TechoYO: Explore Computer Science.

Algorithms: Linear Search

2014-06-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Let's get started with the most basic of searching algorithms, the linear search. It basically involves searching a particular element in a linear array of elements by looking at each of its indices.
Let us suppose an array of integers A contain elements 1,3,4,6,2 and the element to be searched be 4. This is done by looking at each index of A ie. A[0], A[1],..,A[n] and checking if the value contained is equal to the search element 6. Here, n is the number of elements in the array.

Pseudocode:

Let s be the search element
For each element in the array
{
if array element = search element
Print "element found at" 'array index'
}

Sample code in C++:

//header files
main()
{
int i,s,n,A[10],count=0;
cout<<"Enter number of elements of array:";
cin>>n;
cout<<"Enter elements:";
for(i=0;i<n;i++) //Getting the array
cin>>A[i];
cout<<"Enter element to be searched:";
cin>>s; //Search element
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
if(A[i]==s) //Searching
{
cout<< "Element found at index"<<i;
count++;
}
}
if(count==0)
cout<<"Element not found";
}

55 Quick SEO Tips for beginners

2014-06-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

1. If you absolutely MUST use Java script drop down menus, image maps or image links, be sure to put text links somewhere on the page for the spiders to follow.
2. Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written, and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.
3. If content is king, then links are queen. Build a network of quality backlinks. Remember, if there is no good, logical reason for a site to link to you, you don’t want the link.

4. Don’t be obsessed with PageRank. It is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR.

5. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site. And, if you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end. Unless you are a household name, your business name will probably get few searches.

6. Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.

7. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is “blue widgets” then link to “blue widgets” instead of a “Click here” link.

8. Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Palm Springs store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.

9. Don’t design your web site without considering SEO. Make sure your web designer understands your expectations for organic SEO. Doing a retrofit on your shiny new Flash-based site after it is built won’t cut it. Spiders can crawl text, not Flash or images.

10. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.

11. Check for canonicalization issues – www and non-www domains. Decide which you want to use and 301 redirect the other to it. In other words, if http://www.domain.com is your preference, then http://domain.com should redirect to it.
12. Check the link to your home page throughout your site. Is index.html appended to your domain name? If so, you’re splitting your links. Outside links go to http://www.domain.com and internal links go to http://www.domain.com/index.html.

Ditch the index.html or default.php or whatever the page is and always link back to your domain.

13. Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem – you can’t link to a single page. It’s either all or nothing. Don’t use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.

14. Your URL file extension doesn’t matter. You can use .html, .htm, .asp, .php, etc. and it won’t make a difference as far as your SEO is concerned.

15. Got a new web site you want spidered? Submitting through Google’s regular submission form can take weeks. The quickest way to get your site spidered is by getting a link to it through another quality site.

16. If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text. Blog at least three time a week with good, fresh content to feed those little crawlers.

17. When link building, think quality, not quantity. One single, good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen poor quality links, which can actually hurt you.

18. Search engines want natural language content. Don’t try to stuff your text with keywords. It won’t work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you.

19. Text around your links should also be related to your keywords. In other words, surround the link with descriptive text.

20. If you are on a shared server, do a blacklist check to be sure you’re not on a proxy with a spammer or banned site. Their negative notoriety could affect your own rankings.

21. Be aware that by using services that block domain ownership information when you register a domain, Google might see you as a potential spammer.

22. When optimizing your blog posts, optimize your post title tag independently from your blog title.

23. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity and Reputation.

24. Make sure your site is easy to use. This can influence your link building ability and popularity and, thus, your ranking.

25. Give link love, Get link love. Don’t be stingy with linking out. That will encourage others to link to you.

26. Search engines like unique content that is also quality content. There can be a difference between unique content and quality content. Make sure your content is both.

27. If you absolutely MUST have your main page as a splash page that is all Flash or one big image, place text and navigation links below the fold.

28. Some of your most valuable links might not appear in web sites at all but be in the form of e-mail communications such as newletters and zines.

29. You get NOTHING from paid links except a few clicks unless the links are embedded in body text and NOT obvious sponsored links.

30. Links from .edu domains are given nice weight by the search engines. Run a search for possible non-profit .edu sites that are looking for sponsors.

31. Give them something to talk about. Linkbaiting is simply good content.

32. Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase. Don’t try to optimize the page for several keywords at once.

33. SEO is useless if you have a weak or non-existent call to action. Make sure your call to action is clear and present.

34. SEO is not a one-shot process. The search landscape changes daily, so expect to work on your optimization daily.

35. Cater to influential bloggers and authority sites who might link to you, your images, videos, podcasts, etc. or ask to reprint your content.

36. Get the owner or CEO blogging. It’s priceless! CEO influence on a blog is incredible as this is the VOICE of the company. Response from the owner to reader comments will cause your credibility to skyrocket!

37. Optimize the text in your RSS feed just like you should with your posts and web pages.Use descriptive, keyword rich text in your title and description.

38. Use keyword rich captions with your images.

39. Pay attention to the context surrounding your images. Images can rank based on text that surrounds them on the page. Pay attention to keyword text, headings, etc.

40. You’re better off letting your site pages be found naturally by the crawler. Good global navigation and linking will serve you much better than relying only on an XML Sitemap.

41. There are two ways to NOT see Google’s Personalized Search results:

(1) Log out of Google

(2) Append &pws=0 to the end of your search URL in the search bar

42. Links (especially deep links) from a high PageRank site are golden. High PR indicates high trust, so the back links will carry more weight.

43. Use absolute links. Not only will it make your on-site link navigation less prone to problems (like links to and from https pages), but if someone scrapes your content, you’ll get backlink juice out of it.

44. See if your hosting company offers “Sticky” forwarding when moving to a new domain.This allows temporary forwarding to the new domain from the old, retaining the new URL in the address bar so that users can gradually get used to the new URL.

45. Understand social marketing. It IS part of SEO. The more you understand about sites like Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, etc., the better you will be able to compete in search.

46. To get the best chance for your videos to be found by the crawlers, create a video sitemap and list it in your Google Webmaster Central account.

47. Videos that show up in Google blended search results don’t just come from YouTube. Be sure to submit your videos to other quality video sites like Metacafe, AOL, MSN and Yahoo to name a few.

48. Surround video content on your pages with keyword rich text. The search engines look at surrounding content to define the usefulness of the video for the query.

49. Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words.

