World Wide Web - Reviews

The New Challenge - PR 3 isn't enough

2010-02-28T10:26:00.001+08:00

So after getting PR 3 then next thing to do is to maintain the Page Rank or increase it. Most bloggers are stuck with PR 2-3 and I think that will also become my problem. Just recently I got a comment from EdZee telling me that we're on the same situation right now which is very true. But I think it will become more harder for me to increase my Page Rank because having a full time job takes a lot of my blogging time. I'm sure you can see that I posts more than 10 articles in 2009 and in 2010 I can barely rich 7 articles a month which is very bad if you want to increase your Page Rank.

My quest to get a higher Page Rank or at least maintain it starts today, I will work extra hard for this one because I believed that sooner I will achieved what I want.

Things to do:

Publish more articles or at least 10 a month.
Never forget what I did before to get PR 3
Find more blog/website directories and submit URL.
Build more backlinks.
Take experts advice and learn from them.
Build more traffic.

*If you have anything in mind to help me on this one please share it to us.

Button Effect for Text Links

2010-02-28T09:49:00.000+08:00

I just implement this technique on my blog, maybe some of you already have noticed that when you click a link in this blog it will give you an effect like you press it, just like pressing a real button or a "bump down". Actually I read this in Chris Coyier blog CSS-Tricks, and after reading I said why not implement this one?. I loved the effect maybe my blog readers will also loved this one and hopefully it can encourage more clicks ;-).

So to make this possible all you to do is to add this simple CSS codes:

a:active {

position:relative;

top:1px;

}

*Note a:active refers to all links in your blog, if you don't want to implement this in all of your link you can add class or id.
*If you don't know how to find CSS code please refer to my other tutorials.

How to get more Twitter Followers?

2010-02-27T21:10:00.003+08:00

Twitter is a great source of free traffic and most bloggers are eying for more twitter followers. So a lot of people are asking me on how did I get 500+ twitter followers. Actually getting 500+ twitter followers is so easy when you have a great blog posts, just look at the followers of most successful bloggers out there. I was actually surprise that some think that I have good numbers of twitter follower but compared to them I'm nothing.

Honestly I think 80% of my twitter followers doesn't really follow me because they really have interest in my tweets but rather that's what happen when you follow them first. If you follow people in twitter you will have a 70% chance of them following you back. And the thing is I do follow them manually and it takes some time but I don't care, because twitter can really helps drive traffic in my blog. If I'm not mistaken I think twitter will only allow you to follow 1,000 people in a single day that means you can gain 1,000 followers too in a single day if your going to use this technique.

But if you don't want any hassle adding people you can use this tool TweetAdder, It's so powerful but it will cost you some money.

Adding prettySociable - Professional Blogger Tutorial (Part 2)

2010-01-31T14:39:00.001+08:00

I was impressed when I first saw this jQuery plugin run in Mashable.com (but now I think Mashable is not using this anymore) and I never thought that I can implement this on my blogger a.k.a. blogspot blog until I read Divya Sai post on BloggerStop.net. prettySociable make sharing a lot more fun, by dragging and dropping objects. You can see this working in one of my blogs, click here. Try dragging some of the post images and you'll see icons where you can share the post. I'm sure this plugin can attract your readers to share your blog posts.

How to Add prettySociable on your Blog?

Before we start please backup your template first. We will follow Divya Sai instruction for this tutorial. STEP #1 Log in to Blogger, go to Layout -> Edit HTML -> Now find this code: </head>

And immediately BEFORE/ABOVE it, paste this code:

<link charset='utf-8' href='http://files.main.bloggerstop.net/uploads/3/0/2/5/3025338/prettysociable.css' media='screen' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
<script charset='utf-8' src='http://files.main.bloggerstop.net/uploads/3/0/2/5/3025338/jquery-1.3.2.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<script charset='utf-8' src='http://files.main.bloggerstop.net/uploads/3/0/2/5/3025338/jquery.prettysociable.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Now find this code in the template: </body>

And immediately ABOVE/BEFORE it, paste this code:

<script charset='utf-8' type='text/javascript'>
$.prettySociable();
</script>

Save The Template.

STEP #2

IMPORTANT: Now whenever you want to apply this hack to any of your images/hyperlinks (links), then add a rel="prettysociable" attribute to the "a" tag. (You can edit your previous posts to add this attribute to your images).

For example, a link (hyperlink) with this hack will look like this:

<a href="http://www-reviews.blogspot.com" rel="prettysociable">Link To Google</a>

and a linked image with this hack will look like this:

Special Thanks to Divya Sai and No-Margin-For-Errors

How to Increase Blog Loading Speed

2010-01-30T13:15:00.000+08:00

Well since the issue of Page Speed becoming a PR factor started, I have been keeping an eye on my blog's loading speed. I think my blog's just load on a average speed, not so slow and not so fast, so I'm still doing some stuff to try to make it load more faster. PR is still a PR that is very important in the Blogosphere, so doing this might benefit your blog's Page Ranking in the near future and most importantly it will benefit your visitors and readers.

