On December 23, 2007, the new software version 3.33 was released of JkDefrag, a piece of software that I keep in my USB toolbox all the time. The program represents one of the best free defragmenters and optimizers for all versions of Windows, starting form 2K. The software is completely automatic, user-friendly, and fast, while not imposing the heavy load on the computer resources. Defragmenter is able to handle not only fixed, but also removable drives, like USB or memory sticks, offering to the advanced user several optimization strategies to choose from.
Our deep gratitude goes to the author Jeroen Kessels, Internet Engineer from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Website: http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Closing Post to Blog Traffic Increase Overview
How to increase blog traffic without financial investments (part 11)
After extended exploration of the topic for 10 publications, I decided to close it. For me, if I feel tired from the task, I was enjoying before, it is time to make a short break. That is why; please accept this post as unofficial closing for the series of articles on the topic “How to increase blog traffic without financial investments”. It does not mean that I am going to get away from the topic for long, as it has the priority importance in the Blogging monetizing business. I have several ideas to implement soon enhancing the topic review.
Other Promotion Techniques – Brief Overview
I will just list several items that were not reviewed in the series for different reasons. But, since other authors mention them in their reviews, I might just overlook their marketing potential. Among them:
Posting on UseNet. Usenet is one of the oldest computer network communications systems still in widespread use. Dropping the seeds of the announcement for your Blog might give a boost to the site exposure.
Applying for Web Site Awards. Getting Best Blog Award in the featured category is a good way to show on the site, how good your Blog is, and also expose your site in the new niche. There are multiple online sites giving away the awards, you can easily find them through the search. I will mention just one of the top related sites:
Webbie Awards: http://www.webbyawards.com/
Submitting Blog to Design Galleries. The biggest list of the Design Galleries I could find online has been offered by Web Design Blog (99 sites in the body of the post, and more in the comments).
Link: http://webdesigngalleries.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/a-complete-list-of-web-design-galleries/
Interview Well-known Person. Arrange interview with someone well known in your industry, your marketing niche, or your local community. This interview will bring acknowledgement of your abilities to bring the newsworthy original material and will generate additional traffic to your Blog through the link from the interviewed person Blogs or Websites, since people tend to link back to their interviews.
Offer Contests. Organized contests will improve your reputation in the Bloggers community and will enhance your readers’ participation in your Blog activities. As you do that, utilize its marketing potential in full. For example, interview the contest winners and nominees, get their testimonials for your site, post related Press Releases, etc.
Participate in Meme Games. A meme is an idea transferred from person to person, from Blog to Blog like a virus. How does meme work? One Blogger is proposing idea like "Hey, let's post three facts about yourself that nobody knows yet!" He is forwarding it to his fellows Bloggers, tabbing them, and the game start its online brief, but bright, life with many people involved in the chain, until it dies down by itself or replaced by the new memes.
I want to thank all the readers that provided their feedback to the publications. Good luck to everyone. Internet is huge. There is place for everybody to get the share of success and profits!
After extended exploration of the topic for 10 publications, I decided to close it. For me, if I feel tired from the task, I was enjoying before, it is time to make a short break. That is why; please accept this post as unofficial closing for the series of articles on the topic “How to increase blog traffic without financial investments”. It does not mean that I am going to get away from the topic for long, as it has the priority importance in the Blogging monetizing business. I have several ideas to implement soon enhancing the topic review.
Other Promotion Techniques – Brief Overview
I will just list several items that were not reviewed in the series for different reasons. But, since other authors mention them in their reviews, I might just overlook their marketing potential. Among them:
Posting on UseNet. Usenet is one of the oldest computer network communications systems still in widespread use. Dropping the seeds of the announcement for your Blog might give a boost to the site exposure.
Applying for Web Site Awards. Getting Best Blog Award in the featured category is a good way to show on the site, how good your Blog is, and also expose your site in the new niche. There are multiple online sites giving away the awards, you can easily find them through the search. I will mention just one of the top related sites:
Webbie Awards: http://www.webbyawards.com/
Submitting Blog to Design Galleries. The biggest list of the Design Galleries I could find online has been offered by Web Design Blog (99 sites in the body of the post, and more in the comments).
Link: http://webdesigngalleries.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/a-complete-list-of-web-design-galleries/
Interview Well-known Person. Arrange interview with someone well known in your industry, your marketing niche, or your local community. This interview will bring acknowledgement of your abilities to bring the newsworthy original material and will generate additional traffic to your Blog through the link from the interviewed person Blogs or Websites, since people tend to link back to their interviews.
Offer Contests. Organized contests will improve your reputation in the Bloggers community and will enhance your readers’ participation in your Blog activities. As you do that, utilize its marketing potential in full. For example, interview the contest winners and nominees, get their testimonials for your site, post related Press Releases, etc.
