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GD Star Rating

Garen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:20:33 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- Rating blogs are now becoming popular lately. I think it is mainly because the owners know that ratings mean their users will get involved in their posts, as they will give rankings on their posted topics and share their views on it, whether it is a movie, a program, or any download that are reviewed on your site.

In case you plan on adding this feature on your blog, a recommended plugin to help you is GD Star Rating. It enables the user to choose from 8 different rating types and synchronizes all reviews accurately with comments, pages and posts. The ratings can be displayed as stars and posted as widgets for the top ratings and statistics. The rating system is highly customizable on the setting panel.

The different types of rating are as follows:

Article rating based on posts and pages voted by users
Article reviews
Comments rating – rating of each visitor’s comment by other visitors
Comments review rating – users vote a comment review
Multiple rating – can be a mixture of different features and elements
Multi ratings review – based on reviews and article rating per element
Article thumbs rating – based on thumbs up or down (like or not)
Comment thumbs rating – based on comment ratings by other users

GD Star Rating plugin also supports cache plugins for a faster loading of data. It also supports the new features in Google called Rich Snippets, a rating system that users can see when searching for a product or service. Widgets can be configured to work with GD Start Rating too to display average rating of blog posts or comment posts.

A custom GDSR button can automatically integrate and synchronize results in a page with other rating results, in real time. So it means all ratings are displayed as what they really are in the current time. One can also use templates for easy layout display of the ratings, as well as custom graphics to change the default stars and icons.

The plugin is also currently available on different languages such as English, Serbian, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, and much more. One can also integrate the rating system in the RSS feeds for a real time update to your subscribers. IP blocking and data importing/exporting is also a great feature of this plugin. It uses Ajax for dynamic loading and each IP data is saved whenever a user vote.

GDSR is also a great plugin that is consistently getting updates to improve performance, so you can expect more features coming in shortly.

Check out the GD Star Rating plugin here.

Tweet Blender – WordPress Plugin

Garen — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:27:08 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- A proven way to increase traffic to your sites is by effectively marketing your link through Twitter. That’s why you basically have to have a tweeting system linked to your blog, in case of WordPress, it usually comes as a plugin. One such thing is called the Tweet Blender, which doesn’t just provide tweeting service.

Tweet Blender provides a good tweeting service for those blogs with multiple authors. It can also be used to catch up tweets made with various lists, hashtags and keywords. It can be modified to show tweets from either a main author or even for a group of users, as well as tweets defined by a certain topic keyword or tag.

The latest version of Tweet Blender plugin can now show tweets defined by multiple criteria described above altogether in a single stream – whether it be multiple authors, multiple lists, multiple hashtags and multiple keywords. That’s why it becomes different amongst other plugins of the same kind.

Also, this version has a new widget that will also suggest relevant tweets to certain blog posts that will be posted as tags and keywords, and will still appear on Twitter search. This is pretty good for SEO, as appearing in Twitter search engines is still another added way of promoting.

The plugin is also localizable and is available on different languages and translation. Even non-English hashtags and words can be used to filter lists and tweets. Caching is also done for faster loading of former tweet searches and filters. Custom texts and custom names can also be added for unique display of tweet results.

There is also an option of bookmarking or keeping Favorites of tweets. Display of mentions can also be turned off, as well as users’ photos and display pictures. Automatic refreshing can also be configured depending on your preference.

Aside from the sidebar, one can also put the widget in posts and pages or both. Yes, it supports multi-widgets that can be displayed on different parts of the page. Tweets by private accounts can also be blended if authorized by the account owner. It also connects differently from Twitter API to its own server so that it can keep up with your tweets even if the main Twitter site is down.

This plugin apparently offers lots of features to begin with for that cool multi-user experience. It is essentially helpful for community blogs, so that they can all keep up with each other and relatively keep their networking to a higher level.

All in One Shortcodes – WordPress Plugin

Garen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:17:35 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- All in One Shortcodes plugin provides a lot of functionality for an easier WordPress experience. It lets you add an unlimited number of shortcodes for you to use to customize and control the contents of your WordPress site within matter of seconds. Imagine having 10 blogs that you have to put at least 10 posts and then modify each, utilizing shortcodes is totally a blessing.

