I want to make a brief disclaimer before I begin. URL shortening service scan certainly be handy when they are required and you aren’t writing on your site. In other words, for general purposes. When you are focused on using them to strengthen your brand, refrain from using them as often as possible.

Problems with URL Redirection Services

The first aspect that you should be aware of is how search engine traffic and your brand could suffer as a result of using URL shortening services. If you have a thousand links posted throughout your site and the web directing to your other posts, or even third-party articles, for that matter, you are essentially promoting the URL shortener, then the article being linked to. Why not consistently link to your site, even if it is an outside site? It certainly makes sense.

People will begin realizing that your brand is more diversified, with more links throughout the web. It’ll make the process easier of connecting your brand and content.

The second main point is that there is a greater chance that your site will remain in operation for a longer period of time than many of the URL shortening services. Of course, if your site goes down, other people will still be able to access your linked-to sites if you use the URL shortening services, but that is beyond the point. You will have full control over the URLs you create should you use your own service, and this is where the Synected Plugin comes into play.

Most people would think that this plugin is fairly basic, offering you the ability to create shorter URLs, but it prevents many of the common problems with traditional URL shorteners.

It was designed for the WordPress platform and is compatible with the latest version (at least it works for me). There are many options beyond what has been first stated. A traditional method of creating shortened, redirected URLs was through a manual process of editing the .htaccess file or using another, more complex redirection plugin.

Simply upload and activate the plugin and you have full control, as shown in the image below. I annotated the key features that most people take advantage of.

This settings page contains these features:

Main Settings/Configuration

• Base URL – The domain of your site, which shouldn’t be changed unless you are using an even shorter URL.
• Synected URL – The path for a custom page if you allow your blog visitors to create a shortened URL.
• Short URL Prefix – The prefix of the additional link you want to use. By default, it is set as “u/” and leaving it blank may conflict with the way WordPress handles URLs and redirections.
• Short URL Suffix – By default, this is left blank, and contains the terms that you want to use after the shortened URL, as in: http://blogtipz.com/u/shortened/blogging.
• Short URL Query Parameter – Used only when Pretty Permalinks are disabled. By default, this is set as “u.”
• Allowed URL Characters – These characters will be used when automatically creating shorter URLs.
• Enable Creation From Address Bar – This allows you to create shortened URLs, by typing in a line such as http://blogtipz.com/http://google.com/, which redirects to the Google website through the link http://blogtipz.com/u/a.
• Require Login – Restricts URL creation to users logged into the WordPress control panel.
• Require Permission – Restricts URL creation to users who have been given permission to use the plugin/tool.

It gets even easier to create and manage URLs through their tracking interface. This is contained within the sidebar, under “Short URLs.”

Additional Management

– Short URL Format History – This page contains a list of legacy formats, both prefixes and suffixes, that have been used on your site, allowing you to change your short URL prefix without breaking your existing links. You won’t have to worry about older links not working. However, it also means that when you switch to a new prefix, all your URLs will now work with that prefix, as well as any old ones.

– Create Shortened URL – Create shortened URLs through this page, if you don’t want to use their automatic method with the address bar. A specific shortcut key can be used for keywords.

– Shortened URLs – This page displays a list of all your shortened URLs, with the “short URL,” destination, number of clicks, and status. It makes it easy to find and copy shortened URLs. You can block their use and see when they were created. I haven’t used the plugin long enough to determine how the plugin manages for hundreds of links, as there is no sorting or search options.

Conclusion

The plugin is a great way to take advantage of shortened URLs. If you have a domain that is the same length as most URL shortening services (thirteen counting the prefix and suffix, and any additional characters), you can use the tool to save space and promote your brand throughout the web. The only negative part of the situation is that if you let your domain expire or you delete the plugin (there may be a back-end method to prevent this), your redirected links will return errors or stop working altogether.

Despite the small negative aspects, the plugin in its current state achieves what it was meant to do and more. You now have full control over redirected URLs with this plugin.

Related Posts:

1. Create Clear and Simple Content
2. Why Use URL Shortening Services?
3. How to Use Twitter More Effectively

Many bloggers think that it is okay to simply reproduce content from “free article” databases and news articles, citing that this content is free to use on their blog, even though it may not be. These databases and news sites were created for people to use more for sharing information, rather than “stealing” for use on their own blogs.

