• Shortcuts : 'n' next unread feed - 'p' previous unread feed • Styles : 1 2
Arrow New window Kikolani
aA :  -   + pdf Infos Unsubscribe

» Publishers, Monetize your RSS feeds with FeedShow:  More infos  (Show/Hide Ads)


Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Week in Review & Poker Face   New window
Date: Friday, 20 Nov 2009 22:00

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, Poker Face (like you’ve never heard it before), and the week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Make Money Online

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Social Media

Tech

Related News

The dofollow network has reached many milestones recently, including a PageRank 4, 100+ dofollow blogs listed and much more. See the dofollow milesones post for more details, and if you haven’t submitted your dofollow blog, do it today!

Week in Review

This week on Kikolani, I decided to shed some light on how you must be careful when using free WordPress themes - you never know what the developer could sneak into the coding.

Poker Face

Like you’ve never heard it before!

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, blogging resources, pok..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Free WordPress Themes - With a Catch   New window
Date: Tuesday, 17 Nov 2009 17:27

Yesterday, I was browsing the web for some new WordPress themes, and I found a site that had a lot of great premium like themes for free. I was quite impressed with them, ran a demo of a few of the themes, downloaded some, and added them to a new site that I am working on. After installing the theme, I went to adding my content and doing my usual customization. Everything was going great, until I hit the footer of my new theme.

In the theme’s demo, the footer looks like this:

WordPress Theme Demo Footer

I have no problems with keeping the credits for a theme. I have no issues whatsoever giving credit to the designers of the theme and sending some traffic back to the site so others can find and download these themes as well. Sometimes I rearrange the credits to suit the way I want to lay out my footer, or I may link directly to the theme’s page instead of the homepage of the theme site, but the credit will be there.

Now, take a look at the footer that comes with the downloaded theme:

WordPress Theme Actual Footer

The “Copyright © Blogging Ethics - Just another WordPress weblog” is taken from the site’s title and description. But the bottom line now includes four links to random sites. This bothers me for a multitude of reasons, the top ones being:

  • On the demo, it obviously does not show these links to free cellphones, banks, etc.
  • Nowhere on the theme download site is there a disclaimer about having to include these links in return for using a free theme.
  • The links are very obviously not giving credit to the theme creator - they are for link building.
  • Unless my blog happens to be about cellphones or financial institutions, they are not relative to my site and certainly nothing I want to add throughout my site in the footer.
  • Considering their lack of relevancy, the links could get my site dinged by Google because they look somewhat like paid links.

The obvious solutions to this problem would be to (1) not use the theme or (2) remove the links. As I had already decided this theme was perfect for my site, and had already invested a bit of time customizing it, I was somewhat determined to use the theme. So, I did what anyone else would do and tried to delete the links from my footer. When I reloaded my site, I was greeted by this message:

WordPress Theme Creative Commons Message

At this point, I was saddened that I had to go and get another theme. At the same time, however, I want to figure out how to get rid of those links, because I was perturbed that these people created a great theme just to corrupt it with links I don’t want on my site (nor would a lot of other people, I would assume). I might actually pay for this theme, if that were an option, but the only option available is to take it for free and unwillingly do link building for these sites.

So how does the theme know I have changed the links in the footer? Further digging around in the theme revealed several pages with chunks of encoded PHP script. I’ve never really seen encoded PHP in my themes before, with exception to the time my site was hacked, which makes me further not like what they are doing because it reminds me of malicious coding.

WordPress Theme Encoded PHP

One cool thing I found, thanks to this theme maker and their sneaky link building scheme is an online PHP decoder and encoder. You can drop in any encoded PHP (the parts between the single quotes) and see the actual PHP functions being used.

One chunk of the encoded PHP script in the theme’s functions.php contained the same linking text that is in the footer, checking to see if the footer links match the intended linking text. If it does not, it results in your entire sites turning into the “these links are family friendly” message. So you cannot reword, remove or rearrange this text unless it is rearranged in the encoded PHP script.

In the end, I messed with a few things. I did a simple CSS code (display:none;) to hide the div section of the footer with the link text, which hides it visibly from the site, but still leaves the links in your HTML, which I’m pretty sure is a Google no no. I tried to delete all of the encoded PHP script throughout the theme which just caused other random errors that I didn’t feel like debugging. Finally, I decoded the PHP script, changed the linking text, re-encoding the script to place back in the functions.php file and changed the link text in the footer to match. And once they matched, they no longer triggered the license message that devoured the site.

So do I feel a little guilty about solving the problem? Yes and no.

  • Yes, because I do feel that credit should be given when using a free theme, but only to the theme makers or the site I downloaded it from. Two links tops. Including four “sponsored” links kind of reminds me of getting spyware with freeware.
  • No, because I feel like I should be given the option to pay to have the credits removed if I like the theme.
  • No, because I feel think they should either include some sort of disclaimer about the fact that those links will be in the theme you download, contrary to the demo version which doesn’t show them. Or just show the four links in the demo version so you know what you are going to get prior to downloading, installing, customizing and then realizing what has happened.
  • No, because if I have to include the links, I should be able to do it in any manner I see fit, including moving it to a links page, sidebar, or other location on my site. Or at least being able to reformat the text without blowing up my site.
  • No, because of their use of malicious looking encoded PHP script that could include goodness only knows what.
  • Yes, because one of the provisions of Creative Commons licensing is that you can use products so long as you give credit the way it was requested, which I guess could be by including four links not related to the theme developer’s site (?).

The moral of this story? Beware when you download free WordPress themes. You could be getting more than just the theme.