50. Enable “Enhanced image search” in your Google Webmaster Central account. Images are a big part of the new blended search results, so allowing Google to find your photos will help your SEO efforts.

51. Add viral components to your web site or blog – reviews, sharing functions, ratings, visitor comments, etc.

52. Broaden your range of services to include video, podcasts, news, social content and so forth. SEO is not about 10 blue links anymore.

53. When considering a link purchase or exchange, check the cache date of the page where your link will be located in Google. Search for “cache:URL” where you substitute “URL” for the actual page. The newer the cache date the better. If the page isn’t there or the cache date is more than an month old, the page isn’t worth much.

54. If you have pages on your site that are very similar (you are concerned about duplicate content issues) and you want to be sure the correct one is included in the search engines,place the URL of your preferred page in your sitemaps.

55. Check your server headers. Search for “check server header” to find free online tools for this. You want to be sure your URLs report a “200 OK” status or “301 Moved Permanently ” for redirects. If the status shows anything else, check to be sure your URLs are set up properly and used consistently throughout your site.

Going Open Source #1

2014-02-09T01:07:00.000-08:00

What's the best way to take your programming experience to the next level? Oh yes, you can contribute to open source projects. And one of the best places to get started is Github. You will improve rapidly, contribute to awesome projects, and start an online portfolio for potential employers. Let’s see what open source is and how to contribute.

What is open source?

Open source is the original way of creating software - in an open, transparent and collaborative manner. “What is free software?” and “What is open source?” ar good overviews of the subject.

Open source means that you get the final executable for a software project, and also have access to the source code from which it was produced. Having access to the source code means that you can better understand how the program functions and more importantly you can modify it to fix any problems you have with the software or add new features which you desire.

This seemingly chaotic way of creating software (everybody focusing on their own needs) works surprisingly well: for example the Linux kernel contains more than 4,000 man years worth of effort.

Why would I want to contribute?

The feeling that you solved a problem and published your solution so that hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of people can benefit from your improvement is simply amazing.

There are also many very pragmatic reasons for contributing to open source projects:

To add a new feature / improvement to a project; or to fix an issue with a project
To practice and learn about software development - contributing to a project is a great way to learn about the more hands on aspects of software development like using debuggers, version control systems, issue trackers, etc.
To practice/learn a particular programming language or technology which you are interested in
To build your online presence - highlighting open source contributions relevant to the job makes your resume stand out from the rest

How can I get started with contributing to open source projects?

The first step is to find a project which interest you. Maybe it’s one which you use every day and are annoyed by a subtle little bug. Maybe it’s something from a domain you are interested in (like bioinformatics or machine learning).

After you decided on the project, pick a task. Maybe it’s a project you use day in and day out and you have an itch to scratch. If not, most open source projects maintain a list of outstanding issues which need to be resolved. You can usually find it by searching for “[project name] issue tracker”. For projects hosted on GitHub you can usually find the link to the “issues” list on the left hand side.

After deciding what you want to work on, you need to get the source code. The next step is compiling the source code and running it to verify your understanding of how the software works and where the change needs to be done.

Now you can make your change and verify that it works as you expect. Finally you need to send your changes to the originator of the project so that s/he can incorporate it for others to benefit from (while users could just use your version of the project - see the note about the chaotic nature of open source - usually there is a “well known source” for every open source project - a person or an organization who is the primary maintainer of the project).

Frequently there are customs around how people contribute to projects which vary from project to project. Some projects document these explicitly and for most it exists as a living tradition. Try looking up other contributions to the same project and model your steps based on them.

I'll soon post about getting started with Github. Until then, go enjoy doing some coding!

Google custom search powered search engine.

2014-01-16T07:02:00.002-08:00

I've always wanted to create a search engine like Google.

So, I recently created www.webfindy.com, powered by Google custom search. I've used basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript that I've learnt over a few months. And I think it'd make a great homepage for your browsers.
Please do check it out and give your comments!

Get over 500 free Programming books from GitHub

2014-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Free e-books

Beginning programming? Or already a coder? Doesn't matter. Here is a Git repository with over 500 free programming books (and growing!). You'll find books on professional development, specific platforms like Android and Oracle Server, and about 80 programming languages. There are also lists in other languages.
On GitHub: https://github.com/vhf/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md

Go ahead! There are some wonderful books out there!

Algorithms #1 : Getting started.

2013-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

What is an algorithm?

An algorithm is a procedure to accomplish a specific task in a finite number of steps. An algorithm is the idea behind any reasonable computer program.

To be interesting, an algorithm must solve a general, well-specified problem.

After all, everything in this world follows a procedure and algorithms literally shape the world around us. So, studying algorithms, I believe, is important for everybody. Computer algorithms are very interesting and enable us to solve huge number of problems with computer programs with least complexity. I personally feel that many of these algorithms like the divide and conquer algorithm are very much applicable in many real life situations as well. So, I thought we'll get started with learning about new algorithms (one every day if possible).

This is a video from TEDed that gives you an idea of what an algorithm is in its simplest sense. So, what are you waiting for? Lets jump right in!

A course in machine learning : BOOK

2013-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Machine learning is a powerful tool that is changing the computing world for good. So, what is all about this recent buzz word? I'll tell you.

Making machines learn

This is what the book on collective intelligence says: Machine learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) concerned with algorithms that allow computers to learn. What this means, in most cases, is that an algorithm is given a set of data and

infers information about the properties of the data—and that information allows it to make predictions about other data that it might see in the future. This is possible because almost all nonrandom data contains patterns, and these patterns allow the machine to generalize. In order to generalize, it trains a model with what it determines are the important aspects of the data. To understand how models come to be, consider a simple example in the otherwise complex field of email filtering. Suppose you receive a lot of spam that contains the words “online pharmacy.” As a human being, you are well equipped to recognize patterns, and you quickly determine that any message with the words “online pharmacy” is spam and should be moved directly to the trash. This is a generalization—you have, in fact, created a mental model of what is spam. After you report several of these messages as spam, a machine-learning algorithm designed to filter spam should be able to make the same generalization. There are many different machine-learning algorithms, all with different strengths and suited to different types of problems. Some, such as decision trees, are transparent, so that an observer can totally understand the reasoning process undertaken by the machine. Others, such as neural networks, are blackbox , meaning that they produce an answer, but it’s often very difficult to reproduce the reasoning behind it. Many machine-learning algorithms rely heavily on mathematics and statistics. According to the definition I gave earlier, you could even say that simple correlation analysis and regression are both basic forms of machine learning.