I know some bloggers who doubted Google's Page Ranking System because of the fact that other blog's has higher PR than they have, "Pathetic!" take this blog for example, when I found out that Google granted this blog a PR3 in just 3 months, I post it right away in a forum and I receive lots of replies. Some congratulates while some questioned Google Page Ranking System. If they think they know how to rank a website/blog or if they think they can do a better Page Ranking System, why don't they create their very own search engine?. ^-^

How to Increase Blog Loading Speed?

Do not display too many blog post on your Home Page.
Reduce Image size.
Remove unnecessary Third Party Script.
Do not display too many Ads.
Use Google Webmaster Tools Page Speed.

Conclusion

It's not just the 5 listed above are the things you need to do in order for your blog to load faster. Using Google Webmaster Tools Page Speed will give you the list of everything you need to do to increase your website/blog loading speed. If your using blogger a.k.a. blogspot as a blogging tool you might find numbers 1-4 very helpful.

Will Page Speed become A PR Factor?

2010-01-17T20:03:00.000+08:00

Recently I got an email from webpronews about Google might consider page speed a ranking factor in 2010. We all know how Google wants to make the web faster for all of us and it's a great idea to reward those websites or blogs that optimized their page loading time. Who wouldn't want that to happen? It would benefit both the visitors/readers and webmasters/bloggers. For me it's another ball game that I would like to pay attention and play. A video from webpronews, reporter Mike Mcdonald interviewed Google's Matt Cutt's regarding the issue.

Unusual Way to Get Free Blog Traffic

2010-01-09T17:20:00.004+08:00

An idea pop-up into my mind just a month ago on how I can get a free blog traffic, I kinda think that it's unusual because I have read a lot of articles on how to get free traffic but I never saw this one. So put it to a test to see if it's going to work. Since it requires effort and time, I allotted most of my time to get this job done. And after a few weeks I was surprised with the result of it because it's a major success for me.

What I really did was to go to computer rental shop, rent a computer for 30 minutes and change the internet browsers option and put my blog's URL in the starting page or homepage of the browsers, so whenever a new user will open the internet browser it will automatically go to my blog's URL. Now I really don't it's illegal specially here in my country so no need to worry. After I successfully done that I'll talk to the computer shop manager and ask him/her if I can transfer to another PC for some reason, then I'll do my dirty job again and again.

After I'm done with one computer rental shop, I'll go to my another computer rental shop target and do it again and again and again. As I remember I visited 8 computer rental shop with 10-20 PC's and I infected almost 80% of PC's. My dirty work doesn't stop there, even my friends and relatives didn't saw this one coming. No, I'm just kidding I actually have their consent before I do it. It's only a little favor so most of the time they will let you do it.

The not so good thing about this is anytime the computer shop manager or any users can also modify the internet browser setting and you can't do anything about it. Just hope for the best to happen.

To do this in Mozilla Firefox browser, click Tools -> Options -> Main -> put your URL in the homepage -> click OK. These steps is almost applicable with all internet browsers but not as exactly as in Mozilla Firefox.

A Real Drop Shadow Effect for Images

2010-01-05T21:50:00.001+08:00

Last year I posted a tutorial on how to add borders in your post images which kinda gives a drop shadow effect. I used that technique before but now I'm using the real deal. As you can see, my images have a real drop shadow effect. Adding this effect plus your blog's cool design can attract potential readers. It's the new CSS3 feature

The only problem with this is that not all browsers support it, like Internet Explorer 6,7,8 and Opera. Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari as far as I know supports the drop shadow effect.

How to add Drop Shadow effect?

To do this first log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Under the Edit Template Box, Find .post img this class refers to all images in all your post.

Next is to add this code:

-moz-box-shadow: #222 4px 4px 10px; /*For Mozilla Firefox*/
-webkit-box-shadow: #222 4px 4px 10px; /*For Safari and Chrome*/

Then click Save Template and your done. You can change the padding and the color of the shadow as you want.

Page Rank 3 for 3 short months

2010-01-02T14:47:00.003+08:00

What way to start off year 2010 with a PR "PageRank" 3. Yeah, you heard me right PR3. I was so surprised when I found out that my blog has a PR of 3 this early, I really thought that it would take me years to have at least PR of 2. I never knew that having a PR of 3 can be attainable within 3 short months.

Some may have a doubt or disbelief, others even questioned Google's Page Ranking System but I don't blame those people. I believe that only few people had done something like this. I'm just lucky enough to be one of them.

I know and I still consider myself a beginner or a newbie who enters the Blogosphere empty handed, and has a whole lot more to learn. So I don't stop studying, researching, reading and heeding other bloggers advice. From that I consolidate and apply it all and as a result I got a PR3.

