Creating a Favicon for your blog in less than 5 minutes [Blog Design]

By | March 22, 2009 | 7 Comments

What is a favicon?

As Wikipedia puts it,

A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon, shortcut icon,url icon, or bookmark icon is a 16×16 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage

In short, a favicon is something that you see on the title bar, at the left corner of a webpage or a website that you visit.

Here is how the favicon of a page in Google looks, in case you haven’t seen this before.

favicon_1

Why do I need it for my Blog?

Once your Blog starts growing, many people might like to bookmark your blog home page or a specific post, on their favorite browser.   When they do this, the “favicon” will help to distinguish and uniquely identify your content from the rest.

Here is an example that shows, how a favicon might distinguish various bookmarks that are grouped together.

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How to Create and Install a favicon?

If you are convinced that a favicon might be good for your blog or a website, then I am going to show you how to create one for “free” and install it.

There are many websites that let you create a favicon from scratch and download the “favicon.ico” file that can be installed on your website.  And, this is one of my favorites:favicon_3

Here is another site that allows you to Upload an image file of your choice and convert it into a 16 x 16,  “.ico” file – http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

Once you have created a favicon of your choice, follow these simple steps to install it on your website:

  • Upload the “favicon.ico” file to the root of your website using any FTP tool.  For example, if your site is hosted at http://yoursite.com, upload it directly under the public_html folder
  • Make sure it is uploaded by accessing it at http://yoursite.com/favicon.ico
  • Insert the following HTML snippet inside the tag of your web pages
  • If you are trying to install the favicon on your WordPress blog, make sure to add the HTML snippet in the header.php file, under the tag
  • You are done!!!

Note that it may take sometime for the favicon to appear in your Browser.  Sometimes you may have to clear the cache or wait a little longer.

Spice up your Website or Blog with a favicon and let me know how it goes…

Filed Under: Blogging

Freelance and Guest Writing Opportunities for those Tech Savvy [Blogging]

By | March 10, 2009 | 6 Comments

freelancewriting

If you are professional blogger who has taken the first hard step of setting up your own blog and seen some traffic in the process, the next thing to look for is freelance and guest writing opportunities to sharpen your writing skills and become popular in the process.

There are many places around the Web where you can look out for opportunities to write and get paid in the process (not always!!).  I have tried to identify a few of those in this post, where you can showcase your writing skills.

Write for Mashable

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Mashable is a very popular blog focusing on Web 2.0 and Social networking news.  With about 196k subscribers, one can hardly question about the reach and popularity that Mashable can offer.

If you are Web savvy and have a lot to share with the world, then you can right away apply for a Guest writing position with Mashable.  Details on this can be found here – http://mashable.com/writers/

But the major downside is that – the guest posts are unpaid for and it is really hard to get noticed if you are an amateur blogger.  But once you get an opportunity to write, then the other benefits (read Popularity) might overcome the monetary ones.

Write for NETTUTS

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Are you into Web Design and Development?  Do you have handful of techniques to share with like minded folks?  Then NETTUTS must be your popular destination!

Their primary focus areas are – Web Design, CSS, jQuery, PHP, CMS (like WordPress, Joomla) and Ruby on Rails.  So if you are proficient and interested in any of these technologies, then NETTUTS is a right bet.  Head right here for more details on the writing opportunities – http://net.tutsplus.com/about/write-a-tutorial/

Some nice things about writing for NETTUTS are:

  • It is NOT an unpaid position.  For every post published, they pay you $150 via Paypal
  • If they see you a good fit for their web site, then you can become a regular writer and get paid for each of your posts
  • Being a popular site, NETTUTS can provide you the much needed exposure and possibly better traffic to your own blog

Write for MakeUseOf.com

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makeuseof.com is a technology website that focuses on reviewing applications and web sites that are COOL, FREE and USEFUL.  Also, you can find a lot of “How To” guides, if you are a regular reader of their blog.

