This Top Ten Members gadget for Blogger, displays the top 10 Google friend connect members of your site, according to the number of times they visit your site.

The original gadget code is available here.

How to add this gadget to a Blogger (BlogSpot) powered blog/site?

Click here to Add “Top 10 Members” gadget to your blogger blog. Then click Configure Gadget. When done, click Save.

Otherwise,

1. Goto the Layout page of your blog.
2. Click “Add gadget”
3. Click “Add your own”
4. Give the gadget url as http://xmlgadgets.com/ig/top10.xml and save.

How to add this gadget for non-Blogger sites?

1. Login to Google Friend connect, and select the site you want to add the gadget to.

2. Click on “Social Gadgets”

3. Click “All Gadgets” tab.

4. Locate “Top 10 Members” gadget, and click, “Get this gadget”

5. Click “Generate Code” under “Create the HTML code”

6. Copy the code, add it to your site, Start using “Top 10 Members” gadget !!!

Problem with this gadget

The only problem with this gadget is that you can’t filtered out your own visits. Duh

More than 20,000 users of Facebook, including scientists and students, signed the petition calling for “hella” to be officially recognized by the International System of Units (SI).

Founder of the campaign Austin Sendek, a physics student at the University of California, said recent breakthroughs in science meant SI needed to go further with its classification of long numbers.

“As you know, the largest number with a designated SI prefix is 10^24, which carries the name ‘yotta-,’” Sendek wrote. “However, in our world of increasing physical awareness and experimental precision, this number is no longer a satisfactory ‘upper bound’ in scientific nomenclature.”

Sendek and his petition signatories believe naming numbers in the 10^27 category is of “critical importance for scientists in all fields.” He said these numbers are vital to representing “the wattage of the sun, distances between galaxies, or the number of atoms in a large sample.”

For example, the energy released by the sun would be better described as 0.3 hellawatts according to Sendek, rather than 300 yottawatts. Sendek proposed the prefix hella as a tribute to Northern California, which is home to several notable scientific institutions.

“However, science isn’t all that sets Northern California apart from the rest of the world,” Sendek wrote. “The area is also notorious for the creation and widespread usage of the English slang ‘hella,’ which typically means ‘very,’ or can refer to a large quantity (e.g. ‘there are hella stars out tonight’).”

Official SI prefixes:

10 = deca
100 = hecto
1,000 = kilo
1,000,000 = mega
1,000,000,000 = giga
1,000,000,000,000 = tera
1,000,000,000,000,000 = peta
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = exa
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = zetta
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = yotta
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = unnamed

For blogger, don’t blog about hella because hella is a famous keyword for Hella lights.

With the help of Broadbandchoices.co.uk, the broadband comparison site, which has compiled a guide for consumers, here are ten top tips (with additional four bonus tips) to speed up your broadband connection.

1. Test your speed

If you haven’t already done so, use a speed tester to measure the level at which your broadband connection is currently running. This will allow you to see what difference the following suggestions make to your speed.

2. It’s good to talk

If you are not getting what you expected from your internet service provider (ISP) then pick up the phone. You may be able to boost your connection speed simply by asking your ISP if there is anything it can do to help. Just prepare to wait for the operator to pick up the phone and entertain your complaints.

3. Reposition your router

The position of your router can have a significant effect on the quality of your wireless connection. Place it in an area where the signal will be affected by as few obstructions and little interference as possible. For example, away from appliances which emit wireless signals (e.g. cordless phones) and avoiding barriers such as walls and doors between the router and your computer.

4. Spring clean your cache

Every time you visit a webpage, your browser will store, or ‘cache’ it. All these items stored in your cache do take up space and over time it can get very full. Periodically clearing out your browsers cache will enable it to function more effectively.

5. Upgrade your browser

If you are unhappy with the browsing speed of your connection then you should definitely look at upgrading to a newer web browser. Using the latest browsers can greatly reduce the time it takes to download a web page. Check download.com for free downloads of the latest browsers, but you should be careful when making any changes to the settings on your computer.

6. Monitor your applications

There are many applications such as RealPlayer or Windows Updates that may discreetly start running when you log in to your computer and may slow your connection down. Set these applications so they don’t run automatically – this should reduce your bandwidth overhead and make a noticeable difference to your connection speed.

7. Disable P2P software

While music, TV and film download applications are great for entertainment, they are not so great for your connection speed. Some applications continue to run in the background even when you think you’ve turned them off as they continually upload and download. This will not only slow you down but can also use up your download allowance. To avoid this, check the settings and set the programme to ‘no peer to peer,’ so it won’t run when you are not using it.

8. Turn of Instant Messenger

If you used Instant Messenger such those from Yahoo! or Microsoft, turn it off when your are not using it. Those IM icon at loaded at your Window Tray.

9. SiteAdvisor slow down browsing

As always, security demand you to pay for it. In this case, usage of SiteAdvisor or link scanner (e.g McAfee SiteAdvisor) will scan all web links and rate it according to risk. This link rating will also slow down your browsing. But if security is a concern, you just has to bear with it or look for better SiteAdvisor.

10. Outlook slow down browsing

Did you know that Outlook constantly retrieve your mails from your external mail boxes so that you can have your latest emails. Consider to sync your mail boxes at a reasonable interval.

11. Loathe thy neighbour

If you have wireless broadband, the first thing you should do is secure your wireless network. If you are unwittingly sharing your connection with unauthorised users then they will be using up valuable bandwidth. This means that the speed of your connection and download allowance could take a battering, not to mention the security threat this poses.

