How Paid Guest Posts Can Ruin Your Blog

We all know about guest posts. What it is and how it affect and helps our blog. But there are many other fellow bloggers who accept paid guest posts if someone wants to write for their blog and wants a backlink to their own blog or product. Today we are gonna share how these paid guest posts can ruin your blog and result in decrease in your blog readership.Previously we have discussed about some guest post secrets which helps to make your blog much better and effective with guest posting.

So first of all we will discuss about what are paid guest posts. There is not any much difference between paid guest posts and sponsored posts. Both these are same. Guest posts are simply a way to write content for other blogs and request for a backlink in return. There are many blogs which loves to charge a small fee if someone wants to write for their blog. In this way they love to make money from their blog. This is called paid guest posts. This is one of the way to monetize your blog with paid guest posts and make money.It depends upon you either you charge $10 or even $100 or even more for paid guest posts.

So what are the reasons for bloggers to charge their readers or somebody to write for their blog. What are the possible causes for accepting paid guest posts for their blog.According and me and many other experts, making money from their blog is the main reason for paid guest posts. This way help bloggers make money and maintain better readership.
Well this article is regarding how paid guest posts can harm your blog and bring big adverse affects to your readership. We will discuss some bad harmful effects for which paid guest posts are the main reason.

Harms Of Paid Guest Posts

1. One of the main reason which bloggers should understand while charging someone for a paid guest post is time and content. Bloggers don’t understand that they are getting free and fresh content for their blog.Everyone takes his precious time for the article he loves to send you as a guest post. And on the other hand you are charging him certain fee for writing his high quality article n your blog.According to me its not right. If the article is of low quality or if the reader is demanding backlink to any low authority blog or website, then it depends upon you to give a backlink or not.
Its not a big deal if the person demand a double sentenced biography and a link back to his blog or website. Make sure, if the article is highly qualified, it will not affect your blog’s ranking in any case. Remove this thought from your mind that giving backlinks to other blogs from any guest post will affect your rankings a lot. Bloggers like Darren Rowse also loves to write thousands of guest posts for his blog. This way you can get more better articles for your blog instead of getting low quality paid guest posts.On the other hand, if any company is requesting you for any paid guest post and offering you good amount of money, i don’t think you should let the offer go. At last, money is money.

2. Another harmful effect of paid guest posts is that it hurts your readership a lot. Suppose you know any person either through any social network or through any other mean and he/she is interested in writing a guest post for your blog. This way you will get high quality fresh content for your blog. On the other hand if you will ask him for a paid guest post instead of any simple guest post, i don’t think he/she will offer you his valueable content and ideas.Paid guest posts hurts your readership and relationship with your fellow readers.

3. Remember, giving a backlink in author bio doesn’t means selling backlinks from your blog. If you are accepting paid guest posts, then the writer will ask you for more than one backlink from the article. This will fully affect your blog rankings. According to Matt Cutts, “ Your Paid Posts Should Not Pass Page Rank”.This is totally according to the mean.You can accept or reject as many paid guest posts, but keep in mind with your blog’s rankings.

Nobody wants a nofollow backlink to their blog. On the other hand if someone reported your blog to Google for charging money for guest posts, or for paid guest posts, your blog could be penalized. It depends upon you weather you accept paid guest posts or not.

Original post was in http://idealtechblog.com
How Paid Guest Posts Can Ruin Your Blog 

Types of Blog Hosts

There are several types of blog hosts available to help you get your blog online. It's important to understand what the difference is between the types of blog hosts before you jump in and start paying for an account with a specific blog host. Keep reading to learn about the types of blog hosts that are available, so you can make an informed decision that will help you meet your blogging goals in the long term.

 

Free Blog Host

Free blog hosts offer you space to publish your blog online at no cost. Sites like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com provide both the blogging application and online space needed to create and publish a blog for free. Free blog hosts typically have limitations in terms of the amount of space your blog can take up online, the amount of advertising you can place on your blog to earn money from it, and the amount of flexibility you have to customize your blog. Free blog hosts can be an excellent choice for beginner bloggers who simply want to get their feet wet in the blogosphere.

 

Shared Blog Host

A shared blog host is typically the least expensive paid hosting option. With a shared blog host, a number of customers with their own blogs or websites share a server that is dedicated to storing their blogs and making them available online. The advantage to a shared blog host is the cost, but the disadvantage can come from a decreased response rate as more and more blogs and websites are assigned to the same server or as your blog grows and has higher performance demands. Additionally, shared blog host accounts usually have limitations in terms of the space allocated to each accountholder's blog or website, transfer speed, and more. However, most simple websites, blogs and small business websites do well with a shared blog host.

 

Reseller Blog Host

Some people purchase server space from a blog host or company then sell it to customers themselves, acting as resellers for the original blog host or company. It's important to investigate the benefits offered by the reseller to determine whether or not purchasing blog hosting services through a reseller will actually help you or not.

 

Dedicated Server Blog Host

If your blog becomes extremely popular or very big (meaning you have a lot of content, images, videos, etc.), you might need to consider moving to a dedicated server host. With a dedicated server, you are basically renting your own server from the providing company to store your blog and make it accessible to visitors. With your own server, naturally, the price goes up, but you'll also get increased space, transfer speed, and more. Typically, only very large and popular blogs and websites need to pay the extra cost for a dedicated server blog host.

sumber http://weblogs.about.com

Types of Blog Hosts

5 Tips to Choose a Blog Host

There are several types of blog hosts, but how do you decide which blog host is best for you? Keep reading to learn 5 important tips to choosing a blog host.

 

1. Cost

Review the services offered by several blog hosts and find the one that matches your needs at the best price. Then do some more research. Ask other bloggers what host they currently use to get some current opinions about services and pricing. Beware that blog host service packages change frequently, so it's important to always check the blog host's website for information about the company's current package features and prices.

2. Data Transfer Limitations

Make sure you check how much data you can transfer through your blog each month as part of each blog host you review. The transfer limit needs to be high enough to accomodate all the data you publish on your blog being viewed by every person who visits your blog. Remember, you can always upgrade to higher transfer limits as your blog grows, so don't overbuy initially.

 

3. Space

Each blog host accountholder is allocated a specific amount of server space to store their blogs. Check the space allocations for the various hosting packages each blog host offers to make sure you're selecting the best option for your needs and budget. Remember, most typical bloggers don't need terabytes of space, so don't be swayed by packages that offer exorbitant amounts of space.

