Essentials for Blogging

So in my last post, Essentials for Blogging, I mentioned some tools that you as a blogger could use effectively to overcome the limitations of your particular hosting platform. Through a combination of tools, you could optimize your blogging experience and make your blog better looking, easily accessible, noticed and promoted. Executed properly, you can achieve results that far exceed the results of a single hosting platform. Users who have dedicated blogging platforms, even those who have dedicated hosting services do sometimes use these tools to effectively monetize or popularize. In the end, readers not only get a far better experience, they also remember the difference your blog makes. As they say content is king. Once someone reads your content, you are sure he will bookmark you and return to your blog again and again like a dedicated worshipper. But why will he look at your blog, if he doesn't even notice it. If you are not able to reach the reader, whatever you write is only for you to see.

So, you have to make your blog noticeable, reachable, provide that extra something which other bloggers don't. And you have to know your readers.

All these to work, you will need tools/services, which at present are not offered by any blogging platform. If they offer some features, then they miss out on the others.

Do not worry. Learn to integrate and disintegrate. In this post I will try to list tools/services which you as a blogger will find very useful. Among these tools are :

Blog Host : A place where the blog will be hosted. There are many blog hosts all over the net. All of them offer various services. Some for free, some free to try, and some paid.

Image Hosts : A picture is worth a thousand words. And most of the Blog hosts do not offer a decent picture storage facility.

Hit Counters : Did anyone read your blog? Who read your blog? Where do they come from? When do they read your blog? How many times did someone check out your blog? Which of your posts did they read? What search terms did they use? Which link did they follow? The answer to all these questions is a Hit counter.

Syndication : XML? RSS? ATOM? Which type of feed does your blog use? Your RSS Reader cannot read ATOM? Get them converted.

Mailing list : Let your users subscribe through their email. Send them new posts by email. Keep them informed of new posts.

File Storage : So you recorded your sweet baby’s first footsteps and want the world to see? Did you say it was 100mb? And you can’t email such a big file? Use free hosting service to upload your files and let the world watch the next superstar take the first step to glory.

Feed Readers : You have to have a decent feed reader. Why? To read what others are writing about. Everybody blogs. And if you read other people’s blog, and comment on it. They and their readers will come and check out your blog.

Though, right now I can’t think of anything else, I am sure there are many more tools and services which a blogger can effectively use to his/her advantage.

To get the ball rolling, lets see the contenders for the Blog Host category.

Wordpress: You can get a blog started in less time than it takes you to read this
sentence. All you need is an email address. You’ll get your own
WordPress.com address (like you.wordpress.com), a selection of great free and customizable designs for your blog (we call them themes), 3 gigabytes
of file storage (that’s about 2,500 pictures!) and all the other great
features listed here. You can blog as much as you want for free, your
blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends.

Blogger : With its unique brand name, with the might of Google, its become one of the biggest blog hosting platform. Not only it allows you to host multiple blogs, it has recently started allowing photos to be hosted at blogger too. With 31 templates to choose from, a blogger can create a personal identity. With the knowledge of CSS and HTML, any one can make a new template. Now with Google Adsense integration, its more bang for the buck

LiveJournal - Website and client software for maintaining an online journal/weblog and keep track of friends journals. Boasting a total of more than 9 million users, a user can join for free. Though, there are many account upgrades possible, if you feel like shelling out $3 p.m. Free users cannot completely customize their blog. They can post only 6 pictures, compared to 15 for upgraded users. An upgraded user also gets a subdomain like username.livejournal.com

Yahoo 360° - Create your own place online. Share photos. Create a blog. List your favorites, send a blast, and more. Blogs, Photos, Friends, LAUNCHcast, Lists, Groups! Even I am not sure what Yahoo 360 wants to be.

Xanga - Xanga is obsessed with one thing: helping people publish content to the web. As a free user you get 200MB of photo storage, while premium users get 2GB. A premium user also gets to post 99 profile pictures. Whew! A premium user can also download their blogs. If you can afford $4 p.m., then go for it.

I am sure this is not an exhaustive list. Do inform me of others worth mentioning.

Up next on the list are Image Hosts :

ImageShack® - provides free web hosting for images with direct linking allowed (hotlinking). It can be used to share pictures with friends, post images on message boards. It can also be used to direct link images from your personal website or eBay auction. No signup required. Powered by highly reliable Linux dedicated server network. Limitations: File size limit 1024 KB; File types allowed: gif, jpg, jpeg, png, swf (Flash); Images that have not been accessed in over a year will be deleted.

Photobucket.com - is a free image hosting company for ebay, online auctions, classifieds, message boards, blogs, live journals, and online photo albums. You can easily upload, categorize, add titles and delete images as needed. Direct linking is allowed. You can upload up to 20 pictures at once. Photos larger than 512 KB are automatically scaled down. Limitations: 50 MB storage space; 2500 MB/month bandwidth; 512 KB file size limit; Extensions allowed: .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .swf (Flash files); Images must not contain any weird characters (numbers and letters only). The uploader converts bmp and tif to jpg. You can view the most recently uploaded pictures.

PicsPlace.to - offers free web hosting of photo pictures, image files, and Macromedia Flash file format. No signup required, and Hotlinking allowed (direct linking of uploaded images). Can be used for ebay auctions, posting images on message boards, your personal web site or wherever you want. Your pics are freely hosted on a fast dedicated server. Supports free webhosting of JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP and SWF files up to 1.5 MB; No diskspace or bandwidth limitations; Inactive files will not be deleted from their server.

