The Simple Blog

Site About India

2007-09-09T22:34:00.000+05:30

I came across a good blog called Caution: Words Ahead! It has a lot of cool information with an emphasis on India. Check it out.

Check out my new site...

2007-07-26T03:45:00.000+05:30

Hi, a lot of the inactivity on this site stems from the fact that I have started a new blog. Yup, its another simple blog. And yup, its about the same boring stuff! Search engine optimization, links, page ranks, etc. you know - the whole works! But the difference is a refreshingly new, lighter designed site with a new and improved structured layout. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I will. I might try to maintain this site side-by-side. But who knows....

Check out the new 'The Simple Blog'.

A Long Wait Finally Over?

2007-06-05T20:54:00.001+05:30

Today i received a mail from agloco informing me that the long awaited viewbar has finally been released and that it can be downloaded by logging into their site. I checked their company blog and was able to confirm what was already in the mail.

But everything wasn't all hunky-dory. I tried logging in and it seems the server is overloaded... not surprising when you consider the overwhelming number of users they already have (yeah, the number is humongous to say the least!).

But, this positive news from the company will give it the much needed thrust and will ensure a strong subscriber base. Users were beginning to get vary about the delays in launching the software. By the way, if you've been locked away in a dungeon or lost in a deserted island for the past year, and haven't been able to sign up go ahead and do so straight away by clicking here.

But some creases still remain to be ironed out according to their company blog. They haven't been very successful in integrating all of the required ad servers with the view bar and that was causing all the delays. They have developed a work around (temporarily disabling the ad-servers that aren't working properly) and are confident that releasing the view-bar now won't jeopardize their economic model. Hope they're right. But it is good to see a positive step from the guys. It WAS a loooong wait.

As of now I have been unsuccessfully trying to log into their site to download my very own view bar. As soon as I get mine, i will be reviewing it on this blog...

Review: Logodesignworks.com

2007-05-04T03:18:00.000+05:30

Need an eye catching logo for your website? Or just need a mascot to bring brand value to your site? Read the following sponsored post to find out how to get these and more:

Logo Design Works is a Business Logo Design site comprising a total of 30 experienced designers. They provide 4 different packages depending on the need of the user. These are the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The prices range from $197 to $997 from Bronze to Platinum. But if you aren't happy with the initial logo concept, they guarantee you they'll return 100% of the money you spent.

Besides logos, Logo Design Works also provides stationary designs, mascot designs, flash animations or even your whole website.

Once a design type and package is selected, the rest goes along smoothly. You'll have two designers working on your project. Based on the input provided by you, they will come up with concepts for your project. These concepts are presented to you. If you don't like any of the logos, they will refund 100% of the money you spent.

Once the logo is selected by you, they fine tune the logo until you are happy. Once the logo is finalized, they will provide you with the final files. These are provided in two formats: vector files(EPS and AI) and web files(GIF and JPEG) plus a black and white photo for use in newspaper articles.

Stationary design includes businees cards, letterheads and envelopes. For detailed descriptions of the designing process go here.

Verdict: Very easy-to-use and affordable solution for your designing needs.

Review: Whogets.com

2007-05-03T06:12:00.000+05:30

A nice, fun chance to make some passive income on the side as you blog. Read the following sponsored post to find out more:

Whogets.com is a free online sweepstakes community with a difference. The winners are selected by the large user community base! At whogets.com, you are the judge!

The site offers you a chance to win a huge array of prizes in their online contests. The value of these prizes range from 10$ to $600. Not a bad bargain if you ask me! Joining is free and once you join, you can access all the contests through their website. Members are presented with a fairly large number of contests.

The site is well laid out and oozes that confidence inspiring, new age, Web 2.0 feeling which makes the site both easy on the eye as well as easy to navigate. Plus, the site-sponsors include some well-known and reputed companies like Cingular, GAP, Apple Store, etc. and this list will surely grow!

Concentrating on the contests, I found that the contest takes place in two phases: the semi-final and final rounds. During the semi-final round, any member can enter the contest. This phase goes on for about 7 to 14 days. At the end of this round, 7 contestants are selected randomly and they will enter the final round.

Each of the final round contestant can submit a simple hundred word long statement explaining why they deserve the product so much. This is not absolutely necessary. The finalists may also write about anything they want or even leave it blank. The rest of the users then get to vote for which user they think deserves it the most. The contestant with the highest number of votes wins the prize! The final round usually ends after about 7 to 14 days. Think of the potential income that can be earned!

The site guarantees that there will be no spamming or privacy infringement. Moreover, the site is still in beta and the number of offers will only grow as the site attains maturity.

Verdict: Go and sign up for your free account now!

A little something about Wordpress

2007-04-28T06:09:00.000+05:30

Wordpress is a PHP-based blogging software that can be used on your own server or can be hosted at wordpress with a url like: .wordpress.com.

But a dedicated hosting will get you a good amount of flexibility and credibility. You can show ads the way you want to (provided you have a decent knowledge in PHP and CSS programming) and whats more, you're visitors will have a unique url to remember.

The process of getting your dedicated hosting blog is not for the uninitiated. You have to download a zip file, and then upload it to your server and obtain a connection with your MySQL database. I'm willing to bet that it would be worth while. Anyway keeping my fingers crossed and looking for a good, affordable web hosting solutions provider.

Upgrading the Blog

2007-04-28T06:05:00.000+05:30

Right now, I have decided to 'upgrade' my blog using the money i have earned so far. By upgrade i mean that I am going to shift this blog to its own dedicated server with its own unique domain name.

There are quite a few options and after careful considerations, I have decided to go with wordpress. They allow using their blog tools for blogs having dedicated hosting. The logistics involved will be several levels higher. But I'm learning fast.

