TechnoBrights

Guidelines, Best Practices And Examples -Call To Action Buttons!!

2013-11-02T13:52:00.002+05:30

Call to action buttons on websites are often neglected. Designers sometimes don’t understand exactly what makes a good call to action button beyond being attractive and fitting into the overall design. But call to action buttons are too important to be designed without some kind of understanding of what makes them effective. After all, the main point of a call to action button is to get visitors to do something.

It’s important to gain at least a basic understanding of how color, scale, language, and other factors influence the conversion rate of a call to action button. The concepts here aren’t complicated, but they do take a bit of forethought and planning to create the most effective call to action buttons possible within a given design. Read on for more information on each of these points and more.

The Purpose Of "Call To Action" Buttons

Call to action buttons can serve a variety of functions. After all, “call to action” is really a bit vague. All it means is that it’s main purpose is to get a visitor to your site to do something. That something could be adding a product to their shopping cart, downloading something, requesting information, or just about anything else.

Because call to action buttons have such varied purposes, a lot of consideration has to go into what the button aims to achieve. The type of site, the target market, and the desired action can all play a role in how to best design a call to action button.

Types Of "Call To Action" Buttons

There are a few different types of call to action buttons. While each type aims to get visitors to perform a certain action, that action can vary considerably. Below are the most common types of call to action buttons, based on the action they want you to take.

1. Add To Cart Buttons

E-commerce sites generally use a number of call to action buttons, but the most widely-used one is the “add to cart” button. These buttons generally appear on individual product pages. Their purpose is to entice customers to purchase an item. Common design elements in add to cart buttons include simple wording (such as “Add to Cart” or “Add to Bag” or “Buy Now“) and the use of icons (usually a bag or cart).

2. Download Buttons

Download buttons are similar to add to cart buttons in that they’re trying to entice a visitor to take possession of an item. In the case of download buttons, many designers opt to include more information than other types of buttons (such as version information or download size).

3. Trial Buttons

Some sites try to entice their visitors to try their offerings, generally in the form of a free trial. This could be a free download or a free account, depending on the particular site. Some sites use the “less-is-more” philosophy and keep the language on their buttons to a minimum, while others like to offer more information on what the trial contains.

4. Learn More Buttons

Learn more buttons are generally used at the end of a block of teaser information (often on the home page). These buttons are usually simple, but often oversized to attract visitor attention.

5. Sign Up Buttons

Sign up buttons appear most commonly in two different versions. The first type is usually directly associated with a sign up form. The second type is usually used in a similar fashion to “add to cart” buttons, as a way for users to purchase or sign up for a service or account, before they actually reach a sign-up form.

There are other types of call to action buttons, but these are the most common. Guidelines that apply to those above will likely also apply to any other type of call to action button you might be designing.

Using Negative Space Effectively

You want your call to action buttons to stand out from the surrounding content and really command attention from your site visitors. To that end, you need to make use of negative space around those buttons. Incorporate blank space between your content and your call to action button. While this is less important (and less common) on some buttons, such as add to cart buttons, with others, like those to learn more, work better with more space.

It’s important to balance the amount of negative space you have around the buttons with the size of the buttons themselves. It’s about proportion. You want your button, the space around it, and the surrounding content to all look like they go together, even with disparities in size. You may have to fiddle around with things a bit in order to get them looking just right.

Some guidelines:

Make sure there’s enough space around your button so that it doesn’t feel cluttered
Consider principles like the rule of thirds or the Golden Ratio when determining how much space to include
Negative space gives your call to action button room to stand out among your other content and sets it apart

Size And Color

How large your call to action buttons are is very important. A button that’s too large will overpower everything around it. A button that’s too small will get lost in the shuffle of all the other content on a page. You want your button to be large enough to stand out without overwhelming the design.

Color can be used to great effect to help balance the size of your buttons. For larger buttons, choose a color that’s less prominent within your design (but still stands out again the background). For a smaller button, you may want to choose a brighter, contrasting color to really make the button pop. In either case, make sure the color you use sets the button apart without clashing with the site’s overall design.

Some guidelines:

Your call to action buttons should ideally be the largest buttons on a given page
Use contrasting colors to make smaller buttons stand out more
Use less distinct colors to make oversized buttons fit in better
You call to action buttons need to command attention without overwhelming your design

Language

The exact wording you choose to use on your call to action buttons can have a huge effect on conversion. Compare “Buy Now” with “Add to Cart“. One is much more urgent than the other one. Or how about “Try it for Free” with “Free Trial“? One is much punchier than the other and stands out more.

The language you use on your call to action buttons should be as straight-forward and simple as possible. You want visitors to know with just a glance exactly what they’ll get when the click on a button. If they question it, that means they’ve paused, which can lead to lower conversion rates.

Don’t forget your font sizes, too. The text on your call to action button should be large and bold, properly suited to the size and color of the button itself. Make sure there’s sufficient contrast and that the text is easy to read.

Some guidelines:

Use simple, direct language
Use a large, bold font on the button for the main text
Make sure the language clearly calls for a specific action

Create Urgency

You want visitors on your site to carry out the desired actions with as little thought as possible. While you don’t want to deceive your visitors, the more opportunities you give them to stop and consider what they’re doing, the more opportunities you’re giving them to say “no”.

You want your buttons to give them the impression that they need to act right away. You want to encourage them to make their decision immediately, on the spur of the moment. While this won’t work for every call to action button (especially those to purchase high-ticket items), for low-cost or free actions, having visitors click with little forethought is desirable.

Some guidelines:

Encourage your visitors to act immediately
Don’t give your visitors any reason to pause
While urgency is important, don’t mislead your visitors in any way

Provide Extra Information

Where appropriate, use your call to action buttons to give visitors extra information about what they’re going to get if they click on the button. This is most commonly seen with trial buttons or download buttons. Common examples of extra information include the length of time a free trial will last or the size of a file download. Version information is also commonly seen.

When including extra information, remember that you need to keep the focus on the actual call to action. Make sure that the text for the language enticing visitors to act is most prominent, with other information much less visible.

Some guidelines:

Only include extra information when it adds to the user experience
Extra information is only appropriate on some types of call to action buttons, most notably download or trial buttons
Make sure the main call to action is still the most prominent text on your button

Prioritize

It’s important to prioritize the call to action buttons on your page if there’s more than one. This can be done in a number of ways, but the most common are through the use of color and size.

Use color to highlight the most important button on a page, or to make the less important ones seem less prominent. Or use size to make the most important button stand out (by making it larger) and de-emphasizing the less-important ones.

Icons And Images

Including visual cues in your call to action buttons can also help to increase conversion rates. An icon of a shopping cart on an “add to cart” button, for instance, or an arrow on a download button are both good examples. Think of unique icons to use, too, but make sure that the icon adds to the user experience by clarifying what the button is for, and doesn’t add any confusion.

Some guidelines:

Make sure the icons you use help clarify your button’s meaning, rather than confuse it
Easily-recognized icons can immediately indicate meaning to your visitors
Don’t be afraid to use less-commonly used icons, as long as their meaning is still clear

Examples

Here are a few examples of great call to action buttons. While they don’t all perfectly conform to the guidelines above, they meet enough of the criteria to be considered great.

Livestream
Differentiating the "buy now" (for paid options) and "sign up" (for free options) buttons is a good strategy.

Windows 7
The big, green "Get Windows7" button is easy for visitors to spot.

Fileshare HQ
The bright green button here really stands out against the white background.

Logbook
Using different colors for the "Download" and "Buy" buttons sets them apart and gives priority to the "Buy" button.

TasteBook
This button makes great use of an icon and uses larger, bold text to stand out.

GoodBarry
Another bright green call to action button.

Lifetree Creative
Continuing the same typeface from the body copy to the call to action button creates a sense of cohesion.

The Resumator
A bright red call to action button with bold type stands out against the blue background.

Notepod
A good example of including extra information in a call to action button.

Inkd
A great example of prioritizing buttons with size.

Elegant Themes
Another excellent example of using color to stand out without clashing with surrounding design elements.

ZenDesk
Another great example of making a button stand out using color.

Storenvy
A round button is unexpected and stands out, especially when surrounded by a white border.

Bara’Mail
Sometimes a button that blends in works better in your overall site design, especially when the action is less urgent.

Blog vs Hubpages. Which is better? Pros and Cons of Hubpages and blogs. A complete review!!!!

2012-02-06T00:13:00.003+05:30

Blog vs Hubpages. Is Hubpages better than blog? Pros and Cons of Hubpages and blogs. A complete review!!!

I am writing his article because many of you may be wondering as to which is better than the other, and which one gets better revenue when used with affiliate programs- Blog or "Hubpages" ?

Well, this is a very tough question to answer. To say the truth, both Blogs and Hubpages have their own features and benefits. Both are wonderful means of free web hosting through which you can publish content on the internet. Both of them serve as a useful source of income, when used in conjuction with affilate programs such as Google adsense, Yahoo publisher or Chitika ads. They also enable you to create multiple web pages, and increase traffic to your other sites through links

Though I am an admirer of both blogs and Hubpages, I have put forward my unbiased and honest ideas on the Pros and cons of hubs and blogs, without any plagiarism

Pros and Cons of "Hubpages" and Blog. Which is better?

