Google Analytics Newsletter - Just an overview!

I know there are lot of softwares around the web to analyze the traffic, the source of traffic, landing pages and lots more about our website. One such useful software/site is the "Google Analytics". I'm sure many are familiar with it! So, what's new about Google Analytics? Is it the new interface? No! It's about their first volume of Benchmarking Newsletter...

Last night, while I was working on the "Featured Content Slider" for SML blogger theme (Check out the demo - SML Featured Content Slider; tutorial will soon be posted in the upcoming weeks), I received an email which said "Google Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter". I guess this is the first time that the Analytics team sent me an email. The screen shot of the email is shown in the link below.

SCREEN SHOT OF THE ANALYTICS NEWSLETTER

The screen shot says it all! If you find it difficult to understand, well, I'll just run through a short explanation about the five sections of the email which you may or may not have received.

1st Section - Introduction : This section is basically an introduction about the "Benchmarking Newsletter". It tells you why you received this email and what actually is present in the email (Comparison of metrics  between "November 2009 - Febrauary 2010" and "November 2010 - February 2011"). If you did not receive one, then you need to enable "Anonymous data sharing" for your Analytics Account.

2nd Section - Site Metrics : This section shows a comparison about the "Pages/visit, Average time on site and the bounce rate" for the period under observation (Nov 2010 - Feb 2011). A geographical based comparison about the statistics for your website is explained in the rest of the section. To know more about bounce rate, I recommend you to read the following article - How To Reduce Your Blog's Bounce Rate?

3rd Section - Traffic Sources : This section displays a table of comparison about the sources of traffic to our blog. It just displays the very basic details in the comparison - "Direct Traffic, Referral Traffic, Search Engine Traffic (the one to look out for) and other miscellaneous sources".

4th Section - Operating Systems : This deals with the operating systems that the user used over the period of comparison to visit your website. In my case, more than 3/4th of the users used Windows. I would be happy to see a comparison about the web browsers used to access my website rather than the OS details. What do you think?

5th Section - Comments : This section just deals with the feedback that you may send to the Analytics Team about the newsletter. You may send your opinions to the Team at the following email address -  analytics-benchmarking@google.com. 

Basically, the comparison is displayed in such a manner that even a newbie can easily understand about his/her stats. Well, to conclude, I feel this newsletter actually provides an overview about our stats rather than detailed insights to let us know whether we are on the right path to success. So, share your opinions about the the newsletter with us via comments!

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Add Fancy Share Icons To Every Blogger Post

I'm sure everyone runs a social bookmarking widget on their blog. What if we add a little more interactivity & unique style to those icons. This is exactly what we're gonna do in this article! We plan to turn an unordered list of sharing icons into a fancy share box using little CSS & Jquery. The idea is to show the icons partially hidden. When hovered, they slide to the right & become completely visible.

FANCY SHARE ICONS USING CSS & JQUERY - LIVE DEMO

Well, I guess that the demo has impressed you. Before I proceed with the tutorial, I would like to inform you that this particular widget is browser compatible - works on all major browsers. The code was tested on the following major browsers - Firefox 3+, IE 6+, Safari, Chrome & Opera). Enough of the stories! Let's get this installed on our blog.

1. Navigate to "Design>>Edit HTML" and make a backup of your template by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page. Once the back up is over, expand your template and search for the following piece of code.

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'/>

2. Download the following text document - FANCY SHARE ICONS FOR BLOGGER. Paste the code mentioned in the text document just below the line mentioned at step 1.
3. Next, search for the following piece of code.

]]></b:skin>

4. Replace the above code with  following piece of code.

ul.sharebox { margin:0px; padding:0px; list-style:none; position:relative;}
ul.sharebox li { float:left; margin:0 0 0 0px; padding:0px; position:absolute; }
ul.sharebox li a { margin:0 0 0 -24px; display:block; }
ul.sharebox li a:hover { margin:0 0 0 -8px; }
ul.sharebox li img { border:none;}
]]></b:skin>
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
var i = 10;
var j = 0;
$("ul#sharebox li").each(function() {
$(this).css("z-index", i)
if (j > 0)
$(this).css("left", j * 24 + 100 + "px");
i = i - 1;
j = j + 1;
});
});
</script>

7. That's it. Save your template.

Note: The effect is visible only on the post page, in other words, you need to visit the individual pages on your blog to realize the effect. If you want them to appear on all the pages, then just remove the first and the last line of the coding mentioned at step 2.

I hope you enjoyed this widget. If you wish to add a specific icon apart from the list mentioned in the article, please contact me via email with the icon and your template. We'll try to add them for you provided your template has already got this widget installed! Share your views via comments!

