Posts Tagged ‘Simple’
Hosting and Management Software for Online Diaries and Weblogs
Have your online diary hosted with one of these sites or create a weblog with content management software. You can create your diary or weblog by just filling in some information. You’ll have your own online diary or weblog and be sharing your information with the world in no time.
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Photo Blogs For Your Family – Start a Photo Blog
Keep track of your memories and your photos all in one with a photo blog. Photos and blogs have been combined so you can create your own photo blog with one of these photo blog hosting service.
Blog Podcasting With a Service
Create your own personal weblog and add sound files to it. Record your blog entries or use text entries, then upload them to your new podcasting site. I’ll show you how.
20six – Weblogs, Blogs via the Web
Blogging with photos and templates. Get a guestbook too so your readers can leave comments.
Blogdrive – Free Blog Sites
Create a blog that is more like your own personal Web site. You can add photos, colors and anything else you like.
Blogger – Create Your Blog Now
Add your thoughts to your blog every day. Add photos to make it better. Get comments from other people to find out what they think.
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
Rs350 .COM Domain NamesWorld’s Largest Domain Registrar. Free Email &Hosting w/Site Builder. GoDaddy.com/India
Blogstyles – Designs For Your Weblog
Templates to help you create a blog and make it in the style you want. You don’t have to go through the hassle of downloading graphics and designing your pages, use their templates and let them do it for you. Not a blog hosting service.
iAlmond – Free Photo Blogs
Create a homepage, blog and add photos. Your readers can also add comments to your photo blog.
JoeUser.com – Weblogs for the Average Joe
Create your blog, add posts and add photos to your blog. Track articles and user responses too.
LiveJournal – Simple To Use Blogging
Write stories or keep a blog online. Your blog can be completely private or you can share it with the world. Blog entries can include photos and music. Create a mini biography for your blog to make it more personal.
MindSay – The Blog Network
Create your own blog in a minute. Add photos too. Security settings to help you keep your blog private if you want to.
Myspace.com – A Place For Friends
Create a custom profile, add pictures, write blogs, send mail and IM’s.
Open Diary – Real Life, Write Life
Get your own public or private blog. Add photos, change colors, backgrounds and just about anything else to make it look the way your want.
Xanga – The Weblog Community
Get your own fully customizable blog. Upload photos, post blog entries, format and customize your posts and pages. Connect with friends.
b2
Write long entries even if they span several pages. Enter your entries by writing what you want to say and clicking a button. This software makes creating a weblog easy.
Backwash
These are categorized into groups by what they are about. Sign up and get your own weblog now and join a community at the same time.
BlogExplosion – Blog Community
Blogging community where you can create a blog about anything you want and have other people read and comment on your blog.
The Facebook – For College Students
A way for college students to keep track of friends, friends friends and other things. Find out who’s on Facebook at your school and get in touch with them.
GreyMatter
Online journal software that offers comments, searching, file uploading and image handling and more for free.
Health Diaries: Health Information With Personality
“Health Diaries is a community of health-related diaries and blogs. People can start their own diaries or just come and read others’ diaries to glean first-person health information.”
Mars Edit – Weblog Creation Software
Create your blog posts on your computer and then upload them to your Weblog when you are ready. You don’t have to be online to write your blog entries using this software.
- Take Blogging To a Deeper Level
One of the dilemmas I had faced after publishing my blog on Blogger was how to integrate forms? A simple feedback or Contact Us form can go a long way in making your blog more user focused and interactive. I have found to simple methods to overcome this handicap. And yes you don’t need to be a coder to do this!
1. Use Formstack Forms (http://www.formstack.com) to build professional looking online forms:
A simple but very effective solution is offered by www.formstack.com . Formstack allows you to design and build forms online and then allows you to embed forms on any blog or website. The simple drag and drop interface allows you to easily create an HTML form and add any type of form element (e.g. Text fields, email field, file upload). You can manage your field types, add sections, and rearrange your fields. The Process is very simple:
Sign up on Formstack.
Build your forms using the form builder. The interface is intuitive. Use a few minute is get familiar and no harm experimenting.
Assign the email address where you want to send form data. This is important as this is where you will receive the feedbacks.
Select a suitable design template and Save your form.
Generate the code to embed on your Blog. Save the code in a notepad file.
You are pretty much done with Formstack! Now log in to your Blogger account to integrate the code on your Blogger website:
On your blogger add a page using the page widget. . If you don’t have the widget already you can do so my going to Design > Add Widget and Select Pages Widget. The page widget on Blogger allows you to add up to 10 static pages on Blogger.
After added the page widget go to Posting > Edit Pages > Create a new page.
Create a new page with the name “Contact Us” using pages widget
On the page editor click Edit HTML tab.
Paste the embed code generated from Formstack. And Voila! You have a working feedback form on Blogger!