I have already registered a domain. Now i am looking for a good web host. More details will follow. Watch this space for further developments...

Slash My Search

2007-04-28T05:17:00.000+05:30

Another site for you to make some money online. This one is called SlashmySearch. It effectively pays you for any online activity that you do within the site.

The search results are innovatively packaged and can sometimes even be helpful. Moreover there are many sign-up-to-earn programs as well. Check it out at SlashmySearch.

AdBux Rules!

2007-04-22T22:34:00.000+05:30

Well, I have found another site that helps you to make money online. But the difference here is that this one works. I have tried it personally and it truly does! All you have to do is sign-up and click the selection of ads and watch each ad for 30 seconds. You get paid $0.01 for each ad.

There are two advantages. The first advantage is that it pays through paypal. The second is that even if you or your referral clicks an ad, you get $0.01 each. Let me put the second point in perspective for you.

Suppose you joined and the first day you clicked 20 ads. You get $0.20. Then you sign up say, 5 members. Suppose this happens the first day itself. Then each of your referral makes $0.20. What you end up with is $1.20 the first day. This will approximately multiply the succeeding days. Not a bad bargain, huh?

The payout threshold is $5.00! So you get money very quickly. Sign up now and add some referrals!

Check this out (Hypothetical):

You click 25 ads per day = $0.25!
10 referrals click 25 ads per day = $2.50!
Your weekly earnings = $19.25!
Your monthly earnings = $77.00!

ClixSense - Money making oppurtunity

2007-04-22T12:30:00.000+05:30

If you are reading this, that means that you are an avid blogger looking to make some cash on the net. Well, true to my word, I have reviewed a site that claims to pay you money.

It is simple. All you have to do is register on the site and click on the ads that they provide you. Wait for 30 seconds and then close it. You get from $0.01 to $0.02 per click. Not bad actually considering that on an average day, you will probably make a gazillion clicks with your mouse. Now, you actually have a way to get paid for these usually unappreciated clicks.
The site I am talking about is ClixSense.

Moreover the revenue you can generate gets exponentially increased if you can get referrals. A general earnings chart is provided on the site and I will reproduce it here :Well, what are you waiting for. This is genuine money making oppurtunity.

Agloco Getting Ready For Viewbar Launch

2007-04-19T04:41:00.000+05:30

Well, well... its been a long time since I posted here. I've been busy working on modifying this blog. Any ways, back to the topic at hand.

I'm one of the avid readers of the Official Agloco Blog. They had earlier set a deadline for the viewbar launch. But their team in shanghai couldn't meet it. But apparently they are still optimistic about an April launch. Lets keep our fingers crossed

More good news is that they have partnered with about 17 advertisers to strengthen their economic model. That means the money will definitely flow... although it maybe slow at first.

For those of you who haven't joined Agloco yet, now is the time. What do you have to lose?

Getting Back on Track

2006-12-25T12:20:00.000+05:30

Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and Eid Mubrak. The festive season is upon us and as a result, there has been a drop in traffic. You might've noticed it. It's cutting across sites - both huge as well as small. The reason? People who ought to be surfing away to glory have stopped doing so and are now shopping and enjoying the celebrations with their families. That little fact begs the question: what am i still doing here?!

That wasn't the reason for this post. The real reason behind this post is that I have a confession. I haven't been giving my 110% to this blog lately. I got caught up in figures and numbers and facts and all but forgot to deliver content to this blog. I know that what makes a successful blog isn't its design or layout or font or advertising or widgets or toys. Its the content. Yet, here I am ignoring the visitors.

While I ran behind materialistic liberties, I turned my back on spiritual gain! But not any more. A wise man (dunno who) once said, "Do what you do best and the money will follow!" I guess the wise guy was me, but anyway I'm going to follow the said advice and forget about all the numbers, stats, facts, figures, etc. and concentrate on the most important figure (as in body!), my blog.

Anyway, once again wishing all a happy holiday. Until next time....

AGLOCO - Worth it?

2006-12-24T18:32:00.001+05:30

You might have seen all the hype surrounding the new so-called FREE money site, AGLOCO. It is only fair that initially people reject such sites thinking that it is just another dud. But is there something more to AGLOCO than meets the eye? Before I go any further, I would like you to take a look at the following site:
VentrueBeat's AGLOCO Review

If you've already read that, I am sure that your interest has been aroused. Agloco makes money a lot of different ways. Among these the viewbar - the most integral part - is yet to be launched. It is still in beta. They have announced tentative launch dates 7 - 8 weeks ahead. So, AGLOCO is still in its infant stages. This means getting in now will provide more lucrative returns.

All they ask us to do now, is build up our network. That is, get as many referrals as you can. As it has just started, I'm finding it extremely easy to get referrals. And no doubt you can too. They're goal is to get 10,000,000 members by July '07 and at the rate it is expanding, they are all set to achieve the target a month ahead of schedule.

The time is ripe to get in and I would recommend that you do. All you have to do now is get some referrals and wait. Once it launches all the accumulated referrals will pay-back rich dividends. This is a program in which the early-bird is always a winner.

VERDICT : Get in now, after all, what do you have to lose - it's free!

War of the Traffic Exchanges

2006-12-16T17:56:00.000+05:30

Well, well, it seems like BlogMad has hit a sweet spot with bloggers. The poll you see on the left has been going on for a few days now. And it seems that BlogMad is the current hot favourite with bloggers when it comes to traffic exchange sites. The 1 : 1 credit ratio must be working wonders for BlogMad. BlogMad is top on the minds of 68% of the visitors to this site.

BlogExplosion follows BlogMad from a distance with 26% votes in favour. BlogSoldiers comes in at an even more distant third having gained 6% of the votes.

