Monday, August 25, 2008

Pay-Per-Click Advertising Success Tips

When hoping of generating tons of targeted traffic through pay-per-click advertising programs such as Google Adwords, there are few things you need to know when developing your ads. Following the Six tips below would help you maintain a per-per-click advertising campaign that will bring you more profits.

1) Keep Your Ads Short

Make sure your ads are short, simple, and direct to the point as it is important to let its readers know what it is about right away. This will allow you to ensure that those who click on your ads are really those who are interested in your products or services and not just curious about what you are offering.

2) Make Use of Your Keywords

Paying to appear in results for certain keywords is not enough. You should use those keywords in your ad's copy so that you can attract more attention. Keep in mind that when you use those keywords in your copy, they will appear in bold when published.

3) Appeal to Emotion

Don't just mention what you have to offer. By describing them with emotive words, you get to strike readers' emotions and make them more interested in your offerings. For example, use "A remarkable tool to make astonishing amounts of money online fast" rather than "A tool to make money online."

4) Capture Attention with Your URL

Your URL will be part of your ad whether you want it to or not. Make good use of it by capitalizing the first letter of each word. This will help you get better click-through rates as well.

5) Prompt Readers to Take Action

Make sure that your ads contain a call-to-action statement as this will tell readers what to do. For example, you may want to include statements such as "Click here now" or "Sign up here today."

6) Ads Picture

Make sure your ads are attractive and would make your visitors confuse about it. They would probably click on it if they find it interesting.

You can generate as much profit as you can from the traffic that you gain through pay-per-click advertising by keeping this simple tips.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Making Money with Performancing Ads

You may sell your web space for placing image banner ads. Unlike the PPC Ads these ads does not work on PPC basis. Instead these ads are sold for a particular duration, usually per week or per month basis. This is usually ideal for blog owners but web sites may also integrate this service, depending on Ad Network.
These ads are usually 125 * 125 size. This venue is relatively new and more and more advertisers are attracting towards it. You may earn something from $3 to $25 or even more per banner per week. It depends on google PR of your site and alexa ratings.
Performancing Ads is an example network along with many other available.

Advertisers may apply and get benefit of $25 off for their initial advertisement. Inventory is increasing is increasing day by and so targeted graphic Ads. This is unique from Google Image ads that it runs for a period, irrespective of the no. of clicks.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Work at home or Work from home - A Myth or Reality

Turn on your search engine, google, yahoo, live or whatever you use, type a work/job related key phrase and you will see Ads stating something like "Work from Home" and make $1000/week or per month, online data entry jobs or some kind of work that can be done online while working at home.

This term is so popular that every month hundred of thousands of people search, on their choice of search engines, to look for some work to make income while staying at home.

Which do you prefer? Working at home or Work from home? is it for real or just a myth?

This is about masses not a few dozens or hundreds or may be thousands "lucky persons" who are having fortune for "Work from home" or "Work at home" myths or reality-- What about masses? A common person who work 9-6, or looking for job to run his/her home to meet the expenditures.

Naturally every person wants life without being dictated or under pressure all the time by bosses, every persons wants luxurious, holidaying life- yet earning a reasonable income to at least a level to fulfill basic to luxurious needs. So naturally we all get attracted by these kind of Ads - But is it a Myth or Internet jobs/work are good enough to fill the stomach of hundred of thousands...?

What do you think, as a person want to earn online or make a living entirely based on online work? Let us know and share your thoughts, reservations, concerns, or future.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Make Money With Pay Per Play Media

Pay per play media is another way of monetizing your web site along with other advertisements running. This runs independent of your adsense, graphic or link ads and makes you more money.

Pay-Per-Play (PPP) is the web's newest and fastest growing form of advertising.So whenever a visitor lands on your web site, that has integrated pay per play code, and user stays for more than 2 seconds, a background sound ad is played- whether visitor's speakers are On or Off you will make money. Usually it earns you around $350/100K pageviews for US based traffic. So if you are having high volumes of visitors, then happy $350 * (no of 100Ks).

NetAudioAds Pay-Per-Play (PPP) is an online media channel that plays 5 second audio advertisements like the one you just heard on websites that place the PPP code on their web pages. Audio ads are only heard on web pages where the website owner has placed PPP code and is only heard once on the page. The visitor may hear another ad if they visit another page (that has placed the PPP code) only after at least 3 minutes have elapsed.