If you feel this a good fit, you can apply for a writing position with MakeUseOf.com.  Follow the instructions on this page for more details on how to go about this – http://www.makeuseof.com/write-for-make-use-of/

Some points about writing for MakeUseOf.com are:

  • This is a PAID position, where you will be paid about $25 per post via Paypal (again this is subjective)
  • Links to your website or blog at the end of each post, that can boost traffic
  • If you are an active writer for MakeUseOf.com, you can qualify to be listed among their ‘Authors’
  • You get full editorial support for writing your articles

Write for Javalobby

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If you are passionate about Java and have few things to share, then I would strongly suggest you to consider writing for Javalobby.

Word of caution – this is an UNPAID position!!  But getting to write here is very simple.  Just register yourself with Javalobby and start posting articles immediately.  Once you gain popularity with your posts, you can start receiving the much needed popularity and attention, which can be converted as traffic to your blog/website.

Other Freelance Writing Resources

There are a wealth of Freelance writing resources around the web.  Here are a few to mention:

Freelancewriting.com – Articles and Resources to get started with freelance writing

Helium.com – A place to showcase you writings, participate in writing contests and also enter the marketplace for professional writing

Jobs.problogger.net – A jobs board to know about quality freelance job opportunites

Online-writing-jobs.com – Offers all kind of freelance writing opportunities

eHow.com – Write How to articles and get paid in the process

You can also refer to this post by Mashable for a resources on Freelancing – http://mashable.com/2009/03/03/freelance/

Few words to Prospective Writers

  • Before you apply for a Writing position with a Blog or a Website, make sure to know about their niche, topics and popular posts.  A best way to do this, is to Subscribe for their blog/site via RSS and keep a vigil for sometime (say 1 or 2 weeks)
  • DO NOT just look for paid positions.  Unpaid positions may be less attractive, but the exposure and the resulting traffic might complement the compensation.  Also, once you establish yourself, then paid positions will be easy to come by
  • Almost all popular blogs/sites are on Twitter.  Make sure you follow them on Twitter, to get regular updates on Writing opportunities, contests and vacancies

Good luck to all writers out there and have fun writing!!

Photo Credit: Wendy Piersall

Filed Under: Blogging

If Serious about Blogging, learn how to Write better [Blogging]

By | March 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

blog_writing

Blogging started as a hobby for few, to share their ideas and interest with the rest of the world.  Still highly popular as a social networking tool, Blogging has evolved into much more than just that.

With Blogs serving as tools for Marketing Products, Spreading Ideas and Disseminating Corporate Information, extreme care is warranted while writing them. 

Creating a Blog is a mundane task, but writing quality content in the right way, is of utmost importance.  Almost all of us who had been to school are fortunate with a basic level of English Writing.   But when it comes to Writing in a Blog – preciseness and brevity – plays a key role.  Nobody in this age are willing to read a blog post with quality content, that is about 5 pages long!

What Not to Write – A Book on Writing!!

What Not to Write: An A-to-Z of the Dos and Don’ts of Good English – I find this book amazing…

This book has just about 150 pages, but a wealth of information inside it.  It gives you a lot of do not’s and a few do’s.  It is NOT a Grammar book, but a practical guide on usage of words, with an emphasis on brevity.  In my opinion, this is a must read for everyone who aspires to be a professional blogger. 

This book is very much available on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/What-Not-Write-Z-English/dp/0955279801/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1236046991&sr=1-2

Wealth of Resources on Writing

Kiruba has been one of my favorite bloggers and he has a wealth of resources on writing, as a page in his blog.

I don’t wish to repeat what is already in there.  So here’s the link, for you to check it right away – http://www.kiruba.com/techwriting/resources.html

Though the very title of the page says “Resource on Technical Writing”, there are many links on general writing.  I would strongly recommend you to bookmark this page and use it as a reference.

So to sum things up, with the explosion of Web 2.0 and many people taking on to the Internet, quality content is what can make your blog stand out.  And this quality content can only be accentuated by quality writing, which is of utmost importance.  Happy Blogging!!

(Note: Feel free to add additional writing resources as comments to this post and I would be very happy with the enlightenment)

Photo Credit: dabawenya

Filed Under: Blogging