I will share all things that I've done internally and externally to my blog and hopefully it will also work for other blogs.

Internally

Apply the basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Apply SEO for Blogger a.k.a. Blogspot
Don't become a Dumb Ass Blogger
Use dofollow and nofollow wisely.
Know other factors can affect your Page Rank.
Optimize Images by minimizing the size and by using alternative text.

Externally

Apply basic Internet Marketing Tips
Know which Directory to submit
Build a High Quality Backlinks
Promote your Blog's URL the right way, avoid Black hat Techniques.
Avoid Spamdexing

Conclusion

I can proudly say that after all the hard work I've done, I finally got what I wanted but it doesn't mean that I will stop from this point, it means that I will seek and strive for more.

How to Submit URL to Baidu.com

2009-12-30T11:14:00.003+08:00

Finally, I submitted my blog's URL to Baidu.com with the help of Google Translate. By the way Baidu.com is the leading Chinese search engine for websites, audio files, and images with a Page Rank of 9 and Alexa Rank 8. Baidu provides an index of over 740 million web pages, 80 million images, and 10 million multimedia files. Since we all know that China has a massive amount of population, It's definitely a good idea to submit your blog's URL to Baidu.com. Although we all know that most of the Chinese are not good in English.

Recently I've watch discovery channel and the episode is all about the Chinese people trying to learn English language as part of their preparation for Beijing 2008 Olympics. This is another good reason why we should submit our English blog to Baidu.com. It's another indication that Chinese are now engage with English language.

How to Submit URL to Baidu.com

Submitting to Baidu.com is a very easy thing to do it's almost the same steps when I submitted to Google, Bing and Yahoo, it only takes 3 short step to submit your URL. First click Submit URL to Baidu.com, Enter your URL and type the verification code. Last, is to click the submit button next to verification code.

After a successful submission you should see this Chinese characters 提交成功！感谢您对百度的关注和支持！, meaning Submitted to the success! Thank you for your attention and support Baidu! I'm not quite sure about the grammar but this is what Google translate outputted. Make sure you know how to add Blog Language Translator

Adding Blog Language Translator

2009-12-24T19:27:00.004+08:00

Before proceeding to the tutorial make sure you know the benefit of blog language translator.

I've known Google Translate for a long time, I used it when I took up my Nihongo and Spanish class back in my college days. I find it very helpful specially for my projects. The translation is pretty accurate but it's not perfect, it still has some glitch. What I liked about Google Translate is that it supports all languages and you can translate sentence by sentence not words by words which useful for students.

Anyway, I decided to make Google Translate as my blog language translator because of the things I've mentioned above. Fortunately for me Adding Google Translate is a pretty easy job. It took me 15 seconds to make the job done.

First thing to do visit Google Translate and then click Tools and Resources and follow the 3 steps:

Select the language of your Blog or Website
Select translation language (Select all language or choose specific language).
Copy the code.

Next is to log in to your account -> Layout -> Page Elements -> Add a Gadget -> HTML/Javascript -> then paste the code and your done. I also found out the Unofficial Google Translator Blog for more language translator widget. After you have a Language translator your ready to submit your Blog's URL to Baidu.com

Benefits of Blog Language Translator

2009-12-23T16:08:00.007+08:00

Having a language translator on your blog can help you increase the numbers of your readers. It gives your readers the ability to translate the language of your blog to their preferred language. As we all know, There are still people who doesn't understand English language. This can be a great idea for your internet marketing campaign. It's like taking it to the next level because your targeting the entire world with a blog translator and that is what we want.

Last night I checked out my Google Analytics and found out that most of my visitors except for my country came from US, India, Canada, Indonesia and UK. So no doubt that they can understand English blogs like this blog.

I know the fact that people will not going to waste their time find a way to help them understand a blog that they can't understand. It happens to me, whenever I get to visit other blog that I can't understand I close it right away. A great way to deal with this problem is to spoon feed them, and what I mean by that is to show your visitors right away that you have a language translator. Or another way is to make another blog that has same content but using different language which I think most bloggers wouldn't bother to do. A good example of this is Google search engine. (Google.ph for Philippines, Google.cn for China and Google.co.in for India)

Conclusion

So far for me I didn't get that traffic much because I'm only taking the first step, and I implemented my blog language translator just 4 days ago but the good news is I got more countries to visit my blog. 63 countries is not bad at all. Check out the tutorial on how to add language translator in your blog and how to submit URL to Baidu.com.

Adding Marquee tag

2009-12-22T20:20:00.009+08:00

Marquee tag "<marquee>" is used to make a moving text, image, links and etc. Usually you can see this in the news section of other websites. In my this blog I used this in my featured articles as you can see. The use of marquee tag "<marquee>" can be either good or bad to blog and your design, so I suggest use this tag properly.

