BloggerFocus

Top 3 Website Graders For Your Blog

2008-06-03T23:52:00.002+08:00

There are probably tons of website graders on the Internet. Personally I would recommend these three sites if you like to discover more about your blog's stats, performance and ratings:

1. DnScoop
Excellent web grading site that outputs details such as domain age, pagerank check, inbound links, traffic rank, domain name ip, link value report and site value report. The main attractions for this site would come from the link value report and site value report. Check out the screenshots below:

2. SEOmoz
Another excellent web grader that tells you the page strength of your blog or site. Find out the relative importance and visibility of a webpage, the potential strength and ability of a page to rank in the search engine as well as data on popularity, links plus mentions of the page across the web. Check out the screenshot of SEOmoz as shown below:
3. Website Grader
The best web grading site on the internet in my opinion. Detailed report with lots of information on your blog's such as on-page SEO, off-page SEO, blogosphere report, social mediasphere report and competitive intelligent report. The plus point for Website Grader is that they include recommendation on how to improve your blog based on the outcome of the grading. Some screenshots of Website Grader below:

Give each one of them a try and be amazed to discover information that you never knew existed about your blog. By the way all three website graders are FREE to use.

Cheers and happy blogging!

College Students Are Poor - Blog Review

2008-06-01T11:35:00.001+08:00

"Let's face it. Most of us can't afford college in the first place. So how are we supposed to afford life while in college? This site is your answer! Here you will find tips and resources dedicated to helping you save and make money while in college!"

That was the very first thing that caught my attention when I visited Mike's blog at College Students Are Poor Dot Com. With a description that relates to many of us and catchy theme like "College Students Are Poor!" who wouldn't be tempted to explore further on what Mike has got to offer from his blog.

Honestly I too went through some hard times trying to make ends meet when I was studying for my degree a couple of years ago. So when I stumbled across Mike's blog, I said to myself, "Hey, Mike's got a point there, many of us did or are going through tough times!"

"College Students Are Poor!" is not just another money making money blog trying to make a couple of bucks out of Adsense. It's blog with a mixture of making money tips, being cost savvy, how to save money as well as finding free resources for college students. In fact as a working adult, I actually learn a thing or two from reading Mike's blog. As the saying goes, "You're never to old to learn new stuff!"

While most of us tend to read blogs that are trying to convince you to join as an affiliate of money making sites, Mike prefers to write about ways to save money instead. The idea of practicality that Mike incorporates in his postings is what makes this blog unique from the rest. If you think that I'm blowing things out of proportion for this blog review, try reading some of Mike's articles:

1. Best Sites To Find Coupons
2. Buy Your Textbooks Online
3. Save Even More From Groceries
4. Getting The Most Out Of Your Coupons
5. Make Money With Online Tutoring

On a whole, regardless of you being a college student or a working adult, there's always a tip or two that you could pick up at College Students Are Poor. Feel free to comment or give your suggestions while you're over at Mike's blog. I'm sure Mike would like to hear more from you!

Cheers and happy blogging!

Boost Your Blog Links With 23Blogs Dot Com

2008-05-30T22:43:00.000+08:00

Looking for ways to increase your blog links? Look no further as 23Blogs has got the right solution for you, absolutely FREE!

What makes 23Blogs different from other link exchange sites?
(excerpt taken from 23Blogs)

As a blogger , just like me .I always get requests to place exchange links onto my blog roll. I answer and put the links on one by one. That's the traditional method/way. The thing is how do I know that my link's still on their blogs?I can't check their sites one by one everyday. Also I don't know how many clicks from those links go to more than 10 blog sites. So We launched this site. 23blogs.com is a free 1:10 text link exchange that provides blogs the ability to cross-promote each other. Member blogs display a box containing text links in order to earn impressions.

How does 23Blogs work?

When you register(sign up) and add a blog, you will get a HTML CODE. This code will display 10 other different blogs titles on your blog and you will earn 10x impressions after you put those HTML CODE on your blog. Also , you will get 1:1 click exchange, That's meaning when your visitors click the ad box on your blog , you will credit 1 click and the system will PAY back 1 click to you. And now, by using our exchange system, you'll never worry about the problem again.

Features available if you join 23Blogs:

1000 impressions when you sign up.(once you place our html code within 24 hours.)
More than 10 different CSS style.
Referring other blogs earn you credits.
real-time statistics.
Targeted traffic! Choose the categories of blogs where you want your text ad to appear.
Add free content to your blog, making it more appealing to your readers at no cost to you.
Absolutely FREE!

