Owner: Dimblog Version 2 URL:http://www.dimblog.net/ Join Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:39:51 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: In Dimblog Version 2 you’ll find blogging tips, webmaster articles, domain register advice, hosting reviews, web design trend watching and many, many more. Stay tuned for the best webmaster articles, resources and links on the web. Site statistics:Click here
Review Back - Paid Reviews, Reloaded 2007-06-11 12:33:12 Now here’s something new on the Web - ReviewBack from the creators of AdGridwork. We all know the sites for paid reviews - you pay and people review your site/service. But why pay when you can promote stuff for free?! Yes, ReviewBack is just that king of service - review exchange service.
The scheme is easy - sign up, find a blogger with similar interests and review each other’s site/service. Why do it? An easy and fun way to get some more targeted visitors. Use it wisely and stay tuned to Dimblog Read more:Reloaded
Ask.com’s New Interface 2007-06-10 09:19:16 How a search engine should look like; A small peak at recent search engine design solutions
Have you seen the new interface of Ask.com? No need to say anything - it’s great. Now, when you view the page for the first time, you can’t notice anything… noticeable, can you? Look again. Select a skin from under the search box. My favorite is the “Western Sky”.
The picturesque simplicity is amazing. It’s like you’re not using a web search engine, you’re exploring the world. The idea of icons below the search categories is grand. They seem like something pulled out of a random icon creation tutorial on the internet, but they also fit the design like a glove.
Believe it or not, Google have been experimenting with such an idea for quite a long time - on the Korean Google Homepage. A nice idea and all, but somehow on Google’s simple design, those icons look like something pulled out of 1998… However, Google have not failed at every Read more:Interface
Need clicks? Put AdSense where it’s hot! 2007-06-10 02:23:00 So, you have your own site with (probably) good content, nice design and enough visitors to earn money from PPC programs. Good. But there’s one more thing that nobody should ignore - the AdSense positioning strategy…
Basically, you put your ads where they are visible enough for the visitors of your site. Then you blend the ad box with your design so that the ads will look good. And here comes the key - putting them where the clicks are hot. What I mean is that you can’t put the ad 200px away from the content, for example, and expect clicks. Usually, visitors do not view ads, unless they are in the content themselves, showing site-related text ads.
If you read the blog regularly, you must know the change of AdSense politics that occurred recently - web publishers can now place three link units as well as three ads on a page. So think. Place them strategically. Don’t put them all in one place - have one in your sidebar, one below your content title and perhaps on
Directory Submitter for Free 2007-06-09 10:39:15 You know how much submitting your web site to quality web directories contributes to its search engine optimization, PageRank and number of visitors. I bet you also know how much time it takes to submit just one site to some directories - too much. Recently, I discovered this great tool called “DirectorySubmitter
for Free“. The name says it all. The must-have software for any web master. And the best of all - it’s free. At least this version, containing a list of 350 web directories. You’ll only have to enter your e-mail address and first name to get the software.
So here comes the big question - is this tool good enough to deserve its promotion?
Definitely. Well, the whole process of submition is not completely automated - you just fill in the site’s main data and some personal information and using the program’s built-in browser, you visit the directory with almost all fields completed. Quite useful. In the list of directories you’ll be able
New AdSense politics 2007-06-08 03:44:03 Recently, Google announced their change of AdSense program politics
. One of the most important changes for ad publishers is the opportunity to put three (3) link units on their page and not only one, as it was before. Overall, this means that you’ll be able to put on a page:
three link units
three advertisement units
two search boxes
As for the search results - the rules are the same. Only one advertisement field and no changing of the code whatsoever.
What I think
Link units are a great source of filling up empty fields in your design with useful, targeted links. Good for the visitors and good for your wallet. Thanks for the change, Google
Free WordPress Themes 2007-06-08 03:29:35 When it comes to choosing a theme, it’s not really easy to choose one, is it? Wordpress’ Theme Viewer is a great resource for themes but it’s full of crap. You’ll get lost in all the themes and you’ll just waste your time.
In this post I’ve collected the best sites for free WordPress themes on the Web, each one not having more than 8 pages of styles for your blog. Check them out. Have a nice surfing!
Templates Browser’s Free WordPress Themes Collection
SiteGround’s Portal-Like Themes for free!