 

4. Reliability - Speed and Up-time

If visitors can't view your blog (or you can't log in to update it), then there isn't much point in visiting again. That's why it's extremely important to understand the up-time offered by your blog host. Additionally, if the speed in accessing your blog is too slow because your blog host's server has exceeded its capacity, visitors will become frustrated and click away from your blog. Make sure you evaluate blog hosts based on their reliability to ensure you and your visitors will actually get what you're paying for.

 

5. Support

If you have a question or problem about your hosting services, it's imperative that your blog host has employees available at all times to help you. Review the type of support offered by each blog host to ensure it's adequate.

A Tips from http://weblogs.about.com

5 Tips to Choose a Blog Host 

Before You Choose a Domain Name for Your Blog

One of the first things a new blogger has to do is choose a domain name. Unfortunately, this can be challenging when so many of the best domain names are already taken. How can you find a great domain name? Follow the tips in this article to choose a domain name that's perfect for your blog.

 

Creative vs. Obvious Blog Domain Names

The first thing you need to decide when choosing a domain name for your blog is whether you want the domain name to be obvious to Internet users. The advantage to having a domain name that is clearly related to your blog's topic is it may help people find your blog through keyword searches. Also, it may be easier for people to remember a blog domain name that is fairly intuitive.
Conversely, a creative blog name can become a great brand icon if your blog becomes successful. It will strongly separate your blog from your competitors as unique.

 

Check the Availability of Obvious Domain Names

If you decide you want to choose an obvious domain name, you'll need to research what is available. You can do this through any blog host's website. For example, using a site such as BlueHost will allow you to type in the domain name of your choice (including the extension - .com, .net, .us, etc.) and immediately learn if that domain name is available. Many sites will also provide a list of similar domain names for you to choose from. For example, if the name you searched for is taken, you'll see a list of alternatives that might include a different extension, an additional word or letter added, and more.

 

Create a List of Keywords to Use in Obvious Domain Names

As you try to find an available domain name that you like and fits your blog, it's a good idea to take some time to search for popular keywords related to your blog's topic through a website such as Wordtracker. Using those words in your domain name will certainly help new readers find your blog through their own searches.

 

Create Your Own Word

If you choose to give your blog a creative domain name, you can be as unique as you want. Following are some ideas to help get your creative juices flowing:

• Make up a word (Squidoo.com)
• Use a word or combination of words completely unrelated to your blog (BoingBoing.com)
• Add prefixes or suffixes or other letters to a real word (Friendster.com or Engadget.com)
• Add an article like "a" or "the" (TheSuperficial.com) 

Taken from http://weblogs.about.com/
Before You Choose a Domain Name for Your Blog 

5 Things to Avoid in a Blog Domain Name

Choosing a domain name for your blog is a very important decision, and if you don't choose well, you could be dooming your blog from the start. Making the process even more difficult is the fact that so many of the domain names you probably want to use for your blog have probably already been registered by other people.
Don't settle for a domain name that you don't like or could hurt your blog's chances for success. Below are five things you should avoid when choosing a blog domain name that you should keep in mind as you conduct your domain name search.

1. Don't choose an uncommon domain extension

If the domain name that you want isn't available with a .com extension for the URL, consider choosing a different domain where the .com extension is available. By far, the .com extension is the most common and the one that most people expect a URL to use. An uncommon extension could make it difficult for people who aren't fully committed to finding your blog to keep looking for it if they can't find it after their first try.
If you're completely committed to a specific domain name but the .com extension is not available, then consider using the .net extension. Avoid using the least common extensions like .info, which your audience is least likely to search for and are often used by untrustworthy and spam sites.
Most importantly, you don't want to confuse your audience, make them feel like your blog might not be trustworthy, or make it difficult for them to find your blog. Instead, make every effort to help them find your blog and trust it by sticking with a .com or .net extension in your domain name.

2. Avoid misspellings in your blog domain name.

Misspellings can be confusing. As mentioned above, the majority of people won't make an extra effort to find your blog by typing in a variety of spelling combinations to find it. The simpler your domain name, the better.

3. Be careful of numbers in your domain name.

Numbers can also cause confusion. Is the number in numeric form or spelled out? When you speak your domain name, it can be a lot more confusing than it is when someone sees it in writing. Imagine you speak the word "four" in your domain name. Verbally, that could be interpreted as "four," "4," or "for." Which one is used in your domain name? If you have to spell every letter of your domain name out each time you speak it, then your domain name is weak. Tread carefully and understand the ramifications of including numbers in your blog domain name.

4. Consider punctuation carefully in your blog domain name.

Punctuation is another area of confusion in domain names. Of course, many punctuation marks are not allowed in domain names, but even those that are allowed, such as hyphens, can be confusing. Write and speak the hyphenated domain name you're considering using before you commit to it. Make sure punctuation doesn't confuse the domain name or weaken it before you start using it for your blog.

5. Never use trademarks you don't own in your domain name.

If you register a domain name that includes a trademark owned by another person or entity, then they can issue a cease and desist to you which you'll need to abide by. That means you'll need to stop using the domain name that includes a registered trademark and all references to it.
Imagine that you've been blogging for years and suddenly receive a cease and desist letter from an entity that owns a trademarked name or phrase in your domain name. If you have been using the name without permission (whether or not you knew you were doing so), you have to stop using it by law. That means all of the links and backlinks to your blog that have been created over the years will be gone as will your search engine rankings. This is a risk you don't want to take. To avoid it, enter your domain name into the United States Patent Office trademark database search tool and make sure there are no active trademark registrations for it.
An article from http://weblogs.about.com
5 Things to Avoid in a Blog Domain Name

How to Create a Successful Facebook Business With These Essential Tools

Facebook offers a multitude of tools that will help your business excel such as Social Ads, Pages, Beacon, Insights, Platform, and Polls. These tools are there to help you in building your brand on your Facebook Page while attracting visitors and future clients.
It’s wise to start by learning all about these tools. This will save you a lot of time in the long run. In the following section you’ll learn how this all ties together which will show you how essential these tools are in running a successful Facebook business. You can learn all about these tools by going to the business section at Facebook.com.

Social Ads
What makes social ads so powerful and unique, is their direct interaction with the news feeds of your friends and fans. This gives you an advantage because anyone who has added you as a friend will see information about your business directly on their profile.
This is also an advantage because you can directly control who sees your ads, which helps you to target your traffic without much effort. As with any kind of marketing, targeting your traffic has proven time after time to raise your conversions.