Do a quick preview. You may have to do small adjustments to the form field lengths if there are any overlaps with your Blogger sidebar but that is simple. The Formstack form builder interface is so simple that you can quickly find your way to generate a visually pleasing feedback form.
2. Use feedback tool from getsatisfaction (http://www.getsatisfaction.com)
Get satisfaction is one of the most popular feedback tools on the Internet. Integrating this on blogger requires some careful template code embedding. The Integration process is simple though:
Sign up on getsatisfaction.com.
Generate the code for embedding.
There is not straight forward blogger integration widget here so you will have to go to your blogger template source to integrate the code.
Go to blogger Design > Edit HTML
On template XML source code look for tag.
Paste the get satisfaction embed code just before the and save the template and you have the feedback widget on blogger!
When you are into writing blogs on a regular basis, the primary motive of your posts is to invite the comments from the readers to your link. Be it good or bad, this feedback highly counts and it really helps you chalk out your future posts. A comment on a page is the most valued response that you can get on your blog. In fact, a reader’s view to your blog also gives you satisfaction and the crtical evaluation that you need for your writing.
The primary objective of every blogger is to get the maximum number of responses to a post so that he or she can gauge the success of the post with the readers. The following simple and practical WordPress tips can help you out in generating more valuable reader comments.
Remember to never mix your track backs, if you have them active in your blog, with reader comments. This makes it confusing for the readers to understand the difference between the two. Ensure that your comments are stylish to catch the attention of the visitors to your blog. This makes it simple for the readers to quickly identify the comment box and they can post their responses without hassles. If you have many comments on your blog you can number them for the convenience of your readers.
Customizing the wordpress comment box makes it fun for the readers to read. This catches their attention and in this regard prudent choice graphics is a vital part. The trick is to steer clear of the mediocre and boring comment boxes that are normally overlooked by readers.
When you have written your post and received a number of comments, remember to display the total number of comments received on your blog. Displaying the total number of followers on Twitter and Feedburner also helps you to attract more readers to your blog and earn those valued comments that you are looking for.
If you have very old content with comments it is wise to disable them so that your blog boasts of the latest and up-to-date posts. If you are using the latest version of WordPress, you do not need to worry about it as this is disabled automatically. If you are using an older version of WordPress, you have to update them yourself by deleting the older posts.
There are many readers who comment posts on a regular basis and in the process they may make a mistake while commenting on your blog. For them you can use the edit comment options that are present in the versions of WordPress 2.5 and above. The reader can conveniently edit their comments in an allotted time and make it simple for them to rectify mistakes promptly.
The above WordPress tips can help to get the much awaited reader responses that you are looking for your blog post. Your readers will also be happy to post their comments with a comment friendly page that in a great way also contributes the popularity of your blog with them to a large extent.
This article was brought to you by www.wordpresstipsgalore.com.
39 Ways to Put Yourself on the Web
Whether you’re interested in blogging, making music, shooting videos, publishing your novel, or starting your own social network, these great services can help–in many cases, for free.
Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:00:00 UTC
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
Illustration by Mick Wiggins
The Web is not a spectator sport. Sure, you can watch videos and do countless other low-brainwave activities online, but the Web’s outlets for self-expression and creativity are boundless. In fact, the medium doesn’t come alive until you take advantage of the participatory Web–the sites and services that can present you and your talents to the world.
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
Whatever your passion–creating video, networking with friends or colleagues, blogging, running a business, making music, or publishing a novel–you’re bound to find a site or service that can help you pursue your goals. While many of these services are free, others may charge from a few bucks to thousands of dollars. We’ll give you our favorites in each category. And in our companion story, “Six Rising Stars on the New Web,” we’ll introduce you to six people who are making a living by distributing their creative efforts on the Web.
Star in Your Own Videos
The best thing about a lot of video-posting sites is that they let you earn cash based on the number of views your videos generate. And if you’re a fledgling auteur, some can help you get discovered by the entertainment industry.
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
Metacafe Metacafe claims over 1 million users a day. Equally important to video creators, though, is the site’s revenue-sharing program, which pays for every 1000 views, although payments don’t arrive until your clip receives 20,000 views and an average viewer rating of 3 stars (out of 5) or higher.
RevverAnother income-sharing site is Revver, which offers a 50-50 revenue split based on views and ad clicks. You can disable the ads that run before your video starts. Some Revver clips play on Verizon Wireless VCast phones, which extends your opportunity for cash and exposure.
CrackleIf you’re waiting for Hollywood to discover you, Crackle can be your online casting agent. This Sony-owned site limits file uploads to 100MB, so don’t post your feature film here. Crackle’s contests offer prizes such as pitch meetings with studio execs.
VeohSeveral innovative features distinguish Veoh, a hidden gem whose video-playback quality is a notch above that of most sites. If you have an account on Google Video, MySpace, or YouTube, Veoh automatically posts your clip to those sites too (you must activate this feature first). And it imposes no size limit on video uploads–a rarity.