Besides the obvious conclusions, it also suggests that eXlinks could turn out to be a major hit in the blogosphere once it rolls out. All eXlinks has to do is provide a reasonably impressive service and they are on their way to nirvana! If you haven't already joined the bandwagon you can simple go here and register at the eXlinks prelaunch site.

See all these and more at the Blog Resources Directory. Until next time, happy blogging...

Link To Blog Resources

2006-12-10T19:22:00.000+05:30

I know you wouldn't want to right now, but if ever (like when the directory becomes large and contains many useful links) any of you feel like linking to the blog resources directory directly, you can use the following links:

Button:

<a href= "http://dasimpleblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-resources-directory.html"> <img src= "http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5320/1291/1600/955220/blog-resource.png" alt= "The Blog Resources Directory" /> </a>

Text Link:

The Blog Resources Directory

<a href= "http://dasimpleblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-resources-directory.html"> The Blog Resources Directory </a>

Feel free to use any of the above links to link to the directory. Until next time, happy blogging...

Its out...

2006-12-10T10:23:00.000+05:30

Finally rolled out the blog resources directory. It is still in its alpha (well, I like technical terms!) stage. You can find it two posts behind this post. It is not complete. In fact far from complete. I have yet to add (what I imagined would be one-line) reviews of each site. Moreover, there are a few more sites I wish to add. More over I will be using its permalink to market it.

If any of you feel any site has been left out, please feel free to comment me. Thanks.

Busy busy busy....

2006-12-07T13:21:00.000+05:30

I'm a little busy now as I have started work on the proposed directory of blog resources [see previous post]. A little encouragement (well, 1 actually) helped a lot. Now I have before me the unenviable arduous task of reviewing each site as I add it to the directory.

I will be posting the directory soon. From there I hope it will evolve and change with the times and be a good starting point for any novice blogger.

I've just thought of adding a little section for SEO/Blog Development tools alone. After all, have to keep with the theme of the blog... ;-)

Until next time...

The Blog Resources Directory

2006-12-07T13:06:00.000+05:30

Link and Traffic Exchange Resources

Blogmad - Fast Growing, stylish traffic exchange site with an incredible credit pay-off ratio of 1 : 1
BlogExplosion - Veteran traffic exchange site with a 1 : 2 ratio. Plus large number of members
BlogSoldiers - 1 : 2 ratio traffic exchange with huge credit giveaways

The Blog Community

Technorati - The must-be-in blog community. Go and get registered now.
TTLB - Widely regarded as a definitive blog ranking system. Fun and appealingly fresh. Get in now!

Pinging Tools

Ping-O-Matic - Ping upto 20 services with the click of a button
Pingoat - Ping upto 40 services from one site

Feed Tools

FeedBurner - Provides high-quality feed services
Bloglines - Free web-based feed reader
NewsGator - RSS Aggregator

Future Watches

Exlinks - Self proclaimed ultimate exponential site exploding system. Yet to be launched
Agloco - A Global Community. Yet to be launched. Promises high pay-backs

Blog Directories

Directory 2.0 - A must-be-seen-at blog directory. Register now
Today - A well-sorted directory
DMOZ - The ultimate directory to get listed on. VERY tough to get into. Good luck

Blog Tracking and Statistics

CrazyEgg - Find out what visitors are doing on your site. Must see
SiteMeter - Track the unique visitors coming to your site. Plus their location, referrer, etc.
Statcounter - Track the number of pageloads in your site. Plus a host of other info

Blog Search Engines

IceRocket - Comprehensive blog search

Miscellaneous

Gravatar - Globally Recognized Avatars
Brilliant Button Maker - Make buttons like this one ->
Take The Internet Back - Own a piece of the Internet and make money(Thanks Jane)
Google Gadgets - Get high quality gadgets/widgets to add in your blog

Monetizing

ClickBooth - High pay-out ads. Tough to figure it out though
Adsense - Easy to install and one of the most popular advertising agents
Text Link Ads - Place text links and earn money. Tough to get into though

SEO/Blog Development

Link Popularity Check - Check the number of inbound links you have. Invaluable tool
Site Score - Evaluate your site and check for problems. Amazing reports section
Google Analytics - Learn how visitors find you and how they interact with your site. Detailed Analysis
Webmasters Central - "One-stop shop for comprehensive info about how Google crawls and indexes your website"
Paypal - Invaluable tool for bloggers. Lets you transfer money within the internet and you can request a payout when needed. A sort of online bank!

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This Directory and work on this directory isn't complete. Not by a long shot. I have just thrown together a few sites that I personally know of. When more and more people view this page and think that some site is missing, all they have to do is add a comment showing the URL of that site and I'll get into it immediately. Thanks and happy blogging....

WORK IN PROGRESS - GO SLOW

Blog Resources Directory - A Proposal

2006-12-04T11:49:00.000+05:30

I have had quite a few mails from people asking me for a good blog resources directory. Well, I have scoured the net high and wide and wasn't able to come up with a good resources directory. So here is my proposal...

I will create a post that will contain information on most of the blog-related resources that I come across on the net. There will be a review of each resource/resource-site (although that will take a little extra time). I will be displaying only the top few sites under each category except directories which will contain almost all the directories that I have submitted to.

Blog Resources generally constitute sites that help a blogger in any way. Any way at all. Be it providing widgets, link-backs, blogging-services, advertising services, etc.

Now, here is how you can help build this directory(or should I say this post-based directory :->). If any of you think that a certain site provides an invaluable resource(s) then just add a comment listing the site's url and I will review the suggestion and you can be sure that I'll add it to the directory along with a link to your site. You can also review the site/resource yourself and mail it to me. I will add that review.