Facebook Pages
If you have a business, you definitely should create a Facebook page. Make sure that you create a page and not a profile. They are not the same thing. The Facebook page you create will be your businesses’ profile page. Additionally it helps your brand image. You know when someone on Facebook interacts with your site, that you’ve gained a potential customer.
People treat your page the same as they would any of their friends. They search and read things that they’re interested in. What’s great about Facebook is that anyone can post on your wall and share their opinion. Your Facebook page is a playground for your creative genius to come to life and shine. The more apps, quizzes, surveys, contests, or starting of groups you do, the more people will want to interact on your page. You should base your activities around your niche and the image you are trying to build for your company.

Facebook Beacon
There is another service called the Facebook Beacon that will help you promote your business to your friends and fans. Beacon allows Facebook to post your business news directly on your friends feeds so the interaction is steady and consistent.
You can also choose if you want your friends to get a message every time someone purchases one of your products. When people see that someone else purchased something, more times than not they will check out the product that someone else ordered. If you are on Facebook, you know how your page tells you every time one of your friends makes an update or posts pictures on their wall. Well this is kind of the same thing. It’s not intrusive and you don’t feel offended by it, you just know that this is the way Facebook works, therefore it is an excellent tactic to receive more sales. For this to work you will need to paste some code to your website.
Your company, service, or product will increase by word of mouth because when people share your page it encourages others to interact on your site.. If you are nervous that this will affect the user’s privacy or your business privacy don’t be because people always have the choice to deny updates. There are other options to protect your privacy as well as their’s.

Facebook Insights
Just like when you are marketing online and want to check the statistics about people interacting on your site and clicking your ads; Facebook Insights can do this for you when you are marketing on Facebook. Facebook Insights is the perfect tool to measure which campaigns are successful and which are not.
This is also an excellent tool to see if your products or services are spreading virally or not. Facebook Insights is such an impactful tool, due to the word of mouth aspect. Insights additionally helps you gauge just how successful your attempts truly are. Facebook insights not only gauges how successful you are, but also gives you the data about demographics to help you target your traffic for the right audience.

Facebook Platform
The Facebook platform allows programmers to create apps that will work well with their site and enhance the customer’s experience. Creating a fun app is a great way to get people to interact with your page. With Facebook your goal is to create things that your friends want to share with others so your user base can multiply as it goes viral.
Quizzes, surveys, games, and interactive tools are a great way of engaging your fans. You can find some great ideas on the applications page of Facebook, to see which kind of apps will work for your business. Whatever you design needs to help build your brand on the site. Everything you build on your site should be based around building your brand image.

Facebook Polls
Another valuable tool that will assist you in determining other factors of your website is Facebook Polls. You can give a poll to a particular demographic to see if it is wise to launch a product to that demographic before you make the launch. This saves you from time, effort, and disappointment. Facebook Polls is very powerful and will work well because you already have the age, sex, and marital status of your users. This information is an excellent tool to help you focus your efforts on only those who are relevant.
Taking advantage of these free Facebook tools will be a huge benefit to you and will help you build a very successful Facebook business!

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Article by Heather Koenig in sitepronews.com
How to Create a Successful Facebook Business With These Essential Tools

3 Free Tools That Save Time & Money Plus Get a Cool Job

Time and money are the resources most of us don’t have. So in today’s post I thought I’d share some free applications that you may find handy as you work on your elearning courses.

Find Everything

The app is called Everything by VoidTools. David Anderson shared this with me after a recent workshop. It’s a simple application that lets you quickly search your computer. I created a custom keyboard shortcut and use it throughout the day because it really is super-fast.

I’m addicted. I just start searching stuff because I can. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night just to do random searches. Works like a charm. There are other tools like this out there. If you don’t use one, Everything is worth trying and the price is right.

WaveShop

In a previous post I shared some tips on recording narration and ten free audio programs that can be used for elearning. I’ll throw WaveShop in the mix of good free audio editors.

WaveShop is straightforward and has a lot more than basic editing functions. So if you only need to do something simple, you’re all set. But if you want to do more, then there are plenty of features to let you.

K-Lite Codec Pack

This isn’t really an application as much as a great resource. When working with multimedia you may run into issues playing audio or video files. Often these issues can be resolved by making sure the audio and video drivers are up to date for your computer’s hardware.

Another simple solution is to make sure you have updated audio and video codecs. They help encode and decode the various media formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of all sorts of filters and codecs. Don’t confuse this pack with the Chi-Lites where you’re limited to soulful funk but no AV codecs.

originally in http://www.articulate.com
3 Free Tools That Save Time & Money Plus Get a Cool Job 

5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter

Twitter Online System is one of the best method to promote your blog or business on twitter.We have often seen most of professionals bloggers and other celebrities using twitter instead of facebook to promote their business and increase their leads.There are many reasons behind this decision of using twitter over facebook. At facebook, there are millions of active users, but nobody loves to share or give you any better opinion about whatever you share with your fans. On the other hand, anything you share on twitter can go viral on twitter in just few time.

Today we are gonna share some viral strategies which will help you to make your post or anything you share on twitter go viral. This way you can promote your business to billions of twitter users and get big benefits.

1. Call To Action : This is one of the best way you can use to spread your business/post virally on twitter. Like on facebook, we ask our friends to share our page or whatever, similarly on twitter, we can request our followers to re-tweet our posts and spread them further to their fans. The more we spread, the more benefits we will get.Re-tweeting will help your content to get viral on facebook and bringing lots of benefits for your business.
Another thing you  can do is to write better and catchy title so that people get attracted and re-tweet it without your permission. This way more and more people will re-tweet your post and finally you will get better reputation.

2. Time Of Re-Tweet : This doesn’t look as much effective, but it is. Re-tweets often done between 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM are very effective as compared to be done on another timings. So try to re-tweet your post on mainly starting days of weekend like Monday to Wednesday and between any certain timings as i mentioned.

3. Links : Links are must in every post that you want to be re-tweeted by your fans or followers. Just imagine why people will re-tweet any single line filled with just words and no links. Links make any post more interesting. Studies about re-tweeting shows that 70% of re-tweeted posts contains a link while other 30% have no links at all. This way it shows that having a link is must in every post that you want to be re-tweeted.

4. Get Some Known People : This step is very effective in making your post viral on twitter. Suppose you have 1000 followers on twitter, but you know no one. Then how can you expect your post to be re-tweeted.So, for this purpose you have to make some social connections with your followers have thousands of followers. You can simply message them with your tweet and request them to re-tweet your post. This way works perfect to get more fans for your business.

