1. Use categories. They will help your audience find what they are looking for a lot easier. They will appreciate you more for that.

2. Get rid of the cluttered look. Everything in your blog should have a proper “place”. It makes your blog look more professional and not something that you just put together overnight or something.

3. Unused links or dead links can be frustrating to users. Weekly checks of your links should just about do it. Remove or replace any dead links as soon as you can.

4. Don’t burden your site/blog with a lot of pictures or movies. If it takes your page a long time to download see what you can take out that won’t sacrifice the quality for your users, users will usually go the other way if it takes too long. Download time should be 1 second or less, depending of course on the users connection!

5. Keep your articles well organized. Looking for an article that should be in one category and finding it another kind of defeats the purpose for categories.

6. Blogging layout and articles should follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple silly) method. Beginners (like myself) don’t understand a lot of the technical jargon. If you can, put it in layman’s terms. If it’s meant to be for beginners, make it for beginners.

7. Keep your “super” links and ditch the old ones or not so good ones. This will make your blog/site more search engine friendly by keeping the URL’s found on your blog to a minimum.

8. Keywords should be kept to a minimum of 20 in your meta tags. If you want to know how to insert or use meta tags for search enging optimization (seo) please feel free to look at my article on adding meta tags to your site/blog.

9. Design of your blog/site is key when users want an easy to use interface. Providing and easy to use interface to users lets them browse, link and subscribe a lot easier to your site. Visit your site and test it to see if it’s user friendly. Compare it with other sites and look at the differences, then write them down and see what you can improve on.

10. Provide and RSS feed so that your users can subscribe keep up with your articles and always be “in the know” about your blog or articles.

These ten tips should help you out in a small way. Maybe there are a few points that I missed again, please feel free to add. Like I said before, fine-tuning your blog is an almost weekly if not daily (for some of us) routine. Your users will appreciate you for it and it will help your blog out at the same time. http://www.moonburst-tones.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=R_Maggiano http://EzineArticles.com/?Slim-Lining-And-Fine-Tuning-Your-Blog&id=940994

Giving your social networking site a distinctive personality begins with where your graphics are obtained. One option would be to make them in a graphic or photo editing software. The software can be expensive and people who do not have an artsy background will probably find it overwhelming to start using technical software. A popular alternative is social networking resource sites. A resource site is any website that offers designs and graphics for social networking sites usually free of cost. Lots of these websites are in existence solely to help people create an awesome looking site and if they are any good they should be updating content on a regular basis. So the first way to spice up your site would be to find a couple of good quality resource sites and keep updating your page. Viewers love to see updates not just on your life but the style of your page. Keep your site current and your viewers will thank you.

A large factor in creating a stunning site is finding the right background. With so many to choose from on resource sites, it is hard to tell what will look the best. Look for a background option that has highly contrasting background color and font color. It is useless to put together a site that cannot be read based on it being hard to see. Otherwise, pick something that is stylish in your eyes and expresses your personality via colors and graphics.

Organize, organize, organize! Put your thoughts in order. A lot of sites help you with this task by using headers and common topics such as television and a music category. Let the headers be a basis for you and build off of them. But when I say organize I do not just mean by content I also mean by size, picture orientation, and color. For instance, in a photo album put all of your landscape photos together and all the portrait photos together so they do not look jumbled. Or even staggering the pictures can bring interest to the album, but use some methodology otherwise it gets to hectic and slightly boring since we see it so often.

Another idea is to frame your pictures. It is fairly new and really easy to do. Several resource sites have frames available some to a greater extent than others. All you will need to do is upload a picture saved on your computer and select a frame that coordinates not only with your photo but also with the location you post the photo whether it is on the main page of your site or tucked away in an album. Nearly all social networking sites lack the ability to let you design your picture albums so frames are a great way to get around that problem. Frames can bring color, style, and fun sayings onto your photo adding a whole other dimension.

Photo captions are a perfect idea for spicing up your entire site. Posting captions can explain things that cannot be said in a photo alone. And they look a ton better than plain ole text. Grab a photo caption from a resource site that tells everyone what is happening in your picture anything from best friends, truelove, or simply me. It lets the people who do not know you very well or who are just getting to know you exactly what is happening and or who is in the photo. And please remember to select a color the compliments your picture and site.