Template Monster’s Free WordPress Themes
Free WordPress Blog Themes at Blogging Themes
The first and last links contain some of my favorite themes. Check out why yourself
And for your comfort I have added some great theme articles:
Choosing a WordPress Theme - Perhaps one of the most detailed guides
Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization Guide
How to Make Money From Your Own Blog
Hope this post was useful to all of you. Stay tuned for
The Domain Saga 2007-06-14 01:36:28 With tons of new domains available for registrations, the webmaster’s life has become easier. But has it? We all have heard about the fancy new .mobi, .cat, .jobs etc… Aren’t the old domains .com and .net better?
According to some recent surveys on the web, webmasters do like the old-school domains better than the new ones. And there is quite a good reason for that. The .coms are mostly taken and that’s why it’s good when you find an available one and use it. Visitors first type a .com domain if they don’t remember yours good enough.
On the other side, .net has and is becoming more and more popular on the web. Particularly for IT portals, blogs etc. Other domains like .info don’t bring much prestige to your site, but they can actually look good if you know how to pick them (take css3.info and intype.info as examples).
As well as that, don’t .mobi domains look cool because there aren’t many of them on the web (yet). The choice remai
Safari for Windows! 2007-06-13 12:01:55 Apple released their Safari
3 Public Beta for download and… here’s the real news - Safari works on Windows
too!
As Safari reached 5% of the browser market, now Windows users can enjoy “the world’s best browser.” According to Steve Jobs, it’s faster than Internet Explorer or Firefox. So why not try it out now?
Enough with the sugar. Now how does Safari actually perform on Windows, having in mind that it’s a beta and all? Fairly good. No installation problems. The appearance is nothing new - just Apple’s usual, simple style which looks kind of funny in Windows XP. At least on the default theme. It is quite fast, however I couldn’t judge whether it’s faster or slower than IE/Firefox.
What I don’t like about Safari is the nasty font smoothing that we, Window users, aren’t really used to. And the Opera-like changing of page elements. I hate it. That’s why I use Firefox. Of course, everyone has different tastes.
I
The Web Design Revolution - Recent Design Trends 2007-06-13 02:13:08 Trends in webdesign come and go very quickly. I myself, being a web designer, find it hard to monitor the “fashon” in webdesign. However, I am able to share some tips for making a cool, trendy design for your page. In this post I’ll analyze the newest fashions in design and give you some pretty good examples…
Complex Simplicity
Now what this could be? Sounds like “virtual reality”, doesn’t it. It’s ridiculous. But it’s true. What I mean behind “complex simplicity” is the combination of sans-serif fonts with light backgrounds + patterns.
The “WebRevolutionary” blog is a perfect example. No gradients, just a simple one-color background, some shadow effects and a nice pattern.
Note that the “userbar” background is out. The new trend requires simple, fat backgrounds like those in WebRev.
United Colors of Webdesign
I think you must know it by now - color combinations like black plus green are out. In Read more:Recent
, Trends
The Art of Blogging 2007-06-12 02:10:49 We all know how hard it is to stick out when there are millions of blogs on the web. So here are some basic tips for the beginner bloggers, ordered by importance:
Be the expert. Write on a topic that you’re confident on and have a lot of knowledge.
Be unique. Visitors and search engines love unique content. I have said this at least five times in this blog. See what lacks and create it. It’s that simple.
Let people know. Submit your site to social bookmarking sites such as Digg and del.icio.us; The more visitors you get, the better for you.
Communicate. Have a contact form and let your visitors contact you. Be human. Answer questions, give advice. This will really make you a professional blogger.
Be sexy. Your blog that is. Have a good design. Do not use the default theme of WordPress or Blogger.com. Find a great new theme or (even better) - create one yourself. If you have the time and skills that is.
So, are you ready to become the buzz of the Web? If you have any more Read more:Blogging
Free Webdesigns for Download 2007-06-12 01:48:25 Our colleagues at SEO Expert Blog have made a great list of sites for open source (free) webdesigns for download. Check it out here. I recommend Solucija’s templates as I have used them once or twice for some of my projects.