Which is more professional? Hubpages or Blog? Though both Hubpages and blogs are substantial means to create free websites, a Blog offers a more professionalistic design than a Hubpage. Due to the unique facility provided by Blogs to create text content and links of our own choice, using various fonts and styles, a blog can be optimized to look better and attractive, as compared to a Hub. Further, blogs provide you a wide variety of pre-defined web page design templates to create your page, whereas Hubpages don't provide this facility

A List of links lined up on a blog will look much professional and similar to that of a stand alone .com website, whereas hubpage links always come in the same format. These may look rather monotonous and unimpressive to catch the attention of a visitor. On the other side, the bold and large-fonted hub links may grab the attention of even the lethargic internet user who would hardly take the effort to peep into all corner of a webpage

Further, Blog provide the option to move and place gadgets(links,affiliate ads or news/poll columns) on the desired part of the webpage, whereas a hubpages don't

So, if you wish to design a professional website for business purposes, better opt for a blog than a Hub

Which drives more traffic? Hubpages or Blog? Well, after the introduction of Blogs and Hubpages, site owners have been able to attract more visitors to their sites. Though blogs and hubpages provide almost the same SOE(search engine optimization) ranking levels, Hubpages have the ability to create a greater amount of traffic from its own community of Hubbers. When someone searches for a certain topic through Hubpages, they will be presented with the list of related hubs along with the description and label photos. As a matter of fact, the number of visitors to your site each day will be more if you have a Hub instead of a blog.

The reason is that the number of "Hubbers"(members of Hubpages) visiting your Hubpages will be much more than the total number of visitors coming to your site from other sources such as people who have found out your site through search engines Google, Yahoo or MSN. More importantly, Hubbers would also take a look at your other Hubs by browsing through your profile or the topics on which you have created pages on.

So, if you wish to create some good traffic to site right from the start, better go for a Hub than a Blog

Which provide more revenue? Hubpages or Blog? This is perhaps the more important question of them all. With Hubpages, you get to display Google adsense ads and Kontera ads by default. You can also display eBay and Amazon ads. However, Hubpages does not allow you to display other affiliate ads such as Yahoo publisher ads, MSN (Microsoft adcenter ads) or Chitika ads. In contrast, Blogs allow you to display all the above types of affiliate ads on your blogs. A Blog will allow you to input the HTML code of any affiliate tool, such as Adsense, Yahoo publisher, Kontera or MSN

This is one the greatest advantage of blogs, when compared to Hubpages

Another important feature involved as far as Google Adsense is concerned, is that Blogs offer much better content- targeted ads since they offer the advantage of manually implementing adsense code in blog pages. As a result, you can display ad groups of your choice which would have better target content.

However, hubpages doesn't provide this feature. Further, since hubpages display ads of their choice, ads are mostly irrelevant and as a result, CTR(click through rate) in hubs are much lower as compared to blogs. Many affiliates have reported a 300% increase in click rates when they switched from Hubs to Blogs

How to obtain maximum benefits by using both blogs and Hubpages?

We have seen the Pros and Cons of having Blogs and Hubpages. Now, let us see how we can obtain maximum benefits and earn maximum revenue by using both Blogs and Hubpages.

I would suggest everyone to have an account with both Blog and Hubpages. By creating web pages on both blog and Hubpages, you can optimize your features and get the maximum out of both tools. Below are some useful tips to get maximum benefits by using Blogs in conjuction with Hubpages:

1. Place Hubpage links on your blogs that will direct visitors to your Hubs, and blog links on your hubs that will direct visitors to your blogs . This will enable visitors the maximum opportunity to check both your hubs and blogs

2. If one of your blogs or hubs is not getting enough visitors, increase traffic to that particular blog or hub by placing a link to that site through one of your blogs or hubs which gets lot of visitors everyday

3. Give brief description of a topic on one of your blogs or hubs, and direct the visitor for detailed information on the topic through links, that will lead them to your other blogs Hubs. For example, If you have created a blog on Finance, give a brief description on the Finance sector, and direct the visitor to one of your hubs containing detailed information on finance and financial products, through a link on the Finance blog

The above 3 tips are great means of increasing traffic to your blogs and Hubs

4. If you have enrolled yourself into various affiliate programs, split your affiliate ads on between your hubs and blogs. If you have 5 blogs and 5 hubs, keep all your Google adsense ads on your hubs and place all your Yahoo publisherads on your Blogs.

This way, you can optimize your affiliate earning level considerably

5. Placing same types of ads in marketing affiliate programs like eBay andAmazon onto a single site is particularly not a very good idea. Let's assume that you are have a blog and Hub each written on health related topics. Instead of placing Health supplement ads on both sites, you can place "health supplements" ads on your blog and place "Sportswear" ads on your hub

Next-Gen Electronics Charge Themselves With Energy-Harvesting LCD Screen

2011-08-28T12:26:00.001+05:30

Engineers at UCLA have developed technology that allows energy gobbling gadgets like smartphones and laptops to convert sunlight, ambient light, and their own backlight into energy. Equipping LCD-enhanced devices with so-called polarizing organic photovoltaics will
recoup battery loads of lost power, and enable smartphone users to scour Yelp, scan Twitter, and update their Facebook page without fear of draining the charge before a real communication crisis arises
Read more: Next-Gen Electronics Charge Themselves With Energy-Harvesting LCD Screens | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World

Liquid crystal displays make up the majority of the display screen market because they render bright and colorful images and are relatively easy to manufacture. As popular as they are, LCDs are by no means efficient — as much as 75% of energy is lost in the traditional polarization process and brightening the display drains the majority of the device’s stored electricity.
Photovoltaic polarizers can capture and recycle light that would otherwise be lost in the transmission process. The polarizers act as light filters and are capable of transforming backlight as well as ambient and natural light, which means that energy-harvesting LCD displays will power up your gadget whether or not it is in use.
Though it will be awhile before the technology is integrated into the design of everyday electronics, the days of keeping one charger at the office, one in the car, and another at home are limited.

The best blogging advice you’ve ever received

2011-07-05T18:48:00.001+05:30

Hi Bloggers,

We've set out to learn more about blogging from the people who know it best -- our users. I’ve really enjoyed your responses to our #bloggerasks tweets over the past two weeks, and spent a good amount of time reading through the blogs and posts that you’ve sent us.

Something that always astounds me about blogging is how the core experience of sharing stories pulls together an incredibly diverse group of people. The emphasis you all put on connecting with each other really speaks to the power of community among bloggers.

Here are some of my favorite responses to the question, What’s the best blogging advice you’ve ever received?

“Write to build community; link to others and participate in the conversation” (@LisaSpangenberg)
“To blog consistently, respond to comments, and to read and comment on other people's blogs (especially those who read mine).” (@kelblogg)
“To not only be active within your own blog but on others' as well - leave comments, but don't spam!” (@OnceBittenBlog)

Although it’s important to keep your readers in mind, most of you tweeted about staying true to yourself, and writing about what you love. @Mistylovesvamps said it best: “don't be a slave to stats & followers.”

The balance between writing for yourself and becoming part of a community can be difficult at first - even a little scary - but it’s worth it. And if you’re still on the fence, consider the best blogging advice @Shakestweetz received: “Hey, you should start a blog.”

Missed our #bloggerasks? Keep an eye out for future tweets, and for my posts on your responses. Have even more blogging advice? Let us know - leave a comment!

