Announcement:

This is a Testing Annocement. I don't have Much to Say. This is a Place for a Short Product Annocement

Thursday, May 31, 2012

How to Edit or Remove Watermark from Downloaded BannerSnack Banners?

I received an email from one of my readers, and I am happy to write a post to solve his/her problem. We will remove watermark from BannerSnack banners without going premium :) How that sounds?
Hi

I read with interest your great article about bannersnack, and I too have since found them to implementing the premium charge to remove watermarks.

Your idea of saving to a larger size and then editing post download sounds great, but I was wondering how exactly you'd edit it once you've downloaded the over-sized version? Do you need a certain artwork package?

Many thanks
I previously write an article about BannerSnack and how it helps us in creating beautiful banners for our blog pages specially header banners or ad banners. It will easily allow us to create interactive flash banners, html5 and gif banner ads.
BannerSnack - Free Banner Maker for Your Blogspot Blogs

Before, we can use all banner sizes for free, but now we are asked to activate our premium options to download created banners without watermark. But, it's not a problem because we can download banners with watermarks and edit it afterwards.

How to edit or remove watermarks from the downloaded banners?

Download Banners from BannerSnack with Watermark
If you need 250x250 pixel banners exactly for intance, you need to create like 275x275 banners, or over-sized the banner so that when you crop it, you can still have 250X250 banners without resizing it. Cropping and resizing is different, when you re-size image or banner, there would be a change to it's quality - so just crop!
  1. Create or edit an existing banner >> download it with watermark if you choose not to spend some cash with it.
  2. Use your existing photo editor in cropping the over-sized banner OR download PhotoScape! It's a photo editor that will let you crop the banner to your desired size not including the watermark. Read Make Free Professional Blog Banners with Transparent Backgrounds or go directly to CNET - Download PhotoScape.
  3. Install PhotoScape and start cropping your banners from BannerSnack. I used PhotoScape for more than a year already :) See screenshots below:
  • Original banner size 50x450 pixels.
  • Desired banner size 50x440 pixels. Crop it to 50x440 pixels as shown:
Important Reminder: Rename the banner before saving to have a good quality output. If you overwrite the original banner (with watermark), it will give you low quality banner.

What's new at BannerSnack?

BannerSnack has improved again! They just recently added 200 pretty templates for most used banner and ad sizes!
Disclaimer: SB is not affiliated with BannerSnack.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Do You Think Facebook Browser Would Work Better than Mozilla or Chrome?

Facebook Browser Versus Chrome
Am trying to catch up with the latest news this morning, and since I am addicted to Facebook as well - the news about the coming of its very owned browser excite me in many ways.

I have no problem browsing Facebook using Mozilla, Chrome or Internet Explorer, well it's so friendly with all the present browsers available. But how about Facebook Browser? It's not just the social network, but it's about our entire browsing experience... What's the edge? If they are planning to have their own browser, they must have something new to us! It's exciting of course.

According to my trusted social media sites, such as Mashable and Pocket-lint, Facebook would acquire Opera Browsers! Instead of starting from scratch, they have a great advantage of buying Opera Browsers because it has over 200 million users worldwide in the present, as they claimed it.

What would be the future of Chrome? Which appeared to be on top! According to Mashable, Google Chrome is now the No. 1 browser in the world! In fairness, I have used Chrome of several months, but since I love tweaking my blog, I found out that most of my CSS styles won't properly worked at Chrome so I stick to Mozilla, checking my output at IE as well, but I also realized just now - since Chrome is widely used above all, I have to use it to check if my blog looks good in there!

But let's talk about the future of these current browsers? Would Facebook Browser would kick out Chrome at its current position? We would know in the coming days!

Let's talk about Opera Browsers, as in Opera Mini - Facebook is trying it's best to penetrate the world, since people are not just using their desktop or laptop in browsing, they would try to make mobile browsing experience at it's best! I know, as I browse Facebook at my mobile almost everyday, Facebook Apps is not enough, Facebook browsers specially for mobile phones would - Opera Mini would work best if it's true that FB would buy the Opera Browser!

Anyway, as of now, it's a rumor (Mashable Author Sam Laird says) - let's wait for the next news, exciting right?

Friday, May 25, 2012

Download <hr> Lines and Images, or Make Dotted, Solid or Dashed <hr> Lines

HR Tag
I searched the web for available <hr> line designs and fortunately I found one! We can make use of these pretty lines to make our blog lovely.