YouTubeIt’s no secret that YouTube has the biggest audience of video viewers, so naturally you’ll want to post there. The site’s playback quality isn’t great, particularly when compared with that of Crackle and other newer sites. You won’t find a video site that’s easier to use, however, and its Video Toolbox section provides helpful shooting and editing tips from the pros.
SpikeFormerly known as iFilm, Spike provides a platform for fledgling filmmakers. You can embed your Spike-hosted clips on personal sites, including blogs and MySpace pages. The service offers no revenue sharing, though. Your file uploads can be as large as 500MB–many sites limit you to 100MB.
JibJab is the place to submit video jokes: You’ll find everything from stand-up routines to the ever-hilarious guy getting kicked in the groin. JibJab accepts photo, audio, and text jokes too. The site’s editors decide if your bits are funny enough to post; if they’re not, well, there’s always YouTube.
Yahoo VideoYahoo Video lets you link clips to your blog and drive traffic to your site.
Google VideoVideos are a breeze to upload at Google Video, thanks to the service’s intuitive (and bare-bones) interface. The site provides an optional desktop uploader for files larger than 100MB. It doesn’t offer revenue sharing, and we’d like to see more (or at least some) integration with YouTube, but Google Video’s big-name pedigree and utter simplicity make it a good place to post your videos.
Be the Center of Your Social Network
If you’ve moved beyond Facebook, LinkedIn, or Orkut and are ready to build your own online community, either for personal or professional use, these sites will let you create a social network, complete with discussion forums, RSS feeds, member profiles, and other essentials. Constructing a simple social network costs nothing, but you’ll likely want to upgrade to the sites’ paid services as your network gains members, or to remove the ads that display on networks you build for free.
NingThe best design tools we’ve seen for building a social network are at Ning. Organize your network’s main page by dragging a text box, forum widget, or other component into the layout window. Then select fonts, colors, background images, and other page elements. Invite friends and associates by importing addresses from AOL Mail, Gmail, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and other Web mail services–but not from Outlook or any other desktop mail clients, unfortunately. Your finished product has a polished and professional appearance.
A close second is Nexo, which provides a great site builder that is simple enough for anyone to use. Just choose a design template, or start out with a blank page and insert your choice of more than two dozen modules, including forums, feeds, images, and polls.
KickAppsThe page-design tools at KickApps are targeted more at Web-savvy developers who have built sites before. Getting your KickApps network to look the way you want may take time, but experienced designers will appreciate the site’s advanced tool kit.
Me.comFor people whose Web-design experience ends with their MySpace profile, there’s Me.com, where setting up a network is a snap. You won’t find the type of top-notch customization tools that Ning offers, or KickApps’ developer-friendly features. And Me.com has a few weird quirks: For instance, you can’t upload a video into the viewer, but must instead import a feed directly from a Webcam. The service is for personal, not professional, networks.
CollectiveXCollectiveX offers many business-friendly features, but it lacks the customization and hand-holding options that you can find on other social-network sites. You can import contacts directly from Outlook and Outlook Express, as well as from the major Web mail clients. Setup is a bit confusing; the service could use more Ning-style help guides. However, your finished CollectiveX page will be nicely organized and visually appealing.
Blog for Show, Blog for Dough
Getting your blog read takes more than compelling prose. These sites will help you attract and hold an audience.
The Vox blog editor makes adding photos, audio files, videos, and other nontext elements to your blog as easy as clicking a big, clearly labeled button at the top of the screen.Click here to view full-size image.Vox has the best blog editor we’ve tested. To add an image, song, or video to an entry, just click the appropriate button above the text window. You can embed a reader poll or other widget on your page, too. Vox’s bigger sibling is TypePad–both are owned by blogging-services provider Six Apart. TypePad has the powerful design tools that professional bloggers crave, offering easy drag-and-drop design and more customization tools than other blog sites provide. Six Apart won’t place ads on your blog, but you can supply your own via a third-party ad network, if you wish. TypePad’s fees range from to a month (more for custom plans).
Live JournalYet another Six Apart site, LiveJournal is designed as a community tool rather than a standard blogging service. For instance, you can join user-created groups and text-message other LiveJournal members. The free Plus service provides 1GB of photo storage.
BloggerA good choice for first-time bloggers is Google’s Blogger. Setup couldn’t be simpler: Choose one of a dozen design templates, enter your blog title and text in the browser-based editor, and add an image, video clip, or links with just a couple of clicks. The service lacks TypePad’s sophisticated features, and we’d like to see more editing tools, but what Blogger does, it does very well.
