Do Human "Quality Raters" Influence Which Sites are Impacted by Panda?

Okay. So this is an important question that many people have now started asking: Do Human "Quality Raters" Influence which sites are impacted by Panda? You might have heard of a manual penalty for a site, and in our post about removing backlinks to avoid penalty, we talked about when a website gets hit by an algorithm, and when a site gets manually penalized. This concept gives rise to a common question: if these 'quality raters' influence whether a website gets impacted by an algorithmic update, such as Panda or Penguin, then how is the consumers' reaction gauged? Meaning who is to say which site gets penalized and which doesn't?

It's an important question, and has caused confusion and frustration among bloggers and webmasters who have been hit by Panda or penguin. Most think they have been unfairly hit, since there are humans manually rating their site, and humans are bound to make mistakes. So they should be given the benefit of doubt, right? Well, there are a few misconceptions involved here.

How are websites manually rated?

It is important to note that the team of human quality raters at Google doesn't just take things for granted. Besides working on personal judgement, they are also provided with guidelines on when things are navigational, when they are vital, what content is off-topic, and which things are spam etc. There are clear-cut guidelines that those people follow. Any website that fails to qualify of course comes under the inspection.

But as far as the question of influencing is concerned, well those people don't have a direct impact on any site's ranking on search results. According to Google, when an engineer comes up with a new algorithm(s), that algorithm is put to the test and the search results returned by that algorithm are compared by others and the existing one. This comparison is then sent to the quality raters to analyze.

Now it is the job of those quality raters to cross reference with the guidelines provided to them, and then tell whether search results returned by that engineer's algorithm are better, or worse than others. The quality raters just provide the feedback. They do not directly say "I do not like this website, it should rank below others".

As far as the quality guidelines are concerned that are given to the quality raters, Google says they will soon be made available to the public, so that people can read through them and benefit from the instructions. It'll be easier on both Google and the webmasters. In the meantime, watch the video by Google, and stay tuned for those guidelines. We'll keep you updated. Cheers :)

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Do AdWords Customers get Special Treatment in Search Results?

Do AdWords Customers get special treatment in organic search results? This is a question that's become quite common now among webmasters, especially those advertising their website with Google AdWords. And that's understandable, considering the money they spend in doing so. A lot of people also think that if someone buys that ad spot on the right side of the page, then his website gets some sort of an algorithmic boost, and gets an advantage over others and thus ranks higher. Is there any truth to it? And if so, is it any fair to the other webmasters? Google answers this important question in a latest video uploaded by Matt Cutts.



The original question was asked by Christoffel from Dublin, asking;

I am an important AdWords customer and recently I have seen a drop in ranking for my site. Why can't I get advice on optimizing my site for Google's search results through my AdWords point of contact?

Here is Google's response to the question.

Does Google AdWords benefit advertisers?

First of all, it's a common misconception that advertisers who buy an ad spot on the right side of the page get an algorithmic boost of any kind to make them rank higher in search results. Well the fact is, the algorithm is the same for everybody, with no exceptions. So any such assumptions can be safely dispelled, and the 'conspiracy theories' put to rest.



Just to be clear, such a practice would not be fair to webmasters who are not using AdWords. AdWords is only supposed to bring up sponsored ads for a website in search results page, and does not effect the search results themselves. So advertisers, by no means, get any sort of benefit in the organic search results.



As long as 'special treatment' and 'special points of contacts', Google doesn't allow that either. As asked in the question, you do not get any special advise on optimization or advertising or anything just because you use Google AdWords. This makes sure everyone has the same resources and support channels with Google. Google's quality team has been working hard at dispelling this misconception, and Google says it wants to be as fair as possible, so that no on will think someone is getting special treatment. If they have an increase in ranking, it's because of some other factor(s).



That's all for now. If you have questions, do let us know. Also, go through the video to make things clearer. Good luck :)

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How can you Contact Blogger Team for Real help?

If you are a blogger or looking up for blogging to choose it as your career then Google has some real good news for you. Blogger has always provided its users, all the opportunities to express their point of views, meanwhile learning a great deal online. Taking a deeper look and conducting a detailed survey on the problems and queries of its users, Blogger team has recently announced its availability and contact procedure with its users. Knowing that, you can now feel free to present your queries to the team and can hope to get some fast results.

Blogger- The Team

There is no doubt about the popularity as well as the effectiveness of the products that are been offered by Blogger. It has also been noticed that the team is keen to counter the user issues in no time and has established an efficient Global team, all dedicated to ensure that no compromises are made over the quality of product.

When To Contact Blogger Team

Blogging is an interesting domain where a blogger never gets perfect in his business, as something new is leaking in to the market now and then. In these circumstances, there are all possibilities to have some problems arising. If you go through the forums and take a general look on the most occurring issues, you would find that the bloggers might find themselves in a difficult situation in the following scenarios:

1) When planning to make an upgrade to a custom domain

2) Feel like giving a new look to their blog

3) Where to start it off

4) Difficulty in building a considerable readership

5) A sudden drop in the blog’s stable traffic.

