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Live Demonstration:
Click to add a custom BlogClout.com/blog button to your Google Toolbar
Would You Like Such a Custom Button for Your Own Blog?
Just follow the simple 5 steps below to get your own custom google toolbar button.
1. Create a file in Notepad and save it as “google-btn.xml”
2. Copy-and-paste the following code to that file.
<custombuttons xmlns=”http://toolbar.google.com/custombuttons/”>
<button>
<site>http://www.blogclout.com/blog/</site>
<title>How To Grow Your Blog Traffic</title>
<description>Tricks to Increase Your Blog Traffic</description>
<feed refresh-interval=”3600″>http://www.blogclout.com/blog/feed/</feed>
<search>http://www.blogclout.com/blog?s={query}</search>
<update>http://www.blogclout.com/blog/google-btn.xml</update>
<icon>
AAABAAIAEBAAAAAAAABoBQAAJgAAACAgAAAAAAAAqAgAAI4
AEABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP///wAAtucAc4Ae
v/ADnH7wCUqnsAWnUhAADT/wB7y9YA3vP/AFrT7wDGz7UAhJpjA
QAa4I5ABDH9wClroQAIcf3AO/7/wAAw/cAELrnAIzf9wBjeTpev/AP
9wD39+8AztfGAIyiawBSy+cAQmEIAL3LrQBSbRgAGL7vAgCt5/cAv
O/9wC15/cAhN/3AJSmcwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
</icon>
</button>
</custombuttons>
3. Replace the text in red with your Site Details
a. <Site> = Your Blog URI. Eg: http://www.yourdomain.com/blog
b. <Title> = Title of your blog
c. <Description> = Description of your blog
d. <Feed> = Your Blog Feed URI. Eg: http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/feed.rss
e. <Search> = Your Search Domain (If you don’t have a search box on your blog, please remove the entire Search tag from the file)
f. <Update> = Your source where you will save the google-btn.xml file.
g. <icon> = The 16*16 picture that will show up on the Google Toolbar. You will need the ASCII format of the picture.
To get the ASCII format, go to:
http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp
Upload your icon picture. Select “encode” and click “Convert the Source Data.” Copy-paste the code they give out in your file.
4. Save the file after editing it. And then upload it to your servers.
5. Ask people to click on the following link to add your site button to their Google Toolbars.
http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/add?url=http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/google-btn.xml
If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)
Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Blog Setup on 04 Jun 2007
Comments (3)
1. Step-by-step guide on using MySpace to promote your blog - by Jane May. The technique is time-intensive. But you can hire a virtual assistant to make it work for you.
2. How to promote your website with just $100? - 7 Experts share what they would do if all they had was $100.
3. Networking within your Blog Niche: 7 Essential Tips for Bloggers - Excellent networking tips. Networking is essential because (whether you like it or not…) Who you know is more important than what you write.
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Brad Fitzpatrick created some much better beer icons and clipart that you can use with your “Buy Me a Beer” plugin. Go check it out!
If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)
Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Misc on 04 Jun 2007
Comments (2)
Here is a fun little quiz to evaluate how well you know English…
Could you count how many times the letter f appears in the following sentence?
These functional fuses have been developed after years of scientific investigation of electric phenomena, combined with the fruit of long experience on the part of the two investigators who have come forward with them for our meetings today.
People who have been speaking English since years underestimate the number of times a_?fa_? appears in the sentence. They do worse on this test than people who have just started learning English.
Ia_Tve never met a person who speaks fluent English to count more than 8 a_?fa_? in the sentence. The most common answer is 6 or 7.
The correct answer however is 11!
These functional fuses have been developed after years of scientific investigation of electric phenomena, combined with the fruit of long experience on the part of the two investigators who have come forward with them for our meetings today.
Embarrassing disclosure: I myself just got 7 the first time!
Why do experienced English speakers do worse than beginner English speakers on a simple English quiz?
Experienced speakers pronounce the word of with a “v” sound, and because of their habit of reading like they speak, they have more difficulty detecting the occurrences of the letter f than do inexperienced speakers.
As a result:
past experience
actually lowers performance!
Missing Insights
It’s the same with all other fields of endeavours - including blogging: you will miss a lot of “obvious” insights because of your long experience and hard-to-forget habits. So can anything be done about it?
The Genius of Amateurs
The solution is simple. Gather feedback from amateurs. Ask your new blog readers what can be done to improve your blog. Ask your neighbour who yet doesn’t know what blogs are to visit your website. Ask them:
- How to improve your blog layout
- What features should you remove from your blog
- What other topics would they like to read
You’ll be surprised by the insights you receive!
If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)
Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Stratagems, Blog Setup on 01 Jun 2007
Comments (5)
Nate Whitehill linked to the “Easy Trick To Achieve All Your Goals” post from his “Powerful Posts” series.
Its just like the “Link Clout” series (#1, #2) - where Nate shares links to cool articles he has read recently.A But Nate goes one step ahead.A He offers an award that people can stick up on their blogs.A The award links back to his blog.
If you would like to show people your post was selected as a a_?Powerful Post,a_? you can copy the following code and paste it at the bottom of your post:
Isn’t that a great idea?
I’m not sure how many people showcase Nate’s Award on their blogs.A But if you link to other articles and posts from your blog, creating your award takes hardly any time at all - and could be well worth the effort.
The Catch-22 Award Caveat
- The more famous your blog, the more people will showcase your award from their blogs.
- And the more people that showcase the award, the more famous your blog gets.
But for a blog with low traffic, giving link awards may not be the best idea.A If no one showcases the award, it brings in no extra traffic.A And may end up hurting the award’s (and its blog’s) credibility.
“Traffic via Awards” idea not recommended for brand new or low traffic blogs.
(Note: I’ve been following Nate Whitehill’s blog since quite sometime.A And its very very good.A You may want to check it out.)
If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)
Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Traffic on 01 Jun 2007
Comments (3)