Here is s book that will get you into machine learning: A course in machine learning

The future of search

2013-12-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

While skimming through business magazines, I recently read this article on how Google will change the world, again. Google gets down to doing what it knows best - developing new tech - to change your life. I thought it was worth sharing and here it is.

Business Today : How Google will change the World

7 little known but super useful PHP functions

2013-12-21T22:27:00.002-08:00

PHP have lots of built-in functions, and most developers know many of them. But a few functions are not very well known, but are super useful. This is an article from catswhocode.com explaining some of those functions that you can make use of.

highlight_string()

When displaying PHP code on a website, the highlight_string() function can be really helpful: It outputs or returns a syntax highlighted version of the given PHP code using the colors defined in the built-in syntax highlighter for PHP.

Usage:

<?php
highlight_string('<?php phpinfo(); ?>');
?>

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.highlight-string.php

str_word_count()

This handy function takes a string as a parameter and return the count of words, as shown in the example below.

Usage:

?php
$str = "How many words do I have?";
echo str_word_count($str); //Outputs 5
?>

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.str-word-count.php

levenshtein()

Ever find the need to determine how different (or similar) two words are? Then levenshtein() is just the function you need. This function can be super useful to track user submitted typos.

Usage:

<?php
$str1 = "carrot";
$str2 = "carrrott";
echo levenshtein($str1, $str2); //Outputs 2
?>

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.levenshtein.php

get_defined_vars()

Here is a handy function when debugging: It returns a multidimensional array containing a list of all defined variables, be them environment, server or user-defined variables, within the scope that get_defined_vars() is called.

Usage:

print_r(get_defined_vars());

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.get-defined-vars.php

escapeshellcmd()

escapeshellcmd() escapes any characters in a string that might be used to trick a shell command into executing arbitrary commands. This function should be used to make sure that any data coming from user input is escaped before this data is passed to the exec() or system() functions, or to the backtick operator.

Usage:

<?php
$command = './configure '.$_POST['configure_options'];

$escaped_command = escapeshellcmd($command);
 
system($escaped_command);
?>

Documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.escapeshellcmd.php

checkdate()

Checks the validity of the date formed by the arguments. A date is considered valid if each parameter is properly defined. Pretty useful to test is a date submitted by an user is valid.

Usage:

<?php
var_dump(checkdate(12, 31, 2000));
var_dump(checkdate(2, 29, 2001));

//Output
//bool(true)
//bool(false)
?>

Documentation: http://php.net/checkdate

php_strip_whitespace()

Returns the PHP source code in filename with PHP comments and whitespace removed. This is similar to using php -w from the commandline.

Usage:

<?php
// PHP comment here

/*
 * Another PHP comment
 */

echo        php_strip_whitespace(__FILE__);
// Newlines are considered whitespace, and are removed too:
do_nothing();
?>

The output:

<?php
 echo php_strip_whitespace(__FILE__); do_nothing(); ?>

Documentation: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.php-strip-whitespace.php

Lets build software! Online MOOC courses to get you started.

2013-10-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hello people! So, you want to build software? Here are some really awesome MOOC courses you might want to try. These courses are offered by Udacity.com and the best thing about these are that there are no deadlines. You get to learn at your own pace and earn a certificate of completion.

Kick Start to Programming Introduction to Computer Science and Building a search Engine
In this course you will learn key concepts in computer science and learn how to write your own computer programs in the context of building a web crawler.

Get, set, JAVA! Introduction to Programming with JAVA

In this class, you will learn basic skills and concepts of computer programming in an object-oriented approach using Java.

You will learn concepts like classes, methods and argument passing, loops, and general problem solving ability that will become building blocks to your programming skills.

What is a good design? Design Of Computer Programs

Learn new concepts, patterns, and methods that will expand your programming abilities, helping move you from a novice to an expert programmer.

Finding the Bugs. Software Testing

When writing software, destruction can be just as valuable as creation. Learn how to catch bugs and break software as you discover different testing methods that will help you build better software.

Taking down the Bugs! Software Debugging

In this class you will learn how to debug programs systematically, how to automate the debugging process and build several automated debugging tools in Python.

So, what are you waiting for? Lets get down there and build awesome software!

How Google search Works

2013-10-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Spell Check in HTML

2013-06-30T22:49:00.001-07:00

A lot of people are unaware of the spell check option that basic HTML offers. It can be implemented with a very small spellcheck attribute as shown below:

DEMO Download Script

HTML code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>

	<HTML> <HEAD>
	<TITLE>HTML5 spell check example</TITLE>
	</HEAD>
	<BODY>
	<FORM>
	<TEXTAREA style="width:300px;height:150px;border: 1em solid black" spellcheck="false" contentEditable="true">Spell check off</TEXTAREA><BR />
	<TEXTAREA style="width:300px;height:150px;border: 1em solid black" spellcheck="true" contentEditable="true">Spell check on</TEXTAREA><BR />
	</FORM>
	</BODY>
	</HTML>

Animation Effect with CSS

2013-06-25T23:42:00.001-07:00

This tutorial gives you the implementation of animation effect using CSS3.

The animation of the first image in the demo happens on mouse hover, and the second happens automatically.

DEMO Download Script

Code:

CSS code:

@-webkit-keyframes resize {
0% {
height:220px;
width:220px;
opacity:0.7;
}
50% {
height:240px;
width:240px;
opacity:0.4;
}
}
#heart:hover {
-webkit-animation-name: resize;
-webkit-animation-duration: 1s;
-webkit-animation-iteration-count: 2;
-webkit-animation-direction: alternate;
-webkit-animation-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0,0.5,0,0);
}
#heartinf {
-webkit-animation-name: resize;
-webkit-animation-duration: 1s;
-webkit-animation-iteration-count: infinite;
-webkit-animation-direction: alternate;
-webkit-animation-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0,0.5,0,0);
position: absolute;
left:250px;
top:80px;
width: 200px;
height:200px;
}
img{
height:200px;
width:200px;
opacity:1;
}

Html Code:

<BODY>

<H1>Working with Animation </H1>

<P style="position:absolute;left:60px;top:280px;text-align:center">Hover on this image <BR/> to animate.</P>

<P style="position:absolute;left:300px;top:280px;text-align:center">Continoustly Animating <BR/>Image </P>

</BODY>

Blogging for Beginners: Tips for Starting Your Blog

2013-05-04T23:02:00.004-07:00

Starting a blog is no longer enough.

