Great Way to Promote Your Etsy Shop

Use this 2-1/4" round button to get more traffic to your Etsy shop. While you may be experienced with Etsy, most people are not even aware it exists or just how wonderful it is.

By wearing this button you will get people to ask "What is Etsy" and when they do, you have the golden opportunity to tell them about your shop and all the great items you have for sale. Follow up by giving them a business card and watch hits to your site become sales.

Make Money With Zibbet

If you are an artist or craftsman looking for outlets to sell your wares, be sure to check out Zibbet Live and Handmade. You can get a FREE basic shop with no listing fees or upgrade and and receive all the added features that go along with managing a premium shop.

All your customers transactions are processed through Paypal, one of the safest ways to pay online and they can using any of their major credit cards.

Zibbet provides you with a global market place connecting buyers to your products whether they be handmade goods, FIne Art, vintage items or crafting supplies. If you have tried ebay and got sick of the fees and auction style of selling, I think you will be really pleased with zibbet.

Do you have a question?

I get many bloggers who need help modifying their templates. Unfortunately, I don't have time to answer all questions and trying to do so via the comment section of your blog or by e-mail is difficult because of the way code is parsed. This means that if I type in the code for you to view, you will only see the results of the code not the actual code. Their is a way to write the code so that it shows but it's a royal pain in the ass and again, the time constraints limit how much I can do to help you.

There is however a forum in which I'm involved that you can pose your questions to.
http://www.bloggerforum.com/

Post your questions under the Template Design/coding forum and myself or one of the moderators might choose your question to be answered.

Hope this helps!

Follow Me

has become a daily activity for me lately and I will be twitting up-dates for the many websites I manage. If you're into Poker, Outdoor Cooking, Screen Printing, T-Shirts, Graphic Design or Blogging, follow me @stratman4u and I'll try to pass on some of the things I've learned in the last half century.

Also, Boing Boing is having a drawing for prizes for people that are following some of their editors. Can't hurt to follow them and give your luck a shot.

Wordle

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends

Kontrastwerks.com

Lately I've been busy helping others setup websites. Just resently a local photographer approached me wanting to create an online presence. Working under the business name kontrastwerks, Dennis Reifsnider has been creating his high contrast black and white photographs for many years and has established quite a following in southeastern North Carolina. Checkout these examples of his work:

This shot of the Bodie Island Lighthouse (above) is one of my favorites. Below is a photograph of the dunes near my home after the tidal surge of a hurricane.




Ok, if you're still with me at this point, you have to be wondering what this, if anything has to do with blogging. Well, in the course of creating a website for Dennis, he expressed a desire to create and sell motivational posters that incorporate his photographs. To fulfill his wishes I enlisted the services of a print on demand company, and this is where you as bloggers come in.

POD's such as CafePress not only print posters, but all types of merchandise and apparel that you can sell or purchase online, which is a great way to promote your blog. For example, Duane at thejournalofaprizefighter.com was nice enough to send me a coffee mug with his blog's logo after I helped him with a little coding. I to have created items such as bumper stickers to spread the word about my websites, and I know many bloggers who sport t-shirts with there blog's header on them. So, check out CafePress, it's free to set up a basic store and be sure to check out more of Dennis's photos and posters at his CafePress shop.

Using Google Maps in your Posts

Google maps is a great resource, I use it to locate any unfamiliar place that I might be headed to, but did you know you can embed it into your Blogger posts. The map below is not just an image but a full functioning Google map that allows you the to zoom in and out or slide any any direction. Give it a try! Your map can be of any location you wish. For example, say you are blogging about a resent camping trip. You could show a map of the campground and surrounding area.

View Larger Map


It's easy to do. For starters, go to http://maps.google.com/ and type the general location you want a map of into the search box. In the case above I used Washington, D.C. You can then narrow your location by adding an address to your search or zoom in to a location. Once you have the final location showing on your map, click the "Link To This Page" text link at the top right of the map. A pop-up window will appear that gives you two options.

One: Paste link in email or IM
or:
Two: Paste HTML to embed in website

Copy the code in the box below the second option and paste this code into your Blogger post. Your done, it's that easy.