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, encoded PHP, free wordpress th..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, PageRank Updates & Funny Tennis   New window
Date: Friday, 13 Nov 2009 20:37

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, PageRank updates, funny tennis, and the week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Health

Making Money Online

Personal Development / Self Improvement

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Social Media

Related News

PageRank Updates

PageRank updates have struck again. Although there is always debate on how much PR really matters, I was still pleasantly surprised to see that:

Dofollow Social Networks

This week I have been doing some updates to the dofollow social media networks page, removing some networks that are no longer dofollow (like all of the Ning networks and LinkedIn) and adding several new networks to the mix. More additions will be coming soon, so keep it on your watch list!

Week in Review

This week, I discussed how I took posts from Kikolani and branched them out into new blogs. Instead of moving everything to a new site, I moved selected posts from one WordPress to the next, quite easily.

So now all of my poetry has a new home at Fragile Poetry, and some of my personal discovery articles have moved to Artistic Gemini, which will also cover a mix of astrology, personality, psychology and more.

Who Says Tennis Can’t Be Funny?

These are outtakes of a commercial for the new Head tennis racquets featuring Novak Djokovic. Quite amusing!

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, funny tennis, pagerank ..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Branching Out and Gaining Focus with New Blogs   New window
Date: Thursday, 12 Nov 2009 01:01

When I created Kikolani, over a year and a half ago, it began as a site for poetry and articles on personal discoveries. As time progressed, the site moved more towards its current theme of blogging and social media. So the question became, what do I do with my personal, creative side?

The answer was simple in theory, but a bit more complex in execution - to start new sites. This way I could focus on building very specific communities for each. Because those interested in tech are not necessarily interested in creative writing, and vice versa.

Moving Select Posts from WordPress to WordPress

One of my first concerns about moving my posts from one blog to the next was that I would lose my comments. Fortunately, WordPress makes it easy to transfer posts from one site to another (including comments, categories, tags, etc.), using the Tools > Import and Export. The only catch - import file size to the new site was limited to 8MB. My export file from Kikolani was over 50MB.

So instead of exporting everything, I went back in, changed the author on the posts I wanted to export, and exported posts restricted to just that author. The file size dropped to 5MB, and everything imported into my new sites perfectly. All of the exported posts kept their categories and comments intact.

The next part of the process will be the redirects from the original posts on Kikolani to their counterparts on the new websites. While I could do it in a .htaccess file, I am instead using the Redirection plugin for WordPress that lets you handle all of your redirects within the WordPress dashboard. The bonus of doing that vs. the .htaccess file is that the plugin counts how many hits you’ve had to the original page being redirected. This way, all of the posts that were bookmarked by their Kikolani address will automagically forward to the new sites.

Troubleshooting

I have only run into two issues so far with the importing and exporting of posts. The first was a few areas of custom CSS coding I had for images in posts that I had to copy into my new site’s theme. The second was the pending / spam comments attached to the posts I imported moved to the new sites along with the approved ones, and now have to be deleted. Small things that you don’t think about until after the fact.

New Site #1: Fragile Poetry

Fragile Poetry

Fragile Poetry is a collection of poetry that covers a wide range of emotions through life experiences from teenager to adult, humor to heartache, loss to love, bliss to depression, and so much more. To become more involved with the creative writing community, I have also created a Twitter, StumbleUpon and Facebook. Keep up to date with my new poetry by subscribing to Fragile Poetry via RSS Reader or email.

New Site #2: Artistic Gemini

Artistic Gemini

Artistic Gemini is about analyzing the fusion of astrology, creativity, dreams, personality, personal development, psychology and thoughts of a Gemini with an artistic temperament. So for those of you into any of those topics, stop by and follow Artistic Gemini on Twitter, StumbleUpon and Facebook. And to keep up with new posts, be sure to subscribe via RSS Reader or email.

Have You Branched Out?

If you have a blog that covers multiple topics, have you thought about splitting them into separate sites? If you have already done a similar process, what has been your experience? (Links to multiple websites as examples are welcome and Dofollow!)


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, Blog Updates, Discoveries, Poe..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Week in Review & Getting Off Your Computer To Exercise   New window
Date: Friday, 06 Nov 2009 16:34

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, week in review at kikolani.com, and getting off your computer and exercising.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Making Money Online

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Social Media

Tech

Writing

Week in Review

This week on Kikolani, a reivew of the new Twitter Lists feature, including some pros, cons and lots of great responses by the commenters.

Getting Off the Computer and Exercising

“Sometimes your greatest joy comes from getting off the computer and exercising outside every once in awhile.”

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, blogging resources"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
A Guide to the New Twitter Lists - Basics, Pros and Cons   New window
Date: Monday, 02 Nov 2009 18:32

TwitterTwitter Lists are the new feature on Twitter (still in Beta) that allow you to organize particular Twitter users into lists and view only their Tweets. For example, you can create a list of inspirational Twitter users by following these easy steps:

How to Create a New Twitter List

During the beta period, you should see an announcement for Twitter lists at the top of your homepage. Click the “Create a New List” button.

Create a New Twitter List

Alternatively, you can click on the “New List” link in your sidebar, right above the Trending Topics section.

Create a New Twitter List from Sidebar

Choose a name for your Twitter list, and whether you would like it to be public (so that others can follow your list) or private (a list for only you to see). Choosing a public list will also let the Twitter members you add to that list know that they are being listed, whereas they will never know if they are in a private list.

Twitter List Name and Privacy

Once you have set your list name and privacy, you can begin adding members to your list. You have the option to search for members based on their real name, username or brand on the following screen. You can add any Twitter user’s to your list, regardless of whether or not you are following them, with exception to user’s you are not following whose Tweets are private.