If you have no idea what shortcodes are, shortcodes are basically special tags (usually enclosed in a bracket) you write on posts for a specific content. Once the post gets published, it is automatically loaded and transformed into that icon or button it represents. For example, you set up a tag or shortcode “[adsense]” for your Google AdSense string code. You no longer have to copy and paste the whole code to your sidebar or to your main template. You just have to type [adsense] and once the post gets published and updated, your Google AdSense ad will now appear. Definitely saves time and effort for repetitively creating that.

Now, All in One Shortcodes plugin lets you choose with over 90 built-in shortcodes having various sizes, colors, and icon mixtures. These shortcodes can be configured to represent any content such as:

Google maps

Google charts

Dark and light icon buttons

Social bookmark sharing for Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus

Slider gallery

Video integration via Youtube or Vimeo

Colored buttons and boxes of different shapes

jQuery powered tooltips and toggles

password protected boxes

Columns and tables

Quotes

Add custom URLs

With this functionality, you will no longer have to copy-paste, copy-paste, or copy-paste repetitively over pages or posts having the same formatting. It would be a hassle-free content updating if you get used to the shortcodes.

Apparently, shortcodes are already allowed by WordPress by default, however they still need to be coded to work. With this plugin, you will no longer have to manually create the codes, you just have to fill some data on the configuration page of the plugin. It’s that simple. Also, when you are in the process of doing the post or page, you don’t have to manually type the shortcode itself, you can just click the icons that will appear on the kitchen sink of the visual editor. Definitely a time-saver.

More functionality is equal to less time and effort to finish a task. With this All in One Shortcodes plugin, you will definitely have more time to focus on gaining and producing contents for your blogs rather than wasting time having to manually copy and paste long and complicated codes upon each set of post or page.

BackUp WordPress- Plugin

Garen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:34:01 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- They say nothing is completely sure in everything – not even in the world wide web. So if you’ve decided to build your life on doing a website, and got yourself in the WordPress platform, you have to make sure you get to back up your data once in a while.

However, with our busy schedule and thought-occupying worries, one might not be able to do this tiresome task regularly on a fixed schedule. Want someone (or something) to do it for you? Good thing we’ve got BackUpWordPress plugin to the rescue.

Basically, as it name implies, BackUpWordPress creates a backup of your WordPress data. What’s different is that you can schedule it at a given time, so it can regularly perform the backup process even if you are not around. It can even be configured to notify and send you the backup copy to your email address.Cool.

The backup process of the plugin has two modes, which are the Easy and Advanced Mode. The Easy mode allows you to specify only the backup directory, the schedule, and the email recipient settings of the performed backups. In Advanced Mode, however, you get to choose a lot of other options in terms of managing the backup process, including access to backup log, custom schedules, and backup presets.
The plugin also lets you download backups created manually to email to yourself in case you would want to ensure its safe delivery. The files are in .zip files for easier download and easier setup once you get them.

It is also super simple to use and requires no setup to begin. Just install the plugin and activate, and you can now start doing the configuration settings on the plugin page.

The plugin works even in blogs which are hosted on shared servers or low-memory packages. This does not require a huge bandwidth or space, as it uses mysqldump for faster backups and smaller file sizes. It even works on both Windows and Linux servers, and the backup process is highly customizable.

Support is also not a problem for this plugin, as it offers a good support system for downtimes, which rarely happen, so definitely it will not miss a schedule of backup of your WordPress data.

So if you haven’t installed this plugin yet, make sure you utilize this free service now. Though WordPress is a good CMS platform, it is not the most secured there is now and there will always be chances of it being hacked or configured differently. It’s either you take care of your blog contents now or regret it forever. Databases on your hosts will not be a good savior in case bigger problems come, so better do something now. Prevention is better than cure.

Check out the WordPress Backup plugin here.

AdSense Manager – Inside Look

Garen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:19:22 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- Having troubles getting your AdSense to work on your site? Then you should definitely try Adsense Manager, a plugin that could help you manage AdSense ads on your blog even if you are just a beginner.

If you happen to have tried adding Adsense, then definitely you will know how troublesome it is to configure HTML coding as well as ad positioning. This plugin now lets you do this without all the troubles.
But wait. Before starting, you must already have your own Google AdSense account. Creating one is fairly easy. You just have to go their website and sign up. But once registered, you will have to take note of your Google AdSense ID which will be noted after you have logged in for you, as we will need it for the whole system to work.