Help make the blogosphere a better, easier place to blog in. Add a comment now.

ClickBooth For The Rest Of Us

2006-12-03T21:50:00.000+05:30

For the newbie, ClickBooth can be a tough beast to tame. So here, I take a little time-out to explain some of the nuances of setting up ClickBooth ads on your blog. Yup, the little colorful ad bar on the top of this site is a ClickBooth ad. They are the best paying ad-providers in the industry with payouts ranging from about $0.10 to more than $50 per ad depending on the type of ad selected.

First, a little about ClickBooth. ClickBooth is an advertising solutions provider. It works both ways. It caters to both publishers as well as advertisers. I am not an advertiser, so I will be covering only the publishing aspects. Any advertisers can go to the ClickBooth site and there are enough resources there to help you out.

First of all, you need to create an account and get your site registered. If you are a blogger - starting-up or otherwise, you would already know the details of how to go about registering your blog at a site. If not, here goes... You create an account and you activate it via your e-mail account. After that, you have to wait for the site administrator to review your submission and then, once approved, you can start publishing ads on your blog.

For publishing ads on your blog, you have to start a campaign. The one I am using above is an optimized rotator. This displays a random ad each time the page is loaded. And then the performances are tracked. Slowly, the number of times low-performance ads are shown is reduced. Thus, you get an ad-space that is filled using ads that are specific to the kind of traffic that you receive on your blog. ClickBooth uses the term creative instead of both text and image ads.

Moreover, there are three types of ad campaigns that are provided. These are Cost-per-click, Cost-per-Lead and Cost-per-Sale. These names are sort of self-explanatory. The first one pays you when the ad is clicked, the second one when a person signs-up at the advertiser's site and the third when a person purchases something (when a sale is completed) from the advertiser's site.

Another way to add an ad is to sift through the hundreds of ad campaigns and select the ad you think fits your site the best. They will provide you with the code for that specific ad (creative) and all you have to do is embed this code on your site.

After this is done, you can track the performances of the campaigns you have added by clicking the run reports link. Then bask in the glory of all the money you have made! Enjoy!

Any questions, experiences or feedback are welcome...

Until next time, happy blogging...

AGLOCO - The Economic Network

2006-12-03T15:05:00.000+05:30

AGLOCO is a spanking new site that looks promising enough. It is a radical new idea. Hope it works out. I got referred to it by a friend.

The idea behind AGLOCO is simple. Millions of companies out there are willing to pay billions of dollars for advertising. Their target? Us! And what do we get? Nothing (Almost :->). What AGLOCO does is give some of the cash to the consumers. According to them...

AGLOCO is the only community where Members are first in every aspect. We hope to create a vibrant, trustworthy, and creative community.

The basic idea is based on the share market. You get shares on the site. The more revenue it generates, the more money its shareholders get. From what I understand, this site is just starting up. If it strikes gold, so will its account holders! A risk worth taking!. Go here to sign-up now.

AGLOCO means A GLObal COmmunity.

I'm Back

2006-12-03T13:49:00.000+05:30

Whew! Exams are finally over. I must say, it wasn't half bad. Couldn't get my posts in on time. By the way, watched the movie Babel recently. One word: Amazing. On tv, been watching Prison Break and Heroes too. Both cool serials. Prison Break is turning out exceptionally well. Waiting for Scrubs' next (6th) season (starting in January I think).

When I returned, I found 4 people agreeing to exchange links with me. A huge thanks to MyBlogCanBeatUpYourBlog, BlackWyrm, Dave Dragon and Mr. Disgruntled. Guys, I've already added links to your site on this blog.

When I returned, my Technorati ranking had more than halved due to this link exchanging. ClickBooth showed a $ 0.12 increase in my account. Got a few referrals.

My total incoming link count more than doubled on Altavista and Yahoo! Still no incoming links according to Google though. Wonder why. Moreover, no change in TTLB. They haven't even been able to read my traffic despite having a SiteMeter account. Any thoughts?

Until next time, happy blogging.

Spring Cleaning...

2006-11-22T19:54:00.000+05:30

Was a busy day today. I have just cleaned-up the blog. Also I increased the font size so that the text is more readable. Got rid of the clock widget (I was getting bored of it, besides I never used to get the right time :->).

And after careful consideration of what Mr. Brettbum had to say about google adsense in the comments of one of my previous posts, I decided it was better to play it safe. So I stripped down the google adsense adverts from the blog. At least for now.

But what fun is a site without ads. Especially if one of your major concerns is revenue. So I added another ad. This time by ClickBooth. ClickBooth is known for giving some of the highest payouts in the industry. I don't know much about ClickBooth. I will be seeking deeper answers and when I get them I will be sharing that info with you. Until next time, happy blogging...

A Few More Directories To Submit To

2006-11-19T17:48:00.000+05:30

I came across a few more directories that you can submit to. I have given them below...

Directory 2.0 - STOP whatever you are doing right now and submit your site to this directory. It is worth it. You'll see...
Globe of blogs - Once you register here, you can see your inbound links exploding on search-engines. Definitely worth it.
Blogarama - A huge site with a similar sized directory. If you own a blog, you probably ought to be on this site.

Until next time, happy blogging...

Higher Rankings Anyone?

2006-11-19T12:15:00.000+05:30

Well, who wants a better blog ranking? I am inviting you to exchange links with me. For the uninitiated, this is a win-win deal. You put my link on your site and I put yours on mine. This is called reciprocative linking. Getting as many links to your site as possible is important. More the links, higher your search engine rankings. And reciprocal links are one of the best ways to get quality inbound links.

So if any of you are interested in reciprocal linking, just add a comment and your url and I will add a link to your site on this blog hoping that you would do the same on your's.