Why do I use marquee tag?

Since marquee tag can make something move, it is easier for your readers to notice it and with a proper design it can surely add spice to your blog.

How do I use marquee tag?

Just like the ordinary HTML tag you need to close marquee tag. <marquee>YOUR TEXT HERE</marquee>

Some important marquee tag attribute to use

You can use any or all attributes simultaneously

Behavior - values ("scroll", "slide", "alternate")
Direction - values ("left", "right", "up", "down")
Scrollamount - values (Numbers # "1" being the slowest)
Scrolldelay - values (Number between 100 and 1000) quite similar to Scrollamount

Examples:

Remember to use this tag properly. If you have any question hit the comment.

Penalized Web Directories by Google

2009-12-22T15:26:00.002+08:00

I know how important web or blog directories are when we talk about internet marketing, it can provide a good quality backlinks. I was googling last night trying to find more blog directories and I end up with seomoz.org article what make a good web directory and why google penalized dozens of bad ones. I find out many web directories that has been penalized by google.

As a result all of these directories no longer rank for their trade mark names, Rand Fishkin (who condones link buying) does not like directories so he has been complaining to his buddy Matt Cutts and Matt has gone out and manually penalized a large number of the leading directories.

Good thing I didn't submit my URL to any one of penalized directories. We should be all aware of this things specially when your trying to build site's reputation.

Here are the complete list of the penalized directories:
Source: seomoz.org

AvivaDirectory.com
AliveDirectory.com
Haabaa.com
DirectoryDump.com
BigWebLinks.com
ElegantDirectory.com
eWebPages.org
LinkBook.org
Trincas.org
CBravo.com
CDHNow.com
FreeWebIndex.com
Mingleon.com
PremiumDir.com
Submission4u.com
Aerospect.com
Bakie.com
LinkForever.net
LinksArena.com
LinksFactory.net
LinksHolder.com
WebVerve.com
Wezp.com
BestInternetResource.info
DirSpace.com
Eonte.com
Frogengine.com
LinkLister.co.uk
LinkVerve.com
LivelyDirectory.com
Submitdotcom.com

How to Submit Sitemap to Ask.com via Ping

2009-12-21T12:31:00.003+08:00

Ask is one of the top search engine that is used today. Founded as Ask Jeeves in 1996 and renamed Ask.com in February 2005, Ask.com is recognized for innovation in search technology and search interface design. Most of its users comes from USA so I decided to submit my blog's URL to Ask.com but I found it a little bit hard because in order for Ask.com to crawl your page you have to submit the sitemap file directly to Ask.com via the ping URL. However sitemap submissions do not guarantee the indexing of URLs. It's better to try though.

Ask.com supports the open-format Sitemaps protocol. To learn more about the protocol, please visit the Sitemaps web site at http://www.sitemaps.org. The sitemap your going to submit should be an xml file: http://www.YOUR_SITEMAP_URL.xml

How do I make a .xml sitemap?

Since I'm using blogger a.k.a. blogspot the problem that I encountered was "How to generate blogger a.k.a. blogspot sitemap?". I never use anything to generate my blog's sitemap since I can't upload any file in the root directory of my blog. In order to make my sitemap, well I did not actually make it I used my atom feed as my sitemap. Because Ask.com requires a sitemap that is xml file. Every blogger a.k.a. blogspot blog has an atom feed and it is an xml file, To view it type http://YOUR_BLOG's_URL/atom.xml In my this blog it's http://www-reviews.blogspot.com/atom.xml

How do I submit the sitemap via ping?

Next thing to do is to submit the sitemap via ping to Ask.com. To do this simply copy this URL http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http://YOUR_BLOG's_URL/atom.xml
In my this blog it's http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http://www-reviews.blospot.com/atom.xml After a success submission you should see this image below.

What We Dont Know about Blogroll

2009-12-20T19:13:00.004+08:00

Blogroll is a list of blogs, usually you put links of your friends blog or other blogs that you recommend for your readers. It becomes essential to all blogs out there and can become an important asset. We all know how valuable incoming links is, also known as backlinks. Search engines use this to determine how valuable your blog is.

Sometime bloggers use their blogroll to exchange links to other blogger. It's a good way to get extra traffic and build page rank. But take note that blogroll can either help you or hurt you. Matt Cutts explains why?

Conclusion

This is the time when we have to think and make a good decision before putting someone else links. It's your page rank that is in risk here. Try weighing what to "Do Follow" and "No Follow".

Do Follow can Increase your Post Comments

2009-12-19T19:09:00.001+08:00

A good proof that a blog produces a great content and a good traffic is by looking how many comments blog has per post. If your getting a minimum of 10-20 comments per posts then that means a lot of readers are attached to your great articles. But if your getting a maximum of 3 comments or nothing at all, this might leave an impression to your other visitors that your posts has non sense or not helpful at all.