6) No relevant Ads been Offered by Google AdSense

In short, there are much more than this when you feel like actually contacting the team to let the team know about your problem that might be a specific one for you, in your case. However, it is a dilemma that many bloggers, although earning with their blogs, find it hard to basically how and where to start a proper communication with team. It seems like Blogger has heard it all and has developed helpful resources that can help the users in learning about the latest features. Not only this, but you can now report your queries with blogger, and can also post your questions where the blogger support Team and Top Contributors can help you in tracking down some worth following answers.

Blogger Help Center

Blogger Help Center is where you can find all the latest news about the features been lined up and leaked out recently, knowing all about the dashboard activities and much more.

.

Google Feedback

Blogger welcomes your feedback truly. Therefore if you have a good problem to report, new ideas to share, or have some valuable suggestions to give, never hesitate! Sending a feedback is much easier and all you need to do is to click the gear icon in the dashboard to fill a feedback form.

Blogger Product Forum

It is essentially important for the bloggers to be a part of active communities that are related to their niche. Blogger Product Forum is an official community been offered by Blogger where you would find Blogger Support staff, and Top Contributors who are always ready to listen you and help you out completely.

Abuse Reporting Form

Coming across to an unethical stuff and abusive content is something that a blogger must be prepared for. Luckily, Blogger Team is smart enough to provide some remedies for this too. With Abuse Reporting Forms. you can report abusive content and ask for special help from the team. For details, Visit Google’s Terms of Service and/or Content Policy.

In brief, Things are pretty easy with Blogger, We recommend you to start exploring the support tools that are offered by the team to facilitate you.

Best Wishes,

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Eid Freebies: Download Two Free MBT eBooks!

Eid Blessings and cheers to all MBT readers!  We are back with some Freebies! It has been observed that some of our very loyal and active blog members have been waiting for some new download resources on this EID so we have planned to make their weekend special with two freebies! We have been serving the bloggers’ community and blogosphere for years and we will continue to do so inshAllah and with your consistent support. It is great honor to know that newbies and the contemporaries often look at MBT and apply the tips and tricks shared here. This great feeling urged us to compile some very basic, briefly explained yet exceptionally important information with you all in the form of these e-books.

 

The Motivation:

The basic motive behind this book is the same that laid the foundation of MBT blog i.e. to share knowledge with all. By the grace of Almighty, today we are at a position to help others with confidence and expertise. We can not forget the problems, we had to face in the beginning of our career and therefore, we feel for new bloggers of today.

What’s inside the Package?

We have not given only ‘ADVICES’ in these e-books, rather we have also addressed the problems you will face at every step of blogging. Of course, you need to learn some skills to call yourself a ‘Professional Blogger’ but that do not guarantee a successful blog.

• What are the reasons that abandon your way?
• Are you able to establish a blog?
• Why is your blog not paying you back?
• How can you achieve your targets?
• How can you capture readers’ attention?
• How can you turn them into loyal subscribers?

And a lot of related stuff is discussed in detail.

Comprehensive Guide to Newbie Bloggers:

As you can easily guess that this e-book is mainly targeted to the newbie bloggers. It contains unique blogging tips and ethics that are easy understandable and applicable to any blog. We have tried our best to start from the very beginning so that it is helpful for those as well who even do not know the meaning of ‘Blogging’ but looking for a career in it. We have gathered basic knowledge, a must have behavior and some bonus tips for your success … all at one place!

Tip: To read the PDF just click the download link below else if you wish to download it then right click the link and choose save as. 

Download Now! 43 pages, Size: 1MB

Pro-blogger Secrets Revealed:

‘Pro-Blogger Secrets Revealed’ is compiled version of the popular MBT series ‘How to Become a Six Figure Blogger?’ It is mainly directed to briefly explain the proper strategy, one needs to follow if he/she wants to earn a healthy living online through blogging. Rarely do people share the true secrets behind their fairly established online existence. But, MBT has never hesitated to disclose the tips and tricks to its readers and anyone who is looking for guidance. In ‘Pro-Blogger Secrets Revealed’, we will share every single detail linked to six figure earning dream.
We would highly recommend to go through the ‘Comprehensive Guide to Newbie Bloggers’ first, for the basic lessons and then aim yourself to become a Problogger.

 

Download Now! 18 pages, Size: 666KB

Share Your Thought:

Everyone loves to Make Money Online but everyone is not applying the correct formula and that is why people often abandon their blogging careers. We hope this small effort from this little blog may educate newbie bloggers in a more correct way, guiding them to true webmaster strategies. All details shared here are deeply focused to guide how to survive online in this growing world competition.
We hope you will find these e-books helpful to a great level and can easily share it with your friends and co-workers.
Stay Focused! Stay Blessed!
Make 2012 a year to establish your blogging Goals. Not forgetting Happy Eid Mubarak! :)

---

About: Rahmeen Ahmed Khan also known as Aiman Khan is MBT's Gold Star Contributor. We can not thank her enough for her contribution towards STC Network. She is now running her own blog at Rahmeen-Ahmad

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Eid-ul-Adha 2012 Mubarak To Everyone!