Search for People to Add to Twitter List

You can also add users by going to their profile and clicking on the Lists dropdown, then select the list you would like to add them to or create a new one.

Add People to Twitter List from Profile

Finding and Following Public Twitter Lists

On each Twitter user’s profile sidebar, you will see a “Listed” number next to their followers and following. Below those numbers on the sidebar, if the user has created any public lists, these will show up under the Lists heading.

Public Twitter List

Click on the Listed number to see the public lists that the user has been added to, and also the public lists that the user is following. If you click on a particular list, you will see the recent Tweets made by anyone the list is following. You can follow the list by clicking on the “Follow This List” button.

Follow a Public Twitter List

Pros and Cons of Twitter Lists

PRO: Twitter lists allow you to follow a personalized selection of Twitter members on particular topics. You could follow public lists about any topic without the use of other Twitter tools and software. And if a list on the topic you are interested in doesn’t exist, you can easily create your own customized list.

CON: Twitter members may notice a drop in following because they could being followed in lists, but not directly. For example, you could easily follow the tweets of the 20 top Twitter authorities on SEO in a list without actually following those 20 users. Some will consider this a major plus as it would help in the ratio of following to followers.

PRO: With Twitter lists, you get to learn why people are following you for by seeing where you have been listed. For example, people are adding @kikolani to lists on SEO, social media, blogging, WordPress, web development, dofollow and more.

Twitter List Topics

CON: Some members with a high follower count who haven’t been listed could get discouraged by the fact that they have not been listed very often, or they have been listed in topics they are not focusing on.

PRO: Not being listed could prove to be a learning experience that you need to change the way you use Twitter to become more of an authority on your topic.

PRO: You can use Twitter lists to find the top authorities on a subject by looking at lists created or followed by power Twitter users.

Authority Twitter List

PRO / CON: People could start going directly to their lists and not their main Twitter feed, thus missing any tweets from people they are following who haven’t been listed. While it is a great way to avoid spammers in your Twitter feed, it is also a way to miss some great tweets by people who aren’t in one of your lists.

Your Thoughts on Twitter Lists

Have you tried the Twitter List feature? What are your thoughts on the benefits vs. the downsides?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Social Media, micro blogging, twitter, t..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Kitty vs. Halloween Bowl & Week in Review   New window
Date: Friday, 30 Oct 2009 13:32

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, Kitty vs. Halloween Bowl, and the week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Social Media

Tech

Week in Review

This week’s featured post was on making money through blogging, where I discussed some of the ways I am generate income through my websites, future plans, and how readers make money online.

Kitty vs. Halloween Bowl

Happy Halloween everyone!

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, blogging resources, res..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
How Do You Make Money Blogging?   New window
Date: Wednesday, 28 Oct 2009 20:57

Make Money BloggingOccasionally, I get questions via email or direct messaging on social networks about how I make money with this blog, or would I continue to blog if I were not making money.

Direct Blogging Income

I can tell you right now, if I were blogging solely for direct income from my blog, then I would have stopped a long time ago. So far, Adsense and a few affiliate programs (top earners being Elegant Themes and the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Workbook, have supplied my only direct earnings. And the Adsense earnings come from a combination of this blog, and my other sites - DoFollow Resources, Oes Tsetnoc and Mal-Shi.

But to be honest, I haven’t really dedicated myself to monetizing my blogs or other websites. I just recently signed up for Buy Sell Ads. The main reason I was attracted to their service was the way they pull up the stats from Alexa, Compete, Delicious, Yahoo, and others for your site. I know that if I wanted to focus more on that aspect, I could probably do better with my earnings. At the same time, I would like my blog and websites not to be overrun with advertising and focused more on just the content.

Indirect Blogging Income

The indirect income I have made from blogging is what I find the most valuable. The experience I have gained from using WordPress, along with the use of social media and search optimization to promote Kikolani, has led to my ability to offer freelance web design and optimization services to local businesses. I can also add my personal and freelance experience to my resume, so if need be, I can find a good job opportunity in the future.

Future Plans for Revenue Generation

I have a ton of ideas in my head of ways I could be earning more online, and I hope to one day implement them. The one that is forefront in my mind is a social media ebook. I have been thinking about it for a while, and I have become more motivated towards it after reading positive comments from my article on the new version of StumbleUpon. I had been wary to write about the StumbleUpon changes, as there were so many other articles on it, but knowing that it helped clarify things for my readers who still had questions after reading other articles made me feel confident in my ability to explain things in an easier to digest way. Other ideas for online income include creating some niche websites and writing for content publishers like Hubpages, Bukisa, Squidoo and eHow.

How Do You Make Money Blogging?

So now it is your turn. How has blogging helped you make money, both directly and indirectly? Have you had better luck earning income with particular networks or affiliates? Have you had any success with other content publishers like the ones mentioned above, Associated Content, etc.? Any tips you would like to leave for those looking to make money blogging?


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, blogging income, make money bl..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Week in Review & a Funny Vitamin Water Ad   New window
Date: Friday, 23 Oct 2009 15:40

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, a funny Vitamin Water ad, and the week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Social Media

Tech

The Last, but not Least

Week in Review

This week, I wrote about the changes and new features in the upcoming version of StumbleUpon, which was reviewed by a member of Community Development and Support for StumbleUpon.