How do you go about using 23Blogs?
Registration is required for 23Blogs but it takes you only a couple of minutes to do so. Once you're done, you're required to add your own blog as shown in the screenshot below:
Once you're done, click the "Submit" button. Next up is to grab the codes for the 23Blogs widget. Click on "Sites" link located on the column on the right. You would then be brought to the page shown in the screenshot below:
Click on the "HTML Code" link to get your 23Blogs widget code. See below for the screenshot of the page where you can grab the code:

Before you grab the widget code, try browsing through the "Style" drop down list. There are 16 Widget styles to choose from. Browse through the Style page and select a Style that suits your blog best. Check out the screenshot below for the first 6 styles 23Blogs has to offer:
Click on the "Submit" button and Presto! Your widget codes are now ready for use on your blog. See screenshot below:
Bloggerfocus Comments On 23 Blogs

This is a new site that I just got to know recently. Looking from the features being offered by 23Blogs, I'm convinced that 23Blogs has the potential to grow in terms of popularity among bloggers. The idea of using 1:10 text link exchange is well worth a try and I don't see the problem of blogs being blacklisted by Google for link baiting since links come from blogs which are also related to your own blog (in other words, under the same category).

In addition, offering 1000 FREE impression (as promised by 23Blogs) for placing a 23Blogs widget on your blog is just too tempting to be ignored. Although 23Blogs did not specify how long it would take to get the 1000 impression, I doubt that would be off any concern to bloggers. All these goodness from 23Blogs for the price of nothing certainly has got my tongue wagging and my lips wet with anticipation.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!

If you like this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. In addition, a Digg or Stumble for this post would definitely make my day. :)

Recommended Read:
1. 5 Reasons Why Blog Linking Is Good For Your Blog
2. Backlink Watch - Checking Your Blog's Backlinks

Free Blogger Templates from EblogTemplates

2008-05-29T20:10:00.000+08:00

Among all the free Blogger template sites, I would personally say that EblogTemplates rank among the best. There's a large collection of 146 blogger templates available in its database and you can download all of them for FREE!

If you find searching through all 146 templates is tad too troublesome, try using the "Most Downloaded" or "Top Rated" function to find the perfect template for your blog.
The cool thing about this site is the integrated template preview function. Start by clicking on a template you fancy. You would then be brought to the preview page of that template as shown in the screenshot below:
Clicking on the template immediately enlarges the template, allowing you a better view of it. See screenshot below:
If you're still unconvinced, click on the small square logo as shown in the screenshot below to expand the template to it's actual size:
Check out how a full size template would look like:
If you fancy a particular template, just click on the "Download Now" button and the template is saved directly to your PC. Now that's what I call a user friendly site and EblogTemplates is certainly one of those sites that deserves this status. By the way did I forget to mention that EblogTemplates has got a pretty impressive collection of Wordpress themes as well(112 themes)?

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging to all!

If you like this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. In addition, a Digg or Stumble for this post would definitely make my day. :)

Free E-Books

2008-05-28T23:12:00.002+08:00

Download these E-books for FREE

Updated 28th May 2008
Added 7 new E-books to the stash!

1. My SEO Guide
DOWNLOAD

2. Super Affiliate Marketing Secrets
DOWNLOAD

3. 7 Steps To Make Money Online Fast
DOWNLOAD

4. Beginners Guide To Article Marketing
DOWNLOAD

5. Internet Wealth Secrets
DOWNLOAD

6. Landing Page Success Guide
DOWNLOAD

7. Guide To Cashing In Ebay
DOWNLOAD

Updated 15th May 2008
Added 4 new E-books. The first two books are AdWords related while the other two are SEO related. Feel free to share this E-book page with your readers by placing the E-book mini button on your blog. Codes available at the bottom of this page.

1. Overture - AdWords
DOWNLOAD

2. AdWords Made Easy
DOWNLOAD

3. SEO for Beginners
DOWNLOAD

4. SEO Made Easy
DOWNLOAD

Updated 5th May 2008
Here's 6 new Adsense E-books that could help you improve your Adsense earnings. Don't forget to include the E-book mini link button on your blog if you have downloaded these e-books. Codes are available at the bottom of this page.

