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Zemanta is a new service that works just like your assistant while writing your posts. In fact, Zemanta will suggest you relevant pictures, links, articles and tags as you write. This service aims to gives you:

    - more pleasure to write your posts by pairing your word with relevant pictures.
    - additional content by suggesting recent articles resources, links, pictures and tags.
    - more convenience by avoiding the need to browse the web to find all that new content.
    - targeted traffic by suggesting links to recent articles frequently result in return traffic.

Does it sound good to you? Let’s take a look a little bit deeper!

Firefox only for the moment

The Zemanta service is giving through a Firefox extension. So, the first requirement is to use Firefox as your browser. Note that Internet Explorer is in private testing. Also, Zemanta seems to have other browsers like Opera and Safari on their roadmap. You may consider contacting them if you want their service to be supported in any other browser. In addition, Zemanta is also limited to english for the moment.

The installation

The installation is very easy to do. In fact, you just have to go to the Zemanta download page and to click on the “Download Zemanta” button. This will start up the installation process – just follow the instructions on the web page to allow Zemanta on your domain list. You will notice, after the installation, that there is nothing changed on your Firefox environment; no new button, no new toolbar, nothing at all. In fact, the Zemanta extension is inactive when you are just browsing the web. It will activate itself when it will detect that you use a known platform to write a new post. For the moment, the number of supported platforms is limited to Wordpress (wordpress.com as well as self hosted), Blogger and Typepad. Zemanta is expecting to add more soon. I do admit that I really appreciate not to have any additional button. The auto detect process is very pleasant.

The ease of use

Just to be sure of the auto detect of my Wordpress platform, I logged in Wordpress and get on the “Write” menu. Then, magically, Zemanta appears on the right side of my writing box and gave its initial picture suggestion. Note that the suggestions are refresh every 300 characters. I must admit that the usage is very simple. You can easily add a picture by clicking on it or add a link to other recent articles on the same subject by clicking again. The following demonstrates how it works:

What about the copyrights

According to Zemanta, copyrights are something they really care of. Actually, they say: “All content that we are suggesting is copyright cleared - either clearly licensed as Creative Commons, or approved by stock providers.” So, you shouldn’t have to care about the copyrights since they care about it for you. I would, however, suggest to pay a special attention at the pictures. Personally, I always feel more comfortable to know the exact license of what I put on my blog.

In summary

Zemanta seems to be a first step toward semantic blogging. The service is really simple to setup and the usability is great – at least, when used with a self hosted Wordpress platform. It will be interesting to follow the evolution of this service and the emergence of any new ventures that will follow this semantic trend. Hopefully, this service will evaluate to serve the needs of every bloggers. Overall, I would say that I really appreciate Zemanta and I would stay tuned to catch any new improvements. If Zemanta is successful to provide multiple sources of suggestion – much more than Wikipedia – and if it succeeds to be part of the most popular blogs, we could be sure that it will really be the first drip of water of a new wave on the blogosphere.

For more information about Zemanta, feel free to visit their FAQ section.

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Photo by sergis blog

In every project we start in our life, there is an essential ingredient to be successful: a positive attitude. In fact, it is my opinion that the attitude is the most powerful weapon we own. As any other weapon, the attitude we decide to have will either help us or destroy us. Depending on your personality, your education and the people around you, you will tend to be more positive or more negative. Always remember one thing: we have the full control on the attitude we take, and this decision will determine the level of success we will reach.

I would like to share with you the 3 most powerful rules to develop a bullet proof attitude. Note that this article doesn’t have the pretension to reveal THE secret to be successful everywhere in your life. However, it does have the pretension to present 3 concrete rules to develop a powerful attitude. I really hope it could help you in your life.

The 3 rules

1. Take the decision to have a better attitude everyday. Changing our attitude is not something that could be done right away. However, it is a firm decision we have to make. We have the total control on our attitude and this is why it is so powerful. You are totally free to decide to be negative and to waste your time to talk against this and that. However, you won’t be constructive and it will take all your energy. Instead, take the firm decision to be better each day. I don’t mean to be perfect, but to be better and to do it consciously.

2. Focus on a positive attitude. Of course, this is not a revelation. However, it is something very important to do. A positive attitude is the difference between giving up and perseveres. Concretely, becoming more positive each day is learning to see things with another perspective, catch our negative thoughts and identify negative speech from other persons. A glass of water could be half empty or half full; this is only a matter of perspective. Try to find the most positive perspective in everything. This is not something easy to do, but it will be so valuable! Concerning your thoughts, try to catch them as soon as they appear in your mind. Replace them by something positive you already live or just let them go without giving them any attention. Finally, being able to identify negative speeches will help you to reject it consciously. Note that you are totally free to accept or to reject negativity. In fact, you are the only responsible about where you put your personal barrier; you have the full control on that!