Steve Nash & Vitamin Water

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, resources mashup"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
The New StumbleUpon - Likes and Dislikes   New window
Date: Wednesday, 21 Oct 2009 19:39

StumbleUpon LogoToday, I decided to use the “Click here and try the new StumbleUpon” feature to see the changes that are coming to StumbleUpon. You can find this at the top of any page within the StumbleUpon site once you are logged in, and don’t worry - until the changeover is permanent, you can still go to the Settings page within the new layout and switch back to the old look and feel if you are “missing” something. You can also go back and forth between the old and new interface by bookmarking the StumbleUpon Switch link.

Now granted, the beta / trial site may not have all of the features fully functional yet, but as far as what I have seen so far, here are some of my major likes and dislikes, plus a few debunked rumors.

URL Review Page

The review page for URL’s has changed. You can now see a view count (or the number of times people have clicked on the link from StumbleUpon) and all of the people who have thumbed up the page, as opposed to the old interface that just showed a selection of the recent Stumblers who favorited it.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
The old review page vs. the new one

Subscribers, Subscriptions and Friends

I have read a variety of different comments where people have assumed their friends will automatically be converted to mutual subscribers. This is not true (or if it is, it hasn’t happened yet). Whenever you switch over to the new StumbleUpon, you will notice that you only have a certain number of subscribers and subscriptions, and unless all of your previous friends have subscribed to you, then you will see a discrepancy between the numbers. In the old interface, I have 489 friends, whereas in the new interface, I have 336 subscriptions and 324 subscribers. You will find your subscriptions and subscribers under the new Stumblers tab. Mutual connections are marked with a double arrow (New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes), similar to the one Twitter Karma uses to show mutual Twitter followers.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
Stumbler subscriptions

Also missing from the new StumbleUpon test site are pending friend requests. The New StumbleUpon FAQ says you can handle them in the same way as before, but I have yet to find them in the new site. So I guess if you have some, add them and then send them the now famous “Subscribe to mine and I’ll subscribe to yours” message.

Meeting New Stumblers

In the new StumbleUpon, under your Stumblers tab, you will find Visitors, Suggestions and Recent. Visitors shows Stumblers who have visited your profile, along with the arrows to show if they are mutual connections. Suggestions show similar Stumblers, with a simple Subscribe button under each user description. If you subscribe to them from this screen, it will automatically select the accept shares to your toolbar option for those Stumblers. Recent shows Stumblers recently active on StumbleUpon, also with the arrows to show if they are mutual connections or not.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
Suggested Stumblers

Also, when you click on a tag in the Discover tab of the new interface, you will see a list of people who like that tag. So, say, you’re a WordPress theme developer. Check out all of the people who like items tagged with WordPress themes for a group of Stumblers interested in what you have to offer.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
Stumblers who like particular tags

Finally, when you are on a profile of a Stumbler, instead of the common interests bubble, there is a We Both Like link that will show you pages that you have both favorited. Also, underneath the Subscribe button on the Stumbler’s profile, there is a link in the new interface to Meet Another Stumbler, which takes you to a random Stumbler’s profile, which is usually someone you have at least one We Both Like item in common.

The StumbleUpon Inbox

In the old interface, you can find your inbox messages, recent shares and pending friend requests. In the new site, the inbox is just the inbox with new messages and nothing more. I will miss the recent shares options, as sometimes I accidentally double-click on my new shares number in the toolbar and skip over a page, or the page wouldn’t load and I would move onto the next one, then check my recent shares later on to get that missed page.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
The old StumbleUpon inbox vs. the new one

Update: Recent Shares in the new interface is under the Discover tab as shares. Thanks Alistair!

Sharing

Sharing in the new StumbleUpon will not be as effortless as in the old interface. In the old version, you can share anything with anyone who accepts your friend request, whereas in the new version, you can only share things with subscribers. Whenever someone subscribes to you, they have to check the option to accept shares to their toolbar. Subscriptions made before the changeover in the old interface will automatically have this option checked, but after that point, you could have subscribers that are opting not to receive your shares.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
Subscribers have the option to accept shares

Also, unlike the friend request, I am not sure that anything will notify someone that you have subscribed to them, so if you hope to make a mutual connection, you will have to send them a separate message to let them know you would like them to subscribe to you too.

Finally, the ability to check all of your subscribers to receive a share is no longer available. Instead, you have to click on each subscriber individually to select them to receive your share. This should hopefully cut down on the StumbleUpon spamming that has been rampant recently, as people will have to click through their subscribers one by one for each share, making it much more time consuming. At the same time, it will make it painful for those who are just sharing one thing to hundreds of subscribers.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
The old way of sharing vs. the new one

Tags and Searching

This is a feature I have been waiting for, but doesn’t quite work as well as I was hoping. In the new StumbleUpon, you can search through only your favorites, as well as your friends’ favorites. While I had hoped it would search through the page / article titles of favorites, it only seems to search through the tags. For example, if I have favorited 10 articles on Facebook, but only tagged 3 of them as Facebook, only those 3 will show up in my search.

The tag cloud is now gone, replaced by a dropdown list of your tags. This would be a little nicer if it was organized alphabetically as opposed to by the number of items you have for a particular tag.

New Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes
The old tag cloud vs. the new dropdown

Your StumbleUpon Profile URL

StumbleUpon user profile URL’s are changing from yourusername.stumbleupon.com to www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/yourusername/. They are automatically forwarding to the new profile URL in the new interface.

More on Upcoming StumbleUpon Changes

For more on the upcoming StumbleUpon changes, check out the following articles:

Subscribe to Kikolani on StumbleUpon

If you want to share Stumbles with me, be sure to subscribe to Kikolani on StumbleUpon and send me a message so I can subscribe back and get your shares too. The Fetching Friday resources are pulled from my StumbleUpon favorites weekly!

Your Thoughts on the New StumbleUpon

Have you tried the new StumbleUpon? What are your likes and dislikes?