5. Twitter is a place to share valueable content and add reputation. The more better content you share, the more better reputation you will get and finally more followers. Try to avoid sharing scams and phishing. Try to share latest news and what’s hot happening in the industry. This way your followers will get interest in you and finally your every post will get lots of re-tweets that you would have ever imagined.
These are some simple steps to make your post go viral on twitter. Once your every post got viral, you are just a step ahead to boost your business with this mighty social network.

source http://idealtechblog.com
5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter

How to Harden Your Browser Against Malware and Privacy Concerns

One of the first lines of defense we have against the plague of security and privacy problems that stalk the internet resides within our browsers. This article is meant to help you to harden your browser against all types of problems. However, do note that I would strongly suggest that even if your main concern is only about privacy you should still read through the security sections as well. Preventing your computer from communicating with potentially dangerous sites, and helping to avoid malware, plays a very important role in increasing your online privacy. Thus, protecting your privacy really does require that you also increase your security.

1. General Changes To Browser

If you are running Adobe Flash, as most people are, then there are a few changes to the settings you should make. Regardless of which browser you use you should modify your flash player settings to make sure that third-party flash cookies are disabled. If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 do this by going to the control panel on your computer. Then go to the subsection for "System and Security". If you are running Windows XP you should go to the control panel and make sure that it is set to "Classic View". At this point you should see the icon for "Flash Player". Open it. Under the Storage tab make sure the option to "Block all sites from storing information on this computer" is selected. Also, under the Advanced tab make sure that the option to "Allow Adobe to install updates" is selected.

In addition, it's important to know that Java is constantly being exploited in order to install malware on users computers. Also, the java plugin is not even needed for most sites to work properly. Thus, if the java plugin is in fact installed in your browser, my advice would be to remove it unless you find it necessary. In fact, if there are any plugins you don't use I would recommend that you remove them as well. These may pose a threat to your security.

2. Use A Privacy Focused Search Engine

Google’s search engine records your searches and aggressively tracks you. So do many of the other top search engines. For this reason I would suggest that you use an alternative search engine. One of the best anonymous search engines I've found is called StartPage. This search engine allows you to search using Google's search engine, but it blocks Google's ability to track you. Its not quite as powerful as using Google alone, but it's definitely a very good search engine. More information can be found on this page, and an explanation of how to make it the default search engine of your browser can be found on this page. The same company that makes StartPage also makes a search engine called Ixquick. This gathers its results from many different sources and thus may be even more useful than StartPage. More information about it can be found on this page, and an explanation of how to make it the default search engine of your browser can be found on this page. Both search engines have been certified by an independent third-party to not record your IP address or use tracking cookies.

Another very good option is called DuckDuckGo. This search engine will also not record any information about your searches. DuckDuckGo gathers its search results from a compilation of many sources. It also displays possible answers to the question you asked right at the top of the results page. It can be a very useful search engine. More information about DuckDuckGo can be found on this page, and an explanation of how to make it the default search engine of your browser can be found on this page. Just navigate to the browser you are using and follow the directions provided.

3. Modify Your Current Browser To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

• Modify Your Chrome To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy
• Modify Your Firefox (And Firefox Variants) To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy
• Modify Your Opera To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy
• Modify Your Internet Explorer To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

4. Alternatively Use JonDoFox To Greatly Improve Your Privacy

Note that for this browser I am not even considering security or usability concerns. This browser is truly oriented mainly towards privacy. For a more balanced approach please see my advice above. In addition to using this browser I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.

To surf the web with even greater anonymity than can be achieved with any of the above browsers, download JonDoFox from this page and install it. During installation it will prompt you to have it download Firefox. Assuming you don't already have Firefox installed let it install it for you. However, if you already have Firefox installed it will ask you whether you want to merge it with your Firefox configuration. You must either do that or install it as a portable browser. The choice is yours.

During the installation it will ask you if you want to download JonDo, which is a proxy program. I would recommend that you do not and instead use a virtual private network (VPN). This will provide you with an encrypted connection, much faster browsing speed, and an even higher level of privacy. To choose the best VPN for your needs please read this section of my article about How to Protect Your Privacy While Online. Make sure that if you do choose to use a VPN, you start it up each time before using JonDoFox to browse the internet. Also, if you do decide to use a VPN you should start up JonDoFox, left-click on the JonDoFox icon, and select the option for "No Proxy". When prompted you should also select the option to not show warnings about the proxy.

At this point JonDoFox is ready for you to begin browsing the internet with a very high level of privacy. No further changes are required for the configuration and no additional add-ons are required.

5. Periodically Clear Browsing Data

Even if the configuration changes suggested above some browsing data will still get saved to your computer. In addition you should be aware that the advice I give above will not prevent flash cookies from being stored on your computer from the site you are visiting. You have only disabled this for third-parties. Thus, to clear these flash cookies, and most other browsing data which may be on your computer, you may want to periodically clean your computer with a program called CCleaner. To download it you should download the Portable version from this page to avoid inadvertantly installing unwanted software.

After installing it there is one change you must make in order for it to clear flash cookies, as well as normal cookies and other browsing data. Please click on the Cleaner icon and go to the Applications tab. Then, under the Multimedia section, make sure that "Adobe Flash Player" is selected. Once you have made sure that CCleaner is configured properly you just make sure that all other programs are closed and then click on the button to "Run CCleaner". Running this periodically will help to increase your online privacy.

Original article was in techsupportalert.com 
How to Harden Your Browser Against Malware and Privacy Concerns

How to Modify Internet Explorer To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

With Internet Explorer you need to enable add-ons after installing them. This will appear as a popup at the bottom of the screen.

How to Increase Security

Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
Open the "Internet Options" and go to the Advanced tab. Then scroll down to the security section and select the option to "Enable SmartScreen Filter". This will check all sites, and downloads, against lists of known dangerous sites and files. Although this has certain privacy concerns I believe that the additional security it provides outweighs the privacy risks. That said, the choice is yours as to whether you want to enable it or not, but I would strongly recommend it.

Also, you can install a program which will block unwanted ads. For IE I would recommend installing a program called AdFender. It can be found on this page. After installing it right-click on the icon it created in the task bar and select "Open Main Console". Then go to the Filters section. Here I would advise selecting the option for EasyPrivacy in addition to EasyList, which should already be selected. The select OK to save your changes and close the console. This will now work in the background automatically removing unwanted ads.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
To disable flash globally go to tools, then safety, and click on "ActiveX filtering". After doing this flash, and all other ActiveX type content, will be blocked until you click the icon to enable it. This icon can be found on the address bar. You can then choose whether to turn ActiveX off or leave it on. This is a relatively good way to protect yourself from many threats, although I would prefer individual site whitelisting.