12. Traffic jams

The time of day at which you go online can greatly affect connection speeds. When lots of people are trying to access the internet at the same time there is increased traffic on the physical phone lines and also each website’s servers. Heaviest traffic is usually in the evenings, so to benefit from the fastest speeds you should try to surf when internet traffic is low – generally in the day time or very late at night. If you have heavy downloading to do, you will get the fastest download speeds during off-peak periods.

13. Noisy line

Noisy line can also affect your broadband speed. Test the line with your phone handset, if you hear noise instead of silent tone, your line is noisy. Complaint the problem to your telco. In addition to that, if your broadband router share a line with a splitter, that splitter might be the problem. Connect your router directly to the phone jack and test the speed. If the speed is normal then it is time to change the splitter.

14. Switch ISP

After all these measures, if your current package still isn’t giving you the speed you want, it may be time to switch. The speed you will be able to achieve does depend on some factors outside your control – such as your distance from the telephone exchange. Evaluate the time and money needed to improve on your current connection and decide for yourself if it is worth an upgrade.

DID YOU KNOW:
I have seen many posts condemning their ISP for slow broadband bandwidth and surprisingly their targeting keywords attract a lot of traffic, especially if there is disruption in the Internet connection in their area. Blog about “Streamyx sucks”, “Singnet sucks”, “Verizon sucks”, “Comcast Cable sucks”, “Telstra Internet sucks” are just an example.

Recommended reading:
* Make your website faster to have better ranking by Google
* List of Malaysia Internet Service Providers

If you’re a regular ProBlogger reader, you know that Darren dishes up heaps of incredible blogging advice 7 days a week, 365 days a year. His archives positively overflow with information on how to build a blog from the ground up, how to engage readers, how to earn a living from your blog, how to search engine optimize your blog, how to market your blog through social media and so much more.

If you’re a beginner blogger, there’s no better place to learn than at ProBlogger.

I know because when I started blogging in 2007, ProBlogger was like a launch pad for me.

I blasted into the blogosphere, writing posts in rapid fire succession as new idea after new idea spilled out of my bloggy brain faster than I could jot them down in trusty notebooks scattered around my house and car.

I churned out short posts, long posts, reviews, interviews, vlogs, linkies and more list posts than you could shake your cursor at. I SEO’d the daylights out of my blog, carved out a nice niche for myself and built up a pretty sweet subscriber base. I came, I blogged, I monetized. Oh yeah.

And then, after 3 solid years of blogging, I suddenly found myself with nothing left to say. No, not just blogger’s block. I’m talking not a damn thing to blog about. Zero, zip, nada. Last stop on the blogosphere for this lady.

350 posts, 1200 subscribers and 2000 comments later, I was officially all blogged out.

So I spent a week curled up in the fetal position deciding whether it’s better to burn out or fade away from the blogosphere, and then it hit me.

Surely I couldn’t be the first – or the only – blogger to feel this way!

So I did what any blogger worth her Alexa rank would do – I decided to BLOG about being all blogged out.

Newly invigorated, I set out in search of other solo bloggers who’d felt this same way to ask them what they did about it.

What I found was 10 top bloggers with very different takes – and advice – on being all blogged out.

Laura Roeder @lkr

Blogging Since:

Well I’ve been creating and sharing content online in various formats since about 1996. But I’ve never really considered myself a “blogger”or had one mega-popular blog. My current blog for my business has been running for about a year and a half.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Yes, definitely! I don’t blog that frequently so I usually don’t try to force it. I sometimes only update my blog once a month, it just depends on what I have going on and what I’m inspired to create. 99% of my blog is in video format, it is really difficult for me to write a beginning-middle-end article, it’s just not how my thoughts come I guess. But I could talk forever so video is the perfect format for me!

What did you do about it?

I plan out an editorial calendar at least 6 months in advance. This is the key part – you can’t just plan but you have to force yourself to stick to the weekly topic. I think too many bloggers wake up in the morning and try to think of a great topic that day – planning out a calendar in advance is a great solution. And then you have time to filter your ideas to make sure they’re all good instead of scraping the bottom of the barrel, desperate to come up with ANYTHING to write about!

Chris Guillebeau @chrisguillebeau

Blogging Since:

2008 — although I had been writing in other formats for a couple of years prior.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Thankfully — no.

How have you avoided it?

I’ve avoided it by trying to be somewhat intentional about the process.

First, I don’t limit myself in writing about one specific, niche topic. I write about a number of topics (travel, entrepreneurship, motivation) for a number of venues (my own blog, other blogs, a newspaper column, magazines, books, etc.). The variety is very helpful, because even though I’m writing a lot, the deliverables are not always the same.

And second, writing is my job. It’s just what I do. If a plumber gets bored, she still shows up every day and goes to work. Why should it be different for creatives? Steven Pressfield wrote about this in the wonderful little book The War of Art, which I re-read regularly and would recommend to anyone feeling “blogged out.”

Chris Brogan @chrisbrogan

Blogging Since:

I started in 1998 back when it was called journaling. I’ve used several different sites before settling on my own domain, and my blog technologies used to be WYSIWYG website design tools, so those ones are lost to all but the Wayback machine.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Never. I have more blog posts than I have time to post them. I write two or three at a time, so that I have a few in my rainy day pile (though at the time of writing this, I ran out, so will have to blog a few things on the next two airplanes). I never feel all blogged out. We have TONS to cover, and lots of ways of looking at things.