PPP audio ads play as soon as a visitor arrives on a web page where the PPP code is inserted. The audio advertisement is only heard and not seen and requires no action from a website visitor.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Secrets of Success Online

1. Know your niche, research it. Whether you are out there doing a job, or promoting a product you need to be an expert. People rely on you to know it all and you should. Research should be ongoing and when new ideas fall into your realm you should be the first to know about it.
2. Believe in your self and what you are doing. It can be very disheartening to fail but it is a part of life. If you believe in what you are doing you can achieve.
3. Focus on what works, learn from what doesn’t and move on. It’s one thing to believe in something and another to take a step back and realize when something just isn’t working. Sometimes it can be hard to know when to reach that point but it is crucial, learn from those mistakes.
4. Plan on starting to work SMARTER and not just HARDER. This was a profound theme amongst our readers. Constantly revaluate what you are doing to see if there is a better way. Think about how you can earn a residual income so that each month becomes easier and more profitable.
5. Outsource. At WhyDoWork we do this all the time. There comes a point when it is more cost effective and beneficial to pay an expert rather than waste your skills doing something poorly. If your car breaks down do you research how to fix cars or take it to the mechanic? Focus on what you are good at.
6. Align yourself with good people. Whether it is an employer, affiliate company, outsourcers, lawyers, online contacts, or friends, a solid network of people makes all the difference. Networking both online and offline is crucial.
7. Treat ‘this’ as a job. Whether you are working an online job, writing posts in a blog, or are contributing in get paid to programs this is one of my favorite pieces of advice by our contest winner. Think of how you approach a job, you start on time, finish on time and work hard while you are at work. Even if you are sitting on your computer in your underwear you need to approach your tasks with the same level of seriousness if you want to succeed. (Don’t forget jobs have days off.)
8. Be organized. Get the necessary equipment you need in order to be more organized. Whether that is a prioritized to-do list or calendars filled out with milestones and goals it is important to have a quantitative means of measuring your ability to stay on track.
9. Find your motivation and revisit it. Whether it be an education for the kids, escaping debt, or your desire for a new Lamborghini, keep in mind why it is you are busting your butt so you can keep at it.
10. Set your goals and be realistic. You can’t expect to get rich overnight. There are millions of people out there competing for the same piece of the pie. Embrace those small successes because over time a lot of small achievements really add up.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Traffic Killers