source: bloggerbuzz

10 Best Uses of Orkut or Facebook for Students

2011-07-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

Initially it was really exciting and checked the orkut account as email, and also had scrap and friend requests alerts set. Whenever someone used to scrap, send a friend request or approves it I used to get an alert. It was really fun meeting all old friends in one place after a long time. And also made friends from different parts of the world, specially having more girl friends was an honor. One fine weekend I decided to go for trekking and got off my research lab little early to take rest for next day trekking. I was getting busier with research paper’s deadlines too and this was last chance for me to go out for hiking. After dinner I went room I checked my mail and saw few friends’ requests and scrap alerts. Just opened orkut to accept and read the scraps and go to bed. Unfortunately or fortunately met many old friends and started scraping them and reading them unknowingly it went very late in the night.
Next day early in the morning when friends called me, I was not in a position to go with them, too tired and sleepy, just took excuse from them and slept long. In my history I missed my only first breakfast at IIT the next day. After waking up late, I took shower and ate some fruits and went to lab. As soon as open my mail saw a friend request form my B.Tech junior with a scrap. I jumped with happiness and opened orkut again and replied her scrap. It went on again and I missed my lunch. When I came out it was dinner time. I orkuted whole weekend, and missed my social life because of social networking.
Next Monday when I looked back at my progress, I felt really bad and sick of orkut. I thought of deleting the account at first, but speared it for my old friends here. On the way to lab I decided to make best use of orkut or any other social networking site to support my research as I used Internet.
First suggestion, to make best use of any social networking sites like orkut, facebook, my space, Hi5…etc. is to disable all the default setting, do not receive any alerts from them. You go the site whenever you feel like going there. Don’t give them a chance to pull you there. I went to settings and cancelled all the alerts and concentrated on my research work. With the changing the settings the golden time started.
Afterwards I used orkut the most efficient way to help my research, develop hobbies and finding friends at new job location. Instead of searching for orkut themes, best orkut birthday scraps or some best scrap shairee to send it to girls you can use it as most effective product to shape your career. Here are few tips.
1. For Education
Make best uses of communities join some of the best and active communities of current semester subjects specially the one you found difficult. Post your questions and be interactive in the community. There are lots of experts there who will be happy to help you.
2. Subject book reviews
In engineering we are usually confused about buying books for semester, most of the time students find it difficult to understand the concepts. Most of us end up buying a difficult book that we never study and finally end up with weak subject knowledge and just pass it and never dare to touch that again. With the help of seniors and other people who used these books we can find some very good book reviews and can decide which book will help us to grow in strong knowledge. The eventually help us in scoring good marks in final exams. Other books we can definitely borrow from college library.
3. The best buyer guide
Asking parents to buy a laptop for you and confused about the range available, go thought the community discussion related to the product and get an idea of product you were planning to buy. You can go through the reviews of your own community of people on certain electronic products. Most of the bloggers just copy paste info from the information brochures and really don’t have any idea about what they are talking about, therefore it is always better to use trusted communities.
4. Seminars
Seminars are must in almost every course these days. For selection of good seminar topics, materials and white papers join communities and learn from others experience. It will also help you to find out the trends while searching for a good topic that may be useful for your mini project and final projects.
5. Projects
Selecting a good project topic and working on that is usually one of the most difficult part the curriculum. Most of us think that our job mostly depends on the kind of project we do or at least our scores depends on it. You can search some good project names in some related communities. Ones you are done with collecting information and start implementing it and struck somewhere you can always approach the right person to help you in the communities. As expecting help from guides back at school will usually not much fruitful.
6. Competitive Exam preparation
When we are at the verge of finishing the course we usually look around for jobs, you can find lots communities with people similar to us, hunting jobs everyday. They will usually post some information about test and interview questions. Having a look at them will definitely help.
If you are preparing for some competitive exams like GRE, GMAT, GATE, TOFEL, JAM or MBA or MCA CETs, for further studies you will find huge recourse on these sites. You can see how people are using audio lectures and links to prepare for them. Preparation plans, ebooks and materials are often shared in these communities.
7. Promoting hobbies
Don’t get puzzled when some ask you for your hobby. What you would like to do in free time is your hobby. I love to read and write about personality development, using my time efficiently, therefore I joined a group till I found useful. I gave suggestions too but latter decided to write them on my own blog.
8. Outings
Vacations and semester breaks, don’t spend them at home just playing video games and thinking about reading something that you never read. Plan properly and look around what are the nearby tourist attractions that are affordable by you and your parents. Checkout the experience of other travelers and find out their recommendations to help your travel. This will make you fresh and also give a feeling of break from routine and gives strength to concentrate on studies again.
9. Contacts with old friends and Alumni
Everyone loves their close friends and loosing them make us cry. The best way to know how abouts of them is to add them as in your friend list and checking their profile updates and scrap them sometimes. Another set of important people to you can be your college Almuni who share a common interest with you or in places where you want to go in future. Don’t disturb them but on the same time don’t hesitate to ask a good question. Be good to them you may face them in some interviews. Also check their activities and have a note on their attitude this may help you to reach there.
10. News around the campuses or companies
Join the communities of companies and campuses you are targeting or going to join. This will make you understand the culture there make it easy for you to adopt. You can make friends before you go there. A new joining community can help each other with the admission or joining process. This can also be the best uses to keep your momentum going for your target jobs or campuses.
Hope this helps. Keep reading for new stuff..

End of dotcom era, Net braces for 'notcoms'

2011-06-22T14:58:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON: Coming soon to the internet: website addresses that end in ".bank," ".Vegas" and ".Canon."

The organization that oversees the internet address system is preparing to open the floodgates to a nearly limitless selection of new website suffixes, including ones in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts. That could usher in the most sweeping transformation of the domain name system since its creation in the 1980s.

More than 300 suffixes are available today, the bulk of them country-code domains, such as ".uk" for the United Kingdom and ".de" for Germany.

Hundreds or even thousands more suffixes could be created, categorised by everything from industry to geography to ethnicity.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will meet Monday in Singapore to vote on its expansion plan for domain names. If ICANN approves the plan as expected, new domains could start appearing late next year.

The new system could bring innovative branding opportunities and allow all sorts of niche communities to thrive online.

But businesses worry that they'll have to grab their brand names before others do. New suffixes could also create confusion as consumers navigate a Web with unfamiliar labels.

It's also possible that the new names won't make much difference because many people these days rely on search engines and mobile applications to find what they are looking for online. Consumers don't type Web addresses into browsers nearly as much as they did 15 years ago when talk of a domain name expansion began.

"Most people don't pay a lot of attention to website addresses anyway these days," said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land, a website that covers the search industry.

From a technical standpoint, domain names tell computers on the Internet where to find a website or send an email message. Without them, people would have to remember clunky numerals such as "165.1.59.220" for "ap.org."

The monikers have grown to mean much more, however. Amazon.com Inc has built its brand on its website address, while bloggers take pride in running sites with their own domain names.

ICANN has already allowed two major expansions of the addressing system. In 2000, it approved seven new domains, including ".info" and ".biz." It began accepting new bids again in 2004. It has approved and added seven from that round, including ".xxx" for pornography sites this past March.

Under the expansion plan now before ICANN, future applications would be streamlined and open to all companies, organizations and individuals.

That has set off a virtual land rush.

Organisations that operate new suffixes will be able to collect registration fees from websites that want names. The fees could add up to millions of dollars a year if a website is popular enough.

A group of entrepreneurs in Las Vegas is vying to operate a ".Vegas" suffix. They have the city's endorsement and consider ".Vegas" a way to unify local merchants, entertainment venues, residents and even businesses beyond Sin City.

Former professional hockey player Ron Andruff is working with international sports federations to bid for ".sport." He expects sports leagues, teams, athletes, equipment makers and fans to want websites with a suffix that defines them better.

Two groups - one backed by the Sierra Club and the other by Greenpeace and other environmental organization - are separately seeking the right to operate a ".eco" suffix.

Big business will stake claims, too. Printer and camera maker Canon Inc plans to apply for ".Canon". Trade groups for bankers and financial-services companies are working together to explore bids for ".bank", ".insure" and ".invest" for their member companies.

New domains offer fresh branding possibilities for companies to identify themselves online in "a more relevant or a more localized" way, said Pat Kane, a senior vice president at VeriSign Inc., which operates ".com" and ".net."

Although suffixes added over the past decade haven't been as popular as ".com," there has been demand for an expansion because nearly all of the most desirable ".com" addresses have been taken. There are more than 94 million registered under ".com."

The thinking is that new businesses setting up shop online might prefer a simple name that ends in ".bank" rather than "TheBankDownTheStreetFromTheSupermarket.com."

The expansion plan before ICANN had been delayed, however, largely because of concerns that new suffixes could infringe on trademarks and copyrights. There's also worry that new suffixes could deceive consumers, create new platforms for hate groups or lead to website addresses ending in obscenities. ICANN spent years crafting guidelines and creating procedures for objecting to applications.

ICANN already has approved rules for some countries to claim suffixes that spell their names in languages other than English. The new plan opens that up to Chinese and Arabic versions of ".bank" and ".sport" as well.

It won't be cheap to operate a domain name suffix. The application fee is $185,000, and winners will have to pay $25,000 annually after that. Disputes are likely as different groups go after the same domain. ICANN may auction off domains if multiple parties have legitimate claims. Legal fees could also pile up as trademark owners and governments file objections to certain applications.

Trademark holders, in particular, fear they would have to register a lot of addresses they don't need or want simply to keep others from using them. Microsoft Corp, for instance, would not want websites addresses such as "Microsoft.software" and "Microsoft.computer" used to commit fraud or sell pirated goods.

Copyright owners, too, worry they would have to devote more resources to fighting online piracy with a proliferation of websites ending in ".movies" and ".music" that distribute copyrighted content illegally.

ICANN has crafted rules meant to give trademark owners a first shot at claiming their brands. It would also have a process to quickly disable addresses that are clear violations.

But Steven Metalitz, a lawyer for a coalition of movie studios, recording labels and other copyright holders, fears ICANN won't be aggressive enough in enforcing the rules.

Still, supporters of the expansion believe it will create opportunities.

Juan Diego Calle, whose company operates the existing ".co" suffix, said that with more alternatives available, more businesses and groups will see that they can set up shop online with a catchy, easy-to-remember website that doesn't end in ".com."