Just in case, my url is given below. Happy Blogging...

http://dasimpleblog.blogspot.com

The Growing Blog

2006-11-18T04:19:00.000+05:30

Watching your blog grow could be one of the most exhilarating experiences online. Its like playing a strategy game like the Sims or Civilization IV. But some might call it as boring as watching paint dry. Blogging is not for them. When your sole aim is to make money using your blog, it takes great will-power during the starting weeks of your blog.

For me the time has arrived when I will have to muster all the courage and will-power I can get to continue blogging. It has been half-a-month since I started this blog. So far it has been fun. This is usually the time when a blogger stops blogging and takes up philosophy or something of the kind. He feels that all his hard-work isn't paying off. Almost 90% of starting bloggers stop blogging before they have unleashed the true-potential of their blog.

I should know. I have been there, done that. This post is a sort of morality-booster cum encouragement drive on my part to all the bloggers that are stuck on this phase of their blog and feel like quitting. HOLD ON! The time hasn't arrived yet. Maintaining a high-paying blog is no silly matter. It takes determination. And a lot of hard-work. When I feel low like I do now, I go through other people's successful blogs and read about their success stories. It lifts my spirits. In the two weeks that I have maintained this blog, I've seen it grow slowly and steadily and have received some encouraging pat-on-the-backs from well-meaning bloggers.

So if you identify with what I just talked about, I implore you to continue and not look back. Soon the toughest stages will be over. From there on, its a free and easy ride. The grass, I assure you, will be greener on the other side...

What's The Deal With eXlinks?

2006-11-18T03:36:00.000+05:30

I've been following this new exponential website growth site that has been prelaunched. It is from the creaters of BlogMad. I feel that is reason enough for me to join it. But they are extremely tight-lipped about it. Except for a few leaked screen shots, I don't think anyone knows anything about this site. All they are saying is that

eXlinks is the ultimate, exponential link-swapping, site exploding system, and is completely free.

It seems people are signing up fast. No one wants to risk not being involved in potentially what (just maybe) might be the next blog revolution. Atleast that is what they are leading us to believe. Plus they proclaim some gifts for those who sign-up now. This is what they are saying:

Signing up now will guarentee you a spot in the beta, updates through the newsletter, and a few extra benefits.

Whatever it is, I'd sign up simply because the leaked screenshots look amazing! Keeping fingers crossed...

Advancing this Blog...

2006-11-16T12:54:00.000+05:30

I have just gone ahead and signed up for yet another blog exchange program at BlogAdvance. Although I have just signed up, initially it looks and I'm guessing works just like BlogSoldiers. I may be wrong. This is just the initial inference. This blog being in its infantile stage, needs as many visitors as it can get. Moreover, I realized that BlogAdvance has a whole lot of different reader base than the ones that are available at BlogMad, BlogExplosion or BlogSoldiers. For a nascent blog, I would recommend all of these...

A little Off-Topic...

2006-11-15T20:00:00.000+05:30

I am going ahead and taking a risk by going a bit off-topic. I am presuming that if you are reading this blog, it must be because you are willing to give a little effort to make some money online. Remember, only the initial part is tough. Once you are well on your way, there could be nothing easier. What this post is about is this site that I got referred to from another blog. It is a site that pays you for reading mails sent to you by them. So far, I have made $11.38 from this site by simply reading mails. If you are really dedicated, you can even sign-up on some of their sponsored sites for gaining money ranging from $0.50 to $10! If you think you have the time to incorporate a few extra clicks into your daily mail-reading routine, I highly recommend you try this site. Oh and did I mention that they give you a free $10 sign-up bonus for a limited period?

Until next time, happy blogging...

A few more Directories...

2006-11-15T19:50:00.000+05:30

These are the few sites that I have submitted my blog to. I suggest that if you haven't already, you should go ahead and submit to these sites. The more directories, the merrier! I will be adding this blog to more directories soon. Its just that my exams are starting on friday and I am a little short on time. Until next time, happy blogging...

Today - A very important site. Will require a reciprocal link.
Blog Street - Enter your url.
Ice Rocket - Ping them your url.
We Blog A Lot - Ping them your RSS feed if you have one.

Any doubts will be welcome...

A Short Note on BlogSoldiers

2006-11-15T19:29:00.000+05:30

BlogSoldiers is a traffic exchange site. It is one of the most versatile I have come across. It even pays you money for browsing other blogs. Although, I am yet to test this feature, it appears to be present. Moreover you can do a lot of nifty things like set the amount of visitors that visit your site through BlogSoldiers. Besides, they have just upgraded their credit ratio from 1 : 2 to 3 : 4. That means, for every 4 blogs you browse, you get 3 visits.

Let me remind all you skeptics out there that traffic exchange sites are a good way for your site to get noticed initially. The early days of a blog are the most difficult. The same goes for the uninitiated blogger as well. I will start looking more seriously at directories which is also an important factor in marketing your new-born blog. Until then, happy blogging...

Time to visit the (bloga)ZOO!

2006-11-12T16:15:00.000+05:30

I have just signed up on another nifty little blog exchange site called Blogazoo. Now, let me explain what caught my attention on this little site that separated it from the rest of the crowd.

At Blogazoo, the age-old problem of getting quality traffic to your site gets solved albeit to a very small extent. But hey, any quality traffic is better than none, right? It will be interesting to see how their concept works out practically. In theory it sounds somewhat ok.

What they do is place a Gazoo on member blogs. Gazoos are text links which when clicked by a surfer, will get him multiple credits for the single click. This will encourage users tp read through blogs. Who knows? They might even contribute valuable clicks to your site as they surf it searching for Gazoos!

