According to the Internet World Stats, English is the most used language on the Internet at 536.6 million users (Chinese comes in second with 444.9 million users). In this sense, we are lucky that we speak English fluently (as my students consistently reminded me) because we are able to write for a larger audience. However, there is no denying that reading something in your own language is preferred (ask anyone who is bilingual). Consider a few of the reasons translating your blog into other languages is worth your time.

Why English Only is So Last Year

Many business professionals are hesitant to go the “foreign language” route because it sounds like a lot of document management work (and managing documents in a foreign language is no easy feat). English is very obviously one of the most popular languages spoken around the world; however what businesses do not realize is that many of these English speakers speak English as a second language. Therefore, there are many benefits you should be factoring in when deciding whether or not to translate your blog into different languages:

• You will have more eyes reading your content. If you have something important you have to say (and if you’re blogging you probably should…), you want to say it to as many people as possible.
• You will be able to rank higher on search engines and local search engines in other languages because there is less competition.
• Your blog will have new perspectives and opinions to discuss. If the comment is posted in another language, you can translate the comments quickly using websites such as Google Translate. However, you may find that those who find your blog in another language will comment in English.
• Duplicate content doesn’t count across languages.

Translating blogs into different languages is still somewhat of a hidden secret. The benefits are great, but they are still for the most part untapped. The best part: creating the translation is simple.

How to Go from Awesome to ehrfürchtige

The easiest way to get started is by installing a WordPress plugin. There are several plugins to choose from; all of which will automatically translate your blog into a different language. Most plugins offer several languages, so all a visitor has to do is click on one of the languages and BAM!—your blog is in Norwegian. Although the translations are never absolutely perfect, the benefits will still remain consistent. Consider the two most popular plugins to make it happen:

• Google Translate—This is by far the most popular route for bloggers, and is considered by most to be the quickest and cheapest. You can download Google Translate here, and then all you have to do is copy the code you are given onto your blog. Once you’re all set-up, Google will take care of the translating.

• Global Translator—This service creates sub-directories for all of your translated content, so you will have a lot of extra pages on your blog. This is recommended for bloggers who expect their primary audience to be speaking something other than English. You can download it here.

Both of these services are easy to setup and all are completely free. Although the idea of translation wasn’t too big in 2011, I expect it to be much more popular in the near future. And with those thoughts I say to you buenas noches, ciao, 晚安, and au revoir.

Photo Credit: shutterstock.com

1: Yoast WordPress SEO

Yoast WordPress SEO is an all in one SEO kit which gives you site wide control over some of the most important SEO factors. Most usefully it allows you to easily write SEO friendly meta titles and descriptions, or it can even choose them for you! You can use Yoast SEO to create dynamic titles and descriptions across pages or to update individual pages. Other handy features include the ability to customise the content of your RSS feed, additional permalink controls, breadcrumb creator and a handy XML sitemap creator.

2: W3 TotalCache

W3 cache is a great plug in for improving site speed. Some WordPress sites can be notoriously slow because they have a lot of information to fetch from the server and then deliver to the user. Blog posts, comments and plug in data all have to be retrieved from the server which takes a lot of time. W3 TotalCache significantly reduces that time by caching its own fully complete copy of that page in its memory and presenting that to the user.

W3 TotalCache also allows you to minify CSS and Javascript files, which is particularly useful in some WordPress themes where there are an unnecessary amount of files. W3TotalCache essentially eliminates the unnecessary files and squeezes everything into one efficient file which is delivered directly to the user. W3TC can also be used for local cache, providing information to the browser as to what to cache and how long to keep it caches.

3: Share This

As social shares are likely to carry even more weight as a ranking factor, it’s as important as ever to ensure you’ve got social share buttons on all areas of your site. There are several social sharing plug ins, but for sheer ease of use and number of services this is the best for those who just want to install and let it do it’s magic. Share This enables you to customise the social sharing sites you display and where you display them on the page. You can also register with ShareThis to get additional social analytics about your shared posts.

4: upPrev Previous Post Animated Notification

One of the best bounce rate search engine optimisation tips I can give is to get this plug in! This is a great little way to subtly capture your users attention, help decrease bounce rate and generally get people engaging with more and more posts on your site. A lot of people found it initially on sites such as Nytimes.com and oddee.com have also been using something similar for a while.

This plug in creates a slider which fades or slides into your page when a user reaches a certain point in your post. If you set this at the very end of your page, it grabs the attention of the reader and allows them to click straight through to a different post. It works because it’s not too intrusive and when used properly feels quite natural and helpful.

5: Google Analytics For WordPress

For those serious about learning about the insight of their website, there isn’t a more complete Google Analytics package than Yoast’s. This plug in allows you as much insight into your websites analytics data as you want. You can either install the tracking code and leave it to collect the raw data you need every day, or use it to set custom variable reporting, e-commerce integration and event tracking.

Scott is a writer who would urge every SEO who hasn’t got a WordPress site to go out and start experimenting TODAY!

A tag management system helps a company turn the managing of tags over to the marketing team. These systems allow for a managing interface which allows a marketing team to easily keep their obligations fulfilled. As the market grows, there are a number of different organizations offering varying styles of tagging systems. This growing market is allowing companies to choose the right systems for their organization, whether they are large scale or better for the small business approach.

There are some great features that marketing teams and companies want to take into account during the time when they are deciding on a type of tagging system to take on. They will want to review the customization, structure, architecture and the site hosting.

Looking at different forms of architecture within tag management systems, it’s important to analyze the build up and exactly how tags are loaded. A client side model means that the performance is sped up by using caches with the tag management server. On a server side model, every new page view will bring on a new server request, with much more dependency on the actual server. Both models have their own level of benefits, but for the most part, organizations tend to go with the performance that comes with a client side model.

When it comes to the structure of a TMS, it’s important to review types of tags that are going to be used; including web analytics, basic tags and complex tags. It’s also important for a company to look at the amount of possible customization with each TMS option. Because the method of using TMS is still relatively new, developers are continuing to come up with great new ideas and applications. Discussing the customization opportunities with each vendor will allow an organization to realize the possibilities of growth with each option on the table.

Finally, it’s important to review the site’s hosting within each TMS. There is likely to be a decision between on premise hosting and on demand hosting. On premise hosting is common with high volume sites and allows the process to be mostly internally run. An on demand hosting environment is overseen by the provider of the services, taking away the possibility

Even though these are just a few of the indicators to look for during the TMS process, taking them into account can be crucial. All four of these indicators may hold different values to different companies and what they’re looking for. At the end of the day, tag management system options continue to grow along with development.  In the end, it’s crucial that each organization look for what properly matches the needs and environment of the company and site.

How Can I Blog with My Blackberry Mobile Phone?

(Courtesy of Flickr User: StrebKR)

Blogging sites are now providing the option for Blackberry users to text in their updates from their smartphones. Not all blogging sites allow these types of updates; so, bloggers who would prefer to use this feature may need to select a site that would allow these updates.

Blogger. Applications such as Google’s Blogger will allow email and text message updates from mobile devices. With this application, special mail may be sent to the email address under the settings tab. The blogs may be published immediately through this method. Videos and photographs may also be added via this method. Mobile blogging expands the horizons of those that make money from their blogs or use their blogs as a part of their marketing strategy.