Traffic Killer # 1: Poor Title and Description
People use search engines to find a blog or website that can provide them the information they are looking for. For instance, I want to get more information about blogging so I opened Google and typed the word ‘blogging’ then hit enter. Google will return a list of blogs or websites that contain the information I am looking for. The list is made up of links to blogs and websites with their respective Titles and Descriptions. Google and other search engines are limited to the information that bloggers have provided about their blog’s title and description. Hence, ineffective titles and descriptions discourage searchers to click on it.
Titles and descriptions that you use on your blog should effectively describe the nature and content of your blog or website. Don’t use titles such as ‘My Blog’ or ‘My Weblog’ because people normally do not click on these links. If your blog is all about tips and guides for bloggers then use these words as your title and description. You should also take time to carefully research the most appropriate words that you should use in your title and description. It always has an impact on your blog.
The words EFFECTIVE and FREE are traffic magnets and people are usually driven to click on these links. The more technical issues on title and description using Meta tags and Title tags will be discussed in a separate article in the succeeding post.
Traffic Killer # 2: Begging for Traffic
Begging for traffic is a popular practice among bloggers especially those who are starting to blog and those who have difficulties attracting visitors. Out of desperation for traffic, they join forums and leave comments to other blogs begging for traffic. These are the words that they often use. ‘Pls. Pls. Pls. visit my blog’ or ‘Show some love, please visit my blog’. Instead of begging people to visit your blog, tell them what they’ll find on your blog and tell them what you have to offer.
What’s wrong with requesting people to visit your blog? Well, requesting people to check out your latest post is not wrong as long as you don’t sound begging and desperate. Otherwise, people will think that your blog sucks. Or that you’ve got lousy contents that’s why nobody wants to visit it. As a result, they’ll will not visit your blog. Give some dignity to your blog… don’t beg for visitors.
Traffic Killer # 3: Eye-Sore Layout
When someone visits your blog, it’s important to make your links to your other posts noticeable and attractive (internal links). This will motivate your visitors to stay longer into your blog and read more of your posts. It’s not enough to attract visitors to drop by your blog. What’s more important is to let them stay longer into your blog and read more about your posts. Most importantly, you should give them reasons or impetus to keep coming back and check your blog for updates.
I have come across several blogs that are difficult to navigate partly because of the absence of links to their other posts and partly because of its layout and color combination. I usually don’t stay longer than 1 minute to a blog that uses red as a background and green as the text color.
Here are some suggestions to increase the time spent by your visitors on your blog.
Firstly, you should have links to your other post from the homepage of your blog. It is advisable that you have an archive on your side bar to allow easier navigation. Or you can create links to your best posts and place it on your side bar. You can also include links to your other posts at the end of each of your articles. For navigation purposes, you may want to consider having a sitemap of your blog or website. This is friendly to both the search engines and your visitors.
Secondly, work out on improving your layout, color combination and your style. I advice you to get feedbacks from your friends. Invite them to check out your blog and navigate through your pages. Afterward, ask them about their experience. Ask them whether navigating through your pages was convenient and ask them what they think of your color combination, layout etc. The feedbacks you will get from them will be very useful.
Traffic Killer # 4: Low Quality or Bad Content
How does a blog increases traffic through its content? If someone who visits a blog with unique, informative and relevant content, they will most likely talk about it on their blog or create a link to it or will refer your blog to their friends. As the links to your blog increases or the information about your blog reaches more people, expect an increase in your traffic. Always remember that a low quality content is definitely a traffic killer. It does not only deprive you of more links but it will create a negative impression from your visitors discouraging them from revisiting your blog.
Another factor that makes your content unpleasant is when you copy posts from other blogs. Once your visitors learn that you plagiarize other blog’s content, they’ll lack confidence to your blog and will be discouraged to pay another visit. To avoid this traffic killer, do not plagiarize. Work hard to create quality content for your blog instead.
Traffic Killer # 5: Unmet Expectations
One of the most unpleasant practices of bloggers is to describe their blogs with exaggeration. (e.g. Visit this blog… it’s the best blog on earth, or XXX blog is the best blog that provides nothing but the best blogging resources) Using exaggerated words to describe your blog may attract people to visit it and may result to a spike in your traffic but will not be sustainable. The explanation to this is simple. Assuming that someone has visited your blog with high expectations because of the words you’ve used to describe it, but you failed to meet their expectations, your visitors will not pay another visit to your blog for sure.
In order to avoid unmet expectations which is one of the major traffic killers, never exaggerate your description. Use precise words instead.
Traffic Killer # 6: Negative or Bad Publicity
Publicity is a key element in becoming popular. Paris Hilton became popular after the publicity of the sex scandal she was involved at. Like Paris Hilton, we, bloggers should also be popular in order to drive more traffic into our blog. We can do this through good or positive publicity. Negative publicity, just like what happened to Paris Hilton will not last long. Besides, every time men think about her, they usually think about her sex scandal (well not really all men) which is not really a good thing to be remembered. Opps.. I hope I didn’t hurt any Paris Hilton fans here.
Negative publicity or bad publicity may or may not kill your traffic. Most of the time however, it works as a traffic killer. I have seen a lot of bloggers who go around checking other blogs but always leave a negative comment. I have also come across bloggers in forums who are very hostile with their feedbacks and comments. These things create a negative publicity of yourself and your blog. Earning a notorious reputation from your interaction with other bloggers will not help you. Try to be more friendly with the blogging community. Attempting to be the enemy of every blogger is not rewarding. What’s rewarding is when you befriend bloggers and appreciate the good things they contribute. Who knows, they might reciprocate this with a link to your blog.
Traffic Killer # 7: Too Much Adverts
I don’t think this traffic killer needs a lot of explanation. To put it simple. No one likes to visit a blog full of advertisements. These advertisements discourages your visitors to navigate through your other pages. What’s more, advertisements sometimes obfuscate your links to your other posts.
Advertisement is not bad only when it’s not too much.
Now your turn. What else do you think are the traffic killers that have been included in this post? I’m sure you’ve got something to share. Use the comment to include your ideas of ‘TRAFFIC KILLERS’. Thank you for your time.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Many Ways to Make Money Online

The internet is not just good for reading The Onion and posting pictures of your pet hamster to your social networking sites. If you spend any amount of time online, you know that there is money to be made out here in cyberspace; and many of the pioneers in this still vastly uncharted territory have struck it rich with little more than their personal computers and an eye for opportunity. So, how can you get in on the action? Here’s 16 ways that just about anyone (not just geeks) can use to make money online:

1. PPC and CPM Advertising

PPC (Pay Per Click) and CPM (Cost Per Mille) advertising are similar animals. Both require that you place a small bit of code on your site which automatically generates ads of various shapes and sizes (usually depending on your preferences). PPC ads pay you per number of time someone actually clicks on the ad; CPM pays you per number of impressions that their ads get on your site. The amount of the payout is very small—often a fraction of a cent per click or impression–but if you have a large volume of traffic to your site, it can add up quickly.
Learn More: http://www.payperclickuniverse.com/

2. Affiliate Marketing (a/k/a CPA)

Affiliate Marketing requires that apply for membership in an ‘affiliate network.’ That is, an agency that maintains and monitors accounts for various companies who are willing to pay individuals for sales generated through their websites. Again, a small bit of code is placed on your site to generate ads; and when someone clicks on the ad, your unique affiliate number is automatically associated with that person’s IP address. If that individual buys a product from the advertiser, you receive a commission on the sale. Commissions can range between 5-20%, or they can be a flat fee per sale.
Learn More: http://www.affiliatetips.com/

3. Banner Advertising

Banner advertising is used along with PPC, CPM, and Affiliate marketing. A banner is simply a graphic ad that you can sell in any size or shape you wish. Banner ads can be animated, they can rotate through a series of images, or they can be static. In addition to being used with other types of advertising, individual website owners can simply sell banner space at a flat fee or negotiate their own PPC/CPM with independent advertisers which don’t belong to an affiliate network.
Learn More: http://www.davesite.com/internet/webads.shtml

4. Audio Ads

Audio ads begin playing as soon as you land on a website where they are installed. This is a relatively new development in the world of online advertising, and there is some debate about whether or not these are effective or annoying. Audio ad pioneers say they are incredibly effective in getting the user to respond to the ad. Like other ads, you get paid per play or per impression, depending on the advertiser.
Learn More: http://mashable.com/2008/10/03/audio-ad-networks/

5. In-Text Advertising

In-Text advertising is one of the least obtrusive internet advertising techniques. Basically, hyperlinks are placed within relevant text on your website and distinguished from regular links by a double underline. When you place your mouse cursor over the text, a small box appears with additional information on the product or service being advertised. There are advertising services which, when installed, will automatically place the links for you and will even allow you to set parameters for the products you allow to be sold through your site.
Learn More: http://www.wiliam.com.au/wiliam-blog/considering-in-text-ppc-advertising

6. RSS Feed Ads

RSS Feeds are incredibly convenient for websites that update content frequently. The feeds deliver all the new content from websites that the reader subscribes to; making it possible to stay updated on news and information on multiple websites without having to visit each one. That’s great for the reader, but not so much for you if you rely on fresh eyes for your advertising revenues. Thankfully RSS Feed Ads are now available. These allow you to place both graphic and text ads within your RSS feeds so that they are visible to all your subscribers.
Learn More: http://www.doshdosh.com/monetize-rss-feed-advertising/

7. Popups

Popup ads were, at one time, all the rage with online advertisers. When you visited a site, a box would immediately pop up (hence the name), preventing you from seeing the information you needed until you either entered the information required by the advertiser or at the very least, read through the ad inside. Then, tragedy struck! Someone invented the popup blocker. To be fair, pop ups are pretty annoying; but they are still fairly popular with online advertisers. They are especially useful for capturing bits of information for PPA (pay per action) ad campaigns where you are paid for capturing email addresses or other pieces of information from the user.

8. Sponsored Reviews

A sponsored review is basically an advertiser paying a blogger to write about their product or service. This can either be done through a ‘review site’ which facilitates the meet ups between bloggers and advertisers; or it can be done by individual bloggers who offer the service to advertisers for a flat fee.
Learn More: http://weblogs.about.com/

9. Paid Surveys and Polls

You get paid when someone takes the poll that you place on your site on behalf of an advertiser. Polls encourage people to interact with them, and they can be a lot more engaging than regular old banner ads.
Learn More: http://www.vizu.com/index.htm

10. Private Forums

A lot of popular websites will incorporate a message board or forum for their readers to interact with one another. You can generate revenues by charging a small fee for membership on the board, or for access to special sections of the board. This creates a sort of ‘exclusive club’ where members can talk about industry-related topics, exchange valuable information, and socialize. Charging $5-10 a year per user can add up after membership starts to grow.