Use these add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• Web of Trust (WOT): With this installed if you happen upon a potentially dangerous site WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide whether to stay or leave. If you combine this with your own good sense then you will be protected from many online dangers. Also, if you choose, you can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyway. Please note that for sites which are largely concerned with political or religious content the ratings may be less accurate. This is because community driven services such as WOT can become tainted by individual's own biases. However, in terms of malicious sites, phishing sites, scam sites, and similar content, I find this service to be very reliable and I would not go online without it.

How To Increase Privacy

Internet Explorer provides users with the option to start the browser in InPrivate Browsing mode. What this means is that if you are running in this mode most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.

How to change configuration of Internet Explorer for improved privacy
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
Open the "Internet Options". Under the Privacy tab most users can select the option to "Never allow websites to request your physical location". If needed you can manually add exclusions for particular sites, but this is almost never necessary. Also, most users will want to change the privacy settings to "Medium High".
Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
Open the "Internet Options". Under the General tab advanced users may want to select the option to "Delete browsing history on exit". This means that nearly all information will be lost each time you close your browser, but if you're willing to make the sacrifice it will help improve your privacy.
Under the privacy tab advanced users can click on the option for Advanced. Then select the option to "Override automatic cookie handling". Then uncheck the option to "Always allow session cookies". I would then advise that you select the option to Prompt for "First-part Cookies" and Block for "Third-party Cookies". Then select OK. When going to a site you will be prompted whether you want to accept the cookies or not. When making a decision I would suggest you select the option to "Apply my decision to all cookies from this website". However, this can be very annoying and you essentially have to do this for every site. Another alternative is to select Block for "First-party cookies" as well. However, this can be somewhat annoying since many sites will not work properly without cookies enabled. You then need to go back into the settings to manually add a site to the whitelist. Managing the cookies in such a way does greatly increase your level of privacy, but that comes at a great price in terms of usability.
Advanced users may want to go to the Advanced tab and disable the option to "Enable DOM Storage". This is located under the Security section. For an explanation of what that is please see this site.

Use these add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• LastPass: This is a secure password manager with automatic password and form filling. It not only helps protect your passwords, and sensitive data, but also allows you to confidently create strong passwords and change them often. This is very important at times like this where passwords are constantly being stolen from numerous sites.
• Do Not Track Me: This will help to stop third-parties, ad agencies, and search engines from tracking the webpages you visit. More information is given in this review.
• Ghostery: After installing this, and enabling it, left-click on the Ghostery icon and go to options. If you do not want it to visually alert you each time it blocks potential privacy problems you can deselect the option to have it "Show Alert Bubble". This is not needed for our purposes. Under the Blocking tab select the option to "Enable web bug blocking" and then select the option to select all. Then select OK to save your settings. This add-on provides protection very similar to that of Do Not Track Plus, but I have seen no problems running both of them alongside each other.

Source http://www.techsupportalert.com
How to Modify Internet Explorer To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy 

How to Modify Opera To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

Opera can be downloaded from this page. In general I do like this browser. However, in my opinion it has a problem with the way disabling javascript globally is handled. Seeing as this is a very critical part of protecting your browser from both security and privacy threats I consider it to be a very large problem with the browser. It is not easy to re-enable java for individual sites without going back into the settings. Also, disabling it globally makes it impossible to run important privacy extensions. I consider this to be a major problem with this browser. This is discussed in greater detail below.

How To Increase Security

How to change configuration of Opera for improved security
Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
Go to the Content section. If you are an advanced user you may want to deselect the option to "Enable JavaScript". This will protect you from any JavaScript based malware or privacy threats, but it will also mean that many websites will not work until you manually allow them. Thus this is a very powerful weapon in your arsenal, but it comes at a price. It greatly affects your browsing experience. In fact, with Opera there is an even greater downside to enabling JavaScript. Disabling this will not allow extensions to function properly. This includes the security and privacy extensions recommended below. Thus the question of whether to disable javascript or not is not a trivial question with Opera, even if you're willing to deal with the additional work of manually whitelisting sites. I leave this choice up to you.

Use These Extensions
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• Web of Trust (WOT): With this installed if you happen upon a potentially dangerous site WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide whether to stay or leave. If you combine this with your own good sense then you will be protected from many online dangers. Also, if you choose, you can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyway. Please note that for sites which are largely concerned with political or religious content the ratings may be less accurate. This is because community driven services such as WOT can become tainted by individual's own biases. However, in terms of malicious sites, phishing sites, scam sites, and similar content, I find this service to be very reliable and I would not go online without it.
• NoAds Advanced: After installing this extension go to the manage extensions and then go to the preferences for the extension. Then go to the tab for Subscriptions and select the ones for "Easylist and EasyPrivacy Combination" and the one for "Malware Domains". This will help protect you from ads, malware, and certain privacy threats.

How to Increase Privacy

Like most browsers Opera provides users with the option to start the browser in Private browsing mode. What this means is that if you are running in this mode most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.

How to change configuration of Opera for improved privacy
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
Under the settings part of the drop-down menu go to Preferences. Then go to the advanced tab. Under the Cookies section most users will want to select the option to "Accept cookies only from the site I visit". This will prevent sites from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked. The only time you may have problems, and need to temporarily disable this, is sometimes when a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most cases it will work fine. Also, under the security section select the option to "Ask websites not to track me".

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
Under the Cookies section more advanced users can select the option to "Never Accept Cookies". This will block any cookies from being set, which will stop some websites from working. For these cases you will need to manually add cookies to the whitelist. It greatly affects your browsing experience as this is not easy to do with Opera. Also, under the network tab, users can deselect the option to "Send referrer information". However, do note that this can cause problems with some websites and may need to be re-enabled.

Also, advanced users may want to go to the History section and turn off the cache for the disk, although this will mean that each time you visit a page it will have to reload from scratch. Thus this will slow down your browsing experience, but it will make it much more difficult for sites to track you. When you are done making your changes select OK to save them.

Use These Extensions
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• Redirect to HTTPS: This forces many sites, which have the option to encrypt your connection, to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure.
• LastPass: This is a secure password manager with automatic password and form filling. It not only helps protect your passwords, and sensitive data, but also allows you to confidently create strong passwords and change them often. This is very important at times like this where passwords are constantly being stolen from numerous sites.
• Ghostery: When prompted follow the wizard. I recommend that you do not enable GhostRank. Enabling this would allow Ghostery to anomously send information about the pages visited and objects blocked, which would be used for statistical purposes. If you want it to visually alert you each time it blocks potential privacy problems then leave the option to enable "Alert Bubble" checked. That said, this option is not necessary for our purposes. I would recommend that you select the option to "enable 3pe Library Auto-Update" when given the choice. I would also suggest you select the option to "enable Blocking" and then select the option to block all bugs. This extension provides protection very similar to that of Do Not Track Plus, but I have seen no problems running both of them alongside each other.

