I have heard of FriendFeed but never took the time to try the free service. When I finally did try FriendFeed, I was pleasantly surprised at the convenience it provides.

FriendFeed allows you to keep track of the online activities of friends and family. You can keep track of the web pages, videos, music, and photos your friends and family interact with around the Internet. What this does for me is to provide one place to share all my online activities, presenting one complete online personality.

FriendFeed allows you to to use up to 59 services which includes Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Amazon.com and many others.

You can hook up with friends and even create rooms that are really mini private groups. If you want to have your activities private….no problem.

Of course, there are also several additional tools to make using the FriendFeed service enjoyable. These include Bookmarklet, posting to Twitter, embeddable Widgets for your web pages, read and post by emale and iPhone, etc.

Check out my feed and add me at http://friendfeed.com/dejagib

This is a review of another one of the tools I personally use to get ahead online:

As time goes by and more people get online, search engines are getting more demanding of content providers. Not long ago, a reciprocal link (you link my site and I will link your site) was highly respected by the search engines. Now, it is all about 1 way links. Getting links into your site is a sure way to improve your page rank and generate more traffic to your site . The websites with more quality, one way links are typically the sites that rank
the highest, without a doubt.

With that said, there are several websites directory submission programs on the market. The best and easiest to use is a new program created by Brad Callen, called Directory Submitter.

The software currently allows you to submit your sites to over 1500 website directories, all free. It is what I used on Tips 2 Make Money to give it a Page Rank 2, even though it has only a few posts and I hardly update it. Yet, it has the respect of the search engines and the few articles get relatively high search engine rankings.

Getting 1 Way links using Directory Submitter is a simple, 2 step process:

1. Input your website details (i.e. title, description, URL, etc.) into the
software

2. Click on the directory you want to submit to

The program will automatically fill in your website details. Then, you simply click the submit button and your website is instantly submitted to the directory. Then, you can move to the next directory, go through the list, and by the time you’re finished you’ll have roughly 1500 one way links pointing to your website.

It is best to input several different titles and descriptions so the search engines don’t think you are spamming and penalize you. they get picky if you submit too many links in a short period of time.

The process could not be simpler and the result as I have proven, will shoot your site up the search engine rankings and raise your Page Rank above the dreaded 0 mark.

The software is constantly being updated as there is an incredible community of users established with the aim of constantly working together to make the software better and better; so you are assured of getting great value for your money.

For more details on this outstanding software, check out Directory Submitter.

Spam has been plaguing email for years, but blogging now seems to be getting more that it’s fair share. Up to a few days ago, this blog was plagued with spam. Everything from adult content to fix credit, insurance, make money online, and the list goes on. Akismet brought slight relief in that I could check each comment before accepting it, which was okay in preventing spam comments from being shown on my blog, but I had to spend a lot of precious time going through literally hundreds of comments trying to figure out which was genuine and which was spam. That was until I tried Lester Chan’s WP-Ban plugin. The plugin is so effective, I am now spam free. It allows you to:

1. Ban IP addresses (usually written like: 194.165.42.151) that are sending spam.
2. Ban IP address range.These pests sometimes use numbers in a range (dynamic IP addresses) so the plugin allows you to specify an IP range.
3. You can also ban domain extensions. This was quite welcome as I get nothing but spam from .ru domains so I just banned everything with the .ru extension.
4. Ban specific domains. Those “sdiuewkwqer.com” domains can be entered into WP-Ban and you’ll never hear from them again!
5. Ban Referrers.

You can see the statistic for how many times those IP’s are attempting to spam you after being banned. Another handy feature is the use of Wild Cards so there can be generalized banning. After two days, the spam dried up. Sure, there will be new IP addresses coming in to replace those banned, but all you’ll have to do is enter them in WP-Ban as soon as you identify them as spam and they’re out of your life. You can download the plugin from LesterChan.net. Chances are you will see other free plugins that may come in handy.

OfferReview

There are a million different types of goods sold online each day and it can get quite confusing to sift through the good and the bad products or services. Review sites have grown in importance for the simple function they perform of highlighting the pros, cons and features of online offers from an independent perspective.

OfferReview is a new review site featuring offers that give the greatest value to consumers. The site offers free trials and discounts and tells why it recommends products and services.

Take a look and you may find a review that will be of some help to you.

This is a follow-up evaluation article on building my first site, Right Price Camera using Datafeedr.com, an affiliate data feed program that pulls affiliate feeds from affiliate sites (like Commission Junction) and allows you to create your own online store by utilizing WordPress (the most popular blogging software in the world).

1. I have chosen a different template, Blue Shadow.
2. Removed empty categories.
3. Re-arranged the front page, displaying more items in Random Products and moving it above the categories.
4. Added Google Sitemap to assist Google in crawling my site.
5. Used the ‘drip’ feature so posts will be made automatically about the products. This will help in improving positions in search engine results.
6. Used Datafeedr’s Ad Rotator to randomly display ads from google, some affiliates and the two free advertising networks, adleaf and adgridworks.