Blogger is free to use, but the application is robust enough to make a professional blog with ease. Some people prefer not to have blogs automatically added. In this instance, the settings may be modified to save the blog as a draft to be modified and published at a later date. Since the application is web based, the draft may be accessed from the mobile phone, laptop or desktop.

WordPress. WordPress is another content management system (CMS) that helps mobile users create blogs. The blogs may also be optimized to increase traffic to the website for viewing by people interested in your product, service, topic or subject. With WordPress, backlinks, meta titles, meta descriptions and content may be optimized through the website. Many bloggers will make edits and updates while they are out and about. Major blogs may be posted when they reach a stationary location with their computers.

TypePad. This application supports both BlackBerry and iPhone applications. This mobile blogging application accepts updates through text or SMS. This blogging tool also allows users to upload photos from digital cameras via an Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card. This is another good feature for bloggers to have available to enhance their blogs.

Though these two blogging sites are popular, other blogging applications are available. Some of those blogging applications include TypePad and Live Journal. Each of these blogging options has their advantages and disadvantages. Most of the applications may be found on BlackBerry applications website, but some of the applications may only be limited to other devices. Though many are free, not all will be compatible with the email style updates. Ensure that text updates and email updates are available before you decide to select a blogging application for the BlackBerry.

How Does a BlackBerry SIM Only Deal Help Bloggers?

(Courtesy of Flickr User: NightRStar)

BlackBerry SIM only deals allow bloggers to find the carrier with the best data plan and fastest upload speeds. Blogging and edits to blogs may take a significant amount of time with mobile broadband if the connection is not fast. Consumers may select a carrier that may purport to have low data usage costs or fast mobile broadband, and later the blogger may find that the network is not quite what they imagined. Bloggers may try several mobile carriers until they find the best network for their area and blogging application.

BlackBerry customers have more flexibility with SIM only deals. Customers should consider SIM only deals, because most are only obligated for a short period of time. After the month consumers may cancel the service completely, change plans or move to another provider.

Conclusion
With these applications, BlackBerry owners may begin blogging on their mobile phones immediately. Blogging is an excellent way to keep your followers informed of the latest updates. From customers to family, everyone loves an informative and useful blog. In turn, they may learn about a product or service that may significantly enhance the lives of the readers. Blogging from a BlackBerry mobile phone can not only be productive, but also lucrative as well.

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a freelance writer for technology, travel, and music production topics. When he’s not writing or making music, he’s enjoying a good post-apocalyptic novel or playing RTS Strategy online game. Ruben’s writing resume includes websites like SIM only where you can get the best Blackberry Sim only deals and other websites that help you save on your tech purchases.

While yours truly thinks RSS readers are the best way to stay updated with what’s happening around the blogosphere, blog streams (a feature popularized by Tumblr and social networks) could further marginalized the need for RSS readers in the future.

Google is already experimenting with the blog stream format within Blogger, and even WordPress.com has flirted with the idea of blog streams (which you can find by visiting WP.com/#subs).

So with the 3 largest blogging platforms embracing blog streams (or at least flirting with the idea), will we see the end of RSS feed readers in the not so distant future?

Here are a couple of reasons why RSS readers may (as well as may not) become irrelevant in the future.

Why RSS Readers Will Become Irrelevant

In an age where people’s attention spans are decreasing and the amount of information that they read is increasing, many do not have the patience to create and maintain an RSS reader.

Managing an RSS feed often involves locating a blogs feed, pasting the link into ones respective “subscription box,” then categorizing the feed into a folder (the latter only applies if one is subscribed to over 100 blogs).

Most decent blog streams on the other hand allow you to easily follow a site by clicking on the “follow” button, and if you no longer want to stay updated regarding a particular site you can easily unfollow with one click.

Although RSS readers are known for their power, they are often far more complex than blog streams, which may further decrease their popularity in the semi-distant future.

Why RSS Readers Will Thrive

Despite the extra steps needed in managing an RSS feed, RSS readers allow bloggers to subscribe to content regardless of the platform.

Although blog streams are far easier to use, most blog (if not all) platforms only allow you to follow sites upon their respective platforms.

This means that Tumblr fans can not receive updates from WP.com lovers, and vice versa.

RSS readers on the other hand are able to fill that void (hence the reason why they were created in the first place), and as more users seek to read sites upon other platforms, we could see greater adoption of these tools.

What Do You Think?

Do you use an RSS readers, and if so what’s your favorite one?

Also, would you consider ditching RSS readers for blog streams in the future?

In the other corner is Disqus, weighing in at 35 million active users, and who currently sits as king of third party commenting systems.

Although there are other commenting systems such as Echo and IntenseDebate (the latter which is owned by Automattic), I’m coming across more sites and blogs adopting either Disqus or Facebook comments so for now I’ll focus on these two titans.

Since both services have advantages as well as disadvantages against each other, we’ve decided to put each through 7 rounds to see which service is more suitable for your site.

Threaded Comments

Both Disqus and Facebook offer bloggers threaded comments, which in today’s world is necessary in order to help organize conversations and prevent confusion from breaking out between discussions.

As a bonus, both offer multiple threaded conversations, allowing readers to reply to those replying to them (a feature Facebook comments recently adopted.

Disqus: 1, Facebook Comments: 1

@Mentions

The ability to add other users to the conversation is a killer feature that is lacking in most third party commenting systems.

Fortunately both Disqus and Facebook offer bloggers and webmasters the ability to contact friends or followers albeit using different methods.

Disqus allows readers to mention fellow Disqus users or tweeple (or twitter users) while Facebook only allows you to mention fellow Facebook friends or fan pages.

Although Facebook has more users, the @Mentions feature is only limited to your circle of friends while Disqus (who lacks Facebook access) allows you to contact any tweeter or Disqus buddy.

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 1

Analytics On The Go

The social networking giant and the commenting king both provide analytics for bloggers and webmasters in order to help them understand just who is commenting and liking posts upon their blog.

While Disqus analytics provides in depth analysis of where your users are coming from, it’s offered as a premium service that starts at $19/month.

Facebook on the other hand offers their analytical services for free, although even if price were not an issue, the social giant is able to provide greater demographics  (such as age, gender and primary language).

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 2

Spam/Troll Unfriendly

With commenting spam on the rise (both robotic and humans), many bloggers have had to rely upon the “wisdom of the crowds” to alert admins of intrusive comment ads as well as vote down annoying trolls.

Although Disqus does also allow users to utilize Akismet (on top of your commenting community), human spammers are not only still sneaking, but they are also sometimes engaging your readers within the discussion (note: by their links you shall know them).

Facebook on the other hand users their social graph to weed out the spammers as well as trolls with surprising effectiveness (as Facebook limits viewership of a spammer’s comment to their circle of friends).

Disqus: 2, Facebook Comments: 3

Multiple Logins

Both Facebook and Disqus allow users to comment using accounts from other services.

However Facebook only allows readers to login using their Facebook, Yahoo! or Microsoft Live (via Hotmail) account while Disqus not only matches Facebook, but also offers Twitter and Google as extra options.