How have you avoided it?

Blogging/writing is about practice. The more you do it, the easier it comes. It’s like exercise. You can’t join a gym and bench press 300 pounds the next day. It takes a while to work your muscles up into the shape you need to perform. Same with writing.

I keep my eyes open. I read. I spend lots of time on other people’s blogs. I cultivate relationships, where sometimes the question someone poses makes for a great blog topic. There are tons of ways to find blog topics. One trick to doing something about it is to maintain a list of blog topics to write about for rainy days. I’ve given people over 300 over the last few years.

Danielle LaPorte @daniellelaporte

Blogging Since:

2008

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

No, never, absolutely not, the very thought makes me gasp in horror. For real.

How have you avoided it?

Everything is content. Believing that it’s all around you will help you find it. The conversation that you had with your girlfriend about Haiti, or the absurdity of phone books being delivered, or why your barista gives you the best customer service. Notice what you notice and trust that you can create some value out of it.

Tell a story. My speaking coach, Gail Larsen told me something that changed how I approach both speaking gigs and writing: Creating good content is not about looking for stories that will support your message, it’s about letting the stories find you. The stories that you remember so vividly, that you recall with the most affection or emotional charge – they’re in your psyche for good reason. You’ve held on to them because they resonate with your truth, your message – and that’s where the creative sweet spot is. Find the message in the stories you’re inspired to tell.

Get interviewed. Ask a friend to ask you some questions. Keep it casual or turn on a video camera while you’re at. You will be amazed at how damn profound, informed, and creative you can be when you get to riff to someone who already thinks you’re great.

James Chartrand @MenwithPens

Blogging Since:

I began blogging in early 2007 for my own business blog at Men with Pens, and I also began guest blogging at various other sites around the blogosphere at the same time. This spring, it’ll be three years that I’ve been a full-time blogger.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Oh, absolutely. Since my focus has always been on freelance writing, and that’s what I’ve tried to blog about the most, there comes a point where you tell yourself that you’ve said all you could, that you can’t think of anything else to say. That feeling never lasts very long for me – I have a pretty active mind that seizes on new ideas and spins easily – but sure, I think every blogger goes through a period of feeling there’s nothing left to write about.

I feel that many people, when they hit this point, fall back on repeating the same messages or content, only in different words. It’s a way to break through the problem, but I didn’t want to go that route. I feel a sense of obligation not to cheap out just to be able to slap up a post – I worked hard to build my blog up, and it means more to me than that. Blogging is more than just a job you have to do; it’s a commitment you make and uphold.

What did you do about it?

To avoid feeling I was running on empty, I looked instead at the related subjects of freelance writing. I realized there’s a lot more to writing than just writing about writing. There’s the business side, the administration, the customer service, the branding, ways to land new jobs, etc. When I realized that I wasn’t limited to what I could write on and still stay within my specialty, a whole world of possible posts opened up. I revisit that vast pool of potential each time I feel tapped out.

Another trick I use when I’m feeling like I just have nothing to write about anymore is to write – about something else. I put the blogging aside and work on some fiction or creative writing, just for fun. Or, I go out for a day and screw off, and I find that taking myself away from feeling like I have to blog brings me new inspiration. As I enjoy my day, I think about how the experiences I have relate to my subject. How are buying a pair of boots and blogging the same, for example? How is grocery shopping and writing similar? What did I like about that sign, and why did it catch my attention?

Sometimes, to be creative, you have to get away from trying to be creative, and ask questions that you wouldn’t normally think of asking.

For tapped out bloggers, my best advice is to take away the pressure by reminding yourself that this isn’t an obligation. In the bigger scheme of life, missing a week of blog posts while you disconnect or cutting your posting frequency from five days a week to once every two weeks won’t really make much difference. It’ll give you some relief from that ‘have to blog’ feeling, remind you of what’s really important in life and let you take care of yourself first.

Johnny B Truant @JohnnyBTruant

Blogging Since:

I really only started seriously in late 2008, writing my old pure humor blog at theeconomyisnthappening.com. I’d been writing “blog-like” stuff for some time before that on and off, but never actually launched a blog until 08.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Oh yes. Around 2001, I used to write a humor newsletter that I’d manually e-mail out to my friends and family. (The salvageable newsletters became the earliest posts in the humor archive on my current site.) Although I haven’t hit a wall since starting blogging in earnest in 2008-9, I hit several with those old pseudo-blog writings.

I started that endeavor with a weekly newsletter, and then slipped into monthly. Several times, I’d re-run old posts because I had nothing to write about, and once I wrote a post about having nothing to write about. The reason that pseudo-blogging ended was because I got tired of feeling like I had nothing to say every week — or at least, nothing to say that was funny.

What did you do about it?

I just quit.

Now, I’m not particularly concerned about running out of material and here’s why: Back in the day, I wrote humor and only humor. If it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t fit to run — with one notable exception just after 9/11/01. So not only was I looking for funny things to happen, but I had to work hard to tell folks about them in funny ways. That’s really, really hard to do — especially ongoing.

My blog now is an unashamed hodge-podge. I’ve deliberately kept my blog from having a niche, a genre, or a focus. It’s just about me, my business, what I’ve learned, what I do, and whether or not wild turkeys have found their way into my barn. Sometimes it’s funny, and sometimes it’s dead serious. All I have to do now is write what’s in my life, my head, and my heart — whatever that may be.

