Redirect Blogger Without Warning Page

June 11, 2011

I moved from Blogger.com to WordPress.org long ago, but it was recently I realized that my Blogger Blog was also getting some traffic, which I didn’t wanted(since the content there was obsolete). There is no clear method to redirect your Blogger Blog to new URL, I first tried Setting >> Publishing >> Custom Domain >> Switch to advanced settings and writing my domain in “Your Domain” text field(Though this has to work when you host your Blogger Blog on a Custom Domain), but it gave me a Warning Page for redirecting. But soon I was able to figure out that I can redirect my Blogger site to custom domain without any warning page using a simple JavaScript code or a meta tag.
Redirecting Blogger

Meta Tag Method

If you want to redirect your Blogger Blog using a Meta tag, then you can use the below code. Replace DOMAIN with the full URL of location where you want Blogger to be redirected, the content attribute determines the time delay in redirection.
{code type=HTML}

{/code}

JavaScript Method

If you will like your Blogger Site redirected using JavaScript, then you can use the below code. Again replace DOMAIN with the full new URL. Please remember if JavaScript is disabled then Meta Tag method will only work.

{code type=HTML}

{/code}

More Resources

If you have moved to WordPress.org and want 301 like redirects, then you should probably use the plugin Blogger To WordPress Redirection

Guide to Sitemaps – What? Why? How?

April 15, 2011

A website/blog is like a book, and thus it also needs a index or table of contents. In web terminology we call this ‘table of contents’ sitemap. There are mainly two kinds of sitemaps.

HTML Sitemap: It is meant to be accessed by your website’s visitors, which helps them to browse your website, see what they have point of interest in and increase your website’s/blog’s usability. It is simply a hierarchical list of links on a web page. Most of the (premium)WordPress themes now have in built Sitemap page template. Otherwise some or other WordPress plugin is always there to do the job. Click here for an example of a HTML Sitemap.

XML Sitemap: These kind of sitemaps are meant for search engine bots to crawl, you can submit one of these to search engines after building it. It is one of the most important aspect in large websites. Click here for an example of an XML Sitemap.

Creating a sitemap

HTML Sitemap

If you are using a CMS like WordPress or Joomla, both kinds of sitemaps can be built easily using various plugins/components, like you can use this to create a HTML Sitemap on WordPress.

Otherwise, if you have a normal website, you can easily create it with any usual WYSIWYG editor. You should start by creating a list of your pages, then adding the sub pages below the parent pages, and then linking them. After the skeleton has been made, style the sitemap page(using CSS), match it to your website layout and then put it live after testing all the links.

XML Sitemap

Creating an XML sitemap has never been this easier. If you are on WordPress(like me) you can use this amazing plugin Google XML Sitemaps. It builds your sitemap very adequately also, it notifies all major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc, every time you create a post about the new content. If you are on Joomla, you can use Xmap it has much more features that its WordPress counter part.

Again, if you have a normal website, and you are an advanced user(who knows XML, HTML, etc) you can create the sitemap yourself. The below example shows a Sitemap in XML format. The Sitemap in the example contains a small number of URLs, each using a different set of optional parameters. Please remember that your sitemap should always be UTF-8 encoded.

{code type=XML}
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod> 2005-01-01 </lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority> 0.8 </priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii</loc>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zealand</loc>
<lastmod> 2004-12-23 </lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=74&desc=vacation_newfoundland</loc>
<lastmod> 2004-12-23T18:00:15+00:00 </lastmod>
<priority> 0.3 </priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/catalog?item=83&desc=vacation_usa</loc>
<lastmod> 2004-11-23 </lastmod>
</url>
</urlset>
{/code}

Thanks to sitemaps.org for supplying with this brilliant example,
you can see the tag definitions here.

The other and more recommended way to create sitemaps is to use any of the XML Sitemap Generator services available online, you can find plenty of them online.
The one I like is XML-Sitemaps.com (Maximum 500 pages).
It does most of the job itself, and just leaves the uploading part for you.