There are millions of blogs out there, and most of them get nowhere because they don’t have a strategy in place.

In this post, you’ll not only learn blogging for beginners, but you’ll get 17 concrete steps you can take to dramatically increase your chances of success.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t started a blog yet, or if you’re a veteran, because just one of these tips can make a big difference in your life and in your blogging.

With that said, let’s start with the first tip.

1. Passion

Don’t just start a blog because you want to make money. There are no shortcuts to success.

If you want to build a thriving blog that brings in revenue, you will have to work hard, and to stay motivated, you have to find something you’re passionate about.

Or at least something you’re interested in.

2. Purpose

When your purpose is weak, your chances of giving up somewhere along the way go up dramatically.

So ask yourself the following questions:

Why are you starting a blog?
What do you want to get out of doing this?
Why do you want to succeed?

If you have a strong reason for starting your blog, you will go far. This is a long-term game. Always remember that.

3. Niche

The next step is to find your niche. The best way to stand out from all the millions of blogs out there is to become an expert in a highly targeted area.

Think opt-in conversion expert instead of email marketing. Think turning your blog into a book instead of just general blogging tips.

Get specific and you will go far.

4. Solve a Problem

One addendum to finding your niche is to make sure you solve a problem.

Money is made by solving problems for people. If you can help someone get more subscribers on their list and make more money, you’re solving a problem.

So think about what problem you’re solving, and then do some research on if people are willing to pay for having that problem fixed.

5. Personality

To really stand out from all the noise, you have to inject your personality and expertise into your blog.

There are too many people out there teaching something they have no experience in.

If you don’t have experience, get some. The more you know, the more you can share with your audience, and the more they will grow to know, trust and like you.

6. Come Up with a Domain Name

There are many ways of coming up with an excellent domain name, but in the end, you alone have to decide what kind of name and brand you want to build.

A few tips for coming up with a good domain name is to make it:

Unique
Memorable
Easy to spell
Concise

Coming up with a name is tough, so go for good enough instead of perfect.

7. Tag line

Coming up with a tagline is not absolutely necessary when you’re starting out, but it can be a lot of fun.

Go for a tag line that communicates who you help and what you help them with. If you help small businesses get more leads on their email newsletter, a simple tag line could be:

“Turn your readers into leads, and your leads into raving customers.”

8. Pick Your Web Host

Avoid using a free blogging option like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. If you’re serious about blogging, you need a self-hosted service.

There are plenty out there, like BlueHost and HostGator. They are just a few dollars a month and will get you started on the right path.

9. Pick Your Theme

Next up is picking a WordPress theme that makes your blog look professional.

Again, there are several free options out there, but I recommend you spend some money and get a good premium theme. Some of my favorites are:

WooThemes
Thesis
Genesis

If you’re strapped for cash right now, go with a simple free theme and upgrade later.

10. Pick Your Plugins

Once you’ve got a web-host and a good looking theme, it’s time to get your plugins in order.

Keep the amount of plugins you use to a minimum. Each plugin you add will (usually) make your site slower, which isn’t the best thing you can do.

Here’s a list of plugins I use:

Akismet – to prevent spam.
Audio player – to play interviews and podcasts.
Broken link checker – so I can remove and fix broken links.
Contact form 7 – so people can contact me.
Google XML sitemaps – to create a nice and simple sitemap for Google to crawl.
Popular posts – to help people find my best content.
Sharebar – so people can share my content on social media.
WP smush.it – to reduce image file sizes and make my site load faster.
WP super cache – another plugin that helps my site load faster.

11. Analytics

The next thing you have to do is get analytics set-up, which will help you keep track of how many visitors you get, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site.

If your traffic isn’t growing from month to month, something needs to change, but remember, traffic isn’t everything.

If your goal is to make money with your blog, you should be building your email list, and converting that traffic into email subscribers.

12. Content Strategy

You need to have a solid content strategy in place, so think about the following questions:

What kind of content will you produce? (audio, text, video)
How will you produce it?
How often will you publish new content?
How will you make new readers aware of old content?
How will you use your content to grow your business?

Your content is what will build authority and trust. The more you can share, the more people will trust you.

13. List Building

I mentioned building your list above, and it’s crucial if you want to make money with your blog. Think about how you will get people on your list, and what email service provider you will use.

One of the easiest ways to start is to give away a free 5 to 10 page report when people sign-up.

There are many email list service providers out there, and they do cost money, but it’s an investment worth making. One of my favorites is Aweber. I’ve been using them for over 5 years.

Do not skimp on starting an email list, because while you may save money now, you will end up losing thousands in lost opportunity down the road.

14. Monetization

The next step is to think about how you will monetize. How will you make money with your blog?

If you don’t want to make money with your blog, you can skip over this step. But I see so many people jump into blogging without having a simple business plan.

You have to have an idea of how you will generate revenue. You don’t have to be crystal clear, but there needs to be opportunities for you to do so.

Look at what people are already paying for. Go to ClickBank, Amazon, or just use Google to find products and services people are selling in your market.

15. Traffic Generation

How will you get traffic to your site?

Write down at least three traffic generation strategies that you will start off with. For example, I started with blog commenting, but I quickly moved over the guest blogging, because it was so much more effective.

To this date, I’ve written close to two hundred guest posts for different blogs, and they all keep bringing traffic to my site and building my list, and consequently, my business.

16. Outreach

How will you connect with peers in your field?

If you blog about knitting, how will you connect with other knitters?

This part scares people, and it scared me for a long time. Or to be honest, it still scares me, but in reality, it’s about making friends and being yourself.

Just write down how you can connect with fellow bloggers. Maybe you can comment on their blogs, see if they hang out on Twitter or Facebook, or simply shoot them an email.

Start connecting with people right away. Think about how you can add value to their lives and people will appreciate your help.

17. Expectations

Last, but not least, write down what your expectations are. Here are a few questions to get you going:

Where do you expect to be with your blog in 6 months?
What will happen if you don’t reach those expectations?
Why do you want these results?

If your expectations are unrealistic, you will be in for a disappointment, and you’ll probably give up.

But if you equip yourself with the truth, you’ll know what to expect, and you will keep going when the going gets tough.