I have just signed up and as of yet, my site has not been approved. But once it does get approved, it'd be interesting to see how things work out. Check it out here! Keeping my fingers crossed. By the way, for those of you who haven't already, I recommend you sign up to the following traffic exchanges as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

BlogMad
BlogExplosion
BlogSoldiers

Feed your blog and generate money...

2006-11-11T23:50:00.000+05:30

Feeds. What are feeds? According to FeedBurner,

A feed is the format that allows your content to be delivered (and subscribed to) on the Web.

FeedBurner is one of the world's largest feed provider. Generally, feeds are of two formats: RSS and Atom. As far as I can tell, feeds are generated automatically and can be read by people without coming to your blog using feed readers. If you want to know more about feeds you can go here. By the way, it is also called syndication. Check out my feed on the left sidebar. Its the orange, square little button. Yup, that's it.

Why feeds? Well, feeds will get you a lot of extra readers. And we all know what that means. More readers, more traffic, more revenue. Moreover I think there are ad services for feeds including adsense. I will be checking that out soon.

To get yourself a feed, I suggest you go to FeedBurner. It's easy to set up. They have a very well-explained set of options. Just go to the homepage, enter your blog's url and create an account. There is more but that part is better left explained by FeedBurner them selves. They'll give you a shiny new button to put on your site and even give you a chicklet for displaying how many readers you have. Like the little black button I have on the left sidebar below the FeedBurner button. Until next time, happy blogging...

The Adsense

2006-11-10T22:15:00.000+05:30

OK. The time has finally arrived. Its time to start the ad campaigns. Figuring out the right time isn't such a big deal. I'd let my instincts do the time-keeping. There are many sites out there providing ads for site owners to generate revenue. You can try them all. I'll be reviewing most of them here. But I'd recommend you to start off with adsense. It's the easiest to set up. Once you get the feel of having ads on your site, you can try different ad providers. Check out the ad I have placed on the right sidebar. More on adsense later...

Ingredients of a good blog

2006-11-08T17:40:00.000+05:30

By ingredients of a good blog, I mean what you need to make money from your blog. What it takes to stand out from the crowd. This list is by no means complete. But just a foundation stone. It will be updated as this blog progresses...

1. Content is king. You have good content and people will come flocking to your blog. Its a fact.

2. Traffic is queen. When your aim is to make money, traffic is what you have to aim for. If traffic is high, then everything else falls into place almost automatically.

3. Links are the princes. Links, links and more links. You can't have enough of it. Get as many inbound links as possible. I guarantee you'll never regret it.

4. Ads are the ministers. Choose wisely when it comes to ads. I will be doing a detailed feature of ads in the near future. Don't forget to check it out.

That's all for now. Use the permalink if you want to see future updates to this post.

Submit to Search Engines...

2006-11-05T17:22:00.000+05:30

Now I think is the right time to start submitting to search engines... I've said it before and I'm saying it again... Search Engines will take like, forever to process a new site. So waiting until they come and find you is not an option. So it is better to let the search engines know that you have a new blog and would like for it to be indexed.

Excluding some of the biggies like google and yahoo! submitting to all the known search engines is not physically possible. So what do we do?

Well there are a number of free sites that will do the submission for you somewhat automatedly. I personally use Submit Express's Submit page. They submit to 25+ search engines including AOL, HoTBoT, etc. for free. But, be sure of including the best meta data you can, before you submit to search engines. To go to the free submission page click here and submit away. Slowly but surely, your rankings are bnound to increase.

Another page for free submission is Free Web Submission. I suggest you use a combination of these two submission services to get maximum exposure. But be careful. They have a lot of common submissions between them. Some search engines have a policy agianst multiple submissions fearing spam. So, I suggest first you try Submit Express and then Free Web Submission as in the case of the latter, you can select which sites to submit to. That gives you flexibility. Try it out. And Happy Blogging...

The Story So Far...

2006-11-04T03:42:00.000+05:30

The second day of this blog has been completed. Lots and lots of work are still left. Today, I was able to complete the following...
Paypal :- Paypal, what can I say. If you haven't already, register at paypal and get an account. It will be helpful to you forever. And I mean forever. I have added a donation button. If you want to donate, all you have to do is click the button and enter your login info. And you're all set. If you, by any chance, feel like donating now :->, check the right sidebar. I have added the donation button in this post...

Donate Here....
Zoom Clouds :- This is a tag manager. It shows all your tags in a tag cloud. See the sidebar on the left if you want a tag cloud. Zoom Clouds is one of the best tag managers around on the net for free. You can customize it endlessly!

A little SEO-ing...

2006-11-03T17:12:00.000+05:30

SEO or Search Engine Optimization means just that. Optimizing your site to make it Search Engine Friendly. It helps to increase the number and quality of the visitors to your site. Talking about SEO will take up a whole new blog in itself. There are many rules and shortcuts to get you indexed on a search engine faster and higher. In this post, I am going to tell you a seldom used method to get yourself indexed correctly by any search-engine.

Search engines display their results using information they get off the site itself. For example, most search engine displays the title, description, URL and some even display the author's mailing address. This is shown in the pic below.

The search-engines have various methods to get these informations. But if we let them do it, it might not look as good as we want it to and of course it will take lots of time. For example, we might need a different description than the one used on the site. For this, we can use the <meta> tags of the site. <meta> tags are HTML elements that the spider (bot) reads for such information. I'll explain how to get it and where to put it.

The basic form of an HTML page is

<html>
<head>
<title>
</title>
</head>
<body>


</body>
</html>

It consists of tags that define the HTML document. The HTML document is divided into the head and the body. The body contains the content of the site and the head contains the title, scripting, style-sheets, <meta> tags, etc. So the head is where we are interested. It has been given a bold font for identification. As you can see, the title is given in the head. Now onto the <meta> tags.