5 Clever Ways to Get a Job Using Social Media

2011-06-22T14:48:00.002+05:30

Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0 and the founder of Millennial Branding, a full-service personal branding agency. He’s spoken about personal branding at Google, Harvard, Time Warner, IBM, and CitiGroup. Read his Personal Branding Blog for more information.

Social media is making it easier to find the right jobs, and for you to connect to the right people that can help you get those jobs. Many job seekers are still using traditional job search methods that are yielding poor results. The New York Post reported that one woman applied for more than one thousand jobs over 99 weeks, getting only two interviews. Nearly one in three job seekers has been out of work for more than a year, and the average job seeker gives up after five months.

But you don’t have to end up like these professionals! By understanding who you are, what differentiates you in the marketplace and establishing your personal branding online, you can compete in the new talent marketplace. Once you’ve built your own website and established your social network profiles, you’re ready to start leveraging your relationships and talents to get the job of your dreams, not just one that pays the bills.

More and more companies are recruiting using social media, and 40% of young professionals are using social media to get jobs, reports Elance. You can have a successful job search by following these five new ways to get a job using social media.

1. Leverage Your Social Graph

People get jobs through other people, not computers. By having a personal connection to the company you’re applying for, your chances of getting a job multiply. If all you do is submit your resume blindly on job boards, you won’t have much luck. Ten years ago, it would take you a lot of effort to ask your friends who they know and to remember where all your friends work. Now, you can tap your social graph on social networks and have all of that information at your fingertips. For job seekers, this means that you can get introductions to people who work at companies you’re interested in. For companies, this means growing your business though introductions instead of cold calls. The internet is your personal research laboratory. Here are a few tools that will help you tap into your social graph during your job search:

1. LinkedIn. LinkedIn gives you access to hiring managers through your close connections. After creating your profile, upload all of your email contacts so that you have a foundation to build upon. Then, search for a company or position, filter your results by location and see who in your immediate network can introduce you to a hiring manager. LinkedIn forces us all to do more research on employees and companies before interviews. All of their information is online, so it’s created an expectation that you’re doing your homework.
2. InTheDoor.com. Think of InTheDoor.com as a job board overlay on your Facebook social graph. It connects Indeed.com’s aggregated job board database and your Facebook social graph to show you who in your network can connect you with specific openings. You can find jobs at your friends’ companies, search for jobs in different cities by preference and search by company and job title.
3. BranchOut.com. Much like InTheDoor.com, BranchOut utilizes your Facebook social graph. The main difference is that you access BranchOut from within your Facebook profile, and it gives you more of a professional identity. It was always hard to build a professional identity on Facebook but BranchOut has tried to solve that. With $18 million in a recent venture capital round by Redpoint Ventures, more than 3 million job listings and 20,000 internships listings, this site is serious business. Like LinkedIn, you can get recommendations on your page, and like Foursquare, you can earn badges.

2. Use Augmented Reality and Job Search Apps

People are starting to use mobile applications to see job openings near them and apply with just a few touches of an iPhone or Android. In fact 20% of job seekers use their smartphone in their search for a job, reports LinkUp. “Augmented reality” blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. If you have an iPhone, you should download the “Layar” application. Once installed, click on “Layars” from the bottom menu and search for “JobAmp Mobile.” When you use this layar, you will be able to see all the companies near your current location and what positions are open at them. This information is very useful if you see a company you’re interested in when walking around your city.

In 2009, I wrote a post for Mashable on the top iPhone job search applications. Since 2009, I’ve found a number of other good applications that will assist you in your search, wherever that may be:

CareerBliss (Free). It has company reviews, salary information, and about three million job listings.
Good Job ($4.99). Organize your job search by tracking jobs from multiple sites, contacts, interview schedules, resumes and more.
Real-Time Jobs (Free). Attach a social network profile and video to Twitter job postings.
BusyBee (Free). If you’re a freelancer, then you can find contract opportunities nearby with this app.

3. Build Your Online Influence

More than a decade ago, if you had the right “hard” skills (i.e., C++ programming), you were almost guaranteed a job. You could almost trade your college diploma for a job upon graduation. Then, as the economy changed and became more competitive, companies started to pay attention to a new set of skills. Soft skills (i.e., communication, organization, leadership, etc) became increasingly important as a way to choose one candidate over another. Companies were interested — and still are — in passion, teamwork and cultural fit. In today’s world, not only do you need strong hard and soft skills, but you need to develop online influence. When two candidates look the same on paper and are both good communicators, the differentiator will be their online influence.

Online influence is measured in how many connections you have, who those connections are (and how influential they are), who and how many people are sharing your content and backlinking to your website and more. Klout.com, a site that measures online influence and gives you a “Klout score,” is becoming increasingly popular with employers. If you have a high Klout score, it can help you get hired over the next person. Online influence attracts employers, who are increasingly looking to hire professionals who are already well-known by their target audience. Companies understand that those with larger networks are more productive and can generate new business, recruit top talent and market their brand better than someone who lacks a big network.

4. Use Multimedia Instead of a Paper Resume

A recent OfficeTeam survey noted that 36% of companies think that it’s at least somewhat likely resumes will eventually be replaced by profiles on social and business networking sites. More and more professionals are using creative ways to promote themselves online. I’ve seen rap videos, dedicated Facebook Pages, a blog saying “hire me” and SlideShare.net presentations. These promotional tactics can be effective and even land some media attention, which could turn into a few job offers. Since very few job seekers take the time to invest in these tactics, they stand out and are shared widely.

SlideShare.net. Develop your own PowerPoint presentation, upload it to SlideShare.net and promote it through your networks and on your website. Your slides can include information about your technical skills, projects you’ve completed, an endorsement from a manager and more. Here is an example.
QR codes — Share a quick response (QR) code on your social networks to direct an employer back to your website. You can also put the code on print materials. Here is an example.
Viral videos — Create a video about yourself, or multiple videos linked together, and use YouTube to promote it. You can also develop a video resume which will showcase your personality to employers, in addition to your skills. Here is an example.
Creative websites — Use your creativity and establish a creative website under your full name (yourfullname.com). Here is an example.
- Senior Account Supervisor – Digital Digital Edelman PR in San Francisco
- Social Media Specialist at Zeno Group in Chicago
- Senior Product Manager at YouCast Corp in New York, New York
- Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Social Media channel
- Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

5. Turn Yourself Into an Advertisement

Another way to get people’s attention is to advertise yourself to the specific people and companies you’re looking to work for. The four most common ways to advertise yourself are through Facebook social ads, Google AdWords, blog advertisements and LinkedIn Ads. These are all offerings used primarily for businesses, but can be applied to your job search.

You can see an example of this being done by Alec Brownstein in 2010, when he advertised himself by targeting specific executives at companies he wanted to work for. Since people Google themselves, the executives saw his advertisement and he landed interviews. You want to create an advertisement that catches a recruiter’s attention and make sure that it links back to your main website or LinkedIn profile. Your advertisement should be specific and have your expertise clearly identified.

Experience via learning how to create a website using Google Page Creator (GPC)

2011-06-22T12:06:00.000+05:30

Here you will learn what is ..... 1) favicon 2) track visitors 3) Guest / Visitor 4) Site Map (Generation and load) 5) Site Search / Search only within your site 6) Insert slides from the album 7) anchors / Page Hyperlink within same page

1) favicon - the favicon is not only the image displayed in the address bar when you access the site. Leading the URL is right on the Internet.
And to put favicon on your site, do the following things: -
=> Make your own image. You can use any editor, and even a painter would do. Just keep it with him. myicon.ico extension ICO. Can be either an International Coffee Organization (16X16 pixels) or (32x32 pixels). When you save it creates a painting using ICO file size (32x32 pixels) as standard.
=> Once done with creating your favicon, and upload to your site
=> So all the pages where you want to show a picture put the following code: -
In this code, just replace the URL with my favicon URL of your favicon.
=> In fact, many hosting providers website and their own favicons. The default name of the favicon file on most sites is favicon.ico. So they do not allow to upload a file named favicon.ico.
My experience with Google Page Creator (GPC) is that if you upload a file named favicon.ico and use the above code, it does not work. The first reason is to feel my favicon.ico will write a page which provides GPC. So the solution to this is to have another name to some of your favicon in such cases myicon.ico.
This code works with Mozilla, but does not work with Internet Explorer.
Check an example here.
2) track visitors: - We may want to know how many hits we get, who visited each site, and countries that get you from the beaten and the end-host's IP, etc., and how to achieve it? There are also many tools freely available and can be used. I have made use of gostats.com.
Things you need to do to the statistics of visitors: -
=> Register with any website that gave you calculate statistics of visitors. In my case it was a free account on gostats.com.
=> After the registration. The choice between the different forms available to coordinate and to the image you want to see
=> Once done with the election of "a law against", just to get the code from the site.
=> Insert this code where you want to see statistics of visitors.

