Blogger Polls

A polling system is very essential to a blog. My observations are that visitors interact with the website using a voting system more than they do using comment system or sending email. This could be due to the "laziness factor" as interacting with the voting sytem takes just a click or two. Therefore my recommendation is to have a blog poll on your blog for making your visitors interact with your website/blog, keeping their laziness factor in mind.

The poll that I found attractive enough to include in my blogs is from http://www.dpolls.com
Here are others that you can try as well :
http://www.blogpoll.com/
http://www.polldaddy.com/
http://www.vizu.com/index.html
http://www.pollpub.com/
http://www.addpoll.com/
http://www.blogpolls.com/

Add StumbleUpon button to blogger(XML Layouts)

This is a preview of the StumbleUpon button that can be added to your sidebar. If you are happy with the preview, click the "add to blogger" button to install it on your blog.

Stumble it!

Add Digg This! button to blogger

Add Digg This! button to blogger( XML Layouts )
This is a preview of the "Digg This!" button that can be added to your sidebar. See the preview below, click the "add to blogger" button to install it on your blog.

Preview:

For Classic Templates users(HTML, JavaScript knowledge required)

• Login to blogger dashboard and click manage : template link of your blog


• Click the "Template" tab, then go to "Edit HTML" subtab.


• Find the "<$BlogItemBody$>" tag, and copy-paste the code below, under the "<$BlogItemBody$>" tag


• Save and Publish your blog.

<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Blogger Widgets

Love & Astrology Gadget for your blog

To add this gadget to your blog :

New XML Layout users:

• Log into your blogger dashboard.
• Click on Manage : Layout
• Then on "Page Elements" subtab
• Click "Add a Page Element" link, where you want to add this gadget
• Choose Html/JavaScript from the popup.
• Insert the code below and click Ok

<center><!-- Astro-Love by www.Spiritualitea.com --><br /><br /><!-- COPY THE TEXT BELOW --><!-- ONTO THE SPOT ON YOUR HOMEPAGE --><!-- WHERE YOU WANT ASTRO-LOVE TO APPEAR --><!-- AstroLove --><script language="javascript" src="http://www.spiritualitea.com/spiritualitoys/astrolove.js"></script><br /><br /><!-- GET YOUR OWN ASTRO-LOVE AT WWW.SPIRITUALITEA.COM --><!-- USE IT FREE ON YOUR HOMEPAGE --></center>

---

Classic Template Users :

• Log into your blogger dashboard
• Click on Manage : Template
• Then on "Edit HTML" subtab
• Insert the following code on your template where you want the gadget to appear.

<center><!-- Astro-Love by www.Spiritualitea.com --><!-- COPY THE TEXT BELOW --><!-- ONTO THE SPOT ON YOUR HOMEPAGE --><!-- WHERE YOU WANT ASTRO-LOVE TO APPEAR --><!-- AstroLove --><script language="javascript" src="http://www.spiritualitea.com/spiritualitoys/astrolove.js"></script><!-- GET YOUR OWN ASTRO-LOVE AT WWW.SPIRITUALITEA.COM --><!-- USE IT FREE ON YOUR HOMEPAGE --></center>

Hunkdujour Widgets

Hunkdujour.com offers a free service to show off a daily new picture of a hunk on blogs/websites. We have created widgets for XML Users of blogger to simplify the steps needed to use their service to show the pictures. (XML Users only need to click the "+ Add to Blogger" button to install the hunkdujour widget.)

Classic Template users and other blogs/sites can copy the code for any of the versions below and paste it into their template/pages.

Tiny Version(150 Pixels)

XML Blogger Users :

Classic Templates Users / Other Blogs & Websites :
<a title="Hunk du Jour" href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/" name="Hunk du Jour"><img alt="Latest Blog Photo from Hunk du Jour, with hot celebrity men daily!" src="http://www.hunkdujour.com/images/hunkdujour/featured_today/today_150.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2006/01/hunk_du_jour_for_your_site.asp">Put on Your Page</a><br />

---

Small Version(200 Pixels)

XML Blogger Users :

Classic Templates Users / Other Blogs & Websites :
<a title="Hunk du Jour" href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/" name="Hunk du Jour"><img alt="Latest Blog Photo from Hunk du Jour, with hot celebrity men daily!" src="http://www.hunkdujour.com/images/hunkdujour/featured_today/today_200.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2006/01/hunk_du_jour_for_your_site.asp">Put on Your Page</a><br />