If you already have the account, you can skip the above step. Simply install the plugin, fill in your Google AdSense ID, and choose or create the ads right on the configuration page.

This means that this plugin connects to the Google AdSense API, and you don’t need to do the copy and pasting anymore. Once ads are created, you can now do the option to change colors, size, and layout of the ads to match your site theme. You can also configure the position of the ad to appear either as a widget on the sidebar, inline in posts, or to a separate part of the page. Just like how you do it in Google AdSense main configuration page, you also have the ability to pre-view what your site looks like when it gets published, what your text links are, and how big it is on the page.

Once everything is fixed and it is already according to your preference, codes will be generated by the plugin itself. In any case, all formatting will be done on the plugin page, and you can also specify from there where it can be put on the site. From there, there would be no need to do any more code editing, and you can simply set the ads to appear on your desired area.

The old AdSense Manager plugin is currently being tried to work with other advertisement programs, and it is being to change to be Advertising Manager plugin. In any case, AdSense Manager can still be installed with old WordPress versions, and will still work accordingly as it had been.

Check out the Adsense plugin here.

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What Is Google Documents?

Garen — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:46:17 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- If you are using Google.com as your home page, you will surely notice the menu listed above the big banner of Google. You can see there the words, web, images, maps, news, translate, and the word ‘more’. Now try clicking the word “more” and you will find one very helpful application – the Google documents.

Google documents or simply Google docs is a web-based application where you can do most of the work done in your own desktop office. You can create Word Files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel Spreadsheets, Drawing and Forms online. It’s much like having the utility to use Microsoft Office or Open Office without having to install any application. This is a free service from Google. However, Google Docs only has a saving capacity of 1GB.

Despite the size limit, Google docs have different services that will surely help you in doing your work. While utilizing the tools, it can even define a word that you typed in or even translate words to different language.

How secure are files saved in Google Docs? Apparently, files are first saved to your desktop and then automatically saved in Google’s server. This serves as the secured back-up system for your project to prevent loss of data. You won’t have to worry a thing about computer crashes or failure. Files can also be shared to any person you give access to within Google Docs so they can edit, give comments and view your work. You can even track down the person who edited your work. A built-in chat box is also available for you to have a discussion with those people you choose to share your file with. They can leave you comments, suggestions, and advices within the application which would be helpful for you in creating a better project. It is like you are doing a group project online, and not having to resend, edit, and resend files over and over again. Your project is conveniently accessible. Using any computer with internet, you can view and edit your files anytime and anywhere.

Multiple file extensions are compatible with Google Docs, and these include the most common file types that we are using. And the best thing about it is that you can convert it to a more suitable file extension for your computer. And in case you directly want to print or open your file, they can also be viewed in a web page format or a ready-to-print document.

So if you are asking, how can I use this application? It is as simple as A-B-C. First, you must have a Gmail account. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Google Chrome, Safari, and other modern web browsers are compatible with Google Docs. The next steps are type in docs.Google.com or follow the guide in the first paragraph. Lastly, login you Gmail ID and you can easily access the Google Docs. It has a user-friendly interface that anyone can access; even students can do their projects here as a group or as an individual.

If you are planning to have a very good document file, whether it is a Word document, PowerPoint presentation or Excel spreadsheet, you can try to use Google docs, a more convenient way of doing a project online. Security and privacy is not at stake. And the best thing of all – it’s free.

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Google Adwords Vs SEO?

Garen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:35:56 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- One important thing in running a business is money. Customers are the primary source of a company’s income. To have a bunch of potential customers, you should brainstorm in doing different marketing strategies. Nowadays, one effective marketplace is the WWW. Here, you can gain different potential customers, firstly by creating a website to represent your company. You can gain what we call traffic of viewers who could be interested in your service or product. However, even after creating a website, it is still a hard work to gain that needed traffic enough to boost your product’s sales. There goes the need for tools such as Google AdWords, as well as SEO.