Yahoo 360If you already have a Yahoo Mail account, Yahoo 360 is the fastest way to blog–no additional setup required. The service’s editor lacks the ability to post audio and video clips, among other features, but you can add reader polls. Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces is fine if you don’t need high-end features. Its basic editor lets you add photos and embed videos, but you can’t upload videos directly from your computer.
Word PressThe WordPress service provides handy editing tools, including a word counter, and the option to open links in a separate window. For a year, you can access the site’s CSS Stylesheet Editor to modify your blog’s template.
Get Help for a Business or Workgroup
You have a business to run, and you don’t have the time or skills to build a Web site from scratch. Let these services do the heavy lifting for you, allowing you to focus on more important management matters.
Designing a site couldn’t be easier than using one of the 2000 templates in Homestead’s Design Gallery.Click here to view full-size image.The Homestead hosting service has a great tool kit for building a professional site, even if you can’t tell “HTML” from “BYOB.” The Design Gallery has more than 2000 templates, so chances are good that your site won’t be a clone of your competitors’. Homestead’s drag-and-drop tools let you easily add your company’s logo and other brands. Homestead’s least-expensive hosting service for businesses costs a month, plus a setup fee (skip the “Starter” package, which is too limited to be useful). For more-affordable hosting, try Yahoo Small Business: Prices start at a month, and when we signed up the startup fee was waived. The page-design tools are serviceable, although they can’t match Homestead’s. Constructing an e-commerce site is easy, and you get plenty of tips to help your site succeed.
Google Custom SearchGoogle Custom Search is a free, Google-hosted search window that you place on your business’s site. You choose the pages that are searched when your visitors enter a query. For professional sites, the fee-based Business Edition is worth the cost (rates start at 0 a year). Business Edition removes the Google logo from the search window and Google ads from the search results, while adding more tools and support.
The Microsoft Small Business Center supplies free technical support for the company’s popular business-oriented apps, including Windows XP Professional, Live Meeting, and Small Business Accounting. The Startup Center provides advice for entrepreneurs as well as an eclectic mix of business essays, such as the always-popular “5 rules for on-the-job romance.”
Earthlink Business ResourceThe EarthLink Business Resource Center provides Web hosting, e-commerce, and other business services. Its Traffic Builder optimizes ad copy and search terms to boost your visibility on search sites.
If you want a smart yet simple looking free wordpress template that has all the basic features you need to get your website or blog out there, then this one is for you. Unlike the free-for-download themes, this premium template is made for professionals who take blog and site promotion seriously.
This theme also has several built-in features that others (like the free templates) do not possess. Some of these features include built-in image and video galleries and tools for social networking functions (Twitter updates and Flickr photos, for instance), as well as search engine optimization (SEO) for easier blog or site ranking.
This AdSense-ready template design, which comes in various colors, has ad units arranged strategically to optimize your earnings and click-through rates (CTRs). All you need now is the color scheme of your choice. You may also add flare to it by including a custom logo.
In addition, it is fully customizable, which means you have the freedom to modify the default template to make your website or blog even more unique than it already is.
Furthermore, this is a free wordpress template for those who want to attract readers, not just visitors, and get traffic and CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions) – perfect for the ultimate blogger.
When it comes to selecting the right WordPress template, the basic things to look for are its user friendly and customizable features, simplicity, sleek design, built-in tools, and the like.
That is what this premium theme is all about. It has a Featured Articles section wherein you can preview an article in a snippet. Since the template is fully customizable, you can also rearrange your layout into whichever position you want, to make it more “you.” Likewise, you can customize the color of your template via its wide selection of color schemes.
To update your subscribers with your mini-blogs through the social networking site Twitter.com, without the hassle of visiting the site, they can just go to your WordPress page and read your tweets there. This is all possible through the new Twitter update template feature.
Unlike free templates, this free wordpress template has plug-ins essential for search engine optimization or SEO, which helps your blog or site to get better rankings in the SERPs (search engine results page). The AdSense-ready theme enables you to get video, text, and image advertisements on your site.
Moreover, through RSS feeds, submitting your feed to major feed aggregators will become easier. Additionally, this feature will make it simple for readers to subscribe to you.
There are bloggers and site owners who are very particular with the kind of topics they write about on their site. To further enhance the look of their pages, they need the perfect template to go with the topic of their blog or site.
This type of theme comes with customization features. These customization features will help make your website the site that you want it to be. In addition, you can choose any kind of color with its varied collection of color schemes.
What makes this template unique is its plug-ins, two of which are YouTube and Twitter. With the theme installed, you can add videos and your subscribers can view them without having to visit YouTube. You can edit the size of the video, change the color of the windows and even set it to “Autoplay.”
For your readers to not waste time reading your tweets in your Twitter profile page, they can simply go to your WordPress page and scan through it via your Twitter plug-in.
In addition, this template is SEO (search engine optimization) friendly; which means it is easier for your website to rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs), get better traffic, and higher chances of earning money.