 

Let us take the pleasure of wishing all beloved readers of MBT and SEM a Happy Eid-ul-Adha Mubarak! Wishing you a peaceful Eid on behalf of Qasim and Nida. May this Holy Occasion of EID brings Peace and joy to you and your family  and may shower on you the best of Allah's blessings. Eid-ul-adha is the second biggest joyous occasion for Muslims after Eid-ul Fitr where they share these splendid three holy days with their friends and family and forget all their past worries, and grievances.

 

More than 3 Million pilgrims performed the holy sacrifice of animals yesterday in Makah. The second day of Eid is being celebrated in Saudi Arabia, Gulf States, Europe, USA, India and Far Eastern countries today. Pakistan will celebrate its first day of Eid today as per the Islamic Hijri Calendar and more than 180 Million Muslims living here will be performing the holy sacrifice this morning  in the memory of Prophet Abraham (PBUH).

Why do Muslims Sacrifice Animals? 

Prophet Ibrahim (A.S) was being tested by God (the Merciful) for his loyalty. He was commanded by God to slaughter his son Hazrat Ismail (A.S) as obedience to the Mighty Lord. Abraham (A.S) didn't hesitate a bit and took his little boy to show the height of his Love for Allah. The moment he placed the knife on his neck, the boy was replaced with a sheep (or its kind) because what God intended was to test the inner purity of  Abraham (A.S) in obeying the commandments of the great Lord and not to harm his little boy. Since then Muslims all over the world sacrifice a Halal animal to revive the spirit of what happened that day and distribute the meat amongst the needy, poor and their loved ones. All this is done just to remind Muslims that they must obey the orders of their Lord, even if they have to sacrifice their most beloved being to Him. This Eid is therefore called "Feast of Sacrifice’"

I am honestly not good at narrating history but if you are interested in learning more about Hajj and such occasions then indeed Google is your best friend! :)

Sincere Greetings

Its my third consecutive Eid with all of you and I just can't put my feelings in words. You guys mean a lot and EID is meant to be spent with friends and relatives and so am I doing as always.

Just wanted to share few surprises with all of you. Thanks to your consistent motivation and love, I finally managed to complete the following:

1. My parents can now go to Hajj the next year thanks to my small company STC Network :)
2. I will get engaged this year inshAllah! =p
3. Just last night I purchased a car alhamdulillah :)

For some more hidden surprises do watch our latest presentations:

• Presentation at Greenwich university
• It's Time To Start your Online Business - PACC 2012

For me you all are no less than a family and it feels great being with you for the past four years. I wish this Eid brings peace, success and tranquility in your lives and fulfill all your dearest dreams. For those who just started their online careers, I wish you all far more success and happiness. I will be sharing everything I learnt so far and not a single tip will remain a secret. Just waiting for my exams to end on November 17th. Do not forget to visit MBT even on EID holidays! Peace and blessings buddies.

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An Exciting Experience at PACC with Reviving Youth & Anima

When work and study stress exceeds a limit, I often try refreshing myself amongst young teenagers and enthusiastic tech-savvy audience. Last Sunday on 21st October 2012, the team of Reviving Youth and Anima(Towards Light) organized an event tagged as "Scene On Hai" which means Plugged in or to be more appropriate Scene is On in English. It was organized at PACC's auditorium i.e Pakistan American culture Center in Karachi.  The event included some interesting guest speakers and was spiced up with Magic, Illusion, Drama and Singing performance which literally turned my mood on. Ayesha Gull, President of Anima invited us for a Guest speaking session which proved no less than a great honor. Following are some highlights that we could capture so far during our one and a half hour presentation, the longest so far.

 

Guest Speakers:

Following is the complete list of invited guest speakers:

• Abid Beli - CEO & Founder at Beliscity
  
• Rehan Allahwala - Founder and President of Super Technologies Inc.
• Mohammad Mustafa Ahmedzai - Founder STC Network

Following is the list of Guest speakers from within the organizing team

• Adeel Jatoi - President Reviving Youth
  
• Hammad Shaikh - V.P Anima
  
• Hammad Makani - Young Entrepreneur
  
  

What Did We Talk This Time?