Lastly, I’ve only run two guest posts ever on my blog, but I’ve had other offers and may just start accepting some if I do get bogged down. I’ve seen some of my blogging friends do that if they are running low or if they go on vacation. I haven’t done it yet, but it’s nice to know the option is there.

Sarah Bray @SarahJBray

Blogging Since:

Don’t tell anyone, but I actually started several failed blogs before having even a whiff of success. My first one was in 2004. And no, I’m not giving details (curse you, Google archives!).

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Heck yeah. Every blogger has those moments. We pressure ourselves to crank out amazing post after amazing post, and then we wonder why the wheels stop turning. For me, it was my subject matter — writing posts about the strategic side of web design for such a wide audience. I’ve got fellow designers who want to know how I do it, entrepreneurs who are completely new to the web (or the social web), entrepreneurs who are definitely NOT new to the web, people who are curious about my adamancy for content-driven websites…it’s just a really broad audience.

More challenges:

• Writing about technology without inducing cricket chirps or loud snoring
• Writing about things that anyone can do — not just super-technical people (which requires getting out of my super-technical brain and pretending I’m my computer-challenged mother…an interesting and involved process)
• Writing about new ideas that are not talked to death all over the internet already

All of that has the power to turn me into a headlight-mesmerized deer if I think about it too much.

What did you do about it?

I put a lot of pressure on myself to only publish stuff that gives me a blood-rushing-to-the-head feeling. It’s what I do instead of punching all of those people in the face who say that bloggers aren’t “real writers”. Or maybe it’s because I like that writerly high you get when you know that you’ve communicated something really effectively.

So to answer the question, I stick to a posting schedule that will allow me to do this. During some seasons of the work year, I publish three times a week. In this particular season, I publish once a week. I’m a huge believer in sticking to a posting schedule. It’s like your favorite show being on tv at the same time every week…you feel more committed to it when you can expect it. At the same time, I let myself be comfortable with changing my publishing schedule when that makes sense.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this if your entire job is to write. But for my situation, giving myself permission to change my posting schedule for a season makes more sense than writing crappy stuff, not writing at all out of sheer overwhelm, or not getting my client-related work done. It takes some of the pressure off during busy times, which somehow brings blog topic epiphanies out of the sky. I don’t know how it happens…magic, maybe.

Dave Navarro @RockYourDay



Blogging Since:

I started the RockYourDay.com blog in 2006, but didn’t really start building it seriously until the beginning of 2008, when I went all guns blazing (thanks to some inspiration from @menwithpens). I started The Launch Coach in early 2009 and hit the ground with a running start on that one, since it was making me money right off the bat, and that’s where I put 95% of my blogging time.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

I feel that way all the time – I think it’s a natural part of a writer’s psychology, when we wonder how we can write something good when it’s already been done. We worry that what we write might not be good enough compared to other people or compared to our own successful posts, and it’s draining.

What did (do) you do about it?

The way out of that is to remember you’re in this to help people, not achieve God-like status on a post-by-post basis. What I do to break the funk is look through old comments for where people talk about what they’re struggling with and write about that, imagining I’m writing to that one person. That breaks the all-about-me-drama and gets me back on track. (And if I haven’t had comments lately I go to other blogs and look at their comments).

Audrey McClelland @AudreyMcClellan



Blogging Since:

I started blogging in June 2008.

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Definitely. I started my personal blog in June 2008, after I had my 4th son. After blogging about his birth and then about being the mother of 4 boys – I started to feel VERY “all blogged out” in November of 2008. I wanted to blog about things beyond my personal motherhood story. I think I kind of felt like, “What makes my story different or unique?” I kind of felt like nothing did… my blogs started to get very much of the same feel. So I made a conscious decision to change the direction of my blog in January 2009 because I felt it would infuse me with added energy.

What did you do about it?

I came out of it by starting my 365 Days of Fashion Advice for Moms. I loved sharing my experiences as a mom, but I wanted to get away from constantly talking about how difficult mealtime was or how I was so tired from not sleeping throughout the night. I wanted to add my love of fashion to the mix. So I started blogging about fashion advice for moms and I brought my own motherhood experiences to it, as the mother of 4 boys.

The advice I would give a blogger that is all blogged out is bring another dimension into your blog. I had worked in the fashion industry for 6 years previous in New York City and I had a love and a passion for fashion. I did and still do wake up every single morning excited to blog about it. I just needed to take that step to bring another piece of me onto the table and not be scared to do it. Things changed for me professionally when I did make the change and it was all because I was feeling “blogged out.” I didn’t feel like my writing had a direction in 2008 and I wanted it to. Niching my blog became the best thing I ever did.

Michael Martine@Remarkablogger



Blogging Since:

I had been creating and designing websites since 1994 (pretty much as soon as I got online when the Internet became available to anyone via AOL back in the day). I discovered Blogger in 1999 before Google bought them and have been a blogger ever since (though I switched to WordPress as soon as I discovered it).

Have you ever felt all blogged out?

Never! My audience is made of up certain segments who all have specific problems. So between that, the basics, and the new stuff that keeps unfolding, there is no end of topics to blog about.

How have you avoided it?

There are several reasons why I’m never blogged out. My readers, clients, and customers are mostly business owners. Different businesses have different challenges when it comes to blog marketing, so by focusing on a specific niche (like, say, real estate agents or freelance web designers) and then addressing a specific problem someone in that niche faces, I simply never run out of topics. I don’t always focus on a specific industry, but I’m guaranteed an infinite number of blog post topics if I do.