For us, mainly there are three <meta> items of interest. The Keywords, Description and Author.

Keywords: These are like tags. They are used by a search engine to relate a particular search string to its respective site(s). For example, in youtube, if a keyword in the <meta> tag is set as online video, and a search is conducted for online video, the search engine knows that youtube is a potential result. Get the drift?

Description: Description is a what it's name implies. A short and concise explanation of the site. It is what the user sees in the result page beneath the title of the site. Make it eye-catching and people will inadvertently click on the result!

Author: Self-explanatory, it shows your e-mail address to the world and makes it easier for people to contact you. Use with caution.

So how do we add these to our site? I will give the general form to use...

<head>
<title>The Simple Blog</title>

<meta name="Keywords" content="the, keywords, separated, by, commas">
<meta name="Description" content="the description of the site. usually upto 200-250 characters can be used">
<meta name="Author" content="daywalker_34@hotmail.com">

</head>

The area of interest in the above code is in bold and I have color-coded it for easy reference. The words in red are the tags and they are required. The ones in blue specify what sort of a <meta> tag it is. And the ones in green specify the content of the <meta> tag. The part in the quotes is all that has to be edited by you. The rest is self-explanatory.

Add this code to the HTML part of your site and you are set to go. As the spiders 'crawl' your site, they will take the meta data into account.

If all this coding is not for you, then I suggest an easy to use webpage where all you have to do is enter the content of the tags and then the site will generate meta tags for you. Happy blogging everyone...

Exchanging Traffic

2006-11-03T15:54:00.000+05:30

As I had mentioned earlier, it would take months for the search engines to give you a proper pagerank that would drive enough traffic to your site. There are many methods to get listed faster. I will be going into those details at a later date. But right now, what is it that you really need the most?

Now, and trust me on this, you really need to get people to see your blog. Let them know that it is there. But of course, as always we need to do this economically. That is, without spending a single penny. This is where traffic exchanges step in.

Traffic exchanges are sites through which you view other people's webpages and get traffic in return. They utilize a system of credits. For every site that you visit, you get a specified credit amount. This is then exchanged for traffic to your site. 1 credit = 1 view. There are quite a few such sites. There are even traffic exchange sites that are meant specifically for blogs. In this post, I am highlighting 3 such sites that I have found to be the most effective for my needs. They are given below:

- This is one of the biggest and oldest traffic exchange sites around. They have a 2 : 1 traffic exchange ratio. That is, for every 2 sites you visit, 1 random guy visits your blog! Highly recommended. They even have games and other tools that help you get more credits.

- This is another huge traffic exchange site. They have lots of tools and games and they keep you really entertained as you swap traffic with other bloggers. They also have a traffic ratio of 2 : 1.

- My personal favorite. This site has the cleanest interface. It looks way cool. It is brought to you by Kinetiq a Web 2.0 startup company. Be sure to check-out their other tools. And the icing on the cake? They have a traffic ratio of 1 : 1! Brilliant.

If you are a starting blogger, I recommend you to try all three of these.

A little disclaimer: The quality of the traffic you get from these sites are more often than not, just visitors in search of credit. So don't expect a huge jump in the number of your readers. But hey, something is always better than nothing!

My Work Today

2006-11-03T03:54:00.000+05:30

Today being the first day of the blog, it was a busy one. I joined a few directories and added widgets. Given below are the details...

Technorati - I joined technorati. It is one of the biggest blog directories. Plus they have this really neat feature of showing the number of inbound links your blog has. Cool!
The Truth Laid Bear - This is a cool and famous site for information regarding your blog. They list the inbound links (from other listed blogs) and outbound links (to other listed blogs) and show you your traffic standings. It also classes you in the 'blogging ecosystem' based on your popularity. Check it out on the right sidebar.
Blogwise - This is a huge directory containing around 65,000 blogs and counting. You better not forget this one!
Blog Catalog - Another directory that is popular and has a large database. Easy to submit.

And the widgets...

Technorati - Got myself one of the blog-search widgets from technorati. It has a link that directly takes me to the place where they show information about my inbound links.
Widgetbox - Amazing widget site. Lists hundreds of free widgets. I got myself a cool-looking 'space-time' clock. You can catch it on the side-bar.
Buttons - This is a small area of the blog where I can store all the buttons of other sites that I may put on this blog.

So that was that. All in all a very fruitfull day. If you get time, I'd like you to visit my other blog CAUTION: Words Ahead!

You've Got to Love This Kinda Traffic!

2006-11-03T00:02:00.000+05:30

Traffic is by and large the most important facet of a blog. Period. No other factor determines the success of your blog like the Traffic that is driven to it. Okay, so you've set up your blog just the way you want it and you are now satisfied. So now what?

It is a fact that no new site can start getting any traffic initially. The tried-and-tested method of waiting for the search-engines to find you and index you will not work. Neither is the costly Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools and services method an options for us. So do we wait?

Well, no. There are tons of stuff you could do while you wait. You could add toys and widgets to your blog. You could keep adding your blog to new directories. But that isn't really enough is it? That is why some nice people got together and started sites such as blogmad, blogexplosion and blogsoldiers. These are sites that are designed for traffic exchange. A traffic exchange site is where most of the bloggers go for their traffic needs.

In such sites, you surf other blogs from around the globe and earn credits. These credits are then redeemed by the sites in exchange for traffic from other bloggers doing the same thing as you did. Usually the ratio of visits to other blogs by visits to your blog is 2:1. That is, only half the number of credits. But, in blogmad, unlike the other two, the ratio is 1:1.