In this post I will:

  • Tell you where to download beautiful <hr> lines.
  • Teach you on how to make your own hr lines using HTML or CSS Border Properties.
    • make noshade <hr> lines
    • make <hr> with backgrounds - use <hr> images from Smashing Magazine
    • make dotted, solid or dashed <hr> lines
For the time being, I love to use PhotoScape, previously I wrote Make Free Professional Blog Banners with Transparent Backgrounds with the help of the mentioned photo editor. Yet, we all know that Photoshop is far more powerful and it's not free. That is why, when it comes to designing, we try to search for available designs downloadable from the web such as <hr> lines spiced up with different interpretations. I found this one very helpful, in fact, my current SB banner is made from the pretty <hr> design I have chosen.
SB Banner - Bright Idea

Well, do you wonder why I got the beautiful "brain" as in "bright idea" background? Don't :)
Visit The <hr>-Contest Results – Download your fresh <hr>-line now! @ Smashing Magazine!

Trivia!

HR stands for Horizontal Ruler. It divides texts or paragraphs in your webpages. HR or <hr> tag or line is controlled by HTML attributes. In order to customize <hr> lines, you need to learn the basic HTML attributes.
  • noshade - solid line, if you set your HR lines to 25px high, it will appear as solid line, not a box.
  • size - height of your HR line
  • width - width, yes, and you can either use pixel or percentage such as 500px, 300px or 100%, 95% etc.
  • color - the HR color
  • align - it's location, left, right or center
  • height - same function with 'size' but used in different HR format (you will know)
  • background - without noshade attribute, you can use background (solid color or images like gif, jpeg or png)
  • border - it's when you want to see dotted or dashed HR lines

How to make HR lines with noshade attribute?

You will create an HR line or tag as solid line, with size, color and align attributes. Choose one:
<hr noshade size='10px' width='250px' color='#347235' align='center'>

<hr noshade size='10px' width='250px' color='#000000' align='right'>

<hr noshade size='10px' width='250px' color='#733572' align='left'>
It would then appear in your browsers like this:





You can change the size, and color. You can use the Color Code Generator to select the perfect color you want.

How to make HR lines or tag with background image or as background image instead?

<hr style='height:50px; width:500px; color:transparent; background: url(http://media.smashingmagazine.com/images/hr-images-yes/hr4-arthur-rehm.jpg)'/>
It will appear exactly like this:

Remember: Note the format I used, I started with style inclosing all the attributes with ''. I also used URL as background by using background:url(the url of your image).

How to make dotted or dashed HR lines?

This is about a little more tweak, since we cannot really create dotted or dashed HR tag using its basic attributes, this time, we will gonna use the CSS border properties. Choose one:
<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#347235 1px dotted; '/>

<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#000000 1px solid; '/>

<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#733572 1px dashed; '/>
The 3 HR lines will appear like this:





Note: Since you are using the border attribute, DO NOT use the height or size attributes of HTML, use border-top:#733572 1px dashed instead. Always add border:none.

You can change the pixel size and color, as well as the border style to solid or dotted :) Let's try another one by changing the pixel size of borders.
<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#347235 5px dotted; '/>

<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#000000 5px solid; '/>

<hr style='width:95%; border:none;border-top:#733572 5px dashed; '/>
It will appear like this then:





That's all. And, try all these using the HTML Editor of W3schools!

See you:)

Sunday, May 20, 2012

How to Join Blog Catalog and Create the Right Reading List (Favorites)?

Last week, I was a little busy about looking for the best blog directories. Well, I have found some good and updated list about them. Why we need to join and or submit our blog to several trusted blog directories?
  • Your blog will be visible (right at the directories and search results)-more readers, increase in traffic.
  • If your blog is listed with few trusted, high PR directories, it can give you a good impression as well, more or less.
Right now, I am going to tell you how to join Blog Catalog, so far I love this one as it allow me to submit my blog easily and I get approved in a matter of hours. How?
  1. Sign up. Trust BC, it has a Google PR of 6 as of today (The time I wrote this of course).
  2. Blog Catalog PR6
  3. Activate your Account. Go to your email and check for the blog directory activation mail. Click the given link and your account is now activated and you are ready to submit your blog.
  4. Edit your Profile. Go to Account Setting >> Profile. Before submitting your blog, crop a picture for your account. Use your own personal photo or the screen shot of your blog. To produce a screen shot of your blog, just open a photo editor, open a new tab for your blog and press Alt and Print Screen SysRq keys at the same time. Paste it on the photo editor (Ctrl+V) and crop the screen shot. Fill up few information about yourself as well, it will help you get recognized, it's your profile after all! Invest some time in completing it.
    Blog Catalog Profile
  5. Submit your Blog. Simply go back to your Profile or Blog Settings and add your blog. In order to get approved, your blog must have at least 10 quality posts, and you do not have pop-up ads, etc. that will give your site a bad impression to one of the BC staffs.
    Submit your Blog
  6. Get a free account. After you complete your blog description (well, please write a good description about your blog), you will be taken to the next page where BC would ask you if you want the VIP membership, since you are new, like me, take the free account. Simply scroll down and look for the link that says 'No thanks, just take me to my blog'.
  7. Verify the ownership of your blog. In order that your blog well be examined by the BC staffs, you need to place or put either of the three: link, badge or widget of Blog Catalog. Choose what you think best, I recommend putting the link to your footer, or somewhere at your blog page. After successfully placing the link of BC at your blog, go back and verify your blog right then by going to Blog Settings.
    6.1 Place a link, badge or widget.
    Verify your Blo
    6.2 Go back to Blog Settings and Verify your Blog.
  8. Wait for the approval. Check your email to see if BC approved your blog. It would take sometime, but SB was approved the next day. Meanwhile, you can get started with your reading list.