3. Learn to play the “as if” game. Please read carefully the following sentence: the position your take determines your environment. This means that if you would like to have a promotion and to be the director of your department, act “as if” you already were a director. If you want to be a popular blogger, act “as if” you already were a popular blogger. I don’t mean to do the exact same actions those people are doing, but to adopt their attitude and their position “as if” you were them. This is one of the most powerful exercises I know about changing our attitude and influence our environment. Most of the time, this is our environment that influences our attitude. Take the lead and do the opposite! If you really want something, don’t waste your time with deceptive sentences; take a good position and adopt the attitude “as if” you had what you want. Believe me, this exercise worth the trying!

In Summary

Everywhere in your life, your position and your attitude will determine how you and your environment will be influenced over the time. If you agree that the attitude has a significant impact on success, you may take the decision right now to work on it and to improve it each day. Improving our attitude is not something easy to do; in fact, it is something hard because we have to adopt a new habit. We have to repeat the exercise many times each day. However, I think that this is not something tedious since working to be a better person sounds to me as something exciting. Also, I think that there is nothing more valuable than being better day after day! Give it a try!

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Photo by Hamed Saber

As a blogger, you want to create original and valuable content for your audience. And you know the quality of your article have a significant impact on your feed sign up rate. We may admit, also, that quality is a subjective concept. However, there is an element that may be considered as totally objective in term of quality: the structure.

Your article structure have an impact on the quality of your content and have a significant influence on the perception of your audience and your new visitors. You should agree on the fact that there is an infinite way to structure the same subject with the same ideas. Have you ever ask you why an article treating of a specific subject is successful and another one, treating of the same exact subject, isn’t so popular? One of the possible answers is the structure. Naturally, the human mind needs some structure to make things understandable. So if you want to make your article a little bit stronger, I would recommend you to follow some simple rules. Note that these are general rules that may not apply on every article. You are the best judge of that!

The rules

1. Drop all your ideas on paper. Dropping all your ideas on paper will let you organize your ideas into some divisions or some categories. It also may help you to find secondary ideas from your main ideas. I would say that this step may seem very simple – and it is – but it is also the most critical, because it will determine your article structure plan. Take the time to create a good plan. A great strategy to create a good plan is to do it with iterations. This means that you make a first draft. Then, you revise it from A to Z by modifying the order or the ideas. You can do that 4 or five times until you get something you will be proud of. You will notice that your article it much easier to write when you have a good article structure plan.

2. Introduce your subject and your main ideas properly. This is a simple rule that everyone may know. In fact, this is the introduction of your article and I guess you already do it. However, are you doing it in an efficient way? You must be aware that the impact of this part of your article is very significant. In reality, it may determine if your readers read the entire article or if they leave it after only few paragraphs. Creating an attractive introduction will encourage your reader to go further. Here are some points to consider:

    a) Create a context to your subject;
    b) Firmly establish how your article may be helpful for your readers (the benefits for them);
    c) Pricked their curiosity;
    d) Determine a goal to achieve;
    e) Expose the ideas you will develop throughout your article;

3. Use subtitles and explode your ideas. Using subtitles involve that you already make few subdivisions with your article. This is something that may help you to make a logical structure. This should have been made on your article structure plan. Also, create a single paragraph for each idea you develop. There must be no more than 1 idea per paragraph. This will clarify your article and make it easier to read. For example, you may have something like this:

4. Summarize for your audience. This part of you article must be inline with your introduction and the development of your ideas. It must demonstrate that the goal of you article have been achieved. Try to specifically target your article summary for your audience. You need to demonstrate in a single paragraph the quality of your entire article. I would recommend to do a little recap with the context and to express how your main ideas create the benefits.

Summary

The perception your visitors will have on the quality of your content will have a significant impact on the success of your blog. We determined that the article structure is an essential element to consider. In fact, a structured article is more understandable and easier to read. By raising the quality of your article, you will also raise the authority perception people have for your blog. Don’t underestimate the value of a well structured article and always remember that writing an article is doing the road with each of your reader: your introduction must convince him that the goal and the benefits worth to walk the road with you (reading). Your development may clearly demonstrate the value of your ideas and keep the curiosity present. Your conclusion must demonstrate that the goal has been achieved; the landscape must have worth the walk!

