IFEEDREADERS is a simple tool that will create social bookmarking text links for blog posts for you easily. Choose the services you fancy. Then if you are a wordpress.com blogger, choose “Link List” instead of “Drop Down Menu”. Then choose links for a “Static page” and in the final step enter the post url and post title. You may want to add seperators - which will format the line-up of the links - before you hit the “Create Buttond” link.

The number of social bookmarking services they cover is quite impressive.

Social bookmarking text links are especially useful if you prefer to avoid visual clutter at the bottom of your blog post.

***

Further readings

You might also like to try out Social bookmarking tools from Toprankblog to create social bookmarking text links. They offer even more social bookmarking services!

HOW does your blog fare in different search engines? What’s the result for a keyword at different search engines? Ask, Yahoo and Google are three major search engines and now you can compare results in these three search engines in one page.

Just click the image above to figure out the results for the search term “Netty Gritty”.

What does AskYahoogle do? It lets you view:
-Analysis Chart
-Agreement Bar
-Combined Rankings and
-Individual results

Not bad! But um…..why does my Yahoo look so blank under Individual Results? Don’t forget to check the site and tell me if Yahoo returned no links for the search term you entered.

WHAT is Syncrisis?

\Syn”cri*sis\, n. A figure of speech in which opposite things or persons are compared.

From the site

Syncrisis is a site where you can enter a search term and get a comparison of search results from Yahoo and Google side-by-side. Especially useful for bloggers who want to find out how their blogs fare for a specific keyword in two of the most popular search engines.

Yahoo + Google = Yahoogle!!

Why not try it out?
And don’t forget to let me know your opinion!

ARCHIVES are created automatically in wordpress.com blogs. And if you want your readers to have access to your blog archives, the only way to do so is by adding the Archives widget in the side bar. But what if you don’t want the Archives widget in the side bar (to minimize clutter maybe!) but still want your readers to have access to it? Well, the only way to do so is by creating an Archives page or post. If your page tabs are already crowded (depends on your theme), it is better to create an Archives post and link to it in your side bar with a text link using a text widget.

So how do we create an Archives page or post? Take a good look at your blog first. Have you posted in all months from the moment you started your blog? The best way to check it is by adding the Archives widget in your side bar temporarily and clicking the months. If you have posted in all months, well, then first of all, let me congratulate you for being so dedicated. Regular posting is a big deal for blogs! Ok, back to the Archives thing again. If you haven’t posted in all months, that’s ok too. Shit happens in life and I understand! But do note down which month(s) you didn’t post on. Let’s say, a sample blog doesn’t have posts in March, 2008.

Now we are ready to tackle our project big time. It really isn’t that tough. So if you are holding your breath, don’t!

Blogs go back in time, (like B.C!). So we have to travel through time in our Archives page - from the present to the past and go back to the time of Big Bang - the time your blog was born and the first post was created.

A sample Archive page of a blog can have the links ordered according to year and month. For a blog that started in October, 2007, doesn’t have posts in Marc, 2008 and is continuing in the present (which is, May, 2008), the order will look like this:

Year: 2008

May
April
February
January

(Notice that the month March is absent)

Year:2007

December
November
October

So far, so good. Now we have to actually make the months clickable. Before we learn how to do that let’s analyze the structure of a url of an archive page, say, May 2008.

The url of an archive page shows the blog url, the year and the month - and in that order.

So, the Archive url for May, 2008 in my blog will be
http://shongjog.wordpress.com/2008/05

The green and red part go for the year and month respectively. In which month did you last blog? Configure that url first. For me, it is the url right above. Now write it down under the months and simply copy this url and cut it (press ctrl + x in your computer keyboard to cut it).

Go to the code mode of your blog (relax, it’s not gonna bite you!) and select the month when you last blogged. Now click the link tab and paste the url (press ctrl+v in your computer keyboard to paste the url).

Select the rest of the months one by one for that year, click the link tab and paste the url.

Guess what, your Archives page is almost ready. You are probably wondering why we pasted the same url in all months for the year. Well, we did it because it is quicker. Now all we have to do is change the month bit (the orange bit, remember)?