For a detailed highlight of the talk, we appreciate you read the following:

• Presentation at Greenwich University

This time the topic I chose was "Its time to start your online business" The audience was mostly of age group 16-25,  I therefore ensured to keep the discussion focused on entrepreneurship by sharing different aspects of online business and its utmost importance in students life in current era of growing economic recession, unemployment and career orientated approach to life. This time I emphasized on PLAN A and PLAN B strategies of life and explained the difference between both by providing a solution at the end on how to get rid of the common PLAN A life and start their online business right form today by taking intelligent risks.  I had never enjoyed speaking so much as I did that day because there was too much of fun and laughter everywhere and yet a productive participation from all corners. Distributed some gift hampers again along with a unique surprise, that further added colors to the event. :)

You can download the slides from here:

 

Some Snapshots:

Following are some photos that will narrate the remaining half of the story. :)

Photo Credits: Photos with no watermarks are taken by our personal photographer Saad Khan and the watermarked ones are from the PACC team.

The guy below with a dummy cigarette in his hand is the funniest person I have ever seen on this earth! :p

About the Team

What amazed me the most was that the entire event was organized mostly by young teenagers from different academic institutes of Karachi and each one of them was a bucket full of extra ordinary skills and talents. The entire team offered us great hospitality and were indeed a great company. I would like to thank Ayesha Gul , President of "Anima" and Adeel Jatoi, President of "Reviving Youth" for their invitation and especially for their endeavors in enlightening the youth by providing them with a productive and creative platform. Wish you guys more power.

Your views?

The slides include some important ingredients that are required for a lucrative online income. The videos recorded were not in their full version because some important part of the discussion is missing and that's why we can not share them online. For details related to Plan A and Plan B, you may  surely post your queries in the comment box below.

• How far do you think you need to establish your own business, no matter online or offline?
• What business ideas do you have that could be put online to earn a living?
• Do you think students need to worry about all such headache at an early academic stage or they should rather think of business after graduation?

Your ideas would mean a lot. I will be posting regularly for one week, after which Qasim will be managing the blog on my behalf. My terrible exams are on their way and EID has yet to come. I would love to help you guys as much as time allows within this period. Peace and blessings buddies :)

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If I quote another source, will I be penalized for duplicate content?

As you all know, Google is pretty hard-up about duplicate content, now more than ever, because an awful lot of blogs and websites have started making money by blatantly copying material from other sources. This not only is unfair to the original source, it also jeopardizes the integrity of search results returned by Google. Hence the stringent TOS (Terms of Service). But what about adding quotations, or sentences/paragraphs quoted from other websites? It does classify as content copied directly from another website. So how does Google treat such content  and is it safe to include it on your website? Well, Google just released a video explaining how Google treats such content.

The issue was addressed by a video from Matt Cutts, head of Google's webspam team. In that video, he talks about the different practices applied by bloggers and webmasters online, and which of them is good and which isn't. You can see the video embedded below.

The ideal case

In an ideal world, people would only copy quotations, or things said by others that they like. For example, quoting a sentence from an author or public figure, quoting someone from their live speech somewhere (chances are, that speech will be copied by someone else too), an announcement, quoting from another blogger whom you find insightful etc. That is how quotes are supposed to work.



If that's the case, and you want to add such content on your site, then you can do it without fear, so long as you link to the original source. Credit should be given where credit is due. Just make sure you put the quotation in a block-quote tag, and everything will be fine.



People often ask, How will Google know whether it's just a quotation, or copied content that could get them penalized? Well, Google has some smart algorithms that will detect whether it's a quote or copied content. Besides, Google might check out your site manually. So don't worry if you've kept your end of the deal, and added a link to the original source and put the content in a block-quote.

When things go bad

Like much else, people are bound to exploit loopholes. Which is why Google is working on leaving as few as possible. It allows you to quote another site. But if you think you're gonna get away with copying an entire article as a 'quote', and then adding a link to the source, then think again. This practice will get you penalized.



Some bloggers also tend to excessively quote in their articles, adding little of value of their own. This will also result in your fall from grace in Google's eyes. So it's best to avoid such practices, and start creating valuable content. As long as you provide useful insights of your own, and quote reasonably with link to the actual source, there's nothing to worry about. Goo luck :)

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Basic Tips to know before Starting a WordPress Blog

WordPress is a well-known platform for Blogging and it is being used by millions of webmasters and bloggers. It is a self-hosted blogging platform. MBT is hosted on Blogger.com but, there are hundreds of other popular blogs which are hosted on WordPress. So therefore, WordPress can’t be ignored for Blogging. It is also called WP in short words by webmasters. It is a CMS (content management System) which provides you the opportunity to set up your blog easily. And it is totally developed in PHP, a popular web programming language. In this post I will give you some basic tips before establishing a blog with WP. My tips will be for securing WP, optimizing WP and designing WP. But before going straight to my tips I would like to give you some information about WordPress features and benefits.

What are the Advantages of WP?

If you choose WordPress for your Blog you will benefit from the many features WP provides. There are tons of free and premium plug-ins, Themes you can use to design and optimize your blog. WP blogs have professional themes and frameworks. The installation of WordPress is also easy and can be done in minutes. There are many companies and individuals who make WP themes and plug-ins for WordPress users. Also, WordPress is SEO friendly by default.