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Photo by annia316 ღ

In every aspect of our life we are influenced by people around us. This influence could be positive or negative. Hopefully, we will accumulate a high number of positive influences that will help us to grow and become better persons.

When I start blogging, I was visiting and reading a bunch of great blogs with different style and different goals. Among these blogs, few ones really influenced my vision of blogging and I would like to share them with you. First, because they maybe could help you as they help me. Second, because I would like to thank them publicly for the positive influence they had - and still have - on my blogging activity.

1. johnchow.com. John Chow’s blog was one of the first blog I visited. Since it is a very popular blog, it’s not surprising that I started from there. In fact, John gave me the first ingredients to start blogging. I made some searches on its blog and read its ebook. I found there plenty of good advices to start blogging from scratch. Of course, John gave me everything I need to start making money online – which is not bad – but he also influences me by his professionalism and his entrepreneur attitude. I was surprised to see John’s blog being nominated – and finally win – as the most controversial blog in 2007. I guess that people are mitigated about John’s blog. However, for myself, it’s one of my favorite and I really thank him for his great help and his professionalism. John is an exceptional online entrepreneur.

2. skelliewag.org. Skellie’s blog was an exciting finding for me. It was in an accelerated growing stage when I found it. What really get my attention was her remarkable writing style, the value-added of each articles and her outstanding generosity. Skellie gave me great tips and tricks for blogging. But the most valuable gift she gave me wasn’t written in her articles. In fact, she gave me a taste delivering quality content. In her words, she would say value-packed content! In January 2008, Skellie started a second blog named Anywired.com which is just as great as her first one. However, I must say that skelliewag.org will always be my favorite and will always have something special for me. I would like to thank Skellie for her remarkable writing talent, its generosity and for all the value-packed content!

3. doshdosh.com. Maki’s blog was another great finding for me. His blog is now well established and gave a wide variety of high quality content. If I would have to summarize Maki’s blog in few words, I would say valuable content, rigor and in-depth information. In fact, his blog is an obvious demonstration of his good content definition. No matter which article you read, the quality is there. Maki’s blog influence me in that area. I would like to thank him for his incredible rigor and for the value-added of each articles.

4. zenhabits.net. Leo’s blog is all about simplicity and better living. He influences me through this simplicity and the wisdom behind each word. I really encourage everyone to take a look at zenhabits.net if you want to increase your productivity and be more efficient. You’ll discover a whole world of articles written in a splendid way. I always have a great pleasure to read Leo’s articles. I would like to thank him for his wisdom, his intelligence and his help to make my life a little bit simpler each day!

5. problogger.net. Who don’t know probloggers.net? In fact, if you don’t know Darren’s blog, you must visit it immediately after you read this article. His blog is now a legend in the blogosphere. No matter if you are a beginner or an expert; you will find a wide variety of tips for blogging. The influence of probloggers.net is more on the technical aspects. I found a lot of information there that I couldn’t found anywhere else. I would like to thank Darren for sharing all that information and for the quality of the content.

Of course, this is the influence I got from online people but I got even more from my family. I would like to thank my wife and my children for the extremely positive influence they have on me. They are high-quality persons with great values. They also are my inspiration and the source of many ideas. Finally, I would like to thank them for their true support!

I would be glad if you could share the blogs that really influence you in your blogging activity. This is always a very valuable experience to discover new blogs from recommendations.

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Photo by Jacob Bøtter

I really think that original and valuable content must contains a little touch of humour. Just to help you begin your week on a great way, here is a little list of reasons why you may be called an addictive blogger:

1. Your children’s names are: John, Darren and Technorati!

2. After listening to a great movie, you try to Digg it with the remote control.

3. You are planning to give EntreCard credits to your children for Christmas.

4. Every time you are invited to a Halloween party, you wear your legendary fluffy RSS Feed button costume!

5. Each morning, for breakfast, you try to spell the Technorati Top 10 blogs with your Alpha-Bit cereal letters.

6. Being jammed in traffic sounds actually like something positive to you!

7. Your wife sends you the grocery list as a comment on your most recent post!

8. The walls of your home office room are painted with a large sidebar.

9. You want to repaint your home office room because you forgot to place your RSS Feed button above the fold and you think you need some SEO!

10. You cannot control yourself and you post this funny list to your favorite social network!

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As a blogger you probably have several goals you want to achieve. Obviously, you want to increase your RSS feed readers as well as your comments counts. In fact, you would like (just like me) to increase your authority within your niche. In addition, I really think that – at least subconsciously – every blogger wants to break the Technorati Top 100.