From the standpoint that you can still see rewards from this content, it is possible. However, your results will be likely less than the hundred thousand other sites that have the same article on their sites, naturally ranking higher than yours due to better linking techniques. It is generally frowned upon when you have this content, and doesn’t give your site any unique differentiating factor compared to the next site.

Should one of your readers pick up on the fact that you simply redistribute content, they may share this information with others, and your site could be shut down simply due to the large decline in traffic. You can’t grow your community when your content isn’t your own and no one respects your “work.”

Finally, a critical part of every blog is the sense of a personal writer on the site. Having articles from hundreds of other writers is much like inviting only guest posters to your site. You are essentially handing over credit to these people, giving no respect for your work and your potential.

Your site and community will, in turn, see effects of not having useful content. The key in starting a blog is creating an attractive, well-defined website with your own ideas and tips/resources, rather than extending another site’s directory.

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3. Two Awesome Ways to Ensure Accuracy

The hassles that come with owning a domain may be too great for some bloggers and website owners, so you might want to stick with a domain that isn’t “completely yours.”

1. When building brand loyalty and recognition throughout the web, there are a number of domains that aren’t that short (containing .blogspot or another domain). It all depends on how you market and promote your site.

2. Not everyone can fork over the $10 domain cost plus hosting if you want to go this route. You can make money to recoup the costs, but if you are planning on making no money from your site, there is no reason to purchase a domain.

3. Search engines no longer favor unique domains, but sites that have quality content and can rank better for their ideas, in a sense. You can have a great domain, but horrible content, and you won’t make it as far as a .blogspot.com domain with excellent content and a developed community.

4. If you are a business, a website is critical, but with the plethora of tools now out there for people to find your contact information, it isn’t completely necessary.

5. Having a domain name means that you have to stick with one URL for a year or more. Likewise, you could be spending time creating more content and seeing the direction that your blog is going before you finally settle on one down the road.

6. A domain name makes your business/website look more professional, but if the domain name is inappropriate for your business, it can be more difficult to brand and promote your business than if you didn’t have a domain/website at all.

7. Having a domain name gives you more opportunities when it comes the time to “sell” your site, but in the meantime, you have some risks, although small, that you are presented with. The account that you have registered the domain with could be hacked, meaning you lose the ability to redirect your domain.

8. The number of great domains left is near zero. You can still purchase branded, developed domains, but they’ll cost you greatly. Likely, it’ll be difficult to find a domain that is still easy to remember and type, at least compared to a recognizable brand.blogspot.com blog.

9. Nearly all the features of having your own domain are available with “free” blog platforms and websites. You don’t have to upgrade at a certain time to a domain, and there aren’t a ton of additional benefits when you simply purchase a domain.

10. Finally, although nearly all “professional” bloggers start with a domain, if you don’t want to go the whole pro route, the cost factor can add up. Changing domains, as previously mentioned, can be expensive, especially if you are involved in a long-term approach (just ten domains at $10 each will run into the thousands of dollars within a decade period).

Conclusion

While there are certainly the benefits to purchasing a domain, the cost can be too high for bloggers on a limited budget and those that don’t necessarily need it. You have to weigh out the options before you go to purchase a domain, even if you do have the required extra income to purchase extra domains.

Related Posts:

1. Great Resources for Finding Even Better Domains
2. Top-level Domains and Their Significance
3. Benefits of Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain

We are currently going through a new period in which tags and categories aren’t really that important. While I don’t want to bring up Twitter again, I will. The service is based around search. There may be “hashtags” that can be used to make the process easier of finding information, but in the end, you are still searching. Only recent results will be returned, and depending on the number of results, it can be quite daunting to search through them all. However, Twitter wasn’t meant to be used like a search engine, more so an open chat interface.

A majority of my site’s traffic doesn’t click through the categories listed in the sidebar, and if I were to place tags there, it would simply look cluttered. By going an extra step and completely removing the categories, I could focus even more on creating a better experience for the users of the site.

What is ultimately more important than categories is making your archives page accessible and focusing on a few main areas of your site, and this doesn’t necessarily require using tags. Search results all return unique URL strings, which can be used instead of categories, and your content will definitely include those keywords. This makes it easier for your visitors to find what they may be looking for.