While you are still in the Code mode, look for the month bit (it won’t look orange, by the way!) and change it accordingly. For the months April, March, February and January, the month bit will decrease increasingly (um…..sorry about the words) - like this, 04, 03, 02 and 01. Don’t mess with the whole url, change just the month bit!

Ok, we are done with the year 2008. now we have 2007 deal to deal with. December is the last month I posted in my blog. So, the model url for the months of 2007 for me will be this:
http://shongjog.wordpress.com/2007/12/

Repeat the process for all the month of 2007.

Now your Archives page is ready!

***

Important reminder

Your Archives page will not be updated automatically. Don’t forget to update it manually from time to time!

***

Good to know

It is possible to configure the archives for whole years as well. In that case you just have to get rid of the month bit in the url. For example, for the year 2007, the archive url for my blog will look like this:
http://shongjog.wordpress.com/2007/

***

A friendly suggestion

Right after you post the link to a month, you might like to link to the best posts of the month under the heading “Best posts”.

Readers love to find the good bits of a blog easily!

New Web 2.0 services await; all you need to do is grab your free invites over at Mashable Invites!

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From the site.

I haven’t provided the links to individual services. Rush to Mashable to get your invite! Just click on the image to do so!

FINALLY here is a way to have a poll in a wordpress.com blog that actually works in a wordpress.com blog!
Polldaddy is a rocking polling service that now provides codes for wordpress.com blogs.

Available Features

* Unlimited free polls with unlimited votes per poll.
* 14 PollDaddy skins to choose from or create your own in CSS.
* View poll results online, as XML, CSV, or subscribe to them via RSS!
* Polls provided in HTML or Flash depending on your needs.
* Full foreign language support.
* Block repeat voters by IP address or cookies.
* Create single choice or multiple choice polls.
* Close polls after a certain date, randomize answers, allow text entry ‘other’ field, show or hide results from voters and much more.
* New: Track individual votes, get voter location and detect fraudulent votes. (Pro Account only)

From the site

To have a poll, first sign up for an account.
Creating a poll is very easy.
First write your poll question.
Then you are asked to enter the answers in multiple fields. Just use as many “Answer” fields as you need.

You can set the poll to randomize answers, to allow poll takers to choose multiple answers or write their own answers.

You can choose a language for the poll. If your language is not listed, just ask them and they say they will add it to the list! Well, now they are really talking my language!

Now you are all set to set a style for your poll. . Choose an available theme or if you know CSS, then roll up your sleeves and create your own theme!

Here are the available themes. I have painstaking created these screenshot so that you can have a sneak peek even before you sign up!

After you are done creating a poll, they will give you the poll code. Choose the code for wordpress.com. Paste the code in a post/post in your blog and the poll will appear there! And it actually works in your wordpress.com blog! This is the first time a poll works right inside a wordpress.com blog, so here is a big yippeeeeeeee!

***

I like Polldaddy a lot. But um..

Problems
I have some grievances.

1. If I set the poll to allow users to write comments, then the user is taken to a separate Polldaddy page where they can write a comment.

2. The poll can be created to let the readers enter an answer on their own. The problem is, when the “Results” button is clicked, the actual answers are not seen in “Other”, it just shows the result bar.

3. Another thing is, you can’t paste the poll in the side bar of your wordpress.com blog.

4. Some polling services allow the poll creator to use images in answers. You can’t do that at Polldaddy.

Solutions (but not all)
1. There’s no way to overcome the first problem. No, wait! Maybe there is! Don’t set the poll to allow users to post comments at all. Instead, urge people to write comments in your post. That way you keep the readers in your blog.

2. I don’t know how to get over this problem. Any idea?

3. About the second problem, well, why not link to your poll in your side bar using some text or some image?

4. I have no idea how to bypass this problem, other than to use a different service from the list found in the link under this post.

***

Important Update

It is now possible to embed a workable poll in the sidebar of a wordpress.com blog. So I have one less grievance about Polldaddy!
This is such a good news indeed! I know that many users of wordpress.com almost left the platform because they couldn’t embed a workable poll right in their blogs. Now we have it all! WordPress rocks!