1. The Adsense Report
DOWNLOAD

2. The Adsense Mint
DOWNLOAD

3. Free Adsense Ebook
DOWNLOAD

4. Adsense Revenue Exposed
DOWNLOAD

5. The Beginners Guide To Adsense
DOWNLOAD

6. What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense
DOWNLOAD

Updated 26th April 2008
1. Survey Book
DOWNLOAD

2. Multiple Income Streams
DOWNLOAD

3. Internet Money Secrets
DOWNLOAD

4. Make Money From Ebay
DOWNLOAD

5. Money Making Today, Tomorrow, Forever
DOWNLOAD

6. Free Blogging For Profitreseller
DOWNLOAD

7. Make Money Online Made Easy
DOWNLOAD

8. PPC Search Enginer
DOWNLOAD

9. Secret BUM Marketting
DOWNLOAD

10. Top Affiliates
DOWNLOAD

11. Ezine Ebooks
DOWNLOAD

12. Butterfly Marketting
DOWNLOAD

13. Adsense Money
DOWNLOAD

Link Button:
If you like to share this page with your readers, just add this tiny little button on your blog. Otherwise, show me your appreciation by linking your blog to this E-book page using the button codes below:

Disclaimer:
Bloggerfocus.com is by no means held liable if you are unable to get the expected results via the methods recommended by the E-books.

Start Chirping With Twitter Box

2008-05-27T20:17:00.001+08:00

Want your readers to know what you're up to? Well here's a cool widget from Twitter.com that might just serve that very purpose. By installing a twitter box on your blog, you can start chirping away....erm I meant update your readers with what you're doing. In fact, you can also update your readers about anything and everything that crosses your mind using this widget. Furthermore, the twitter box could also serve as a noticeboard to inform your readers if you're unable to blog or planning to go on a long vacation.

How to get your own Twitter box
1. Get yourself registered at Twitter.com (you don't even need an e-mail verification in order to start using twitter)

2. Click on the Home tab and you should see this page below:
3. Write about what you're up to currently on the "What are you doing" text box. Click Update once you're done. (Updates on your twitter widget are made from this page)

4. Now to get a twitter box installed on your blog, click the "Put your updates on your site!" link as shown in the screenshot below:
5. You should see the "Display Twitters on your web page" page as shown in the screenshot below:
6. On the "Display Twitters on your web page" page, there are options to embed the twitter box automatically on Blogger, Wordpress, Facebook, Typepad or Myspace. In my case, I've decided to use the "Other" option as I prefer to install the widget manually using the code provided. Selecting the "Other" option would then bring you to the "Which type of badge would you like?" page as shown in the screenshot below:
7. Select one of the 3 available widget badges that you like to have for blog. For this post, I've decided to go with the "Flash, Just Me" badge. The codes for that badge would then be given to you as shown in the screenshot below:
8. Customize the color of your badge to suit your blog by clicking on "Badge Color". Once you're done, just copy the entire code and paste it on your blog template.

There are couple other functions from Twitter.com not mentioned in this post waiting for you to try out. In fact if you see screenshot from point number 2, you have the option to add your friends and track what they are up to as well.

In a nutshell, I would say this is a wonderfull widget that goes pretty well with personal blogs.

If you like this article, please give it a Digg, Stumble or just subscribe to my RSS feed.

Backlink Watch - Checking Your Blog's Backlinks

2008-05-26T22:15:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered how many backlinks your blog have? Perhaps it's time to find out by using this backlink checker from Backlink Watch

All you need to do is just to enter your blog's url and let Backlink Watch do the rest. Apart from finding out sites that are linked to your blog, Backlink Watch also provides other details such as Pagerank of backlink giving url, flags and outbound links. Check out the screenshot of all the definitions below:

Go give Backlink Watch a try and be amazed how many blogs are actually linked to yours!

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!

Recommended Read:
1. 5 Reasons Why Blog Linking Is Good For Your Blog

How To Add Emoticons To Your Blogspot Post

2008-05-25T23:05:00.000+08:00

Special thanks to scrapur for providing this wonderful hack! ;)

What you need to do:

1. Go to Layout of your blogger account. Click on the Edit HTML tab.

2. Search for this code ]]></b:skin> as shown in the screenshot below:

3. Copy the following codes below (provided by scrapur.com)

5. Use the following keywords below to display your preferred smiley/emoticon on your blog post. In order to add a smiley/emoticon to your blog post, press the SPACE key first followed by the keywords that signifies the smiley you like.

–> –> :p –>:D –> :$ –> ;) –> :@ –> :# –> :k –> :x –> :o –> :O –> :L –> :r –> :s –> :y –> :~ –> :v –> :f –> :d –> :c –> :z –>

Cheers and happy blogging!