Participate in Meme Games. A meme is an idea transferred from person to person, from Blog to Blog like a virus. How does meme work? One Blogger is proposing idea like "Hey, let's post three facts about yourself that nobody knows yet!" He is forwarding it to his fellows Bloggers, tabbing them, and the game start its online brief, but bright, life with many people involved in the chain, until it dies down by itself or replaced by the new memes.
I want to thank all the readers that provided their feedback to the publications. Good luck to everyone. Internet is huge. There is place for everybody to get the share of success and profits!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Take Part in Blog Carnivals
How to increase blog traffic without financial investments (part 10)
The set of the articles on the blog traffic increase started from my personal interest to the topic. I intended to cover briefly in one article all the main approaches for the newbie-blogger, as myself. Did not work this way! The topic appeared to be endless, and this article represents already part number 10. At the beginning, I decided to post only information on the promotion techniques that I have personally tried. I had to bend this rule as well, since this topic already drives me through without giving opportunity to stop and relax. When, I will finish the set, I will come back and pick up the promotion ways that seem easy to implement, and promise the best return on investments. I am sure, that Blog Carnivals participation will be than one of my favorites. I love carnivals! Just the name itself gives a taste of festivity and celebration.
What is a meaning of Blog Carnivals?
Blog Carnivals are collections of individual posts and articles, fitting provided topics of discussion, which are received from different blogs, with each author expressing his personal viewpoint and remarks on a subject. Usually, Blog Carnival is started by one hosting blog, which acts as a form of table of contents, posting the submitted articles or post to the topic of discussion. Such carnivals can be originated by popular and well-established blogs or bloggers’ groups, aligning the carnival topic with the blog usual content.
The central Web Site for this marketing niche is BlogCarnival.com. This site’s definition for Blog Carnivals is provided below:
“A Blog Carnival is a particular kind of blog community. There are many kinds of blogs, and they contain articles on many kinds of topics. Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every monday, or on the first of the month). Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors opinions or remarks.”Why participate in Blog Carnivals?
Planning your blog promotion campaign, consider the following benefits of participation in Blog Carnivals:
Your posts submission at the Carnival gives external links to your blog from the sites within the area of your interests. These links will assist to establish blog reputation and improve its credibility in the bloggers’ community, and add to the blog ranking in the Search Engines.
You can be linked not just by the carnival hosting site through your posting, but also from other blogs as well. Another carnival participant, or just visitor, might find your story through the carnival post, and might choose linking to it.
You get additional instant high-quality traffic. Getting tons of visitors from carnivals is, probably, one more online myth, but if you take part in a popular carnival on a well-known Blog, and your post is interesting enough to attract visitors’ attention, you will see a definite boost of traffic count to your blog. And this is not a random traffic of the bystanders, but the visitation from the most active and interested members of the bloggers community.
You have a great opportunity to meet other people working in the same direction as you are. Participants for the blog carnival are easy to establish long-term relationship between them due to the common interests. Also, you have a good chance to read valuable posts and suggestions from other people, that you would not be able to find in any other way.
You have a chance to win valuable prices for your publication.
The participation in the Blog Carnivals does not require significant time investment, unless you are specifically preparing the post for the particular celebration from scratch. As you can choose the topic of discussion, in most cases, you can use the material for the submission, which is already available on your blog. To test the efficiency of the submission process, I was able to perform the procedure of finding the appropriate blog and submitting my own entry in no more than 10 minutes.
Where to Submit for Blog Carnivals
I did not find a big variety of the sites that centralize the Blog Carnivals search and establishment. In fact, there is just a single site that is dedicated to this mission:
Blog Carnival: http://blogcarnival.com/
In a way, it makes all the operations related to the blog carnivals much easier for the hosts and submitters. Hosting Blog Carnival is another great way to promote your site, but that requires from the host site to be already solid and established, the goal we are all working for.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Forums Participation
How to increase blog traffic without financial investments (part 9)
Participation in Forums and Message boards is another marketing approach to increase exposure to your blog. Many message boards and forums have a separate section of the discussion, collecting topics related to the blogs and blogging. But, even participation in non-related discussions on forums and message boards with leaving your blog link as your signature might bring you new customers. If I see a post on the message board, that is catching my attention by an interesting approach, I might want to learn more about the author and his virtual space. If the topic of the conversation is related to the blog theme, it is even better. User can discuss it, referring to his blog in a natural way as a source of additional information. People do not feel this conversation to be a part of the self-promotion campaign.
Also, it was noticed that the Search Engine are quite favorable to the forums content, so you might see the quality content, you posted on the forum discussion, at one of the first pages of the related keyword searches at the major Search Engines. Definitely, your blog address reference has a chance to catch public attention and increase your page ranking.