11. Donations

Don’t laugh. This actually works. If you have valuable content on your site that you are offering for free, it doesn’t hurt to put up a donation link and point people to it once in a while.

12. Ebook Sales

If you’ve got a blog or website about a particular niche, why not capitalize on it by writing an ebook? Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a brilliant writer to create a useful handbook on a subject that you are familiar with. If you write a blog, you can write a decent ebook. However, if you don’t have the time or the energy to write one you can hire a ghostwriter and then all you need to do is worry about marketing and selling it.
Learn More: http://www.zizzoo.com/guides/ebook/index.php

13. Sell Your Website

Some people live for the thrill of a new project. If this sounds like you, then you may want to consider earning money by starting up and establishing new websites and then selling them off for profit.
Learn More: http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/266/how-to-sell-a-website-how-much-is-your-website-worth/

14. Sponsored columns, events, or posts

This is a simple idea that gets back to basics. Simply having a sponsor for regular columns or posts on your site is a great way to earn money. “The Weekly So-and-So brought to you by…” not only earns you money from your sponsor, but it builds a steady readership as people come back week after week for your special content.

15. Premium Content

If you’ve built up a solid website with some really excellent resources, you may consider charging people for access to your premium content. That means creating an area that non-members cannot access unless they pay a small fee. For people who are able to offer readers valuable information, this is a great way to generate some income and help your readers appreciate your content more.

16. Job Listing Bulletin Boards

If you’re involved in a specific market, you may consider creating a job listing board and either charging employers to place ads there, or charging job seekers to access it. (Or both). This may take a little time to maintain and will require special software, but if you’ve got a loyal following it can definitely bring in revenues.
Learn More: http://www.jobcoin.com/

Friday, August 8, 2008

How to Make Money Online Consistently by Blogging

If you will search the phrase making money online, this will give you millions of posts and might drive you crazy. Then, you read about Google Adsense tips, affiliate marketing tips, and blogging tips. Next, you will make some experiments and start to make money. Now, your hard effort is paying off and you’re about to reach your goal. But suddenly, you noticed that your earnings became stagnant until it started to slow down. You began to panic, and a lot of questions are now bothering you. Why am I not making money online consistently? What went wrong? Is my Lady Luck leaving me now? Where should I start investigating? After reading this post, you may be able to detect the root cause and might discover the solutions that you need.
Statistical analysis - Statistics are not created for monitoring only. You should analyze which of your pages are mostly being visited, and improve it more. Choose your top ten pages, and include some internal links to help the less visited pages. What were the ads that paid you less? What was the exact date that your earnings became stagnant? What were the changes you last made to your blog? What traffic that you are not making money from?
Posting strategies - Have you checked your latest posts? Paid product reviews sometimes distract the visitors, and even overlapping the ones you are actually selling. It can also be that you’re overselling a product. On the other hand, you might be putting more focus on writing instead of promoting them. Posting daily is only applicable to fresh blogs, not unless your posts are really compelling and can invite back links. Study your posting frequency.
Product diversion - If you’re into affiliate marketing, you can compare your status with your competitors. If they are encountering the same problem, maybe it’s time for you to look for another product to sell. If you’re going crazy about resell rights products, check if the product is not yet being outdated by the fresh ones. Maybe it’s time for you to update it to make it more applicable to the fast changing world.
Focus management - I noticed that a lot of bloggers are very excited to make money at once. Apparently, they try many things simultaneously. After earning a few bucks from Google Adsense, they immediately jump to another making money strategy considering that their content and traffic are not yet sufficient. Some are even selling too many products at the same time, but cannot manage to sell all of them. Focus should also be managed properly.
Conclusion - Making money online is giving what people need and not what you want to give. It’s not even just about selling hot products or using the high paying keywords that you can make money from. There are really no secrets to success, as it is only you who can discover the right marketing strategies that will work for you. Blogging for money is entering an online business that needs planning and patience.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Earning Cash with External SEO

Too often people spend time optimizing their own site’s internal SEO but ignore doing external SEO, aka link building. Most people who’ve learned a little SEO know about trying to get dofollow comments on other blogs and article marketing. Here are a few other tricks you can use to further expand your external SEO efforts.