FREE Radio Widget For Your Blog

2008-05-24T18:27:00.008+08:00

I love it whenever I come across widgets which are FREE to use. When I say FREE, I meant no registrations or e-mail required in order to get a widget.

I recently stumbled upon a cool widget called FineTune Radio that lets your readers enjoy songs from Akon, Avril, Beyonce, Cristina, Coldplay, U2, The Killers, Green Day, 2 PAC, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, Creed, Radio Head, John Mayer and many more right from your blog.

This 215 x 220 pixel size widget should fit perfectly on most blogs especially if you place it on the right or left sidebar. There's also a built in SEARCH function on this widget that lets your readers search for their favorite song or artist.

Try checking out the FineTune Radio widget below:

Finetune Radiogreat free widgetsWidgetbox

If you like your blog to have its very own FineTune Radio widget, head on over to Widgetbox and grab the code at FineTune Radio Widget

With this widget in place, rest assured that your readers would be treated with some pretty cool songs while reading from your blog.

Till my next post, happy blogging to all!

Your Ad On ProBlogger

2008-05-22T15:38:00.010+08:00

ProBlogger is probably one of the most well known bloggers around our blogging community. In order to place an ad space on this blog, you'll probably need to fork out a couple of hundred dollars. Dispair not my fellow readers and bloggers as there is another way to get your blog to appear on Problogger.

The answer lies is in Entrecard.

The image above is infact a screenshot of ProBlogger's account at Entrecard.

If we take a look at the Price portion right below the 125x125 banner of ProBlogger, it cost about 8192 Entrecard credits just to advertise on ProBlogger's blog for one day. That's about 28 days of daily 300 Entrecard drops in order to earn yourself enough credits just to purchase a single day ad on Problogger's blog.

Perhaps a day of fame by having your blog appear on ProBlogger's blog is well worth all the 8192 credits. In fact my blog also had its very own one day "fame" on ProBlogger's blog at the expense of 2048 credits! Was it worth my 2048 credits? Take a look at the screenshot below:

2048 credits for 82 clicks from ProBlogger's blog to my blog in my opinion is not a profitable Return of Investment considering the fact that ProBlogger has thousands of unique visitors daily. So if you are intending to dump 8192 Entrecard credits for a single day ad at ProBlogger's blog, perhaps you should reconsider. Besides, there are loads of cheap blogs on Entrecard which you could invest your credits and get reasonable clicks in return.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!

Recommended Entrecard related articles:

Results For The Guess My Blog Traffic Contest

2008-05-21T21:49:00.001+08:00

As promised, the results for the Bloggerfocus "Guess My Blog Traffic" contest:

1st Prize of 500 Entrecard credits and 5000 Beer Credits goes to Meehoon of Fark.my

2nd Prize of 350 Entrecard credits and 3500 Beer Credits goes to BobbyT of Bobbytoat.blogspot.com

3rd Prize : No takers

Since only two comments were made for this contest, both commentors automatically won themselves the first and second prize. Although this contest drew little response from the readers (perhaps due to the unattractive prizes on offer), I'm still happy to receive comments it. For the winners, do claim your prizes by e-mailing me at sksee82@yahoo.com

Since the third prize of 150 Entrecard credits and 1500 Beer Credits has got no takers, I'm gonna award it to the 8th person that leaves a comment here. In fact I'm also throwing in a blog review from Bloggerfocus Dot Com to the 8th person who comment here!

Cheers and happy blogging to all!

Title or Contents First?

2008-05-20T21:49:00.001+08:00

This is one of those rare moments where I tend to sit down, with nothing in mind and start typing whatever that comes across my mind. In fact, I don't even have a title for this post yet.

Speaking about title or headline for a blog post, I tend to...wait I should rephrase that with "I always" pick a title only after completing my blog post. Although somewhat similiar to having my main course first and appetiser later, I have my reasons for doing so. I meant reasons for blogging first and title selection later, not the part about how I finish my food.

When I first started blogging four years ago, there's always this tendency of me trying to come up with an eye catching, mind blowing or This Will Make You Say "Wow" title before actually attempting to write a post about it. I was like, Hey with an awesome title, I'm pretty sure the ideas will flow naturally once I start writing! That's when the problem starts.

