Hi friends! From quite a long time I’ve been planning to host a contest at my site. Due to lack of time and various other reasons I wasn’t able to keep a contest on our blog. Finally after a long time I’ve decided to keep a contest here. This is for the first time a contest has been held at Blogging Junction where you can win themes and software and plugins and banners. In the past I kept competitions where you could win banners, but this time we are a little advanced or you can say we are one step further.

Lets See The Prizes:

–> First Prize:

Theme Junkie FashionPro Theme ($19.95) + Theme Junkie ClearType Theme ($19.95) + Handy Backup Standard License ($30)

= ($19.95+$19.95+$30) = $70 approximately

–> Second Prize:

OIO Publisher Advertising Manager Wordpress Plugin ($47)
= ($47) = $47 approx

–> Third Prize:

Theme Junkie FashionPro Theme ($19.95) + Theme Junkie ClearType Theme ($19.95)

= ($19.95+$19.95) = $40 approximately

–>Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Prizes:

125px x 125px ad banner ($10 x 4)

=$40

So you’ve got a chance to win $197 worth prizes ($70 + $47 + $40+$40 = $197) or round off = $200.

Prizes Description:

–> Theme Junkie FashionPro Theme ($19.95)

This theme comes with many great features. It has inbuilt thumbnails creating capabilities i.e. no need to enter custom fields. It has a powerful control panel where in we can change the thumbnail dimensions and other useful settings. This theme comes with a featured content slider, breadcrumb (Both work without any plugins). It comes with fields to enter blog tracking codes like statistics and Google Analytics and what not. It comes with many inbuilt pages like Archives, Full Width page, Etc.

More Information: http://www.theme-junkie.com/themes/fashionpro/

–> Theme Junkie ClearType Theme ($19.95)

This theme comes with many great features like the last one. This theme also offers features that are offered by the theme mentioned above, FashionPro. This theme offers a simple yet very very attractive look. Its simple, i.e. very easy to develop!

More Information: http://www.theme-junkie.com/themes/cleartype/

Both the themes have been donated by Roy Guan of Theme Junkie. Thanks Roy!!

–> Handy Backup Software ($30)

Handy Backup is an easy-to-use program designed for an automatic backup of your critical data virtually to any type of storage media including CD/DVD-RW devices and remote FTP servers. You can use Handy Backup to make a reserve copy of any valuable data on your system.

The one offered as a prize here is standard edition and is usable by only one user.

More Information: http://www.handybackup.com/

–> OIO Publisher Advertising Manager Wordpress Plugin ($47)

OIO Publisher is the best premium advertising solution for your Wordpress blog. Its currently the only plugin that offers complete advertising management of your Wordpress blog or site. It comes packed in with many incredible features. It is feature full. OIO Publisher plugin has all the features one can probably think of. The main aim of this plugin is to cut down your service charges which you have to pay if you sell ads using a third party ad seller. This saves you a lot of money. OIO Publisher has many modules which automates the process of selling ads. Payment, ad renewal all can be done automatically with a matter of few settings.

A detailed review of this plugin coming soon on Blogging Junction!

Thanks OIO Publisher maker for donating me a copy of their plugin!

More Information: http://www.oiopublisher.com/

–> Banners ($10 x 4 = $40)

The readers winning the third, fourth,fifth and sixth prizes will get one 125px x 125px banner in the blog sidebar. There will be total four winners in this spot and prize total value is $10 x 4 = $40.

More Information: http://www.bloggingjunction.co/advertising/

How To Participate?

Step 1: Become a Fan of BloggingJunction on FaceBook: - (2 points)

Step 2: Become a Follower On Twitter: - (2 points)

Step 3: Share the post on Facebook and Twitter (2 Points for both / 1 Point each)

Step 4: Comment on this post. (NO Points. But necessary for participating)

Step 5: Write about the contest in your blog or website. (5 points) (Optional, but will give you more chances of winning)

Note:

1. All users should do the steps mentioned above in order to enter the contest.
2. Winners will be chosen by using Random.org on 20th April 2010.
3. Once done, comment here with your FaceBook Id (Which You’ve Used To Become A Fan), Twitter Login Id and the Re-Tweet / FaceBook share URL’s.
4. Always re-tweet at “RT @bloggingj”.
5. If you write about the contest, please mention the blog post here and also link back here.
   