Why create a Blog Catalog reading list?

Well, it's an effective way to keep your mind in a good writing mode. You need to learn something, and reading blogs about your interest or niche will help you list down the next key points for your blog posts. If you have the time in writing, there is no way you can't write unless you choose not too. As to my case, I am going back to school this June, so most probably, I will have a much hectic schedule, but let's stick to our plan. Let's blog often!

Make your reading list now.
This is the essence of blog directories, to help us find helpful blogs of our niche.
  • Got to Explore >> Blogs Now pick up the categories you are most interested in.
  • Start reading helpful blogs. Those blog in your BC Reading list that can be accessed right at your profile will help you strengthen your blogging career.
    Reading List
    BC Favorite Blogs
    Simplified Blogging at Blog Catalog
See you :)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Top 10 Reasons Why You Have to Nurture Your Skill in Writing

Top 10 Reasons
How do you define writing in your own words? If you are asked to rate writing as an important factor of being you from 1 to 10, would you pick up 8, 9, or 10? Do you consider it of value anyway? If you do, let's together nurture that gift.

As a growing person, writing can be define differently compared to the one we used to know when we still in grade school. Writing is not just about composing simple sentences this time, aiming to follow the basic subject and verb agreement. Writing is about giving our imagination a concrete form. The Richness of our ideas can acquire much value if it will be presented in a well-written language.

Well, based on my appreciation to writing, an innate skill that empowers me, I will share to you Top 10 Reasons why you have and need to nurture this precious skill like what I do.

Top 10 Reasons:

  • Writing expresses yourself. Writing can give you an identity that no one can take away from you. Can you enumerate writers that are well noted with their great compositions? If you are using your wit through speaking, try another medium, write it and it can be put in a good use.
  • Writing is a bank established enough for your vocabulary. We are oblivious, sadly, that makes us human. Do not be confident enough that you can hold and store as much as information you want, I believe that our brain works like a computer, it would crash down anytime if you are going to overuse it. What to do? Make a back-up as early as now. In other words, invest it in an established bank. Deposit your ideas by turning them into words. Starting a blog would be one of the best thing you can do.
  • Writing is a way to help others in a bigger scope. If you have decided to write a blog about the richness of your ideas, you are extending your generosity to the whole world. Imagine how many people you can reach out 24/7? Your blog and writing is an established bank, and the World Wide Web acts as the central bank. If you share informative and helpful contents, you are helping the web to become even rich and powerful. If you are writing quality contents, Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines would proudly recommend you to people. Helping others will just give you a very satisfying feeling--an achievement.
  • Writing gives you a feeling of a priceless achievement. What do you feel when you know that many people are happy and thankful to you? What do you feel when you know that there are few hundreds of readers regularly visiting and scanning your written topics for information as guide for their daily activities? Wow! You just don't express yourself, but you came out to be a helping hand.
  • Make real friends along the way and expand your knowledge through them. Writing and blogging is a give and take situation. It is a win-win approach. Why? You make real friends out there. You would find a true circle of people who value things like you do. If you feel that you do not belong to the people around you, make a bridge, walk miles away using your wit and writing fluency. Exchange ideas from different people you know you can be with and learn from them. At first, you need your writing skill in helping them, but unknowingly, it help you learn more. Indeed, blogging is learning.
  • Writing make you wiser. Wise people speak about ideas. They are like birds hungry for worms, and everyday, they would fly to feed themselves. Wise people are like ants, they are hard working enough to look for foods before the rain would wash them away. Are you like birds and ants? In a matter of time, they will become clever, and they would know when scarcity knocks their doors. How about us people? Well, use what it is in you. Train yourself, practice makes one perfect! Guys, make a testament of how intellectual you are.
  • Make the world a better place through your words. It's about spreading the good news. Who among you know Dr. Jose Rizal? He had changed the course of the Philippine History because of his wisdom transformed into powerful and awakening compositions. He had never used sword to fight against enemies, because he got a weapon powerful enough to win the battle. Shifting our talk to our modern technology today, the web has became rich with ideas, tools and resources, but it is also bombarded with negative elements or what we called the negative side of the internet. Let's fight, let's out number them by sharing our insightful ideas. Let's change the world.
  • Write for your future. Whether you owned a blog, or do a freelance work through writing, you are making a paved way for your future. You may not realize it for the time being, did I? Well, I do realize it long ago. Blogging, for example, is like planting a tree; you are using your skill to dig up the soil, weed and water. The little plant might not become a tree right after tomorrow, but it will grow in time.
  • Make money through writing. Did you built a strong tree guard for your little tree? Well, it is grown now and bear sweet fruits already, I realized you did (the tree guard thing). I am not joking, there are lots of people out there who make money blogging. They have used their writing skill to make a good living for themselves and their families.
  • Give more time for your family. That's the bottom line. By exploiting the richness of your ideas, you would see yourself managing your own schedule inside your living room, giving you the chance to bond with your families anytime, much longer.
Anyway, what are your reasons why you have nurtured your writing skill? Have I guessed any? See you:)