Other good posts today:
Spyjax - You browser’s history is not private
New webdesign gallery for design inspiration
Advanced use of Google Analytics and the new interface
Read more:Download
Some easy ways to save paper 2007-06-11 13:25:55 I don’t like reading from my monitor. That’s why I print about 20 sheets of paper
a day. As this is one quite big number, I’ve found some quite pretty ways to save paper that I apply regularly. So now, I’m sharing them with you…
1) Print on both sides
When you print on both sides, you save paper and space. Of course, it takes quite more time to rotate the paper from one side to the other but you save a lot of paper.
2) Waist images
You don’t need big, spacey images who are taking up space and attention on your paper. By removing the images, you can save around 2-3 pages per one large print job. And you save ink.
3) Use smaller fonts
Unless you have eye problems, print fonts of smaller size. From 12 to 14 is perfect. With any higher number you need a lot more space and… a lot more paper
And remember this simple thing - when you try to save paper, you try to save the environment.
Some Simple SEO Tips 2007-06-11 13:08:57 Not everybody has the time to apply good SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) to his site, including me. However, during my experience as a webmaster of quite many web sites, I’ve learned some simple SEO tricks that really work. Let me share them with you:
Submit to directories! That’s why SEO-friendly web directories were created in the first place. Choose good directories with a high Google PageRank (above 4, 5 or 6 is perfect) and take some time to submit your site. Give a good description.
Exchange links. Link exchange with other sites is good both for SEO and for getting more visitors. Exchange links with other sites with a similar topic to yours.
Digg it! Publish your articles to Digg.com. You get direct links to your site. That’s why it’s so good for the search engine optimization.
So follow those simple three pieces of advice and observe how your site gets indexed in better positions by Google, Yahoo etc. Read more:Simple
, SEO Tips
Social Bookmarking 2.0 2007-06-18 03:15:00 Social Bookmarking
Sites such as Digg.com and Stumble Upon are both a great way to increase traffic and to improve search engine optimization. But how to use them? There are at least around 100 social bookmarking sites, so what to do?
Here’s what. Don’t try to submit your site to every social bookmarking site on the web. Instead, choose around 3 ones with a good Google PageRank and submit every new article from your site. You’ll be amazed how much traffic you can get using this simple strategy.
Social Bookmarking
doesn’t end here. There are quite many methods of social bookmarking that you can use. Take web directories as an example. One of the best lazy search engine optimization ways. You can’t expect much traffic from them, because it’s just boring to browse thousands of links without purpose. I would suggest adding your site to 5 web directories every day. Start with LinkDirectory.com
What is too social bookmarking is your forum signature. Beli Read more:Social
How About Some Real Money from Internet? 2007-06-17 12:53:09 The real income from internet does not come from pay per click programs like Google AdSense, AdBrite or BitVertizer. It comes from affiliate programs.
Basically, affiliate programs are a marketing strategy - you sell a product that is not yours and you get a commision as a reward - part of the sale’s price.
One can find many affiliate programs on the Web but I will direct you one that will definately bring you succes as long as you do some reading and a small investment - MoreNiche.
Working with MoreNiche is great. You can choose from selling Internet
Marketing Courses, Penis Enlargement or Weight Loss Pills and some others. As I would say, you choose to promote the bestsellers on the web.
Check Out MoreNiche Today Read more:Money
Social Bookmarking Uncovered 2007-06-17 11:25:34 I just found out a great ebook for social marketing - Lazee Tool’s SocialBookmarking
Uncovered.
Basically, it’s got some quite interesting information about Web 2.0 & social bookmarking for any webmaster out there - novice or full time. You’ll find an interesting test in that book. Have fun reading and have a nice Sunday. Read more:Social Bookmarking
Take a Break! Go For a Walk. 2007-06-16 06:47:55 Computers are in our life, work and hobbies. But let’s face it - it’s not exactly healthy to work on the PC constantly. Your body, eyes and brain get easily tired. So why not have a short break? I mean it! After you read this post, go out for a small walk around the neighborhood. It’s good for you.
As it is Saturday, my blogging schedule is to post something interesting for the weekend. So I’m giving you some reasons to take a break now:
Go for a Presence Walk
Go for a Walk Every Day on 43 Things
Have a nice walk! At least I’m sure I will Read more:Break
Doing Some Tests Today 2007-06-16 02:58:50 Today I’m changing the ad placement and integration into the blog. Some of you may see some rapid changes in the layout but don’t worry - it will be temporary. By the end of the day I’ll have a finished new ad strategy.