There are many sites where you can build free blogs and static sites ranging from big names, like Squidoo and Blogger, to small private and semi-private WPMU and free webhost sites. How you populate them depends a lot on their level of moderation and their terms of service so make sure that you understand them ahead of time. For some sites, you can use content generated with tools like my own Blog Content Wizard or unaltered PLR articles. For others, you’ll need to have quality original content. Also bear in mind that the more obscure and less moderated a site is the more likely it is to be penalized by Google. The opposite is also true, Google is unlikely to deindex Blogger (which they own) or WordPress.com.

Another way to improve your external SEO is to analyze what other people are doing and figure out if you can use it as well. The first place to look is at your competitor’s sites, especially those that are outranking you. This will give you niche specific information that can be quite valuable. Another good place to look are sites related to Internet marketing product launches since the competition is always high there. Lastly, look at sites that rank well for highly competitive terms.
Now, let’s investigate these sites in SEO Elite or even with a free tool like the SEO Quake plugin for Firefox. What we’re wanting to discover is where the site in question got its links, especially it’s higher quality ones in terms of anchor text and PageRank. While you’ll see some obvious related sites, such as a flagship blog, you’ll often see other stuff. This might include blog comments, especially comments on high PR posts on dead blogs. You may also locate abandoned forums which are left unmoderated. You may find link and article directory sites that are easy to get listed in and produce good results. You can even find guest book pages from years ago that have left the door open. You might find other interesting locations where you can add a link yourself or that reveal more about how others get their links.
Also look at “Web 2.0″ locations they’re using, like those on free web hosts like Squidoo or bookmarking sites. Often people will setup a tiered approach where lesser sites link to a free host and the free host points to the primary site. Check the links on these sites as well to discover hidden linking resources.
Pretty soon you’ll have a good list of resources you can use for linking to your supporting sites and perhaps even your primary sites. One important thing to remember is that sometimes these links get abused and lose their link juice. Should you see a sudden drop in PageRank or search engine results placement then this is probably what has happened. Your defense against this is to build a large and varied promotional network for your sites so that if one part of the network is weakened, other areas can be used to pick up the slack.

When you find sites where you can promote your site, make sure that you promote them as well. How can you do that?
One of the easiest ways to do this is to use social bookmarking to promote pages that link to your pages. If you leave a comment on a blog, bookmark it with StumbleUpon or Digg. This will often bring appreciated traffic to a blog, especially to a blogger who’s concentrating mostly on social referral traffic. Also use Bookmarking Demon to bookmark the site to Scuttle and Pligg networks. Do BMD runs for other pages, like forum posts and such, that link to your site. The idea is to build a strong cluster of links that promote your site. Not only will you get more search traffic but you may also get decently targeted referral traffic as well.
Remember, the more you can do to promote sites that link to yours the better off your site will be.

Monday, August 4, 2008

7 Wonders of the Blogosphere

Antipater of Sidon and Philon of Byzantium, drew up two of the most well-known lists of the wonders of the ancient world. Since then, other lists came out to include the other wonders that Philon and Antipater did not live long enough to witness. Inspired by Philon and Antipater, today’s post compiles the 7 Wonders of the Blogosphere.