Source http://www.techsupportalert.com
How to Modify Opera To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

How to Modify Firefox (And Firefox Variants) To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

Firefox, Comodo IceDragon, Pale Moon, and Waterfox (which is only for 64 bit systems) all use the Google Safe Browsing blacklist to protect users from known dangerous sites. All of these browsers are also being constantly updated to protect you from new vulnerabilities.

If you are installing Comodo Ice Dragon I would suggest that you enable the Secure DNS servers, unless you are currently using another secure DNS server and do not want to switch. Comodo DNS servers will block certain dangerous sites which even Google Safe Browsing does not.

Also, I would like to say that any of these browsers would be a good choice in terms of both security and privacy. I suppose that Comodo IceDragon may provide slightly higher security, since it has Comodo DNS Servers to also block known dangerous sites, but any of the browsers are really very good.

How To Increase Security

Use These Add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• Web of Trust (WOT): With this installed if you happen upon a potentially dangerous site WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide whether to stay or leave. If you combine this with your own good sense then you will be protected from many online dangers. Also, if you choose, you can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyway. Please note that for sites which are largely concerned with political or religious content the ratings may be less accurate. This is because community driven services such as WOT can become tainted by individual's own biases. However, in terms of malicious sites, phishing sites, scam sites, and similar content, I find this service to be very reliable and I would not go online without it.
• BitDefender TrafficLight: With this installed if you happen upon a dangerous site, which is blacklisted by BitDefender, it will block the page from loading. These include malicious pages, phishing sites, and fraudulent sites. The only advice I have for this add-on is that after installing it you should go to the settings for it and disable the option for "Search Result Analyzer". This is to address a potential privacy concern in which your search results would be sent to BitDefender's servers.
• LinkExtend: This will show you the safety rating of the page from multiple services. It includes those of WOT, McAfee SiteAdvisor, Web Security Guard, Browser Defender, Norton Safe Web, and Google Safe Browsing. That said, although it can let you know if a site is known to be dangerous it will not automatically stop you from visiting the page. Note that after installing this, and restarting your browser, it will automatically start a wizard. I would advise that most users leave the options as default, although some may prefer to make a few tweaks. However, after finishing the wizard it will prevent you with a list of other programs which can be installed. I would advise that you do not install any of these and instead cancel this window.
• Adblock Plus: This allows you to subscribe to many different filter lists, which help block unwanted or malicious content. These can be found on this page. You can subscribe to any of the lists on that page, but be aware that subscribing to too many will slow down your browsing experience. I'd advise subscribing to the EasyPrivacy+EasyList combination and Malware Domains. Note that after doing this you should go into your subscriptions and delete the Easylist one, as it will be covered by the combination list and is redundant.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users

• NoScript: This add-on will block nearly all scripts, and other possibly dangerous content, from executing. This means that even if you stumble upon a dangerous site you cannot be attacked unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Thus you are protected from harmful scripts and many privacy threats. However, many sites use these scripts, and plugins, for legitimate purposes. Thus these sites will not work correctly unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Using NoScript takes some getting used to, but if you are serious about staying safe online this add-on is a must have.

How To Increase Your Privacy

All of these browsers provide users with the option to start the browser in Private Browsing mode. What this means is that if you are running in this mode most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.

How to change configuration for improved privacy

Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

Go to the dropdown menu and click on options. Then go to the Privacy tab. Make sure that the option that reads "Tell websites I do not want to be tracked" is selected. Now, under "History" select "Use custom settings for history" from the dropdown menu. Make sure that the option to "Accept third-party cookies" is unchecked. This will prevent sites from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked. The only time you may have problems and need to temporarily disable this is sometimes when a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most cases it will work fine.
Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
More advanced users may wish to prevent cookies from being set at all. To do this please use the Cookie Controller add-on, which is explained below. However, if blocking cookies globally, and whitelisting them manually, seems like too much of a hassle you can instead select the option to only keep the cookies until the browser is closed, which is an option from the dropdown menu under the history section of the privacy tab.
Some users may also want to select the option to Clear history when the browser closes. To do this you can click on "Settings" and select the type of data you would like to have removed. I would advise removing the cookies, cache, and "Offline Website Data" as this will be able to remove most types of tracking data. That said, nearly all information will be lost each time you close your browser, but if you're willing to make the sacrifice it will certainly help improve your privacy. Once you're done making your changes to the settings you can click OK to save them.

Use These Add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• HTTPS Everywhere: This forces many sites, which have the option to encrypt your connection, to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure.
• LastPass: This is a secure password manager with automatic password and form filling. It not only helps protect your passwords, and sensitive data, but also allows you to confidently create strong passwords and change them often. This is very important at times like this where passwords are constantly being stolen from numerous sites.
• Do Not Track Me: This will help to stop third-parties, ad agencies, and search engines from tracking the webpages you visit. More information is given in this review. Note that if you use this with Comodo IceDragon it will work. However, it will mess up parts of the top bar. To get around this right click on the top bar and make sure "Add-on bar" is selected. Then select the option to "Customize...". Once this is done drag the Do Not Track Plus icon from the top bar to the customize window. Then drag it from there to the add-on bar, which is at the bottom. This should fix any cosmetic issues related to this add-on.
• Ghostery: When prompted follow the wizard. I recommend that you do not enable GhostRank. Enabling this would allow Ghostery to anomously send information about the pages visited and objects blocked, which would be used for statistical purposes. I would suggest you select the options to choose the options to block all 3pes and then to also block all known bad cookies. This add-on provides protection very similar to that of Do Not Track Plus, but I have seen no problems running both of them alongside each other.
• BetterPrivacy: This will automatically prompt you to delete all local shared objects (LSO's) from your computer each time Firefox closes. For more information on why these are such a privacy risk please read this article.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users

• RequestPolicy: This will block cross-site requests by default. Thus you will be protected from Cross-site request forgery, which otherwise could send information about your browsing habits to unknown parties. When installing this I would advise that you leave the settings at default. Also, I would advise that you do not whitelist any sites unless you are experiencing difficulties.
• Cookie Monster: This add-on extends your privacy protection by blocking all cookies by default. It allows you to quickly and easily allow or block cookies globally and then manually add exceptions for individual sites. Like NoScript this takes some getting used to since many sites will not work correctly without cookies enabled. However, if protecting your privacy is important then this is a must have.
• Secret Agent: This add-on will impede most of the fingerprinting-based tracking that is used to track users. After installed it will continually randomize your browser profile. Thus it is not possible to fingerprint your actual browser. However, sometimes this will cause sites to not work correctly. In those cases you may need to disable it for those sites.