Note: Facebook would add Twitter and Google if it were not for the fact that both companies refused to embrace the social giant due to “trust” issues.

Disqus: 3, Facebook Comments: 3

Editbility

The ability to edit comments on your blog is priceless, especially when dealing with quality comments that may ere too much on the vulgar side (or post sensitive information that needs to be removed).

It’s also convenient to users who want to make minimum edits to their comments to correct grammatical errors or correct spelling mistakes.

Disqus gives both admins and readers the ability to edit comments, although Facebook only allows you to delete a comment, with no way to correct a simple spelling mistake or clarify your opinion on someone else’s site.

Disqus: 4, Facebook Comments: 3

Installation

Probably the most critical aspect of third party commenting systems is installation as messing up here will prevent one from utilizing them in the first place!

Disqus not only provides plugins, extensions and modules for self hosting fans, but also tutorials (with images!) for those using blog services like Tumblr, Blogger or even Squarespace.

Facebook on the other hand more or less leaves you in the dark, requiring third party tutorials from geeks or (if you’re lucky) an unofficial plugin.

Disqus: 5, Facebook Comments: 3

Who Do You Prefer?

Although I’m slightly biased towards Disqus (due to the fact they’re tweet friendly), other features may convince you to side with Facebook (especially if you’re a data geek who loathes spam).

For those of you out there who have chosen third party commenting systems, would you choose Facebook comments over Disqus? (or vice versa?) If so, why?

Image Credits: George Lucas and his beloved Star Wars Films

As the use of screen shots in blog posts continues to increase, a number of software developers have released free tools that offer more functionality than the simple “Prt Scr” button on your keyword, allowing you to produce blog-quality images. Here is a breakdown of 5 popular free screen-grab tools and a suggestion of who they might suit best.

1. Screen Hunter – The Spartan’s Choice

File types available to save in:
• .bmp
• .jpeg
• .gif
This tool is very simple and to the point. The interface is nothing special but it’s easy to use and functional, making it the ideal option for those who don’t like to mess around. It features a useful delayed capture timer and autosave options, which makes it great if you’re doing a lot of screen-grabbing for a walkthrough project for example. You get a quite a few more options if you go for the paid version, but some of the other free tools come with these anyway, so save your money.

2. !Quick Screen Capture – The Image Editor’s Choice

File types available to save in:
• .bmp
• .jpeg
• .gif
This tool comes with the same autosave options as Screen Hunter, but with no delay timer. With this tool you have more capture shape options including ellipse, circle, and even custom polygon shapes. However, the design is very dated and the interface is non-intuitive, making it difficult to use quickly. As most screen-grab jobs want doing quickly and easily, this is a real flaw. On the plus side the tool does incorporate a lot of the MS paint features which enable good image editing options post-capture.

3. Gadwin PrintScreen – The Pragmatist’s Choice

File types available to save in:
• .bmp
• .jpeg
• .gif
• .png
• .tif
A really clean and easy to use design makes this tool very appealing. There are loads of image options including a wide selection of hot keys, auto-addition of shadows and date/name stamps to images, ability to send straight to printer or email, and the largest selection of file types to save in. What lets it down however are the limited range of screen grab shapes to choose from and the absence of any post-capture editing tools. This software sits in the taskbar most of the time and only shows its face when you’re editing your preferences.

4. Greenshot – The Minimalist’s Choice

Available from: File types available to save in:
• .bmp
• .jpeg
• .gif
• .png
Greenshot is a really lightweight screen-grab tool whose operation and preference-editing runs almost entirely from the taskbar. This means you can have it running all the time without noticing it and quickly grab a screen shot when you need it. Although it’s small it’s also got a lot of options, including image capture quality and direct sending of images to printer or email. You can even add auto-rotation and resizing to fit printer page orientation and paper size. Simple post-capture editing options are available with a good interface.

5. Jing – My Choice

File types available to save in:
• .png
OK, so maybe I got sucked in by the fancy web 2.0 design and cool animations the tool displays when you use it, but there are valid reasons for me picking this as my favorite which I’ll get to later. Firstly the negatives:
• It’s the heaviest bit of software among the bunch and could slow your computer down if you have underlying performance issues
• You can only save files as .png
• There are only basic post-capture editing options
Despite these flaws, Jing’s usability and all round intuitiveness makes it the most comfortable to use out of the lot in my opinion. It comes with a great interactive tutorial video built-in that teaches you in a ‘hands-on’ way how to get the most from the tool. When not in use Jing’s sun sits at the top of your screen out of the way, but you can move it wherever you like really. You can share you screen shots directly via screencast.com which is very useful when trying to explain something over the phone or via email, and you can even capture 5-minute screen view videos in .swf format. What more could you want?

BIO: Duncan is a keen SEO and blogging blogger who runs Extreme Sports Trader, a price comparison and trading site for everything from snowboard gear to flip flops. He is determined to get out in the sun a little more this summer, although living in England the choice may not be his.

What is Jekyll

Jekyll is a simple, blog aware, static site generator. It takes a template directory (representing the raw form of a website), runs it through Textile or Markdown and Liquid converters, and spits out a complete, static website suitable for serving with Apache or your favorite web server.

Find out more about Jekyll at Github and read Paul’s excellent write-up here.

However, when you go to actually flesh out the idea the next morning or other opportunity, it’s gone. Unable to remember what the great idea was, only that you had one, you’re forced to start over and try to come up with something new.

The truth is that ideas are often times fleeting things. Much like the air we breathe, ideas drift from place to place, often coming and going at will. However, also like air, we don’t give them much thought or care until we find ourselves cut off from our supply, suffocating and struggling to breathe.

Previously we talked about how to generate new ideas and never run out, but how do you make sure the ideas you create are available when you’re ready?

After all, having all the ideas in the world is meaningless if they’re all gone when you sit down to get things done. This makes holding onto your inspiration that much more important.

The Pitfall

The problem is quite simple, few people actually generate their best ideas while sitting in front of their computer. Whether the best place for inspiration is in the shower, while walking in the woods or while talking with friends, very few of us are fortunate enough to be able to come up with ideas on command and while staring at a computer screen.

However, in the time between when an idea is born and when one can actually work on it, there’s plenty of opportunity for you to lose it. No matter how good it is, our ability to remember ideas is suspect at best. Considering we’re a species that easily gets songs stuck in their heads, it is risky to assume we can hang onto a flash of inspiration for longer than a few minutes.

So getting ideas from point A to point B becomes something of a challenge. After all, you never know which idea will be the one to break open your site and become a social media sensation. So, rather than accepting lost ideas and trusting new ones will replace them, most are better off trying to preserve the ones they do come up with, as bad as they might turn out to be later.

But how you do this consistently is actually a major challenge. Consiering all the places that inspiration can strike, it can be impossible to have a system to capture all of them.

How to Avoid It

Simply put, the best solution for this problem is the one that you’re actually going to use and use consistently. If pencil and paper solves the problem, so be it, just make sure that you always have your notepad nearby at all times and that you are always prepared.

However, how many of us really have pen and paper handy at all times and places? Instead, one needs to focus on making the solution something they always carry or at least have nearby as much of the time as possible.