Monday, May 14, 2012

Top 10 Tips to Keep Your Mind in a Good Writing Mode

Simplified Blogging Top 10 Tips
How if you want to write and nothing comes out in your mind? Being not in the mood for writing, and the eagerness to do so will just simply stressed you out.
Why there are times that you really want to write something and nothing would come out from your head?
There are several reasons why. Writing is not an easy task if you are not prepared. In my experience, it is when I am surrounded and bombarded with negative elements. Sometimes, I am just occupied with too many things, and that would be the worst that can happen to my day. Problems are not just the ones that would give you some headache, because thinking and considering too many things, trying to work them out at the same time would give you an aching head, and nothing good would come out really.

How can you keep yourself in a writing mode?

  • Organize Things - Simply put, perform your tasks one a time. When your attention is shifting every now and then, your mind is prone to stress, and you cannot work out well. Know your Shoud's and Must's.
  • Observe and ask questions - Be a keen observer. Learn to investigate. Make every difference that you have noticed a source of a good idea.
  • Blog according to your interest and habit - If you are a housewife, you have the potential to write a cooking or housekeeping blog. It might be about different recipes or different tips in making your home clean. Otherwise, if you work in front of a computer monitor, with lots of paper works waiting for you daily, you can then write a good blog on how you can able to cope up with your hectic schedules.
  • Do not let any single idea slip away - I am serious, you need to note every good idea you think about. These are potential key points for your next post. You don't have to carry pen and paper of course, you can use your phone, type it in there. When you are in a middle of your work, and something pop-up in your mind, write or note it down quickly because your mind would be back in the work mode again and you can hardly remember what it is.
  • Keep on reading - This is one of the most important. Reading wouldn't be missing in every writing tips. Reading is the number one reason why you can write fluently, your vocabulary does. So, do not forget to make reading your leisure habit. It would nourish your intellect.
  • Know when is your writing mode - Do you want to post daily, or at least 6 times a week leaving Sunday a holiday? Find the exact time your mind is at ease and productive in writing, and make it a daily routine. If you feel comfortable crafting your quality post after dinner, then do it, make it a habit. Every after dinner times the following days, you would find yourself holding a pen and a paper. Find the time, build some space so that you can write effortlessly.
  • Visit blog directories or forums - Submit your blog at popular blog directories and participate some discussion about your topic or niche. Different talks or questions rose in there with your friends and fellow bloggers would be a good source for a next entry. Read forums as well. Do they have unresolved problems? Help them by writing a useful and informative post about it.
  • Participate on social networks - Use your friends' suggestions. Well, you can ask them to follow and suggest topics for your next entry.
  • Believe in yourself - Well, that has a great impact on you. It's the law of attraction. When I watched the film "The Secret", it taught me to think positive at all times. I noted some important words, and let me share to you this: "Whatever it is you are feeling is a perfect reflection of what is in the process of becoming." Believe that you can write fluently everytime you need and want to, and you can with ease.
  • Read news - Reading news from an several social media is helpful. You can subscribe for updates if you want to simply check it in your email. I regularly visit mashable, google blog and the like for new ideas and topic suggestions. In addition, you can also read and follow various blogs of your niche, you can surely get an idea on what to write daily.

Writing Policy:

Do Not Plagiarize
Do not plagiarize, always write original and quality contents. Quality always win!
Well, who knows I can complete writing 10 tips tonight inspired from a blogging discussion at blogcatalog? That's the secret guys. I supposedly numbered them in numerals, but they are in no particular order.