So no matter what social networking site you use Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, or another just keep in mind color, organization, and your personal style. Lots of resource sites are out there ready to spice up your site. Two great ways to find a new resource site is to take a look at what your friends are using and also look for partner links listed on the resource site. Both are a gateway to many great graphics and editing tools.

My name is Emily. I love everything that has to do with design. Painting, interior design, and definitely web design are among my favorites. I’ve been working extremely hard on a website http://www.freestyleframes.com The site is based around framing your digital pictures to post on the main page of your social networking site or even in your albums. Caption and comments are also available with updates being made regularly. Everything is totally free and there is no limit on photo uploads so don’t be shy and spice up your social networking site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Emily_Delbridge http://EzineArticles.com/?Great-Ways-to-Spice-Up-Your-Social-Networking-Site&id=1121807

A good web design begins with the knowledge of fundamental principle of art and organization is always the guiding principles of effective web designing. The quality of a web site requires more than just putting the content on the web pages. Planning and design consideration like development and visibility factors must be followed to ensure that visual communication is laid out successfully. Also, those tenets of graphic design like the use of symbols, typography, and colors are used to convey meaning and facts within every web design. Since web sites are created to communicate every visiting readers understanding the graphical user interface renders good visual communication.

Web designing is putting the client’s choice of web site’s content with the web designer’s artistic discipline. This artistic discipline then follows the basic principle of User Interface Design in conveying the meaning of visible languages.

The three principles of User Interface Design are:

Organize. Organization has three important concepts: consistency, screen layout, relationship, and navigability.

Economize. The common points to be considered in web designing in terms of economy are simplicity (includes only the most important facts), clarity (no meanings are ambiguous), distinctiveness (the most important details in the design must have distinct features), and emphasis (elements of the design must easily perceived).

Communicate. The user interface must maintain balance between all the elements for successful visual communication.

These three principles are categorized into two groups: principles and elements. These two groups determine the basic composition of web design. These basic compositions have the following principles:

Balance

Rhythm

Proportion

Dominance

Unity

Balance

Balance is the placement of objects in relation to their visual weight within a composition. It has two forms: symmetrical (when the weight of a composition is equally distributed around a central vertical or horizontal axis) and asymmetrical (when the weight of a composition is not equally distributed around a central axis).

Rhythm

Since rhythm defines time, it creates a sense of movement and establishes pattern and texture. The three kinds of rhythm are: regular (intervals of elements are similar in size or length), flowing (defines the elements with a sense of movement), and progressive (shows the progression of elements).

Proportion

This element defines the relationship of an object and the comparison of dimension or the distribution of forms. This helps establish the visual weight and depth of any given design.

Dominance

This principle determines the degree of emphasis in design. It defines the visual weight and establishes space and perspective of any given design.

Unity

This concept defines the relationship between the individual parts and the whole to give the sense of wholeness of any given design.

Understanding these basic concepts will help us convey successfully the visual communication of any given web site. Designing an effective web site does not only demand aesthetic taste but requires basic understanding of planning and organization. Good content requires good implementation of usability as web designing is a discipline of understanding and implementing the basic concept of User Define Interface.

Graduating in 2003 in Business and Information Technology Jonathan Popoola has since become an expert in [http://www.uniquews.com]web design Cheltenham and [http://www.uniquews.com/webdesign.html]web design Gloucestershire. Visit my site for more information on webdesign and also information on [http://www.uniquews.com/graphic-design.html]graphic design in Cheltenham

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_Popoola http://EzineArticles.com/?Fundamental-Principles-of-Web-Design&id=1024588

If you operate an Internet business you are probably always looking for new and innovative means of promoting your product or service. Of course, cost always is a factor as it would be in any type of marketing plan. This is where starting a blog can prove helpful as it has the ability to promote a business in an extremely cost effective manner. After all, there are a number of free blogging formats out there so right off the bat you are promoting your online business without an initial expenditure. You can’t beat that!

Here is a common means of using a blog to promote a business. Let’s say your business sells sporting goods. Obviously, it would be wise to launch a blog that covers sporting goods and the content of your blog will provide news, tips, product reviews and other interesting entries that will also include photos of products you are selling as well as links that direct to your site. For example, you can review a Wilson catchers mitt and include a picture of one as well as a link that leads to the sale page for that particular catchers mitt. Does this sound pretty easy? If it does it’s because…it is!