There are few good Forums, dedicated to blogging. If you are not only looking to promote your blog, but are also open for any new ideas and interactive communication with other fellows bloggers, the Blogging Forums will give you valuable assistance. It is useful for the Bloggers of all proficiency levels, but it is especially rewarding for newbies, as there they can find assistance with blog design, set-up and promotion. Based on the area of particular interests, user might focus on a certain area of the blogging forums, for example: blog promotion tips, template related issues, how to earn money from blog, Review my blog, RSS related, link exchange, Blog Add-Ons etc.
As usual, I am using RateItAll to prepare the Web List of the best online Forums, that are specializing on the Blog and Blogging related topics:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24458-forums-for-bloggers.aspx
Participation in Forums and Message boards is another marketing approach to increase exposure to your blog. Many message boards and forums have a separate section of the discussion, collecting topics related to the blogs and blogging. But, even participation in non-related discussions on forums and message boards with leaving your blog link as your signature might bring you new customers. If I see a post on the message board, that is catching my attention by an interesting approach, I might want to learn more about the author and his virtual space. If the topic of the conversation is related to the blog theme, it is even better. User can discuss it, referring to his blog in a natural way as a source of additional information. People do not feel this conversation to be a part of the self-promotion campaign.
Also, it was noticed that the Search Engine are quite favorable to the forums content, so you might see the quality content, you posted on the forum discussion, at one of the first pages of the related keyword searches at the major Search Engines. Definitely, your blog address reference has a chance to catch public attention and increase your page ranking.
There are few good Forums, dedicated to blogging. If you are not only looking to promote your blog, but are also open for any new ideas and interactive communication with other fellows bloggers, the Blogging Forums will give you valuable assistance. It is useful for the Bloggers of all proficiency levels, but it is especially rewarding for newbies, as there they can find assistance with blog design, set-up and promotion. Based on the area of particular interests, user might focus on a certain area of the blogging forums, for example: blog promotion tips, template related issues, how to earn money from blog, Review my blog, RSS related, link exchange, Blog Add-Ons etc.
As usual, I am using RateItAll to prepare the Web List of the best online Forums, that are specializing on the Blog and Blogging related topics:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24458-forums-for-bloggers.aspx
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Writing and Submitting Articles
How to increase blog traffic without financial investments (part 8)
You blog promotion through your articles published at other blog sites or article directories is a great way to develop exposure to new readers. It allows you to express yourself on unusual for you promotion channels and to bring in new readers who would not have come to your official blog otherwise.
For the starter, you can base your article on your own blog posts, tweak them a little bit, add eye-catching caption and graphics, and you have your article ready. Or you can write the first article about your blog, its purpose, its milestones, and about yourself as a blog creator. When article is ready, it could be submitted to the bloggers’ communities, article directories, direct publishers, and other blogs. Each of these opportunities can present each own benefits and should be closely evaluated while designing the marketing strategy for your blog promotion.
We will highlight the articles submission to the free articles directories, representing the most popular source for the hosting of article publication. They offer multiple benefits by spreading a word about you and your points, and gaining back links to your blog from outside location. Also, if your article is of high quality, other webmasters might pick it up and run on their sites. As all article directories site require the publishers to retain the original links, planted inside the article, this can create the back links to your blog multiplication from each posted article.
Rated list of the top 40 free Articles Directories is posted on RateItAll. Feel free to raise your voice, rating the listed items and adding new:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24434-free-articles-directories.aspx
For those, who prefer the automatic way for articles submission, there are multiple free software titles that can do that with minimum user assistance. As in all cases of the automatic submission, the effectiveness of the process is quite questionable. I personally did not test any of these programs, so I will just give you couple of links for software downloads on your own. Please, drop some comments on your impression from the automatic software performance.
One example: Article Submitter: http://articlesubmitter.imwishlist.com/
You blog promotion through your articles published at other blog sites or article directories is a great way to develop exposure to new readers. It allows you to express yourself on unusual for you promotion channels and to bring in new readers who would not have come to your official blog otherwise.
For the starter, you can base your article on your own blog posts, tweak them a little bit, add eye-catching caption and graphics, and you have your article ready. Or you can write the first article about your blog, its purpose, its milestones, and about yourself as a blog creator. When article is ready, it could be submitted to the bloggers’ communities, article directories, direct publishers, and other blogs. Each of these opportunities can present each own benefits and should be closely evaluated while designing the marketing strategy for your blog promotion.
We will highlight the articles submission to the free articles directories, representing the most popular source for the hosting of article publication. They offer multiple benefits by spreading a word about you and your points, and gaining back links to your blog from outside location. Also, if your article is of high quality, other webmasters might pick it up and run on their sites. As all article directories site require the publishers to retain the original links, planted inside the article, this can create the back links to your blog multiplication from each posted article.