Drop your tips, it might add here :-)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Our Mother Has Love as Deep as the Deepest Ocean

I have been talking about writing quality post for several times, this one is an actual application. How far I have gone with the lessons I personally wrote? And, this not just about writing quality posts, this is about a tribute to all mothers, my second piece.
Mothers' Day
Who can dive deep down into the lowest point of the world? There's none I guess, not unless with the use of a modern technology. What I want to express here is the 'measurement' thing. As May 13 is just a day ahead, I want to ask you about how deep your Mother's love for you? For sure, no measuring device can calculate how deep it is. If technology can do things beyond our imagination, mother's affection is untouchable with its evolution!

Mother's love remains infinite. It's deepest among the deep points in the ocean. Our mother has the abundance which has been inherited into us without scarcity. That's make us rich. If you feel loved everyday, there is no reason to say we are less privileged. The love of our mother gives us the energy, more than fortune can offer.

Are you delighted upon having your dream house at last, would you be touched if you know that your mother knelled every night before the altar for you to succeed? How about realizing that you only think about your happiness that moment of your life? It is sad, but it's the truth, many times, we jumped with joy in exchange of our mother's suffering. May 13 is about waking up. Open your heart and check how wide your mother's part in there. Shrinking? I have opened mine, and I did some demolition. It's about giving her a much wider space in my heart, so that I can feel the abundance within me.

The true happiness is the feeling of being love. Who can love you as much as your mother can? Definitely, God shower the abundance of it to our mother's heart. It is like the water of all the oceans, it won't dry. The tenderness, the affection, the unconditional love, the understanding or the suffering—well, who does have them all except her?

How about to those who abandoned their children? To those who hurt them? Would it ruined the celebration of Mothers' Day? It surely won't. This would be the perfect time I tell you what I believed, and I would stand strong with my conviction, mothers are not necessarily be the one to carry you at their wombs. That won't certify them as one. All mothers should have tender love and care.

To my Mama, I love you so much. You are the best person that I have right now. If life is tougher than before, there is no reason that I will be sad, because I know that you love me even I am far from you. I should welcome each day with a genuine smile, because you have passed into me the abundance of your love, this makes me special everyday. My love is yours, and it is unconditional as yours.

Are you away like me? Give them a call right now, don't miss the chance.



Image Credits: wallpaperpicture.net and i677.photobucket.com

Friday, May 11, 2012

Top 10 Tips on How to Write Quality Post for A Long Term Blogging

Google has a strong and consistent campaign for fresh, helpful and quality contents.
People who are searching through Google are expecting for answers to their queries, yet sometimes, SEO tricks can alter the results. Instead of showing the real solution to search queries, searchers are prompted with results controlled by search engine optimization tricks. What happen to the real answers? They are buried somewhere. There are many pages needed to be scanned before getting what people are truly seeking.

Today, Google itself is starving for quality, that's why the Penguin Update is just one of the medium to extract helpful information from the web by eliminating entries with poor quality. With it's latest update, upon comprehending it deeper, Google would not just skim, but conduct a careful study on every content available on the web. It's not just about picking up frequently used keywords and key phrases, it's about understanding the whole contents. Where do you hear the concept of "Survival of the Fittest"? It's not just happening around us, it's happening in the virtual world, and quality will last among others. In order to survive, you need to understand what quality really means.
Top 10 List

How to write with quality?

The following are tips in writing quality blog post:
  1. Write a precise or specific title. Limit it to 70 characters maximum including spaces.
  2. The title of your post should serve as the thesis itself just like writing academic essays. It is a brief or concise description of what you want to inform your readers.
  3. Write a good introduction. If you have a habit of reading, you would know how writers convinced their readers to continue reading using persuading passages. Make it a guide in writing good composition.
  4. Do not bury your main ideas. Most of the times, readers would love to take a glance at the highlights of your entry. Use bullets or numbers to enumerate key points.
  5. Exploit the richness of your ideas. A blogger is a creative writer himself. Do not try to duplicate contents from other sources, surely, Google trackers like Penguin would surely notice you, instead, craft your own piece using your style. Write creatively, it's your time to shine so you need to show off.
  6. Spice up your post with keywords. But sometimes, the problem lies here. Keywords are effective SEO, however, this would give your content a bad impression if you do not use keywords properly. Think about taking drugs, if you intake medicine out of doctor's prescription, it would give a bad effect on your health, and most likely lead to overdose or worst, addiction. Similarly, the use of excessive keywords would result to keyword stuffing. Hence, use number of keywords that are reasonable enough.
  7. Short entries are readable, yes, but make sure not to compromise the quality of your post. If you want to have a classic entry, shall I say, write pillar-like articles. It's longer, basically more than 500 words. I called it classic because people might find it helpful regardless of time. Find how to write pillar article at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com.
  8. Use visual aids that would help readers digest your message. It's like yeast mixed in a dough. Pictures and graphics will spice up your post specially for longer entries. But, use pictures with restrictions, if you do not feel safe using images downloadable from the web, use your own. That would make you creative enough. If you do not have any, please adhere to copyright policy, always read the copyright notice.
  9. Use other ideas from other sources that would strengthen yours and give your final words, just like a closing paragraph. Quotations or excerpt might be placed at the beginning or in the middle of your entry, or at the closing part. But make sure they are from trusted sources. Back links might harm the health of your blog if you are not sure sources are not credible from the eyes of Google.
  10. Learn the basic function of HTML at w3schools.com. Learn what is the difference of anchor text from URL and practice how to use them properly in linking back. Learn how to use 'nofollow' tag, alt attribute for image and
    anchor text
    . Learn the basic web design to become a competent blogger. What's really unforgettable experience is the endeavor to become even better.
These are helpful basic tips in writing a quality blog entry for your readers. Well, there are too many tips available, but do not get overwhelmed, it would stressed you out. Concentrate on few or formulate your own base on their ideas and your actual experiences.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