Sources http://www.techsupportalert.com
How to Modify Firefox (And Firefox Variants) To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

How to Modify Chrome To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

All Chromium browsers use the Google Safe Browsing blacklist to protect users from known dangerous sites. The browsers I have reviewed are Google Chrome, Comodo Dragon, and SRWare Iron. All have built-in secure sandboxing, which make them especially difficult for outsiders to exploit, and are quickly patched against any known vulnerabilities. However, I have certain problems with Google Chrome.  Although it does have minor privacy concerns, which are discussed on this page and on this one, the major problem I have with it is that it is made by Google. Google is well known for having problems respecting the privacy of others. A good listing of relevant incidents can be found on this page. Because of this I find it very difficult to trust Google Chrome and thus will not recommend that anyone use their products.

Luckily, Comodo Dragon and SRWare Iron do not have these privacy concerns. All of the code has been screened by the developers of these products to make sure that these privacy concerns have been removed. Also, Comodo Dragon comes with the option to enable Comodo Secure DNS, which will automatically stop you from connecting with most malicious sites. I would recommend enabling that, unless you are currently using another secure DNS server and do not want to switch. This will increase the security even higher than what you get by just using the Google Safe Browsing blacklist.

How to Increase Security

If you are using Google Chrome you will want to go to the settings and, at the bottom of the page, select the option to "Show advanced settings". Then select the option to "Check for server certificate revocation". For SRWare Iron you should navigate to the same area and do the same. Then also select the option to "Enable phishing and malware protection". No changes are required for Comodo Dragon.

Use These Extensions
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• Web of Trust (WOT): With this installed if you happen upon a potentially dangerous site WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide whether to stay or leave. If you combine this with your own good sense then you will be protected from many online dangers. Also, if you choose, you can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyway. Please note that for sites which are largely concerned with political or religious content the ratings may be less accurate. This is because community driven services such as WOT can become tainted by individual's own biases. However, in terms of malicious sites, phishing sites, scam sites, and similar content, I find this service to be very reliable and I would not go online without it.
• BitDefender TrafficLight: With this installed if you happen upon a dangerous site, which is blacklisted by BitDefender, it will block the page from loading. These include malicious pages, phishing sites, and fraudulent sites. The only advice I have for this extension is that after installing it you should go to the settings for it and disable the option for "Search Result Analyzer". This is to address a potential privacy concern in which your search results would be sent to BitDefender's servers.
• Adblock Plus for Google Chrome (Beta): This allows you to subscribe to many different filter lists, which help block unwanted or malicious content. These can be found on this page. You can subscribe to any of the lists on that page, but be aware that subscribing to too many will slow down your browsing experience. I'd advise subscribing to the EasyPrivacy+EasyList combination and Malware Domains. Note that after doing this you can go into your subscriptions and delete the Faboy's List one, as it will now be largely redundant.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users

• ScriptSafe: This add-on will block nearly all scripts, and other possibly dangerous content, from executing. This means that even if you stumble onto a dangerous site you cannot be attacked unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Thus you are protected from harmful scripts and many privacy threats. However, many sites use these scripts, and plugins, for legitimate purposes. Thus these sites will not work correctly unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. This extension makes this relatively easy to do. Also, under the options you should select ‘Antisocial Mode’. Using ScriptSafe takes some getting used to, but if you are serious about staying safe online then this add-on is a must have.

How to Increase Privacy

All chromium browsers provide users with the option to start the browser in incognito mode. What this means is that if you are running in this mode most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. In addition I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.

How to change configuration for improved privacy

Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

Go to Settings and click on the box at the bottom of the page that says "Show advanced settings".
Under the privacy section uncheck the box to "Use a prediction service to help complete searches...". Note that this change is not required for Comodo Dragon or SRWare Iron. Also make sure the option to "Predict network actions to improve page load performance" is unchecked for all browsers. For Google Chrome you will also want to deselect the option to "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors".
Now open the ‘Content Settings’ and select the box to ‘Block third-party cookies from being set’. This will prevent sites from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked with very minimal negative side effects on your browsing. The only time you may have problems, and need to temporarily disable this, is sometimes when a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most cases it will work fine.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
Under the Privacy section, in the main settings menu, check the box that says 'Do not allow websites to know where you came from (suppress HTTP Referrer header)'. Note that this option is not available in Google Chrome and is not required for SRWare Iron. However, do note that this can cause problems with some websites and may need to be disabled in order for some sites to function properly.
More advanced users may wish to just block cookies globally. Then, when it becomes necessary, they can manually add sites to the whitelist. However, this can be somewhat annoying since many sites will not work properly without cookies enabled. You can configure your browser to do this by going to the privacy content settings and selecting the option to not allow sites to set any data. Then you can allow cookies for individual sites through an icon near the URL bar. If blocking cookies globally is too annoying for your tastes then you can instead use the Vanilla extension, which is discussed below. This will allow you to easily decide which cookies to keep, and which to delete. Although it cannot prevent cookies from being placed on your computer, it does allow you to decide how long unwanted cookies should be kept.
Also, advanced users may want to check the option to delete cookies and other site and plug-in data when the browser is closed. What this will do is that each time you close your browser it will clear all cookies, DOM Storage, and most other data. This means that nearly all information from your previous browsing session will be lost each time. Make sure when you've completed making whatever changes you would like to make to your configuration you select OK to save them.

Use These Extensions
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users

• HTTPS Everywhere: This forces many sites, which have the option to encrypt your connection, to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure. Although the version for Chromium browsers is technically still in beta I have noticed no problems with it.
• LastPass: This is a secure password manager with automatic password and form filling. It not only helps protect your passwords, and sensitive data, but also allows you to confidently create strong passwords and change them often. This is very important at times like this where passwords are constantly being stolen from numerous sites.
• Do Not Track Me: This will help to stop third-parties, ad agencies, and search engines from tracking the webpages you visit. More information is given in this review.
• Ghostery: When prompted follow the wizard. I recommend that you do not enable GhostRank. Enabling this would allow Ghostery to anomously send information about the pages visited and objects blocked, which would be used for statistical purposes. If you want Ghostery to visually alert you each time it blocks potential privacy problems then leave the option to enable "Alert Bubble" checked. That said, this option is not necessary for our purposes. I would recommend that you select the option to "enable 3pe Library Auto-Update" when given the choice. I would also suggest you select the option to "enable Blocking" and then select the option to block all bugs. This add-on provides protection very similar to that of Do Not Track Plus, but I have seen no problems running both of them alongside each other.
• Window Name Eraser: This add-on helps prevent sites from identifying you, which is possible even if you have cookies disabled. It is specifically designed to help protect you from evercookies.

