From anywhere within Media Manager you can add another item to your queue. Click on the "Add Item" link in the left hand menu, or the "Add Item to your Queue" found on the main Media Manager screen. From... Read More
Friday, March 7, 2008
John Chow vs Shoemoney RSS competition
John Chow vs Shoemoney RSS competition
RSS is now one of the most valuable metrics on the net. Increasing your RSS subscriber count is a measurable way to show the popularity of your site. As RSS is an opt in way for readers to view your site contents, they can easily stop being a subscriber at any time.
It shows how far RSS has come when John Chow and Shoemoney start a competition to see who can get the most new subscribers in a month. Notice how it wasn't a competition to get the most traffic or the most subscribers to an email list but who can get the most RSS subscribers.
Why RSS subscribers
John and Shoe are both canny marketers and know the value of RSS. RSS is a transparent metric that shows a loyal readership. If a site starts to slide in it's content then readers will no longer subscribe. They would rather gain an RSS subscriber than an extra visitor.
Whilst the challenge is a bit of fun there is also a serious reason John and Shoe have gotten together to run this little competition. At the end of the competition they will both have a larger loyal subscriber base. This competition has gained them a large number of new subscribers which generally means more revenue for them.
This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.
Promote Your Widgets!
We've been upgrading our site over the past few weeks, adding robust search and sorting, better widget description pages and building in some new tools that can be used promote your widgets.
Almost every upgrade we added is focused on making your widgets easier to find and the promotional tools are free to use with any widget in our gallery, so I thought I'd invite you all in to try them out.
No matter if you have uploaded a great new custom widget or created a quick express widget, all the new tools that we have just added in will work to help you promote your SpringWidget!
So, what's new?
1. Tagging In case you don't know what they are, "Tags" are just words that describe your widget that are used when someone searches our gallery. "Tagging" allows you to make it easier for users to find your widget.
You should tag your widget with words that describe the content or nature of your widget. For example, the springwidgets blog is all about news on the SpringWidgets platform, so I'd tag it with "springwidgets", "widgets" and "widget news" but I'd leave out more obvious words like "blog" and "news" because they really don't help users find content that is specific to my blog.
2. Star-Ratings Another tool to help you promote your widgets is our new ratings system. You can rate any widget in our gallery and users can sort by the best rated widgets. The more that you rate, the better the system gets! Help us out and rate a widget or two in the gallery today.
Here is an important tip - we let you rate your own widget so you can start the ratings yourself... Go ahead, give it a try.
3. Favorite Widgets Every time a user "favorites" your widget, it's added to a list of favorite widgets on that users profile! The better your widget looks and works, the more likely you'll have fans.
Want to favorite a widget? Just click the "favorite widgets" button on any widget in our gallery. Much easier and faster than saying "What was that widget called again?" and banging your head on the desk. :-)
4. Social Bookmarking Links Automatically add (or help vote up) any widget in our gallery to the various social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit. These sites are great ways to promote your widget and find new users. Just click the icon and follow the directions to get started. The great news is that once you submit your widget with these links, users can vote your widget up with a click or two!
5. Widget Search The best way to be found is to make sure that you are accurate when describing your widget. Any user can search our gallery for your widget and find results based on your developer id, widget title and description and tags.
The more accurate and descriptive you are, the more likely that a search will include your widget in front of interested users.
6. Tag Clouds and "Sorting by" Navigation Users can now search by Ratings, Tag Clouds, Name Sorting, and Most Recent Widgets.
Since users will be looking through the gallery with these tools, the more descriptive you are when entering your widget into the gallery, the better!
7. User Comments The more talked about your widget is, the more users are likely to trust adding you to their page or desktop. Get the conversation started by adding your own comments to the widgets you like.
Find a widget you like? let the creator know that you like it. Just feel like saying "thanks for letting me use your widget?" That's ok too. We hope that the addition of comments will be a popular and helpful feature for everyone.
Now get out there and start promoting yourself!
We are continuing to make improvements every day and we'd love to have your input on what to build next, so pop on over to the forums and tell us what you think!
Thanks,
Don Read More
Almost every upgrade we added is focused on making your widgets easier to find and the promotional tools are free to use with any widget in our gallery, so I thought I'd invite you all in to try them out.
No matter if you have uploaded a great new custom widget or created a quick express widget, all the new tools that we have just added in will work to help you promote your SpringWidget!
So, what's new?
1. Tagging In case you don't know what they are, "Tags" are just words that describe your widget that are used when someone searches our gallery. "Tagging" allows you to make it easier for users to find your widget.
You should tag your widget with words that describe the content or nature of your widget. For example, the springwidgets blog is all about news on the SpringWidgets platform, so I'd tag it with "springwidgets", "widgets" and "widget news" but I'd leave out more obvious words like "blog" and "news" because they really don't help users find content that is specific to my blog.2. Star-Ratings Another tool to help you promote your widgets is our new ratings system. You can rate any widget in our gallery and users can sort by the best rated widgets. The more that you rate, the better the system gets! Help us out and rate a widget or two in the gallery today.