This means my posts tend to be longer than the usual 250 – 500 words of a typical blog post. Because of this, it takes me longer to write a post and so I don’t publish as often as many other bloggers. At the least, I publish twice a week. At most, I may publish up to four times a week. But I never publish every day of the week. This makes it easier to come up with ideas and keeps the quality of the writing higher.

Here are some tips for coming up with post ideas:

• Think of a specific type of person in your blog audience and a problem they have, then write a post for that person that addresses the problem.
• The basics never go out of style. Tackle them in your own way or link to posts which cover the basics.
• Tell a story from your own life that has a lesson to teach your audience.
• Compile a list of resources your audience will find valuable.
• Accept guest posts from others in your niche (sometimes you have to ask for them).
• You can always interview others in your niche.

To prevent yourself from getting blogged out in the future, try these tips:

• Be in constant communication with your audience: ask what keeps them up at night, what their problems are, what information they are hungry for.
• Think of series of posts you can write. A series guarantees post ideas for many days. Note how successful Darren has been with his “31 days” series. You have to think of these in advance and plan them out.
• As you surf the web, collect links by topic in Evernote or some other note-taking system. Then, when they become numerous enough, you can publish them in a resources post. These can build up over time, so that very little work is involved in creating them.

Don’t let ideas get away from you when you do have them. There are many ways to capture ideas.

So, if you’re feeling all blogged out, you’re in good company. And you’re definitely not at the end of the blogging road.

Laura, Chris G., Chris B., Danielle, James, Johnny, Sarah, Dave, Audrey and Michael gave awesome ideas about what to do when you’re feeling all blogged out. And, I don’t know about you but my head is swimming with new blog ideas. Now…where’s my notebook?

Well? What about you? Have you ever felt all blogged out? What did you do about it?

Heather Allard lives in Rhode Island with her husband, three kids, Hope, Grace & Brendan and one big dog, The Dude. Since 2001, she’s started three businesses and sold one of them for six figures. Now she shows mom entrepreneurs how to build a business between diaper changes and play dates – without breaking the bank, or their spirit. Find her on Twitter as @HeathAll.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.



Feeling “Blogged Out?” [10 Pro Bloggers Share Their Advice on What to Do]

Share This





]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/feeling-%e2%80%9cblogged-out%e2%80%9d-10-pro-bloggers-share-their-advice-on-what-to-do/feed/ 0 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/blog-security-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-scares-me-into-taking-it-seriously/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/blog-security-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-scares-me-into-taking-it-seriously/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:10 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/blog-security-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-scares-me-into-taking-it-seriously/ guest post by Kelly Diels

warning: there are lessons and even actionable advice in here, but it is buried inside a story. I write stories because I love you and don’t want to bore you and because if you laugh then chances are that you’ll remember the educational bit, too. There’s actual research that this works – it is not just because I am in love with bloviation but hey, tomato tahmahto.

I have big love for tech. You could not pry my dishwasher out of my house without bloodshed and death, most likely yours. And the internet? Don’t even get me started. I want to french-kiss the web. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s my job or at least my blog’s mission statement.

Still, I’m more of install (or pay someone to install) and hope-it-works kind of gal. I want the fuss without the muss.

And I have this theory about tech: some key pieces of hardware and software make a huge difference and everything after that amounts to tweaks and hacks. But the good tech, like a great love, (initially) inspires awe, affection, and respect and make your life much better on a daily basis. You think: how did I ever live without you, front-loading washer? We wasted so much time.

And then, after the infatuation fades, you get on with your happily functioning and newly-enhanced life and start taking your love, machines, shockingly-white-whites and programs for granted.

I like it like that. I like low-maintenance relationships (don’t tell anyone) and I LOVE that electricity just works and I don’t have to think about it. I like finding the right things, that work, and let them do that in the background. Nearly invisible function is hawt.

WordPress is one of those key pieces of tech that made a big difference in my life. It is like a long distance lover. I don’t quite understand it and I should probably spend more time with it but damn I like it a lot. It does me right, mostly virtually.

Actually, let’s be honest: I LOVE WORDPRESS. My blog is my boyfriend. I adore it. I spend all my time with it. Because of all the fabulous people who love me up in the comments, my blog sates my unabashed lust for attention – which, in turn, has started saving me from terrible IRL relationship decisions.

(Wordpress is saving the world from needy girlfriends. Someone call the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.)

So the thought of someone getting their sweaty, malicious hands on my boyfriend blog and doing dirty things to it makes me nauseous.

It happened to a friend of mine, Kelly Livesay. One of her blogs was hacked and posts and theme modifications deleted.  It happened to journalist Helen Mosher. If you Google her name, the first search result is now “Cheap Viagra Online”. This is not – perhaps obviously – what she intended for her blog. It happened to Robert Scoble, who lost two months of blog posts and gained a very serious sense of personal violation.

And that sense of violation is exactly the prompt for this post: the movie The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo completely FREAKED ME OUT (capitalization absolutely appropriate and required).

Do you know The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? It is the first of a trilogy of books by Swedish author Stieg Larsson who completed this epic series and then promptly dropped dead. It is a gripping book and it almost killed me, too. I read it in five hours.

And then I got my hot little hands on the movie. Lisbeth, the main character and dragon-wearer, is one tough chick. You don’t want to mess with her. She’ll hack you.

Because that’s what she does. Lisbeth is a freakishly talented hacker. She works as an investigator and conducts her investigations from the convenience of her laptop. She gets into your computer and reads your naughty e-mails, your work memos, your sexts, your bank statements, your browsing history, and then uses that information as she sees fit, for her clients, or herself.