Top 10 Tips to Sell Your Website or Blog on Flippa

2013-04-13T02:45:00.001-07:00

If you are planning to buy or sell a website, you probably already heard about Flippa. It is the largest online marketplace for websites. Most people who list a website for sale there, however, end up selling it for peanuts (e.g., $100), or not selling at all.

How come? Most of the times the seller didn’t do his homework. If you want to maximize your chances of selling (and your profit), the 10 tips below will help you.

1. Make Sure Your Website Is Making Money

This is the most important factor. If you want to sell a website successfully, it must be making money. Even if your site has a huge traffic, listing it before monetizing that traffic would be a bad decision. You would be able to sell it, but the money you would get would be far below the real value of the site.

If your website is making $50 or less per month, forget about selling it now. Try to improve your traffic, increase your revenues to at least $300 per month, make the revenues stable, and then list it. If the $300 are coming from Google AdSense, for example, you could sell the site for as much as $8,000. Obviously, the more you can grow your revenue before selling, the better. The $300 is just a ball park figure.

Remember that you’ll need to show proof of revenue, and that most buyers will calculate the revenues as the average of the past four or six months.

2. Make Sure You Have Google Analytics Data

Most serious buyers will want to see your Google Analytics data before making an official offer. They will use this to verify your traffic levels, and to make sure the pattern is compatible with the revenues you are claiming.

Again, people will want to see data going back to six months at least. If you are planning to sell your website, therefore, it would be wise to install Google Analytics on it at least six months before the sale.

3. Work On Your Trust Rating

Each member on Flippa has a trust rating, and most buyers will check it before placing their bids. In other words, the higher your trust rating, the higher the chances of selling your website.

As a result you should take all the actions that will improve your trust rating (e.g., connect your Flippa account with Facebook and LinkedIn, verify your phone number and so on).

4. Set The Auction Length for 7 Days

In my opinion seven days is the optimal length for an auction on Flippa. With that length of time you are sure that most buyers will see your auction (e.g., those who log during the week and those who log during weekends), yet you’ll create a sense of urgency on those who are interested.

Many people set the auction length for 30 days, and their auctions become dead as a consequence. Many interested buyers will refrain from bidding because there is plenty of time to go, others yet will see the auction once and then completely forget about it, for the same reason.

5. Set A Low Reserve / High Minimum Bid

If you set a low reserve price your auction will display the following message: “Bidding open and reserve has been met!” bright green color. This is a big encouragement for potential buyers, and it stimulates them to bid.

And don’t worry about the site selling for less than what you think it is worth. You can always set a high minimum bid. Apart from protecting you from low bids this strategy will also filter the non-serious buyers out.

6. Set A Reasonable BIN Price

The “Buy It Now” price is there for a reason. It should allow a buyer who is very interested in your website to avoid a bidding war and to buy the website paying what you think it is worth.

The problem is that most sellers have an unrealistic idea about the value of their websites, and hence they set crazy BIN prices. This is a put off for potential buyers, because it signals you have no idea about what you are doing.

Ask some friends what they think your website is worth, and then set a reasonable BIN price for it.

7. Don’t Hype Your Description

The more hype you put in your description, the more people will think you are desperate to sell and that your website is not a solid one. Examples of remarks you should avoid include: “Huge potential!”, “A lifetime opportunity!”, “My loss is your gain!”.

Secondly, don’t hypothesize what the website could be earning. Some people list websites that are making $10 per month currently, and they go on saying: “This website has the potential to make $4,000 per month easily!”. If you knew this for sure you wouldn’t be selling the site for such a low price….

8. Answer to Every Comment

Even if you write a crystal clear description people will still have questions, and they’ll ask them through the comment section. It is important to answer to every single comment, as this will not only encourage these commenters to place a bid, but it will also improve the overall credibility of your auction.

Second, do not delete a comment unless you have a very good reason to do so. Deleted comments are red flags on Flippa, because usually they come from sellers trying to hide something on their websites.

9. Have A Plausible Reason for Selling

One of the first things people will ask you is why you are selling. If there is no plausible reason, they’ll rightly assume that the website is going down hill, and that you want to get rid of it before it becomes worthless.

In fact it would be a good idea to include the reason for selling the description of the auction itself.

10. Invite Qualified Buyers

If you want to get more bids on your auction, you can invite qualified buyers directly. First of all browse through the marketplace looking for websites that are similar to yours (either open or won auctions).

Once you find one, browse through the comments, and try to find users with a high trust rating that were asking questions about the auction. These are qualified buyers, and you can send them a message inviting them to view your own auction.

Bonus Tip: Keep Your Auction On The Homepage

When creating your listing, the most important upgrade you can get is the “Listing Featured on the Front Page” one. It costs $29, but it will give your auction a lot of visibility, because most buyers browse the Flippa front page first.

You can purchase this upgrade a second time, too, once your auction slipped to the second page. This would be a good idea if after the first two or three days you have still not received some qualified bids.

Are You Familiar with HTML and CSS? Reasons Why You Should be.

2013-04-13T02:35:00.002-07:00

I have always wanted to create my own design for my blog. In my opinion, being able to work with the code of a blog is a huge advantage that many bloggers choose not to pursue. Aside form the design aspect of creating an attractive blog, being able to work with the coding will allow you to make changes and adjustments to your blog any time you want, rather than relying on a professional to do it for you, or rather than just limiting yourself to what’s available with the theme you have chosen.

Most blogs need a bit of customization from time-to-time, and for someone who has no experience with HTML or CSS this be a bit intimidating. However, if you’re working with WordPress you really only need a basic knowledge in order to make many of the customizations that you would like, and you don’t even need to know PHP in most cases (those who aren’t comfortable with PHP just need to be able to recognize it and avoid it when making changes to the HTML).

In my opinion, more bloggers should pursue a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, two coding languages that are relatively easy to learn. Here are just some of the reasons for you to make the time to learn more about HTML and CSS.

1 – Saves you money

If you are paying someone else to make changes to your blog or to design your theme, you could save some money if you learn how to do these things yourself. Even after gaining some knowledge you may still want to pay for a professional theme or for some more advanced work, but many of the common changes made by bloggers can be achieved pretty easily without requiring a lot of skill and experience.

2 – Opens up new opportunities

If you’re relying on others to do the work for you, or for other themes to include the elements that you want, you’ll never be able to take advantage of all of the ideas that you would like to be able to implement at your blog. By being able to work with the code you can put your ideas into practice quickly with little investment.