For most of us, a mobile device is the natural choice. Few of us are routinely more than 20 feet from our cell phones and they usually are on our person at all times or on a table just a few feet away. Best of all, considering that most cell phones already have a notetaking application, there may not be a need for much more.

However, there are still several applications that may make accessing your ideas easier and more convenient, including the following:

1. Simplenote: Simplenote is a basic note taking and syncing app that works across almost all desktop and mobile platforms. Simpelnote is light on features, limiting to tagging and versioning, but is fast to use and the easiest way to put your notes (or ideas) into the cloud for later retrieval.
2. Evernote: Everynote’s tagline is “Remember Everything” and it’s the best-known and best-loved memory app. Evernote allows users to upload a variety of media types including images, audio and Web pages and have them tagged and stored in notebooks. Available for nearly all mobile devices, you can even text your notes via Twitter integration, many use Evernote to go beyond simply making a note about an idea and, instead, use it to actually preserve the inspiration for it, making it easier to remember.
3. Remember the Milk: A to-do list app by by nature, Remember The Milk is also useful for preserving ideas and, best of all, assigning dates to them. Where Evernote and Simplenote are about quickly jotting down your idea and the information around it, Remember The Milk is about making it an actionable task, one that you can schedule for completion. Useful if you want to combine your ideas with a a blog calendar.

To be clear, you don’t need these, or any other services, to remember your ideas, they are just tools to help and will only work if you use them consistently. If the notes application on your phone or writing on the palm of your hand is more reliable for you, use that.

However, always make sure you’re able to explain your idea concisely and in a way that you’ll understand later (one of the great uses of Evernote). If you can’t decipher your note days later, jotting down your thoughts does no good and, if anything, just causes you to waste more time.

Bottom Line

Though ideas may not have any inherent value, since you never know where an idea can take you and your site, it’s worthwhile to treat them like gold, especially when a good one hits.

Working with your inspiration is always easier and more fruitful than trying to force it later while staring at a computer screen. So finding ways to capture the ideas that you come across naturally makes more sense than trying to find ways to claw new ones out of your mind in times of desperation.

Considering that all of the above tools are free, though the latter two offer paid upgrades, it makes sense to give them a try and see if you can retain more of your ideas.

If you do, you might be surprised just how much better your blog becomes and how much more quickly it grows.

While bloggers should always attempt to break a story (as doing so can result in a massive amount of traffic), bloggers should also try to make sure their post is presentable to the world, lest they hear rebukes from their readers in the comment section.

Since many bloggers are pressed for time (especially those of you who write upon multiple blogs), here are 4 things you should do before hitting the “Publish” button on your blog.

Spell Check Thy Posts

Although 90% of the human race will not foam at the mouth over the fact that you should have used “you’re” instead of “youre,” there are many people who will fill your comment section with hate over a few spelling errors.

Since the last thing you want to do is get have your readers distracted over your proficiency of the English language (or your native tongue), it is always wise to utilize the spell check button (which every major blogging platform worth its code supports).

A few modern browsers (like Google Chrome) also provide a built-in spell checker which will underline misspelled words with a squiggly red line (as well as provide suggestions for the correct spelling).

How Do You Say Grammar?

Although many readers will not attack a blogger over spelling mistakes, many will go after someone for bad grammar.

Whether it’s arguing over why you should have written “you’re” instead of “your,” or how to properly phrase a sentence, more often than not users will create a commotion over the smallest grammar errors, turning a friendly discussion into a troll fest.

In order to avoid having your first few comments filled with grammar fanatics, you should always use a grammar checking tool (which is supported by a few blog platforms).

Automattic (the company behind WordPress) has provided a plugin for WP fans called After the Deadline, as well as browser extensions for Google Chrome and Firefox fans.

Regardless of whether you use After the Deadline or another tool, probloggers (both current and aspiring) should always use a grammar check tool in order to reduce your encounters with grammar gurus online.

Preview Your Posts

It doesn’t matter how pretty your blog looks in a WYSIWYG editor (or “what you see is what you get” for those of you unfamiliar with geek lingo), you should always preview your posts to see how your article will appear live upon your blog.

This is especially true if you are using media files (like images, audio and video) as well as embedding documents (i.e. from Google Docs, Scribd, etc.).

More often than not your media files and documents will display differently in WYSIWYG mode when compared against a live mode, and the best way to test whether your images, videos, etc. are too large (or small) is to preview the post before it goes live.

Most serious blogging platforms (like WordPress, Blogger, etc.) support previewing posts before they go live, which can help you prevent articles from looking goofy in front of the world wide web.

Any Other Suggestions?

Although more suggestions could be highlighted, these 3 tips are things that all bloggers (regardless of size) should do before hitting the publish button which can prevent the grammar trolls from humiliating you in front of your readers.

For those of you who have been blogging for over a few months, what other tips would you recommend bloggers do before hitting the publishing button? If you have any tips or suggestions, feel free to enlighten us in the comment section below!

(Image Credits: Market Motive, Priceless Writers, Wikipedia)

However if Facebook or Twitter went off line or (worse) decided to kick you off of their respective networks, you will probably find it very difficult to access your data (such as images, text. etc.), let alone secure it.

While it’s always good to backup your blog (even if you choose service hosting over self hosting), you might also want to consider backing up your social data as well (just in case you need to make a speedy exit).

For those of you seeking ways to back up your data on Facebook and Twitter, here are a few resources that will help you sleep easier at night just in case you encounter the eternal fail whale.

Securing Your Twitterverse

Depending on what platform you use, you can have your tweets automatically imported upon your blog or use third party services (like TweetBackup or Bloggled.com) to archive them on your behalf.

For those of you sporting WordPress (self hosted), you can use plugins like Twitter Tools, Tweet Import or Twitter Importer which will archive your tweet stream upon your site (note: you may want to consider creating a sub domain and creating a “mini blog” to host your tweets).

Other platforms like Squarespace have built in features to import (and archive) your tweets automatically.

Since Twitter does not host any images uploaded to their servers, users should try to backup any images, videos, etc. from their respective services.

Securing Your Facebook Universe

Unlike most social networks, importing (or archiving) your Facebook stream can feel like trying to draw blood from a stone.

Although there are dozens of services out there that claim to import your Facebook data (like Backupify), more often than not Facebook will randomly change their code which (unfortunately) results in a broken backup.

Thus far I have found limited success using Fotobook (a WordPress plugin) which allows me to backup images that I’ve uploaded upon Facebook upon my own server (note: see these tips if you are encountering any problems).

You can also use Social Safe (a premium service) which will back up the rest of your data to your computer (minus the videos).

Note: Unfortunately I have yet to discover a service that will legally backup your videos (although if anyone knows of a service, feel free to enlighten us in the comment section below).

Do You Backup Your Social Data?

If so, what services would you recommend to users? (especially for those who are seeking to backup their Facebook data)

If anyone has any tips or suggestions, feel free to share your ideas in the comment section below!

1. Puzzle Social Network Icon Set

What grade school student doesn’t love puzzles?

2. Sewn Badge Icon Set

This set reminds me of badges on Cub Scouts uniforms!