For example, I pasted this code on each page and my website and display them on either side. It gives me an understanding of visits to each page.
=> Well if you do not want to show the stats for collection by the user yet, you can have an invisible counter. Therefore, all maintain the same code with the exception of removing the code displayed to the user. Note that you can use the same code across multiple pages counter, and as clear on some pages and not visible on some. It's not a good way to gather statistics.
Check an example here.
3) Guest / Visitor: - We may want to save space, the visitor to express their comments about what he / she felt about our site. For this we need a comment box (also called message) on our website. I've analyzed a lot of books for guests, but found that many of them require to move to another location. Visitors tend to be willing to relocate to another site to post comments, and then visit your site again. It was the best I could find a free account to avoid this http://www.cbox.ws/. Once you have registered, you can get the code that you insert on your webpage and will be recorded in the register of visitors to the web pages themselves. As a result, you can make your stay even more visitors to your site.
Check an example here.
4) Site Map (generation and load): - When we create a website, and we are very eager to see our website in search engine results for relevant searches. Sitemap file is not only reptiles site that gives an idea of how to organize the site. Most reptiles, including participants Googlebot (crawler from a search engine Google) through links from the current page to move on to other pages. And therefore, if it is allowed to crawl on the map that represents the site and the site will be on the links of it and you will get the entire site has passed sense. But this process takes time. With my experience, just in the first game to get past the website. So after a few weeks and get a passing based on the importance of other pages on the file you specify in the Site Map. Total time taken to traverse the whole site, depend on many factors including: - the number of pages ranked highly related to your site, and the number of pages in the high-ranked links to your website, your site's content and the content of your site in relation the number and received a high rank in it.
To generate the site map you have to make use of the following steps: -
=> There are many freely available tools that automatically generate the site map for free. I did use the Sitemap Generator ROR. Can generate a Sitemap ROR Sitemap generator itself or download free software from there.
=> You only need to enter the URL of your site and it will create a blog entry cards for you.
Just copy this code in a file named "sitemap.xml" and upload it on your site.
We can only wait and see. Within a few weeks will see the magic.
For any site that contains the site map you can see it in http://www.sitename.com/sitemap.xml.
Generally also appears on the card web site so visitors can understand how to organize the site.
Here is a sample selection
5) Site Search / Search only within your website - it is better if we could have a search engine on our website so that users can search for needed parts. Much better if we can deliver the solution, where we might want to enable the user to search the site itself or through a global communications network as a whole. I've tried Google, but the same thing if it is available to Yahoo as well.

For this we have one basic requirement: -

Must be indexed all your pages, and that means you must not show all the pages in search results of this search engine you want to include on your site. You can check this by a simple search on Google search engine. Just type the search query like "site: SITENAME" and if you get to see all your web page and then you may continue in part modulated.
For example, to my site and get the query "site:. Ganesh.jaju.googlepages.com 'check the results of your query here. When you are through with the requirement, so all you have to do is copy the code of symbols related to the various search engines like Google. The symbols are provided here. Often, this requires that the codes are set for each of the research on the spot, and research on the Internet. It's here.

6) Insert slides from the album: - There are many sites that allow us to upload pictures for free, like Flickr, Picasa, etc. After downloading the pictures above, we want to create a slideshow of pictures in a different location we have written the code, or maybe just want to include themselves in the place, so visitors can see the images embedded in your website.
This can be done in simple steps: -
=> First upload to any site that allows you to host your images. => So, on this site, check for the album for a special slide show option. When you get to see just a display address from the address bar and included in the following code: -
=> Insert this code where you want to show slides of your images. Align the pattern and the border, according to your convenience.
Check an example here.
7) anchors / page a link in the same page - sometimes you want to give the index of items in the beginning of a web page and then to explain this on the same page? So it would be the best idea to give an index in such a way that the visitor can go through and read only what he wants? In such cases it is best to provide links on the same page? As it is known at this page anchors? The advantage of this is that when the user clicks on the desired item, he will move to this very subject on the same page and do not have to search / scroll for this item.
Steps to do this are: -
=> In the place where you will jump, and paste the following code: - Text
=> At the point where you want to jump, and paste the following code: - Text
=> Replace the relevant links and text with your content and you're done.

The most famous SEO tricks

2011-06-22T11:56:00.000+05:30

The most famous SEO tricks SEO (search engine optimization) is really an important means of directing traffic to your website, it is very important to understand the tricks to get more visits.
Some SEO techniques most famous and moral is as follows:
• Address is the most powerful member of the SEO tactics, but should be used creatively. Only one thing to be the title tag and keywords is to try to the best of the web page that you are using.
• The link popularity is one of SEO's most famous trick. The fact that most search engines, links to Web sites that are not in the first place because of the location of the fingers. It is therefore important that other sources, which is associated a specific link to your site. This increase in traffic, and improve the ratings and add value to your website.
• It is very important that your keywords for each web page address to a different address saruatamam used.
• Always remember, the keyword density, SEO is very important and relevant research. Should use the words in the title by the time a member of heading, body text and keyword density of between 5% and 20%
• It is important to SEO tactics to internal and external links on a lot of keyword anchor text.
• It is wise that the site is subject to the rich because the subject is now more interested in the establishment of a search engine.
• approximately 250 words on a page, which is based on the unique relevant content for the site, because the speed is very important for visitors and search engines.
• It always comes back to the site regularly with new content and unique of its kind that attracts visitors to remember that the add-on.
• Do not forget to add the site map. This will help you structure your site for spiders.
• Send links to articles about web directories, but the famous SEO trick again, is in fact the movement was born when you click on an increase in traffic.
• In addition, the link to your website, the publishers do not forget to submit articles. We do not expect they will get evidence from this article. It is better to sign directly to the publishers themselves.
• Compared with other SEO tricks to make a special forum in which to connect to the internet advertising site.
• Last but not least. Another popular tactic for SEO, "including" the PR0 directories directories to submit your web site.
Okay, so the most popular techniques of SEO is the best search results for major search engine rankings and you can put in your way. But very, very important that you follow them correctly.

Microsoft: Windows 8 Won't Require a New PC

2011-06-19T18:05:00.000+05:30

Having learned its lesson the hard way with Windows Vista, Microsoft offered assurances Thursday that its upcoming Windows 8 operating system won't require users to buy a new PC.

"We've extended the trend we started with Windows 7, of keeping our system requirements either flat or reducing them over time. So Windows 8 will be able to run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same system requirements or lower" as Windows 7, said Michael Angiulo, the Microsoft executive who showed the new software at a press event in Taipei on Thursday.
"Another thing we did is build intelligence into Windows 8 to adapt the user interface based on what hardware you have. So whether you're upgrading or buying a new PC, Windows will adapt itself for your hardware," he said.
[Watch a video of the Windows 8 launch here.]
The new OS is designed to be touch-enabled, so people without touch screens obviously won't get all the benefits of the new OS. It will also work with a wider variety of sensors for detecting things like motion and proximity, and those sensors will not be present in existing PCs.
But Angiulo said the new interface, which has large colored icons and resembles Windows Phone 7, can still be navigated smoothly using a mouse and a keyboard. The page up and page down buttons can move through the application tiles on the screen, a mouse click will open applications, and the Windows shortcut key on a keyboard will take users back to the desktop.
To prove the point he showed Windows 8 running on a handful of existing PCs, including a Samsung Series 9 laptop and an L Series Sony Vaio.
"When you're reimagining a system that a billion people around the world use it's a big responsibility," Angiulo said. "Windows 8 is for hundreds of millions of computers with all different screen sizes, whether they're touch-enabled or not. Windows 8 is an upgrade for the entire ecosystem of PCs."
It's an important message for Microsoft to get across. If people believe they need to buy a new PC to run Windows 8 it would slow the transition to the new OS and hurt Microsoft's business.
Still, there are features in Windows 8 that won't work with existing hardware, and Microsoft is being more prescriptive than usual about how hardware makers should design their PCs for the new OS.
The optimal screen will have 16:9 aspect ratio and minimum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, Angiulo said. A 1024x768 display will also be able to show the new interface, he said. But a netbook with a low-resolution screen will have to switch to the standard desktop mode, he said.
Microsoft learned its lesson about system requirements with Vista. Many PCs in use at the time wouldn't run the OS properly. People reported a lousy experience with the software and it became about the most unpopular OS in Microsoft's history. The company will be keen not to let that happen again.

Steve Jobs comic book 'biography' on the way

2011-06-19T18:03:00.000+05:30

For those who can't wait until 2012 for Steve Jobs' authorized biography, another will be here this August--with illustrations to boot.

Publisher Bluewater Productions announced this morning that "Steve Jobs: The co-founder of Apple" will hit store shelves in two months. The comic book biography promises to give readers "unique insight" into Apple CEO's "legendary drive to the top and his continuing fight to stay there."

"His innovations command front page news, speculation of his health affects the stock market. Not bad for a college dropout," Bluewater president Darren Davis said in a statement. "His story, and that of Apple, is epic. I'm surprised it took us this long to publish a proper, balanced biography of him."