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Social Media, stumbleupon"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Another Day at the Office & Swine Flu   New window
Date: Friday, 16 Oct 2009 20:27

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, just another day at the office, and how it’s not swine flu.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO

Tech

Social Media

The Last, but not Least

It’s Not Swine Flu

This has been yet another quiet week on the blogging front due to my husband and I both coming down with a seriously nasty respiratory infection. No, it wasn’t the swine flu (although that is what everyone keeps asking us). Just something seriously harsh that put us both down and out for the week. Thank goodness we had the week off for tennis… it couldn’t have been more perfectly timed.

Just Another Day at the Office

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, resources mashup, swine..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Related News and Ally McBeal   New window
Date: Friday, 09 Oct 2009 20:25

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, Ally McBeal, and related news at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Graphic / Web Design

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO / Tech

Social Media

The Last, but not Least

Related News

Not much in the week in review, as I have been working on hard on revising my portfolio. When I originally created it, I was really into the single page designs, but now I want to expand it to inlude more information and a blog on freelancing and the services I provide. Hopefully, the new design and content will be complete next week.

Ally McBeal

For any Ally McBeal fans who haven’t heard, the long awaited complete series DVD collection has just been released. I absolutely loved this show, especially the romance between Ally and Larry in the 4th season. So if you loved it, get the Ally McBeal: The Complete Series for yourself, or for me.

This show also introduced me to Josh Groban. I had never been a fan of vocal / classical music until I heard this guy’s voice on Ally McBeal.

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, ally mcbeal, blogging r..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, 100 Greatest Hits on Youtube & Week in Review   New window
Date: Friday, 02 Oct 2009 15:48

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, 100 greatest hits on Youtube, and the week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Health

Photography / Digital Art

SEO / Tech

Social Media

The Last, but not Least

Week in Review

This week, I introduced our new kitten Natasha. Also, I asked what is most important for bloggers - visitors, commenters, or subscribers - and added some tips on how to get each of them.

100 Greatest Youtube Hits in 4 Minutes

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, blogging resources, res..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Blog Visitors, Readers, Commenters and Subscribers   New window
Date: Tuesday, 29 Sep 2009 16:08

As a blogger, one thing you probably have noticed is the difference in numbers between the people who visit your blog, participate on your blog and actually subscribe to your blog. If you consider commenters and subscribers as “converted hits” on your blog, then you may find the conversion rate extremely frustrating.

Visitors vs. Readers

First off, how do you know if you are getting more readers vs. just hit and run visitors? If you have an analytic program such as Google Analytics installed on your blog, you will have an insight into this trend. Instead of just being fascinated by the number of visits, take a look at the New Visits percentage. Clicking on this statistic will show you the amount of new visitors vs. returning visitors during a specific time frame.

Next, how do you know if people are staying on your site and actually reading? Check out the Bounce Rate percentage, Pages Per Visit and Time on Site. The Bounce Rate tells you how many people are entering your blog on one page, and exiting without going anywhere else. Pages Per Visit, going along with Bounce Rate, gives you the average amount of pages that people visit while on your site. Time on Site tells you how long people are staying on your website.

Top Content

If you want to know what content is important on your site, simply use the look at the Content menu > Top Content. Select an article, and then analyze the amount of time people spent on that article and the percent of people that continued on to other pages on your blog or ultimately exited after reading that page. This tells you if the content was enriching enough to keep visitors on your site longer, and if you found was to entice them to check out more of your site.

Extending Visitors Stay

Once you know what type of content keeps people on your site, you will want to ensure that visitors continue to more of your site. This can be done by including links in your article’s content and at the end to related posts. Just be sure that the posts are as related as possible - someone reading an article about Twitter will be more likely to click on other Twitter articles than a random article about photography.

Commenters

So now that you have found readers, how do you get them to comment? There are several ways to turn your readers into active commentators, including:

  • Leaving an article somewhat “incomplete” so readers will want to add their input to complete the information.
  • Asking your readers questions, so they know that their opinion is valuable to you as well.
  • Offering incentives, such as creating a Top Commenter list on your homepage, offering dofollow links, holding contests where commenters get a prize for leaving their opinion on a particular article, etc.

Subscribers

This is by far the most difficult conversion, from visitor to subscriber. While you can do things such as offer a free item in exchange for someone subscribing to your blog by email, sometimes you will find that people will subscribe, get their free item, and then unsubscribe. If you want subscribers that are going to stick with you, you have to get them to subscribe based on your content. Make sure that you make it easy for people to subscribe by explaining the basics of RSS, the benefits of RSS subscriptions and having the option to subscribe via RSS reader and email in various parts of your blog. You don’t want someone to reach the decision that they want to subscribe, and then have to hunt down the link to your feed. Then, your goal after that point is to make sure that every article sent to their RSS feed or email box is informative, entertaining and useful.

Also, don’t get frustrated just because you don’t have a high subscriber count. Remember that some people prefer other methods of being notified of your new posts over RSS subscriptions. For example, I find that I don’t subscribe to some blogs because those bloggers have found other ways to direct me to their new posts, such as sharing (but not over-sharing) them with me on StumbleUpon. Your readers may have many different favorite social networks of choice, so be sure to promote your articles on multiple social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. Although it sounds like a time consuming task, it doesn’t have to be if you develop a plan and have the right tools to simplify the social submission process.

Your Thoughts

As a blogger, what do you find most important? Getting hits, readers, commenters or subscribers? What methods do you use and find successful in converting hits to repeat visitors and active participants on your site?


