SEO Techniques to boost your website

In SEO, link building is one of the most important techniques used by many specialists in their campaigns to increase the volume and quality of visitors coming to their website. Though many have found this technique a pain, particularly because of all its tedious work, it does make up almost 70% of the total success rate in any SEO campaigns.

Link building involves a number of techniques, from link exchange to blogging. Some have become popular, while others have started to decline due to the changing algorithms of search engines, particularly by Google, as well as methods to decrease the effect of spamming, which caused a number of these techniques to become ineffective. Here are some link building techniques used in today’s market.

Blogging

Blogging is one way to get links from. Managing your own blog and allowing people to comment on it and grow allows your website to get more organic or natural links. Organic links are those types of links which naturally grows over time.

This is mostly due to the content in your blog in which many people would likely link to, normally because of its uniqueness or because of its intriguing facts. This link building technique is mostly known in the industry as link baiting.

Blog comments

One of the most widely used form of technique in link building, it involves living links in blogs through its comments. However, many SEO Philippines experts have said that the use of blog comments in link building has steadily declined due to the use of nofollow tag which rendered every links in their comments ineffective to most search engines, particularly with major search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Forum signature

Using forum signatures to create links is also popular among many of those that loves to engage in forum discussions. Their signatures in forums are one way to create one-way links to their websites, however, this has also become ineffective particularly because many forums today doesn’t allow their signatures to be used as marketing tools for their websites.

Ten Interesting Window 7 Features

Want to learn some cool features in Windows 7? Here is a list of ten of the lesser known but really useful features of Windows 7 which I have come along so far.

1. Activate God Mode: If you play a lot of video games, probably, you are familiar with the GodMode using which you can access all the features like weapons, unlimited life, special moves, tricks etc. This mode is usually used by developers for testing purpose. Windows 7 has a hidden “GodMode” which lets users access all of the operating systems settings and administrative functions from a single place.
   • Create a folder in your computer.
   • Rename it as GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
   The folder icon will change into a control panel icon. Inside the folder you can find every system settings you may want. The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, but 64-bit versions of that operating system might crash.
2. Problem Steps Recorder: This is a really useful application of Windows 7 which can help reduce the length of calls to the support desk by providing enough information to the IT pros. This tool lets users to save the steps to cause a problem with taking step-by-step screenshots of users action.
   • Click on Start menu and type psr to open Problem steps Recorder.
   • Click Start record to begin recording your issue. You can also add comments if you like.
   • Click Stop Record when you are done.
   
   
3. Switch to  Projector: Windows 7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor to another, or a projector.
   • Press Win+P or run displayswitch.exe and choose your preferred display.
   
   
4. Sticky Notes: Even though this feature existed in previous versions of Windows in one form or another, it’s much easier to use in Windows 7. You can stick a note on your desktop for quick reminders.
   • Click on Start button and type “Sticky Notes” in the search box and click on Sticky Notes in the result list.
5. Customize User Account Control (UAC): Do you want to get notified when programs try to install new software or make changes to your computer? You can control this setting through UAC.
   • Open Control Panel and click on Action Center
   • Click on Change User Account Control Settings link to open UAC window.
   • User slider to select your desired level of notification and click OK. (By default, it is set to Never Notify option)
   
   
6. Add Options in Send To Menu: Hold down the Shift key while right clicking on a folder and select the Send To menu. You will find a number of extra options in the context menu. You can customize the menu to display the options you want even without holding the Shift key.
   • Open an explorer window and type shell:sendto in the address bar.
   • Drag the shortcuts to your preferred folders into this folder.
7. Disable Aero Snap feature: Aero Snap feature lets you minimize, maximize or resize program windows by dragging and dropping them to the screen corners, e.g. you can maximize a window by dragging and dropping to the top of the screen. If you don’t find this feature convenient, you can disable it.
   • Open Control panel and click on Ease of Access Center icon.
   • Click on the “Make it easier to focus on tasks” link.
   • Now click on the “Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen” option and click Apply button.
   
   
8. Undo unintentional Move/Delete/Rename/Copy operation: Have you ever accidentally deleted the wrong file, or duplicated files while trying to select hem with the mouse? These types of mistakes can be extremely frustrating, but there’s a really, really simple way to reverse them. All you have to do is use the Ctrl+Z keyboard shortcut or select Edit->Undo from the menu. This works in all version s of Windows.
9. Burn images: Windows 7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had for years – the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it couldn’t be much easier to use.
   • Just double-click the ISO image, choose the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is created.
10. AppLocker: AppLocker is a completely new feature for Windows 7 that enables you to lock down certain applications for users that you specify, using rules and properties to provide access control for applications.
    • Run GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration ➜ Windows Settings.
    • Highlight Security Settings and look for Application Control Policies. AppLocker is within this group.

How to take screenshots on iPad?

Do you want to capture your iPad screenshot and share it with your friends and colleagues? Well the process is really quite simple and is similar to that of iPhone or  iPod touch. Just follow these three easy steps given below:

1. Open an application or screen that you want to capture.
2. Press and hold Power Button and Home Button simultaneously.
3. You will observe a little screen flash and a capture sound which means the screenshot is taken successfully.