A blog posts comment form is made for readers and writers to interact but you won't get all the comment you want especially when "nofollow" anchor tag attribute is applied in your comment form.

The reason why most comment form has a "nofollow" anchor tag attribute is because of spam comments, Spammers take advantage of this to build page rank in search enginges. A great way to discourage spammers to stop spamming your comment forms is by adding a "nofollow" anchor tag attribute. For more information about this I've made a post of techniques on how to get rid of spam comments.

You have to think that other bloggers also tried to improve their page rank too and one way to do that is to spread their links by commenting to other blog posts. For new blogs it's best when "dofollow" is your choice since your starting to build your blog's reputation this might attract your readers to comment on your posts.

Adding Borders to your Images

2009-12-16T16:06:00.001+08:00

A great way to spice up your images is to add borders in it with the use of CSS. You can use borders to make different effects like drop shadow and framed effect. This can help you bring life to your blogs. Here in my blog I used drop shadow border effect to the images in my posts to make it look floating and that is what I'm going to show you..

To do this first log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Under the Edit Template Box, Find .post img this class refers to all images in all your post.

Next is to add this code:

border-right: 2px solid #ccc; /*#ccc = color "gray"*/

border-bottom: 2px solid #ccc; /*#ccc = color "gray"*/

padding: 5px;

background: #fff;

Then click Save Template and were done! Check all your posts images to make sure it's working. If you have any idea or suggestions please feel free to share it here.

How do you get motivated writing blog post?

2009-12-16T00:16:00.001+08:00

As a blogger I can honestly say that sometimes writing post can be hard especially when your mind is completely burned-out or mentally exhausted. Normally I can post 2-5 quality articles per day but when I'm experiencing burnouts It can take me 3-5 days just to write one. Studies said that if your frequently experiencing burn-outs you might eventually diminished your interests or completely lose it. I would never want that to happen to me, blogging is my life so every time I want to write I'll make sure that I'm well motivated.

I know some bloggers turns their back to blogosphere for the same reason while some have their own. Before, I thought when you fall in love doing something you can't get enough of it. I maybe wrong but I can prove that I am right too.

What's my motivation?

I read other people blog posts - I always told myself that if others can do it, I can also do it. Be optimistic.
I read successful blogging stories - This is related to No.1 and my ultimate goal.
I interact with readers - It's the best way to get motivated because of the feedback's your getting. It might not be always positive but most importantly you'll know what readers think of your posts.
I help others - Most of the time I get an e-mail asking me how did I do things in my blog, This gives me boosts of self motivation to write more and help them.
I ask others help - I don't hesitate to ask other bloggers questions through forums, twitter or personal e-mails. I get motivated to all the suggestions and answers I get.
I interact with pro-bloggers - "If you want to be the man, you got to beat the man" In my case it's better to learn from them because they know more than I know and hopefully become the man. Related to No.5
I ask friends and family members comments - This is the most honest comments I can ever get and most of the time I get encouragement from them.
I track my blog's traffic - It's a good way to get motivated, I know how many people have interest in reading my blog everyday. (includes: RSS subscriber, Twitter and Google followers, and etc. )
I track my blog's earnings - I couldn't deny the fact that high compensation is also great way to get motivated.
I pray every night - Prayer gives a lot of motivation to me mentally and spiritually.

Conclusion

My motivations has no guarantees that it can motivate you as well. We have are own way to get motivated in doing things we loved. I just hope that some of these can help you get motivated in writing your blog post. If you have a different motivation I invite you to share it by commenting below so everyone can see it.

Useful Mozilla Firefox Add-ons That I Use

2009-12-11T19:18:00.006+08:00

Mozilla Firefox is the best Internet browser as far as I'm concern. I'm sure a lot of web developer, web designer, webmaster, blogger or just an ordinary web surfers will agree to me. I find it more secure, more fun to use and lots of free helpful add-ons to download. But I also use Chrome for other reason.

As a blogger there are certain tools that I need to use every time I surf the web, So I often check out the Add-ons for firefox to see if I'll find some tools that I can use. Luckily they never let me down, with millions of add-ons available I'm sure you can find what you need too. Check out my Add-ons Extensions.