***

A friendly suggestion

If comments about a poll are important to you, then I suggest that you embed the poll in a post or page and not in the sidebar. Provide a link to your poll post in your sidebar. That way, your poll will get full exposure in your blog at all time.
If you think that polls really belong to the side bar, rather than in a page or post, then you might want to put a text link under the poll, which will lead the reader to a post where they can write their opinions to encourage discussions.

***

Further readings
Create free polls and free surveys for your wordpress.com blog
This post lists features of a lot of good survey and polling services that are wordpress.com compatible. You can even check out sample surveys and polls before you actually sign up for one!

TAGS are late arrivals in wordpress.com blogs and the tagging system leaves a lot to be desired. There’s no automated list to choose tags from - making it hard to choose tags for a post.

It is possible to bypass the problem provided you have Firefox. If you don’t yet have it, go ahead and download it! WordPress works best with Firefox.

Install the Firefox extension Scribefire. It’s an inconspicuous yet powerful blog editor that integrates with Firefox smoothly.
What Scribefire is capable of doing is beyond the scope of this post. Here we will learn how we can easily create a tags list to look up to and put under a new post, to prevent accidental omissions, spelling mistakes, different phrasings etc. Install ScribeFire Now.

Before we do this Tags List thing, do the following:
Analyze your blog carefully. What do you REALLY write about? If you are a focussed blogger, chances are you just have a handful of topics you concentrate on; Your basic interest areas will serve as important starting points. For example, I blog mainly wordpress help, blogging tips, web tools and interesting media.

After you are done identifying your main subjects, your next job is to identify what a specific post where you want to put tags is all about. For example, this post is about “WordPress help”.

Your next job is to pick some tags that further define your post. For me, some keywords that define this post could be “Blogging Help”, “Scribefire”. “Tags list”. “How-to”, and “Tips and tricks” .

You have just three seconds left to perform the above tasks. 3….2…….2 and half…….

Okay, fine, let’s not hurry. Let’s take our time and do this patiently. Once we get it done, we can reuse the Tags List again and again. So, don’t hurry. It’s worth your time!

Now that you are mentally prepared to do the job, click the Scribefire icon on the bottom of your Firefox.
Now follow these step-by-instructions:

1. Create a new note.
Write your basic interest areas - one interest area per line. Now make them “bold”.

2. Under a specific interest area, write down all the keywords you are likely to enter in posts of that subject. These keywords will serve as tags in future.

When you are done, give your note a proper name (something like “Tags List” maybe) and save it. Minimize your “Scribefire” window.

Writing your main topic areas in bold letters will help you look for tags for a specific area easily.

Now, when you are done writing a post, click your “Scribefire” again and open the note “Tags List”. What’s the main topic of your post? Glance at the tags listed under that topic. Simply copy the tags, minimize your “Scribefire” window, and paste the tags in the “Tags” field under the post. If you feel that one or two tags don’t quite belong to the post, just select and delete them.

As you keep on blogging, your tags will increase. Don’t forget to update your “Tags List” whenever you use a new tag for a topic. Constantly updating you “Tags List” will help you use relevant tags for a post at all times without error.

***

Here is a sample Tags List for a blog that concetrates on tips for improving your home life. The main interest areas are cooking, pets, housework, children and sex.

The sample Tags List

1. Cooking
Microwave oven, cake, recipe, kitchenware, frozen food

2. Pets
Vet, dog, cat, dog food, dog biscuit, breeding

3. Housework
Housework tips, chores, springcleaning

4. Children
schooling, books, safety, babysitting, daycare, toys, Harry Potter

5. Sex
Um…..I don’t want to elaborate stuff here…use your imagination!

***

Further readings
1. How to have Tags list in a wordpress.com blog
In case you don’t want to have a Tag Cloud in your side bar, but a simple Tags list for your viewers.

2. How to create a customizable Tag Cloud for wordpress.com blogs
In case you do want the Tag Cloud, but don’t like the way it looks by default. Or if you want to have it in a page/post instead of the side bar.

3. Top 5 ways to promote your Tag Cloud
Yes! It IS possible to promote your blog in this way!