Domain Name and Hosting for your Blog

Having your own domain name lends a look of professionalism to your blog. I serve as webmaster for many websites and traffic to these sites that have their own domain name receive considerably more traffic than those hosted on the blogspot sub-domain. Not only do visitors give them more respect but it appears that search engines do as well. Since Blogger and the blogspot domain are owned by Google, other search engines tend to ignore them which can greatly impact your traffic numbers.

Notice that Blogatech is hosted on blogspot as it's subject matter is geared towards providing information on using Google's Blogger, but I'm sure it would have generated more traffic if I had originally created it under it's own domain. If your serious about blogging or your blog is business related, bite the bullet and invest in your own domain name and private web hosting, it will pay you in the long run. Domains are only $10 a year and some hosting providers give you a free domain with an account. Good hosting is really not that expensive, running between $6 to $10 dollars a month. If your creative you can actually make money with your hosting. By publishing ads on your site, the additional traffic generated will subsidize or pay for your hosting expenses. With the right hosting service you can host multiple domains on one account so that you could sell space on your account allowing you to host that cooking blog that your Aunt has been wanting or a business site for an acquaintance. They can have their own dot com domain names as well.

If you decide to use private hosting, you should shop around to find a host that provides you with the services you want and remember the least expensive is not always the best deal. I have used bluehost.com for the last several years and highly recommend them. They allow me to host as many sites as I want on one account, give me more file storage space and bandwidth than I could ever use, along with an easy to use control panel and simple ways to add all types of software such as blogs, forums, CMS, shopping carts, chat and more. Another big advantage to private hosting is access to a massive amount of statistical information on traffic to your site. Bluehost is one of the services that gives you a free domain name for the life of your account and I've found that if I have any problems, I can get advise from other users in there forums and you can actually get a support person on the phone when you need help.

When choosing your domain name, there are several things to take into consideration:

• You want a name that is short as possible. People are more apt to remember a short name and this will help with return traffic.
• Incorporate keywords into your name. For example, if your blog is about food, you want the word food in your name. This helps with optimize for search engines giving you more traffic.
• Choose a domain that ends with .com if possible. This is the extension that most people are familiar with. If the name you are dead set on is already taken, your next choice would be the .net extension. The other extensions are less know and will not generate the traffic of a dot com.
• Be careful how your construct your name. There is a site called "Who Represents" where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… is http://www.whorepresents.com/. I don't think this is really what they had in mind. Also be sure you have your name spelled correctly when you apply for it.

When naming a site, I start with a list of keywords related to the subject of the site and then I start brainstorming while using my hosting service's domain name checker to see if the name I have in mind is available. Once I have what I believe to be the perfect name I usually sleep on it overnight, sometimes what seems like a great name late at night is not so hot the next day.

I hope these tips are of some help to you and good luck with your name search.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Blogger Play

One of the creative folks at Blogger has been playing with a feed that displays images as they are being uploaded to Blogger. IT has been running on a monitor in the Blogger offices for quite awhile. Now they have released it to the public.

Play Blogger

It's very interesting and entertaining, check it out!

Widget Box Blidget

Here is a great way to add any blogs feed to your site. Just create a Blidget

Recipe for a seat by yourself

Found this in my e-mail today, had to post.

If you are sitting next to a loudmouth, a jerk or just an irritating person ----- on a plane, train or in a coffee shop-----follow these instructions:

1. Say nothing, but quietly and calmly open your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Start it.
4. Make sure the annoying person sees the screen. (Aim it just enough for them to see)
5. Close your eyes and tilt your head toward the sky (or ceiling)
6. Then click on this link:

http://Boortz. com/mp3/archive/ countdown. swf

They won't bother to say good-bye.

Let's say I break into your house…

Found this in my e-mail box today:

A lady wrote the best letter in the Editorials in ages!!! It explains things better than all the baloney you hear on TV. Her point:

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration.

Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests. Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave.

But I say, “I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).” According to the protesters:

You are Required to let me stay in your house.
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan.
You are Required to Educate my kids.
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me and to my family.
(My husband will do all of your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part).

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there.

It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house.
And what a deal it is for me!!!

I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.

Oh yeah, I DEMAND that you to learn MY LANGUAGE so you can communicate with me.

Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America . If you agree, pass it on (in English).
Share it if you see the value of it.