App Tab

I use this to pin site that I always visit. So I can always see it and I can't accidentally close it. It looks cool too.
App Tab for Firefox

Firebug

A great tool specially for web developer and designers. I also use this to analyze the page speed in my google webmaster tools.
Firebug for Firefox

Fission

I like this extension, It puts the status bar to address bar. Just like safari, you can also change the color or use your own image as the progress bar.
Fission for Firefox

Greasemonkey

I use this for playing online games. it allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using scripts.
Greasemonkey for Firefox

Page Speed

This is the new feature lab of google webmaster tools, Page Speed evaluate the performance of their web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them. Requires: Firebug
Download it on Google Webmaster Tools

SearchStatus

This is my all time favorite. It displays Google PageRank, Alexa rank, Compete ranking and mozRank in your browser along with fast keyword density analyser, keyword/nofollow highlighting, backward/related links, Alexa info and more.
SearchStatus for Firefox

StrataBuddy

I add this just to make my firefox look more slick. It mockups Strata40.
StrataBuddy for Firefox

There are lots of add-ons that Mozilla firefox offers, the best thing about it is it's free and easy to use. I'm sure Mozilla firefox has the right add-ons for you. To check out all the available add-ons visit Add-ons for Mozilla Firefox

Alexa Review

2009-12-09T18:33:00.005+08:00

Before I start blogging I never know how important Alexa can be for my blog. I heard a lot of pros and cons so I think to myself that Alexa has glitched in their system that's why I didn't care about Alexa before but that was my problem I let other people judgment control my mind. Right now as you can see I even put a widget displaying my Alexa rank and links. So let's get deeper with Alexa.

History of Alexa

Source: Alexa
Founded in April 1996, Alexa Internet grew out of a vision of Web navigation that is intelligent and constantly improving with the participation of its users. Along the way Alexa has developed an installed based of millions of toolbars, one of the largest Web crawls and an infrastructure to process and serve massive amounts of data.

What is Alexa?

Alexa.com is U.S.-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and website. Alexa is a website which provides data of the traffic level for website.

Alexa Toolbar

Source: Alexa

Alexa could not exist without the participation of the Alexa Toolbar community. Each member of the community, in addition to getting a useful tool, is giving back. Simply by using the toolbar each member contributes valuable information about the web, how it is used, what is important and what is not. This information is returned to the community as Related Links, Traffic Rankings and more.

What is Traffic Rank?

Source: Alexa
The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources, and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). As a first step, Alexa computes the reach and number of page views for all sites on the Web on a daily basis.

The main Alexa traffic rank is based on a value derived from these two quantities averaged over time (so that the rank of a site reflects both the number of users who visit that site as well as the number of pages on the site viewed by those users). The three-month change is determined by comparing the site's current rank with its rank from three months ago. For example, on July 1, the three-month change would show the difference between the rank based on traffic during the first quarter of the year and the rank based on traffic during the second quarter.

Alexa High Rank

Having a high rank in Alexa is definitely a great way to attract potential advertisers. Imagine if you ranked number 1 out of millions and millions of websites and blogs all over the world. Advertisers and some Ad networks use Alexa rank to determine the value of advertising to you website or blog. So whether you want to attract potential advertisers or to add more prices on your ads space make sure to have a high rank in Alexa.

Conclusion

I know I have a long way to go and right now my target is to get in the top 100,000. For me Alexa is very helpful to a lot bloggers and webmasters.

SEO for Blogger - Part 5: Use Proper Link Name

2009-12-07T18:43:00.007+08:00

When creating links try using proper link names because it is very SEO friendly. Instead of using generic links like "Read more", "Click Here" and "View Demo" try to put some relevant text information to your links "Read more about Blogging", "Click Here to see blog design" and "View blog design demo". This simple things can make a better SEO to your blog.

For your blog posts this is very easy task to do you can simply modify the text in your editor but notice when you insert jump break to your posts it will automatically put "Read More >>" link under your posts when you start to published it. To deal with this we can add the title of your post after, "Read More >> + Your_Post_Title" or we can totally change the "Read More >>" to "Your_desired_text + Your_Post_Title". It's always better to include your post title for jump breaks and that is what I'm going to show you.

First log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Check Expand Widget Templates -> Under the Edit Template Box, Find this code <data:post.jumpText/>

<data:post.jumpText/> = "Read More >>"

After <data:post.jumpText/> put this code <data:post.title/>

Click Save Template and your done.

The result should look something like this.

You can delete <data:post.jumpText/> and change to what ever text you want. For example "Read full Article". If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to comment it.

Adding Sidebar Tabs - Professional Blogger Tutorial (Part 1)

2009-12-05T14:36:00.003+08:00

Recently, I realized that my sidebar is so populated. I have so many useful widget in my sidebar that cause it to extend so long. One solution to this is to add tabs in my sidebar that has at least 3 sections. Good thing that one of the blogs that I followed which is Soh Tanaka's blog did make a tutorial on how to make a simple tabs with CSS and jQuery. View Tabs demo. This is easy to put on blogger a.k.a. blogspot because you have full access on the blog's code. You can see the tabs on my sidebar after editing some CSS codes to suite my blog's design. Since all the codes are provided in Soh Tanaka's Blog, I will teach you how to put it in your blogger a.k.a. blogspot blog. The good thing about this tutorial is you don't have to use external file storage. All the codes are directly inputted on your blogger's HTML code.