I don’t know many large sites that still use tags of a wide array of categories in their sidebars as a way for their visitors to navigate their site. They focus on placing a selection, possibly six to ten or so categories in the header, which creates a distinction between the different areas of the site. If you don’t want to read the “Entertainment” section, you can go over to the “Business” section. This makes it possible for the blog owner or content producer to easily separate the different topics, while categories may not be focused enough – some would overlap and the separation wouldn’t be there.

Third-party tools like tag clouds can be created without much effort, automatically gathering frequently used terms on your site, not requiring much additional input on your part. It makes it easier if you chose to avoid using tags. After all, less than two years ago, WordPress began supporting tags within themes right out-of-the-box. Blogger still doesn’t have an efficient tag/category system, and other platforms are still lagging further behind.

An intelligent system where the blog platform would automatically choose categories based on the type of content we write and how we incorporate terms into the site would make the process a lot more efficient. Yes, adding tags and categories can certainly help, but unless you have previously visited a site and know exactly where to look within each category, this type of support isn’t required with search engines and search boxes incorporated into the blogs themselves.

Related Posts:

1. Tagging 101 – Tags, Clouds, and More
2. Managing Multiple Feeds
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I have gathered up a list of resources that you can use to find domains. It is incomplete and may be expanded – I need your recommendations. What tools do you use beyond those listed for finding domains besides those that come with your registrar?

1. FreshDrop – This site presents a list of affordable, recently dropped domain names. They are often much more affordable (up to twice) than when you purchase new domains from most registrars, although this cost may be associated with purchasing the domain and not the yearly registration.

Nearly 2.5 million domains can be found through the site, although some may be more costly than others to purchase. You can browse the sites through the various languages, apply filters, and view statistics and information about the sites. You are given a set amount of time to purchase a domain – the site is based around a “bid” system of sorts. Traffic, Page Rank, number of Google searches, listings in directories, and more are displayed on a complete list.

2. GreatDomains – This site displays some of the best domains, and with the better domains, you’ll have to make offers (six figure or higher costs). You can also sell domains through the service, ideal if you have a number of unused domains “laying around.”

3. Flippa – A new service from SitePoint, this is the number one place on the web to find developed and new domains and websites, including those that you can purchase with content – ideal if you don’t know where to start with building a site.

4. Deleted Domains – Find valuable deleted and expired domains. You have the ability to perform an unlimited number of deleted domain searches, filter domain searches, export domain deletion results, receive daily deleted email alerts, and more.

Membership plans are available to gain access to more features and discounts on domains. For example, you are limited to a select number of results when you perform the search without any plan.

5. Stuck Domains – Browse through more than 27 million unique domains. When searching for the term “blog,” I found quite a few domains that are brandable, albeit quite long in length. Within the set of search tools, you can filter out some domains, such as those with hyphens, numbers, and those with longer lengths.

6. Just Dropped – You need a membership to join the site, although it is free, can be a hassle if you need to find an expired or recently dropped domain quickly. In addition, the site doesn’t have the best organization and layout.

7. MakeWords – This is my favorite site for finding domains and getting ideas for new domains, as it has the cleanest and most organized layout. It might not have the most complete set of tools for organizing domains and finding them by link popularity, Page Rank, etc., but is ideal for people who want a domain within a certain length of characters and those starting or ending with a certain set of characters.

By signing in, you can save your domains, settings, and keywords.

8. Whois.net – Find deleted domains and search the WHOIS directory. This is one of the primary methods that people use to look up who they registered their domains with.

Related Posts:

1. Top-level Domains and Their Significance
2. Ten Reasons Why You Don’t Need Your Own Domain
3. Benefits of Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain

Take a look at the archives of many “top” blogs today and you’ll find that they started with only a few posts in the initial months, sometimes even abandoning the blog in the initial phase. Before you can reach any form of stardom with your blog, you have to define who you are and where you want to take the blog.

After you have started quite a number of blogs, the process of starting on more projects becomes easier, as you don’t necessarily have to deal with the hassles of discovering the direction that you want to go. It isn’t all about the direction you want to go, but where you believe your blog should be headed.