The first couple of lines were easy as it involves the introduction of the title. When I wanted to blog about the contents, I stopped! Was I suffering from a writer's block? I seriously doubt that. The real truth? I had little idea on what to write about this "awesome" title. Feeling that the brilliant title should not go to waste (after all the brain juice I've lost in trying to come up with this title), I resorted to expand what little idea I had thought of earlier. This turned my blog post into a full blown "grandmother story" which is long winded and had little or no substance. (I'm sorry grandma if I've offended you. I hope you understand. :) )

A perfect blog post should always be packed with contents and encased with a powerful and captivating title. When a blogger chooses a title before thinking of the contents, the first mistake is made. Say for example, you have a personal blog and you see today's headline that Obama has won the Democrat Presidential Campaign. Something in your mind snap, a bulb lit and you immediately see this great title flashing before you, "Obama Kicks Butt, McCain's Ass Next!". Impressive title eh? Yet do you honestly believe you could produce a post with contents to match this title if you start writing now?

Another point I would like to stress is coming up with an excellent title yet having nothing in the contents to feed their expectations. If the shoe is too big, try getting a smaller one. Forcing yourself to wear them will only result in you tripping over, sooner or later. The same applies to your blog, if you don't have the contents that will satisfy your readers, don't trick them into reading by putting up a great title. By the way, my congratulations to you for taking the first step towards an early demise for your blog.

I admit I'm being a little long winded on this whole title selecting and blog post thingy. I hope I've got a few pointers across for newbie bloggers. I honestly can't teach you how to blog, yet I hope that everytime you blog, go for the contents first. I've emphasize the importance of contents so many times in my previous blog posts that I'm beginning to sound like a nagging grandmother! Remember, the title of a post is only the cosmetic, true beauty lies in the contents of your post.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!

If you like this article, please give it a Digg, Stumble or just subscribe to my RSS feed.

5 Steps A Blogger Should Do Before Going On A Holiday

2008-05-19T16:32:00.000+08:00

Finally I'm back from a short vacation to Sabah, specificially Kota Kinabalu. Honestly Sabah is a great place to go, no pun indeed. Two things I have to highlight, number one, tasty and affordable seafood. Number two, extreamly courteus and friendly people over there. Just incase you were wondering, I DID NOT climb Mount Kinabalu.

My recent holiday to Sabah (16-19 May 2008) and my intentional neglect on Bloggerfocus Dot Com for that very same period, have given me some insights and ideas for today's post. If you're a blogger with plans to go for a holiday, this article might help you help your blog.

Traffic Analysis For Bloggerfocus Dot Com During My Selfish Holiday To Sabah

Let's begin with a traffic update for Bloggerfocus Dot Com from the 14th to the 18th of this month (May 2008). See screenshot below:

As you can see from the screenshot above, my holiday period (between 16-19 May 2008) saw traffic decline below the 100 unique visitor range on the very first day itself. Another significant change is also observed on the 18th of May(Sunday), where the total returning visitors is only 3. Clearly this shows that once a blog's usual pattern of posting gets disrupted, visitors tend to think that something might have gone wrong or that maybe the blog is dead.

Bloggerfocus Dot Com for example has been churning out new post daily and readers are accustomed to seeing an article daily. Once I stop posting on the 15th of May, returning visitors started to decline and ultimately hit an all time low on the 18th of May. If you've started to post on daily basis and your readers are accustomed to that, stick to that principal. If you intend to change your posting frequency, ensure that you let your readers know of your intentions well in advance.

5 Steps A Blogger Should Do Before Going On A Holiday

1. Stick To Your Posting Frequency

Say for example your post an average of one article daily and you intend to go for a 1 week holiday. Stick to your posting frequency by preparing seven articles/post in advance. Schedule each article to be published daily throught your 1 week holiday period. Regular readers of a blog dislike bloggers to make changes without giving them any notice. Take my trip to Sabah as an example. I did not mention about going on a holiday, disrupted my daily posting for 3 days and almost immediately you see the drastic drop in returning visitors. Blogging is serious business, so show your readers some respect!

2. Feature Articles From Other Blogs

I admit there aren't many bloggers(maybe none) whom let you use their articles for FREE. Therefore, for every article you feature on your blog should have the author's name and the link to the author's blog. Most importantly before featuring any article, get the prior approval from the author first.

3. Continuous Promotion

Enlist the help of a trusted friend to manage your blog articles while you are away. There's no denying that most bloggers have a fixed list of social sites/forums/blog commmunity/ping portal/etc which they use to promote a newly published article. So while you are away on a holiday, a trusted friend has got to do the job of promoting new articles from your blog. A blog that churns out daily article/post without any form of publicity or promotion would never be able to reach its targetted audience. Which is also why I would recommend you to read this article entitled "My Blog...Company, Friend, Child and Enemy".