Rated list of the top 40 free Articles Directories is posted on RateItAll. Feel free to raise your voice, rating the listed items and adding new:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24434-free-articles-directories.aspx
For those, who prefer the automatic way for articles submission, there are multiple free software titles that can do that with minimum user assistance. As in all cases of the automatic submission, the effectiveness of the process is quite questionable. I personally did not test any of these programs, so I will just give you couple of links for software downloads on your own. Please, drop some comments on your impression from the automatic software performance.
One example: Article Submitter: http://articlesubmitter.imwishlist.com/
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Scanning document without Scanner
Imagine a very realistic situation, when you need to make a soft copy of the document, and you do not have scanner in the neighborhood. Or, another one, when you need to make a scan, consisting from multiple pages, but your flat-bed scanner can take just one page at a time, making the scanning process time-consuming and requiring your continuous involvement in the scanning process.
If you have a fax machine in your possession, you can easily solve the problem. Sign for a free service with FaxAway (http://www.k7.net/), get a free fax number, and fax the paper document to your new number. You will get email with soft copy of your faxed document as attachment.
If you have a fax machine in your possession, you can easily solve the problem. Sign for a free service with FaxAway (http://www.k7.net/), get a free fax number, and fax the paper document to your new number. You will get email with soft copy of your faxed document as attachment.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Free Press Releases Distribution
How to increase blog traffic without financial investments (part 7)
"Press releases are no longer documents seen by just isolated editors and reporters. Anybody using press releases these days puts them online," noted Tracey Falbe in her book "Creating Publicity: Free Online Press Release Distribution". The book announces press release as a valuable component of each and every marketing campaign. So, we have obligation to review this method of the blog exposure increase as well.
Writing a press release, announcing the blog accomplishments to the media might be very helpful to spread a word about your site. Take time to prepare sharp and factual announcement that will briefly deliver the main information and will encourage the PR readers to visit your site to get details and just see, what else you got there. Spend additional time to proof read your posting, as PR announcement should look very professional to be posted and appreciated by readers.
Some of the PR sites are enjoying pretty high traffic. They are closely monitored by journalists, publishers, bloggers, looking for the killer content for their sites, and industry watchers. And, may be, you will be lucky enough to get a publication about you, your site, and your business on the highly-recognized media, where you never expected to see yourself. This doesn’t mean that you can prepare a press release that reminds a simple self-advertisement for your web site, blog, or business. The information in the press release has to be indeed newsworthy and objective.
The content of the press releases is also gets picked up by search engines, which makes your posts to be even more available to readers, and increases the chances for your site to be seen. And, finally, a side-benefit of the PR posting is increasing links popularity of your own site due to the linking from the PR site, which helps with search engine ranking. Link popularity is currently one of the top determining factors of where your website will rank on Major Search Engines listings.
There are a number PR sites that allow for press release to be posted free of charge. Definitely, the list of publishing options is limited for free members, but, since it is free, there is no point for complains. I have generated the list of such sites at RateItAll:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24425-press-releases--free-online-services.aspx
"Press releases are no longer documents seen by just isolated editors and reporters. Anybody using press releases these days puts them online," noted Tracey Falbe in her book "Creating Publicity: Free Online Press Release Distribution". The book announces press release as a valuable component of each and every marketing campaign. So, we have obligation to review this method of the blog exposure increase as well.
Writing a press release, announcing the blog accomplishments to the media might be very helpful to spread a word about your site. Take time to prepare sharp and factual announcement that will briefly deliver the main information and will encourage the PR readers to visit your site to get details and just see, what else you got there. Spend additional time to proof read your posting, as PR announcement should look very professional to be posted and appreciated by readers.
Some of the PR sites are enjoying pretty high traffic. They are closely monitored by journalists, publishers, bloggers, looking for the killer content for their sites, and industry watchers. And, may be, you will be lucky enough to get a publication about you, your site, and your business on the highly-recognized media, where you never expected to see yourself. This doesn’t mean that you can prepare a press release that reminds a simple self-advertisement for your web site, blog, or business. The information in the press release has to be indeed newsworthy and objective.
The content of the press releases is also gets picked up by search engines, which makes your posts to be even more available to readers, and increases the chances for your site to be seen. And, finally, a side-benefit of the PR posting is increasing links popularity of your own site due to the linking from the PR site, which helps with search engine ranking. Link popularity is currently one of the top determining factors of where your website will rank on Major Search Engines listings.
There are a number PR sites that allow for press release to be posted free of charge. Definitely, the list of publishing options is limited for free members, but, since it is free, there is no point for complains. I have generated the list of such sites at RateItAll:
http://www.rateitall.com/t-24425-press-releases--free-online-services.aspx
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