Recommended for you: How To Transfer Blogger to WordPress

Disadvantages of WP

There aren't many disadvantages, but in my opinion; WordPress is a web development environment with complex coding of PHP. And that’s a big problem for newbies, because new bloggers can’t customize WP themes or templates easily. While blogger is a platform where even an absolute beginner can easily manage/design their blog. But without having sufficient knowledge of PHP you can’t do anything complex. The security for WP blogs is also an issue for newbies, because WP blogs are hacked most often if they are not well secured. These are some issues which can be handled by learning the basics of WordPress and here now I am going to share my tips with you.

Tip # 1. Change User Name & Password

The very first thing to do for WordPress security is to change the default Admin details. You can change your default user name & password by going to users page on your WP dashboard. You must change the default user name and password in order to secure your blog from being hacked. While installing WP script from your cPanel you’re given a default user name and password. So your first step is to change it with a strong one. You can select a strong password by using a combination of different characters like this one: [myname123is!^*(#] and it is necessary for security reasons. Also, change the default user name to a better one.

Tip # 2. Change the Registration Status

If you go to your WP dashboard and click the general option under the setting tab; you will find a check box saying “Any one can register” which is already checked by default. At the beginning of your blog you need to uncheck it. Because someone can register to your blog and can harm you. Later on, you can once again check it and assign a role to the new members. Never assign the Administrator role to new members. Always assign a subscriber or contributor role to new members. This way, you will only be the Administrator of your blog.

Tip # 3. Allow Search Engines to Index Your Site

In your WP Dashboard there is a link called “Privacy” under the setting tab, click that and check if the radio button is selected or not which says “Allow Search engines to index this site” if not then instantly select that and save the setting. This way, Search engines will follow your blog and will index it.

Tip # 4. General & Reading setting

This is very easy step, when you get your blog’s dashboard. Visit General Option under the setting tab and make the necessary setting. In site title insert your Blog title which shouldn’t be more than 3 or 4 words. In Tagline, just insert a little bit description about your site. WordPress Address URL and Site Address URL are same, leave them as default. Put your email in Email box and make the date and time setting according to your country/region.

Next go to the reading setting. If you want to show your latest posts on home page then do nothing. But if you want to show static page on your blog’s main page then select the radio button “A static page”. Also you can select the number of posts you want to show on your blog’s home page; there will be 10 posts by default and you can select minimum or maximum posts to show on main page.

Tip # 5. Important Plug-ins that you must install

In order to set up your blog successfully on WordPress you must consider installing some free plug-ins that are exist in WordPress library itself. I will give you a list of plug-ins which are about securing your blog, optimizing your blog and socializing your blog. In order to install a plugin; just click on the plugin link located at left side of your WP dashboard and search the plugin you want to install.

Plugins that secure your blog

Akismet

Akismet is a plug-in that protects your blog from spam comments and track back spam. It is 99% effective. It detects the bad comments and saves your time.

AntiVirus

AntiVirus plugin is a smart security solution for your blog which saves your blog from different malicious attacks and spam injections.

AskApache Password Protect

AskApache is an advance security plugin which blocks the attacks on your password & Installation.

Login LockDown

This plugin blocks an IP address from a given range and blocks the hacking attempts on your WP admin.

Replace WP-Version

Hackers mostly attack by knowing your WP version, if you hide WP version then your blog will be more secure. Replace WP-version hide your WP-Version from all.

Secure WordPress

It checks all the basic security measurements of your blog.

Semisecure Login Re imagined

Sometimes your WP blog get hacked when hacker gets your password, so this plugin encrypts your password when you login to your WP admin.

WordPress File Monitor

This is also a very good plugin which informs you by email that what happened to your blog. If someone deletes something or adds something to your, it will instantly inform you. Even if your blog got hacked it will inform you about the activity.

Optimization Plugins

All SEO in one Pack

This is the most used plugin on WordPress. By installing this plugin you can write Meta title tags, meta description tags and meta keywords separately for Search engines. It is very useful plugin for SEO.

Google XML Sitemap

This is another important plugin. This plugin generates your sitemap for Google. You will just have to add this sitemap once to your Google webmaster account. It will refresh your sitemap whenever new content will be added to your blog. And will inform Google crawler.

SEO plugin by Yoast

This is another great plugin for WordPress SEO, it is also all in one and can perform better than All in One SEO pack it used perfectly.

Social Plugins

Better Related Content

This plugin is very simple and lovable. It shows the most relevant content below every post when they are viewed by visitors.

WordPress Social Ring

This is an awesome plugin which shows the social sharing buttons below every post of your blog. In some templates, it can also be added to home page.

WP Email-to-Facebook plugin

This  plugin sends your recently added post to your Facebook fan page or profile wall.