The illustrated Jobs bio, which will run 32 pages, joins a similar effort by Bluewater to profile Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That graphic novel promises to detail the road to Zuckerberg's success, and hits stores in September. The group has done the same for more mainstream celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, and Lucille Ball.

Bluewater's biography of Jobs comes well ahead of an authorized biography by Simon & Schuster biographer Walter Isaacson. Dubbed "iSteve: The Book of Jobs," that work arrives next March. Shortly after hitting Amazon and Apple's own iBookstore as a preorder, the title rocketed to the top-seller list.

Bluewater says readers will be able to pick up the illustrated biography at local comic book stores, as well as through Amazon for $3.99.

Mozilla to add built-in PDF viewer to Firefox

2011-06-19T18:02:00.001+05:30

Mozilla is working on a project that will add PDF rendering to Firefox using HTML5 and JavaScript, eliminating the need for users to run Adobe's own plug-in.

The PDF reader may be included in Firefox within three months, said Andreas Gal, a Mozilla researcher who on Wednesday unveiled work the company had done quietly for the last month.

If Mozilla follows through on its plans, it would make Firefox the second major browser -- after Google's Chrome -- to offer in-browser PDF rendering.

But while Chrome relies on an API (application programming interface) to craft its own native-code plug-in, Mozilla will exclusively use HTML5 and JavaScript to display Adobe's popular document format.

Gal touted that as more secure.

"The traditional approach to rendering PDFs in a browser is to use a native-code plug-in, either Adobe's own PDF Reader or other commercial renderers, or some open-source alternative," Gal said in a post to his personal blog.

"From a security perspective, this enlarges the trusted code base, and because of that, Google's Chrome browser goes through quite some pain to sandbox the PDF renderer to avoid code injection attacks. An HTML5-based implementation is completely immune to this class of problems," he said.

Adobe Reader, the free PDF viewer whose plug-in is most notably used by Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), has been updated five times so far this year to fix flaws discovered by, and in many cases exploited by, cyber criminals. Three of those updates were "out-of-band," or emergency releases to address critical vulnerabilities hackers were actively exploiting.

By shunning the Reader plug-in, a browser sidesteps the vulnerabilities that come with the Adobe software.

Mozilla will initially provide the in-browser PDF viewer via a Firefox extension, but Gal said the ultimate goal was to ship the viewer inside the browser. "This will result in a substantial usability but also security improvement for our users," he argued.

Mozilla has dubbed the open-source project "pdf.js," and has publisheddetailed plans on its site, as well as source code on Github.

Gal said that other browsers could also use pdf.js to display PDF documents.

"We would love to see it embedded in other browsers or Web applications," Gal said. "Because it's written only in standards-compliant Web technologies, the code will run in any compliant browser."

Funny Trick To Hack Facebook

2011-06-19T17:59:00.000+05:30

If you really want to impress someone with your hacking skills then this trick will surely help you.Well this is actually not any hacking just a simple javacript trick but the other person will surely believe you as a hacker.

So what can you do with this trick?

You can edit content of any website including facebook,myspace,twitter etc.For instance see the pic below

How to perform this trick?

Open any website of your choice (like facebook) in browser (internet explorer,google chrome,firefox) and clear the address bar of the browser.

Copy paste the following javascript code in the address bar of your browser

JavaScript:document.body.contentEditable=’true’; document.designMode=’on’; void 0

And thats it.Now you can edit anything that is written on the page.

How this trick actually work?

This is a javascript code on the the browser side.It is temporary and the changes will be gone once you refresh the webpage.

The javascript code JavaScript:document.body.contentEditable=’true’; makes the website editable in your browser.

The code document.designMode=’on’ tells the browser to turn the designmode on

The code void 0 tells the browser not to show any error

So, enjoy this funny trick to hack facebook

Sync Firefox to Your Phone

2011-06-17T15:35:00.000+05:30

Keeping everything synced up is rather easy these days, thanks to great new features like the sync option built into Firefox 4. However, even after it has been set up – how do you get the most out of it? You could sync your desktop browser settings, bookmarks and passwords up with your cell phone. Let me show you how to securely access your Firefox history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords on the go.

How to Setup Firefox Sync
For those of you who pay attention to my other projects on the web, you might have noticed my post about getting a my first cell phone. I picked up the Droid X the other day, and one of the first applications I downloaded for it was Firefox 4. The browser experience is simple and very lightweight. So with Firefox 4 on my desktop and my cell phone, how did I get them to talk to one another?
From your desktop Firefox install, click on the Firefox button and set up Firefox Sync. You will be asked to fill out your email address, password and fill in a recpatcha to make sure you are not a robot. Now, do the same on your mobile device. You will want to swipe to Tools > Preferences and tap on Setup Sync. You’ll then be given a unique single use sync code. Go back to your desktop Firefox and click on the Firefox button, click on Options and then go to the Sync tab. From this window, click on "Add a Device" and enter the code on your cell phone.
Note: If your using an iPhone, the sync process will be a little different for you, since you will have to use Firefox Home instead. Check here for more details on how to get that set up and running.
Using Firefox sync has made my transition between my new cell phone and my desktop much easier.

it makes a Big Differenceif you are Number One in Google Search results

2011-06-13T20:07:00.000+05:30

A study from Optify [PDF] has revealed 37% of Google users are likely to click on your website link if it ranks at number one in Google search results pages while the CTR dips to 12.5% for sites that rank at position two in Google. The report also says that the average click-through rate for being on page one of Google is 8.9% while it drops to 1.5% for sites that appear on Google’s second page of search results.

Average Click-Through Rate on Google

Search Engine Watch has converted this CTR data into a caterpillar-shaped infographic [PDF] to help you visualize it even better. If you are an SEO company, you can probably use this data / graphic to convince your clients to further increase their search marketing budgets.

A Simple Download Manager from Microsoft

2011-06-13T19:50:00.000+05:30

Microsoft offers a standalone download manager for Windows until they updated the program to version 1.2 and it thus made a re-appearance in one of the feeds for Microsoft’s Download Center.

Microsoft Download Manager is a lightweight and easy-to-use tool that you may use to download files from the Internet. There are no complicated settings to configure and all you need to do is paste the file URL to begin the download process.
It can run minimized in the system tray and pops-up a unobtrusive notification every time a file download is complete or if the program has trouble downloading a particular file.
The software can only handle files that are served over the HTTP protocol (no FTP) but it does support downloading of files that require authentication. It was originally designed to help users download files from Microsoft sites but there’s nothing stopping you from using this program with any other site.
Microsoft Download Manager is compatible with all recent versions of Windows including XP, Vista and Windows 7.

How to identify hoax email job offers-protect ur resume from spammers

2011-06-11T13:05:00.000+05:30

The emails come from a free, public domain email account (such as gmail.com or hotmail.com) and not a company email id such as infosys.com.
They request a cash deposit in a bank account or payment in some form.
They ask for personal details such as bank account, credit card number, personal address, social security/PAN number.
If the email begins with "Dear Sir" or "Dear User", the sender of the email does not know you by name. A legitimate source will address you with a proper salutation, which contains your last name.
Another way to identify fraudulent job offers is when you spot several grammatical errors in the email text. This would not usually happen in an email from a legitimate company.

list of useful Toll Free Phone Numbers in India

2011-06-11T02:52:00.000+05:30

All top companies and service providers now offer a complete toll free phone number service, using which you can contact them for free. Here is a list of many toll free phone numbers which you can use when you are in need to contact the service providers. Dont forget to bookmark this list now because it may come useful in case of some emergencies.
Airlines Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Indian Airlines – 1800 180 1407
Jet Airways – 1800 22 5522
SpiceJet – 1800 180 3333
Air India — 1800 22 7722
KingFisher – 1800 180 0101
Automobiles Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Mahindra Scorpio – 1800 22 6006
Maruti – 1800 111 515
Tata Motors – 1800 22 5552
Windshield Experts – 1800 11 3636