---

Medium Version(250 Pixels)

XML Blogger Users :

Classic Templates Users / Other Blogs & Websites :
<a title="Hunk du Jour" href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/" name="Hunk du Jour"><img alt="Latest Blog Photo from Hunk du Jour, with hot celebrity men daily!" src="http://www.hunkdujour.com/images/hunkdujour/featured_today/today_250.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2006/01/hunk_du_jour_for_your_site.asp">Put on Your Page</a><br />

---

Large Version(500 Pixels)

XML Blogger Users :

Classic Templates Users / Other Blogs & Websites :
<a title="Hunk du Jour" href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/" name="Hunk du Jour"><img alt="Latest Blog Photo from Hunk du Jour, with hot celebrity men daily!" src="http://www.hunkdujour.com/images/hunkdujour/featured_today/today_500.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2006/01/hunk_du_jour_for_your_site.asp">Put on Your Page</a><br />

Getting Free Content for your Blog

As you may have heard before "content is king". Bloggers are mostly content writers. It is the content that drives traffic to your blog or website. To get more web traffic, you would add more useful content to your blog/site, however you might not be able to come up with quality content as regularly as you might wish(Reasons could be laziness, lack of motivation/interest, blogging fatigue, monotony etc.). In this situation you probably would want to keep your blog fresh with new content by getting free content for your blog/website.

The easy-lazy way is to use the free available content from article submission directories, which host articles from variety of authors on various topics, most of the directories will let you use the content if you follow the terms of usage and give proper credit to the author. Most times, you just have to publish and unlatered with the author/site credit resourcebox in the post footer. However do read the republishing terms of the sites, whose content you want to use as the terms might be different for different sites.

Here's a big list of article directories ( Bookmark & Share!) :
http://www.articledashboard.com/
http://ezinearticles.com/
http://www.content-articles.com
http://www.justarticles.net
http://www.amazines.com/
http://www.free-articles-zone.com
http://www.myownezine.com
http://www.articlecity.com
http://www.websition.com/
http://www.isnare.com/
http://www.articlesbase.com/
http://www.theleadingarticles.com/
http://www.articleworld.net
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://www.ladypens.com/
http://www.articlesandauthors.com/
http://www.articlerich.com/
http://www.article99.com/
http://www.ezau.com
http://www.articleblast.com/
http://www.articlesfactory.com/
http://www.seo-writer.com/reprint/articles.html
http://www.my-articles.com/
http://www.en.articlesgratuits.com
http://www.activeauthors.com/
http://www.articlestreet.com/

Get visitors from google blogs to yours

Here's a smart tip for those looking to drive a little traffic to their site/blog. Subscribe to the Official google blogs which are of your interest. I generally subscribe to the feed of those blogs of google services that I use frequently, like adsense, analytics, adwords, blogger etc.

Whenever a new article of your interest is published on Google Blogs, go ahead and make a blog post about the article and include a live link to the page, such as

Source : http://adsense.blogspot.com/2007/06/success-story-from-india.html

Then, a link to your post will appear directly under the post that you have linked to. Notice that people visiting Google blogs would occasionaly stop by and check out your blog. Don't over-do this trick though, otherwise your blog will look like a discardable collection of irrelevant articles from google blogs.

Did you come from one of the Google blogs? YES! You see this tip works !

How to add paypal donate button to your blog

PayPal, is an eBay Company,It enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online.

If you don't have a paypal account yet, you can get a free account

After you have your login ID/password,
Login to your account. Then click the "merchant services" tab

scroll down and on the right sidebar, find the box labelled key features, click on the link named "Donations"

After clicking on that link, you will taken to "Create paypal payment button" page, just make sure that donations is selected in the "Accept Payments for" dropdown box. You can type a name/id for this button

Down below you can customize your paypal button by selecting options like using smaller button, displaying credit card logos, changing language, currency, contribution amount or use your own graphic as a button.

Step 2 & 3 are optional and requires a business account, so leave them for now. and click on create button.

On the next page, copy the entire code from the textbox and paste it into your template of your website or blog, where you want it to appear. Congratulations! You have just added paypal donate button to your blog.

XML blogger users can paste this code by adding HTML/JavaScript gadget to their blogger blog.

(See the demo below)

Installing StumbleUpon links within Blogger/Blogspot

• Download one of the StumbleUpon Icons from it's icon set here . Upload this picture somewhere on the web.
  