YD Recent Posts with thumbnails

I like this plugin and recommended to use. This plugin shows your most popular blog posts image thumbnails; same like Blogger blogs popular posts. It will add attractiveness to your WP blog.

What do you think?

These were just some basic tips from my own experience. You may be having different experience with WordPress. Please share your thoughts in comment section.



This is a gust post by one of our valuable readers and friends, Wali khan. Wali is a web designer, blogger and SEO Analyst. He even writes pashto tutorials and can be found mostly at OnlineUstaad

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Top 5 Free Online Meme Generators

It's a fun weekend, this, and we have been sharing some useful and fun tools while at it! So here's our chance to go a little bit further! We know you all use Facebook, and must have seen those rage comics and fun memes circulating around faster than wildfire. Funny, comic images on Facebook, in simple words. The word 'meme' comes from a Greek word meaning to copy something. A meme is usually viral, and spreads around from person to person, much like a virus. On social media, these fun memes are much like viral videos, only, much more viral, because they're easier to watch, and people like them.



So you've got an idea for a funny comic or meme? Here' we will share the top 5 sites where you can create your very own memes and trolls for free, share them on social media and see them go viral all over the world!



The more observant among you might be wondering, why has this post been filed under marketing? Well, don't think it's a mistake. Indeed, images are a great help when you're marketing your brand. They spread faster than anything else. When someone likes an image on Facebook, it appears on his friends' news feed, hence giving your image more exposure. And images are easily scan-able, especially comics, which the people like, and pause on particularly. Hence, it's a great marketing strategy to upload memes that are fun, and related to the products/service you deal with.

Top 5 online Meme Generators

All these meme generators work much like each other. You pick a basic meme, add a caption or words, create meme, and then share it on social media. Some will give you the option to download the image. But it's easier to just share the memes right away. So here goes our list of the top 5 meme generators you can use for free.

1. Meme Generator

Create all sorts of memes, or create your own custom character using this advanced Meme Generator.

2. Rage Generator

A tool dedicated to making rage comics that involve a short story line

3. DIYLOL

Another great tool for generating any meme, just like Meme Generator

4. Quick Meme Generator

5. Meme Crunch

There you are, with a list of top 5 meme generators. They minimize the image editing tasks for you, leaving you free to use your creativity and create some great memes to share with the world online. We did our part, now it's your turn to tell us about any good meme generators, and also, which do you think are the best? Troll away! Cheers :)

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How To Create an EBook of your Blog Posts?

Writing is one of the most important part of blogging. A blog is nothing but a sequential order of your writings online, available to all who have internet access. But wouldn't it be great if you could create your very own eBook, say from your own blog posts? You could then boast to your friends about authoring a book! Here is a great web app that will create an eBook from your WordPress or Blogger blog, and will then allow you to download it in PDF form so you and others can read it offline!

Recommended reading: eBook Launched! Transforming Series Into eBook

Create an eBook of your blog

Creating an eBook of your Blog is really simple. Visit Blog2Book, and click on the Start Now! button to start the eBook building process.

• Step 1 will require you to enter a blog address, and select a platform of the blog (WordPress or Blogger). You will also have to select how many posts you want to add to the eBook by number (max 100 supported), or by date range (max 1 year supported). Choose either option, and click on Get the post(s)

Note: You can create an eBook of a blog that you don't run (although we don't recommend doing such a thing without the owner's permission). If you don't have admin access to that blog, then you will see limited content. You will get the following message (or similar for WordPress) if this app can't access your blog's full posts.

If you log into your Google account, you might need to grant access permission to this app. 

• Next, you will see a list of your most recent blog posts (maximum 100 supported at this time). You can un-select any of these posts, or order them as you like by dragging and dropping them around. When done, scroll to the bottom, and click Continue


• Next, step is customizing your eBook. You can modify the title, add author name, add subtitle, add preface, dedication, and more! You can change and customize the cover of your eBook too, and add an image to it.

• Now, your eBook is being created. It might take a few moments, depending upon how many posts you included. When it's done, you can download it in PDF form from the button on the right.

Cool, no? It's a really simple, but a great web app. Try it, and tell us what you think about it. Cheers :)

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Get Extra DropBox Space With Space Race

Have you heard about the DropBox Space Race? No, it isn't the moon related thingy. Rather, it's perhaps more exciting to those of us who're more into the web and 'the cloud' and stuff. The Space Race is a new initiative by DropBox, encouraging students to use their school/college email addresses, and get more space out of their DropBox accounts! You can sign up, or connect your college email address with your current account, and instantly get 3 GB of space! So if you have an email address that ends in .edu (eg, yourname@domain.edu), then you might as well use it to earn more space!

How does it work?

(Note: even if you have a custom top level domain extension, such as .edu.us or .edu.pk, this trick will still work)

DropBox has its origins in college, which is why it is always so supportive of students. This is in fact a move to get students to collaborate more on DropBox. And of course, the concept of referrals is stronger than ever. Here's how it works.