4. Advertising Via Entrecard

This is a great way to boost your blog's traffic while you're away. Say for example you plan to on a holiday, seven days from today. Go to the Statistic section of your Entrecard account and search for "Top Clicks by Widget" section. If you can't find yours, see the screenshot taken from my account:

Using the Top Clicks by Widget as your guide, select and advertise on blogs at the top of your list if possible. Plan and purchase these ads at least 7 days before your go for your holiday. Ensure that the ads you are going to purchase while appear evenly over the entire lenght of your holiday. That should provide a steady flow of traffic to your blog while you're away.

5. Blog Contest

Run a blog contest that offers lucrative prizes right before you go for your holiday. Let the contest period run concurrently with your holiday. In fact this is the ultimate traffic generator if you have the "right kind" prizes to offer for your blog contest. Try checking out some of the mega blog contests I've reviewed by clicking on the BlogContest page. Smaller scale blog contest is still acceptable yet it will not guarantee continuous traffic while you're on holiday.

There you have it 5 steps that a blogger should do before going on a holiday. Don't leave your loyal readers dispaired or new readers lost just because you need to go on a holiday. Carry out the 5 steps above and you should be able to prevent any major problems from occuring while you're on holiday.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!

If you like this article, please give it a Digg, Stumble or just subscribe to my RSS feed.

The Bloggerfocus "Guess My Blog Traffic" Contest

2008-05-17T00:00:00.003+08:00

The problem with most blog contests are the requirements readers have to fulfill in order to participate.

Almost everytime when there is a blog contest, you are bound to see the following:
1. Subscribe to my RSS feed
2. Blog about this contest
3. Stumble this contest
4. Digg this contest
5. And the list goes on...

Well if you're one of those who are sick and tired of all the above yet dying to win yourself some prizes, read on...

My dear readers, I present to you:
The Bloggerfocus "Guess My Blog Traffic" Contest

Prizes On Offer:
1 st Prize : 500 Entrecard Credits and 5000 Beer Credits

2nd Prize : 350 Entrecard Credits and 3500 Beer Credits

3rd Prize : 150 Entrecard Credits and 1500 Beer Credits

What You Need To Do:
1. Guess my traffic count (total number of unique visitors) starting from Saturday(17 May 08) 12.00am till Monday (19 May 08) 12.00am. That's 2 days.
2. You are allowed to guess as many times as you wish.
3. Post your guesses at the comment section of this post.

What You Need Not Do:
You are NOT required to subscribe to my RSS feed and you DO NOT NEED TO PROMOTE this contest on your blog.

How To Determine The Winners?
Winners will be selected base on the closest estimation of my actual blog traffic for the next 2 days.

I will be announcing the winners on the 21st of May 2008.

Have fun guessing and good luck!

P/s : If you do subscribe to my RSS feed, you are doing it out of your own free will.

FREE Blog Tools And Services Without Registration

2008-05-14T21:00:00.001+08:00

If you are looking for FREE services without the need to register your details, MyPageRank.net is the place to go. Shown in the screenshot below is the list of FREE tools and services available at MyPageRank:
Instead of wasting your time trying out all the FREE stuff one by one, I've taken the effort to test the tools and services as well as include a short description/review for each. Note that some services and tools are left out from this review as I find it irrelevant. Without further delay, let's begin the review from the top of the list:

1) SEO Stats
A widget that displays the following stats on your blog:
Display PR: display your site Google pagerank
Display Google info: display indexed pages and backlinks in Google
Display Yahoo info: display indexed pages and backlinks in Yahoo
Display Msn info: display indexed pages and backlinks in Msn
Display Alexa info: display Alexa rank and pages indexed by Alexa
The counters stats from all days , today and yesterday !

Customization:
You can choose what kind of stats to be displayed on your blog at the customization page. See screenshot below:
Widget Preview:

Get SEO Stat Now!

2. Google Pagerank Button
Find out your blog's Google pagerank and then grab the PageRank button which fancies you most. Codes for the button are automatically generated. Grab the code and place in on your blog layout.

Sample Buttons To Choose From:
Get Google Pagerank Button Now

4. Googlebot Last Access
Display on your blog the last time Google bot access your site/blog. All you need to do is enter your blog's url and then click the "Check Google Bot Last Access" button.

Button Sample Preview:

Get Googlebot Last Access Button Now

5. Ping Services
Use this service whenever you have updated your blog with a new post. Pinging is a way of notifying major sites such as Feedburner or Technorati that you have updated your blog. Dialogue wise, you sound something like this :
"Hey, look here! I'm done, come check it out!"