3. Moleskin Icon Set

For the discerning student, only a moleskin notebook will do.  Are moleskin icons right for your blog?

4. Color-stroked Free Hand Icon Set

This is one of my favorite hand-drawn icon sets.  I wish my doodles looked this good, and I love the crumpled paper.

5. Hand Drawn Social Media Icon Set

Here is another option if you like the hand drawn style.  This one offers consistent square shapes with simpler designs drawn on grid paper.

What do you think?  Will any of these social media icon sets give your blog the bling it needs?

Follow the link to read more about back to school and blogging basics on Performancing.

Some users have even boasted that they back up their data to their email account or home computer, two choices that should NEVER be options (feel free to ask why in the comment section below).

Since everyone’s budget is different, here are 3 inexpensive ways to back up your blog without breaking the bank.

Mozy

Believe it or not, many web hosts provide an option for bloggers to backup their data to Mozy.

Although the feature comes in 2 flavors (free and professional), most bloggers will probably only need to use the free option which allows you to back up to 2GB (the premium version is unlimited and costs $5/month).

While Mozy is not exactly optimized for blogs (as that is not their specialty), you can at least retrieve your data with the help of a few helpful plugins (like Automatic WordPress Backup for WP fans).

blogVault

Created by Inactiv Media Solutions, blogVault is an inexpensive option for WordPress users seeking to securely backup their blog without hassle or fuss.

The site is very similar to VaultPress in many ways, as it allows bloggers to make hourly backups as well as store their blog’s database upon Amazon’s servers (via their S3 service)

Prices for blogVault start at $29/year per blog (for 1 GB of storage), although the company does offer free trial backups for the first 30 days (50 MB max until you purchase a plan).

BlogBackupr

BlogBackupr is a service by Triop that is not only designed for bloggers, but works with most (if not all) major blogging platforms including Blogger, WordPress (both WP.com and WP.org), Movabletype, etc.

The site currently has no premium option (and their currently is no indication of when one will launch), although the service is suitable for professional bloggers who are on a very tight budget.

Similar to blogVault, BlogBackupr has an automatic restore feature, although the service is only available for WordPress.com, WordPress (self hosted) and Blogger fans.

Any Others?

As far as backup services go, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of options available for bloggers, although regardless of which service you choose you should ALWAYS backup your blog.

For those of you who do backup your sites, what services would you recommend users using? Feel free to enlighten all of us in the comment section below!

Despite the abundance of tweet buttons from various companies across the blogosphere, Twitter is possibly launching an official button this week, which could spell the end for companies like TweetMeme (a service the Blog Herald uses) in the not so distant future.

Twitter is launching an official Tweet Button for sharing articles on websites and counting how many times a URL has been shared, according to documents Mashable has obtained. The Tweet Button could launch as soon as this Thursday.

Check them out and see if the right social media icons to give your blog some zing are included in the list!

DelliFeed Icon Set

These food-related social media icons are available in six sizes and include cakes and popsicles!

Cheers Web 2.0 in a Glass Set

This set of social media icons includes martini glasses, wine glasses, margarita glasses, beer mugs, and more!

Panda Social Network Icons

This social media icon set includes 21 icons in 128×128 size, and all use the same cute Panda bear!

T-shirt Social Icons

This set of social media icons would be perfect for a fun fashion blog!

Science Social Media Icon Set

Surely there are far more blogs than just science-related blogs that could use the clever bottle designs in this social media icon set!

What do you think of these social media icon sets?  Do you use fun, interesting, or niche icons on your blog or do you stick with simple square, circle, or rectangle icons?  Leave a comment and share your preferences.

The best blogs allow open conversations and encourage visitors to voice their opinions.  However, that doesn’t mean your blog should be a free-for-all where anyone can say anything they want and you’ll publish it.  Instead, you need to use your best judgment to edit or delete comments that detract from the user experience on your blog.

There is just one big problem.  You don’t want to be accused of controlling the conversation on your blog, and that’s where having a Blog Comment Policy is essential.

A Blog Comment Policy allows you to set user expectations and protect yourself if your edit to a comment or deletion of a comment is ever called into question.  You can simply refer people to your published Blog Comment Policy to learn what types of contents are edited or deleted on your blog.

Following is a sample Blog Comment Policy, which you can use to get started in writing your own.  Of course, you Blog Comment Policy should reflect your own commenting guidelines for your blog.

There are some instances where comments will be edited or deleted on this blog.  Following are some of those conditions:

1. Comments that may be considered spam will be deleted.
2. Comments including profanity will be edited or deleted.
3. Comments containing language or concepts that could be deemed offensive, hateful or libelous will be deleted.

We reserve the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to this blog without notice. This comment policy is subject to change at anytime.

Remember, the purpose in creating a Blog Comment Policy is to protect you and your audience, so the user experience they expect to get on your blog is not threatened.  Publish your comment policy and be sure to include a link to it from all pages of your blog.

What kind of comments do you delete or edit from your blog?  Leave a comment and share your opinion.

Image: stock.xchng

Of course, I also can’t live without Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many, many more free tools, but the list below includes a more diverse selection than just the most well-known and expected tools that you’d normally find in this type of list.  Note that this list is in no particular order.

So without further ado, here they are — 10 free blogging tools I can’t live without (or at least, that I don’t want to live without):

1. Stock.xchng

I use a variety of sites to find free images that I can legally publish in my blog posts, and stock.xchng is one of my favorites.

2. Paint.net

Need to edit images for your blog?  I have used several free tools to do this in the past, but Paint.net has become my favorite.

3. WordPress.org

This list would not be complete if I didn’t mention my favorite blogging application.

4. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is by far the best and most comprehensive free Web analytics tool.

5. Skype

I was not an early adopter of Skype, but over the past couple of years, it has become an integral part of my life as a blogger for conducting chats, phone conversations, and interviews.

6. PollDaddy

There are a number of free poll sites and tools that bloggers can use, but PollDaddy is still my favorite because of its ease-of-use and streamlined functionality.

7. Google Alerts

I have multiple alerts set up and view them in my email inbox everyday.  Of course, Google Alerts isn’t perfect, but it has helped me to find many conversations and articles that I may have missed otherwise.

8. CoffeeCup

I’m not a Web developer and my HTML and CSS knowledge is limited, but when I do need to look through code to edit a WordPress theme or view the source code for a Web page, the free version of CoffeeCup makes it easier to find what I’m looking for.

9. Core FTP

There are a number of free FTP sites and tools, but Core FTP is easy to use and perfect for a novice.

10. Delicious

I have a private Delicious account that I use to bookmark all of the content I want to research further, write about, and so on.  I can access these bookmarks from any computer and at anytime.  I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to my Delicious account.

What are your favorite free blogging tools?  Leave a comment and share your “can’t live without” tools!

Image: stock.xchng

Search Engine Optimization was once a topic only the experts would talk about and hiring an SEO professional was the only option for most businesses aspiring to venture online. This is no longer the case and below I will show you some simple SEO techniques as well as the importance of using the right keywords when marketing your blog.

Your Targeted Keywords Should Represent Your Blog’s Services & Goals

If you are proactively blogging rather than passively, you should already have an idea of what you would like to achieve through your blog and hopefully you are taking steps in that direction by providing content in relation to that. The keywords you market should reflect that as well.