7. Akismet
Along with the birth of the internet, spamming was introduced. This abhored lame practice has been plaguing the blogosphere for quite awhile now. To resolve this widespread problem, bloggers resorted to moderating all their comments, which is time consuming.
Akismet, or Automattic Kismet, is a spam filtering service created by Automattic and was released on October 25, 2005, the corporation which employs most of the main developers of the weblog platform WordPress. Akismet attempts to filter link spam from blog comments and spam TrackBack pings. The filter works by combining information about spam captured on all participating blogs, and then using those spam rules to block future spam. Akismet has captured one billion spam comments and pings as of March 2007.” - Wikipedia
6. Technorati
What makes Technorati one of the wonders of the Blogosphere is the fact that it indexes millions of weblogs. It also counts the number of links pointing to a blog, known as blog reactions, and uses this information to rank blogs. From blog reactions, Technorati awards Blogs with an Authority. Technorati’s blog ranking are authority are used by review site and advertisers to gauge the value of a blog.
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google, Yahoo and IceRocket. As of August 2007, Technorati indexes over 94 million weblogs. The name Technorati is a portmanteau pointing to the technological version of literati or intellectuals. Technorati was founded by Dave Sifry and its headquarters are in San Francisco, California, USA. Tantek Çelik was the site’s Chief Technologist.” - Wikipedia
5. Digg
I’m not a fan of Digg but I believe that it deserves a spot in the 7 Wonders of the Blogosphere. Making it on the front page of Digg means crazy traffic that sometimes exceed your bandwidth limit. Digg is one of the valuable sources of traffic for blogs but making it on top is like trying to reach the peak of Mt. Everest.
Digg is a community-based popularity website with an emphasis on technology and science articles, recently expanding to a broader range of categories such as politics and entertainment. It combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication with a form of non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. This differs from the hierarchical editorial system that many other news sites employ.” - Wikipedia
4. StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a better form of Digg. Stumblers use a web browser plugin that is used to rate, review and discover great weblogs. Since StumbleUpon was introduced, it has become a valuable source of traffic for blogs. Like Digg, it can spike traffic to the point of exceeding your bandwidth limit.
“StumbleUpon is a web browser plugin that allows its users to discover and rate webpages, photos, videos, and news articles. These webpages are typically presented when the user — known within the community as a Stumbler — clicks the “Stumble!” button on the browser’s toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which new webpage to display based on the user’s ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests. i.e. it is a recommendation system which uses peer and social networking principles. There is also one-click blogging built in as well. Users can rate, or choose not to rate, any webpage with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and clicking the Stumble button resembles “channel-surfing” the web. Toolbar versions exist for Firefox, Mozilla Application Suite and Internet Explorer, but also works with some independent Mozilla-based browsers.” - Wikipedia
3. Blogger
With millions of bloggers using the services of Blogger, there is no doubt that Blogger deserves the 3rd spot in the 7 Wonders of the Blogosphere. Blogger offers an easy entry in the world of Blogging. Most of the successful bloggers have started their blogging quest at Blogger.com. With the easy interface provided by Blogger, it’s by far the most ideal blogging platform for those starting to blog.
Blogger is a blog publishing system. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Click here for more information.
2. Google
I know that alot of bloggers would probably hate the idea that Google holds the 2nd place of the 7 Wonders of the Blogosphere but considering the influence of Google to blogging, blog monetization and traffic, it just couldn’t be ignored.
Google is the largest search engine and the potential traffic it can give a blog is enormous. Recognizing its potentials, bloggers and webmasters observe the proper search engine optimization techniques. Also, Google’s Page Ranking, although its relevance has diminished over questions on its reliability and credibility, is still widely used as a yardstick to measure a blog’s value.
1. Wordpress
On top of the list is Wordpress. Do I need to explain why?
WordPress is a blog publishing system written in PHP and backed by a MySQL database. WordPress is the official successor of b2\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi. The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck, a friend of lead developer Matt Mullenweg.” - Wikipedia
There you have it, the 7 Wonders of the Blogosphere. If you feel that I missed a “Wonder” that should have been included, you are free to share it through the comments.
Thanks for your time.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Websites for Free Wordpress Themes

With the phenomenal success of Wordpress, the demand for Wordpress Themes have dramatically increased. Today’s post provides a short review of the different websites where you can get Free Wordpress Themes for your blog. The links are opened on a new window so you don’t have to hit back and forward. I’ve also ranked the sources according to my own standard with 10 being the highest and 0 being the lowest.

  • Wordpress Themes 2.3 Compatible - Provides a long list of free Wordpress themes that have been tested to be compatible with Wordpress 2.3. The Wordpress themes have been organized alphabetically based on its theme making navigation a great experience. From the list, you can also find compatible plugins to Wordpress 2.3. I’ll rate this source a 9/10.


  • Free Wordpress Themes - Free Wordpress Themes offers a really huge collection of quality Wordpress themes. You can find 3 column templates, 2 columns, rounded, themed, widget ready and a lot more. I’ll give this source an 8/10.


  • WP Themes Free - Another great source of Free Wordpress Themes with a really huge collection to choose from. The themes come in 1 column, 2 columns, 3 and 4 columns. Searching for a specific theme is made easy by the search tool made available at the right side bar. I’ll rate this source an 8/10.


  • Fresheezy : Make sure to check out this website especially if you are looking for professionally made Wordpress themes. Although the themes available is not as much as the others, Fresheezy certainly has one of the best Wordpress themes. A search tool bar at the left sidebar makes it easy for you to filter out the Wordpress themes in the gallery. I’ll rate this source a 7/10.


  • Free WP Themes - Has a collection of 48 free Wordpress themes. Information about the theme as to whether it’s widget ready, whether its width is fix, and when was it added is available at the bottom of each theme’s thumbshot. I’ll rate this source a 6/10.