Here is an important tip - we let you rate your own widget so you can start the ratings yourself... Go ahead, give it a try.
3. Favorite Widgets Every time a user "favorites" your widget, it's added to a list of favorite widgets on that users profile! The better your widget looks and works, the more likely you'll have fans.
Want to favorite a widget? Just click the "favorite widgets" button on any widget in our gallery. Much easier and faster than saying "What was that widget called again?" and banging your head on the desk. :-)
4. Social Bookmarking Links Automatically add (or help vote up) any widget in our gallery to the various social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit. These sites are great ways to promote your widget and find new users. Just click the icon and follow the directions to get started. The great news is that once you submit your widget with these links, users can vote your widget up with a click or two!
5. Widget Search The best way to be found is to make sure that you are accurate when describing your widget. Any user can search our gallery for your widget and find results based on your developer id, widget title and description and tags.
The more accurate and descriptive you are, the more likely that a search will include your widget in front of interested users.
6. Tag Clouds and "Sorting by" Navigation Users can now search by Ratings, Tag Clouds, Name Sorting, and Most Recent Widgets.Since users will be looking through the gallery with these tools, the more descriptive you are when entering your widget into the gallery, the better!
7. User Comments The more talked about your widget is, the more users are likely to trust adding you to their page or desktop. Get the conversation started by adding your own comments to the widgets you like.
Find a widget you like? let the creator know that you like it. Just feel like saying "thanks for letting me use your widget?" That's ok too. We hope that the addition of comments will be a popular and helpful feature for everyone.
Now get out there and start promoting yourself!
We are continuing to make improvements every day and we'd love to have your input on what to build next, so pop on over to the forums and tell us what you think!
Thanks,
Don Read More
Blogging Romance with Lorelle in San Francisco
Blogging Romance with Lorelle in San Francisco
I will be speaking at the Romance Writers of America San Francisco Chapter’s special event on Web Publishing for Authors at the Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant in Berkeley, California, on March 8, 2008, from 8:30 AM to noon. The program is open to the public but reservations are required with fees $25 for non-members [...]
I will be speaking at the Romance Writers of America San Francisco Chapter’s special event on Web Publishing for Authors at the Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant in Berkeley, California, on March 8, 2008, from 8:30 AM to noon. The program is open to the public but reservations are required with fees $25 for non-members [...]
I will be speaking at the Romance Writers of America San Francisco Chapter’s special event on Web Publishing for Authors at the Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant in Berkeley, California, on March 8, 2008, from 8:30 AM to noon. The program is open to the public but reservations are required with fees $25 for non-members reserving their seat before March 5.
You don’t have to be a romance writer to attend. The program is open to all writers who want to use web technology to boost their careers. The morning workshop will help you develop a website and blog to promote you and your work and establish your reputation as a professional writer and author. The program will cover online tips and techniques for authors to promote their books, enhance their online presence, and build a fan-base community using blogs, forums, podcasts, video, and other social media.
The program panel features myself, discussing blogging and the power of the blog as a promotional, networking, and fan-building tool, and promoting WordPress; Tom Johnson, an artistic marketing strategist covering design issues; and Rachelle Chase, an award-winning erotic romance author, business consultant, and host of Chatting with Chase.
I wrote The Art of the Artist Web Design Collaboration on the Blog Herald as an introduction for the event to help artists and writers see the potential a blog offers over a static website.
Upcoming Events with Lorelle
Dallas/Frisco, Texas - March 29-30, 2008 - WordCamp Dallas
I’ll be covering WordPress Power Tips at this WordPress special event. Registration is required so sign up fast. The line up includes some top multimedia, WordPress Plugin and Theme experts, and other top bloggers and industry leaders.
Pasadena, California - April 2-5, 2008 - Alliance for Distance Education in California Summit
For educational professionals committed to integration of web technologies into the classroom. The summit is open to the public and educational professionals, teachers, and leaders, so get your reservation in soon.
Chicago - May 2-4, 2008 - Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference
SOBCon: Be There for the Business of Blogging! I will be there, will you? This is one of the hottest events for bloggers.
Site Search Tags: lorelle, lorelle vanfossen, speaking, speaker, workshop, blog workshop, blog seminar, blog event, wordcamp, lorelle event, see lorelle
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.
GeekMonkee Podcast 1.0
GeekMonkee Podcast widget allows you to catch up on the latest episodes released.
Read More
 | About GeekMonkee Podcast The purpose of this widget is to keep the user updated with the latest episodes released from the GeekMonkee. Once installed, the user has the ability to listen to each podcast directly from the Dashboard. |
Sponsors Make Us Get Well Soon [Announcements]
Sponsors Make Us Get Well Soon [Announcements]
If you were wondering where I've been the past few days, I've been sick! Super sick! But thanks to our sponsors and their tender loving, I'm on the road to recovery. Thanks Alaska Airlines, SciFi...
If you were wondering where I've been the past few days, I've been sick! Super sick! But thanks to our sponsors and their tender loving, I'm on the road to recovery. Thanks Alaska Airlines, SciFi...