Regards,
Dimitar Nikolov Read more:Today
Funky Slogans - The Key to Success 2007-06-15 12:06:38 What is an advertising campaign without a good slogan? Perhaps like a product with no brand. Remember this simple thing - the slogans are just as important as the title of your product. Throughout this post I’ll be showing you some catchy slogans and build (something like) a slogan building guide.
“Made in Fiat.” / “Your Vehicle.” There certainly is a difference between those two. While the first one continues to sound in your head after you’ve read it, the second one… bores you. I recently saw this Fiat commercial on a billboard in my town and I’ve been impressed by it ever since. But how do you build a creative slogan? How do you make such a buzz of one sentence, so that you’ll have a great success with your ads?
Recently, I stumbled upon a great web project, called The Ad Generator. Basically, it’s an innovative project that explores how advertising uses and manipulates language. Words and semantic structures from real cor Read more:Funky
, Slogans
, Success
Blogs That I Read 2007-06-15 08:51:10 Today’s post will not be quite unique. As I have much work to do and little time to do it, I’m forced to shorten my blogging time today. However, I do not want to leave you with nothing. That’s why I’ll share with you my favorite blogs that I try to check daily:
Lifehack.org - A great productivity and getting things done blog;
SitePoint.com - New articles and fresh thinking for Web Developers and Designers;
Web Worker Daily - The freelancer’s guide to success;
WebRevolutionary.com - Some quite interesting Web-Related Articles and WordPress resources;
adClustr - Free Ad Backgrounds and AdSense advice
I promise some really interesting articles tommorow Read more:Blogs
Two Reasons to Use Stock Photos 2007-06-21 10:48:48 Not many bloggers use stock photos to go along with their posts. This appeals to some of their visitors, but most of them prefer it with some visual company. A picture, I mean. In this post I’ll be giving you two simple reasons to use stock photos along with your blog posts.
Your blog looks good.
It’s a fact that most visitors like to have some eye-candy along with the text. This way it’s more interesting and fills in some if the design gaps.
New visitors like it.
More of your new visitors will visit your blog again if they see some nice pics to go along with the post. As long as the content is good, that is.
But always remember this - no matter how good your blog and blog posts look, you’ll have success only when you have good content. Read more:Reasons
, Stock
Thirty Professional Bloggers Speak 2007-06-20 02:13:50 I strongly recommend the ebook “Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging” by Chitika to any blogger. 76 pages of interviews with most of the experts in blogging and some full time bloggers, such as the owner of LiewCF.com. I found that book really useful and interesting to read.
You’ll really find some great monetizing and traffic tips. Have a pleasant reading Read more:Thirty
AdSense or AdBrite? Maybe both! 2007-06-19 03:50:59 Here comes the big question (no, it’s not what’s the meaning of life) - AdSense or AdBrite. We know that both are quite good pay per click programs, but which one to choose? I’ll share my experience with you and give you some tips on better traffic monetizing.
My universal advice is to start always with AdSense. Perhaps, it’s (not if the best) one of the best pay per click programs on the web. After all, Google owns it. But don’t go putting too many ads on your site. Remember that AdSense has some tight politics on the number of ads on one page. Try integrating your ads with your design. If you need inspiration or examples, check out adClustr.
However, what happens if I use both? That’s where all the buzz is. There’s a nice gap in the AdSense politics - one can put competing ads while still having AdSense on one page, as long as they do not look the same. A good way of not mixing up AdSense with AdBrite is to put AdSense in your content and AdB Read more:Maybe
Searching the Web by Domain 2007-06-24 03:32:41 Recently, a new search engine came to my attention - Goomz. What is different about it? Well, as its authors say, “Unlike traditional search engines that generally give minor attention to the websites’ domain name, Goomz goes way beyond and focus almost entirely on the domain name property.”
For example, if you search for “Africa” on Goomz, you won’t see results such as a Wikipedia article about the continent. It will instead bring you the most valuable and high quality websites that their authors found it important enough to include the keyword ‘Africa’ in their domain name like allafrica.com, africam.com, iafrica.com and more.