For example, if your blog teaches your readers how to be a successful blogger, you could aim for the keyword “how to blog.” If your blog provides all there is to know about blackberry smartphones then aim for a similar keyword or phrase. Another great example of this, is our sister site

BloggerJobs.Biz which provides lots of freelance blogging job opportunities. If you use google to search for the phrase “blogger jobs” BloggerJobs.Biz will show up in the number 1 spot and number 3 if you search for “blogging jobs” and this is what you should be trying to achieve within your niche for your blog.

Keyword Research To Find The Right Mix

There are billions of keywords and phrases that are searched for, however, there are specific combinations that are more popular and more competitive than others. You need to be somewhat aware of what is being searched for so that you can better understand, please and capture those search engine visitors.

Google’s Keyword Research Tool can help you to do extensive research on keywords you may want to dominate and it provides information such as: the number of monthly searches, how competitive the keyword is and search trends.

6 Things To Keep In Mind When Link-Building & Using Keywords

To help your site rank high in search results for your chosen keywords, there are some simple techniques to use.

1) Use your targeted keyword as your link text when opportunities arise for you to spread and share your links. You can try to chose a name for your site that is as close to the targeted keyword as possible.

2) Chose a domain name that has your chosen keywords in it. Its important, however, to keep your domain name short and sweet

3) When sharing your links, if possible, ensure that they have the appropriate link titles in the code. For example, <a href=”http://www.bloggingpro.com” title=“Blogging Success”>

4) Link to related articles within your blog posts while including appropriate title tags in the code. If you’re writing articles for your niche on your blog and the content is related in some specific ways, ensure that you link that text to those posts.

5) Use an SEO plugin like All-In-One SEO Pack to ensure that you are using post titles, keywords and descriptions appropriately. This is especially useful for blogs that use older types of blog themes that don’t have these features built-in.

6) Your articles should be keyword rich. This is very important especially if you’re focusing on a particular niche. However, keep in mind that you’re writing for human beings and not search engines, so do not spam your articles. Rather write naturally by focusing on your niche.

Dominating search engines is still very much important and not just social search. Even with the massively growing popularity of social sites and the sharing of information through them, there are still some sites where up to 90% of their traffic is from traditional search engines. So, be on the ball, target those keywords and dominate those search results.

Discussion

How much of your blog’s traffic is from search engines? What techniques are you currently using to help your blog rank better in search for specific keywords? Share your thoughts in the comments, we would love to hear from you.

One day, a man—let’s call him Jack—was having a nice relaxing day at home, away from the office. Suddenly, he remembers that he wanted to look up this interesting thing he’d overheard one of his co-workers talking about earlier on that week. It was a strange word, “blogging”, which didn’t tell Jack a whole lot in itself, so he decided it was time to “Google it” and off to the computer he was.

Jack types his search in and scrolls down the listings a little until he finds one that seemed to just “call out” to him. Lo and behold, it was YOUR blog that he found! He took the time to read your entire article, learned a lot, but was craving more—needless to say, his interest was officially peaked and you’ve done your job perfectly thus far.

But then, just as Jack was getting ready to click on one of the “Related Articles” at the bottom of the page, his cellphone rings. He see’s it’s from work and immediately answers. As it turns out, Jack is needed at an important meeting that just came up. He then shuts everything down, gets himself ready, and heads off to his “surprise” work day.

Hours later, Jack arrives at home. Exhausted, he immediately hits the bed. The next day, he decides to do his “blogging” search again, only THIS TIME he lands on a different website… Okay, I’ll stop there.

What’s the Big Deal?

You may be thinking, “So what, I got a new visitor… that’s a good thing! I just need more ‘Jacks’ to come along and a certain percentage of them will click on my ads, or buy some of my affiliate products. So what if I lost that one guy, he’s only ONE visitor anyway”. Fair enough. That’s basically correct as most bloggers do see things that way… but it’s also worth mentioning that according to a 2009 report from the NY Times, most (95% to be exact) bloggers end up failing.

Unfortunately, that’s not a coincidence. So maybe we should start looking at the situation a little differently. Sure Jack visited your website, and was very happy with your content. He was even engaged enough to wanna stay awhile. But something outside of his control came up and he left, never to return.

Your content is useful to your visitors, and that’s great, but what did Jack actually do for you? He took up your bandwidth, that’s it. Hit and run, plain and simple.

How many “Jacks” do you want to go through before one finally goes through your intended course of action—whether it’s to get him to click an ad, to make a purchase, or to simply leave a comment. Instead, wouldn’t you like to “keep” all the people who like your content? To somehow give them an opportunity to follow you, to come back again without having to “bookmark” or remember you?

Well you can’t rely on bookmarks (most people have too many to keep up with anyway), and you certainly can’t rely on their memory… so what CAN you do?

Focus on Visitor Retention

Retaining your visitors is simply the art of drawing people BACK to your website. It has been proven time and time again that repeat traffic is much more valuable than first-time visitors, especially those who never come back (e.g. “hit and run traffic”). So there’s no arguing that it just makes sense to retain your visitors no matter what angle you look at it from.

But how do you do it?

Well, there are three ways you can go about retaining your visitors, and I recommend incorporating all three into your blogging strategy:

• RSS Subscriptions. Blogs have RSS feeds that allow your visitors to subscribe to your content by using their feed reader. The downside to this is that if you do get a visitor to subscribe, they have to be the type that checks their feed reader regularly—but unfortunately, most of your visitors don’t do this (and they might have hundreds of other blogs loaded into their reader as well).
• RSS to Email Subscriptions. Feedburner offers this service, which sends an email to your subscribers on the days you post a new update to your blog, for free.
• Mailing List Subscription. This one costs money, but is the most powerful of the three. Through an autoresponder service, your visitors give you their email address (usually in exchange for some kind of freebie) and you have permission to remind them to pay you a visit again.

The reason why I recommend all three is because the first two are free and are very easy to set up. The third option is the most important, however, because the fact is, most of your visitors simply don’t know what RSS is, and many will be way too lazy to “Subscribe to Email Updates” (not enough of an incentive). Being able to offer something valuable, such as a free report in exchange for their email address is usually enough to get any interested person to subscribe, which makes option #3 a clear winner.

The good news is, you can get started easily at MailChimp, which offers a free service for your first 500 subscribers (which is perfect).

How to Harness the Power of Your List

Now that you’ve got a valuable free report to “retain” your website visitors, it helps to know what to do next. Now just because they gave you their email address doesn’t mean you need to blast offer after offer at them until they buy something—that’ll cause them to unsubscribe quicker than anything (or falsely report you for spamming).

The easiest way to take full advantage of your list is to send them to your best blog posts whenever you write them. Say you post to your blog everyday, but only 1-2 of those every week can be considered some of your “best” articles. Simply send an email telling them about your best stuff, and presto! Repeat traffic. You can also promote products to your list, but I recommending sending at least two valuable emails (no promotions) to them for every one promotion you send, minimum. You want to let them know that you have their best interest in mind.

