interactive advertisements.

It works by popping up price tags or other information upon mouse over. A hover can cause a balloon pop up

Google Inc. is among those that have recently invested a combined $5.8 million in the company. Web sites can earn money from the images they would have displayed anyhow.

Pixazza currently works with about 10 sites, including the celebrity gossip and fashion blogs .

For now, Pixazza is focusing on fashion-geared images, but it plans to expand to other categories like travel, sports and home design later this year.

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GMAIL: New in Labs: Inserting images

Google says that you no longer have to use workarounds to put images into your messages or attach images when you really want to inline them. Just turn on "Inserting images" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a new toolbar icon like this:

Make sure you're in rich formatting mode, or it won't show up. Click the little image icon, and you can insert images in two ways: by uploading image files from your computer or providing image URLs.

Keep in mind that Gmail doesn't show URL-based images in messages by default to protect you from spammers, so if you're sending mail to other Gmail users, they'll still have to click "Display images below" or "Always display images from ..." to see images you embed.

Facebook Users: Have you signed up for Networked Blogs?

Promote your blog on Facebook and to discover new blogs. NetworkedBlogs is a community of bloggers and blog lovers. Join the fun, add your blog, and connect with others who read and write about subjects you like.

Show a thumbnail image of your blog on your profile

A visual blogroll on your profile to promote your blog and blogs you like

A directory of blogs organized by topic and geographical locations

Read blog articles inside Facebook

A discussion forum about everything related to blogging

A community of like minded people to connect with and learn from

NetworkedBlogs.com is an extension of the NetworkedBlogs Facebook Application. It's intent is to make their user-generated blog direcotry accessible outside Facebook and provide more exposure to blogs.

This web site is still in it's early stages. And, currently, it only provides a subset of the information that they offer inside Facebook.

Yahoo's Updated Search

Yahoo! offers you new, faster ways to find the information you're looking for, whether it's on the Web or part of the Yahoo! network. You can access a range of features with one simple search. Getting Started
You can find the basic search box on the main Yahoo! page. Or visit our ad-free, dedicated Yahoo! Search start page. Type a word or phrase into the search box and click "Search." Search Category Tabs
On the Yahoo! Search results page, tab links above the search box let you change the type of search and focus your results on images, breaking news, videos, or Yahoo! Directory listings. For example, after searching the Web for sites about "hybrid cars," you can click "Images" to search the Web for pictures of hybrid cars. Then, click "News" to search the Web for the latest related stories. Click the "more ››" link to see all search categories. Yahoo! offers the following web search options:

Web: Search the entire Web for relevant web pages and web sites.
Directory: Find sites and browse categories in our subject-based human-edited guide to web sites.
Video: Search for videos across the Web.
Audio: Search for music, podcasts, and interviews and across the Web.
Images: See photos, illustrations, and icons from all over the Web.
Answers: Search for answers to questions on any topic from real people.
Local: Find local businesses serving your area.
News: Search over 7,000 news sources from Yahoo! News and crawled news and blog sources around the Web.
Shopping: Shop, find, and compare millions of items and prices from thousands of merchants.
Maps: Find maps and directions to anywhere you'd like to go.
People Search: Search for people using Yahoo!'s telephone and email directories.
Travel: Search for airplane tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, and more.
Jobs: Search for jobs, post your resume and more on Yahoo! HotJobs.

You can leave your search terms unchanged in the box and click any of these links to see different results for the same search. There's no need to re-enter your search terms or start over. Also, you can start any of these searches, and others, at the Yahoo! Search page. Your Results Page
The Web Search results page is divided into several sections. Related Searches
When other people have done searches similar to yours, we list these queries right under the search box. One of these might help you narrow your results. Just click a link to try one of these searches. Sponsor Results
Sponsor Results are sites that pay for placement in search results on terms that are relevant to their business. These listings appear on Yahoo! Search results pages and other sections of Yahoo!. The Yahoo! Search results page and selected Yahoo! Directory categories separate Sponsor Results from all the other results on the page so you can tell them apart. For more information about participating in this program, please see Sponsored Search Yahoo! Shortcuts
When you use certain simple keywords in your search, we display the specific information you're looking for above your search results. You might see relevant Yahoo! features or services appear in this section as well when they are a good match for your search.

