Some Good Widgets/Gadget

Finding good widgets for your blog can be so hard at time, that is why i decide to write a post on some of the widgets I find very useful, hope you find it useful too.

Wibiya Toolbar -is an application platform you can easily install onto your site. Add a large variety of apps that will boost your site’s functionality and reach, also it is free and requires no technical no-how.

DISQUS -is a comments platform that helps you build an active community from your website's audience. It has awesome features, powerful tools, and it's easy to install.

Follow By Email- this widgets enable to user to allow readers to subscribe to the blog/website feeds or news letter via email, using a external service (Feedburner) or a built-in one. 

Search Box – enables the reader the search the entire blog/website using  a specific keyword.

Survey or Poll – allows you to survey your visitors by adding a poll to your blog.

Subscribe Button - Let your readers easily subscribe to your blog with popular feed readers.

Share Button –allow your users to share you post using popular social networks.

Twitter badge – allows users to connect directly to the blog/website twitter account/page.

Facebook Like Box – lets users “like” your Facebook Fan Page directly from you website/blog. 

Favicon- This widget is the little icon you see at the top left off you browser tab, usually its is a pictures of the website logo.

Free Blogging Tools You May Find Helpful

In this post I would give you a list of blogging tools i have found useful  as a blogger, hope you find them useful too. If there is any tool that you think I should add or remove please leave a comment.

Google Analytics - a powerful, easy to use website analytical tool which generates a large amount of statistics/info about a particular website/blog. Some of its mean features are; Advertising ROI, Cross Channel and Multimedia Tracking, Customized Reporting, Sharing and Communicating, Visualizing Data and Google Integration and Reliability.

Feedburner - is a tool similar to Google Analytics, which gathers information and statistics of your feed allowing you to easily manage them.

Google Trends –  simple to use tool, which allows you to generate valuable insight on various search keywords. Google Trends also allows you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time, frames and properties.

ScribeFire – a web browser extension which is compatible with Google Chrome, Opera, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, which basically allows you to post to all your blogs from the comfort of your browser.

Windows Live Writer –  a software that allows you to create professional blog post with pictures, videos and rich text format without actually logging in to your blog, from you desktop. This software allows your to manage multiple blogs from different blog providers including; Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint blogs, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, Telligent Community, PBlogs.gr, JournalHome, the MetaWeblog API, the Movable Type API, Blogengine, Square space and all blogs that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability).

Facebook Fan Page – is a easy to create profile that allows you to share your blog post with the Facebook community/Users, to generate more traffic for you blog.


www.free-webhosts.com – this website is a very useful website for those who can’t afford to spend anything on webhosting. www.free-webhosts.com, has a wide variety of free web hosting services listing on there site, with the features they offer and real reviews from users.

Stock.XCHNG – is a free stock photo site, that basically gives you the option of downloading and using their photo accordance with the licence agreement.

Six Characteristics of A Good Blog

In this post I would like to shine a little light on the characteristics of a good blog.
If there is any characteristic that you thing should be added or remove, please leave comments.



Good Template Design
The first thing you notice when you visit a website is its template design and overall lay-out. This is why its is very important to have a good template design, to create a strong first impression for your unique daily visitors. So, how do you know you have a good template design? well, here is a few qualities you should consider when designing you template;

• Easy to Read :- ensure that the font size, color, spacing, font type and basically anything that would affect the reading process is, "easy on the eyes". 
•  Position of Content :- make sure that the various post, widgets, labels, ads, pages, logo and essentially anything that has to do with the the visitors browsing experience.  
• Functionality:- ensure that all links, widgets, feeds, share button and anything that has to do with the functionality of the website is properly done.   

Grammar/Spelling:- this is one of the most important characteristics of a good blog, after all blogging is about writing and if you cant do that properly you may as well leave the blogging world alone. With that being said please take the time to re-check your grammar/spelling to ensure that your readers understand and don't get discouraged by your inability to do something so simple, as forming a sentence. Others may differ and say a blog should be more about opinion, personal experience and "know how", but what good is that if you can't convey that message properly to your readers/follows.

Interactive:- give your readers the ability to communicate with you, allowing them to leave comments, make suggestions, even write a few post or two for your blog or website. You can also create a "Facebook Fan Page" or similar fan base pages on other social networking websites.

Enjoy what you write:- when you enjoying what you write, it will be very easy for you to write new post and be creative with your work. It is rather frustrating writing about something you don't like or enjoy.

Relevant Content:- simple said, your blog content should be directed to you desired audience.

Unique and Creative content:- your content should stand out from the others, even if you are writing about the same topic as the rest of the blogosphere, keep it fresh and catchy.