Banks Toll Free Phone Numbers :
ABN AMRO – 1800 11 2224
Canara Bank – 1800 44 6000
Citibank – 1800 44 2265
Corporatin Bank – 1800 443 555
Development Credit Bank – 1800 22 5769
HDFC Bank – 1800 227 227
ICICI Bank – 1800 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI – 1800 22 4848
IDBI Bank – 1800 11 6999
Indian Bank – 1800 425 1400
ING Vysya – 1800 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank – 1800 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank – 1800 11 2300
Punjab National Bank – 1800 122 222
State Bank of India – 1800 44 1955
Syndicate Bank – 1800 44 6655
Cell Phones Toll Free Phone Numbers :
BenQ – 1800 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones – 1800 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist – 1800 11 1211
Nokia – 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson – 3901 1111
Computers/IT Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Adrenalin – 1800 444 445
AMD – 1800 425 6664
Apple Computers – 1800 444 683
Canon – 1800 333 366
Cisco Systems – 1800 221 777
Compaq – HP – 1800 444 999
Data One Broadband – 1800 424 1800
Dell – 1800 444 026
Epson – 1800 44 0011
eSys – 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy – 1800 444 888
HCL – 1800 180 8080
IBM – 1800 443 333
Lexmark – 1800 22 4477
Marshal’s Point – 1800 33 4488
Microsoft – 1800 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update – 1901 333 334
Seagate – 1800 180 1104
Symantec – 1800 44 5533
TVS Electronics – 1800 444 566
WeP Peripherals – 1800 44 6446
Wipro – 1800 333 312
xerox – 1800 180 1225
Zenith – 1800 222 004
Couriers/Packers & Movers Toll Free Phone Numbers :
ABT Courier – 1800 44 8585
AFL Wizz – 1800 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers – 1800 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd – 1800 21 4560
DHL – 1800 111 345
FedEx – 1800 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers – 1800 11 3456
UPS – 1800 22 7171
Education Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Edu Plus – 1800 444 000
Hindustan College – 1800 33 4438
NCERT – 1800 11 1265
Vellore Institute of Technology – 1800 441 555
Amity University NCR Delhi – 1800 110 000
Healthcare Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Best on Health – 1800 11 8899
Dr Batras – 1800 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline – 1800 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson – 1800 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic – 1800 22 5292
LifeCell – 1800 44 5323
Manmar Technologies – 1800 33 4420
Pfizer – 1800 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek – 1800 11 45 46
Rudraksha – 1800 21 4708
Varilux Lenses – 1800 44 8383
VLCC – 1800 33 1262
Home Appliances Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Aiwa/Sony – 1800 11 1188
Anchor Switches – 1800 22 7979
Blue Star – 1800 22 2200
Bose Audio – 1800 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines – 1800 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners – 1800 444 222
DishTV – 1800 12 3474
Faber Chimneys – 1800 21 4595
Godrej – 1800 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps – 1800 33 4555
LG – 1901 180 9999
Philips – 1800 22 4422
Samsung – 1800 113 444
Sanyo – 1800 11 0101
Voltas – 1800 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio – 1800 44 5432
Hotel Reservations Toll Free Phone Numbers :
GRT Grand – 1800 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group – 1800 111 000
Marriott – 1800 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza – 1800 111 222
Taj Holidays – 1800 111 825
Insurance Toll Free Phone Numbers :
AMP Sanmar – 1800 44 2200
Aviva – 1800 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz – 1800 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance – 1800 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life – 1800 227 227
LIC – 1800 33 4433
Max New York Life – 1800 33 5577
Royal Sundaram – 1800 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance – 1800 22 9090
Mattresses Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Kurl-on – 1800 44 0404
Sleepwell – 1800 11 2266
Investments/Finance Toll Free Phone Numbers :
CAMS – 1800 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund – 1800 22 2300
Easy IPO’s – 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments – 1800 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund – 1800 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley – 1800 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund – 1800 222 626
LIC Housing Finance – 1800 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund – 1800 22 3040
Sharekhan – 1800 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund – 1800 22 0101
Paints Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Asian Paints Home Solutions – 1800 22 5678
Berger Paints Home Decor – 1800 33 8800
Teleshopping Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Asian Sky Shop – 1800 22 1800
Jaipan Teleshoppe – 1800 11 5225
Tele Brands – 1800 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping – 1800 447 777
WWS Teleshopping – 1800 220 777
Travel Toll Free Phone Numbers :
Club Mahindra Holidays – 1800 33 4539
Cox & Kings – 1800 22 1235
God TV Tours – 1800 442 777
Kerala Tourism – 1800 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort – 1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours – 1800 22 9900
Sita Tours – 1800 111 911
SOTC Tours – 1800 22 3344
UPS :
APC – 1800 44 4272
Numeric – 1800 44 3266
Indian Railways :
Indian Railway General Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Railway Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9
Others Important Helplines :
Consumer Helpline – 1800 11 4000
loreal garnier – 1800 223 000
KONE Elevator – 1800 444 666
Indane – 1800 44 51 15
Aavin – 1800 44 3300
Pedigree – 1800 11 2121
Kodak India – 1800 22 8877
Domino’s Pizza – 1800 111 123
World Vision India – 1800 444 550
Telecom Monitoring Cell – 1800 110 420

Speak Asia Online Surveys Scam – Star News Report

2011-06-11T02:47:00.000+05:30

People always have a feeling that earning online is very easy and its one of the best way to become rich. One of these Richie rich style jobs include trying our online surveys which has always made people fool out of their hard-earned money but still the short cut options make them invest on these. You have to pay a one time sign up fees to these companies and then expect paid surveys of a few hundred rupees each making you to earn a lot of money.
But wait recently a smart company was launched in Singapore which claimed that it had large clients like ICICI Bank who were paying them for research and the company was offering panelists / membership options for around Rs 11000 and within a few months around 13 lakh people already joined in which is seriously a very big number.
Many students and middle-class people have actually taken bank loans and signed up for this company with multiple accounts in a hope to earn back lakhs of Indian Rupees very quickly and also to get many surveys which is what the company is claiming. According to this MLM type program members the more speakasiaonline.com accounts you have, the chances of getting more accounts increases which is why they keep reinvesting and also force their friends / relatives to do the same.
More confidence on this company came in when it started advertising on Television and Newspapers with very high budgets, off-course it’s the innocents money but its being spent but these smart managers of the company trying to make the game to a very big level.
The problem now is that there have been many similar companies like Unipay2u, Visarev, Global Index Wing, StockGuru India, TVI Express, Japan Life, Quantum Funds Online etc which have already been closed in the past few years and this new company ie Speakasiaonline.com should also follow them. Below is a video which was covered by Star News giving Indians a big news on why you should avoid all these online surveys firms and stop dreaming about making big money online without hard work.

Finally if you still are not going to believe the above mentioned video or the suggestions given above then go ahead and get a PIN because these people are going to increase the prices from Rs 11,000 to Rs 15,000 on 20th may and you may not find any better opportunity to loose money.
Public Note : We are in no way trying to defame the company and this article is posted in public’s interest. We have had received many emails on reviewing the speakasiaonline.com company but we are not related to any Legal Authority to do the same. Hence we have posted out a few risks based on the previous experience with similar survey based companies along with a video which has content by The Star News TV Channel giving more insights on this program. If you join or leave this program it should be based on your personal interest and research and we should not be taken liable for any of your acts.

Play KBC Kaun Banega Crorepati Online Game

2011-06-11T02:39:00.000+05:30

Who Wants to be a millionaire inspired Indian version “Kaun Banega Crorepati” is hosted by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is in the part 4 and its already a hit in India. Amitabh Bachchan is a famous personality in Bollywood and is known with the name “Big B” and the KBC is incomplete without him.
Kaun Banega Crorepati game is also available for download and you can play this games if you would like to enjoy being on hot seat. This offers a chance to win Rs 1 crore through the game virtually just like the normal game. Kaun Banega Crorepati is revamped a little by adding 12 questions instead of normal 15 and this game does the same.
KBC online game is just like the normal interface game. You will be asked 12 questions to make a millionaire. You have 4 possible answers, 30 seconds timer and you would also be provided with 4 lifelines to help you win 1 crore. You need to be registered to play the game online for free.
So wanted virtually to be on KBC and get that feel? You can get started at Play Virtual KBC Online. You need to do one time registration with the process and that would start your play. This will make you feel that you are playing KBC with Amitabh Bachchan and who don’t love it.

All about Dynamic Views for Authors

2011-06-06T20:25:00.000+05:30

Blogger now offers you the ability to present your content in several new and exciting ways.
These dynamic views will work on your blog if all of the following are true:

Your blog is public. Your readers don’t need to sign in to view your blog.

Your blog has feeds fully enabled. In the Settings | Site feed tab, you have enabled either Full or Jump Break for your Post Feed.

You have not disabled dynamic views. In the Setting | Formatting tab, the option for Enable Dynamic Views is set to Yes.

If any of the above conditions are not true, users who attempt to access dynamic views for your blog will instead be taken to a landing page and redirected to your original blog in a few seconds.
If all of the above conditions are true, your readers can access the dynamic views for your blog by simply appending /view to the URL. For example, our own blog, Blogger Buzz, is available at http://buzz.blogspot.com. To see this blog in the new dynamic views, users would instead visit http://buzz.blogspot.com/view. Or if they wished to visit a particular view directly, such as the Flipcard view, they would simply visit http://buzz.blogspot.com/view/flipcard.
Please note that these views do not currently support many of the features your original blog may have, including displaying advertisements. For this reason we have provided the option for you to disable dynamic views in your Settings page. We intend to add these missing capabilities over the coming months as well as let you personalize these views, including providing an option to set a particular view as the default.
For more information, please take a look at the article on Dynamic Views for Readers.

Create Signatures for your Email-Its Easy!