And if you’re on her side – I mean, who doesn’t want her to catch the lady-killing villain? (the villain) – then you’re with her, all the way, as she uses her scary powers for good.

So: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Wrenching read, haunting movie. Great entertainment, especially if you’re looking for a new reason to become deeply paranoid about all the ways people can screw with you online.

Robert Scoble’s not kidding when he says that he feels his virtual house was burgled. Thanks to this paranoid movie, I now feel his paranoia pain and I’m deeply worried about my boyfriend blog.

Still, I don’t  understand the point of hacking blogs, so I asked my friend Dave Doolin (Website In A Weekend), who knows Serious Stuff about WordPress, code, programming and How Things Work.

Kelly Diels: What’s the point of hacking a blog? Why would someone want to break into a blog and make it say BUY VIAGRA! instead of just building a sex blog to sell Viagra?

Dave Doolin: Honestly, I’m not really sure, but I’ll hazard a guess: it’s cheaper to spray spam by the trillions than it is to create your own site and work at building traffic. It costs next to nothing to hire people to send a e-mails, so even a really tiny conversion rate generates profit.

Kelly Diels: So how do we keep hackers out of our blogs? On your site, you recommend that bloggers change “Admin” to something specific and then delete the Admin user, so I did that, and Amanda Farough told me to make a unwieldy, ridiculous password that is actually a sentence with random capitalization and characters.

Dave Doolin: Yeah, those two things are a good start. You do want a long, complicated password. The other thing that everyone should do is read the WordPress Development Blog and Other WordPress News. They’re both in your dashboard, and they’ll keep you up to date on the latest hacks and security threats.

(I studiously ignore those two boxes in my WordPress dashboard but now, as of right this minute, I’m going to pay attention.)

And, now that I’m paying attention, I checked in once again with Amanda Farough, who is my designer/developer/chief-cupcake-sharer/coder-extraordinaire. She takes care of my site, because, as I mentioned, I like my tech to work but I’m not really inclined to make it work myself.

Kelly Diels: So, Amanda, what are we doing to keep my site secure? And by “we”, I mean you. What advice do you have for bloggers to keep their blogs on the unhacked side?

Amanda: Here’s my security short list:

1. Change your .htcaccess to protect your database name and password by adding the following line of code: <FilesMatch ^wp-config.php$>deny from all</FilesMatch>. In the event of someone hacking your blog, they won’t be able to determine where your tables are, protecting you from losing everything.
2. WP-DB-Backup is your new best friend. Get it emailed to you once a week or, if you’re really paranoid, once a day (note: Dave Doolin said we should do it once a day and I heart paranoia. That’s totally where I’m living right now. Thanks, Dragon Tattoo conspiracy). Don’t trust your server or your email server. Save copies of the database to your local drive as soon as you get the email. That way, you’ve got two copies: one on your email server and the other on your local drive.
3. Update Wordpress every single time you’re prompted to. These releases are the blogger’s equivalent to driver updates: they fix holes in security, functionality, and usability. If you’re running 2.8 when we’re on 2.9.2, then run that update. You’ll be glad you did.

And that – according to my friends in the know, because trust me, I didn’t know – is the short story of how to keep your blog safe and out of the sweaty, dragon-tattooed hands of malicious hackers itching to delete your hot copy and sell us sex aids in your name.

WordPress Security Summary:

• Get rid of your Admin user account
• have a long, complicated password
• keep up to date on WordPress tips and news by reading WordPress
  Development Blog and Other WordPress News
• BACK IT UP, baby
• Protect your database name and password
• UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

__________________________

Join the Dragon Tattoo Blog HUNT - an internet wide scavenger hunt tied to the feature film launch of bestselling book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Win great prizes – free movie tickets, books, movie soundtrack, posters and more. To join the contest, start at the beginning of the HUNT by visiting www.dragontattoofilm.com/contest for full details and the first clue. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is in theaters near you starting March 19th.

THE NEXT CLUE:

This site explores everything Apple, but don’t tell Steve Jobs because this weblog is officially unofficial.

Kelly Diels writes for ProBlogger every week. She’s also a wildly hireable freelance writer and the creator of Cleavage, a blog about three things we all want more of: sex, money and meaning.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.



Blog Security: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Scares Me Into Taking It Seriously.

Share This





]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/blog-security-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-scares-me-into-taking-it-seriously/feed/ 1 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/the-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-making-money-online-with-a-blog/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/the-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-making-money-online-with-a-blog/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:09 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/the-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-making-money-online-with-a-blog/

OK, so there are a million and one different resources out there explaining how to make money online. Many of them are vague and repeat some mantra similar to “Follow your passion.” That’s all well and good, but that’s not very specific. I know the real trick, and I’m willing to share it with you. I’m going to break it down into 10 easy steps. Here they are:

1. Pick a niche that you’re knowledgeable about.

Some people might say this is your passion, but I say it’s just something you know a lot about. If you like it – that’s a bonus. If you know a lot about accounting, but want to be a pro pool player, you can blog about both. If you suck at pool, blog about accounting until you get better at pool.

2. Build content for that niche.

I find that this formula works really well:

1. Write ten (well written) articles that focus on that niche. Make insightful posts (especially ones that are controversial). Controversial posts get a lot of readers and inbound links.
2. Write two articles about your self and why you’re an expert in that niche. This will connect your readers to you. I find that if you put a photo of yourself on those posts, the traffic is much higher too.
3. Write four guest posts similar to the original ten articles you wrote for the niche. It really helps if you ’sum up’ the original ten articles across the four guest posts and link back to them.