When you connect your college email, you get an instant 3 GB space for 2 years. And if you register for the Space Race and then go through the Get Started guide (if you already don't use DropBox), then your college will get three points. Refer more people, and get the standard 500 MB per referral. In addition, the more classmates you rally, the more points your college will get, and the more storage you will get up-to 25 GB!

Get started

To start off, visit the DropBox Space Race, and enter your college email address. Click on Send Notification Email.

You will be sent an email on your college email account, and when you confirm the link within, you will get 3 GB free storage instantly!

And if more of your classmates join, your college will make the next levels, and you all will get free extra storage up to 25 GB. Cool, huh?

With DropBox, you can do all sorts of stuff. You can share folders and work collaboratively, teachers can assign homework and students can submit it, you can use it to share files on Facebook, you can use DropBox to host a simple website, and what not. DropBox and its apps are the tools, and the sky's the limit. So become a Space Racer now, and earn free space!

If you still have a confusion, feel free to ask. For more information, check out DropBox TOS.

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Use Google's Link Disavow Tool To Remove Bad Links

Yesterday, we talked about whether or not bad links on your site are worth deleting. The simple answer to the question was, you might as well do it, but it'll be better to adjust your website, rather than trying to bend it. If you've been manually penalized, then this step becomes more or less necessary. But what about the links to your website, which aren't in your control? Luckily, Google has now released a link Disavow tool, which will solve such problems. Quite simply, any unnatural links to your site can be disinherited, or 'disavowed', hence preventing Google from considering them.

Before using

When your website has been manually penalized, you will receive a bunch of messages in your Webmaster Tools, specifying links which look suspicious. You should take your time, and remove as many of them as possible.

If those links are located on another website, you must first contact the site owners, and request a removal of bad links to your website. You should use the disavow links tool only if you don't get any response from the site owners.

How to disavow links?

Simply log into your Google Webmaster Tools account, and visit Google's Link Disavow tool. Select a domain from the list, and click on Disavow links. Don't worry, this won't do anything. It will just start the process.

Now, you will be prompted to upload a text file containing a list of all the URL's or domains you want to block out. For whole domains, the format will look like this. domain:example.com. For single links, you can simply put in the full URL. Here is a sample text file from Google.

# Contacted owner of spamdomain1.com on 7/1/2012 to

# ask for link removal but got no response

domain:spamdomain1.com

# Owner of spamdomain2.com removed most links, but missed these

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentA.html

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentB.html

http://www.spamdomain2.com/contentC.html

Note: Every different link or domain must be on a separate line. And lines that start with a # aren't counted. You can only upload one file of maximum 2 MB size.

If you need a hand looking for bad links to your site, it'll probably be best to check out Who Links To Your Site in Google Webmaster Tools. Simple go into Traffic >> Links To Your Site >> Who Links The Most >> More. There, you will see a download button where you can download a file containing all links to your site.

When you tell Google to disavow your links, the changes may not be immediate. It could take some time before those links are considered as useless by Google. And Google might not even consider the links you submit if it doesn't trust your submission. Also, if you make a mistake, it might take weeks to rectify, so be careful.

Hope I made myself clear. If there are any confusions, do let us know in the comments below.

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Should You Remove Backlinks to avoid Penguin Penalty?

Google Panda and Penguin have been some of the most infamous algorithmic updates Google has ever made. They have effected tonnes of websites and blogs, and are still working to devour any website with malpractice that comes their way. We have many times discussed about how to avoid penalty from such algorithm updates. And in them, we have talked a lot about Google's interest in you links, out bound and incoming both. It's common knowledge that Google is now concentrating a lot more on the quality of the links than on the quantity. So a common question easily arises: If you are hit by a penalty, does it help to remove your backlinks?

Penalty?

It's widely conceived that Google not only rates your incoming backlinks, but also your outgoing backlinks. If either of those are low quality, then Google delivers a penalty. Well, this is quite correct. Google is a lot touchy about quality these days. But will removing your backlinks life the penalty?

First thing's first, it's important to establish whether you've been penalized or not. Strictly speaking, Google Panda and Penguin are algorithm updates. This means that with them, Google changes the way it rates and ranks websites, and how it perceives links. While minor updates are of no concern to webmasters, it's the major overhauls that derail a traffic. But when this happens, it's actually not a penalty. A penalty is when Google takes some manual action against your site. These updates just make Google take a different route, and your  website might not be near that one. But that doesn't mean you've been penalized, you've just been side-stepped. 

To check whether you've been penalized, you should consult with SEO forums, such as SEOchat, to see if Google has rolled out any update. If that happens, you will have to adopt a different strategy from when you've been penalized.

Recommended for you: How To Recognize SEO Over Optimization Which Causes Penalty?

Is removing backlinks the way to go?