How Can Bloggers Survive With The Google Penguin Attack?

Well, it’s survival of the fittest! During academic examinations, we were tested how far we have gone with a certain course we were taking! Somehow, after we stepped out from our Alma Mater, we would joyfully say it’s over. No, it’s not! The real test is out here. As bloggers, the Google Penguin Update that has been rolling out in the month of April was just like a Dean’s exam… it’s not easy for sure. But, if we have been preparing ourselves, it’s not that terrible.
Google Penguin Update
I have read several tips on how to recover from the effects of the recent penguin updates and I tried my best to digest all of them, I need a shield as much as you need it. And it would be a preparation too for the next roll out, we are not sure when!

Post Penguin Attack Tips:

If you are seriously affected by the attack, I might be right saying that you are terrified, and right now you are experiencing a bad headache. Experiencing bad effects of the Penguin Updates might affect your decisions regarding further optimization of your beloved blog! It's time to sit straight, take a deep breath, if you are just doing the right thing, using the right method in bringing your contents to search engines search results, there is no reason to get troubled. Your blog will be alright.

Over optimization is the reason why your experience a drop of your traffic now! Did you tried to apply such trick to win the race? If yes, try to reconsider being honest. Do not fool Google; they are a lot bigger than you are.

Considering Advices from Web Experts:

I’ve been reading a helpful article at Search Engine Watch last day; I don’t want to give up blogging without enough reason to do so. How deadly is the penguin? No, penguins are friendly, but why they appeared to be not in the shore of the blogosphere?

Lisa Buyer has shared something so useful, she is trying to reach out and spread some positive views about the born of Google Penguin! I mean, are we depending much too Google? Is it part of our day to day living? Can we step out and look beyond the walls? Is there any opportunity lies ahead, outside the thick wall of Google Empire?

Well, let’s consider this:
As has been stated numerous times, Google is one marketing channel. Why limit yourself? Empower the influence of social media and public relations in your marketing mix. Make the news and be the news. – Lisa Buyer at Search Engine Watch
Social Media
What's the use of Social Media? It's the perfect time to get serious with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other flocked social communities on the web! I have just realized the importance of these sites as well, if Google tried to leash us, we got the chance to be free! I just recently wrote a post which includes the the importance of marketing in blogging success - ... Marketing Lead to a Successful Blogging.

Similarly, I stumbled upon with another useful article to help us ease our feelings about the effects of the Google Penguin Update, I guess Dr. Pete at SEOMOZ is more considerate about Google's further step in eliminating poor quality contents on the word wide web! It's about adhering to the notion that "Quality is always the King!" Yes, and Google believes so :)
Isolate the damage, find the problems you can fix, and get to work fixing them. - Dr. Pete at The Daily SEO Blog
Are you used to stuff your blog with poor contents? It's time to wipe them away... stick to quality and Google Penguin would be as friendly as the creature you used to know.

How to fix the damage?

Are you hit? See a substantial damage? Fix it, but make a plan, outline the problem... list them down.

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land has written advice and tips for this phenomenon: Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice.


Image Credits: Simon Howden and smarnad at freedigitalphotos.net respectively.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Richness of Ideas - A Strong Foundation of a Better Blogging

Difficulty is in its way. If you want to dig up a pit in the ground, expect that it won't be as easy as digging a hole in the shore.
What is the most possible reason why we grab a pen and a paper, and start penning down sentences? That is simply because we hold an abundance of ideas that makes us productive in our own ways. The richness of our ideas helps us realize the things that we see and imagine. In fact, the world has came this far because we hold much of it.