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, blog commenters, blog subscrib..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Meet Our New Kitten Natasha   New window
Date: Monday, 28 Sep 2009 17:22

Last weekend, while my hubby and I were out doing some shopping for our furry friends at Petsmart, we met found something we were not expecting. Petsmart has an adoption center for cats and dogs that need a good home. He called me over to look at one particular kitten. She has a huge resemblance to our Merlin that we lost last month. So much so that I burst into tears when I saw her.

We went home, mostly so I could put myself back in order again. Then we went back to Petsmart, and half an hour later, brought home this new little bundle of joy. Since she’s so small, I’m breaking her into my photographing ways slowly. But here are some candid shots of our new kitten named Natasha.

Natasha
NatashaNatasha
Natasha
NatashaNatasha


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Daily Life, kitten, natasha, pets"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Fetching Friday - Resources Mashup, Busy Week in Review, & Funny Trekkie Video   New window
Date: Friday, 25 Sep 2009 16:46

This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, a Trekkie video, and a busy week in review at kikolani.com.

The Resources Mashup

Here are some of the best articles I have stumbledupon this week.

Blogging

Business / Finance / Career

Graphic / Web Design

Personal Development / Self Improvement / Relationships

Photography / Art / Digital Art

SEO / Tech

Social Media

The Last, but not Least

Week in Review

This week has been a busy one on Kikolani, with a new post everyday, and a very detailed post on Oes Tsetnoc as well.

Kikolani

Monday began with a guest post on 10 easy steps for a balanced life.

Tuesday post on Akismet and comment moderation was in response to finding several of my regular readers in the spam filter of my WordPress plugin Akismet, which everyone should check often.

On Wednesday, I finally got back to the WordPress Thesis customization series with part three B on single post customizations, including the social bookmarking / sociable icons which I have been receiving a lot of inquiries on. No, it’s not a plugin - read this post to find out how you can implement the social icons on any theme.

Yesterday, my post inspiration was thanks to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger offering a one day 50% off sale for his 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook. For anyone who missed out on the challenge in April, it’s a great way to improve your blog with 31 detailed tasks. Though the promotion has ended, I still reccommend this workbook, as it is a great value and resource, even at full price. This post includes specific examples of how just the first three days of the 31DBB improved my site greatly.

Oes Tsetnoc

Oes tsetnoc has been jumping around in Google SERPs like mad (175 one day, then 16, then 5, now ?). On Monday, I did an in-depth traffic and social media statistics review of my site compared to other domains created for this SEO contest. It includes some free tools and websites that you can use for your own website analytics research.

A Little Something for the Trekkies

I can’t remember how I found this one, but it is one that cannot be missed. A funny spoof on other “themes” for the new Star Trek movie.

Want to be featured in Fetching Friday posts?

Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away (DoFollow, CommentLuv, and KeywordLuv enabled), and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.

Join me on BlogCatalogShout out on DiggJoin me on FacebookJoin me on LinkedInBe my fan on Stumbleupontwitter.pngSee my videos on Youtube




Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Fetching Friday, blogging resources"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
31 Days to Build a Better Blog at 50% Off   New window
Date: Thursday, 24 Sep 2009 19:00

Today Only until 8PM MST The half off promotion has ended. But you can still get 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for $19.95. Learn more about this great resource.


31-days-to-build-a-better-blogAs most bloggers know, Darren Rowse of Problogger.net is a great authority on blogging. Back in April, he ran a 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge, where bloggers signed up and received an assignment everyday for 31 days on ways to improve their blogging.

At the time, I was preparing for my wedding and honeymoon, so I didn’t get a chance to do every task. But a few of them that I did get to do made a huge difference. The following are just the first three days of the challenge, and the results.

Day 1 - Create an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog

I had been wishy washy about what I really wanted this site to be about. After reading about how to create an elevator pitch and with some creative wording help from my husband, I came up with Kikolani’s new concept. The tagline:

Technically Beautiful, Artfully Beneficial

Then the main description:

Kikolani is about the art of blogging - the technical aspects with blogging and social networking tips, the beauty with photography and poetry, and the benefits for writers and readers.

Day 2 - Write a List Post

I had a huge article ready on the many ways of using Delicious bookmarking, and I took that assignment and converted my article into a descriptive list post.

Day 3 - Promote a Blog Post

Using the same article on Delicious, I went on a social media spree. In the end, I ended up with 56 Diggs, 24 Delicious saves, 22 Mixx votes, 15 Stumble reviews (and many more thumbs up), 54 comments and 35 re-tweets.

Then, the next week, I used the same social media promotions on a post on Twitter Lingo, and ended up with 44 Diggs, 28 Delicious saves, 23 Mixx votes, 16 Stumble reviews (and many more thumbs up) 79 comments and 109 re-tweets.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook

So needless to say, since I didn’t get to finish up all of the assignments in the 31 days that the challenge ran, I was excited that Darren released a comprehensive workbook with all 31 assignments.

When you purchase the workbook, you not only get the 31 assignments, but you also get a free one hour podcast plus transcript where Darren answers questions from other workbook owners on a broad range of topics related to blogging.

You will learn how to:

  • Write a variety of different types and styles of posts
  • Learn techniques for coming up with new post ideas
  • Promote your blog in a variety of ways
  • Build relationships with readers
  • Reach out to and developed working relationships with other bloggers
  • Develop an editorial calendar for your blog going forward
  • Discover ways to be more connected to your niche/topic
  • Design a plan for the next month of your blogging

I believe that any blogger that is looking to grow their readership, become an authority in their niche, and become a problogger will benefit greatly from this workbook. I believe in it so much that the link to it is in the footer of each of my posts to help spread the word about this great resource.

