Designing A Perfect Sidebar On Blogger

I just wanted to share some information about sidebar which I think would benefit both the newbies, as well as the webmasters, who are striving hard to make money via blogging - to design a perfect sidebar for your blog. To start off, sidebar is basically a section on your blog that comes either to the left or to the right of the main section & includes information related to the blog posts.

It is very important to design this element, that is, put the right content on the right area to attract both the readers and advertisers. As far as I know, a well organized sidebar should include some of the most important widgets like subscription box, advertisements, recent or popular posts, search bar or any information related to the blog they are browsing. Many blogs like TechieMania, Shoutmeloud and my very own blog - EAB, includes optional widgets like Facebook Fan Page/ Twitter Updates or Google Friend Connect.

IMAGE CREDIT - www.woorkup.com

So, it's important to know what should come first and what should go at the last. The importance of each widget based on their function has been ordered as shown in the list below. The percentage for each widget in the picture depicts both the importance and the area it should occupy on a particular blog. So, just have a keen look at it!!!

SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS:

This is a very common widget that could be found on most of the blogs. On an average, it should occupy 5% of the space provided for sidebar and I suggest you to include links to your RSS feed, Facebook and Twitter profile page. You can have a short and catchy description about your blog, as well.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

This is the most important element which every blog should possess. It's the ideal place for advertisements and should occupy, at the most 40% of the total space. It's very important that you don't place too many advertisements on your blog and make it look very ugly for the reader. Also, I suggest you have the width set to something more than 260px because you can have two advertisement blocks on the same row - just like the one on my blog. It's up to the individual to decide whether he wants to display ads related to the topic he is blogging about or just sell the ad space he has to run to meet his hosting/domain costs. 

RECENT OR MOST POPULAR POSTS:

This is another important widget that every blogger should place on the sidebar or at least, at the footer section because the maximum traffic your blog receives would be due to the posts you wrote earlier, that is people land on post pages and not on the home page of your blog. So, when you have a recent or most popular posts widget on the sidebar, there is a very high probability that the readers goes to check out another article on your blog. 

EXTERNAL WIDGETS:

This includes widget such as the Google Friend Connect, FaceBook Fan Page and so many other social bookmarking widgets. It's basically used to build better interaction with the readers. So, I suggest you can have these widgets though they are are not necessary. Make sure they don't occupy too much of your space. Limit the space allotment to not more than 10%.

OTHER ELEMENTS :

This additional space is basically for people to add miscellaneous widgets like job boards, tag cloud, etc... Limit the spacing for these elements to not more than 10%.

Basically, this post provides a quick summary about what should be present on your sidebar to make it more professional. So, I suggest you follow the same list especially if you are newbie. This schematic will definitely earn a better reputation rather than dumping a hell lot of widgets for no use. If you gotta share something, then just leave a comment. We love to hear from you!!!

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Make Your Blog More Attractive - Tip 4

Hi guys! This the next tip in my series about making your blog more attractive. If you had missed the earlier versions, then click on the following links to read about them - Tip 1, Tip 2, Tip 3. This post basically deals with adding the text "Posted by" followed by the author name. If you wish to display the labels below the author name, well we have got the code that as well. Still confused? Check out the screen shot below!!!

The main advantage of adding tags/labels below your post title is that it will provide better navigation on your blog and your labels will get indexed by major search engines like Google. Interested to add this stuff on your blog??? Well, just follow these steps.

1. Login to your dashboard. Navigate to "Layout>>Edit HTML" from your dashboard. Make a back up of your template before you make any changes in the template.

2. Expand your template. To do so, make sure you have a tick mark enabled to the left of this text "Expand Widget Templates".

3. Once expanded, just search for the following piece of code. Use "CTRL+F" to fasten your search results.

<div class='post-header-line-1'>

4. Paste the following piece of code just below the line mentioned in step 3.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>
<b:else/><span class='post-author vcard' style='no-repeat;'>
<b:if cond='data:top.showAuthor'>
<data:top.authorLabel/>
<span class='fn'><data:post.author/></span>
</b:if>
</span>
</b:if>
<br/>
<span class='post-labels'>
<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
Tags :
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a><b:if cond='data:label.isLast != "true"'> | </b:if>
</b:loop>
</b:if>
</span>

5. That's it!!! Save your template!!!

Go check out your homepage or post page, I'm sure you should find the author name followed by the labels you tagged with your post. I hope you enjoyed this post. See you soon with another interesting and attractive tip on my next post. We love to hear from you, so please keep your comments coming!!!