The PlayStation Phone Patent [Sony]
We've heard rumblings about a PlayStation (or PlayStation Portable) Phone by Sony Ericsson for some time now, but this is the first time that we've actually seen what one might look like. Filed back... Read More
Check out our Christmas Tree widget!!
Check out our Christmas Tree widget!!
We thought everyone could use a Christmas Tree widget that counts down the days (like you need more reminding of how fast it is approaching)!
Go to the Christmas Tree page on the site http://springwidgets.com/widgets/view/46 to get your own tree for your page or to pop to your desktop. It can be configured to your liking. We're working on a Menorah and Kwanzaa also . . . keep checking back!
We thought everyone could use a Christmas Tree widget that counts down the days (like you need more reminding of how fast it is approaching)!
Go to the Christmas Tree page on the site http://springwidgets.com/widgets/view/46 to get your own tree for your page or to pop to your desktop. It can be configured to your liking. We're working on a Menorah and Kwanzaa also . . . keep checking back!
ExpressWidgets from SpringWidgets!
ExpressWidgets from SpringWidgets!
It’s a day to “Express” change . . .
Today we’ve launched our ExpressWidgets service…
http://springwidgets.com/express/getFeed/
Up until now you could use our RSS Reader Widget to brand and add a blog to your site or desktop, but you could not add that finished blog widget to our gallery so that other people could find it and share it.
Today we changed all that!!!
As of right now you can use our ExpressWidgets process to create your own uniquely-branded Widget(s) and have those widgets instantly added to our gallery just like any other widget. Build as many as you want and add them to our growing gallery of blogs and desktop Widgets so other users can embed, pass along and bring them to the desktop.
It’s pretty cool. We “expressed” the RSS Reader first. We think it’s the easiest build process for you to quickly syndicate and distribute your blog or audio and video podcast content. Best of all, you can uniquely brand your ExpressWidget to match your website or blog, making it a truly one-of-a-kind Widget out in the WidgetSphere.
To make sure that the end product is as good as it can be, we've added a new way to customize an Express RSS Reader - you can now skin the "chrome" around the content so that it better matches your blog or site. (This is a feature that has been requested for a while and we are happy to be able to push this feature live today).
And for our many Feedburner users, your burned feeds will continue to give you the industry leading analytics and metrics for which Feedburner is known. If you have your Feedburner feed handy, drop on in to the ExpressWidgets process now and add your blog to our gallery to get some free exposure.
Talking about exposure… We’ve also added in a few familiar buttons on the display pages for your widget. Anyone can now Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and otherwise bookmark your widget directly from the widget view in the gallery – guaranteed to lead to at least a couple of hundred eyeballs on your content ;-)
Go get’em tiger!
It’s a day to “Express” change . . .
Today we’ve launched our ExpressWidgets service…
http://springwidgets.com/express/getFeed/
Up until now you could use our RSS Reader Widget to brand and add a blog to your site or desktop, but you could not add that finished blog widget to our gallery so that other people could find it and share it.
Today we changed all that!!!
As of right now you can use our ExpressWidgets process to create your own uniquely-branded Widget(s) and have those widgets instantly added to our gallery just like any other widget. Build as many as you want and add them to our growing gallery of blogs and desktop Widgets so other users can embed, pass along and bring them to the desktop.
It’s pretty cool. We “expressed” the RSS Reader first. We think it’s the easiest build process for you to quickly syndicate and distribute your blog or audio and video podcast content. Best of all, you can uniquely brand your ExpressWidget to match your website or blog, making it a truly one-of-a-kind Widget out in the WidgetSphere.
To make sure that the end product is as good as it can be, we've added a new way to customize an Express RSS Reader - you can now skin the "chrome" around the content so that it better matches your blog or site. (This is a feature that has been requested for a while and we are happy to be able to push this feature live today).
And for our many Feedburner users, your burned feeds will continue to give you the industry leading analytics and metrics for which Feedburner is known. If you have your Feedburner feed handy, drop on in to the ExpressWidgets process now and add your blog to our gallery to get some free exposure.
Talking about exposure… We’ve also added in a few familiar buttons on the display pages for your widget. Anyone can now Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and otherwise bookmark your widget directly from the widget view in the gallery – guaranteed to lead to at least a couple of hundred eyeballs on your content ;-)
Go get’em tiger!
How to display your RSS subscriber count
How to display your RSS subscriber count
You've all seen the little FeedBurner subscriber counters on sites that display a site or more often a blogs number of RSS subscribers. Whilst this is a nice widget to display on your site there isn't much in the way of customizing to display something different.
Plaint text subscriber count
There is a way to display the number of readers you have for your feed by using FeedBurners API. This means you can display your subscriber count within some text, for example as part of a blog post. You could also have a separate message somewhere on you site saying X number of readers subscribe to this site.
You can use the PHP code below. You need to have PHP5 otherwise the SimpleXMLElement command will not work.
//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=YourFeedburnerFeedLinkHere";
//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();
//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);
//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);
//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];
//end get cool feedburner count
?>
The next line of PHP needs to be located where you want the subscriber count number to appear. This code needs to occur after the code above for it to work.
I borrowed this code from Mark over at 45n5 so thanks Mark.
This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.
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