What I Think
It’s a good idea to have more attention at the domain names, but the authors of Goomz have made the search engine entirely domain-dependable. So instead of something truly unique, you get a search engine for registered domains.
However, the people at Goomz were nice enough to post some details
Introducing CSS3 2007-06-24 02:50:40 This is something I think I should share with you - CSS3. CSS3 is the new kid in the stylesheet family. It offers exciting new possibilities to create an impact with your designs, allows you to use more diverse style sheets for a variety of occasions and lots more. What CSS3 actually does is expand the possibilities of webdesign to a further level - rounded corners using only CSS, shadows without images etc.
Check out CSS3.info for more information Read more:Introducing
AdSense-Ready WordPress Theme 2007-06-23 04:34:19 If you are not capable if integrating good enough Google AdSense with your design or if you are not satisfied with the earnings from your current layout, then check this out: a great WordPress Skin designed for AdSense.
The theme looks really good and (needless to say) it’s designed especially for Google AdSense. Click on the image to go to WordPress Theme
Viewer.
Free Technical Support - Tech Support Guy 2007-06-23 02:55:51 Have you ever had problems with your hardware/software that your “local” forum could not solve? Let me introduce you to Tech Support
Guy - the site celebrating 10 years of free technical support service. You’ll actually get professional support for software, hardware, design, web development and tech for free there.
I myself am very fond of this site because I have watched it as it grew into one of the best places for free support on the web. Let’s face it - it’s really annoying to pay for technical support and probably you’ll get the same result from our friends at Tech Support
Guy.
So, my everyday advice today is: want free support? Go to Tech Support Guy.
Stay tuned for more everyday advice as it is the weekend. Read more:Technical
Keeping a forum “fresh” 2007-06-22 09:23:51 It’s not easy to keep a forum &ldquo
;fresh
&rdquo
;. Of course, users contribute the most to a forum’s content, but you shouldn’t leave all of the work to them. Let me share with you three simple tips for keeping a forum “fresh”…
Be active. As an administrator of a forum, people expect you to be active, to participate in the professional and off-topic threads. They want to see the person who made it all possible (or at least the forum possible). If a nice topic has not been commented for quite a while, add something interesting to it, so that the visitors will have something new to comment on the same topic.
Greet your new visitors. If your forum is still new and has not got more than 5 registered members per day, take some time to greet your new users. This way you make them feel “at home”, they become attached to your forums and visit them more often. If not, either get an “admin” to do especially that job, or install an aut
Red Hot Chilly Chocolate 2007-06-22 02:46:19 Or how the classic colors in design make a comeback
Choosing a good color scheme for your site design is not an easy task. Especially with so different ones out there. Basically, it all piles up into two choices - the classic colors or the fresh ones? The fresh color combinations were quite fancy, but it’s not easy to combine blue, white and green / blue, white and red gracefully enough, so that your design looks good. On the other hand, combining red plus black plus white isn’t hard at all. And it’s cool. Old-school’s coming back.
Doesn’t that site on the left look good? Professional? Yes, it does. And that’s because its designer has chosen the classic color combination.
It’s a fact that you look more professional with such colors and people have more trust at you and your services. Of course, like in blogging, you have to have some good content in order to appeal to any visitor. In this case the content is images. Portfolio, that is.
As well Read more:Chilly
, Chocolate
, Red Hot
Speaking with words 2007-06-28 01:46:11 An interview with Lorelle VanFossen
Yesterday, DailyBlogTips released an interview with one of the most famous bloggers out there - Lorelle VanFossen from Lorelle on WordPress. She has truly busted the blogger myth, according to which you need a good domain name and a own hosting account for your blog if you want to succeed.
I hope you find that interview useful and interesting. To tell you the truth, I have learned a lot from Lorelle too. When I posted the first or second time on my blog, I included a link to one of her articles and she commented my post with thanks and wishes for success. Since then I’ve been a regular reader of her blog.
So, you can use that interview as a great blogging lesson - do not create and post on your blogs simply for the money. Post your passion. Get people talking about you and thank them for that. For me, that is a proven formula for blogging success. Read more:Speaking
Recommend Site To A Friend