The Technorati Top 100 is a compilation of the 100 most popular blogs based on their authority. For example, the actual top 5 is the following:

As you can see, the first position is occupied by Engadget with an authority of 24096. The second place is occupied by TechCrunch which have an authority of 23211. But what do this authority really means? The authority of a blog is represented by the number of blogs linking to another particular blog in the last six months. This means that Engadget gets 24096 blogs linking to it in the last 6 months. Note that links from blogs that are not indexed by Technorati are not taken into account.

Actually, to break the Technorati Top 100 you’ll need more than 3073 blogs linking to you. You’ll agree with me that this is not an easy ride!

To complement this post, I would like to share some other articles:

1. 4 Ways to Get Banned from the Technorati Top 100.

2. A Guide to Breaking Into the Technorati Top 100.

3. How to Become an Authority in Your Niche: Eight Content Development Tactics.

Note that signup with Technorati is free. And if you add me as one of your favorite, I’ll fav you also!

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Photo by Refracted Moments™

Everything in life cost something! It may cost money, effort or time. Every day, you have to invest something to get what you want. Depending on your goals, you’ll take some decisions on what you are willing to pay for the desire results. However, this is often gambling because you never exactly know what will be the real outcomes. How will be your return on investment (ROI)? Do your money/effort/time worth the benefits you harvest?

Try and experiment!

The most common way to know the benefits you’ll get from an investment is the trial and error method. You must try to know the results. And I want to insist on the fact that the results may vary from person to person. It is unrealistic to assume that a similar entry will give the same results. I use the word similar because an entry could never be exactly the same when the actor is not exactly the same. You are unique and you create unique entry to any process. It could be similar to someone else, but it could never be exactly the same. Your personality, your experience, your attitude will have a direct influence on what you create.

Of course, if you get terrific for a minimum investment, this is the best case. If this is repeatable, just do it as long as you can! However, if the results are acceptable or poor it may be interesting to experiment other strategies. Sometime, even minor changes in the strategy will bring big changes in the results. It will always be a good idea to experiment other strategy. There is nothing more powerful than the experience to really learn and understand something!

Document. Document. Document.

There are so many things you will try on your blogger’s life! How could you memorize all the data? What you really need to do is document! Keep an up to date document of what you try with the related results. Maybe you’ll try some variant of the entry, just to know how it will influence the results. This is something very valuable to properly understand the process. Then you’ll have enough information to make a strong conclusion on the cost/benefits ratio. Do the benefits worth your money/effort/time investment? The answer must be inline with your personal goals. It will also be a subjective answer because, everyone have a different perception of what a particular result really worth.

What Should be Documented?

There are many essential elements you should document for each thing you try:

1. The Time. You should document the starting date and the ending date. Both are very valuable because it gives an idea of the duration and the overall time frame. The duration of a process could have a big impact on the benefits.

2. The Description. Of course, you should also make a small description of what you are trying. Is it a new traffic generation strategy? Is it new ads on a particular network? A small, but complete description is useful information to keep.

3. The Strategy. Documenting your strategy is critical, because this is what will most influence the results you’ll get. This is also a good place to introduce some changes if you want to experiment some variants. Don’t hesitate to experiment and make some changes to your strategy; you may be amazed by the new results!

4. The PageRank. Your PageRank may have some influence on the results you’ll get. For example, this is something that may influence the results you’ll get from some moneymaker opportunities. It’s always a good information to keep.

5. The Number of Visitors. Your visits may also have some influence on the results you’ll get. Obviously, depending on what you are trying, the number of visitors may be critical.

6. The Cost. If you really want to have a good idea of your ROI, you’ll need to carefully note the cost of what you are trying. As discussed above, the cost could be in term of money, effort or time.

7. The Process Trends. This would be useful to know how the process is progressing. Does it grow regularly day after day (linear)? Does it grow more and more each day (exponential)? Does it grow irregularly? This is great information, because you will be able to compare the process trends with every variant you’ll try.

8. The Results. Obviously, the results is a must have information to document. Along with the cost, you’ll be able to judge of the real worth of what you have tried.

Of course, you may also add a comment field to your document. It will allow you to take some additional notes. This may be very useful in the future!

The Summary.

For most of you, resources are limited. Time and money are precious resources. Maybe you have a day job or you have school (and maybe both!). Maybe you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, a husband or a wife and beloved children. Maybe you have a hobby and maybe you are a sports fanatic. You need time and you need to balance it in your whole life. This increases the price for every minute you spend! Take the time to document what you do. This will help you to increase your ROI or, at least, discard every worthless activity.