If not blow it off......... (along with your future Social Security funds, and a lot of other things).

Browsing Blogger's Profiles

At one time when you went to a Blogger's profile you could follow links under different areas of interest and find fellow bloggers with similar interests. This feature was discontinued when New Blogger was put into place. Good news! Blogger has again enabled this search feature. Maybe it's time to fill out your profile questionaire. Read more here...

Header Images for Blogger

By far the most popular posts here at Blogatech are about creating custom headers. I try to provide instructions on how to modify template code to position graphics but you may also need help with obtaining good quality graphics to start with.

I ran across this site, Free Web Page Headers,they offer many high quality 800x200 JPG's that are perfect to use as header backgrounds. Check it out, you may find something that will fit perfectly into your blogs design.

Google Buys FeedBurner

For those of you who are not familiar with FeedBurner, it is a Chicago-based company that provides RSS feed distribution for bloggers. Their tools help bloggers promote and monetize their blog content for the internet. Just recently Google closed a deal to acquire FeedBurner, the details of which are closed to the public but I'm sure there are a couple new millionaires if not billionaires in the world.

If you that have been offering several different types of feeds for your Blogger blog, you can now redirect all your feeds to your FeedBurner account so that you get a more accurate view as to the number of feed subscribers that you have.

If you would like more information, read this post on "FeedBurner Integration for Blogspot Blogs". There is also a Blogger Quick Start Guide that has been updated to include all the necessary info for redirecting your feeds.



Technorati Tags: feedburner, google, blogatech

Attention Grabbing Blogger

It's not very often that I find a blog that captures my attention. More often than not, as I'm surfing the blogisphere it seems that every blog post is the same crap re-written and re-worded. It has been passed from blog to blog so many times that when you see it, you start gaging and the race to click the next link you can find is on.

Recently, I stumbled across Gabrielle and the Tech.Chick.Blog. This is not your average blog. I noticed her Mybloglog avatar, which you see a larger version of above. Can't imagine why it caught my attention. Must have been the use of html tags that I'm so used to seeing all day long.

I started watching her photo slide shows while playing online poker. You know the multi-tasking thing. Bad idea. This young lady is so strikingly beautiful and the photographer so creative with composition that I'm sure I lost a hundred bucks in ten minutes due to a lack of concentration.

I also spent some time reading some of her posts, no really I did. She is quite humorous and interesting. If I was still handing out Blogatech's "Blog of the Week" awards. This one would be a winner for sure.

P.S. If your looking for a t-shirt like Gabrielle's, you can find one here.


Technorati Tags: breast code, tech.chick.blog, blogger's t-shirts

Adding a page to blogspot

Here is a question I see posed quite often, how do I add a new page to my Blogspot blog, such as a contact page? Recently a friend asked me the same question, he wanted a separate page for a time line of events.

The traditional solution for this if you have private hosting is to add a sub-page to your domain name. If your domain url is http://myblog.com, you would create a new page called http://myblog.com/contact.htm and upload this page to your server. Using Blogspot you don't have access to the server where files are saved, so we have to utilize another option.

Since Blogger allows you to create multiple blogs, the solution is to create another blog with a similar name to your main blog, such as, myblog-contactpage or myblog2.
The name is not really important but merely provides you with an address you can link to. Here is an example: http://myblog-contact.blogspot.com. The drawback to this method, is that this new page will not be associated with your blog when indexed by search engines. For just a contact page or other single page use, this is no big deal. I doubt people will be searching for Joe Blows contact page anyway.

Your second page can be formatted anyway you chose. You can use a copy of your original template so when the link is visited, the transition from one blog to the other is seamless and will appear as if both are from the same blog. Another option for styling is the stripped down second page like I have done in the example. I removed the header, sidebar, post date, title and post footer from a Minima template so that all that is left is the post section where you add your information. I also left the footer where I included a Adsense ad.

If you wish to use a stripped down version of Blogger's Minima template, you can find a copy here. When you create your new blog, it will by default be the new layouts type. The stripped version posted here is a Classic type, so in order to use it you will have to follow a few steps:

1. Open the control panel of your new blog. Under the Template tab select edit HTML.


2. At the bottom of this page you will see a text link labeled Revert to Classic Template. Click it. Click ok on the warning.