3. Make a space online to publish that content.

This space can come in many forms (Facebook fan pages, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, etc). I prefer Wordpress, but you aren’t limited to just that platform. If you don’t know anything about making websites, just start a website at Wordpress.com and start publishing content. When you build that space, please, please, please change the default theme to something your readers will enjoy.

4. Schedule content for release.

The twelve articles you already wrote should be scheduled to come out on a regular basis: 3 a week for four weeks. It’s important to remember that these will not be your only posts, but they will make up the meat of your content. You can always post what you had for dinner last night, or some breaking news. Those ad-hoc posts are what give your blog a personality.

5. Drive traffic to your blog from related niche sites and blogs.

You should send you guest posts out to everyone in your niche once a week, so you have one guest post each week for four weeks. Those guest posts will be INSTRUMENTAL in generating traffic to your website. Make sure you also regularly comment on those peoples’ blogs as well. If they have a top commentators widget for their blog that doesn’t have “nofollow” attached to it, try to make it onto that list.

6. Use social media to build a following.

Use the following social media sites to drive traffic and build a following.

1. I recommend you start a twitter account specifically for the blog. This will allow you to monitor that blog’s specific following as opposed to mixing them in with your main account. Use your main account to promote the blog if you have enough followers. You want to build your twitter followers as much as possible so that when you release new content on your blog, they’re getting it in their twitter feed.
2. Start a Facebook fan page and promote the site to all of your friends. Use the same principles as you did with Twitter. Facebook’s traffic is much higher quality that Twitter, but a much lower volume. It’s harder to get fans, but when you do, they convert well.
3. Submit every article that you write to Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. Be sure to try and get them dugg as many times as possible, so ask all of your friends to digg/redd/stumble it.

7. Interact with your users.

Be sure to comment on your blog and respond to every @reply on twitter. Engaging users keeps them interested and makes them feel important (because they are!). Whenever someone comments on your blog, respond to them immediately – especially if they have something insightful to say.

8. Monetize.

Most people want to monetize their blog right away, but that’s a really bad idea. Ads tend to drive people away when they’re right there in their faces. My number one rule about monetization is: keep advertising off the site until 1000 unique hits a day. While you’re working your way up to 1000 uniques a day, try some LIGHT contextual advertising with affiliate links to products you talk about. Definitely do not do more than one affiliate link per post. That may even be too much, depending on your audience. Don’t do step 9 until you reach this point.

9. Get sponsors and have a contest.

Why did I say “don’t do step 9 until you reach [1000 uniques a day]“? Because you’ll have almost no chance of getting sponsors until you reach this point anyways. You can also host your own contests and eat the cost, but if you do, your investment and risk increases significantly. Do contests for other blog posts about your blog, comment contests, twitter contests, etc.

10. Repeat steps 2-10 once a month until you can move on to your true passion.

Using this method, you can usually spend about 2-3 days at the beginning of each month writing your posts that really build the meat of your blog. You can the slow release that content over time to give you a little more freedom. Be sure to fill in some of your posts with bleeding edge current news throughout the week.

Conclusion

This guide is a really basic way to make money from a blog, starting at concept, all the way through success. Many of these steps are expounded upon on my blog. There are definitely some great advanced concepts for driving traffic and building incredible blog posts. Write what you know about, give value, and be responsive. Notice that I didn’t even mention making money until step 8. If you jump the gun, you’ll piss off your readers, and your site will never take off. Have any questions? Put them in the comments or email me.

This has been a guest post by James Thompson of jtGraphic.

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!







]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/the-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-making-money-online-with-a-blog/feed/ 0 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/free-ppv-webinar-tonight-at-10pm-est/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/free-ppv-webinar-tonight-at-10pm-est/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:09 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/free-ppv-webinar-tonight-at-10pm-est/

This is a reminder post. The free PPV webinar with Super Affiliate Jonathan Volk starts tonight at 10PM EST (7PM PST). If you haven’t registered for it, I highly recommend you do so now. The seating limit of the webinar software is 1,000 and we’re pretty close to that number now.

Jonathan’s guests include PPV experts David Ford and Corey Bornmann. Corey is the owner of AffPortal, an invaluable toolset that literally has changed the way people build their PPV Campaigns. David is the owner PPVPlaybook’s Coaching Forums and has helped hundreds (maybe thousands) of students learn how to become masters of affiliate marketing with PPV.

This webinar will include more information about PPV, how to use it, and will even have time for Q&A. Free Q&A with the gurus of PPV is worth it alone. They will also be going over the following:

1. What is PPV Marketing?
2. What are the benefits of PPV traffic?
3. Where can you find PPV traffic?
4. What is the potential of PPV?
5. What is Automatic Niche Research and how can you benefit?
6. What makes a good PPV landing page?
7. How can PPV campaign building be automated?
8. How can you learn more about using Pay Per View Traffic?

The webinar is open to anyone who has downloaded Jonatha’s new Affiliate Marketing 101 guide. If you have the guide, you’ll be receiving an email with the webinar information. If you haven’t downloaded the guide yet, then you can get it here.

Even if you can’t attend tonight’s webinar you should still download Affiliate Marketing 101. It’s one of the best affiliate marketing guide I’ve ever read. And it’s FREE!

I hope to see you at the webinar tonight. Make to sure to say hi if you see me!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!