Google Adwords is one tool provided by Google where you can market your product or services by placing a text ad on search result pages and other websites partnered with Google. If someone is searching something that is related in your type of business or your products and services, it will appear in the “sponsored links”. This is in a pay-per-click system, meaning that you will only pay in the time when someone clicks on your ad after a search is done or when it was seen in a partner site. You can decide where to place your ad, but it is depending on how much you bid. So if you bid higher for phrases or keyword, the more the browsing traffic and chance that your ad will be placed in the first pages of search results. You have the direct control in advertising here, as you can spend an allotted budget for your advertising daily. One benefit of using Google Adwords is that you can gain targeted potential buyers by their searches in Adwords rather than that traffic that is just browsing for information in Google search engines. The idea is this, you don’t need tons of visitors via browsing but you need those targeted buyers that are in need of services you sell.

SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” is the process of having more visibility in search results. SEO is the technique of having as many browsing traffic by optimizing your website using common keyword, trusted links, link quality, and site reputation, which will help gaining the top ranks by free and natural searches in search engines. However SEO is not free. If you want to get fast results, you may have to work your time, effort and money to obtain links to your website, as this is the easiest way to advance in the search pages. Having your site linked to various websites is like getting your website recommended in order to build up reputation and ranking. However, make sure you don’t get dummy links and sites linking to your website, as this can have a negative effect in your ranking. Quality links are classified by its original content and its trustworthiness. SEO’s target is to be in the first rank where most browsing traffic takes place, giving higher chances for more viewers, and thus more sales probability. However, given the millions of websites competing for the top rank, SEO is much more time consuming than Adwords.

Google Adwords and SEO techniques are both helpful in marketing your website and your product. Given the huge market in the WWW, both stay as the best strategies in town. So depending on your needs, you can utilize either or both of them.

Top 5 iPad Apps of 2011

Garen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:43:11 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- With the release of the iPad 2 and the succeeding models that followed its wake there is no wonder why people from around the globe immediately have taken an interest on what applications they can download for their personal reasons. I got a iPad the couple days so I figured I would make this post. An individual’s preference for anything that takes his fancy is the basis of why some iPad apps take precedence over others.

Every year there is a consistent record of impartiality towards apps that are promoted through movies and anything similar to such genres. It is no wonder that the Angry Birds games has been taken to the next level and with it, the popularity for such applications for iPad users.

Angry Birds
Angry Birds from the very first release was taking the iPad gamers experience into a whole new level. Right now Angry Birds HD (high definition) takes the lead when it comes to iPad users top 5 for 2011. This game is a runaway winner for its maker because young and old alike loves to play this game till the last level. This is a great game, believe me just check it out!

Pages
iPad 2 users are downloading “Pages”, a powerful word processing application. This allows you to do everything that its desktop counterpart can do. “Pages” is similar to Microsoft Word in terms of usage.

Apple has been kind enough to fortify Pages so that you can use its letter or business template. For people on the go it is a must to download this application on just anywhere. A downside to “Pages” is you need this application is impartial to Apple’s system. A good option for users would be to email the document to your desktop if in case you do not yet have the money to buy from Apple. The same thing applies when you are printing a document. You need to use an Apple supported printer.

Garage Band
Garage Band for iPad is third on the list. For people who want to play a guitar this is the best option ever since time immemorial. The possibilities are endless when you want to capture your musical thoughts into reality to give it life. There was a time when musicians and musically inclined individuals need to carry recorders and speakers around just to play a guitar. With the advent of the digital age the only smart option is to use a tablet and such kind of applications. This ipad app is just so cool!

Kindle
This app is probably the best I have ever seen. With the emerge of the Kindle a number of years it makes sense that if you have an iPad you should invest the money in buying this app. There are thousands if not millions of books available for your viewing pleasure. Unless you don’t read this app probably won’t do you any good.

Netflix
If you are movie buff like I am then you would have to be out of your mind to not own the Netflix app. You can now watch movies on your iPad to make those painful trips to the DMV not so painful. Better yet if you have kids and don’t have a TV in your car take your IPad with you install this app and entertain your kids so they will stop throwing their shoes out the window.

This is just a tip of the iceberg for a complete list of Ipad apps I would hope over to: http://www.bestipadappslist.com.