So why wait? You have until 8PM US Mountain Time to Get the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook plus podcast & transcript for 50% off in celebration of Problogger turning 5 (use discount code ‘probloggeris5′ when checking out) for $19.95 (which is still a great deal if you miss the promotion), you can get it all today for $9.97, plus the option to sign up for future newsletters with additional updates and tips on ways to build a better blog.

So if you are a blogger, why not give it a try? Purchase 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. There is a 100% money back guarantee, so if you don’t like it after 31 days, you can get a full refund. What is there to lose?


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, 31dbbb, build a better blog, p..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
WordPress Thesis Theme Customization Part Three B: Posts & Social Bookmarking   New window
Date: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009 15:00

When browsing other WordPress blogs with awesome themes, I always find myself wondering how someone handled a particular aspect of the layout or functionality. This is especially true with the Thesis Theme, because of the difference in setup due to the Thesis hooks system. So for anyone browsing Kikolani, I wanted to answer the question of “how did you do that” in a new series on WordPress Thesis Theme Customization.

Part Three B: Posts & Social Bookmarking Icons

There are five main customizations that I have done to my single posts.

Custom Byline with Tweetmeme Button

The first customized item is the custom byline, or the details right under the post title, which shows on the main index page, archives, and single post pages. In Thesis Options, under Display, I set the Byline to include “Show author name in post byline,” “Link author names to archives,” and “Show published-on date in post byline.”

Then, in the custom_functions.php, I add a custom byline function to the Thesis byline item hook using this code:

add_action('thesis_hook_byline_item','custom_byline');

In the custom byline function, I include the following to add the comment count to the byline, and also include the Tweetmeme controls as well to make re-tweeting articles easy:

function custom_byline() {
?>
 in <span class="url fn"><?php the_category(', '); ?></span> | <a href="<?php comments_link(); ?>" class="url fn"><span class="url fn"><?php comments_number('0 Comments','1 Comment','% Comments'); ?></span></a> <div style="float:right;margin-top:-19px;margin-right:-10px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> tweetmeme_url = '<?php the_permalink() ?>'; tweetmeme_style = 'compact'; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script> </div>
<?
}

Greet Box

The second customized item is handled by the WP Greet Box plugin, which checks where visitors are coming from, and displays a message focused on a particular social network or a general message about subscribing.

Sociable Links Function

The next three modifications happen in the custom_functions.php. The function is called sociable_links, and I add it to the post footer hook by using the following:

add_action('thesis_hook_after_post', 'sociable_links');

I open the function with:

function sociable_links() {

And check to make sure the modifications only happen on single post pages by adding:

if (is_single()) { ?>

The Single Post Ad

The first part of my post footer is the ad. This is done in HTML using the code provided form e-Junkie, currently for the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog by ProBlogger.

The “Enjoy This Post” Section

The second part of my post footer is to invite people who enjoyed the post they just read to bookmark it on social networks or to subscribe so they do not miss out on future posts. For those who are not sure about RSS and social bookmarking, I also include a links to articles on RSS and social bookmarking so they can learn more.

The Social Bookmarking Icons

Lately, my social bookmarking icons have gotten a lot of attention. Most people think it’s a plugin, but it’s actually all manually coded in. I loved the Polaroid Icon Set because it not only showed the network icon, but also the name, for those who may not recognize just the symbol. I had to create a few new icons for Sphinn and Mixx, and edited the Gmail icon for email. Then I modified some code I found for manually inserting sociable links in WordPress. The following is the specific codes used for the icons at the end of this post.

Delicious
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Bookmark this post at Delicious" target="blank"><img src="delicious.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Delicious Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Digg
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Digg this post" target="blank"><img src="digg.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Digg Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Email
<a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:?subject=<?php the_title();?>&body=<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="Email this post" target="blank"><img src="gmail.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Email Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Facebook
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&t=<?php the_title();?>" title="Share this post on Facebook" target="blank"><img src="facebook.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Facebook Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Mixx
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mixx.com/submit?page_url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Mixx this post" target="blank"><img src="mixx.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Mixx Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Reddit
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Reddit this post" target="blank"><img src="reddit.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Reddit Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Sphinn
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://sphinn.com/submit.php?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Sphinn this post" target="blank"><img src="sphinn.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Sphinn Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

StumbleUpon
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=<?php the_title();?>" title="Stumble this post" target="blank"><img src="stumbleupon.png" border="0" alt="Polariod StumbleUpon Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Twitter
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Currently reading <?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="Click to send this page to Twitter!" target="_blank"><img src="twitter.png" border="0" alt="Polariod Twitter Icon" style="padding:1px;background-color:none;"></a>

Closing the sociable_links function
Finally, to close the sociable_links function, I use:

<?php }
}

For those not using Thesis, you can simply add the code for the social bookmarking networks you would like to include at the end of your posts into your Single Posts (single.php) template after the <?php the_content(); ?> and before the <?php comments_template(); ?>

About the WordPress Thesis Theme Customization Series

Originally, I had planned on making one comprehensive article about my Thesis Theme customizations, but after only finishing two sections, I realized that this article would be a bit overwhelming if it was a all in one job. So instead, I’m breaking it up into a series:

So stay tuned for Part Three C to see what custom code and styles have been implemented to customize footer section.

Thesis Questions

If you have any questions regarding customizations of the Thesis Theme throughout the series, please let me know via the comments. If I get enough questions, I may add a Part Five of Q&A. And other commentators, if you see a question you can answer, go for it! I’ll add your name & link to the Part Five post, assuming there are enough questions.