3. At this point it will either ask you to select a Classic Template style or pick one automatically. If you have to choose one, any will do.


4. Then it will take you back to the Template window that you are used to seeing. Select the entire template code in this window and delete it. Then paste the template code that you find in the link above and save the changes.

You should now be good to go.

Creating Expandable Divisions

This is an experiment of code written by Harry Maugans which by using CSS and Javascript you can easily create a expandable portion of your post.
Click Here to Read More.

Here is how it works.

First you add this section of Java to the head section of your template:

<script language="javascript">
  function toggleDiv(divid){
    if(document.getElementById(divid).style.display == 'none')
      document.getElementById(divid).style.display = 'block';
    }else{

      document.getElementById(divid).style.display = 'none';
    }
  }
</script>


Then in your post you add this anchor tag using whatever text you want:

<a href="javascript:;" onmousedown="toggleDiv('mydiv');">Click Here to Read More.</a>

Finally after the above anchor tag you add this division with whatever content you want to include in the expanding section of the post:

<div id="mydiv" style="display:none">
Whatever content you want
</div>

Check out Harry's site where he goes into more detail.

Technorati Tags: blogatech, expandable posts, collapsible divisions

Angelina Jolie and Ebay To Go

Ok, so you found something cool on Ebay. A sexy photo of Angelina Jolie half naked. Or maybe a genuine home movie of Paris Hilton and Jessica Simson having a wild lesbian affair and you want to incorporate it into your blog. (notice the shameless keyword spamming).

Ebay has come up with a new widget that lets you showcase any active auction. It's really easy to set up. When you find a auction you want to use, simply copy the auction's item number and head to Ebay's To Go Site.

Following the instructions you will be asked if you want to display a single, multiple or search auction widget. You are then prompted to enter the item number or you can browse ebay to select an auction. The next step is to enter a search term for what type item you want to display after the 120 day period when a normal auction is removed from the system. You are then given the code to use to embed the widget on your blog or website. It's that easy and free, check it out.

Technorati Tags: ebay, widget, angelina jolie, paris hilton, jessica simpson, naked

Pay-Per-Click

Whether your an advertiser trying to market your products or a blog owner wanting to monetize your site, there are plenty of alternatives to Google's Adsense program.

Google Adsense	24/7 RealMedia
AdBrite	Advertising.com
Burst Media	Kanoodle
Link Share	ValueClick
Yahoo Publisher Network	Accelerator Media
Ad Agency 1	Ad Dynamix
AdEngage	Adgenta
Adhearus	AdKnowledge
AdPepper	ADServing Network
Adsmart	Adtegrity
AdZuba	Adversal
Affiliate Future	Affiliate Sensor
Affiliate Fuel	AllFeeds
Auction Ads	AV Nads
Azoogle Ads	Banner Boxes
Banner Connect	Bardzo Media
BClick	BidClix
BidVertiser	BlinkAds
BlueFN	BlogadNetwork
BlogAds	BlueLithium
Buy.at	Casale Media
Chitika	ClickAdsDirect
Click Booth	Click Share
Clicksor	Click Xchange
CrispAds	ContexWeb
Cyber Bounty	Cover Clicks
CPX Interactive	Direct Networks
Enhance Interactive	Esource Media
Etype-Europe	EtypeUSA
Etargetnet	ExpoActive
Fairadsnetwork	FastClick/ ValueClick
FluxAds	HurricaneDigitalMedia
Hyperbidder	Hydramedia
Incenta Click	Industry Brains
Interclick	JoeTec
LookSmart Adcenter	Kontera
LinkBLiss	Mamma Media Solutions
MSN adCenter	MaxBounty
Mirago	MIVA AdRevenue Xpress
MoreNiche	Nixxie
Oridian	Oxado
Paypopup	PayperPost
PeakClick	Popup Traffic
Quigo	RealCastMedia
RealTech Network	Revenue Pilot
ReviewMe	RightMedia
Searchfeed	ShareASale
Sponsored Reviews	TargetPoint
Text Link Ads	TMP Express
Tremor Network	Tribal Fusion
Veoda	IntelliTXT

Technorati Tags: advertising, publishers, pay per click