The richness of ideas is innate to all of us.

Richness of Ideas
It's innate, so you have it. But how if you don't see it coming? Do you have problem delivering your opinion? The reason behind difficulty is the lack of practice. It's building up, resources would yield nothing if they are not put in a proper use, and so does your chance to use your intellect.

How to build up the richness of your ideas?

Sitting and talking about senseless thing is the most unproductive thing one can do to his life. He is like expecting a drought to come with nothing at hand. In order to have a bountiful harvest, you have to weed and water and so on. My point is that, put your mind at a pace that would not make your brain outdated. Enhance yourself in a way that you can freely express the things that make you distinctive as a person. We possess different qualities and that make us special, find it in you as I am seeking it in me.

How did I build up the richness of my ideas?

Difficulty is in its way. If you want to dig up a pit in the ground, expect that it won't be as easy as digging a hole in the shore. Well, learning can be dull at first, but resist to that feeling and you will find what you are seeking for.

Learning Tips:

  • Make reading and writing a part of your daily routine. If you are as well building up your blog, it's time to share your best interest to your readers. How can you able to make that? Write well. Make use of your rich ideas by writing great contents.
  • Do not depend on your own abilities, learn from others and make an observation. Ask yourselves about the things that they have done best making them productive.
  • Make an innovation, copy their style but make sure that you preserve your own. It is just like breeding, and yours will become a hybrid-- and you would come out much stronger.
  • Make use of what you have learned. Apply it, not just in your writing, apply it repeatedly. Read more and write more. Be an addict to learning. Do not forget to use resources and materials that would make learning enjoyable.

Playing with Thesaurus - a way to build up the richness of your vocabulary.

Do not leave unfamiliar word, grab a dictionary or thesaurus, find its meaning. I love playing a 'thesaurus game', I would pick up a new word, list it on a paper and note down all it's possible meaning and synonyms, etc.
Thesaurus - Building the Richness of Your Ideas
Well, ready for your blogging career? Just exploit the richness of your ideas and you will be on the go!

Reading, Writing, Constant Learning will give you the chance to write well and share more.

Since blogging has a strong connection to writing, down to our skills in shaping grammatical sentences and persuasive paragraphs, why not use available resources out there to help you become a better blogger? Your number one mission in building your blog is sharing fresh and great contents.
Effective writing skills are to a writer what petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and car relationship, without solid skills writers cannot move ahead. - Friedman

Resources:

Monday, May 7, 2012

Download Different Font Styles from CoolText and be Creative!

Hey guys. Do you love playing with different font styles? Well, if we are taking about business letters, or else academic papers, Arial or Times New Roman might be the most known accepted fonts. Yet today, we will be much creative, especially when composing personal letters and other informal compositions.

You got limited font styles.

That's not a problem, you will find different font styles at cooltext. You can choose what you want to use, or even download several fonts, that's free of course. How?
  • Go to cooltext and browse for several font styles you love.
  • Simply download your chosen font styles.
  • Cooltext Font Download
  • Install your downloaded font.
  • Install Cooltext Font
  • It's done, open a word document and create something special with the pretty fonts you have just installed.
  • Cooltext Sample Font

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Create or Just Download Free Set of Social Media Icons for Your Blog

Looking for beautiful and free social media icons? Or, are you looking for some tools to generate few social icons where you can choose what color to use? Well, I have surfed the web for some.

Create and download icons for Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Google

I told you last time that you can generate your favorite social networks' fonts, this time, you have the chance to make .png icons of Facebook and other social sites using Font Meme such as:
  • Apple
  • Blogger
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter and more...

Here's how

Ooops, what's good, you can choose your favorite color to use.

Do you want more social icons?

Below are the list of sites which will exactly lead you to the homes of pretty social media icons for free!
Note: Most of them are zipped. If you don't know how to extract and open zipped files, you can download WinRAR.

Create and Generate Facebook, Twitter and Other Social Networks Fonts

We are talking about the fonts styles used in Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social networks you love. These fonts styles are used in their logos. But do you think it's possible to generate one like facebook? It's possible.

Why generate Facebook font?

If you love customizing your blog's set of social icons like facebook, you can create and download the facebook font so easily. You don't have to guess whether Facebook or else Twitter font styles as I have found a very useful tool for generating them.

Font Me Me let you generate you favorite social networks' fonts.

Fonts generated in Font Me Me are .png images, meaning they have transparent backgrounds, you have no problem in placing them on you blog as they will inherit the background of your chosen template.

Use your favorite color.

You can customize their colors, you can freely use your favorite colors, or the set of colors within your blog template.

How?