The quality of this traffic is highly debatable. But in the early days of a blog, this traffic would surely be a welcome addition to the already meager count of visitors. Maybe a few of them might notice you and turn regular readers.

Oh and by the way, you need something to track all the traffic. How else are you gonna know how many people view your blog. There are lots of online tool sites that will help you sort out this problem. Two such sites are given below...

Sitemeter
Statcounter
Needstat

Personally, I use sitemeter but statcounter is just as good (if not better) than sitemeter. Moreover, these are temporary ones. They can only log 100 visits. So if your visitors exceed 100 between checks, use nedstat which keeps a much larger log.

Directories... Can't Live without 'em!

2006-11-02T18:51:00.000+05:30

Remember the 'Quality Inbound Links' that I mentioned in my previous post? Well, the best way to get a few of them is through Directories. You may be wondering what I mean by 'Quality'. The quality of a web-page in this context, is its search-engine ranking of that particular web-page. If a link emanates from a highly ranked page to your site, that augurs well with our buddies the spiders (bots). They think more highly of you as a web-site. If a lot of such 'Quality' links point to your site, rest-assured you will have a fairly high ranking. But be warned, links aren't the only criterion for the ranking.

The most coveted ranking is the Google PageRank. Click on to this site to see the current page-rank of your web-site. This ranking is used by Google to decide how far along the results page your site should appear. Of-course, the higher you are, the more search-related traffic you get. And we all know what that means! More Money! There are many other methods to increase your inbound-links. We'll see them in later posts.

On the sidebar, I will be continuously updating the links of directories that I submit this site to. You can use them to submit to the directories. But I suggest that you find some more of your own directories and submit away. Below are the list of some of the big and best directories...

ODP - The Open Directory Project, is undoubtedly one of the biggies. Tough to get into though. Used by Google!
Yahoo! Directory - The name says it all... And of course, used by Yahoo!
Blog Catalog - A directory meant specifically for blogs. Lots and lots of blogs.

Will be posting more...

Links and SEO

2006-11-02T18:21:00.000+05:30

To understand the importance of links to and from your site, you will have to know a little about how search engines work. I will give you a brief idea about search engines, but if you want in-depth analysis, check it out at HowStuffWorks.com.

Ever wondered how search engines search the net so fast and retrieve thousands of results within seconds? I will explain how the majority of the search-engines do this and by majority, I mean Google! First and foremost are the bots. The bots are scripts that are designed to scour the net for new and changed information. They are also called spiders. These spiders jump from page to page and index the pages onto their servers.

Now how do they jump from page to page you ask? LINKS! Each page usually has at least one link to the outside world! As soon as it spots a link it goes through to that page and indexes it. So now you know how important a link is! So the more links you have for the spider to find the more the spider likes you. And you know you have got to be liked by the spiders! On the net, they're the one's you should befriend if you need fame and fortune!

Anyway those are only outbound-links. What we really need are solid inbound-links. These are the links that will help your blog. The reasoning is that if there are a few inbound links, that means that you have something interesting on your site. But if you have more than a few links, then that means that your site has something very popular. So you rise in ranks in the search-engine. The higher the rank, the more traffic you are likely to get. The more traffic you have, the more profitable your site is gonna be! See, links are an indispensable part of fundamental Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In my next post, I'll tell you how to get some quality inbound-links to your blog. don't forget :

QUALITY INBOUND LINKS -> MORE TRAFFIC -> HIGHER PROFITS!

Starting Off...

2006-11-02T15:40:00.000+05:30

The first and foremost thing to do is select a good tool for your blog. By tool, I mean the software or site that will provide you with the basic functionalities. Me? I am currently blogging on the new beta version of the blogger. It has a nice, easy to use interface and is highly customizable provided, you know XML. Any blogging tool will suffice as long as it has basic blogging functionalities. Below are some of the well-known ones...

Blogger
Blogger Beta
Wordpress
MySpace
TypePad

This should get you started...

Next, you have to choose a good template for your blog. The template decides the layout, font, color, functionalities, etc. of your blog. For those of you who are blessed with a respectable knowledge of XML, editing the template in blogger beta is a breeze! If you need a good XML tutorial, you can visit A Technical Introduction to XML.

For the rest of us, all hope is not lost. There are many respectable XML gurus on the net who spend time and effort to create cool and custom templates for you. I visited one such person's blog and got this template for blogger beta. This is the link to where I got this template. I am now in the process of customizing this template. Check out some of the template sites listed below for all sorts of templates.

Blogger Templates
The Ultimate Template List

The look and feel of your site is an important factor. Don't underestimate it's importance. If you were to go to a well-designed site, you will surely check it out more than if it were a dull, boring, tough-to-navigate site. Right? You need the traffic. Trust Me. So the design and customiz-ability of your blog is IMPORTANT!

The Beginning...

2006-11-02T12:30:00.000+05:30

This is the first post on this blog and I am going to tell you what this blog is all about, why I felt I had to create it and how it will help you.

This blog is for all those first-time-bloggers or bloggers who-have-just-started-blogging recently. Oh, what the heck, even you expert bloggers might find something useful here. My aim is to guide you through the different phases of blogging that most of the more successful blogs (and bloggers) have gone through. And help you make money along the way.

I have found that many bloggers didn't (and don't yet) know that they can generate huge amounts of revenue from their blogs using simple methods and services. Throughout this blog, I'll take you through the steps that I will be going through to make some money for myself and record the whole thing in the form of posts. Moreover I will provide links to the services I will be using.

Everything you ever needed to earn some side-money was always with you. All you need to do is recognize the tools that the good people all over the world are providing you with and then add a dash of amazing patience to those tools and wait as your blog grows in front of you. Its one of the most beautiful things to watch since SimCity! Then you are off on your way to financial freedom...