  (This is a preview of the available icons, select and upload any one of them.)
  
  



• Login to your blogger dashboard, click manage->template.
• On the template tab, find <$BlogItemBody$> tag
• Copy-Paste this code just below the <$BlogItemBody$> tag

<a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<$BlogItemPermalinkUrl$">&title=<$BlogItemTitle$>'><img border="0" src="**LINK" alt="Stumble Upon Toolbar" />Stumble It!</a>

• Replace **LINK TO stumbleit.gif** with the full path to the image that you uploaded.
• Save & RePublish your blog.

Sample Preview:


Stumble It!

NOTE : This installation only works with classic templates of blogger. XML Layouts users, check out this post http://zerodollarchallenge.blogspot.com/2007/11/add-stumbleupon-button-to-bloggerxml.html

Blog Graphics

Finding Images/videos/icons and stuff for your blog is a challenging and time consuming excercise. Here's my "unofficial" and "incomplete" list of resources for blog graphics.

Bigoo.ws - Over 50,000 images, all classified as glitters, backgrounds, cursors, quotes, animations, icons etc. Also has layouts and widgets for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster.


Stock Exchange - Free for personal use. Read the license here. [ License ]

Yotophoto.com - Indexes images in the public domain or available for free usage under various forms of "copyleft" licensing.

Freefoto.com - Free photographs for private non-commercial use on the Internet.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net - Free for use in blogs, with some conditions [ License ]

Blogger Help itself list these blog graphics resources for your blogs:

• Openphoto.net
• Flickr Photos - Only those with creative commons licences are free to use.
• http://search.creativecommons.org/ - This search engine should throw up many image resources that can be used on blogs and websites for free.

This list will always be in a "work in progress" mode, as we discover new and better blog graphics for blogs. Do you know of a blog graphics site that you want to share with us? leave your comments.

Standard Feed Icon

While exploring other sites and blogs, you must have come across those orange coloured feed icons that give you an option to subscribe to that site's/blog's feed. Chances are that you are already publishing your own feed.

Here's a free resource that will give you more color options to choose from(for the feed icon), you can also download other file format of the icon to modify and customize for your blog/site.

http://www.feedicons.com

25% of the People Online Use Firefox, do you?

"People are switching to Firefox fast as ever, while IE's share drops every day!"

read more digg story





According to stats released by W3Counter , Firefox is the first choice for almost 25% of the people using the net. Have you downloaded firefox?

Blogthings for Girls Only

Freshen up your blog or website by adding a widget from Hunkdujour.com and display a new picture of a hunk daily on your blog.(See the sample below). 4 display sizes are available for your blog. Ready to install it to your blog? See the Hunkdujour Widget for Blogger

Wondering where to get the glitter images that you see on other blogs? then read our post on Glitter Graphics for Blogs

Related :
Internet Safety for Girls

AdSense Abuse Techniques and Countermeasures by Google

• You must have seen the use of floating layers on many sites (generally created using DHTML & JavaScript). Since these layers can move dynamically and could be programmed to follow the mouse, Placing Adsense Ads on these layers can be unintentional clicks on the ads. Google therefore does not allow the ads to be placed on floating layers.


• Images as Graphical pointers beside ad units were preferred way of many ad publishers to grab the attention of the visitor who would otherwise have ignored the ads due to the “ad blindness” behavior. In this technique images or flash objects are used in order to deceive the visitors into clicking the Ad by suggesting a link between the image/flash object and the ads. Google therefore disallows any images or flash objects beside the ads, which could suggest any link between the two.


• Some publishers tried to hide the “ads by google” tagline by customizing the background color of the page and the color of the ad itself so that it would blend into the page and hardly be visible to the visitor and the ads would look like regular links. Google now uses an image tagline on ads that will not blend into the background.


• Some publishers altered the adsense code to make the ads appear as a “single line link” and then camouflaged them in between the navigation links or their recommended links. Google strictly prohibits any alteration of its adsense code.


• Some publishers would load the ad in a floating frame (<iframe> tag). The frame dimensions would hide the fact that it is a google ad. In fact the user wont be able to tell that the ad is loaded using a hidden frame. Google does not allow ads to be loaded that way. (No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.). Although, this technique does not alter the adsense code. Google policy states “Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads”, Therefore it is an unacceptable practice.