Do you think Jack would have come back if at the end of the article he saw a free offer for a report that helps him get started blogging in exchange for his email address? You bet… and it wouldn’t matter that he had to suddenly leave, because you’ll be in his inbox in the coming days, weeks, months, and possibly even years to come.

In Closing…

Imagine if there was money falling from the sky, but you were only allowed to keep whatever hadn’t yet touched the ground…

Would you want to be limited to what you could only catch with your bare hands, or would you rather be covered in glue so that as much as possible could stick? The answer is obvious—and likewise—when it comes to blogging, you’re missing out on WAY MORE traffic, loyal followers, comments, and SALES by not doing everything you possibly can to get YOUR visitors to stick.

Work on retaining your visitors starting today and in just a few months time, I guarantee you’ll see a significantly better return on your blogging efforts.

…Besides Jack, what else do you have to lose?

With no marketplace, AdTaily is designed to convert readers in to advertisers. A JavaScript widget is placed on your blog and advertisers can place their banners ad without leaving your Website. Simply input the destination URL, upload a photo and tell the system how long you’d like the ad to run for. Choices vary from one day to two months and payments are made via Paypal.

What’s the catch? There IS no catch, but there is a downside.

First, the newly-launched AdTaily only accepts 125 x 125px ads. Second, only static ads are accepted. From a reader’s perspective, I appreciate the that they are attempting to keep the focus on the content. However, they are removing a potential money-maker from the blog owner’s arsenal.

If you have Google Analytics installed on your blog you can import stats to give potential advertisers an idea of your site’s success. AdTaily will use this data to recommend how much you should charge for an ad, but this advice can be (and probably should be) over-ridden. If you don’t have Google Analytics (shame on you!), the widget can also gather stats.

Ad moderation is optional but recommended.

I like that the widget auto-fits to the section of your blog in which you place it.

I’ve yet to sell an ad in the few days I’ve had the AdTaily widget installed, but I like the concept of turning readers into advertisers. You’ll probably never get rich, but you give folks a seamless way to leverage your brand for days or months without ever leaving your site.

If you decide to give AdTaily a spin, please use this space to let your fellow blog owners know how it’s working out. I still believe that selling directly, without the involvement of a third-party, is the way to go. But if you’re pressed for time and want to “set it and forget it,” AdTaily might be for you.

There are many different approaches to blogging and the best way to achieve long term success with your blog is to create valuable content but sometimes your entries need that small push to take off and you will have to promote your entries, often relying on friends/colleagues to get those first submissions/votes on social networks. On platforms such as StumbleUpon or Reddit verticals those first initial votes can make the difference between no referrals or thousands of visitors to your post.
So off you go hitting up all your friends on Twitter, Facebook and in Basecamp. Guilty as charged.

In this entry I am going to show you how you can easily set up a private network with WordPress and 3 plugins only, to promote your entries among, together with friends, hoping for those often crucial initial votes, submissions to the main social networks to maximally promote your awesome content.

Install A Private WordPress Setup

Once you have established a small, stable group of voters it is time to setup a private WordPress installation. Use a subdomain or even a domain you have available for this, and if you didn’t make your blog private during the setup but installed it via Fantastico, go to Setting -> Privacy and check I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors. Save this setting now.

Next you will need three plugins:

1. Make Your Site Members Only

The first plugin you need is Members Only: use to plugin to make your setup accessible to only members. Invite people and create them author accounts but I don’t think you should share this site publicly.

2. Link The Posts Immediately To The Entry You Want To Promote

To make the private network work properly, you will want to submit the URL of the entry you are trying to promote to the social bookmarking, discovery sites and not the permalink to your private network. The easiest way to achieve this is with Mark Jaquith’s Page Links To plugin. Once installed you now have the option to add the URL of the original post as permalink for every entry.

It is important to add the URL of the post you want to promote here as otherwise your setup won’t work the way it’s meant. This also is the easiest way to replace the permalink in your feed. The main inconvenience is that you won’t be able to visit single posts, but when following this guide, you won’t need these.

3. Add Your Button Farm

The last thing you have to do now is to add buttons to submit the entries to the social bookmarking sites. Although I am no fan of buttonitis, this time I’m all about those buttons!
In my experience the optimal plugin for our private setup is Sociable. Activate the buttons on the front page of your private site.

The real beauty about this setup with Sociable is that you don’t have to visit the private site on a regular basis to submit or promote entries but you can hide in your feed reader and still push posts submitted by other members. Check the RSS feed items box in the Sociable settings to achieve this.

Without investing anything, you can now can easily share the entries you want to promote with other social voters and maybe you might be on to something big and your blog is the next one to skyrocket.

We all know it now, Facebook’s the new Myspace and Google all in one. There’s no way to escape it anymore. I have been sceptical about Facebook for years, especially because of privacy issues and occasionally strange changes to the ToS, but there’s no way round anymore. If you have a blog, your blog should be on Facebook.

No matter whether you like the platform or not. It’s a major traffic boost and recently even became the first social network users will check to discover breaking news.

I will continue to argue that not all content does as well on Facebook but you should at least have a Facebook page for your blog. The proof’s in the pudding.

Traffic

Facebook often can drive more traffic to your site, on the awesome ForeverGeek Facebook has replaced Twitter as second traffic referrer after StumbleUpon (and Google of course).

SEO

SEO benefits of Facebook pages are rather minimal because outgoing links are nofollow. But a quick Google search for bloggingpro explains why you should get your Facebook fan page. Similar results are seen for all our main blogs.

RSS Graffiti: Automated Smart Feed Import To Your Facebook Page

For a long time the main issue when deciding whether to use Facebook, and how to use your page, turned around what’s the best way to automate the import of my content to my page?. The Facebook RSS importer is a national disaster, Networked Blogs was an option, albeit a poor one.

Times have changed though and with RSS Graffiti this process can now be automated, in a smart way, favourable to boost your traffic.

First you have to allow the RSS Graffiti application and then you can allow the application to automate the import and post to your Facebook page.

Settings and configuration are really simple and once done you can manage multiple Facebook pages without having to manually add every entry published to the fan page.

If you own a blog, RSS Graffiti is a must have application on Facebook. So much more time to spend playing Zynga poker or to litter everyone’s wall with your links!

Buttonitis: No or No?

The only thing left to do now is to decide how to implement your Facebook fan widget and whether to integrate a Facebook Share button or not. Here at BloggingPro we are no fans of buttonitis and will not add a button farm to our design. Experience web masters, bloggers will know what social networks perform best for what content. If you run a news site, a celebrity site, a football blog or a geek blog, your Facebook page will be golden and might outperform Twitter referrals. If your site is about blogging, Twitter will perform better and there’s no need to place your Facebook Fan Widget in a premium spot or litter your design with a Share button. It’s your call to make, your page will see organic growth but you have to decide whether it’s worth a premium spot or not.

Did you become a fan of BloggingPro on Facebook already?

Even though bloggers could originally do this via the Facebook Note importer, Facebook unfortunately limits users to only importing one single blog.

Since BlogPress supports multiple blogs (across multiple platforms including WordPress, Movable Type and Blogger), bloggers can easily share their recent posts upon their Facebook wall from more than one blog, without having to use “work arounds” like Friendfeed.