3 – Upgrading WordPress

If you’ve been using WordPress for a while you have probably had to go through the process of upgrading, or else you have been putting it off out of fear of potential complications. While upgrading shouldn’t cause any trouble, you’ll probably have much more confidence if you are comfortable with the files involved and not so afraid of a minor issue arising. If you’re avoiding upgrading for a long-period of time (a lot of bloggers choose not to upgrade immediately due to stability issues) you are probably taking serious security risks.

4 – Working with plugins

One of the great benefits to using WordPress is the huge number of great plugins that are available. However, not all of them are simple to install and put into action. Some plugins will require you to make some minor changes to one or more of the files, which can be a tall task if you’re not comfortable with the files in the first place. In addition to installing plugins, you may run into bugs from time-to-time with different plugins, and again, knowing a bit about the code can really help to get these problems fixed quickly.

5 – Changes to sidebar

Whether you want to change you entire theme or not, you will most likely want to make some minor changes to your sidebar every now and then. Widgetized themes make some modifications possible without editing the code, but you’re not completely able to do whatever you want with widgets. Sidebar changes can make a big difference to the usability and effectiveness of your blog, so you may want to experiment and test with some different choices. By making some changes in the sidebar files you can quickly and easily make sizable improvements to your blog.

6 – Get creative

Most bloggers get stuck in the rut of just publishing posts. If you’re able and willing to get involved with the code there is really no limit to what you can do with your blog. Just about anything is possible if you’re willing to take the time to learn.

Recommended Resources for Learning:

If you’re already familiar with basic HTML and CSS and you’re interested in learning more about how WordPress works, the codex is filled with useful information. Some articles that you may want to check out include Using WordPress Themes, Theme Development, CSS for WordPress, and a collection of articles on Lessons on Customizing Template Files.

Fortunately, there are plenty of places to learn about HTML and CSS online. One of the most popular tutorial and learning sites is W3 Schools, which has a number of different tutorials. HTML Dog is another useful resource that is very much worth your time. And About.com also has a decent section on HTML and CSS.

If you are more interested in books, the Visual Quickstart Guide: HTML, XHTML and CSS is a good place to start. Two of my favorite books on CSS are CSS Mastery and Bulletproof Web Design, although both assume a basic knowledge of CSS. Blog Design Solutions is another good choice for WordPress users, although parts of the book are dedicated to other blogging platforms.

How to choose your domain name?

2013-03-31T22:13:00.002-07:00

With dozens or even hundreds of domain search sites available, you can easily waste hours exploring all of them.

Domain Selection

Instead of casting a wide net, do a targeted search based on your project.

Building an affiliate or AdSense site? Use a keyword-based domain site.

Creating a new business or blog? Find a memorable, brandable domain.

Below are the best domain search sites for any purpose.

For SEO and Niche Sites: Keyword-Rich Domains

Most domain search sites specialize in keyword-rich domains. Why? They’re in high demand and are easy to serve up to potential buyers.

Lean Domain Search is a quick way to find available domains containing your target keyword.

Bust a Name will combine your potential keywords and show you the available permutations.

Panabee is really basic but will show you a short list of options including keyword combinations, spelling variations, and keywords with simple modifiers like “go” or “it.”

For potentially higher-quality domains, try aftermarket site Sedo. The prices are higher, but the domains should be more desirable.

For New Companies/Projects: Brandable Domains

Brandable domains are not for SEO. They’re for people, not search engines, to remember.

To be brandable, a domain and business name must be short, unique, and memorable.

The domain should be less than ten letters, easily pronounceable (especially to English speakers), and be spelled how it sounds.

Real words with other meanings can work well but will be harder to brand with a new identity. Think Apple or Amazon. They’re also probably already taken or too expensive.

Wordoid is a great source of word-like domains that are pronounceable but available.

You can select how natural you want the domain to sound, in which language, how many characters (max), and a word or letter combo to include in the domain.

If you can’t find what you want on Wordoid, try Domainr.

Domainr will find available and very short domains, but you’ll be stuck with a tricky subdomain and extension combo like del.icio.us.

Give it a try, but Domainr is ideal for finding short URLs for existing sites.

For Quick Set Up: Domains with an Identity

If you want to hit the ground running, you can buy a package of a brandable domain with a logo and color scheme.

Both Stylate and BrandBucket resell domains with ready-made logos as a brand package.

Both sites sort domains by category, so you can browse the possibilities for your niche. Name and logo quality seem fairly equal. The biggest difference is price.

Every domain and logo package on Stylate is $250. BrandBucket’s packages start at $595 but most are multiple thousands of dollars. The latter does offer a larger selection however.

For Any Purpose: Domains Without Effort

You can find additional tools like the ones above on NameStation. Their biggest differentiator, however, is their domain name contests.

For just $35, you’ll get 100-300 suggestions of available domains based on a project description. Once ideas start coming in, you can vote on them to give the contest entrants more direction.

When you’re tapped out of ideas or just need a starting point, turn over your project to the masses and let them do the work for you.

Regardless of your project, you should be able to brainstorm domains with just one or two sites. What are your favorite domain search engines?

Web Hosting Top 10 List. Web hosting reviews

2013-03-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting Top 10 List. Web hosting reviews

Our list of top 10 web hosts offers a rating of best hosting providers, the most reliable, feature-rich, well known web hosts that offer affordable hosting services at the lowest prices possible, including reviews of their services combined in top 10 web hosting services table.

Every provider of the following best web hosts in top 10 list offers:

» PHP/MySQL support, offering PHP 5 and MySQL 5 database;
» Microsoft FrontPage extensions support;
» multiple POP3 and IMAP email accounts with web-mail support;
» multiple subdomains and parked/add-on domains;
» web site building tools with free web page templates;
» unrestricted FTP access with multiple FTP accounts;
» web site stats, virus & spam protection, CGI, Perl, SSL support;
» at least 30 days money back guarantee;
» professional 24x7 technical support via email and/or by phone;
» and at least 99.9% network uptime guarantee.

The top ten web hosting ranks in the table below are based on (a) our site visitors preferences, (b) offered webhosting features and (c) best web hosting prices. Web host general reliability, network & server uptime, quality of customer support are also taken into consideration.

Top 10 Web Hosting providers comparison

Check chosen by PRchecker.info editors top 10 hosting providers compared in the table below.