• Some publishers place ads adjacent to the site interaction objects, such as navigational links, Flash/JavaScript Games & Buttons, Download Buttons, under popups or anything that requires frequent clicking. Some accidental clicks are received on those ads.

Also, One of the most common abuses of adsense that is done unknowingly by many is that they place a wide skyscraper ad on the right hand side of the page, adjacent to the scrollbar. Whenever an Image ad is displayed on the wide skyscraper the entire area becomes a “click zone”(unlike the column of text ads). Clicks are received when the user, instead of clicking the scrollbar accidentally clicks the ad. Google now considers the clicks with very low returns to the advertiser as invalid clicks and threatens to disable the account of the publisher.

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The Techniques described above are for Information purpose only. Under no circumstances does this article suggest that you abuse the Google Adsense program using the techniques described above. Furthermore the author does not take any responsibility if anyone gets banned/ejected by google as a result of using the techniques described above.

New Blogger Layouts and Google Analytics

Need some help in Installing Google Analytics in Blogger? or did you stumble here looking for New Blogger Layouts? Try our Template & Layout Finder.

Some people have reported that the new drag and drop layout of blogger does not work with google analytics. When testing the problem myself. I found out that the code which is typically in the format of

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-XXXXXX-X";
urchinTracker();
</script>


is changed to

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = &quot;UA-XXXXXX-X&quot;;
urchinTracker();
</script>


upon saving and probably that breaks the code. Actually this is an installation problem. you can't copy paste the code into the blogger layout code( because its XHTML code now). Google Analytics site recommends that you paste the tracking code before the </body> tag. That install procedure is outdated.

Below are the instructions for installing Google Analytics tracking code to new drag and drop layout of blogger/blogspot without problems.

1. Login to your dashboard and click "Manage : Layout"
2. On the template tab, select Page Elements
3. On Page Elements, click Add a page element( I recommend adding it to the bottom of the page)
4. On the pop up window click the "Add to Blog" option beside "HTML/JavaScript" Option
5. On "configure HTML/JavaScript" popup window, paste the Google Analytics code in the "content textarea"
6. Leave the title "blank" and Save Changes

Now, Google Analytics should be working on your blog. Leave your comments if Something still does not work.

Note : Google Analytics is working on a new version ( Which will probably be XHTML compliant). See more on this http://analytics.blogspot.com/2007/05/new-version-of-google-analytics.html .

Update: Some of the visitors have pointed out that the above method does not work correctly now,So, unless we find a workaround to make Analytics work with the new blogger, both would remain incompatible.

AdSense Tip of the Day

So, what URL do you type on your addressbar to get to the official AdSense site? is it http://www.google.com/adsense , Here's an AdSense Tip that will save you some time and keystrokes. type adsense into the addressbar and press ctrl+enter, the browser will connect to http://www.adsense.com and auto redirect to the official Google Adsense page. I hope this tip is useful to you.

Reduce clutter from your blog

Have you seen those 10-15 or more social bookmarking buttons for technorati, digg, del.icio.us, stumbleupon, google bookmarks, yahoo myweb etc. on other pages/blogs? Instead of having all those buttons you can have a single bookmarking button from Addthis.com.

Delivering your content on Mobiles

Now, your site visitors can have the contents of your site delivered right into their mobile phones, Get your personalized button at http://www.hubdog.com/gui/affiliates.aspx and add this functionality to your blog for free.

The button might look like the one below, you can add it to your sidebar.

Free Blog Skin

If you are in need of a new free blog skin , we have just introduced our own template search engine for you! Search includes blogger classic templates as well as XML Layouts.

Search Layouts & Templates

PageRank Widget for Blogger

PageRank Widget for Blogger will display the pagerank of the current page.

"Classic Templates" users and users of other blogging platforms /websites, can copy the code into their blog templates. Blogger XML users only need to click on the "Add to Blogger" button.