The result is an improvement in the attractiveness of the site has been than was the case with the the default WordPress theme and I can now make my official store opening announcement. That was the easy part. The next stage is the challenging one of site promotion so people online will want to buy.  I’m already working on that using two free advertising networks adleaf and adgridworks and getting hits without an advertising budget but, that will be next. I’ll have to exhaust all the free ways to advertise so I can increase hits to the website before I start a spending plan.

By the way, I started another store this evening. It is so easy (even a caveman can do it). It is at http://findyourwebhost.com. It is a work-in-progress but will soon be good to go. I had to leave it before reaching the ‘finishing line’ because of family commitments.  I still need to add more web hosts and fine tune it for release. It is a little more difficult as most of the items had to be added manually (they weren’t available with the feed).

I am happy with Datafeedr.com so far. It does the job really well, leaving you time for what can be the most demanding, time consuming and frustrating task of finding the right web promotion method (s).

PS Some keywords for this article was provided by a free Keyword Generator from Web Rank Info. I’ll have to see if it will prove to be a ‘traffic master.’

Turn Datafeeds Into Beautiful Affiliate Stores!

There is a lot of money to be made on the internet and we hear the stories everyday. Many are lies, designed to trick the unaware person into buying worthless products which sometimes help the perpetrators to get rich. On the other hand, there are still increasing numbers of web entrepreneurs who make “crazy” money online. I want some of that money.

I have been studying various means of online commerce and realized that the easiest way for me was through affiliates. I wouldn’t have to do anything except promote their products and if successful, receive a commission. I wanted a site to promote these affiliates but couldn’t find the right way to do it. I thought about writing a WordPress blog reviewing and promoting each product but that would take too much time. Finally, I came across a line that said:  Building Affiliate Stores Was Never So Easy! It was Datafeedr, a new web application that allows you to make a site to sell products from different niches. What got me sold on the product is that it works with “good old” WordPress! This is perfect for me (and will be for other WordPress users), as apart from the heavy programming aspect of it, WordPress has almost become second nature to me. Beginners should not have much of a hassle either.

Datafeedr takes the feed from several affiliates (including the big ones: Click Bank, Commission Junction, ShareASale, NetShops and Link Share) and allows you to sell your chosen items for a commission. The site looks professional and only needs promotion. This is my first attempt at a Datafeedr/WordPress site, http://rightpricecamera.com. People who know me would of course know it would have to be something to do with photography. Anyway, installation was a breeze as Datafeedr.com comes with detailed text and video instructions. My new site needs fine tuning and I need to find the right template for it, but you’ll get the idea of what you can achieve. The time Datafeedr saves in inputting thousands of products makes it well worth a second look. I did everything for this site including the planning, setting up a new WordPress site and choosing the product categories, all in less than 2 hours on my first attempt. Now, to the fun, albeit more difficult stage of promoting it to get sales.

The best thing about Datafeedr is that you are not limited to one site. You can make unlimited numbers of sites, as long as you have the time and an idea for a niche. In this way, even if some of your sites don’t do well, cumulatively you stand a good chance of still making a profit by the sheer numbers of stores you can put up.

The worst thing is that the service is only available as a monthly subscription. A monthly fee starting at $27 is quite reasonable and should not be a deterrent.

The monthly subscription, plus the fact that this is a relatively new product, means that it is a golden opportunity to become an affiliate and promote this product. Promoting digital products online is like a pyramid scheme: the newer the product, the greater the chances of selling it. Datafeedr offers residual income from commissions. That means for every month that a member you referred stays an active member you get commission from the subscription.

Here is the commission structure. The default commission is 35%. Refer only one more new member and they immediately increase your commission with 5%. Refer another 5 and they increase your commission with another 5%. Refer 10 new members and your commission will be increased to 50% for all new members you refer after that. After a while,  you can keep collecting a fat check and never have to do any more promotion, unless you want to.

Datafeedr is a wonderful opportunity to make money from your online stores and also from being an affiliate. The high price is a bother, but the possibilities of eventually having 200 or so niche sites up and running, coupled with the attractive commision structure for promoting the product has me sold. Aren’t you? FIND OUT MORE!

Site Build It! may be a better choice, but the major difference is that Site Build It! lets you build one site, but build it really well. Datafeedr lets you build an unlimited number of sites, but you’ll have to do more work in promoting it. Datafeedr costs $97 per month. Site Build It! has a one time fee of $299 for each site. Site Build it! really concentrates on building a business and getting traffic by utilizing traffic pulling keywords on the pages. It is one of the most successful website building tools on the internet with many pleased users and may be used for all types of businesses. Check out the video here. See how Site Build It! can help in affiliate marketing.

If you looking for a hosting company to host your new site(s), get Free Domain Name, Free Setup and Host Unlimited Domains for only $6.95 at Host Monster, my favorite, reliable hosting company renowned for unparalleled customer service. By the way, there is a special promo now on for only $5.95 per month! Better yet, try this super deal, Top Rated Web Hosting - $3.95/mo from IX Webhosting.

