Well this morning I thought, “Why not?” and decided to update my Internet Explorer 7 to IE8. My reasoning seemed sound, I don’t use IE much – I’m a much bigger fan of Firefox, but what the heck.

I did do some research prior to making this change, hearing the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

It’s unfortunate that (so far and I’m just getting started) viewing my own (other) website, My Wizard Ads now places that web site – viewing with IE8 – in the downright “ugly” category.

(Don’t despair, there is hope, just (more…)

I’ve known Melanie Milletics for a while now (list building secrets), and I’ve been hanging onto a notice of hers called, “What is a Magic Blog Post?” for a few days.

Today is the day I made the time to go read (and you should, too).

There are certain vital points she makes that really impact your posts (or your website for that matter) that I won’t rehash, she’s stated them quite nicely. However, I did notice a glaring what I’ll call “mistake” within her post. A mistake I see way too many web site and blog owners make – not coding their click-able links to open in new windows!

Such a small thing, with such huge implications!

When you are reading, and someone mentions a resource or reference to even more information (and assuming you are really interested), ten to one you’re going to click that link (like above) – which is also what I (and anyone else with common sense) is praying that you will do – it’s there to be clicked for a reason.

Yet after you click on it, do you think I want you to disappear for good? Of course not! I want you back to either finish up reading and/or to take the time to look around (use the search bar on this blog), watch the videos (there are even more “how to’s” in the right hand sidebar on a wide range of topics, that’s just one example), and (of course) COMMENT about what you’re reading.

So that simple bit of code – your “target” to open in a new window or blank window is critical.

You work hard to get your visitor, don’t let them just slip through your fingers. The coding is:

target=”_blank”

To see it in action, just right click anywhere on this page outside the framework of the blog itself (in other words pick a “white area” even if it’s colored, but doesn’t have words) and View Source (in IE) or View Page Source (in Firefox).

o  Go up under EDIT on your browser (very top)

o  Choose FIND and type in Milletics (it’s unique and only mentioned once on this page – okay twice but this one doesn’t count there’s no link involved)

o  Now look closely at the coding just prior to her name.

See how the code is put together? See the “target” part?

You can hand code this yourself in HTML or if you are a Wordpress blog user, from the what-you-see-is-what-you-get view, just highlight the words, click on the little chain to make the link, and then select TARGET (new window).

Website owners you really need to do this, too.

It’s actually very sad to me when I see someone just willingly giving up their visitor. Don’t make me hunt to get back to you!

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Please COMMENT, we love feedback!

The other day while visiting our Twitter, I was struck by how many different posting and contact systems are currently in place to help you Tweet more efficiently.

In our January 4th post, we mentioned a couple:

TwitterBar 1.1
TwitterFeed

The first allows you to add comments directly to your Twitter from the address bar of your browser. It is an addon for your Firefox browser. Extremely simple to add, very easy to use.

The second is a slightly confusing, but ultimately satisfying, way to have a third party recognize your new posts and announce them – automatically – to your Twitter account.

But then I started going down through our lists of followers, and taking notes on how individual Twitter-ers are able to (seemingly) Tweet and get stuff done. Turns out there are a wide variety of tools at your disposal. Some make it easier to post, some are desktop interfaces (versus tabbing back and forth to your Twitter account).

Here’s what I’ve located so far – with short explanations of what each of these services and/or software programs do:

Tweetie
For those who hang onto their iPhones and iPods with a vise-like grip, this tool is an application you can add to make posting and/or answering Tweets easier. This download-able application costs $2.99. For screenshots just click that link.

TwitterGadget
You can add this method of Twittering to your Gmail account using Gmail Labs (here are the installation instructions. What this program does is best represented by a quote from their website, “TwitterGadget is a clean, robust, web 2.0 style client for Twitter.com, designed to submit status updates to Twitter via your iGoogle homepage or Gmail Account.” I invite you to visit and interpret the rest yourself.

TweetDeck
TweetDeck is in beta, but I see an awful lot of die-hard Tweeters using it. It’s designed to help organize the massive amounts of incoming information, as well as allowing you to interface with your followers. Again, a quote from their website is in order, “It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.”