Sites available on the Ping list as shown in the screenshot below:
Ping Your Blog Using Ping Services Now

6. Meta Tag Analysis
Most blogs only have the title meta tag and tend to leave out description and keyword meta tags. Use this FREE service to check what meta tags your blog have. You can also learn how to add meta tags for Blogger by reading this article entitled "Tips - Adding Meta Tag To Your Blogspot".

Check Your Blog Meta Tag Now

7. Links Checks
Check how many other sites or blogs that link to your blog by using this FREE service. The more links to your blog, the better it is. Find out also what benefits your blog get from blog linking by reading this article entitled "5 Reasons Why Blog Linking Is Good For Your Blog"

Use Links Check Now

8. Poll Service
Create a poll for your own blog. Follow the step by step instruction and you'll have your own poll in no time.

Poll Sample Preview:

Get Your Own Poll Now

9. Star Rating
Create a simple widget that lets your readers rate your blog. 11 Star Ratings designs to choose from. Codes as usual are automatically generated. Just copy and paste them on your blog layout.

Star Rating Sample Preview:
Get Your Star Rating Now

10. Social Bookmark Tool
A tool that contains all the major Social Bookmarking sites. Major sites listed on this tool includes Digg, Technorati and Del.icio.us.

Tool Sample Preview:

Get Your Social Bookmark Tool Now

Bloggerfocus Summarizes
What more can one ask for? A site that gives you FREE tools and services without even asking you to register as a member. Your e-mail is save from spam and you get FREE stuff in return. Did I say in return? My apologies considering the fact that you did not even give them anything in the first place! Now this is what I trully call FREE.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging.

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Win 3000 Entrecard Credits At EZGreatLife Dot Com

2008-05-14T13:00:00.000+08:00

John from EZGreatLife Dot Com is organizing a mini blog contest. The rules are simple to follow although I honestly think that John is demanding a tiny bit too much for a mini contest.

Like what John wrote in his blog, in order to play this contest you are required to:

1. Join John's RSS/Email feed.

2. Comment on any post at EzGreatLife.

3. Answer the following 3 questions:

What date did John quit smoking? mm/dd/yyyy
What was the name of his family’s first dog?
What was the title of John's first post on EzGreatLife?

4. Send an email to contest@ezgreatlife.com with the following:

State that you joined John's RSS/Email feed
The user name you used to comment
The answers to the 3 questions above

Prizes on offer for this contest are:
1st Prize : 2000 Entrecard Credits and a blog review from John
2nd Prize : 700 Entrecard Credits and a link from John's blog to yours
3rd Prize : 300 Entrecard Credits and a link from John's blog to yours

Winners will be picked using a random number generator .

Closing date of this contest : 30 May 2008
Results : To be announced on the 1st of June 2008.

Check out the full contest post at EzGreatLife Dot Com

What Kind Of Entrecard Dropper Are You?

2008-05-13T20:16:00.003+08:00

I intended to blog about this last night. I started off last night's post with an introduction on Entrecard, thinking that I will eventually fill up the contents (the contents for today) as I write. Instead, I got so engrossed in writing about the past and present of Entrecard that I decided might as well turn what I'm writing into a blog post. Click here to read my "not so well planned" article.

As for today, I'm pretty sure I will be able to produce the intended article without straying away. To prevent and further ramblings for today, I'll skip the introduction and get straight to the gist of "What Kind of Entrecard Dropper Are You?"

1. Power Droppers
Power Droppers are Entrecard members who visit blogs solely for the sake of dropping Entrecards. The only goal that Power Droppers have in mind is to earn 300 Entrecard credits in the shortest amount of time daily. In some ways, we tend to see them as merciless Entrecard members who dont't give a rat's tail about the contents of other blogs. The one and only thing that attracts them is the "Drop" button located on your Entrecard widget.

Resources for Power Droppers:
PowerDropping Dot Com - A list of 300 fastest loading Entrecard blogs. Rankings for blogs in this list are determined by how fast it takes to load.

2. "You Drop I Follow" Droppers
Courtesy is the only word that I can use to describe "You Drop I Follow" Droppers. If you take the effort to drop on blogs that have the "You Drop I Follow" badge on display, rest assured that you'll be getting a visit and an Entrecard drop in reciprocal. Most of "You Drop I Follow" droppers are rather reliable and tend to return you the favour.