  • Wordpress Skins - Choose from a large number of Wordpress themes in their gallery. You can find some similar themes from other websites offering Free Wordpress Themes probably submitted by the same designer. I’ve tried using the search filter system found at the right side bar but I frequently encounter errors. Nonetheless, their templates are still worth checking out. I’ll rate this source a 6/10.


  • Kate’s Theme Viewer - This is another source for free Wordpress themes with alot to choose from. The themes are mostly fancy but you can also find professionally made themes to suit your niche. The only problem is that their is no available search tool so it means you need to go through all the pages to find one that you like. I’ll give this source a 6/10 score.


  • Themes Wordpress - The home page has a search tool that allows you to filter their huge gallery of free Wordpress themes. Templates available range from one column to four columns Wordpress themes. You can also filter your search to look for specific theme properties. I’ll rate this source a 6/10.


  • Wordpress Templates - Wordpress Templates offers some fine themes I’ve not found on other sources. The collection of free Wordpress themes are unique and professionally done. A search tool bar can be found at the right side bar but it’s not as efficient as the search toolbars of the other sources. You can always use the categories at the lower right side bar for a more efficient navigation. I’ll give this source a 5/10.


  • Theme Time - Offers some interesting Wordpress designs. The gallery is not so huge compared to other sources but searching for specific theme is much easier because the themes are categorized. I’ll rate this source a 4/10.


  • The UK Map - The UK Map has some large collection of cool free Wordpress themes. The designs are interesting and varies from 1 to 4-column templates. You can also find a great number of simple, widget ready, personal, professional and themed templates. Although there is no available search tool bar, the navigation at the left side bar makes viewing the templates easy. I’ll give this source a score of 4/10.


  • Free WP Themes - This website also offers different collections of free Wordpress themes. The free Wordpress themes are classified into 2 columns, 3 columns, black, blue etc. You can also find a collection of free SEO friendly Wordpress themes. Check the left side bar for an easier navigation. I’ll rate this source a 4/10.


  • WP Themes ErikGyepes - With WP Themes ErickGyepes, you can download free Wordpress themes but you’ve probably seen most of the Wordpress themes available in other sources. There’s not much templates available in this source but some unique designs are worth checking out. I’ll rate this source a 3/10.


  • WP Designer - WP designer features some fresh looking Wordpress themes. There is not much template available in this website but it offers useful tutorials about Wordpress, Wordpress hacks, blog design tips and tips on enhancing your blog performance. I’ll rate this source a 3/10.


  • SkinPress - Another website dedicated to free Wordpress themes. At the moment, there are 51 Wordpress templates available. This source gives you some cool 2 columns and 3 columns Wordpress templates. I’ll rate this source a 3/10.


  • CSS Design Templates - This website does not only offers free Wordpress templates but also offers templates from other blogging platforms like Blogger and Joomla. The Wordpress themes available are mostly two columns. All the free Wordpress templates have recently been updated to be compatible with Wordpress 2.3. I’ll rate this source a 3/10.


  • Template Monster - This source offers a few collection of good looking free Wordpress themes. Most of the themes on this site however are not free but the prices are cheaper compared to other websites selling Wordpress themes. I’ll rate this source a 2/10.


  • WP Mix - You can find simple to artistic to professionally done Wordpress themes in this source. The number of choice is not that much but surely the templates are worth checking out. The templates are categorized so navigation is much easier. I’ll give this source a score of 2/10.


  • SiteGround Free Wordpress Themes - SiteGround is mainly offering hosting services but has made some free Wordpress themes available to everyone. To avail of these free Wordpress themes, you need to fill up a form and the link where to download the themes will be sent to the email you’ve provided. The themes have simple designs and most of them are two columns. I’ll give this source a 1/10 score.


  • Jauhari WP Themes - This source has a collection of interesting Wordpress themes. There’s not much to choose from but you can take a look and see the designs for yourself. Most of the Wordpress themes are Adsense ready so if you are into monetizing your blog with Adsense, this is probably a good source of Wordpress template. I’ll give this source a rate of 1/10.


  • Wordpress Themes - Check out these 10 free Wordpress themes available in this source. Personally, I didn’t like the designs but hey it might be the place where you will find the design you’ve been looking for. I’ll rate this source a 0.5/10.



  • I guess that’s it for today. I’ll update the list or make another post as soon as I’ve found some more. Hope this list helps you to find the Wordpress theme that meets your requirements. Enjoy your search.