Characteristics Of a Good Blog

After browsing and having my own little research, here are the things that I found as the characteristics of a good blog. May you find this helpful.

Search Engine Friendly

A good blog should be search engine friendly. Though Site Build It would say that blogging is less than a website due to some reasons, and one of those reasons is about Search Engine ranking, I would say that time have probably changed.

Today, there are hundreds of blogs now that ranks well on Search Engines. Some are even better than websites. It is because many blogs now looks like a website, and some are even more highly optimized than websites. So I believe that Search Engines now have respected blogs as well as they respect the real websites.

Easily Navigated

Have you seen a blog that is hard to follow due to poor navigation system within the blog? Visitors should easily see what to browse. Navigation bars should invite your blog visitor to click more, not just the ads but the content itself.

I find this a challenge especially in my early years of blogging. I was torn between the two; whether or not to place an ad, or navigation bar. Now I finally understand that between a nav bar or an ad, nav bar would turn out to be a more important one because it encourages the visitor to stay a little longer within your blog.

Open For All Commenting System
Perhaps this one depends on really on the purpose of the blog. There are blogs that were really intended for members only, while there are blogs that are open for general public.

If you have a blogspot.com blog, I would recommend that you go to Settings and Click Comments, and make sure that you highlight beside “Who can comment?” the “Anyone”. This will encourage your visitor to place some comments on it freely and without a hassle. And before I forget, also check that it was set to “Always” beside the “Comment moderation”. This is to guard safe your blog against SPAM.

Possess the Real Good Content
As the old blog gurus said, “Content is the King”. Good content accompanied by SEO means more visitors. Having the real good content means repeat visitors and more subscribers. There are thousands of blogs out there that were mainly made for their own selves and not for anybody else.

Some were made out of one purpose, “MONEY”. Well, blogs can be made for that, but real good content can produce more of that. If your content is helpful to people, it attracts more readers, subscribers, and Search Engines.

Monetized

I added this one because I believe that there should be a payback for all your labor. It’s tiring to work on something that does not pay you back. It’s hard to pursue a business that does not have any profit and all the more if it did not even produced a single cent. Why should you continue blogging if it can’t even pay your hosting and domain bills?

The idea of blogging is, enjoying your life writing about things that you love the most, while at the same time earning for it.

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How To Install Sexy Bookmark Plugin On Blogger

Sexy Bookmark plugin was originally created for Wordpress. And many Blogger users find this as a better social bookmark plugin than Sociable plugin. So, as a reslt, Blogger users made a way to install this. But it requires little technical skill.


 It is challenging to install this in Blogger since you will be dealing with codes… AGAIN… But you don’t have to worry because it is doable.

But just a note, not all themes are compatible with this process. Especially that some themes does not use the code:  

Here's the link for the detailed instruction: CLICK HERE

Hoping that you will be successful in installing this great Social Bookmarking plugin.

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How to Make Blogger Template

Blogger is probably one of the most popular blog platforms out there. For so long, I was puzzled how do Blogger users customize it or make a new theme. I find it more difficult to work on the codes of Blogger compared to that of the Wordpress. However, with the help of some good tools online,  I finally able to customize and make a whole new template out of it.  

For quite some time, I really envy some real good blogger templates. Unfortunately, before I find it hard to customize my blog the way I wanted because codes are not for everybody.

If you really desire to monetize your blog and make a whole new template where you seem best for your blog, I strongly recommend that you use Draft Blogger (www.draft.blogger.com).

What’s new with this tool?

Instead of working with the codes, you will now be working with WYSIWYG platform. All you have to do is to login in www.draft.blogger.com with your Blogger login details that you use in accessing your Google account. Then click “Design”, then click “Template Designer”.

The next thing you do is to customize everything from the main theme of your blog, to the arrangement of your Page Elements. You can also choose the how many columns and its arrangement on your blog. Now to give you an overview, here’s the list of the things that you can do with draft blogger:

•    Choose from 15 main designs.
•    Customize how many columns should your blog be.
•    Delete and add Page Element sections on the columns.
•    Choose backgrounds.
•    Customize the look and feel of your blog.
•    Do exactly what you can do with Blogger platform like posting posts, customizing page elements, monetizing etc. plus more.



Literally speaking, what was added from the Blogger platform was the ability to customize and even change the template to something that you really want. And I believe this is one of the most exciting things that have been developed for years. Now, you really don’t have to worry anymore if you want to customize your Blogger blog the way you want it.