For the latest forecast, type: Chicago weather
For local business listings, enter a city and state with a business name or category: boston, ma restaurants

Listed below are some of the many Yahoo! Shortcuts:

Airport Information	Hotel Finder	Stock Quotes
Airline Registration Information	ISBN Numbers	Synonym Finder
Area Codes	Local Services	Time Zones
Calculator	Maps	Traffic
Dictionary Definitions	Movie Showtimes	UPC Codes
Encyclopedia Lookup	News	VIN Number
Exchange Rates	Packages	Weights, Measures, and Temperatures
Flight Tracker	Patents	Weather
Gas Prices	Sports Scores	ZIP Codes

More about Yahoo! Shortcuts... And, you can use the ! shortcut to quickly get around the Yahoo! network. Just type the name of a Yahoo! feature or service followed by ! to go straight there. For example:

Type "sports!" to go to Yahoo! Sports.
Type "mail!" for Yahoo! Mail.
Type "finance!" to go to Yahoo! Finance.

More about Navigating Yahoo! with a !... Even when you don't use these Yahoo! Shortcuts in your search, we often find helpful Yahoo! features and services that relate to your search, and display them above your results. Web Results
Web Results are links to relevant sites provided by Yahoo! Search and the Yahoo! Directory. Web results are generated from the billions of web pages discovered, crawled, and indexed by Yahoo! Search. More than 99% of web pages in the Yahoo! Search index are included for free through the web crawl process. The Web Results section might also include links to sites that participate in the Content Acquisition Program (CAP). CAP enables content providers to submit web content directly to Yahoo! for review and inclusion in the Yahoo! Search index; content providers that participate in CAP through the Search Submit program pay for these services. Participation in CAP does not guarantee placement or ranking in search results. Individual results might show some of the following features:

Cached: A link to a copy of the page stored in the search engine, in case the site is unavailable. Your search terms are highlighted on the cached page to help you find the relevant content.
View as HTML: If a result links to an Adobe PDF file, we give you the option to view the information as a web page instead of downloading the file.
More pages from this site: Searches that particular site for pages containing the same term.

More about your results... Your Search Preferences
You can now save your personal settings so they apply every time you search the Web using Yahoo!. These settings include the number of results to display, your languages of choice, and whether to block adult content. Just click the "more" link above the search box, then click the "Preferences" link in the search tab dropdown. Search Preferences... Advanced Search
Advanced Web Search helps you find sites that match very specific criteria, including combinations of words and the date the site was last updated. The options you choose apply only to the current search. Each type of search such as Web, Directory, or News, has its own Advanced Search page offering a unique set of options. Just click the "Advanced Search" link next to the search box.

Has EntreCard shot itself in the foot?

EntreCard droppers have been dropping out. Many of them have blogged about displeasure over the new paid advertising system. Among the complaints;

Jammed Inboxes.
Non-Approved Ads Showing Up.
Member Credit Ads Not Showing.
Not actually knowing specifically how much you will or could make and how.
Paid ads going to the head of the widget order.

Many of the members have taken advantage of the ability to refuse the paid ads.

This is seen on many sidebars.

Attention EntreCard Droppers

Out of fairness to my regular droppers, I will no longer accept 'paid' advertising.

What it means is that hard working droppers who want to advertise in the widget on a particular site, will be given priority over advertisers.

What do you think about the new EntreCard system?

YAHOO Image Search

What is Yahoo! Image Search?
It's Yahoo's answer to Google's Image Search.

Yahoo! Image Search allows you to search billions of images from across the Web. You can start an Image search from the main search page.

For example, if you want pictures of yellow daffodils, type "yellow daffodils" in the box and click the "Images" tab, then the "Search" button.

To limit your search to images of a certain size or file type, try Advanced Image Search.

Your results pages show you 20 thumbnails (reduced versions) per page. Click the thumbnail to see a slightly larger version of the image, along with the original host web page where with the image is located in its original context.

Image Search Results might also include links to sites that participate in the Content Acquisition Program (CAP). CAP enables content providers to submit web content directly to Yahoo! for review and inclusion in the Yahoo! Search index; content providers that participate in CAP through the Site Match program pay for these services. Participation in CAP or Site Match does not guarantee placement or ranking in Image Search results but additional information made available through the direct data feeds might increase or decrease relevance depending on the search query.

Yahoo Image Search preview page has been updated with a friendlier interface that displays larger images, and makes it easier to browse related thumbnails.