Recommended Only For More Advanced Users

• Vanilla: This is a very good cookie manager for Chromium browsers. However, if you decided to block all cookies globally, as mentioned above, then this extension is not needed. One major downside to this extension is that it can’t block cookies automatically. However, in the options you can select to ‘Auto delete unwanted cookies after 5 minutes”. You can also configure it to clear unwanted cookies on startup. If you decide to use it I would strongly suggest enabling both features. You also have the option to add sites to the whitelist so that those cookies will never be deleted.

Sources techsupportalert.com
How to Modify Chrome To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy

6 Ways to Use Google+ Communities for Website Traffic

Content marketing drives business. Today’s online environment essentially demands it. Whether you are looking for more customers, a rise in the rankings, or publicity – creating good content has to be at the forefront of your online marketing strategy.

Blogging helps build valuable content around your message and brand. It gives the search engines something to index. It gives people something to link to. Last but not least, good content answers the questions that your target audience is asking. This helps you build credibility in your niche and can help enhance your company as an authority in your industry.

It’s easy to understand how creating good content is good for business. However, simply writing an article doesn’t make the magic happen. You won’t gain untold fame and link popularity on wit and writing style alone. You’ll need to roll up your sleeves and put in a little elbow grease to attract readers to your blog. Google+ Communities can help.

A Little Background
Google+ Communities is a place like-minded people congregate around a particular topic or niche. Communities are much like forums or Facebook Groups. And, much like Facebook, anyone is able to create their own. However, unlike Facebook Groups, Google+ allows brand pages to participate, and even start their own communities. For bloggers – or any website that publishes content for that matter – this is an opportunity to laser target your audience and drive traffic to your blog posts.


Time to Get Your Feet Wet
Don’t worry, the water’s nice. The majority of people you’ll find in the communities are quite friendly and engaging. Don’t be afraid to hop in and share your opinion. Of course, proper etiquette is required. You don’t want to join a community just to spam them with links back to your blog or website. This shows a lack of regard towards community spirit and the forum environment. Forums are built for the exchange of ideas and opinions. You want to give as much as you share.

Get Noticed (And Get More Traffic To Your Blog or Website)
Think of using Google+ Communities as forum marketing. It’s essentially the same thing. Your goal should be to add value, offer insight, and join in the conversation. Keep these fundamentals in mind and you will attract attention (the good kind):

1. Time to Mingle
The easiest way to get noticed is to get out there. No one is going to notice you if you’re not pounding the virtual pavement (so to speak). So, the first step is action. The first thing you’ll want to do is join the communities that have a topical relationship to your niche. For example, a website with a focus on SEO and online marketing would naturally gravitate towards Google+ Communities covering these topics.
Here are some examples:
* SEO+: Search Engine Optimization / Web Design
* Social Media Marketing for Small Business Owners
You can also take it one step further and think of your target audience. If you are an SEO consultant, you naturally work with other business owners. Why not go where other small business owners are hanging out? The point here is to find groups where your audience congregates or looks for answers.

2. Share Content that Answers People’s Questions
People go online for entertainment or information. That is putting it as simply as you can. Often times people use forums to search for answers, ask questions, get opinions. This is where all that knowledge you have comes in. Show off your skills by answering people’s questions or offering up insight that gets them thinking. Don’t simply post a link to your content. Give them a clear answer that has value, build on the conversation, and then offer a link to one of your posts that explains the concept in more detail.
Tip: You’ll also find inspiration for future posts based on the questions being asked.

3. Comment on Other People’s Posts
Shining the spotlight on someone else is almost guaranteed to get you noticed. Aren’t we searching for the same thing? By actively engaging with what other people have to say, you’ll in turn pull some of that attention back to yourself. Do this often and people will appreciate the gesture. They’ll also be more likely to follow you and check out your website or blog.

4. Be Consistent
Consistency always pays off. This ties into everything you do in life. Once you find the communities that are beneficial to your brand, you want to stay consistent. Develop a routine that allows you to stay visible by commenting on posts, sharing your own, and sharing information that people find useful.

5. Become a Bastion of Information
When people see you as a source of information the dividends can be immeasurable. This is what being a thought leader and industry expert is all about. Good information and advice breeds trust. No amount of marketing dollars can achieve that.

6. Build a Community Around Your Brand
Launching your own Google+ Community can also be a great way to generate brand recognition. This can work really well if you already are part of a large network. Sometimes lists are easier to explain an approach, so here you go:
* Create a community around your niche and target audience with your brand page.
* Invite people from your personal network (Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter).
* Have people in your company become part of the group. (They can also help with moderation).
* Generate useful content and start conversations that encourage participation.

Let The Good Times Roll
By now you should have a decent understanding of the benefits of using Google+ Communities to build traffic back to your website. If you walk away with anything from this article it should be this:
Do not focus on getting ‘clicks’ to your website. Instead, focus on building a reputation for yourself and your company. Once people recognize you as a source of valuable information they’ll check out your blog on their own. You’d be surprised how easy it is to win someone over simply by being helpful.

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Article by Robert Lons in SPN
 6 Ways to Use Google+ Communities for Website Traffic

Samsung Galaxy S III Tips and Tricks - 3

Samsung Galaxy S III Tips and Tricks

Other Tricks

Tap to share.
There's not a tremendous amount you can do with NFC in the U.S., as our mobile payments infrastructure is more infra than structure. But you can have a lot of fun with the near-field networking technology and a couple of Galaxy S IIIs. Under Settings, Wireless and Network, pick More Settings. Then turn on NFC and S Beam. With this option turned on and two Galaxy S III phones, you can beam pictures, music, and contact cards between phones by holding their backs about an inch apart from each other. Try it.

Save data.This is a third-party app, but it's one I think most people should install if they're on limited data plans. Onavo Extend, available in Google Play, runs in the background and compresses your data up to 80 percent as it goes over the Internet. It can really make a difference if you're surfing on a 1GB data plan. You pay a bit in battery life and data speed, but I've found the tradeoff more than worth it.

Save battery.
If you spend a lot of time with the screen on, you can change a few settings to make the screen and CPU use less power. Go to Settings, then Display, and turn on Auto Adjust Screen Tone. Back out, turn on Power Saving, and turn all the checkboxes on. This will reduce the power used by your screen and CPU. If slowing down the processor causes stutters or gumminess (especially in games), go back into Settings, Power Saving, and turn both CPU Power Saving and Screen Power Saving back off.

 

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