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To Do's - Before And After Publishing A Post On Blogger

Hi friends, I would like to share my to do list with you which I feel, will drive more traffic as well as improve the SEO of your blog. I'm not sure whether my techniques are right but, I guarantee that you will see a change in the rankings on the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc... If you are aiming to make money by blogging, then I highly recommend you have a to do list for every article you write.

Apart from writing unique content and providing the best about a topic, I suggest you to have a simple to do list as mentioned in this post. I would like to make myself clear with the idea behind this post. It's not any where related to content (say an article with a to do list that tells how to write your article more effectively) - rather, it deals with few simple practices related to coding and spreading your article to make the best of out of your content.

1. EQUIP YOURSELF (OPTIONAL)

The first and foremost thing you need to ensure before you publish a post on your blog is to ask yourself this question - Do I have the right tool for the right job? This includes the images or videos on your post and the tools to optimize them as well - say, for example, Adobe Photoshop. I highly recommend you  to attach at least one image per post because apart from attracting people to read the post, images convey better meaning than the words do.

I'm sure few might contradict with my point about a minimum of one image per post.  To those contradict, just read the following comparison. I would compare a post without image to an editorial page on "The Hindu". Though it is rich with content, only few people have the patience to read them where as, a post with image would be like the first page/sport's page - quickly captures our heart and pushes our mind to read the article.

2. OPTIMIZE YOUR IMAGES (RECOMMENDED)

I'm sure many would do the first step that I mentioned above. That's the basic one! Next, optimizing your images for SEO. This is one of the most important step that every newbie should follow. I know that the pro's would already be doing this. I strongly recommend you to read the following article if do not know how to optimize your images for SEO - 3 Tips To Make Your Images SEO Friendly. It will drive traffic from images and improve your blog rankings on search engines. Forgot to mention that I usually smush my images before I upload them on blogger - to improve the speed of your blogger blog (Speed Up Your Blog - Tips And Tools).

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR LINKS (RECOMMENDED)

This is another important that should be done when you publish on blogger. When you include a link on your post, the default coding on blogger is such that the link opens the new page on the existing page. That is, when people click on the link, they move to new page while your blog becomes inaccessible - it does not open on a new tab/window. It is very important that you make the coding right so that, the visitor is taken to the link on a new tab while your blog still is on another tab. 

For example, I recommended the article about optimizing images for SEO on blogger. Did you notice that when you hit the link, it opened up on new tab/window? It did not open on the same tab. If that happens , then it will disturb with  the continuity in reading the post. So, optimize your links for SEO and readability by adding the following codes.

1. Once you link a page on your post, hit the edit HTML tab on your post editor. You will find the coding for your linked page as follows.

<a href="http://www.newbloggingtipz.com">

2. Add the following codes to it.

<a title="YOUR TITLE" target="_blank" href="http://www.newbloggingtipz.com">

Note: The tag to be included is highlighted in green. More over, don't forget to replace YOUR TITLE with a suitable title for the page you link.

4. FINAL TOUCH (OPTIONAL)

Once you finish writing your article, I suggest you add a line welcoming your readers and encouraging them to comment. Apart from that, let them know they have some benefit when they comment say,  you gain back links for every comment you make. I recommend you to read about making your blogger blog dofollow - How to make your blogger blog dofollow? Preview your post before you publish. This is very important for webmasters. Check whether your tutorials are perfect, coding is correct and the text appears the way you want.

5. SPREAD YOUR ARTICLE (RECOMMENDED)

One important thing which every one should do is to spread their article. After you publish a post on your blog, make sure you drive traffic to it. Try entering to discussions and leave a link to your post. Comment on blogs related to your niche. Spread it via the social media. I recommend you tweet your article once after you complete your post. After tweet, a Facebook like. Then, ping your blog - call the search engines.

I have listed the to do list which I follow for every article I publish on my blog. I hope you have one. If not, create one. Please, do share with us if you got some other unique step that you regularly follow on your blog. We would love to hear from you. 

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Another February Offer - Free Reseller Hosting

I'm very happy to announce that one of my guest blogger has accepted to give away some exciting offers.  If you had missed the earlier FEB OFFER, just check out this post - Whois Privacy. I'm sure every webmaster would love to avail this offer. However, there is a small criteria that should be satisfied to avail this offer - you need to link FirstHosting on the website you host. I don't think it should bother you!!! Just a link at the footer will do good!!!