Specifying Sitemap in robots.txt file

You should include the location of your sitemap in your robots.txt file so that search engine finds it when accessing your robots.txt , you can insert it using the below code.
{code type=CSS}
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
{/code}

After you are done with your XML Sitemap. I will recommend you to submit it to your Google Webmaster account. Google will index it in a little while, and you can see effective results.

Other types of sitemaps

Of course there are few more kinds of sitemaps, I am including a few below.

RSS Feeds: They are not really sitemaps, but rather web feeds meant for feed readers, but they do work as great sitemaps for blogs.

ROR Sitemap: A variant of XML sitemaps, much more robust that XML and support various kinds of formats. See more here.

Video/Geo/ News Sitemap: They content links to your videos/geo-content/news articles so that they are searchable in Google Video/Google Maps/Google News.

Mobile Sitemap: Mobile sitemaps contain a lists of web pages made particularly for mobiles, for search engine’s mobile index. Here is an example of a Mobile Sitemap

Comment Systems

October 31, 2009

Tired of having that old Comment system of your Blogging platform. Here’s what you need. There are 2 major app which you can try for managing comment in your blog one is Disqus and another Js-Kit. The disqus is old and free and is used by huge sites like Mashable where as Js-Kit is new, Evolving and next generation.

With Comment System’s you can able your readers to comment with there Facebook/Twitter profile and Various other profile. There also some more advanced features which you can get using these Comment System like real time conversations.

More info:

Disqus

JS-Kit

Blogger.com vs WordPress.com

September 17, 2009

So you must be having a Blog(If NO, Go get one today). Where do you host it Blogger.com OR WordPress.com. Or if you have your own Hosting space with php and Mysql then for sure WordPress.org. This post will compare Blogger.com with WordPress.com. Also don’t get confused with WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is a CMS which you need to host and is the best Blog System currently. I will not be including features which are in both of them OR neither of them.

Feature	Blogger.com	WordPress.com
Customization with themes	Yes, You can edit the HTML and CSS	No
Import	No, Only from another Blogspot Blog	Yes, From most of the Blog programs
Static Page	No	Yes, As much as you want
Analytics/Stats	No, But you may install a third party Analytics program	Yes, In built and is great
Image Storage	1 GB, Can be browsed through Picasa	3 GB, Can be upgraded
Classification	Through applying Labels	Through applying Categories and Tags
Contact Forms	No, But Third Party contact forms can be installed	Yes, Using [contact-form]
Comments	Simple, But you can install powerful comments system like Disqus	Nice comment system but you can’t install Disqus
Embed Object (Like: Flash)	Yes	No
RSS	Yes, And can be optimized with Feedburner	Yes, But No Feedburner optimization
Spam Fighting	No	Akismet
Change blog URL	Yes	No
Javascript	Yes, You can Add it here	No
Google Webmaster Tools	Yes, Verify using <meta> tag and Add blog/atom.	No

Please See:

If you wish to upgrade to WordPress.org soon then go for WordPress.com. As it supports Categories as well as Tags(Which is common in WordPress.com and WordPress.org).
If you don’t wish to upgrade to WordPress.org and don’t want to host things then go for Blogger.com
Most of people start from platforms like WordPress.com or Blogger.com and move to WordPress.org(It includes me).
Also if you are newbie in Blogging go for Blogger.
Blogger is also owned by Google which is a 800 pound gorilla in Internet.
There is also a http://draft.blogger.com where you can see features if blogger about to come.

My Suggestion: Go for Blogger.com. As it has the biggest advantage that is Flexibility.

Starting a blog, keeping it run and having good traffic

January 25, 2009

Blog

A blog is a type a website in which it is maintained by an individual or group. Maintaining refers to having regular entries of anything[Which is meant for reading] . It is a medium through which every common person becomes a reporter by publishing their own articles. There are mainly 2 applications for creating and managing blogs. That is WordPress and Blogger.

Blogging
Its the term used to say when a person adds a entry or article of any matter in a particular blog.

Why
Most people do blogging to earn. And some do raise their voice or express their opinions on net, some people might to blogging as it is simply their hobby.
These day’s every one is starting their blog’s and blogging especially Teen’s. For a newbie there are many stuff’s to come over with before having a successful Blog. Therefore I am sharing some basic step’s for starting a blog and keep it running.