To do this first log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Under the Edit Template Box and Paste this code <script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/> under <head> tag. This code will enable you to use jQuery.

Next is to paste this jQuery code:

$(document).ready(function() {

$(".tab_content").hide(); //Hide all content

$("ul.tabs li:first").addClass("active").show(); //Activate first tab

$(".tab_content:first").show(); //Show first tab content

//On Click Event

$("ul.tabs li").click(function() {

$("ul.tabs li").removeClass("active"); //Remove any "active" class

$(this).addClass("active"); //Add "active" class to selected tab

$(".tab_content").hide(); //Hide all tab content

var activeTab = $(this).find("a").attr("href"); //Find the href attribute value to identify the active tab + content

$(activeTab).fadeIn(); //Fade in the active ID content

return false;

});

Under <script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Next is to add the CSS code. Paste this code:

ul.tabs {

margin: 0;

padding: 0;

float: left;

list-style: none;

height: 32px; /*--Set height of tabs--*/

border-bottom: 1px solid #999;

border-left: 1px solid #999;

width: 100%;

}

ul.tabs li {

float: left;

margin: 0;

padding: 0;

height: 31px; /*--Subtract 1px from the height of the unordered list--*/

line-height: 31px; /*--Vertically aligns the text within the tab--*/

border: 1px solid #999;

border-left: none;

margin-bottom: -1px; /*--Pull the list item down 1px--*/

overflow: hidden;

position: relative;

background: #e0e0e0;

}

ul.tabs li a {

text-decoration: none;

color: #000;

display: block;

font-size: 1.2em;

padding: 0 20px;

border: 1px solid #fff; /*--Gives the bevel look with a 1px white border inside the list item--*/

outline: none;

}

ul.tabs li a:hover {

background: #ccc;

}

html ul.tabs li.active, html ul.tabs li.active a:hover { /*--Makes sure that the active tab does not listen to the hover properties--*/

background: #fff;

border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; /*--Makes the active tab look like it's connected with its content--*/

}

.tab_container {

border: 1px solid #999;

border-top: none;

overflow: hidden;

clear: both;

float: left; width: 100%;

background: #fff;

}

.tab_content {

padding: 20px;

font-size: 1.2em;

}

Above ]]></b:skin>
If you wish to modify the CSS or jQuery, you can do so at your own risk.

Now we're done with the CSS and jQuery code. Next is to go to Page Elements under Layout tab -> Add a Gadget on your sidebar -> Select HTML/JavaScript and paste this code:

</ul>

</div>

</div>

</div>

Click Save and your done. You can change the tabs name and the tabs content anytime. All the credits to Soh Tanaka. If you have any questions just comment it here.

Please note that you can add or remove tabs as you want.

SEO for Blogger - Part 4: Getting Rid of Spam Comments

2009-12-02T22:08:00.011+08:00

Spam comments are usually ignored by some bloggers not knowing the harmful effect of it. Before, I have no idea what spam comment was but as I explore the blogosphere and the search engine world I have now a better understanding of it. After knowing what spam comments are I realize that I've done it so many times and sooner or later it will hunt me back. You might done the same thing, When you post a comment on someone's blog posts you also leave a link to your blog.

The reasons that I've done it before are:

I don't know what spam comment is.
I have no idea it is consider a spam.
I want to build an external links.

What is Spam Comment?

As defined by wikipedia: Spam in blogs is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs or other publicly accessible online discussion boards. Adding links that point to the spammer's web site artificially increases the site's search engine ranking. An increased ranking often results in the spammer's commercial site being listed ahead of other sites for certain searches, increasing the number of potential visitors and paying customers.

Hard fact about Spam Comment

Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog
FACT: Abusing comment fields of innocent sites is a bad and risky way of getting links to your site. If you choose to do so, you are tarnishing other people's hard work and lowering the quality of the web, transforming a potentially good resource of additional information into a list of nonsense keywords.

FACT: Comment spammers are often trying to improve their site's organic search ranking by creating dubious inbound links to their site. Google has an understanding of the link graph of the web, and has algorithmic ways of discovering those alterations and tackling them. At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good at devaluing these types of links. Think of all the more productive things one could do with that time and energy that would provide much more value for one's site in the long run.

FACT: Having original and useful content and making your site search engine friendly is the best strategy for better ranking. With an appealing site, you'll be recognized by the web community as a reliable source and links to your site will build naturally.

What are Google thoughts on blog commenting? Obviously spammers out there are using this technique to build links. What is google doing to combat this?

What can I do to avoid spam on my blog?

Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog
Comments can be a really good source of information and an efficient way of engaging a site's users in discussions. This valuable content should not be replaced by gibberish nonsense keywords and links. For this reason there are many ways of securing your application and disincentivizing spammers.

