Archive for Software
Blog Content – How to Post Daily Without Posting Daily
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Most bloggers realize the fact that your content is the life blood of your blog, and without regular posts, you’re all but dead in the water. But writing and posting content takes time, often eating up large portions of the limited time you have for this activity.
While not an original idea of mine, this solution eliminates that burden and provides you with time to work on other aspects of building your business. Once you’ve implemented this technique, you will no longer feel the pressure of having to write a post “now” because your blog is out of date.
I made the commitment to post at least 6 days each week some time ago and most weeks I post daily. What I found early on was that life gets in the way. There was always some unanticipated occurrence that would delay my plan of getting to the keyboard so I could begin to write a post.
The result was that I would often find myself writing at times when I planned to be doing something else. When you get off schedule like this, it really serves as a distraction in the back of your mind.
Then it dawned on me that I needed a supply of posts ready to roll out of the pipeline at any given moment. No time to write today? Fine, grab one of those pre-written post from your stock.
So here is how you can post daily without posting daily. You may have established a different schedule, but this method works for any.
Find yourself a free day that you can concentrate on writing 4 or 5 posts. Get your coffee, go to your office or workspace and close the door. Eliminate all distractions, no CNN or Morning shows in the background, no Twitter or email, nothing.
Each article that you write represents a block of time that you will not have to find later.
Now that you have 4 or 5 articles in “stock”, you can post at least a few of them to your WordPress blog now, setting the time and date to publish.
To set the time and date of your post simply expand the Post Timestamp box on the right and select the day and time desired. I like to use the date and “00:05″, which causes my posts to publish just after Midnight.
After selecting your date and time info, click the “Publish” button and you’re all set.
These “future posts” have relieved you of the pressure associated with having to write at times that are not optimal for your schedule. Be sure to replenish your “stock” so that you always have some articles in waiting. Do not overstock these articles, as you want to keep your content fresh and there could be something time sensitive in your content.
This technique is also great for vacations and get-a-ways, providing that much needed “Downtime” required by all.
One more reason why WordPress is the best blogging platform available today.
Firefox Add-ons
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As a blogger you spend a lot of time on the internet, which means you are never far from a browser. I use quite a few, mainly to see how they differ from one another in terms of performance and to stay on top of the latest technology.
The browser of preference for me is Firefox. I acknowledge that there are a lot of good browsers available, but I use Firefox as my main vehicle for surfing. I’m using version 3.0.11 on a Windows machine as I write this.
In terms of features and stability, this browser rates at the top. It’s largest benefit is it’s ability to be customized. There is a complete library of Firefox add-ons, covering a wide range of tools and features.
If you browse the collection you’ll be tempted to download and install quite a few, but consider what you need in terms of tools first. Look for productivity types and leave the entertainment gadgets on the shelf.
Be selective and keep the number of add-ons to a minimum. Depending on your machine, the browser may become sluggish and will take too long to load with too many add-ons stacked in the load queue.
Now everyone has a different need, so I am not making any particular recommendations here, but here is a short listing of some of the add-ons I use from time to time;
- Video Download Helper – This is a great tool for downloading and converting video. While surfing the icon will activate and let you know there is downloadable content that you can capture. It also downloads multiple pictures at once. Nice tool.
- Cooliris – For browsing a large photo collection, it may not get much better than this. A 3D wall appears that is just eye-popping. Click on any image or video. Really nice.
- Google Preview - This add-on gives you thumbnails of websites on your search results page using Google and Yahoo. Peek the site before going there. This feature brings some life to otherwise dull results pages.
- NASA Night Launch – Other than look pretty, there is no functionality here, just one really slick theme. One of several I use to keep the boredom away. Okay, I like to change themes every now and then.
- ACE Safari – Mac users will love this theme. Really clean looking.
- Gmail Manager - Monitor multiple Gmail accounts with this notifier. You can set manager preferences with ease. Cool tool.
- Speed Dial – Provides direct access to your most visited web sites. Functions like Opera, Google Chrome and Safari’s feature.
- Smarter Fox - Really nice app for browsing. An update to Smarter Wikipedia, this has many features. Text urls can be easily converted to live links. It also has an auto copy feature. Give this a try.
- NoScript – Very nice security add-on that allows you to choose which domains will be allowed to run JavaScript. Guards against clickjacking.
- ScreenGrab - Image capturing tool. It basically saves web pages as images, sort of like Snagit’s screenshot function, but not nearly as advanced.
There are many others, which you will have to determine what best provides you with features needed for your online experience.
If you go the Firefox Add-ons page you will find more than 5000 add-ons listed by category. It’s a mixed bag, as there are many that are hardly worth your time. On the other hand, there are some real gems in the bunch, depending on you’re your needs are.
All surfers are not created equal and everyone has a particular style of internet usage, so visit the site and browse through the categories. You will surely find several useful tools.
If you like Firefox and want to have a new look, check out the Appearance page. The various themes and skins will be downloaded to the browser and you can simply activate any particular one with a single mouse click. They will be stored under tools >> add-ons >> Themes.
If you are unfamiliar with firefox or you’re not currently using it (I can’t imagine why) you should definitely take it for a test drive.
You will find yourself pleasantly surprised.