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Photo by peasap

Are you running out of idea? Or, are you trying to find an original way to present a particular topic? Do you want to stand out from the crowd for your innovative ideas?

Blogging to share original and valuable content requires a lot of creativity. Bringing new perspectives, developing new ideas or developing an original strategy are just few examples where creativity may be essential. The creativity is something we need to practice just like a muscle; the more it works, the stronger it becomes.

I wrote a list of 12 funny exercises to help you increase your creativity on a daily basis. Of course, you don’t need to do it all everyday. However, you can take few of them and practice it regularly.

1. Change something in your life. There is nothing worst than a routine to kill your creativity! Try to break your routine and try something you never do. It could be a place to go, new aliments, new magazines, etc. Trying something new will wake up your creativity and put a smile in your face!

2. Do a brainstorm session. You can do that alone or with a group; this is up to you! The most important in this exercise it to drop as many ideas as possible without any censure. Keep every idea and write it down. You will reach a point where the ideas are more difficult to find and this is where the real exercise starts!

3. Relax. The manifestation of your creativity will be easier if you feel relax. Listening to music, laughing a lot, meditate are just few example of things that could help you to relax. Try to find the activity that will best fit for you!

4. Defend the opposite of your opinion. This one is a very funny exercise. In fact, all you have to do is find someone to talk about a subject. Then, try to defend the opposite of your real opinion. This will require you to find other arguments than the easy one you already owned. This may be difficult at the beginning, but you’ll see that you will be better each time you do it again!

5. Challenge every idea. Of course don’t do this every time somebody brings you a new idea! However, you can do that on your own ideas and on some ideas shared by people you know well. Challenging will help you to find another perspective. This is a very enriching activity.

6. Try to find the most absurd idea. When talking about something, you could play the game to find the most absurd idea. You will see that some people are quite good to this game! It’s amazing to see how much imagination some people have!

7. Bring a small pad of paper everywhere you go. This will allow you to write down your ideas wherever you are. Sometime trying to keep an idea in our mind will break our creativity. When you write it down, you will liberate your mind to give the place to your creativity.

8. Follow your intuition. Everybody experiment this moment you get an intuition, but finally go against it because of your mind. Don’t forget that your intuitive mind may feel something you don’t mentally understand. Try to better trust your intuitive mind; you don’t know where it could lead you!

9. Observe people. Sitting on a park or on a mall just for observing people may be very very funny! In fact, it may help you understand some behaviors. It could also give you a new perspective on something you were taking as a reality. People have many things to give us if we take the time to look at them!

10. Work on a harmonious place. Harmonious places will stimulate your creativity. It will raise the inspiration in you. It could be on a wood or on a park or even in a special place in your house. You are the only one to know where you better feel your inspiration.

11. Try to describe something around you in details. This is another little exercise you can do with someone else. Just look around you and try to describe in details each object around you. In fact, you may try to describe it just like you would do with a child. If you want to go further, try to explain with details what is its function. Good luck!

12. Practice it. Of course, there is nothing better than practice to be better on something. Just like we say above, your creativity is like a muscle; try to go to gym once a day or at least three times per week!

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Photo by Jennifurr-Jinx

There are several ways of making money online. One of them is by joining affiliate programs. Independently of the program you choose, this one will provide you an affiliate link. The goal behind this link is to properly identify its owner. This is required to credit the product sales to the right person. Obviously, as an affiliate marketer, your goal is to motivate people to follow your link; this will allow you to convert your visitors into sales. However, the reality is that most people won’t be tempted to click on such a link. Why? I guess this is because it looks a little scary. Here is an example of an affiliate link:

http://www.affiliateprogram.com?ref=id

The good news is that there are many ways to transform that kind of link into something more conventional! You may, however, read carefully the TOS of each affiliate program you joined because some may strictly forbid to hide your affiliate link.

The HTML Redirect Method

This method is one of the simplest methods. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Create your affiliate root folder.
For example: ../redirect/

2. Create a subfolder for each of your affiliate.
For example: ../redirect/Affiliate1/

3. Create a file named index.htm that include the following HTML code:

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Title page</TITLE>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0; url=http://www.affiliateprogram.com?ref=id”>
</HEAD><BODY>
You are being redirect to the correct page!
</BODY></HTML>

4. Customize the file by changing the title and the affiliate link.

5. Place the index.htm file into its corresponding affiliate subfolder.

Then when you are linking to ../redirect/Affiliate1/ you are linking to your affiliate link. This is as simple as that.