List of "You Drop I Follow" Blogs:
LeeDoyle Dot Com - Over at this blog, there's a huge variety of "Your Drop I Follow badges available for you to choose from (if you intend to follow implement this concept) as well as a list of 155 blogs practising the "You Drop I Follow" policy.

3. Socialcardster Droppers
A term coined by Ben Sparks for Entrecard members who are also members of this society called SocialSpark.com. I'm not to sure what benefits you will get for joining the Socialcardster list. Perhaps being called a Socialcardster and having the Socialcardster badge on your blog is something worth joining? Plus you also get a blog link from BenSparks.com to your blog if you become a Socialcardster. Hell yeah!

4. SiteHoppin Droppers
This is a term I've coined for Entrecard members who utilizes the SiteHoppin Firefox Toolbar to drop Entrecards. By selecting the Entrecard tag on the toolbar, only pages listed under the category of Entrecard will appear every time you start hopping. There's a bonus it it for those who use the SiteHoppin Firefox Toolbar to drop Entrecards. Apart from earning Entrecard credits, you will also earn BeerCredits (each hop will give you 1 Beer Credit) which you could use to bring more traffic to your blog!

Resources for DropHopping:
1. Read about the SiteHoppin Firefox Toolbar and get one for yourself today.
2. SiteHoppin.com, Entrecard Wannabe?

5. Casual Droppers
Probably the rarest among Entrecard members. Unlike Power Droppers, Casual Droppers tend to stop, explore and read your blog before actually dropping their Entrecard. Casual Droppers are hard to come by and their loyalty is unquestionable once they start following your blog. A gem among Entrecard members I would say.

There you have it, 5 types of Entrecard Dropper that I could think of. Have you discovered what kind of species erm...I meant type of Dropper are you?

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging.

If you like this article, please give it a Digg, Stumble or just subscribe to my RSS feed.

Reflecting Upon Entrecard.com

2008-05-13T02:08:00.003+08:00

This post is specially written for Entrecard Users. If you ain't heard about Entrecard yet, try reading this article entitled "ENTRECARD, the next level of advertising?"

Let me ask you a question, what comes into your mind first at the mere mention about Entrecard?

Yup, you got that right, the answer is Entrecard credits!

When Entrecard was first introduced, many members went on Entrecard dropping sprees. Most hardcorde members were averaging about 200-300 drops per day in order to earn credits which they could later use to purchase ads on blogs that have the Entrecard widget installed. (At this point, if you're totally lost, I suggest that you really should read my article on Entrecard first.)

Then the reviews on Entrecard.com started to flow in. Top bloggers such as Problogger and JohnChow gave their endorsement or should I say signature of approval to Entrecard. That was the boost Entrecard was waiting for in order to break into the blogging community. The immediate sign was clear as thousands of bloggers started to sign up as member of Entrecard. Such was the popularity of Entrecard that Entrecard credits were being sold in exchange for real cash!

A couple of months later, things start to get a little out of hand. Top spots for all Entrecard listed categories were being monopolized by members who drop Entrecards frequently (in other words Power Droppers). Although it took the folks at Entrecard quite some time to realized the problem at hand, remedial action was taken almost immediately by introducing a new ad pricing system. The new system gave every blog an equal chance to appear on the top spot of respective Entrecard listed categories. Most certainly a welcomed change in my opinion. If you like to read all my views on the new ad pricing system, check out this article entitled "Entrecard.com - Back To Basics"

At present, the Entrecard hype has died down considerably and the flames of excitement reduced to just a flicker. There's been good and bad reviews surfacing lately about Entrecard. These are mostly reviews posted by bloggers who have used Entrecard for the past couple of months. Some bloggers even claimed that the efforts they put into Entrecard dropping is not worth the traffic they get in return. On the contrary, I believe the main objective for Entrecard is to provide a platform for new blogs to showcase themselves. In fact, to receive 30-50 unique visitors per day for a new blog is quite an achievement for any beginner blogger.

Meanwhile, for blogs already experiencing 500-1000 unique visitors per day, why complain about effort and time being wasted on Entrecard dropping? If you find that Entrecard is off no help, just remove the widget and stop being a member! Is there really a need to whine and let the world know that you think Entrecard sucks? Remember, just because Entrecard do not work for you, doesn't mean that the rest of us here share the same sentiment as you do.

Got something to say about Entrecard? Well drop me a comment and let me know what's in your mind. 20 Entrecard credits would be given for each comment made. I know It's not much, but it's something.

Till my next post, cheers and happy blogging!