If there were any trick that could make this venture successful it would be consistency and volume. That is, you would greatly benefit by adding three short blog entries (150 - 200 words) five days a week. Be sure that these entries are interesting and well written because if the value and quality of the writing is poor, well, the whole plan is doomed to failure. Also, it is absolutely CRITICAL to optimize your blog and pull in as much traffic as possible. After all, if no one sees your blog then no one is going to click your links! One of the best ways of boosting traffic to your blog would be writing 1 - 2 short articles for article directories that link to your blog. If this seems like a lot of work you may even wish to outsource some or all of the blog writing because consistency is absolutely critical for success with this type of promotional blogging venture.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income!  Download it FREE here: [http://www.craigsandrews.com/howtoconstructyourblog_free.html target=blank]How To Properly Construct A Blog…

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business  with more profits, less work and true freedom?  Click Here: [http://www.craigsandrews.com target=blank]Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: [http://www.articleprosoftware.com target=blank]Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogging-To-Promote-An-Internet-Business&id=1118048

There has been an outbreak of blog hack attacks recently. The main focus of the blog hack attacks is older versions of the free Wordpress blogs that are less than the latest 2.5 version release.

The hackers are inserting hundreds of spammy links that point to drug, credit card and gambling related sites into the header and footer files and then making them not visible when viewing your blog page with a simple CSS manipulation. Its rife, its rampid, its a really big problem and the majority of everyday bloggers don’t have a clue they have been hacked and infected with spammy links that will punish their site and any site that is affiliated via links inbound or outbound.

Beefing Up Blog Security

A few things you should do straight away is to upgrade your blog to the latest Wordpress 2.5 release.

For those that don’t have the patience to read through here’s a quick simplified guide:
Download and unzip Wordpress 2.5
Back-up your Blog files onto your local drive
Turn off all plugins
Delete the wp-admin and the wp-includes folder on your server
Upload the new Wordpress 2.5 wp-admin and wp-includes folder
Delete the index.php file in the wp-content folder and then upload the index.php file from the wp-contact folder in your 2.5 release
Delete all top level files except your wp-config file and replace with top level files from the 2.5 release - Remember don’t overwite your wp-config file * your database info is kept in here *

That’s it your done! Just re-enable your plugins from earlier and your back up and running as per normal.

They Got IN Now What?

First step is to remove the inserted links: they normally go for the header and footer files. Next alert Google by logging into Google Webmster Tools (if you don’t have an account then create one it only takes 2 minutes) and click the link on the right hand side titled “Request reconsideration”.

Explain in your statement that you have had your blog hacked and the links have now been removed and the site is clean. Back up your claim by detailing where the spammy links where  residing in your code i.e. They start at line 200 or just under the body tag. It may seem obvious but you must consider you are presenting evidence to clear your site and your name. Finally, also add what prevention steps you have taken to help beefen up security.

Watch who you link out too!

A hacked site will have some penalties against it: in Google’s eyes you’ll be what is termed as a bad neighbourhood. I removed all outbound links during this time throughout the entire site so as not to hurt anyone else from my sites temporary penalty.

Paul Steven writes for North South Media an organic [http://www.northsouthmedia.co.uk/ ]SEO and [http://www.northsouthmedia.co.uk/search_engine_marketing.html ]search marketing company.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Steven http://EzineArticles.com/?Protect-Your-Blog-From-Hackers&id=1118746

I started a blog with blogger but there wasn’t the sense of creativity I needed as everything was more or less done for me. I decided to buy my own domain name and get a hosting package so I could have more of a challenge and have more options to tweak my blog. I tried Drupal, Joomla 1.5, PhP Website and Word Press. Being new to all this stuff, I had  quite a hard time figuring out how to work each program. I finally settled on WordPress as it was much easier to learn for a beginner like me and it has a vast resource of themes, widgets and plug-ins.  This is a quick review of my WordPress 2.5 installation.

1. Most hosting packages provide you with CPanel which gives you simple tools to create and control MySql databases. Log into your hosting account (I did mine through fastdomain) and create a MySql database. Create a username and password, writing down the database name, username and password for one of the next critical steps.

2. Download the latest version of WordPress 2.5 from WordPress.Org

3. Extract the file using your favorite zip program.

4. Now here is a critical step. You will have to search the unzipped folder for a file called wp-config-sample.php. Use an editor software of choice (WordPad, Notepad, etc) and open the file. Remember the database name, username and password you wrote down in step 1? Now is the time you’ll need them.