]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/free-ppv-webinar-tonight-at-10pm-est/feed/ 0 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/harmful-effects-of-pvc/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/harmful-effects-of-pvc/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:00:09 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/harmful-effects-of-pvc/ Ever wondered why your new car, plastic shower cap, curtain or tote bag, or your baby’s new toy has an offensive smell for days, even months? There’s more to that “new” smell than you think. That whiff of bad air you get is from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) – one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created on earth – which is present in these and many other consumer products we use daily. PVC is also known as Plastic Type 3.

PVC products stink because they contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are poisonous carbon-containing chemicals that are volatile enough to evaporate at room temperature. This process, called outgassing, is also problem with building products such as plywood, particleboard, carpet and pads, paints, stains and glue.

Outgassing odours are most noticeable when products are new, but diminish over time until they finally disappear. A shower curtain can outgas for a month or longer, for example, depending on conditions. High temperature and humidity will speed up the release of VOCs.

VOCs can be toxic. Most commonly they irritate eyes, noses and throats, causing coughing, headaches, dizziness and nausea. The symptoms go away when outgassing ceases. But the danger doesn’t stop there. Did you know: From the time it is manufactured right up to its disposal, PVC keeps on releasing dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer, making it the worst plastic for our health and the environment.

Why PVC is dangerous

PVC is dangerous to human health and the environment thoughout its entire life cycle. The dangers of PVC are from the persistent pollutants it releases and the toxic additives used to produce PVC products. PVC is the only common plastic that contains chlorine. But PVC based products also often contain dangerous toxic additives such as mercury, dioxins, lead and phthalates (used as softeners) which can leach out and pose dangers to consumers – us.

PVC products also release toxic fumes if they catch fire.

Additives in PVC products
Phthalates – can cause cancer, kidney and liver damage, sperm damage and genital defects.

Lead – can damages brain and nervous system, causes developmental disabilities.

Organotins – can suppress immunity and disrupt endocrine system

Cadmium – is a potential neurotoxin, can cause cancer.

What is PVC?

Polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as PVC or vinyl, is one of the most synthetic materials. It’s widely used in construction materials, transport and packaging materials, medical supplies, and consumer products. It gained popularity as a natural rubber substitute. PVC is presently the second most widely used plastic in the world. And it’s one of today’s most dangerous toxic offenders. It cannot be recycled, and it is considered by many experts to be the most dangerous, carcinogenic plastic ever created by man.

Recommended reading:
* Bisphenol A | BPA – Avoid Using Plastic Type 3 and Type 7
* How to limit your family from BPA exposure
* Mister Squiggles the hamster is unsafe for children
* The Poison Plastic – There are SAFER ALTERNATIVES
* PVC The Poison Plastic – Unhealthy for Our Nation’s Children and Schools

]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/harmful-effects-of-pvc/feed/ 1 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/i-lost-20-lbs-in-2-weeks-twitter-latest-spam/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/i-lost-20-lbs-in-2-weeks-twitter-latest-spam/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:00:09 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/i-lost-20-lbs-in-2-weeks-twitter-latest-spam/ This post is to alert readers that another variant of Twitter tweet spam has emerged. In the tweet spamming, a tweet include a text “I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks!” and a link that when you click on it, will lead you to a spam site peddling diets products. Better still, if you just don’t click on the encrypted link. I for one is really not comfortable in receiving those encrypted links (or link shorten) as you will never know what harmful site it can drag you to.


The “I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks!” tweet is send by users who have had their accounts hijacked. Access could have been gained through previous phishing schemes. However, one factor points to a likely suspect: all the Tweets are posted via “API”, meaning the spammers do not have direct access to the accounts. Rather, there’s likely some third party application that’s been compromised (or a rogue one permitted by the users) that’s pushing spam Tweets. Sound like “sponsored” tweet.

The best thing to do if you were in my shoes is first, to reset your Twitter password and contact the followers that send you the tweet phish scam and highlight them the problem and request them to change their Twitter password as well.

The Twitter spam goes around in a tweet titled “I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks! “. Avoid this link as http://tinyurl.com/yk36jnr (which actually lead to http://weightloss.testproductsfree.com/).

And lastly, pass this alert to your readers as well.

Recommend reading:
* This you???? – Twitter latest phishing scam
* Killer ways to increase Twitter followers by Kevin Rose

]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/i-lost-20-lbs-in-2-weeks-twitter-latest-spam/feed/ 1 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/microsoft-courier-internet-tablet/ http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/microsoft-courier-internet-tablet/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:00:09 +0000 http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/microsoft-courier-internet-tablet/ The Courier is shaping up to be an exciting take from Microsoft on an Internet tablet meets e-book reader, particularly as both of those form factors continue to heat up.



The Courier is a hinged device that combines elements of a tablet, an e-reader, and a netbook (sans physical keyboard). It’s reported to be less an inch thick, slightly heavier than a pound and slightly larger than a 5×7 print when folded. Instead of running Windows (Windows) 7, the Courier will run the mobile OS Windows Mobile 7 Series, with an NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip under the hood.



Other features include handwriting recognition, cloud storage for all the data in the device (plus a way to integrate comments on shared items back into your journal), a built-in camera and headphone jack. Unfortunately, none of this is yet official from Microsoft itself, so everything including the loose “second half of 2010″ release date is still a bit speculative.

]]> http://www.24hourearner.com/affiliate-marketing/microsoft-courier-internet-tablet/feed/ 1