The internet is slowly taking its place amongst the airplane, radio, television, car and computer as one of the greatest technological inventions in the history of mankind. What sets it apart from the others is its versatility and seemingly endless uses.

It is now possible to search for people online using people search engines. Easily-Find-People.com is one such site that allows you to search (free) for almost anyone in the 50 states of the United States. This is handy for persons looking for loved ones, detectives searching for people who have relocated or anyone looking for information on others. It has a huge downside in that it may help criminals in identity theft, so easily-find-people.com has an option called “Who’s Searching For YOU?” in an attempt reciprocate and give users the option of checking who is viewing their data.

In addition to searching by name, users are also allowed to search by phone number and social security number. The  Web Page looks bare, but underneath, it is a powerful search-engine that I am sure will take the fun out of hiding. For example, there is a background check feature that makes it possible to get further information on the subject’s background, including the criminal record of the subject.

For those interested in earning an affiliate income from having a similar site, click here or try a people search.

You don’t even have to hire a Private Investigator anymore, check out WebInvestigator.

Front Page Hosting $6.95

Lately, I have been attempting to make some extra money online by filling out surveys. I have tried several sites including Greenfield and Survey Spot that promise big payouts, but almost always enter you into a draw for cash giveaway, which means you’re entering a lottery where few people will win….no guarantee of rewards.

I decided to try AWSurvey.com as the concept was much more attractive than the others. Instead of long drawn out surveys, you simply give a short evaluation of 2 websites at a time for a $4 payment. Membership is free and there is a $6 bonus just for joining. There is a referral programme that pays $1.25 for each person you refer that joins free. In my first session, I netted $27.

There is a great debate on the web as to whether this is a scam. Some people boast of getting paid promptly, some say they have problems getting paid, but almost every online survey with cash payout that I have seen, is treated with some suspicion.  This article gave me some encouragement and I thought, well, I didn’t pay anything for joining and my input is only my time, which would be spent unproductively on some social networking site anyway.

I will continue to try AWSurvey and give an update when it is time for payment.

$6.00 Welcome Survey After Free Registration!

If you own a blog and would like to drive more traffic to your site, you might want to check out SezWho, a social networking site that rewards you for participating and commenting.

It works in 5 stages:

1. 1 The contributor creates content (such as a blog post).
2. The community votes and comments on the quality and relevance of the content.
3. The comments and reputation of each contributor is carried with them across all sites in which they contribute and the more they contribute, the more their reputation is enhanced.
4. Readers can follow contributor to different sites and communities.
5. This enables discovery of new content and communities.

Download Redoable 1.2

There are many free Wordpress Themes available for photographers. One can choose to have a photoblog which consists of one photo per page. Here are some links to the best free WordPress Photoblog Themes:

Photoblog Themes for WordPress at Technology Bites
Monotone theme: changes colors to match each photo.
Top Ten Best Photoblog Themes and Templates

This is ideal if all you need is to feature one photo with just a short description; however, if you need to include a lot of text and vary the presentation (size, amount and layout), then almost any other WordPress theme can be used. There are hundreds to choose from and favorites will differ from individuals. You may end up trying scores of themes before arriving at the theme you will finally use..

I have tried several themes and the one I think is best to highlight photographs is Redoadable 1.2 by Dean Robinson.

There are several reasons this theme is highly rated and recommended and some of these are listed below:

• The primary asset of this theme are the gray colors that really highlight photographs. They are similar to those used in Adobe Lightroom.
• The header can be easily replaced with a photo of your own by uploading a photo and inputting URL in Redoable Options. This allows your blog to have a unique look.
• Orderly and strategic layout of “Page” links at the right of the header.
• Text not a harsh white so it does not compete with the photos for attention.
• Gives your site a real professional look.
• Has its own Forum.
• The sidebar is module/widget ready, with over 20 different modules available to use. By default, the sidebar will work without the need to add any modules, and will display the calendar, categories, tags, blogroll and listen and watch modules depending, of course, on whether you have the relevant plugins set up.
• Sidenotes shown on homepage.
• Extensive tweaking using dialog boxes via Design—-Redoable Options. Customization that is only possible through editing codes in ‘lesser’ themes are now possible by clicking your personal choice. these include one click options for some plugins.
• A recommended list of plugins that integrate seamlessly into Redoable 1.2. It doesn’t mean other plugins will not work, but these listed have been tested to work specifically with this theme.
• Great to display a Photo Gallery using a plugin such as NextGen Gallery.
  

See it at work on my site amateurphotoblogger.com

Download Redoable 1.2

INSTALLATION:

1. Download the Redoable package.
2. Unpack, and upload to the wp-content/themes/ directory on your server.
3. Login to your admin area and set Redoable as the current theme.
4. Install and activate any of the above listed plugins.
5. Enjoy.