The low barrier-to-entry point for blogs makes it easier to create personal blogs and places that aren’t as “professional” as your main blog, which allows you to expand in the future. What separates successful and unsuccessful bloggers is the determination to succeed. While some will “pretend” to put in the time and effort, they may really just be trying to call themselves a blogger and join in the new “revolution” to be defined online.

I have talked about starting new blogs in the past, because that is where all blogs begin. Behind the scenes of the fastest growing blogs are dedicated people who, even in the most desperate of times churned out fresh content for their readers. They challenged themselves to avoid the urge to continue down the path of other bloggers, imitating the habits of others. Being unique and resisting the challenge will ultimately help your blog grow beyond its second month of existence.

Related Posts:

1. Determining Whether a Blog is the Right Place to Start
2. 5 Reasons to Never Start a Blog or Begin Social Networking
3. Looking Back at Your Blog in 2008

We classify social bookmarking sites by the way in which content is submitted and aggregated, making it easy for people to share links and resources with others. They have grown in popularity over the past few years, sparked by the rise in blogging.

I’ve used Compete and Yahoo’s Site Explorer for determining the traffic statistics and metrics. Alexa was used when there wasn’t accurate/complete data.

1. Digg

Monthly Unique Visitors: 38,787,952

Monthly Visits: 108,920,632

Worldwide Rank: 18

Inbound Links: 36,984,771

2. Yahoo! Buzz

Monthly Unique Visitors: 6,380,080

Monthly Visits: 9,960,280

Worldwide Rank: Unknown

Inbound Links: 1,457,587

3. Reddit

Monthly Unique Visitors: 5,213,590

Monthly Visits: 12,052,194

Worldwide Rank: 686

Inbound Links: 14,340,821

4. StumbleUpon

Monthly Unique Visitors: 4,839,308

Monthly Visits: 9,765,213

Worldwide Rank: 421

Inbound Links: 22,824,083

5. Technorati

Monthly Unique Visitors: 3,071,286

Monthly Visits: 5,181,176

Worldwide Rank: 535

Inbound Links: 10,801,230

6. Twine

Monthly Unique Visitors: 1,900,931

Monthly Visits: 2,359,457

Worldwide Rank: 14,276

Inbound Links: 524,385

7. Delicious

Monthly Unique Visitors: 1,897,437

Monthly Visits: 5,939,790

Worldwide Rank: 936

Inbound Links: 2,110,818

8. Newsvine

Monthly Unique Visitors: 1,516,075

Monthly Visits: 2,483,785

Worldwide Rank: 1,218

Inbound Links: 11,587,052

9. Mixx

Monthly Unique Visitors: 999,442

Monthly Visits: 1,612,900

Worldwide Rank: 1,936

Inbound Links: 215,987

10. Propeller

Monthly Unique Visitors: 579,770

Monthly Visits: 1,141,646

Worldwide Rank: 2,355

Inbound Links: 4,742,812

Conclusion

Sure, there are hundreds of other smaller, more focused sites on the Internet for sharing your favorite links and promoting your articles, but these sites combine to represent the largest population of members.

Note: I realize that there may be more sties in-between those listed above and possibly larger, but these are the sites that most bloggers focus on. Additionally, some analytics would be “off” what the actual figures are due to how they are measured.

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Please Note: I (and some other users) have been having problems downloading the plugin. While I was able to test it on another site, you have to use a unique code (which has the dark/light background setting and is unique for the site that you have used. Therefore, the generated images would have been displayed for the wrong site. More details about this are included in the review.

What the Plugin/Widget Does

Let’s say you want to increase the number of views of your previously posted content, but don’t want to have “related posts” per se, displayed on your blog. As you may know, visual content is often viewed more often and you see higher conversion rates when there is an image or graphic associated with it.  The plugin serves images from the images that you have placed in your content, based on the particular post that is being displayed.

Most plugins don’t really serve posts that are really similar, but more based on the tags that you used. So, some of your posts could be extremely recent, while more broad-reaching tags/categories may deliver less relevant “related” posts to your readers.

This plugin goes one step further by analyzing all your posts, not just the more recent ones. Much of the code and behind-the-scenes computations are held and served from their servers, so you will have to deal with downtime of images if they experience high load.

The Design and Implementation

To sign up and use the service, go to their site, insert your email (I don’t know why they need it, perhaps to update you for new versions or to prevent people from constantly downloading the plugin). Next, insert your blog link and platform, as well as whether you have a dark or light background, as the plugin either services light or dark text based on your design.