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST FRIENDS!!!!!!

This is yet another post in the Design And Coding category. As the title suggests, in this post you’ll learn to add a favicon in your site. I know you already might be knowing how to do this or your theme might have inbuilt favicon plus the coding. But some themes don’t have this piece of code. So for such theme owners, I’m writing this post. Hope others don’t mind!

Some posts ago I’ve given you a short description about favicons and what are their uses and why use them. In this post we will skip that part and will directly proceed to add a favicon in your blog.

In the post mentioned above you can freely create or turn an image of yours to a favicon with .ico extension. Favicons should be only of .ico extension and nothing else.

STEPS:

1.) Create a favicon of yours.

2.) Upload it to your blog theme directory or your blog itself anywhere.

3.) Now we have to do some editing work in “header.php” file.

4.) Open your Wordpress Theme Editor and click on header.php file.

5.)Add the following code in the header.php file below the first head (<head>) section.

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="FAVICON URL" type="image/x-icon" />

Replace “FAVICON URL” with your favicon image URL. The image should only be of .ico extension. No other formats supported.

6.) When you’ve done this, visit your website. If changes doesn’t appear in your address bar near your site URL, try reloading the page or clear your cache and try again. You will now be able to see it.

Congrats, your favicon is now set up!

Spam…Spam…Spam… This word is in every bloggers as well as every web users mouth and one even can’t stop saying it because its just everywhere. These days I’ve noticed even more spammer activity. Spamming is that’s why I say everywhere and in any form.

Traditionally spamming was not of an advanced nature as it is now. Previously spam messages were like that they can easily be identified. But that’s thing of a past now. Now spamming is more advanced and it’s getting really tougher to identify spam and the real comments. Here’s how…

1.) Getting Links Isn’t The Motto, Troubling Is The Main Purpose.

Those spammers have started using fancy comments to spam making it difficult for a blogger to identify spam and the real comments. They now don’t promote their old keywords and websites related to “Sex”, “Mesothelioma”, “Loans”, “Hair Laser Removal”, “Home Equity Loans”, “Life Insurance”, “Mortgage Loans”, Etc. They now use less links and more keywords and they use them in such a way that it’s almost impossible to identify the spam and the real comments.

2.) Using Related Keywords and Blog Targeted Commenting.

Spammers now target blogs just as we target advertisements to increase our ad clicks and earnings. They now use keywords related to your blog and blog posts so that the links they use in the comments get more clicks. If you have a software blog, the spam comments will now have some software information and links in the comment. Spammers are now very careful of getting identified as spam.

3.) Spammers Use Avatars!

Title shocked you? Yes, its the next step spammers have taken. They now are “Spamatars” according to me! Previously we thought that comments bearing avatars are not spam and they are genuine made by genuine people. Yes, comments are made by genuine people, but the comments aren’t as genuine as the people. I myself saw comments and ones which had avatars, I approved them without a second thought. I thought spammers won’t waste their time in choosing avatars for their e-mails. But they now spend some of their time in using avatars so that they aren’t caught.

4.) Spamming Softwares Have Improved A Lot.

Spamming has gone beyond limits and so are the spamming tools. Spamming tools are no longer like they were some months or years ago. They are now even more advanced. Previously we saw spam comments had all the same content. They were all same and it was really easy to identify them. But it isn’t possible now. Softwares have developed. Comments are related to your blog and its posts. If the post is about Adsense, the comments will be related to Adsense. The spam tools now automatically include a part of the post or title in the comments. See the below screenshot,

Good? Advanced world and advanced spamming!

5.) Time Interval Before Each Spam Comment Increased Largely.

In the above screenshot itself you can see that the time interval between each spam comments has increased a lot. Previously the comments were made in s span of seconds. But now the time interval has changed. Its now minutes. You can see time interval between comments. It ranges from 3 Minutes to 14 Minutes. And the time interval isn’t constant. There is a random gap. So even more tough work to identify spam.

Shocked to see the changes spammers and their supporters have made? Better be shocked and prepare yourself for next level of spamming! Have any such things you’ve noticed about spamming? Share your views and experiences here.

Sshhh.. Beware of spammers!

Request to Spammers: Please don’t spam here in my blog! Just a joke!