The PHP Method

If you have PHP installed on your server, you may use the following method. This is the easiest way to hide your affiliate link with PHP. There are several other techniques possible, but this one do the job very easily:

1. Create your affiliate root folder.
For example: ../redirect/

2. Create a subfolder for each of your affiliate.
For example: ../redirect/Affiliate1/

3. Create a file named index.php that include the following PHP code:

<?php
header(”Location: http://www.affiliateprogram.com?ref=id ”);
?>

4. Customize the file by changing the affiliate link.

5. Place the index.php file into its corresponding affiliate subfolder.

Now, just as the HTML Redirect method linking to ../redirect/Affiliate1/ is the same as linking to your affiliate link!

The .htaccess Method

If you are hosted by a Linux machine, you may be interested by the file named .htaccess. This file could be used for multiple purposes. Note that you may need to ask your host provider how to enable the usage of this file. For the benefit of this article, let me explains how you can use it to hide your affiliate link:

1. Find the .htaccess file on the proper folder.

2. Open it or create it if it doesn’t exist.

3. Go at the end of the file and insert the following code:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule^affiliate1.php$ http://www.affiliateprogram.com?ref=id [R]

4.Customize the .htaccess file by changing the target file and the affiliate link.

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Entrecard is a relatively new service based on the concept of online business card exchange. The business cards are 125×125 buttons. Now, let me explain how the whole system works and what the benefits are.

How it Works

First, you need to signup with Entrecard. The subscription is free. In fact, all you need is 5 minutes of your time and a 125×125 button that will well symbolize your blog. This will be your personal online business card.

You will then need to integrate the widget (piece of code) on your blog. There are 3 widget formats: the 127×148 slim widget, the 200×127 medium widget and the 250×127 wide widget. I would say that the last one is my preferred one and this is the widget I use in my sidebar. If you wonder which one you should choose, I would answer that it depends of your blog design. In my case, I have a large sidebar that allows me to use the wide format. Try to use the widget that will best fill your sidebar. Personally, I don’t like the medium one, so I would choose either the slim widget or the wide widget, but this is my personal opinion!

This widget allows you visitors to drop their business card. You earn 1 Entrecard credit each time someone drop its business card on your widget. You can earn additional credit by dropping your card on other blogs and when people buy advertisement on your Entrecard widget. Note that the price for buying advertisement is expressed in term of Entrecard credits. The price to advertise on your widget is determined by how many drop you did on other blogs and how many drop you get from others. For example, it cost actually 82 Entrecard credits to advertise on Catchtheposts.com.

Every request for advertisement on your blog passes by a moderation process. You have full control on the ads that will appear on your blog. The requests are first queued and you will be notified by email that someone waits for your approval. You may approve the ads or decline it. A reason for declining may be because the business card doesn’t match your quality standard or because the content of the blog is not relevant or may be offending.

You will notice that there is a queue and a waiting concept to advertise on some blogs. This means that even if you pay the appropriate credit number, you may need to wait your turn to show up your advertisement. For example, you see that the spot is full on Catchtheposts.com – which means that there is no place available – and the waiting time is 9 days.

The Benefits

There are 2 main benefits to use the Entrecard service. The first one is traffic generation. Of course, we are not talking about millions of hits, but this is a good traffic source for blogs startup. Wherever you drop your business card, many bloggers will drop back their business card on your blog. Don’t forget that any new visitor is a potential reader. The conversion is on your hands! If you have an attractive blog design and if your content is original and valuable, you may found some new readers with Entrecard. You will notice that your control panel informs you about who dropped their business card on your widget. It will allow you to visit their blog back and give traffic in return. This is just a matter of exchanging traffic and learning about other blogs. Maybe you’ll find great partners there!

The second benefit is the brand exposure. Entrecard gives you the opportunity to expose your brand by exchanging your business card with other blogs. Please, don’t miss that opportunity! I see day after day business card with simple text and few colors. How do you want the other blogs to see you? Do you want to be associated to professionalism and quality? Do you want to seriously build your brand? Don’t miss the opportunity to make a good first impression: create a great business card with your own blog signature! You don’t have to pay for a professional 125×125 button. You just have to take some days to sketch it and create it with Photoshop or Gimp, which is a free graphical software. And if you don’t figure out how you could do it, just contact me and we’ll find a way to build you something nice!

For more information on Entrecard, take a look at the official online guide.

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