Rank

Provider

Price

Space/Transfer

Features

	$4.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	cPanel/WHM, Fantastico, ASP, Curl, Cron, Pay Monthly » HostGator Review
2	$4.45 /mo	Unlimited (both)	Free Domain for Life, Site Builder, Anytime Money Back » JustHost Review
3	$4.50 /mo	Unlimited (both)	Easy & Green hosting, Drag and Drop Site Builder » iPage Review
4	$6.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	In business since 1996, SSH support (Secure Shell) » BlueHost Review
5	$4.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	Instant Setup, Real 24/7 customer support, » HostMonster Review
6	$4.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	90-Days Money Back, Easy Wordpress hosting, » WebHostingHub Review
7	$4.67 /mo	Unlimited (both)	100% wind powered Online Store Building tool » FatCow Review
8	$2.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	Cheapest web hosting Hassle-Free Unlimited plan » WebHostingPad Review
9	$3.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	eCommerce Hosting,Dedicated IP addresses » IXwebHosting Review
10	$5.95 /mo	Unlimited (both)	PHP 5 hosting, Web hosting UK and Europe, » Hosting.com.ru Review

» Best website hosting Top 10 List was last updated on 25 March, 2013: From PrChecker.info

One Div: The single element HTML/CSS icon database.

2013-03-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

Here's something that I came across when I was surfing through the Web last night. I thought it would be extremely useful for all your web projects. Its called One Div, a single element HTML/CSS database that gives you CSS, HTML codes for awesome shapes like this:

Loading indicator

Facebook symbol

And much more. Find more here: http://one-div.com

The 7 Biggest Web Design Errors And How You Can Avoid Them

2013-03-20T22:59:00.001-07:00

1 – Busy pages make bad pages

Trying to cram too much on to a single page is a sure fire way of putting visitors off. Not only is this practice generally a bad idea, but it can actively impede users logging on via a mobile device (of which there are ever-growing numbers).

White space is a good thing and gives users valuable breathing space to digest content. Make sure you’re spacing out columns, graphics, text and especially links. Above all, don’t try and do too much on one page.

2 – Hiding your links away

Links are arguably the most important feature of your website, so don’t hide them away or obscure them. First and foremost, you want to be consistent with how you highlight links, then apply this format across your entire site.

The opposite also applies, so don’t make un-linked text look like linked text. Some easy ways to distinguish links from regular text are with colour, underlining or bolding.

3 – Needless navigation is a no-no

It’s hard to overstate the importance of navigation on web design. This element will impact how easy and ergonomic your site is to get around, so spend some serious time putting yourself in the shoes of a new visitor.

While arty navigation (e.g. turning the page on a virtual book) is both pretty and tempting – and was fashionable for a period – it’s remarkably unintuitive to use. When setting out navigation for your site, bear in mind the key tenet of content being easy to find with the least amount of effort.

You should apply this doctrine to every aspect of your site, from drop-down links to images and beyond.

4 – Where’s your call to action?

Having a brilliantly designed and easy-to-navigate site is all well and good, but if it doesn’t prompt visitors to do the thing you want (i.e. click on something, share something, sign up to something), then it’s of no use at all.

You need to make sure that you include a clear call to action in a relevant place. However, this should by no means be intrusive, nor should it annoyingly interfere with navigation.

5 – Search and ye shall find

If you’re running a website (and particularly an e-commerce site) there is no excuse not to include a search function. Whether you have the resources to create this yourself or outsource it to a specialist, this is a necessity in the 21^st century.

Not only will this improve the functionality of your page, but it will also help to keep visitors who couldn’t immediately find what they were looking for on-site. One easy solution for newcomers to site design is Google’s Custom Search. By simply copying over the appropriate HTML code, you can incorporate a custom Google-powered search box for your users.

6 – Testing

Like GLaDOS from Portal, this should be your watchword. People will visit your site via a growing variety of means and it’s more important than ever to ensure an ergonomic experience for all.

Some common issues to look out for include being able to view the site in different environments, browsers and with different settings (e.g. having JavaScript disabled). There’s a vast variety of tools for such tasks available for free or at a marginal price, so there’s nothing holding you back from getting stuck in and keeping your website functioning at its peak.

7 – Keep your content coming and current

If you do opt to include a news, blog section or social media feed on your site – make sure to keep it up to date. If you fail to keep content relevant, it can make it appear like you’re out of businesses or are vastly behind the times.

Even if you have nothing to say yourself, it’s always possible to curate content you – and ideally your target audience – will find interesting and relevant.

Conclusion

Successful web design is more of an art than a science, but what doesn’t mean you can’t be empirical about the process. Look at your competitors’ sites and see what they do well – and badly – and then co-opt or discard these elements as needed.

Test the functionality of the site on those who’ve never used it and above all, have empathy. When viewing your work, try and put yourself in the shoes of a first-time visitor and alter elements accordingly.

Google's New Portal Provides Help for Hacked Sites

2013-03-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

This week, financial giant JPMorgan Chase's Chase.com website became the latest victim in what appears to be an escalating series of cyberattacks from a variety of sources over the past several months. For an entrepreneur, a website hack can be disastrous, disrupting revenue and causing customers to lose confidence. Perhaps mindful of the increasing frequency and severity of cyberattacks, Google has launched a one-stop shop for advice on how to recover after your website has been compromised.

On the new "help for hacked sites" portal, which opened Tuesday, you'll find a series of videos that walk you through how to assess the damage, contact your website host, quarantine your site and more.

Of course, protecting your site before hackers find it is always best, says Maile Ohye, a developer programs technology lead on Google's Webmaster Support Team who narrates the first video. Her tips for safeguarding your site, which she writes in an accompanying blog post, include:

Keeping software updated
Removing extraneous software
Using strong passwords (and making sure that your employees use them)
Backing up your site on a regular basis

Google's 10-Minute Guide to SEO Basics

2013-03-15T05:56:00.003-07:00

From keyword research to backlinking, staying on top of search engine optimization strategies can be a full-time job in itself. But fear not, time-crunched entrepreneurs. Google has a killer resource for you.

It's a 10-minute video loaded with must-know SEO advice for startups from Maile Ohye, a developer advocate on Google's Webmaster Central Team. Some of Ohye's tips include:

Don’t bother with meta keywords tags. Google ignores it for search.
Sign up for email forwarding. Google can forward you notifications regarding issues with your site that could dent your search ranking.
Use Google's Webmaster Tools to search for the keywords related to your domain name. If the domain's previous owners were spammers, your site might not rank highly in search.