4FreeImageHost - allow images of up to 500K picture file in either jpg, jpeg, gif or png format. Hotlinking is allowed. Signing up is not required to upload pics, but you can choose to register and create a free image hosting account so you can manage your uploaded images. Registered users can also get the code for their images again or delete them. Their service can be used with message boards, eBay auction listings, blogs, etc. Their server will keep images online at least 60 days.

69 Wisdoms and Axioms for modern life

69 Wisdoms and Axioms for modern life

1) If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

2) A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

3) Experience is something that you don't get until just after you need it.

4) For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

5) He who hesitates is probably right.

6) No one is listening until you make a mistake.

7) Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.

8) To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

9) Two wrongs are only the beginning.

10) Monday is an awful way to spend one-seventh of your life.

11) The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have for catching up.

12) A clear consciense is usually the sign of a bad memory.

13) It is much easier to apologize than to ask permission.

14) There are two rules for ultimate success in life. Never tell everything you know.

15) Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid doing altogether.

16) The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.

17) Everyone has a right to be stupid. Some just abuse the privilege.

18) On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.

19) It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

21) If you can remain calm, you just don't have all the facts.

22) Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.

23) The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.

24) The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

25) The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.

26) To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.

27) You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

28) The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

29) If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

30) Change is inevitable except from vending machines.

31) Don't sweat petty things or pet sweaty things.

32) A fool and his money are soon partying.

33) Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

34) Money can't buy love But it CAN rent a very close imitation.

35) Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.

36) Always try to be modest ... And be damn proud of it!

37) If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of loan repayments.

38) How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hands.

39) Everybody repeat after me "We are all individuals."

40) Chastity is curable, if detected early.

41) Love may be blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

42) Hell hath no fury like the lawyer of a woman scorned.

43) Bills travel through the post at twice the speed of cheques.

44) Hard work pays off in the future, Laziness pays off now.

45) Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.

46) Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.

47) Half the people you know are below average.

48) 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

49) 427.23 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

50) A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

51) Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.

52) He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

53) A day without sunshine is like, well, night.

54) On the other hand, you have different fingers.

55) Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?

56) I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

57) Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.

58) Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

59) I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

60) He's not dead; he's electroencephalographically challenged.

61) You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.

62) I wonder how much deeper would the ocean be without sponges.

63) Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?

64) Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

65) Always remember that you are unique, just like everyone else.

66) War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.

67) Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.

68) I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

69) Do unto others, then run .............

Laws women live by

Laws women live by

1. Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in diapers.

2. What do you do if your boyfriend walks out? You shut the door.

3. If we put a man on the moon - we should be able to put them all up there.

4. Never let your man's mind wander - it's too little to be out alone.

5. Go for younger men. You might as well - they never mature anyway.

6. Men are all the same - they just have different faces so that you can tell them apart.

7. Definition of a bachelor: a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.

8. Women don't make fools of men - most of them are the do-it-yourself types.

9. Best way to get a man to do something: suggest he's too old for it.

10. Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

11. If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital.

12. The children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. Even in biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions.

13. If he asks what sort of books you're interested in, tell him checkbooks.

14. Remember: a sense of humor does not mean you tell him jokes; it means you laugh at his.

15. Sadly, all men are created equal.

Just a thought for all the women out there... MENtal illness, MENstrual cramps, MENtal breakdown, MENopause

Ever notice how all of women's problems start with men?

Slogans for women's T-shirts

Slogans for women's T-shirts

1. So many men, so few who can afford me.

2. God made us sisters; Prozac made us friends.

3. If they don't have chocolate in heaven, I ain't going.

4. At my age, I've seen it all, done it all, heard it all...I just can't remember it all.

5. My Mother Is a travel agent for guilt trips.

6. Princess, having had sufficient experience with princes, seeks frog.

7. Coffee, chocolate, men . . . Some things are just better rich.

8. Don't treat me any differently than you would the Queen.

9. If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen.

10. Dinner Is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.

11. It's hard to be nostalgic when you can't remember anything.

12. I'm out of estrogen-and I have a gun.

13. Guys have feelings too. But like...who cares?

14. Next mood swing: 6 minutes.

15. I hate everybody...and you're next.

16. And your point is...?

17. I used to be schizophrenic, but we're OK now.

18. Warning: I have an attitude and I know how to use it.

19. Of course I don't look busy...I did it right the first time.

20. Do NOT start with me. You will NOT win.

21. You have the right to remain silent, so please SHUT UP.

22. All stressed out and no one to choke.

23. I'm one of those bad things that happen to good people.

24. How can I miss you if you won't go away?

25. Sorry if I looked interested. I'm not.

26. If we are what we eat, I'm fast, cheap and easy.

27. Don't upset me! I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

Understanding Female Logic - Chapter 1

Understanding Female Logic - Chapter 1
A translation of what women say and what they really mean ........

"Yes" = No

"No" = Yes

"Maybe" = No

"I'm sorry" = You'll be sorry

"We need" = I want

"It's your decision" = The correct decision should be obvious by now

"Do what you want" = You'll pay for this later

"We need to talk" = I need to complain

"Sure go ahead" = I don't want you to

"I'm not upset" = Of course I'm upset, you moron!

"You're so manly" = You need a shave and you sweat a lot

"Be romantic, turn out the lights" = I have flabby thighs

"This kitchen is so inconvenient" = I want a new house

"I want new curtains" = and carpeting, and furniture, and wallpaper

"I heard a noise" = I noticed you were almost asleep

"Do you love me?" = I'm going to ask for something expensive

"How much do you love me?" = I did something today you're going to hate

"I'll be ready in a minute" = Just going to wash my hair

"You have to learn to communicate" = Just agree with me

"Are you listening to me!?" = Too late, you're dead