Starting a Blog

Choosing the Host

Choosing the host is one of the main, It decides Thing, there are mainly two types of Host’s available.

1. Weblog :
Its a free hosting thing great for beginners but doesn’t gives as much flexibility as blog publishing
application gives. But still Its brilliant in my concerns as it is totally free and gives enough Services[I am using that only] which are required like Blogger and WordPress.com.

2. Open source blog publishing application :
Most of the user’s use this as it has a major advantage that is flexibility and you can customize it as per one’s need’s and don’t need to be dependent upon the Hosting server, As you host yourself. It is not free you have to pay some Hosting Rates which caries upon $6-$50 depending upon packages to packages of hosting. Examples WordPress.org , MovableType

Most of the blogger’s start with Free clients like ‘Blogger‘ and then move to paid one like ‘WordPress.org‘ the major advantages of Self-Hosting is there flexibility.

What to blog about
You can blog about mainly two things

1. Techie or some professional things. In this type people blog about some Niche[Which can be anything] and most of the time being very professional. Like problogger.net

2. Thing happening around and physical infrastructure
This type of blogging is practiced mainly by Celebs and teens. In this type people share what is happening around them and where are they and what are they doing they gain more of stardom with this. Like http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm

Whats Recommended
You should blog about the niche in which you are professional. Like a Auto expert will blog about cars not internet, The most demanded niche these days is ‘Making money’ and ‘Blogging Tips’ blog’s of these category receive huge traffic and make a successful strike.

How much blogs to maintain
You can maintain as much Blog’s you want to maintain But it’s always better to have one. Rather than Writing number of post’s in many blog’s its better to write a few and a good one in one blog.
But still if you are pro at many stuff You may blog in all the stuff you are good in. But having Quality is more important than quantity.

Don’t Know something never mind, Google It !
Even though you not be knowing something, But you can still blog about it. There is no need of writing only in the Niche you are professional in. You can try some other niche and always assist Google and try Blogging in new topics.

What after blog has started
Now after starting a blog the question everybody think is that they don’t get traffic at all.
This is very true no blog gets Traffic in beginning and it feels like Shouting alone in dark room but still the Traffic gets increasing if you keep running your blog. I don’t like those people who start a blog and then leave blogging after 1-2 article complaining that they didn’t receive enough traffic.

This is the first step after you have made a blog that is popularizing your blog.

1. Chose the right template
Your template selection is one of the main part of making a successful blog. Chose right template that is one which is related to your blog. Example- If you have a blog related to gaming you should have template that is related to gaming. It will look funny if you will use a flowers template in a gaming blog. Like Finalsense

2. Submit it to Web
Submit your site to internet by giving the URL to search engines, there are lot of sites these days which offer Blog submission to a particular category. You can submit it to Google webmaster tools or Google Base. Blog submission sites are like Blogged Technorati

3. Publishing
Have regular entries of posts which should offer unique content. This will attract the readers.

4. Labels
These labels are just like normal labels which you apply in your daily life. These are used to classify posts of your blog. Like in a Gaming download’s blog there could be posts varying to different gaming consoles like PC or Xbox 360. So there is a column having the different labels.
5. SEO(Search Engine Optimization)
This what most people do these days and receive good traffic.

Blogging for Earning

January 19, 2009

Most people are attracted to blogging as they see it as a income stream by showing Ads and stuff. Ya, Its true many people succeed in it and make huge bucks. Some didn’t got to such height and have a very wannabe income stream some don’t actually earn a single penny. These days many Bollywood Stars are attracted towards blogging in order to have a better Fan base and share their life with the Fans and advertise for their upcoming films.

So most of the people earn by blogging it can be anything depending what the Blogger wants from the user.

Why there is a need to Earn
Earning can be done for anything many students now days blog in order to have better Pocket Money or People do it to have a Better Income Stream. There are many full time blogger’s these days and it is taken as a career now.

How to Earn

Earning from blogging requires very basic steps.
These steps can as simple as using Text Link ads or writing Paid reviews or blogging for some organization or finding sponsors and there are many more rays of hope.