2011-06-05T10:37:00.000+05:30

Ever heard of WiseStamp?
WiseStamp is a Firefox extension which enables you to empower your email interactions in all popular webmails. With WiseStamp you can easily customize and control your email signatures, automatically include your signature in your emails, add your Instant Messenger & Social services, include updating feeds and share your latest blog post, Twitter, Facebook status, bookmarks , quotes etc. WiseStamp Firefox extension also enables you to promote your blog posts in your daily email interactions!
Features of WiseStamp:
WiseStamp a signature creator includes many exciting and improved webmail signature fetchers such as:

Personally designed signatures
Easy setup and configuration interface
Use multiple email signatures (Business and Personal)
Rename signatures new
Signature Rich Text editor (WYSIWYG Editor-choose color and font)
Add your personal feeds (rss) Get signature feed ideas new
Add your logo or image to your signature
Automatically insert your signature to your webmail services
Supports to all webmail functions- Compose Mail, Reply, and Forward
Easily Include all your IM (Instant messaging) ID’s + Icons
Easily link to all of your Social profiles & Services + Icons
Manually add your signature at mouse cursor location
Preview while editing Signature
Simple control- switch signature on/off
Support for special characters
Works with Gmail, Google App’s, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL and more…
Option to treat each signature as HTML
Full Ltr & Rtl languages support
Add your personal signature to any online Html supported page (Google Docs…etc)
Supports Firefox 2 & Firefox 3

WiseStamp supports the following Social profiles/Services:

Visit: WiseStamp.Com
DOWNLOAD WiseStamp Add-On

What, Why and How to make a profitable blog!

2011-06-05T10:31:00.000+05:30

Today, blogging has become a phenomenon. Blogging has captured the imagination of everyone, from celebrities to sportspersons to students to politicians. Everyday, almost 200,000 new blogs and over 1.5 million Blog Updates take place over the internet, according to Technorati – a firm that tracks blogs. By the end of January 2007, 63.2 million blogs were being tracked by Technorati !

Why Blogs?
If the above data doesn’t sound tempting to you then get a load of this. Experts believe this explosive and unheralded growth of the blogging industry is bound to continue for some more years to come. Today, blogging is increasingly being considered as a highly effective marketing tool and there has never been a better time to start your own personal blog than now! Based on the outcome from a recent survey conducted by research firm MarketingSherpa, blogs are the #4 most effective tools for sales leads generation. Their excellent responses to search engines and webspiders have made them very endearing and valuable. They are also the fastest way to build websites – if you don’t know how to build a website in HTML you can use a blog instead.

Blog History
Derived from the term “Web log,” blog is a simply a web page or a website that is partly an online journal or diary, and partly an open forum on which readers can comment. You can either update your blog on a daily basis, or write as per convenience on a weekly, monthly, or any other frequency basis. Typically, blogs are short, expressive entries (around 200-300 words) and may or may not include photographs, links, etc. Blogging is a technique which needs to be practiced in order to improve. Since blogs are open to everyone, other readers can post their comments or reactions to your writing and continue the dialogue further.
The world of blogs or “blogosphere” literally has several thousands of blogs on every topic you can think of! While many of the blogs are hosted on public blog sites such as Blogger, WordPress etc, others are hosted on business or individual websites.

Blog for Profit or Fun?
Whether you decide to start your own blog for fun, social interaction or for profit and business expansion, blogging is just plain fun. Moreover, like other marketing tools used by marketing experts, blogs are at their effective best when used correctly. So, even if you a novice at blogging our suggestions will show you how to start your very own profitable blog.

Sell advertising space – When you sell text links or banners on your blogs, you are essentially selling advertising space to other businesses for the promotion of their services or products. This blog strategy is only going to work if your blog enjoys high page rank on Google and other search engines.
Offer affiliate advertisements – As a blog owner, you may wish to promote your affiliates by offering visitors links or banners to their products/services. But this would involve setting up your entire blog around the affiliate product or service. You must concentrate on building links to specific website pages for targeted traffic.
And the simplest way to make profit from blogging is by allowing Google Adsense or any other ads on your blog. Whenever visitors click these ads, you will make money. As you can see, there are many ways in which you can not just start your own blog but also make money from it. Use the strategies that are viable for you, match your skill level, and can fit your personal schedule.

Blogs for Business
If you are starting a blog for business purposes, then remember that your competitors are most likely using blogs as well to reach to their customers more effectively. A business blog will help you educate your customers about your business while also making it easy for you to keep pace with a dynamic market. Simply said, blogs allow your audience to submit their comments, interact with you, exchange dialogues on the information you share with them, allowing you to constantly improve your services and expand your reach at a level where it counts. This is what Blogosphere is all about..!

some great Blogger Tips And Gadgets You must know

2011-06-04T19:41:00.001+05:30

some great blogger tips are as follows. use them now if you have missed out any of them now!!

1. Show Only Posts Title On Blogger Labels Page - This post has a clever useful Blogger Tip.When someone clicks a label on your blog they will be shown a list of post titles only not full posts.This makes it easier for readers to find the content they are looking for.

2. Scrolling Recent Posts List Gadget For Blogger - Here we have a gadget that will display your blogs most recent posts scrolling across the page.A perfect gadget to go across the top of your blog or below the posts.

3. Add Google Friendly Meta Tags and Meta Description To Your Blog - This post shows you how to take control of how Google and other Search engines see your blog.Adding a meta description in a way lets you describe your blog to Google who often use it as your blogs search results snippet.

4. A Random Posts List Gadget For Blogger - A simple gadget to display a randomly generate list of posts from your archive.

5. Change The Blogger Navbar To A Hover Effect - With this Blogger trick your navbar will not appear unless users place their cursor over the navbar area.

6. 8 Basic Ways For New Bloggers To Get Traffic - A list of techniques to get readers to your new blog.

7. How To Make A YouTube Video Auto Play On Page Load - Simply Make A YouTube Video On Your Blog Automatically Start When Users Land On The Page.

8. Change The Blogger Page Title Format - An important technique to optimize the way your title tags are viewed by users and Search engines.

9. Create An Email Link, Button And Image Link - Create 3 types of link for users to Email You.

10. jQuery Animated Scroll Recent Posts With Thumbnails Gadget - A very cool recent posts gadget that uses jQuery to scroll through your latest content.

add a flying Twitter bird to your BLOGGER blog-learn how?

2011-06-04T19:36:00.001+05:30

"Twitter", is one of the most popular Social networking sites in the world among Bloggers to promote their blogs.There are a number of twitter widgets, scripts and plugins available to integrate Twitter with your blog.Most of the icons, buttons or badges are stationary or a fixed floating Twitter gadgets.Now here i have a very cool unique Blogger Twitter widget, an actual Animated flying Twitter Bird that flies around your blog.

This Plugin is java script based and it will display an animated Twitter bird that settles on different places of your blogs visible area. If a you scroll the page, the bird will fly towards the visible part and settle in a new place and it takes random paths for each flight.When you place the cursor over the Twitter Bird "tweet this" and "follow me" links appear,through this the visitor can tweet the article or follow you.

Demo:-You can see the Twitter Bird Flying Around this page visible Area, Scroll this Page to see it's Action.

Add The Flying Twitter Bird To Your Blog

There are Two types here is am giving.You can have the Bird on every page of your blog or just on the post pages..

1. Twitter Bird with tweet text has Post title and URL for all post pages Only.
2. Twitter Bird with tweet text has Current Page title and URL for all Blog pages.

Add Flying Twitter Bird To Post Pages Only

1. Go to Your Blogger Dashboard Click > Design > Edit Html

Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

</body>

3. Copy and paste the following ocde directly Below / After </body>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://bloggerblogwidgets.googlecode.com/files/way2blogging.org-tripleflap.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var twitterAccount = "Your Twitter User Name Here!";
var tweetThisText = " <data:blog.pageTitle/>: <data:blog.url/> ";
tripleflapInit();
</script>
<span style="font-size:11px;position:absolute;"><a title='Blogger Widget by www.technobrights.tk' href="http://www.technobrights.tk" target='_blank'><img border='0' src='http://img1.blogblog.com/img/blank.gif'/></a></span><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com" target="_blank">Twitter Bird Gadget</a>

</b:if>

Important Note:-
Replace Your Twitter User Name Here! with your twitter user name.You add just the username not the entire URL of your Twitter profile.For example twitter.com/technobrights , technobrights is the username.

4. Save Your template And Check Out Your Twitter Bird.

Add Flying Twitter Bird To All Pages

1. Go to Your Blogger Dashboard Click > Design > Edit Html :

Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

</body>

3. Copy and paste the following code Directly Below / After </body>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://bloggerblogwidgets.googlecode.com/files/way2blogging.org-tripleflap.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var twitterAccount = "Your Twitter User Name Here!";
var tweetThisText = " <data:blog.pageTitle/>: <data:blog.url/> ";
tripleflapInit();
</script>
<span style="font-size:11px;position:absolute;"><a title='Blogger Widget by www.technobrights.tk' href="http://www.technobrights.tk" target='_blank'><img border='0' src='http://img1.blogblog.com/img/blank.gif'/></a></span><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com" target="_blank">Twitter Bird Gadget</a>