5. Scroll down to

define(’DB_NAME’, ‘dbname’); // The name of the database

define(’DB_USER’, ‘dbusername’); // Your MySQL username

define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘dbpassword’); // …and password

define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value  

Replace each variable in bold type with those you wrote down in step 1, exactly as you see it in your CPanel. It is important to write down the exact name. Mine came out as examplec_wordpress25 and username as examplec_brian even though I only input my database name as ‘wordpress25? and username ‘brian’. The database name is therefore ‘examplec_wordpress25? and username ‘examplec_brian’.

6. Save the file as wp-config.php.

7. Using your Ftp software of choice (I use filezilla) upload the WordPress 2.5 folder to your desired folder on your host server. If you would like it to appear in your root and come up when you type http://example.com ,then upload it to your root folder. If you do not want it to in your root you may upload it to a different folder like http://example.comyourfoldername ,in which case you will have to type http://example.com/yourfoldername for the homepage.

8. You will then need to go to the WordPress administration page by using your browser to go to http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php (if you put wordpress in your root) or http://example.com/yourfoldername/wp-admin/install.php if you placed it in another folder.

9. You then click on First Step, and it will bring you to a page asking what you want your blog title to be as well as for your current e-mail address. Once you click submit, you will then be given a temporary password (which you may change later). Write this down so you can log into your WordPress blog. Go to settings–general to change the major settings.

10. You can start writing your posts and pages, uploading themes, widgets and plugins. There are countless amounts of each to keep you fully occupied and allow you to dwhatever you want with your blog. Happy blogging!

Brian is an amateur photographer whose blog offers news, tips, tutorials for amateur photographers.

Visit his blog at http://amateurphotoblogger.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Elliott http://EzineArticles.com/?WordPress-2.5-Quick-Install&id=1121712

When you get started on your online, money making journey, there are so many decisions to make. For example you need to decide how to buy a domain name and which domain name to buy etc…read this if you are still at the domain name buying site setting up deciding state.

Once you have climbed that hurdle, next step is to decide how to set up a site. This stage can be especially intimidating if you are new to technologies like html, php etc.

With a Blog like Wordpress …  Once of the best shortcuts you can take at this point is to use a Blog (like Wordpress). This is a lot more simpler and quicker than trying to setup a site. If  you select a hosting provider, you can setup a wordpress blog with a few simple clicks , and it won’t take more than 3 minutes.

Once you’ve done this the next step is to find a nice blog theme from thousands of themes available for free  once you have done the above now it’s a simple matter of logging in to your blog to post content.   As and when you post, wordpress will ping and alert the search engines to visit your site. This is automatic promotion for your site, which helps the blog to get indexed in search engines like Google in quick time, faster than a simple website would get listed in Google.  All this is easy, and hassle free !

With a web site …  you have to go through the hassle of either building the site or paying some one to build a site.   The steps involved are

Find a developer

Specify the requirements

pay them (on some projects I am still waiting for the product to be delivered.)

wait for the initial design

etc…

So my recommendation is go for a blog and simplify your online journey.

Stop wasting your time with unproductive research. Find out how to speedup your online money making journey by taking a productive shortcut

All Tips and Tricks revealed here at [http://ittrainingexpert.com/2008/04/website-vs-blog-which-is-easier-to-setup-for-internet-income/]Website Vs Blog which is easier and cheaper to setup
and [http://ittrainingexpert.com/]Tech Blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Francois_Devdas http://EzineArticles.com/?Website-Vs-Blog—Which-Is-Easier-And-Cheaper-To-Setup&id=1121525

There are a variety of options available when it comes to choosing a blog platform.  There are some blog platforms that don’t cost you anything, and there are some blog platforms that can be very costly.  The blog platform that you wind up choosing has a lot to do with the purpose you have in mind for your blog.  It also has to do with the kinds of things you want to be able to do, from a technical perspective, with your blog.

There are several different free blog platforms to choose from.  Free blog platforms are, obviously, free.  These free blog platforms include Google’s Blogger (also known as Blogspot), WordPress, LiveJournal, TypePad, and others.   However, in exchange for being free, these blog platforms have some down sides.  Generally speaking, free blog platforms will have advertising or links that can take users and readers away from your blog.  This is especially a problem if you are trying to sell something on your blog, or if you have advertising of your own on your blog.