Well let me now reveal what the offer actually is... FirstHosting has accepted to provide a  FREE RESELLER HOSTING FOR LIFE. Apart from a Reseller Hosting for life, you get FREE PREMIUM SUPPORT as well. Do you think it's over??? No!!! Wait a second!!! We have something more for you guys!!! You will get instant $5 upon activating your affiliate account. However, there is one small trick here. Your affiliate commission will be 20% for every sale you make. And this commission will be valid only when there is a true sale. That is, you will not earn commissions when you refer people for this offer.

FirstHosting is providing hosting services since 2009 and they have servers located at different locations(USA/GERMANY/NETHERLANDS). They guarantee 100% up time with 24/7 premium support. As such, I have no personal experiences to share with you about FirstHosting. However, I have signed up for account to check out their services. May be you can try one too, because it's completely FREE!!! I will guide you through a step by step instruction for availing this SPECIAL OFFER!!!

PROCEDURE TO AVAIL THE OFFER

1. First visit the client area by hitting the following - CLIENT AREA.

2. Now, hit the ORDER NOW tab at the right corner of the web page. 

3. Choose Reseller Hosting. Scroll the page down. Now, choose ELITE - 3rd option and select the payment as annually. Now, hit the ORDER NOW button.

4. Continue with the next page. It involves about details about your domain. If you want to purchase one, you may do so. Else, you can continue with the other option. Hit the continue button. 

5. This is about additional detials. Here, you may enter your Twitter Username and in the link next to it, just  type my blog URL - www.newbloggingtipz.com. Hit the continue button.

6. Next, hit the CHECK OUT button. The next page will ask you about personal details. Fill them up. Then, hit the complete order button. It will redirect you to the PayPal page. Scroll down and click on "Cancel and Return To Client Page" link at the bottom left.

7. You just need to open your mail box and find the order number in it. Note it down. 

8. Now, open a ticket at the client area and tell them the source you came from to get free reseller hosting, and give us your site details along with the order number. The support person will reply to you in a short while. That's it!!!

NOTE: You must link their site on your new website. You can join their affiliate program as well. You will be credited with $5 instantly on activation.

It's actually a simple procedure but, I made it look bigger. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know, if you have any clarifications via comments. If you faced some any issues during the subscription, let me know via comments because I can contact a member of FirstHosting personally and ask him to solve your issues. So, feel free to leave your comments. And don't waste this offer. Grab one because it's FREE!!! COMPLETELY FREE!!! 

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Whois Privacy - Time To Stop Using It!!!

Hi friends!!! Today, I have got some pretty new stuff to deal with. It's about whois privacy. I'm sure most the webmasters should know about this term and its usage. To  newbies and those who don't know what is "whois" privacy, it's basically a service that most of the domain registrars (like godaddy, name.com, etc...) provide to protect your information when a "whois", a kind of search , is performed on your domains.

If your still confused with, what exactly "whois" is??? Then, have a look at the two pictures on these two links - Site With Whois Privacy, Site Without Whois Privacy. So, it's pretty clear from the two pictures that the one with the whois privacy does not reveal any information about the registrant whereas the one without the whois privacy displays personal information about the registrant.

Well, few years ago, publishing information on net was a little scary issue. However, I feel that the scenario has changed now. It's time to display information about us to ensure our presence on the web. If you plan to make money from blogging or planning to do a business online, then its mandatory to provide a contact address and email address. By using whois privacy, you just lose your credibility.

I do accept that spammers and scammers can make a hell out of the email address but a dedicated unique email address will do good. More over, you can't do anything with these scammers. So, its up to you to decide whether to publish your information or not. I leave it you domain registrants.

FEBRUARY OFFER:
If you wish to avail the whois privacy on name.com, then you may can do it this month because it's free!!! They usually charge $1.99/year. However, this February 2011, we can avail it for free. Just make sure you type the following text - FREEWHOIS in the promo code area and click the apply button next to it just as shown in the picture below. If you feel that providing information on the web is insecure, then go for this offer.

If you have any problems with in applying the promo code or any other issues, you can always contact me via email or leave your comments below. So, I hope you enjoyed this post. See you soon in another interesting article!!!

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Why Are Most Bloggers Not Making Any Money?

This is a Guest Post written by Sharron Field. If you would like to write for EAB, then check out this page - Write For Us. We bloggers are a pretty dedicated bunch on the whole. We work hard at making our blogs look nice, read well, feature as high as we can get in the search-engine listings. We impart valuable information to do with our specialized subject in our chosen niche, much of the time without charge to any readers.