TwitterFox
This is also a Firefox addon so installing it (like all things Firefox) is a breeze. TwitterFox “adds a tiny icon on the status bar which notifies you when your friends update their tweets.” In addition, it also has a small text input field to update your tweets.

Tweetfeed (not to be confused with TwitterFeed)
And last (for now) but most likely not least, Tweetfeed, a Twitter activity page that shows live what’s happening on your Twitter. You can customize the setting, and create what they call “Tweet walls” for conferences and events. Actually they state, use it however you want. We’ve added a link to a few TweetFeed examples

I do want you to know that, to date, I’m personally only using the first two referenced at the top of this post. But again, the ones listed are used constantly by Tweeters.

I should also note that TweetDeck (in beta) looks very appealing, but my Kaspersky firewall had strong objections to it. Most likely nothing at all to worry about, but I’m paranoid and decided to wait.

No doubt you’ve heard in the news lately of a few (stupid) tweets made by those (in our government) who should know better. Giving a step by step itinerary of one’s trip through war-torn Middle Eastern countries is definitely a stupid move.

However, in terms of instant communication, once you get the hang of it, Twitter isn’t going down the tubes as predicted numerous months ago. If anything, with all these tools available, mastering and using Twitter may be just the perfect move for you to make this year!

Enjoy!

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After making our post for January 3, it was off to my favorite forums. That’s where I found six tools mentioned by Owen that he loved using in 2008.

The one that caught my eye is Zemanta, an add-on to your Firefox browser that automatically recognizes your wordpress and/or blogger blogs. It’s a tool that’s going to help suggest photos, videos, articles, etc., related to what you’re writing about – all done from inside your admin area.

Here’s an example:

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What the example above shows is something Zemanta considered “related to” the rest of the information in this post (see below about Twitter).  There are many items to choose from, but I just picked this one – all from inside the admin area of this blog.

After installing (and it’s quick and painless and yes I did read the terms of service first), you’ll end up on the welcome page where you’ll get instructions on “how to get started right away” using this super cool tool!

A big thanks to Owen for sharing this and five other tools (one of which he created himself).

Excellent!

And, for those of you wondering why your Wordpress Twitter Updater plugin no longer works, well we don’t currently have the answer to that… However, TwitterBar 1.1 may be your easiest solution.

It’s been available since November 1, 2008, tried and tested. Just be sure you know what you’ve got typed in your address bar before you Twitter it. It can be words, the link of the page you’re on, whatever. So double check first

(The Firefox logo was also pulled in using Zemanta.)

A second alternative to get your feeds posted directly to your Twitter account (though the toolbar above is very cool), is TwitterFeed

TwitterFeed requires you to create an OpenSource id. Just be prepared to validate your signup via email AND be adept at picture recognition – the  process is a tad long while you “guess the picture” during the account creation process.

What TwitterFeed will do is, depending on your setting choices, take a peek at your blog feed and post the last “x” amount you designate at the time interval you ask it to check. While that may sound confusing, it’s not – it’s just a fill in the blanks AFTER you get past the picture recognition thing (it’s very hard to explain but worth the trouble).

So there you have it… multiple ways to get your current posts automatically onto Twitter, plus add some graphic interest to your posts painlessly.  Enjoy!

Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think about this post. So please DO comment!

2CreateAWebsite is one of our favorite blogs, and this morning I finally had the opportunity to play catchup; I’m glad I did!

Have you ever been on a website or blog and wondered, “What in the world is that particular color?”

ColorZilla makes it easy as pie to hover over any color on any webpage and find the exact “ingredients” that make up that particular color.

“With this handy Firefox add-on, you can use the eyedropper tool to hover over any color in your browser and it will display the hex color code.”

After I added it to my Firefox browser, it shows up in the lower right hand corner. Depending on the other addons you’re using, you may have to make some modifications to their settings so you can see the string of code (for example I downplayed some of the SearchStatus features to allow room for the hexidecimal code TO show).

For those truly interested in getting “just the right color,” and keeping in mind that even after you do, it really does all depend on the graphics card and monitor your visitor is using, ColorZilla is the way to go.

There’s even help/documentation files on their website to help you get the most out of using this new color picker addon.

And… it’s free!