If you've been penalized, then you will find your Webmaster Tools filled with messages containing information regarding the violations on your site. Start with those first. If there is a message about linking out too much, then you should remove them at once, and file a reconsideration report.

A lot of the times, it's about the backlink ratio. Giving out too much backlinks while having a very few in returns is one way to catch Google's attention. If you've been hit by an update, but you have a reasonable backlink ratio, then you might look into other stuff. Otherwise, you can start removing those links now which you think are low quality.

However, it's worth noting that removing these links isn't very important. What's more important is that, you don't create them in the first place if you think they are against the best practices. An algorithmic update, after all is about long-term changes. And it is better to mold your website into it then to try to bend it. So stop wasting your time trying to find backlinks to remove, and just concentrate on what you'll have to do for now. All the best :)

Recommended: How To Recover From Google Penguin Update Penalty?

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Create Static HTML Design Of your Blogger Template

This is part 2 of our series "XHTML to HTML" . We have already learned how to turn blogspot's layout into blank HTML page but we have no yet shared how to remove the dynamic XML tags alone leaving behind the stylesheet, scripts and html design. In today's tutorial I will try to share the basic way of understanding a websites core structure by identifying the important div sections that make up the structure. I hope you have followed part one of the series and have downloaded your blogspot template. I also assume you have Dreamweaver or Codelobster installed on your desktop computers or laptops.

Live Demo

XHTML To HTML

Part1: XHTML To HTML: Blogger Template Conversion

Part2: Create a HTML Design Of your Blogger Template

Part3: In progress

Identify the Div Sections

Div sections are division blocks or containers that hold elements inside it to layout a web page. The <div> tag defines a division or a section in an HTML page. It starts with a <div> tag and ends with a </div> tag.  When a div section is styled, we add the CSS ID or class to it as follows:

If you want to introduce a class in Div, do this:

<div class="class-name">

...

...

..

</div>

 

If the Div section is styled using an ID, it will look like this:

<div id="id-name">

...

...

..

</div>

In CSS code a class always starts with a dot at its beginning and Id starts with a hash sign as shown below:

For class:

.class-name {

---

---

-

}

 

 

For Id:

#id-name {

----

--

--

}

 

Now when you have understood what a Div section is, you will be able to identify these slices (div) that define your overall blog layout.

1. View your blog either in Firefox or Chrome. I prefer Firefox
2. On an empty section (the background) of your blog right click and choose "Inspect Element"

    3. Two windows will open. The bottom window will highlight the core HTML of the blog and the area on your right highlights the CSS.

In the HTML section you will see important div sections. If you click any div tag, all html inside it will expand and when you click back it will contract. The important thing to note is what section is highlighted on your blog when you click a div. Note down that section for that particular div and save it in a notepad. Start from Divs at the top to divs at bottom. Go in sequential order.

For example if I click on the div tag for mbt highlighted below as <div id="wrap">  the entire container holding all the blog contents except the top-sticky-bar are highlighted. That's how I identified what this div does and what sections can be styled using it.

Use the same method to identify the divs for Header, Navigation, Post container, Sidebar Container and finally the footer. The divs must go in order and keep track of which div is nested under another div. For example in my case the navigation, header, post body and sidebar all comes under the wrap div. So I will insert the remaining divs inside it.

This may sound a little techy for people not familay with HTML tag priorities but for developers who wish to understand how to create a clone design the method above can't be more clear than this.

Remove the Dynamic Tags

1. Use Dreamweaver or Codelobster to open the xml file you downloaded
2. Find each div tag and edit the code inside each one of them.
3. For example for the outer-wrapper div tag I delete the div tags for post body and sidebar leaving the entire area vacant and then I add the contact form inside it. Visit our contact page to see the wide area with no sidebars and post-section.

The dynamic code is easy to identify because all widgets have this basic structure:

<b:section ........................>
<b:widget ......................................../>

<b:widget ......................................../>

<b:widget ......................................../>

 

</b:section>

 

A widget container is initiated using the b:section tag and widget content is initiated using the b:widget tag. Find them all and replace the b:section tags with static div tags like the following:

 

<div ........................>

Delete all code inside B:widget tags found here

 

</div>

 

Once you are done with this, you will find your template looking neater and getting in shape if you are using code lobster or dreamweaver. It took me 4 hours to clean up MBT's code so it should not take you long. Its lengthy process but extremely interesting and worth trying. Once you have learnt how to do this, in our next part, I will teach you how to add a PHP contact form inside the Cloned Blogger template that looks exactly like the original blog, giving the user a great experience. 

I know you have tons of questions!

Of course this method is a little techy for newbies and would have given a headache to most of you but you may not panic and just post me a comment. I will be at your service. I reply late but I do reply! =)

I wish this tutorial may help you better understand the possibilities of customizing the Google hosted free blogs. There is no end to Blogger customization and you must try every possible tutorial that comes along your way because only Blogspot layouts can turn you into a brilliant web developer. Peace and blessings buddies. :)

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