With this new tool, you will definitely have new heights of your blogging experience.

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Totally Free Anti-Virus Programs

Looking for a totally FREE, no-charge at all anti-virus? Well, you've come to the right place for information. I know two best anti-virus programs that is totally free, and no charge at all.

AVAST – I personally use this totally free anti-virus. You can download it at www.avast.com. This anti-virus program is totally for Home Edition. You can also register your home edition for free and it gives free anti-virus support updates.

Here's a brief glance of its features:

• Anti-spyware built-in
• Web Shield
• Anti-rootkit built-in
• Automatic updates
• Strong self-protection
• Virus Chest
• Antivirus kernel
• System integration
• Simple User Interface
• Integrated Virus Cleaner
• Resident protection
• Support for 64-bit Windows
• P2P and IM Shields
• Internationalization
• Network Shield

Please do note that the HOME EDITION is totally FREE as long as it is non-commercial use and for home use only.

AVG Free Edition – I think this anti-virus program was ahead of all other free anti-virus programs. Please do note that there is a paid version and there is TOTALLY Free edition. You can get the totally free edition in this link: www.free.avg.com.

The FREE Edition only contains three basic features:

• Anti-Virus - Makes sure you can’t get or spread a virus, worm, or Trojan horse.
• Anti-Spyware -Prevents unauthorized information access by spyware and adware.
• LinkScanner® - Ensures every web page you visit is safe – even before you go there.

Comparing the two Anti-Viruses, I personally would recommend the AVAST. It has more FREE Features and I personally have tried it and I believe it is a good anti-virus. Maybe not too good as those that are paid, but it is definitely the best FREE anti virus.

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How To Network Your Computers at Home

Have you ever thought about networking your computers at home? If you have a small collection of computers around the house (and a small collection of computer users), you can connect each one of those computers to one another and share data, software, and hardware including a single Internet connection. There are many creative uses for home networking, however it's an ideal situation when upgrading each computer to the same capability is financially out of the question. On a home network, each computer has access to the equipment of the better machine in the group as if that equipment were their own.

Connecting computers with either an Ethernet cable or a Wireless connection can create a home network. The easiest and cheapest method uses an Ethernet connection, which requires a series of network cards, a cable for each computer, and a router. The network card is similar to the old modems we used in the past to connect to the Internet, however in a home network, it's used to communicate with every computer that's connected to it.

But please also be reminded that having a wifi inside your home is now far better than using ethernet cables. I myself find it more useful to have wireless network than having a cabled network especially if you are using a laptop.

You'll want to first, select the computers that will connect to each other and then install the network cards inside each of them. Then you'll connect a cable to each computer that will communicate with the server. These cables won't connect to the server directly. Instead, they'll connect to the router. To enable Internet access for each computer, this router will need to connect with a modem of the host machine.

Once the hardware is set up correctly (you'll need to read the instruction manual of your equipment for details), you can then setup the network from Windows on each machine. Within Windows, you can set up a home network similar to the way that you set up an Internet connection. Only this time, you'll set up a LAN (Local Area Network) connection.

Windows should walk you through setting up a LAN after starting the computer and once complete, you can begin to connect one of your machines to the network. You can do this through Internet Explorer by typing in the address and password required to access the router (the address and password required to access the router will be in the router manual).

Connected to the network, each computer can send files back and forth, open programs on a remote computer, play the sound files and videos located on another computer, and share a single Internet account to browse the web, download files, or chat with someone in an entirely different country. If a single printer is available on only one computer in the network, every connected PC can send documents to it and print them out. Kids will enjoy the ability to play multi-player games and adults will enjoy the ability to blast a single message to everyone at once or maintain a group schedule.

Since we're describing a home network that will connect to the Internet, you're strongly advised to install a protective firewall program to thwart Internet viruses, worms, or other damaging spyware code. Firewalls prevent - but they don't repair. Only anti-virus and anti-spyware programs can reverse damage. So you should install a firewall on the computer that grants access to the computer, and then install an anti-virus and anti-spyware program on each of the remaining computers in the network.

If you have files that shouldn't be shared (bank statements, credit card information, etc.), you can restrict their access in one of several ways. You can put them in a new folder and then remove the "read" permissions for that folder. Or you can specify who can (and who cannot) access specific files with a password from within Windows Control Panel.

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