For more of Ohye's tips, watch the video:

What tips would you add about optimizing your site for SEO? Let us know in the comments section below.

Which Cloud platform is right for you?

2013-03-13T01:56:00.001-07:00

We saw earlier what cloud computing basically is. If you missed that, here's the link: What is cloud computing?
Here is a video that I picked up from youtube which lets you know about the types of cloud platforms. ie. Public cloud, Private cloud and the hybrid cloud.

Why blogging is incredibly Awesome

2013-03-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

I was surfing through the web last night and I found this blog post which clearly describes the awesomeness of blogging. So, here I have it for you.
The previous post dealt with some of the hidden challenges of blogging. Now it’s time to get super positive, and discuss why blogging is incredibly awesome. Blogging entails a great amount of work, but with that you get back a myriad of worthwhile experiences.

Hitting Publish

The act of hitting “Publish” is simple in itself, but the work accomplished to be in that position always tastes sweet. Each post you publish has some background and a story. Putting the words and pictures together to bring it home and share with the internet is extremely satisfying. There is always a sensation of accomplishment and relief. I usually take a walk around the room to enjoy them moment before the promotion begins.

Providing Value

Providing value to your readers should be a leading reason to create content. It’s a huge part of what every blog should be about. Share your experiences and knowledge. Make it clear, and your readers will come back. Most readers are just looking for a valuable takeaway. If every reader exits your blog with something new then you’ve done your job. The immediate payoff of praise is usually found in your comments and tweets.

Connecting

Connecting with people from all over the world is arguably number one. Between blogging and social media the amount of people that you can build relationships with is daunting. Google Hangouts and Skyping (should be a word) with people from India, Australia, Japan, Philippines and countries you can barely pronounce. Very few outside of this space have had the good fortune of this experience. You can’t put a price on it. Listen, nothing beats meeting someone in person. However, technology has made this possible, and blogging is the catalyst. Yes, they were all extremely fortunate to connect with some guy from New Jersey. Smile.

Always Learning

You can spend 24 hours a day for the remainder of your life and not know it all. This holds true even if you’re an expert, guru, or ninja. There isn’t much that is static. Blogging itself is always evolving. SEO which is a spoke in the blogging wheel seems to change almost daily. Social Media, another spoke, continues to grow at incredible levels and each network has its own quirks and idiosyncrasies. Putting this all together is ongoing challenge that can never be mastered. The learning never stops.

Opportunities

As your blog grows you may land on the map. Time and consistent solid content generation can lead to opportunity. There are writing opportunities out there, both paid and free. Consulting, contract work, speaking engagements, and book publishing are some of the opportunities that have found bloggers.

Money

There is so much for free on the internet that we’ve become somewhat tainted. Even talking about generating income directly or indirectly from your blog is taboo in some circles. Well, you can make money through your blog. It’s not simple, but it can be done. Now you may not make $40K or $50K per month like powerhouses Pat Flynn and John Chow, but there are plenty of ways to generate income. Generating income includes: Adsense, selling advertising on your site, affiliates, writing gigs, E-Books, or your own products. That just scratches the surface.

This list could have been closer to 50, but I didn’t want this piece to be bookmarked. If you blog, we loved to hear why you find blogging to be so awesome. If you found this to be of value, please share with one of the networks below.

from geeklesstech.com

How To Make Money on YouTube

2013-03-08T06:11:00.001-08:00

Yes. You can make money from the videos you upload on Youtube and this is how you do it. In a nutshell you make money on YouTube by becoming a YouTube partner, which allows you to display ads on your videos, and then you earn a percentage of the revenues generated by clicks on those ads, much like with AdSense. As for how much money you can actually make, I heard numbers anywhere from $3 up to $10 per 1,000 video views.

However, the process of becoming a YouTube partner is not as trivial as becoming an AdSense publisher. Below you’ll find the basic steps you need to go through:

1. Make Sure You Have an AdSense Account

While the process to be able to display ads on your YouTube videos is a separate one, your earnings and stats will go together with your AdSense account, so you need to have one.

In theory you could apply to become a YouTube partner before having an AdSense account, and in case you get accepted you would then follow up with an AdSense application. I believe the other way around is much simpler, though.

2. Grow Your Audience on YouTube

One of the most important criteria the YouTube guys will use to evaluate your application is the audience you reach on YouTube. They don’t reveal what are the requirements, but I’ve seen many people say these are the ballpark numbers you need to have before getting accepted:

at least 1,000 subscribers
at least 1,000 views on all your videos
at least 10,000 channel views

These are the very minimum though, if you want to make sure you’ll get accepted I would aim for 5,000 subscribers, 50,000 channel views and over 1,000,000 upload views total.

3. Get Videos Out There Regularly

If you only have one or two videos uploaded your chances of getting accepted are low, even if those videos went viral. That’s because YouTube is looking for people who are planning to work with them over the long term.

The more regularly and frequently you upload new videos, the better. For instance, someone who uploads a new video every day will have a better chance of getting accepted than someone who uploads one every couple of weeks.

You also want to make sure you have at least 100 uploaded videos before applying to become a partner (though some people say 50 will be enough).

4. Develop A Brand Around Your Videos

This step is not essential, but I think it helps a lot on getting approve. You need to remember that, once you meet the technical guidelines, it will be a person on the other site deciding on whether you are a good fit for becoming a YouTube Partner or not. In other words, the more professional you look the higher your chances.

Practical tips include:

Create a website to host your videos and give your audience more wayts to interact
Create a nice logo and use it everywhere
Use a watermark on your videos with your logo
Consider getting a professional intro made for your videos
Customize your YouTube channel to make it look professional

5. Make Sure Your Content Has Zero Copyrighted Material

If there’s one thing that will get your application rejected on the spot is copyright infringement, so make sure you have zero copyrighted material on your videos.

This includes images, graphics, logos, video clips and audio. For instance, even just using a music on the background which you don’t have permission to could get your application rejected.

6. Apply to Become a YouTube Partner

After you followed all the previous steps you are ready to apply. You can do that via the official YouTube Partner Program page. It might take a while to get your application considered due to the load of people applying, but once you get accepted you’ll be able to start displaying ads on your videos right away.

Good luck!