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, single posts, sociable, social..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Akismet, Spam Filters and Comment Moderation   New window
Date: Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009 18:28
spam

from Flickr

A few weeks ago, I decided to remove the Math Spam Protection from my comments form, and opted to finally give Akismet a try again.

I had enabled it a long time ago, when I first began blogging, but found that a lot of good comments were being caught in the spam filter. So I disabled it, and went with the simplest captcha I could find. Unfortunately, captchas cannot do anything about trackback spam, of which I was receiving about 100+ per day.

So now, I finally have the freedom from the horrible amount of spam I was receiving. But I do have some commentators who are always being filtered into the spam folder, no matter how many times I approve them and they are marked as “false positives” in the system. And it’s not just new commentators either - some of them have been commenting on this site for months now, and are far from ever being considered spammers, and yet, there they are, caught in my Akismet spam filter.

I think that one thing that may be contributing to being caught by Akismet is other bloggers marking certain commentators as spam simply due to their website affiliation. I know that even I look twice at comments made by people in certain fields. But just because someone is marketing a particular website does not make them automatically a spammer. My rule is if the comment looks legitimate, and the website is not an adult site, online pharmacy, etc. then I will approve the comment. If this person has shown that they took the time to read the article, and made a thoughtful comment about it, then they deserve to have their comment posted.

On the other hand, spammers have gotten better about making legitimate looking comments, which I may have approved a few of as well. I have turned down many more comments than I have approved out of the Akismet spam filter, so it’s not for lack of paying attention. And I admit, I need to go through and have a look at some previously approved people, as I have found that some people get the feeling they can write a few great comments, and then be free to not contribute valuable comments but take advantage of the dofollow link privileges thereafter.

For Commenters

For now, the benefits of Akismet are definitely hard to pass up, so I have to apologize to those who have been unfairly caught in the filter. I will do my best to check it more often. If you are a commentator who notices your comments are not being approved after 24 - 48 hours, send a message (maybe through the site’s contact form) and ask the reason your comment is not being approved. This will show that you are not a “drive by” comment spammer, and will also hep remind me to check the spam filter. I would suggest this approach on other blogs as well, especially ones that designate they use Akismet.

For Bloggers

How do you handle comment moderation and determine if something is spam or legitimate? If you are on WordPress, would you recommend Akismet or another spam filtering plugin?

Resources

Here are some more good articles on comments, moderation and spam.


Author: "Kristi" Tags: "Blogging, akismet, comment moderation, s..."
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
10 Easy Tips for a Balanced Life   New window
Date: Monday, 21 Sep 2009 15:54

balanced life
Somerset Landscape by Info Somerset

This post was written by Kelly Rockey from Star Costumes.

Many people these days are overwhelmed by negativity, lack of motivation, and stress. This is an unhealthy way to live and can create a myriad of problems in your day to day life. It is important to understand that in order to live a balanced life that you be not only physically healthy but mentally healthy too. There are simple steps all of us can take to live a positive mental, spiritual and emotional life. Living a well balanced life is the key to being truly healthy.

Here are ten easy tips to help you get started:

1. Visualize Your Dreams and Goals

Take a few minutes each day to visualize yourself living out your dreams. Create a mental picture of your goals. Seeing yourself already achieving your goals makes the brain believe that it is possible. Doing this is also a fantastic stress reliever.

2. Feed Your Body Well

Good nutrition can help prevent illness and disease. Make sure to have at least 5 serving of fruits and vegetables a day in various colors. Eating different colors will give you a multitude of valuable disease fighting nutrients. Also make sure to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. Water transports nutrients throughout your body, cleans out your body, and eases digestion.

3. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

You’ve heard it before but exercise is a critical component to leading a well balanced life. Being physically fit gives you a positive outlook on life and reduces your risk of disease. It doesn’t matter how you get your exercise, it just matters that you get it on a regular basis. Make exercise a priority in your life!

4. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

It is important to step out of your comfort zone once in awhile. This will help you achieve personal growth and confidence. Face something you wouldn’t normally do and you just may surprise yourself and give your self confidence a boost at the same time.

5. Live in the Present

Force yourself to let go of the past and not to worry about the future. Live for today! Look at your life as it is right now and count your blessings. Enjoy today as it won’t be here tomorrow.

6. Live by the Golden Rule

We all know the golden rule is to “treat others how you yourself wish to be treated” but how many of us actually live this way? Make a conscious effort to treat others well and to be understanding of other peoples feelings. The world would be a much better place if we all lived by this simple rule.

7. Have Integrity

This tip is as simple as this: Be who you really are. Live your life according to your own beliefs and you will have peace and harmony in life. Don’t let others convince you to be someone you are not. Be true to yourself.

8. Expect the Unexpected

Learn how to deal with the small misfortunes that are inevitable in life. Don’t let yourself get stressed and upset over things you have no control over. There will always be traffic, computers crash, kids get sick, etc. Accept and realize that anything can happen and learn how to adjust your game plan.

9. Know Your Priorities

Focus your energies on what is most important to you at the current stage in your life. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many major projects at one time. Trying to do everything at once is a recipe for disaster.

10. Always Maintain a Positive Mental Attitude

As you begin each day, have the intention of making the best of it. Count your blessings and look for the good in your life every single day. Train yourself not to let things get to you. Realize that once you’ve done everything in your control it is time to let your life unfold.

If you are interested in writing for Kikolani.com, please visit the guest post opportunities page for more details, and contact form.


Author: "Kelly" Tags: "Discoveries, balanced life, Motivation"
Comments Send by mail Print  Save  Delicious 
Next page
» You can also retrieve older items : Read
» © All content and copyrights belong to their respective authors.«
» © FeedShow - Online RSS Feeds Reader