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Word-Wrap : An Extremely Useful CSS Property

I'm pretty addicted to web design and photo-shop these days. So, you might encounter a lot of articles related to web design & CSS in the upcoming weeks. Well, just because I post a lot about these stuffs, it does not mean that they are not useful being a blogger. All those tutorials and tricks that I post here will have some relation to your blog. And one such extremely useful but rarely used CSS property is "Word-Wrap"

What does Word-Wrap actually do? To keep it simple, it actually wraps the word or in other words, breaks the word to a new line without exceeding the specified boundaries. For example, when you  look at coding part in some of my tutorials, they would extend beyond the specified boundary(grey box). Have a look at the following picture and you'll understand what I mean!

I hope you understood the importance of this extremely useful CSS property - "Word-Wrap".  To illustrate this, I recommend you to read this article - How to add HTML codes in Blogger Posts? So, you got to know "How to include HTML codes in your post?". Generally, this problem of text extending beyond the specified boundary occurs with IE. To make your posts with HTML codes compatible with all browsers(IE 5.5+, Firefox, Safari, Chrome), just follow these steps assuming that you installed the coding as mentioned in the reference article above.

1. Navigate to "Design >> Edit HTML" from your blogger dashboard and search for the following  piece of CSS code in your template.

.codeview {

2. Just add following piece of code below the line mentioned in step 1.

word-wrap: break-word;

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

For users who blog on WP or any other platform, just specify the following tag in the CSS part of your template. It's not necessary that you use it only for displaying the coding stuff - use it anywhere you want the word to wrap by itself within the specified boundaries.

word-wrap: break-word;

To extend them beyond the boundaries (definitely not the idea behind this post), either remove the tag specified above or change the parameter from break-word; to normal;

I hope this simple tip enhances the design of your blog - to keep it neat and clean. This CSS property comes in handy especially for webmasters and web designers. So, share your views about this post. Your comments are always welcome!

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Solve "Another blog or Google site is already using this address" On Blogger

This week has been complete a roller coaster ride for me. I saw both the ups & downs with my blog - almost lost this domain, PR Update, etc... Many would have noticed that my domain "www.newbloggingtipz.com" was not available for few days. The reason behind the absence was a redirection problem - the infamous "Another blog or Google site is running on this address" problem.

I did struggle to get my domain back. I'm not sure how I solved my issue but this might help you provided you have proper DNS settings on your domain registrar. I should definitely thank Jacklynn Tong and Patrick from the Google Apps team for their support and nitecruz from the blogger help forum who tried their best to solve my issue. I would list two possible solutions that would solve this issue.

Before we beign, just check whether the DNS settings are correct on your domain registrar. You need to have the CNAME and A NAME records as mentioned in the screen-shot below.

Note: Please replace the domain name in the respective rows above with your domain name. I just showed you the DNS settings for my blog. 
Are they correct? If not, change them as mentioned above and wait for 1800 seconds. Now, trying redirecting your blog to the custom domain. If they are correct and still you see the problem on the blogger dashboard, then you need to try this...

SOLUTION 1
1. Login to your Google Apps Account - Domain Management. Navigate to "Settings" page from the dashboard. Now, choose sites tab that appears on the left.
2. You will see a tab that shows "Web Mapping". Just click on it. Check whether a mapping exists. If yes, then delete the mapping.

3. Now, login to your Blogger Dashboard and try to redirect your blogspot domain to the custom domain.

SOLUTION 2
1. Login to your Google Apps Account - Domain Management. Navigate to "Settings" page from the dashboard. Now, choose "Sites" tab that appears on the left.
2. You will see a tab that shows "Web Mapping". Just click on it. Check whether a mapping exists. If not, return to the previous page. Click on "Change URL" link that appears to be blue in color. Have a look at the screen-shot below.

3. Select the second option on the page that appears below. Just enter "www" in the space available in the second option. Proceed with the continue options. Now, make the DNS changes if required to! Else, leave it as it was! Have a look at the screen-shot below for better understanding.

4. Now, save the changes that you made. Wait for few minutes. Then, login to your Blogger Dashboard and try to redirect your blogspot domain to the custom domain. It should now redirect to the sites page which you enabled (mentioned at step 3). In other words, you should not see the "Another blog or.." error.
5. If yes, then your problem is solved. Just revert back to the blogspot domain from your blogger dashboard. Save it. Later, login to your Apps Accout and navigate to "Dashboard >> Settings >> Sites". Again hit the "Change URL" link and choose the first option. Save the changes you made. Log out from your Google Apps Account. Wait for few minutes.
6. Now, login to your Blogger Account and try to redirect your custom domain. You will not see "Another blog or Google site is already using this address" error.

Well, if the above two solutions don't work. Then, login to your Google Apps Account and Use the "Support" tab to contact the Google Apps Team. Your query will be addressed in not more than 48 hours. In my case, they even gave me a call to fix the issue. So, don't panic! You will get back your domain! You may contact me via email if you need any help regarding this issue!