Despite increased competition from companies releasing their own official apps (like WordPress and Squarespace), BlogPress continues to innovate itself by heavily embracing social networks such as Flickr, Twitter, YouTube–and now Facebook.

Stop complaining about the lack of Flash because you’re off the mark. Don’t label the iPad as underwhelming without understanding the device, all while still being blinded by the pre-announcement Unicorn device hype.

Now the iPad has been unveiled we can accept its platform-changing role and look at how this device will change your routine. More than any smartphone before has.

There’s no way round it. Bite the bullet, shell out those $$$ and get your iPad. Here are more than seven reasons why you should get one.

The Perfect Second Screen, Dual Setup

Once you have tasted and gotten used to a dual screen setup you will not want to return to a single monitor setup anymore. No laptop, or software, is good enough to replace the luxury of having two screens. Neither Spaces nor virtual desktops can anywhere nearly emulate the experience of two screens side-by-side. Bill Gates has three monitors, Al Gore loves to show off his ridiculous three 30″ screen setup. Once you get used to multiple screens there’s no way back. The iPad makes this now possible AND portable.

The iPad is the Perfect Research Device

A main part of writing an entry is often the research you need to do. Who doesn’t remember having had 10-to-tons of tabs open, researching facts, looking for quotes and so much more. With the iPad you can now do all this on a second screen, but instead of this screen being static in your desk setup, it’s portable. More than the iPhone even you can research anywhere — on the couch, at the kitchen table, on the road — all while having a nicely sized screen. Done having to squint your eyes on the small screen of your smartphone where content is resized to 320px.

The addition of Exposé for Mobile Safari will only make your user experience and research more enjoyable. With copy and paste functionality it is easy to immediately transfer your quotes to Notes or even email them directly to your working computer. Alternatively you can use Pastebot for copy & paste functionality across your wireless network.

Your iPhone Apps Also Work on the iPad

The iPad will run almost all of the apps designed for the iPhone. You just download them from the App Store. Or, if you already have apps for your iPhone or iPod touch, you can sync them to iPad from your Mac or PC.

This means that you will NOT have to reinvest in applications you have already purchased for your iPhone or iPod Touch. If you already use WriteRoom or SimpleNote to sync your notes and drafts via the cloud, you can install these on your iPad. Just like any of the games you might have purchased to relax. Anyone fancy a game of Scrabble via the cloud?

iPad Removes Clutter and Helps You Focus

The main advantage of using an iPad as a second screen instead of a monitor is that the iPad brings simplicity. We all know that as soon as you plug in a second monitor this one will be clouded with multiple windows: chat, email, media player. Move it all to the second screen but let’s keep the noise and distractions coming!

With no multi-tasking available (other than Push notifications) the iPad will help you focus on doing just your research, reading and even writing. Less is more. KISS!

Writing on the iPad you will be able to write in a clutter-free environment, without buttons and UI distraction. Focus on the important. Write. Use the iPad as your Microsoft Office 2007 minus the ugly, distracting ruler and other UI clutter. The UI is where Apple excels, you’ll love it once used to.

Update: Or in the words of Om Malik after the launch of the WordPress for iPad app:

In many ways, iPad’s lack of multi-tasking makes it worthy of focusing on just the task at hand. In my brief usage of the device at the time of the launch, I felt a near complete interaction with say an email or a document or a web page. Now that was near nirvana, when it came to consumption of content.

Apps Will Only Get Better

Darnell does a great job covering the many mobile blogging apps for the iPhone and although he will complain complains that the iPad has NO camera, he will enjoy all the awesome apps we will see for the iPad.

Many apps will take a new form and be developed whether for the iPhone/iPod Touch, whether for the iPad (or in two different versions). The new screen real estate will bring an ‘old form of multi-tasking’ back to your daily habits: side-by-side windows. While you are writing your draft, with or without keyboard, you will have the option to use the browser API and have on one half of the screen a browser window. Pretty much like Mac OS X users can do already with Scrivener as shown in the screenshot, this is coming to your lap, only 1.5lbs heavy.

Expect your entry previews to be loaded in a nice lightbox overlay, similar to the email drop-down in the first image in this entry.

The iPad is the Ultimate Relaxation Device

Last but not least, when you work hard you also need your time to relax. Read RSS, read a book, watch a movie on the go or play a game. After today some executives at Amazon and Sony PSP are cursing because Apple just released the sexiest book reader and portable gaming console.

More Advantages: 3G/Wi-Fi 802.11n, VOIP and NO Camera

Of course you will opt for the $30 unlimited data monthly pre-paid option. Now you can blog from anywhere and it is cheaper than buying an iPhone with an AT&T contract. Blog without squinting your eyes, cursing the keyboard (ever tried posting 1400 words from your iPhone, I have). More than that, iPhone OS 3.2 supports VOIP so you’ll be able to enjoy both Skype and Google Voice.

If you use software like Touchpad for iPhone the iPad will be the most enjoyable remote for your MacBook (Pro) and Mac Mini you’ll ever use, especially now with 802.11n.

As for the camera, let’s be honest. Do you want to be the moron recording video outside, holding a 10″ high tablet in your hands? I know I don’t.

The SEO Toolbar allows you to quickly tell how much link authority a site has. The more link authority, the more benefit you’ll get from their link.

To use this tool, you’ll first have to download the free Firefox browser since it’s a Firefox add-on. (Firefox should be your browser anyways. It’s more stable and secure than IE and it doesn’t have the privacy issue of Google’s Chrome.)

After you install the program, you’ll see the toolbar at the top of Firefox. Every time you surf to a new new page, you get SEO stats for the page and domain you’re visiting.

For example, here’s a screenshot of the toolbar when I visited the BloggingPro homepage.

There’s a lot of info and I don’t want to make this too complicated, so I’ll just hit the basics. If you want to learn more about the tool, feel free to leave a comment.

The main things to look at are the following:

1. PageRank

PageRank is one of Google’s metrics to determine their rankings. It used to be more important but Google gave it less weight by adding more factors to their algorithm. Still, the top sites typically have better PageRank than the average site.

2. Links to the domain (based on Yahoo)

Sites that have a lot of backlinks are usually great sites to get links from. You can click the stat to see the specific links on Yahoo.

2a. Links to the page (based on Yahoo)

You normally won’t need to look at this unless you think you can get a link on a specific page. This stat shows you how many links are pointing to the page. Again, you can click the stat to see the specific links.

Also, you can check this stat on your own posts to see if they’re getting links.

3. Links from unique domains (from Majestic SEO)

This stat is based on the number of unique domains linking to the site. I like this metric because some sites especially blogs have inflated link counts. They have a lot of links because they are on sitewide blogrolls. But Google gives more weight to sites with links from many different domains.

So for instance, two sites have 100 links. Site A’s links come from 50 domains whereas Site B’s links come from 5 domains. Site A will usually have more authority.

4. Age

Google loves links from old sites. The older, the better.

5. Traffic from popular keywords (from SEMRush)

SEMRush has a database of rankings for 40 million popular keywords. They use the database to estimate how much traffic a site is getting from Google. A high traffic number means that Google trusts the site, so it’s good to get a link from them.