Smashing Saturday is all back. Lets see some of the posts I’ve read this week. Hope you like them all!

1.) Surf internet without any browser

2.) Find Online Discounts and Coupon Codes from savings.com

3.) Link To Related Posts On Other Blogs In Every Post

4.) How to Hold a Successful Blog Contest

5.) 49 ways to get more traffic

6.) What’s More Important? Your SEO or Your Readers?

7.) Twitter have Finally Added Some Security to its Links

8.) MSN India Launched a Hindi Portal – MSN Yuva

That’s it friends! Suggest me cool posts if you have any for me to include theme here in my next Smashing Saturday post.

Hi friends,

I was waiting from quite a long time for our blog to attain this landmark. And finally the landmark was attained today! I can’t express my happiness. It has got no limits. We have finally got 1000 comments!

Actually this goal had to be attained quite a long time ago, but due to my silly mistakes, this took a very long time. Now that I have learned the lessons, I won’t repeat those mistake again. After all mistakes make use perfect. In the future, I will try to increase this number even more and get even more comments and also better our blog in other ranks.

I request you all my friends to join my,

FaceBook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blogging-Junction/192175772850

Twitter Page:

http://www.twitter.com/bloggingj

RSS:

Subscrive to our RSS feed through a reader or through e-mail using the form given at the sidebar.

Regards,
Saksham T
Blogging Junction

In Wordpress you may need to show an admin section in some part of your blog some times. Mainly we show this to get a direct link to our blog administration panel. We do this so that we can log in and log out easily of our Wordpress blog.

Also we use this to show a registration link which is used for to register an account on our blog. We can include a Wordpress link too and a XHTML validator link too below the Wordpress admin links.

We can use the Wordpress widgets to automatically show this without using any code. But some times we need to show this administration panel in a place where widgets cannot be placed. Then we use this code to display it.

Use the code given below to show Wordpress Admin Panel links.

<ul>
<?php wp_register(); ?>
<li><?php wp_loginout(); ?></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wordpress.org/">WordPress</a></li>
<?php wp_meta(); ?>
<li><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer">XHTML</a></li>
</ul>

That’s it! This is a small post indeed!

This post is contributed by Onibalusi Bamidele of Data Entry For All. Data Entry For All is a blog dealing with being successful online. It gives tips regarding the same. Onibalusi Bamidele is a Blogger who believes in giving users values.

Blogging is a new generation way of communicating your mind with your readers while making money at the same time. It has always been a problem for newbies/begginers to make it blogging and some of them eventually gets discouraged. Here are some tips to help you find your blogging journey a success:

1.) Set a Goal:

Setting a goal is something very important for every serious blogger, you hardly can make it without setting a goal. A very important reason for setting a goal is to be motivated, setting a goal helps you to be motivated always, the level of your goal is also important, I do feel somehow when I see people setting short goals for themselves, I believe in setting high goals and I want you to know something for sure: “If it is concieveable, It is achieveable”. Try to set high goals, don’t just sleep but also work towards the fulfilment of your goal.

2.) Give Value:

So many people just think blogging is only about setting up a blog and then pasting all the content on the web on it, Blogging isn’t only about content but it is about your ability to provide your users value. It is about you being unique and it is about you being the best where you can.

The number of blogs on the internet is overwhelming that very soon those who provide value would soon be separated while those who don’t will face the consequences. Also, providing value helps your users place their trust in you thereby recommending you to their friends and others they could recommend you to.

3.) Content:

So many people say content is king, but let me tell you; content is queen while marketing/promotion is king. There are millions of blogs (if not billions) on the internet, and there are also many others in your niche providing value, but try to market the value you provide because any content on the web that doesn’t get read has no life of its own.

4.) SEO:

Work on the SEO of your blog because nothing is as encouraging as the free residual traffic you gain from search engines, try to optimize your website as much as possible.

5.) Networking:

There is nothing as comforting as many building the work of a person, try to network with other bloggers, guet post for their blog, comment on their blog, let all of you work together to build your self and i can tell you growth is inevitable if this is properly done.

The above are 5 tips for the begginer bloggers. Put them into practice and I believe they should work perfectly for you.

Remember this post is written by Onibalusi Bamidele of Data Entry For All. So if you like this post, don’t forget to say him thanks by commenting here!