You will then be given a download link and instructions to insert the plugin/widget into your blog, depending on the platform that you have chosen.

After you have installed it according to the directions, go to your blog and you’ll find a number (usually three or four) of related posts under each individual post, as well as on the home page.

As per a comment on a ReadWriteWeb post, you can remove the related posts from the home page (WordPress only, I believe).

Find the code: if (!is_page()) { and change it to (is_single()) {. At this time, the entire area should appear as this:

function linkwithin_add_hook($content) {
if (is_single()) {

As previously stated, I had problems after the first blog I installed it on. I figure that it is due to how they manage the downloads and there was an error on their end. This is a drawback, as you won’t be able to use the plugin unless you install it from their site due to the unique code given to each blog.

All in all, the design is clean, displaying “You may also like these stories:” at the top, along with divided post images and titles. A link back to the site is placed below (and this is contained within the plugin editor, so it could possibly be removed – their terms don’t state that it has to remain intact). For most designs, it will fit in rather well, while others may find that they can implement their own version – this plugin just makes it extremely easy.

The Benefits

Beyond displaying recent posts for your readers, it can help improve the conversion rate if you are promoting products on your site, decreasing the bounce rate for most other blogs.

If you find that the traditional “related posts” plugin doesn’t do the job for you, this plugin is certainly worth trying out. It would likely be a more seamless process if you signed up for the service, but at this time, that isn’t an option.

No ads are displayed within the widget, but an “optional” setting may be available for people who want to “share revenue” in the future.

You can find the plugin at http://linkwithin.com.

Related Posts:

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A recent post on ToMuse by Kevin Eklund sums up some ways that the business model could be created, although I will be providing some of my own input into this, not necessarily based on the open-source community, but more around what people are looking for when they install a plugin.

Currently, the main ways that plugin developers and creators make money is through donations. With all forms of donations, they usually don’t amount to much, unless there are campaigns to help support the developer, and this rarely happens. Plugin authors usually see problems trying to continue support for their plugins, especially as new features are added to WordPress that make a continuance of the plugin not worthwhile.

Suggest ways that he writes about are: 1) premium plugins, 2) freemium plugins, 3) paid support, 4), ad supported, and 5) a combination model.

WordPress Isn’t Free

Even though a lot of work on WordPress is done through an open-source business model, the team must raise money to continue operation, and plugin developers are left out of this. Assuming that WordPress can generate more revenue, people who side with WordPress in the promotion of the service (more so WordPress.com, which is somewhat ad-supported) could see some return in their efforts. This model might not work properly, as it is quite difficult to track how many people sign up for either WordPress.com or download and use WordPress.org based on plugins that they like before trying them out.

Some would also say that support isn’t free for WordPress, either. In order to find out how to tweak some of the settings, you may have to consult with people more familiar with the service, who may charge for their work. Sure, there is an expansive database full of code that you can use, but if you are starting your first blog, it can be a struggle to begin to edit the ~5MB+ worth of code that comes with each WP installation.

Time, Usefulness, and Expenses

I will present the argument for premium/paid/ad-supported plugins for two groups of bloggers – those who receive compensation for their time and those who use WordPress.org for their personal blogs.

Personal Bloggers – When someone sets up a personal blog, they typically resort to the very basic plugins — anti-spam, related posts, Twitter/social integration for sharing, miscellaneous widgets, and possibly a contact/comment form plugin to extend the usefulness of these areas.

Unless they have some goals with the site, as in promoting themselves online, which only a few do (most use a personal site to promote side projects and books/products/other blogs), they don’t have much time and additional income to put into paying for additional items, let alone a premium plugin.

99% of the plugins out there can do what they want without added configuration. This is great if they want to use WordPress as a more powerful, yet still easy-to-use system for writing posts and managing their content.

Commercial Bloggers – These are the people who want a more complete solution, one that works for them as a custom solution. Especially true as you work up the website ladder, these people also have more time and can spend more income for solutions that have been adapted to suit their blog.

Many would rather spend $50 or more on premium themes, plugins, and services that allow them to save time and effort down the road, not having to use multiple plugins to perform one task.