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CAPTCHA and Cutting down Spam on Your Site

Garen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:26:03 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- Are you irritated from never-ending messages to your e-mail account sent by someone you didn’t even know, or are you fed up with advertisement that seems to come up from nowhere to your website? Well, 100% of the people who have their own e-mail address and websites had once suffered or have still been suffering because of spam. Spam can be considered as unsolicited messages sent in your e-mail or unwanted commercial advertisements on your website. Spams are generated by bots, a computer system that randomly sends those useless messages or advertisements to your site.

There are different types of spam. The most common is the message spam in e-mails and the news group and forum spam wherein the spammers post the same comments all over again to different discussions. When you sign in to a suspicious or unsecured website like forums and news group, you give bot programs a chance to obtain your e-mail address and send spam messages. You have to be careful though, as even though some spam look harmless because of their nonsense nature, they are usually actually very harmful to your accounts and computer too.

Nowadays, different websites like Yahoo and Google are using CAPTCHA. It is a program that helps cut down spam on your website and e-mail. “Completely Automated Public Turing-test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”, is used to prevent bots from retrieving your e-mail upon the signing up process in a certain website. It works by giving a challenge to someone who wants to gain access by a simple CAPTCHA question or a challenge (might be a simple question or math problem) to ensure that it is generated by a person.

Have you noticed the rumbled letters and unusual words below the sign up or log in form in certain websites? Those are CAPTCHA questions that will ensure that the user who wants to gain access is a human and not a computer. Computers cannot decipher words and images that are distorted, only humans can do. Computer researches have already been working on audio CAPTCHA for visually-impaired persons.

There are tips to prevent spamming in your website. Use a different e-mail address instead of using your personal e-mail address in logging in or signing in an unsecured website. Avoid displaying your personal e-mail in your website. If you need to put an email for contact information in your website, make sure you create one as a webmaster or administrator. Never try buying products from spamming websites because they will just send you tons of e-mails after you buy. If you have a website, make sure you also utilize CAPTCHA or at least require e-mail addresses before letting visitors post their comments in your website. As a webmaster, you have the right to ban spammers within your website. Do not reply in any spam messages. And why not trying a spam-cutting application to remove spam in your website? Most CMS, such as WordPress, also have plugins such as Akismet to filter spam comments.

As we all know, the internet is a very public and dangerous place right now. Privacy can be breached at any time, so keep your online presence and websites protected by all means. Your website is your own home in the WWW, so keep it safe.

Akismet Wordpress Spam Plugin

Smart YouTube – WordPress Plugin

Garen — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:17:02 +0000

( The Best Web Hosting Service)- Don’t you just love attaching Youtube videos on your posts or RSS feeds? Videos are actually a big help for different blogs, as people tend to like watching more than reading stuffs. However, the problem with too much videos is that it uses a huge size of your bandwidth and resources, that’s why people drop it off already.

However, with the Smart Youtube plugin, this will no longer be a problem for bloggers and website owners. With this plugin, you can attach not just single videos from Youtube but also playlists in your posts, comments or RSS feeds. Size is not a problem with this plugin, as it is fairly small and integrates with your whole WordPress blog.

Even HD Youtube videos can be attached on posts and can be played back on full screen. It can also make the videos viewable on smartphones, such as the iPhone.

So what is different about Smart Youtube in the traditional Youtube video embedding? The answer lies in the codes. This plugin generates an xHTML code from the embedded video file, so it makes it fairly smaller and easier to load. It also surpasses many compliance issues and validation errors that are main problems with the default HTML code in Youtube.

Again, Youtube videos can be included in RSS feeds via this plugin. So, your subscribers won’t be left out on what you were talking about in the whole post, just because they cannot view the video in their RSS readers. They can even see preview screenshots of the video if their RSS reader does not support Youtube.

This plugin also creates a customizable look for your Youtube videos, such as colored borders to either match or complement your site layout and skin. Even size and position parameters can be fixed via the plugin configuration page.

The only problem with this plugin is that it is only exclusive to Youtube videos, and you have to use other closer plugins which support other video sharing sites like Vimeo if you want to embed videos from there. However, who knows, they might add this feature up the next time?

Overall, this plugin is a great tool for those who care much about videos. No problems with bandwidths, speeds, slowing down of sites, or anything else that could make your visitors leave. It is a lightweight plugin that can even be viewed on your iPhone and other mobile devices.

Check out the Smart YouTube plugin here.

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GD Star Rating

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