Preview :	[One Click Add+]
OR Old blogger Users(Copy-Paste HTML) <a href="http://www.getrank.org" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.getrank.org/prbutton/pagerank-display.php?s=139" title="Pagerank" alt="PageRank Checker" border="0px" /></a>
Preview :	[One Click Add+]
OR Old blogger Users(Copy-Paste HTML) <a href="http://pr.statistx.com/pagerank-display.php" target="_blank"><img src="http://pr.statistx.com/pagerank-display.php?a=getCode&s=Google" title="Free PageRank Checker" border="0px" alt="PageRank" /></a>
Preview :	[One Click Add+]
OR Old blogger Users(Copy-Paste HTML) <a href="http://www.pagerankbar.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.pagerankbar.com/prbutton.png" alt="Page Rank Checker Button" border="0" /></a>
Preview :	[One Click Add+]
OR Old blogger Users(Copy-Paste HTML) <!--Begin Code pagerank-tools.com --><br /><a href="http://www.pagerank-tools.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.pagerank-tools.com/pr.php?a=getCode&s=technical" alt="Free PageRank Display" border="0px" /></a><br /><!--End Code pagerank-tools.com -->

Blogthings

A "blogthing" could be a piece of code, an image, a web service, a script or a "thing" that can be put on a blog. The purpose of adding a "blogthing" could be from making your blog visually appealing to extending the functionality and overall usefullness of the blog.

Bravenet.com, offers Web polls, Hit Counter, Chat rooms, Photo Albums, Cartoons, E-Cards etc. for all free members.Get free web tools, click here


These are the blogthings that can be put on your blog:

• Blogger Layouts & Templates : STAND OUT of the crowd, dress up your blog to look different from the rest.


• Link Exchange for Bloggers


• Polls/Voting for Bloggers


• Free Favicon resources and additional information about favicon.
• Image Hosting for Bloggers for additional space for your images


• Google Pagerank Checkers to display your Google Pagerank on your blog.
• Hit Counter for Bloggers for tracking your visitor habits and preferences.
• Free Webspace : Get free webspace from google( i.e. googlepages!).
• Free Scripts (DHTML or JavaScript) for additional functionality for your blog.

More resources that Iam working on are

• Monetizing your blog
• Blog Quizzes
• Blog Polls
• Blog Messageboards and Blog Forums
• Blog integeration with other popular services like google or yahoo services.
• Blog Search, Blog Directories & Search forms on your blog.
• Blog Icons
• Blog Activism - Supporting social, enviromental and humanitarian issues using your blog.
• and much more...

What blogthings can you expect to find here? All of the blogthings found here are free of cost for use in your blogs/website or atleast the partial features that they provide are for no cost. My recommended blogthings are included on top of the list of blog resources which I use myself or have used them before on my blog.

blogthings

Essential Blog Things: Blog Template or Blog Skin

Looking for New Blogger layouts? Try our specialized search engine.

Using a default template for your blogs will make it look like a face in the crowd. In order to make your blog interesting you have to make cosmetic changes to it first. Changing the template with a custom template or skin is a good start in giving your blog a facelift.

I have a few of my own templates at http://costum-template.blogspot.com and a preview of my stylish free blog template. More templates can be found at :
http://freetemplates.blogspot.com/
http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/
http://freeblogspottemplates.blogspot.com/
http://freeblogger-templates.blogspot.com/
http://www.isnaini.com/blogger-templates/
http://www.templatepanic.com/

How Do I Leave Comments

Blogger.com offers a good commenting system built into it's blogging platform. You can find the link to "Post a Comment" under every blog post. Clicking on the link will open a new page where you can enter your comments and read what others have commented on that post.

Depending on the security settings of blog, you might have to log into your blogger account and/or pass the visual verification process to post your comment. Additionally, you might have to wait for the comments to be moderated by the blog author, before it is added on the comments page. To discourage spamming in comments, all links on the comments will automatically carry a "rel=nofollow" attribute.

Freegooglepack Info & Download (Official Link)

Google Pack is a collection of essential and useful software like google earth, picasa, google desktop, google screensaver, google toolbar, firefox+google toolbar, adobe reader, Norton security, spyware doctor, google talk, skype, realplayer, google video player, gallery HD images etc. Download the google pack while it is still FREE!. Click the image below to continue with the download.

NOTE : ONLY for users of XP, Vista & MAC

Bloggers Choice Awards for your Blog

http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com is where you can submit your blog and nominate it for any of their categories. People can then vote for your blog and comment on it. If you want to use the bloggerschoiceawards badge's on your blog, Get your badge for your blog after you nominate your site.

Link Back Code

<a href="http://zerodollarchallenge.blogspot.com" title="Free Blog Things & Blog Stuff">Free Blog Things & Blog Stuff</a>

Terms of Fair Use

Please feel free to link to any article on this blog. If you use the images that are posted on this blog or would like to republish an entire article on your blog or website, kindly include this linkback code in the footer of the article.

Republished with permission from Blog Things & Blog Stuff