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Google PR (PageRank) Update 2011

We talked enough about PR and factors that contribute to PR. We even discussed about the nofollow and dofollow tags in our previous articles. So this time, I wanted to show you some proven results to attain PR rather than just discussions. We are glad to inform that we got a PR3 today for homepage while several inner pages have got a PR2 or PR1! Did Google Update its PR this month?

From Googling, I found that the last major update was made on "19th January 2011". I guess Google is making another update this month "June 2011", as well. Few claim that they had a change in their PR this month just like I do. Well, who knows - it may just be a minor update! So, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best!!! It's been confirmed that the PR Update happened on June 27th 2011. So, what's your PR?

I recently published an article about the comparison between Google PR and Alexa Rank - Alexa Rank Vs. Google PageRank(PR). I did mention that the Google PR algorithm seems to be pretty complex. I guess I should correct myself now!!! They do appear to be complex when you consider all factors like Page Speed, Do Follow Links, No Follow Links, etc.. But, if you narrow them down to one factor, well, it's pretty simple. That's the result I'm talking about - backlinks (the one big factor).

I would prove this is the main factor that contributes to PR from the analysis I carried out with my very own domain. Initially, I ran my blog on blogspot domain "www.newbloggingtipz.blogspot.com" which had a PR4. I assumed that blogs run on blogger, by default, were dofollow but later found that, they are not! So, it was a nofollow blog with more than 50 quality back-links from domains that had PR ranging from 1 to 5.

Later, I made the shift to the custom domain "www.newbloggingtipz.com"- way back in the month of June 2010. My PR dropper to Zero due to the shift. I made my blog "dofollow" which brought nothing but a lot of spam comments. I waited for the PR update - that was made on Jan 2011, but to my disappointment I found that even after the update my domain still had a PR0.

Well, I decided to revert my blog back to nofollow. I made this shift probably in the month of April 2011, I guess. Suprisingly, it has worked now. So, as far as I know, to have a better PR, make sure your blog has enough dofollow backlinks while your blog is on a nofollow status. Though it seems to be pretty selfish (getting all the link juice you want from high PR domains but not spreading them to your followers), I recommend you do it for a better PR.

Though I personally don't recommend building a PR, I do recommend you to build a quality website/blog with great content and good design. You don't have to follow sites that list dofollow blogs and  comment on them, PR will follow your blog! So, just concentrate on your content and work a little more on improving your design! Do let us know via comments if you had a change in your PR this month!

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Puxee Review - An Alternative to BuySellAds

The days of CPC & CPM ads are gone. Both publishers & advertisers look out for direct advertisements through sites like BuySellAds, AdvertiseSpace, etc... I see a lot of blogs running BuySellAds that simply shows people love making money online by building quality websites/blogs - a healthy blogosphere. But, I do get feedbacks saying "I got rejected from BuySellAds! What do I do? Suggest me few alternatives. When should I apply?"

This post basically deals with the answer to the former part of the question while the later is answered in this article - How To Get Approved For BuySellAds? I'm sure you would have noticed the addition of new Ad blocks on the right sidebar of my blog - these blocks are from Puxee! I just wanted to give it a try because one of my friend suggested to do so. To be very frank, I'm pretty happy to know that there is a new competition for BuySellAds. The sign up process was very simple! Just the basic details and your done!

An Activation email would be sent immediately. Once you activate your account and add your blog as a publisher, you will receive an email  in not more than 24 hours about the approval of your blog into their directory! As far as I know, if you have a pretty decent amount of traffic, they will approve you - not necessary that you meet the guidelines of BuySellAds. 

Adding sites and zones - user interface seems to be very simple. However, it needs a lot of improvement because you will not know whether you made a change or not. An example to show the flaw in their website - Just try editing your website details. When you  try to edit your website details, you click on the "Edit Website" tab available on the left.  Look at the tab available for saving at the bottom on the page that opens. This tab will remain the same before and after you make a change.

PROS/ADVANTAGES :

• Simple Sign Up Process.
• Easy Acceptance Into Their Database.
• 75% Revenue Of Your Income. (Only 25% Commission For Puxee)
• Easy Integration Of Ad Code - similar to BuySellAds.
• Instant Payments Via PayPal.
• 25% Affiliate Commission.

CONS/DISADVANTAGES:

• Improved User Interface.
• An Improved Directory. 
• Better Coding To Fetch The Details Of Publisher - Facebook Fans, FeedBurner Stats, etc...

Since the number of pros are higher than the cons for this website, I would say "Puxee is a better alternative to BuySellAds, definitely not the best!!!" I recommend the newbies to try this website so that they make some pennies out of their blog. Share your knowledge or experience about this website via  comments. We would love to hear from you!

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