For example, while there may be a few solutions to properly integrate forums into your blog, only a small percentage of them will work for people who want the complete, custom look. Others will require advanced editing before their members can even sign into the forum without going through complicated systems.

Why Monetary Support is Crucial

While there are paid plugins available that can perform similar functionality to the free counterparts, you “often” don’t see the same level of support and “free” customization that the paid developers are able to offer. In saying “often,” there are in fact cases where you see better support for free plugins, better compatibility and more advanced, back-end control of how the plugin works and is displayed.

In the future, due to the number of people switching to WordPress from Blogger and similar services, or who are starting a blog for the first time, the time expense may be too great for certain plugin developers to continue working on the plugins. This has been a growing trend, with multiple versions of the same plugin being created, but by different people, as well as transferring ownership of the rights to develop certain plugins.

Should WordPress begin hosting a more advanced, non-free plugin area to the site, they may find that people still want to use the free versions. Or, it could be the other way around. If anything happens, it might be independent developers who launch their own “stores” and collect revenue on the services that they provide around the plugins, in addition to a much smaller fee (say at increments of $1, $5, or $10) to use the plugins.

The freemium model surely does exist. Even Automattic has been known to use it. For people who make “more than $500 a month” form their blog, they are recommended to purchase an Akismet Commmercial Pro-Blogger API Key. Much of this goes into continued support for the plugins, including hosting costs and ensuring that a majority of spam is caught.

On the other hand, when you introduce more features into a plugin, you are siding with more professional bloggers who contact you about adding them into the plugin. They are features that the average user wouldn’t normally take advantage of, but because they have now been included, they may look at more in-depth.

Plugin authors could request that you sign up for an affiliated service, like hosting, before they decide to give you support. Now, this works to a degree, but will want to go this route, especially if they already have settled on a hosting account. At WordPress.org, they keep hosting offers on the side, but still within reach for people who may be interested in “supporting” the service. They likely make enough to support the hosting costs of serving plugins and themes, but not much more.

Similar to the affiliate offer, ad-supported models only work to some extent – most people do not click on ads unless they are really relevant, and how relevant can they be when they are integrated into the back-end of a website, where most people aren’t looking for special promotions and products.

In Conclusion

The premium plugins marketplace could one day happen, but some work still has to be done on making the experience buying premium themes better, with one place to find (non-affiliated) themes that are fully compatible with WordPress and conform to the ethics of WordPress.

Only time will tell what happens. I am, by no means, suggesting any clear way to approach this, as I don’t have the answers, nor am I actively involved in developing plugins. It would be nice to see a plan or marketplace come to fruition, combining the expertise and support of some of the top developers.

Related Posts:

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Quite similar to the set of features included in Flock, the social browser built upon Firefox, Yoono is still different as it gives you a wider set of features with an interface and makes it easier to perform common tasks with your social networking.

In a brief overview before we get into a more in-depth discussion:

• Stay connected with your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, AIM, and other networks/utilities all in one place.
• Update your status across all your services at once.
• Share links, images, and videos across all your networks.
• Real-time updates to ensure that you stay updated.

The process of installing the plugin is like every other. Simply click the link on the page to download it and then you’re ready to begin using the extension.

Although the plugin does reside in the sidebar, you shouldn’t have many problems with screen space, as you can collapse it fairly quickly, taking up only slightly more space than the usual browser.

Greater than the fact that you can instantly chat with others is the fact that it can help you discover new “stuff” such as videos, photos, and more throughout the web, helping suggest sites when you do web searches that others also enjoyed. Highlight words on the page, or simply bring up a website that you would like to find related sites and searches for. Click the magnifying glass in the sidebar, and web links, images, products, the Wikipedia page(s), and more will be displayed, great for people who want to explore more.

What’s more is that when you do find something you like, you can simply drag-and-drop images, video, and other forms of media into the area, connecting with others. It is important that you first sign into each of the services, to make them available when you to go share them with others. Otherwise, you will be limited in what you can do with the service/add-on.

Most reviews of the plugin state that it is the best social plugin available for the browser, which is a good thing, as there are quite a few available. The one thing that I didn’t notice for some time is a small text link in the bottom, which functions as an advertisement, but again, it took me some time before I even noticed it.

The plugin is compatible with most versions of Firefox, although the Internet Explorer version is still in “beta” at this point.

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