Disallow anonymous posting.
Use CAPTCHAs and other methods to prevent automated comment spamming.
Turn on comment moderation.
Use the "nofollow" attribute for links in the comment field.
Disallow hyperlinks in comments. *For now this is not possible for blogger a.k.a. blogspot
Block comment pages using robots.txt or meta tags. *For now this is not possible for blogger a.k.a. blogspot

How do you do this on Blogger a.k.a. Blogspot?

For numbers 1,2,3 you can do this by logging in to your account then click -> Settings -> Comments -> change Who Can Comment?, Comment moderation to your desired choices and Show word verification for comments? to yes. For number 4 you can do this by adding rel='nofollow' attribute to your anchor tags "<a>" Example: <a href="http://www-reviews.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">WWW-Reviews</a> Another important thing is to add rel="nofollow" to your comment author link

To do this first log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Check Expand Widget Templates -> Under the Edit Template Box, Search for <a expr:name='data:comment.anchorName'/> and add rel='nofollow'. The code should look like this <a expr:name='data:comment.anchorName' rel='nofollow'/> Then click Save Template and your all good.

Does your blog already have spam comments?

I suggest that you start deleting those comments as early as possible. Invest time to get rid of unwanted comments before it hunts you back.

If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to comment it.

SEO for Blogger - Part 3: Interlink Blog Posts

2009-12-02T02:26:00.006+08:00

Interlinking your blog posts is one of the best way to keep your visitor in your blog because it provide more opportunities for visitors to find content of interest. Again this is a great SEO tactic. Interlinking your blog is a very easy thing to do. You just need to put anchor tag "<a>" within the word/s or phrases that will go to other page when visitor clicks it. <a href="Your_URL"> Your_Word/s </a>

Example: <a href="http://www.google.com"> Go to Google </a>

Another way to Interlink blog post is by putting RELATED POST under all your posts. This is common among blogs because it helps both visitors and bloggers as I mention above. Blogger a.k.a. (blogspot) doesn't have a widget for that but luckily I have ready alternatives for you. First one is the Linkwithin widget which I posted a month ago, I find this very cool but somehow unprofessional because they put a link at the right most of the widget. If having a linkwithin link in your related post widget is fine to you then this is good for you.

The second alternative is by hand coding it. To those who want their blog look more professional then this is your option. To do this first log in to your account -> Layout -> Edit HTML -> Check Expand Widget Templates -> Under the Edit Template Box, find <head>

Under <head> paste this code

/*Related Posts Styles Start*/
#related-posts {
float:center;
text-transform:none;
height:100%;
padding-top:5px;
padding-left:5px;
}
#related-posts .widget{
padding-left:6px;
margin-bottom:10px;
}
#related-posts .widget h2, #related-posts h2{
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: bold;
font-family: Arial, Georgia, “Times New Roman”, Times, serif;
margin-bottom: 0.75em;
margin-top: 0em;
padding-top: 0em;
}
#related-posts a{
color:$linkcolor;
font-size: 10px;
}
#related-posts a:hover{
color:#000;
text-decoration:none;
}
#related-posts ul{
list-style-type:none;
font-size:10px;
color:$linkcolor;
}
#related-posts ul li{
background:transparent url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKizvguDSeEYYSJZy47-2Dzj8Hu7qfFZgq3IdEXGvitC5GcFqnuPZCAzOgPBoChas2ZW0Z80s4ShKwqGbRIqKYGjUPR-wZWD4-nVDX2Hrd0j8R3R2ch7pecGwtqoAYVSsDeiniwMt-lxR/s320/greentickbullet.png) no-repeat ;
display:block;
list-style-type:none;
margin-bottom: 13px;
padding-left: 15px;
padding-top:0;
}
</style>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var relatedpoststitle="Related Posts";
</script>
<script src='http://blogergadgets.googlecode.com/files/related.js' type='text/javascript'/>
/*Related Posts Styles End*/

/*Related Posts Scripts Start*/
<script type='text/javascript'>
var relatedpoststitle="Related Posts";
script>
<script src='http://blogergadgets.googlecode.com/files/related.js' type='text/javascript'/>
/*Related Posts Scripts End*/

Next is to find this code.
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

Under <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> place this code.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id='related-posts'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast != "true"'>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<script expr:src='"/feeds/posts/default/-/" + data:label.name + "?alt=json-in-script&callback=related_results_labels&max-results=6"' type='text/javascript'/>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<a href='http://www.bloggerplugins.org/2009/08/related-posts-for-blogger-widget.html' style='display:none'>Related Posts Widget</a>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var currentposturl="<data:post.url/>";
var maxresults=5;
removeRelatedDuplicates(); printRelatedLabels();
</script>
</div>
</b:if>

Then click Save Template. Now try to view your posts, you should find related post under it. Special thanks to Blogger Widget.