All in all we put a heck of a load of work into producing what is often some pretty good quality material, and to some extent our efforts are a reward in themselves. But it’s nice to get a little financial reward too, don’t you agree? – so many of us set about commercializing our blogs, not necessarily are we after making a fortune, though that would be very nice indeed thank you, but we’d just to make at least a little something to show that our efforts are appreciated if nothing else. Usually though, try as we might, it seems that no matter what we do, we just don’t seem to be able to make even a pittance.

So, we step back and take a look at ourselves: Maybe we’re not posting enough? – So, we post more. Maybe we’re not reading enough other blogs to gain sufficient enlightenment to write the quality of material that we’d like to. – So, we read more of other people’s blogs, then we spend ages search-engine-optimizing our blogs in the hope of a higher ranking. Just to make sure that the message about our blog-posts and the topic of our blog is getting out there - we post to social-media more, and we write more and post more…

Ultimate Result: Burnout, and no money. We’ve used up all our spare-time to get a few more readers and stay broke. Really frustrating!!! Isn't it???

 

This is something that a friend and colleague of mine, himself a professional blogger – making an income large-enough to comfortably support himself, his wife, and their two children from being so – calls “The Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom”: When you’re on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom; no matter how fast you go and no matter how much work you put in, you get nowhere. Even if we light up our blog like Times Square with banner-ads hardly anything changes Why is this? Something somewhere must be wrong – but what?

Imagine if you were in an offline scenario and you just published a new magazine that doesn’t seem to be selling. In parallel to it, we add more content and read other niche publications for inspiration. We mail all retail and social premises, ensuring they’ve heard about the magazine, and we advertise more and we increase the content again, adding many more glossy ads…

Will that make more people buy the magazine? No!!! All that'll do is just increase our workload. Why? Because we have the wrong mindset in both cases. Let me make that a little clear: If you want to write a blog, you need to think like a writer. If you want to sell a product, you need to think like a businessperson, a marketer. If you want to run a blog that sells product and make money from doing so, then you’ve got to think like both a writer and a marketer: You’ve got to become a complete package. Either be complete package or you stay on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom.

To know more about Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom, just check out the article here : “Most Internet Marketers/Bloggers are Broke”.

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Make Your Blog More Attractive - Tip 3

Hi friends!!! I received a lot of emails regarding the newer post and older post links. Many bloggers who run their blog especially those run on Revolution Church Blogger Template wanted to add "Newer Posts And Older Posts" link just like the one displayed on my blog. So, this post is specifically targeted to those who wish to have their page navigation as displayed below - check the encircled part in the picture below.

To add a page navigation as shown above, just follow the steps mentioned below.  

1. Navigate to "Design->Edit HTML" from your blogger dashboard. Make a backup of your template before modifying the HTML by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page.
2. Now, search for the following block of code in your template. Use "CTRL+F" to fasten your search.

#blog-pager-newer-link {
  float: left;
  display:none;
}
#blog-pager-older-link {
  float: right;
  display:none;
}
#blog-pager {
  text-align: center;
  display:none;
}

Note: If you do not find the above block of code, then you should find the following block.

#blog-pager-newer-link {
  float: $startSide;
 }
#blog-pager-older-link {
  float: $endSide;
 }
#blog-pager {
  text-align: center;
 }

3. Now, replace the above mentioned block of code with following block of code.

#blog-pager-newer-link {
  float: left;
  display:inline;
}
#blog-pager-older-link {
  float: right;
  display:inline;
}
#blog-pager {
  text-align: center;
  display:inline;
}

.blog-pager{font-size:12px;}
.blog-pager a:link, .blog-pager a:visited{
  display:block;
  float:left;
  padding:6px 10px;
  text-align:center;
  background:#888;
  color:#FFF;
  font-size:12px;
  font-weight:bold;
  margin-right:8px;
}
.blog-pager a:hover{
  background:#444;
  color:#FFF;
}

4. Save your template. That's it. Very simple!!! Isn't it???

CUSTOMIZATION:

You can change the colors of the blocks by changing the color codes. To do so, first finalize what color you want the button to display before hovering. Later, decide what color the button should display on mouse hover. Check out the HTML color code table here - HTML Color Code Table. Now, replace the text highlighted in green on step 3 with the code you chose from the HTML color code table.

If you find any difficulties in installing the above mentioned scripts, then leave your comments below or contact me via email. If you got inspired by a page navigation style run on some other blog, you can share it with us. We will find the code for that style and post it on our blog in the upcoming weeks. So, keep your comments coming.

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