In addition, some of these free blog platform services can be rather limited in their functionality.  For example, there are only so many different theme configurations you can use on Blogger.  LiveJournal doesn’t have some of the options that bloggers would like when it comes to customization.  The free WordPress and TypePad services have more functionality than the others, but they still have those pesky ads or outgoing links to contend with.

If you want full customization and don’t want someone else advertising on your blog, a self-hosted blog platform is the way to go.  Many hosting providers, such as GoDaddy, will even provide blog software such as WordPress free of charge when you purchase domain hosting.  Even if your hosting provider doesn’t provide this, you can still install WordPress or whatever blog software platform that you would like to install.

Ultimately, choosing a blog platform is something you have to decide for yourself.  Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each platform will, however, prepare you to make that important decision.

Bob Younce is a professional Internet writer living in Linwood, Michigan.  Bob loves helping new writers improve their craft, avoid [http://writing-journey.com/internet-writing/the-eight-most-common-internet-writing-mistakes]the most common sorts of Internet Writing mistakes and fully realize their dreams.

Visit his (WordPress-based and GoDaddy Hosted) blog at [http://www.writing-journey.com/]www.writing-journey.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Younce http://EzineArticles.com/?Choose-a-Blog-Platform&id=1118125

Blogs, Blogs and more Blogs, they keep adding up. Some have very useful information and some have very useless and uninformed information while others are just advertisements trying to get you to click on “Google Adsense Ads” so they can make a penny or two.

Why a Blog?

There are a number of reasons why a person would like a blog some are:

They enjoy to write about almost anything and it is an outlet to receive comments about their work.

You have the environmentalist - Tree hugger to get the word out.

You have the opportunist and the only reason they have a blog is to get your tightly packed away money. Not really worried about whether or not the product is of any real value.

Social butterfly who wants to be liked by all.

Businesses to get the word out about their great ( sometimes great ) service and products.

Charities who want your money to improve something.

The exploiter. Separating you from your money or something worse.

The scam artist. Separating you from your money.

Newsletters and so forth and the list goes on and on.

What are my reasons for a Blog?

The reasons for a blog are as numerous as the imaginations of the billions of people on the planet earth but I will give you my reasons for this blog.

It gives me a creative outlet for my writing (no matter how poor it is.)

I can show off my photographs.

Hopefully some of the information on this blog is of value to the community.

Make a little bit of extra pocket change.

To hear what others have to say about what I say and about my blog when they make a comment.

Is a Blog worthwhile?

Yes and no. If the blog creates in you a desire to constantly be checking the blog, writing articles and losing time with more important things such as family, looking at the flowers then my answer is a resounding: NO

If though you have a community conscience and want to help the average individual and still have the time to care for important items then: Why Not Have a Blog?

Hopefully this short article will be of help to you when deciding to have a blog or not.

Author: Bryan Bracken - http://www.profitmart101.com

Discover how you can get an effective selling website which is fast to set up, easy to manage and profitable.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_Bracken http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-A-Blog?-What-Are-My-Reasons-For-A-Blog?-Is-A-Blog-Worthwhile?&id=1126655

In the ongoing debate on whether the blogging industry will change the face of journalism, on could wonder where the real change is to be found in this development.

On several subjects bloggers offer more insight (information) than journalists that have to wait for official procedures in verifying sources and other procedures that delays the broadcast of the story.|

There are also in absolute terms much more bloggers than journalists. And this is because (most) bloggers are not organized. Any organization requires a drive for efficiency and that implicates a limit on the number of journalists per company and that the journalist therefore has to broaden its reporting tasks.

However, the principle mechanism of journalism does not change at all whether the news is offered by bloggers of by journalists. And this is the principle of event-driven-reporting.

The traditional journalism is based on this principle in which the event is the trigger to activate the focus of the journalist. In the archetype of journalism, the reporter is called and runs to the scene of the event. There he takes notes and reports this to the editorial. In the same way the blogger comments on events that he is acknowledging. Only the number and source of events are more artificial. Basically everything that is perceived interesting is marked as an event.

A real change will probably yet have to come. Just as the first automobiles had the form of a (horse) carriage, the form of blogging is the same as journalism. But from this may evolve into really new forms in the near future.

© 2008 Hans Bool

Hans Bool writes articles about management, culture and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: [http://www.astorwhite.com/ ]Astor White.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Bool http://EzineArticles.com/?Sharing-the-Same-Principles—Blogger-and-Journalist&id=1129405