Friday, May 4, 2012

Build Up Your Vocabulary to Enhance Writing Skills and Begin Writing Quality Post

Recently I decided to do freelance writing, after I have passed the test, I started to bid for orders. In order to write well, I need to read more. Reading can be boring sometimes, but if you write academic essays, you have no choice but to read and read.

It Starts from Feeling Pressured

Yes I am pressured even until now, but it doesn't give me stress at all. It's different. It's energizing. It's pushing me from behind to move.

Rich Ideas Are Coming In

If you are done with your course, it doesn't mean that you have to stop scanning your books and notes. Learning should be constant, and it can be best acquired through reading. Reading would simply build up your vocabulary.

Rich Vocabulary Spices Up Your Post

I go with freelance writing to boost my skills in writing. That's a preparation for my long term blogging career. Since the blogoshere has all the tricks, you need to equip yourself with necessary skills in order to become a competent blogger. Indeed, blogging is a stiff competition among bloggers, it would never be easy especially if you are not prepared.

Use Techniques to Build Up Your Vocabulary

The quality of your blog posts reflects how good you are as a blogger. If you have a rich vocabulary, you can write fluently within various subjects. And you can extend your knowledge to an extreme level if you will use a technique to make learning a constant habit.

Simple Techniques

  • Learn gradually, read slowly
  • Use context clues to understand the meaning of difficult words (new words)
  • Secure a handy dictionary and thesaurus, or online dictionaries
  • List down new information, use it

Use and Apply New Information or Idea You Learned

Do you remember when you were still a child? Your Mom or teacher would asked you to read a particular list of words repeatedly. Well, repeated actions would simply yield higher retention rate. When you found useful information, incorporate it with your daily routine.

How to Further Increase Your Vocabulary


See you :)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

3 Best File Recovery Tools that Will Help Recover Your Deleted Files

Problem

Files such as Word Documents, Excel Workbooks, Powerpoint Presentations, Videos, Photos, and other Programs were accidentally deleted in your PC. Most likely due to virus, or an authorized used (carelessness).

There are several file recovery tools that can be used for free.

I recently deleted my important files as well, and I stumbled upon a useful program that helped recover most of my files. But today I consider the research and actual observations of 4 experts in file recovery programs. To extract the best, I use a simple technique to determine the best ones.




Based on the excel presentation I made, Recuva is the most common file recovery tool, followed by TestDisk and PhotoRec. I formulated this technique to help you decide faster as there are too many free downloadable tools around to recover your files for free.

3 Best File Recovery Tools

Based on the technique I used, there are 3 most mentioned tools for file recovery ready to help you.
  • Recuva
  • TestDisk
  • PhotoRec
Recuva according to CNET:
CNET Editor's Review:
Recuva is a free file recovery program that makes it extremely easy to locate files that were once thought to be lost forever. The wizard-like approach and intuitive user interface will appeal to all user levels.
Recuva User's Review:
It was a dark and stormy night when the blood sucking vampires grabbed my computer network. Zap ssssllluuuurrrrrrrppppp - hacked. My recovery took days and most files were deleted by the recovery operations. This program worked like a charm - better than the others I was using. It helped with the music in 1/2 time the others were taking. (mtdragon)
Free. No need to spend single cent.
Please remember that your file names may be change. Please don't cry, ask God to help to locate the different file name which contains your data. (Justin_Gupta)
TestDisk and PhotoRec according to CNET:
CNET Editor's Review:
TestDisk is a powerful data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition Table).
PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost pictures or lost files from digital camera memory (CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SecureDigital, SmartMedia, Microdrive, MMC, USB Memory Drives), even Hard Disks and CDRom.
User's Review:
Pros:

TestDisk and Photo Recovery recovered all of my 1000-odd accidentally deleted photos, each over 5MB in size.

Cons"

I was awfully nervous when confronted with a DOS-like window and almost went crazy trying to find out WHERE the tool saved the recovered photos (finally found them in the same folder as the application). (
Use it. It is extremely stable. i was able to recover stuff that nothing else could. Learn the interface and it will become a breeze. Just don't do stuff you do not understand.. search for documentation first! This is extremely powerful software that does not require a degree. Just some patience, and common sense. If your partition / files/ pictures are there, this WILL recover it, if you use it right. (Catcome)

Personal Experience:

I was terrified when I lost all my important files, but thanks to Pandora Recovery! In the presentation above, Pandora Recovery is listed at No. 3 in PC Support About.com, if you want to give this a try too, you can download and read more reviews at CNET.

Pandora helped me recover all my MS Word Documents, all my JPEG files, and some of my MS Excel Workbooks. Unfortunately, few other Excel documents were totally corrupted.

Resources:

Disclaimer:

Am not affiliated with CNET. It is just happened that I trusted CNET because it gives me safe downloads ever-since :)

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