Browse save photos album in your photos application in iPad and there we go, you can view your screenshot as the one seen here.

Few Interesting HTML5 Features

The next major revision of HTML standard called as HTML5 has been launched recently. It is expected that any upgraded version of a program or software will include new elements and features. In this article I will include a number of new elements and attributes that assists in modern website development.

1. Video and Audio support: The most notable feature of HTML5 is video playback which was previously dependent on third-party plugins such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. HTML5 has <video> tag for videos, <image> for images, <audio> for sound and <canvas> tag to describe graphics content.
   <video width=”320″ height=”240″ controls=”controls”>
   <source src=”movie.ogg” />
   </video>
2. Navigation tag: HTML5 introduces a new tag called <nav> in order to include navigation menu in your website. <nav>
   <a href=”http://www.freetipsandtricks.com/”>Home</a>
   <a href=”http://www.freetipsandtricks.com/about/”>About</a>
   <a href=”http://www.freetipsandtricks.com/contact/”>Contact</a>
   </nav>
3. Header and Footer Tag: The <header> tag defines an introduction to a document. <header>
   <h1>Welcome to freetipsandtricks.com</h1>
   <p>Some interesting HTML5 Features</p>
   </header>
   The <footer> tag defines the footer of a section or document. Typically contains the name of the author, the date the document was written and/or contact information. <footer>Contact me at linkguytaylor@gmail.com </footer>
4. Figure element: You can use this new <figure> tag to group some elements in HTML5. <figcaption> adds caption to the group of elements. <figure>
   <img src=”newlogo.png” alt=”Logo”>
   <figcaption>
   <p>Our New Company Logo</p>
   </figcaption>
   </figure>
5. Required attribute: Gone are the days of writing JavaScript validation for a required field in a html form. HTML5 introduces a new required attribute which specifies an input field must be filled before submitting. <input type=”text” name=”user_id” required=”required” />
6. Email input : In order to validate an email input, HTML5 has input type of email which has in-built validation for email address You can’t 100% rely on this just yet, for obvious reasons. <input type=”email”  name=”user_email” />
7. Autofocus attribute: If you need to get a input field selected or focused on page load, a new HTML5 attribute named autofocus is very useful option. <input type=”text” name=”user_name”  autofocus=”autofocus” />
8. Pattern attribute: HTML5 removes the need of writing regular expression validation in a separate JavaScript function. You can simply use pattern attribute to apply regex to an input type.
   <input type=”text”  name=”country_code” pattern=”[A-z]{3}”  title=”Three letter country code” />

Click here to read about all HTML5 tags and attributes.

How to reduce spam comments on WordPress blog

For beginners like me, it is often difficult to differentiate between genuine blog comment and spam comment. I  receive 15 to 25 new comments each day most of which are spams and it is already difficult for me to manage them. So I googled over this issue and found some very useful solutions which i am going to share with you.

Akismet (Automatic Kismet) plugin : This plugin comes with every WordPress installation and is a trusted plugin for filtering spams from genuine comments. It checks each and every comments,  pingbacks and trackbacks submitted in your blog. In order to activate it, you need an API key, which you can get for free  by simply signing in Akismet.

Re-CAPTCHAplugin: This is another effective method to reduce spam but it might reduce the number of your regular comments because most people find it annoying to enter CAPTCHA for posting comments in a blog. The idea behind Re-CAPTCHAis to display an image with distorted words and ask users to type the word before submitting the comment. This way, spam bots will be prevented to post their comments in your blog.

Mollom: This is one of the largest website spam filtering system which drastically reduces the burden of blog moderation. You can install the Mollom WordPress plugin for free and need to create an account and activate the plugin. Molllom uses Akismet-type spam filtering technique combined with CAPTCHA to check spam comments.

Close comments on older posts: Older posts that receive a good traffic are often the best targets for spammers, so closing comments on older posts  is a good strategy to fight spam comments . Just go to Settings -> Discussions. Click on the “Automatically close comments on article older than” check-box and enter the number of days. The disadvantage of this method is that your post might miss some useful comments over long time.

Editing .htaccess file: If you find some IP addresses are constantly sending spam comments in your blog posts, you can block those IPs by editing the .htaccess file. First of all, download the .htaccess file from the root directory of your web server, edit the file by adding the list of black-listed IPs as deny from xx.xxx.xxx.xxx and upload it. <Limit GET POST>
order allow,deny
deny from xx.xxx.xxx.xxx
allow from all
</Limit>

 
It is highly recommended to backup your .htaccess file before editing. Thanks shoutmeloud for this tip.

Have a spam free blog :)

Download streaming videos using Firefox extension

I recently found this Firefox extension called DownloadHelper, through which you can download any  video you want. I really like this tool because it can download videos from most of the popular websites like YouTube, MegaVideo, DailyMotion,Myspace, etc. All you need is Mozilla Firefox browser and a Flash Video Player, which you can download for free.

1. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006/ and click on the Add to Firefox button.

2. Click on Install Now button to begin installation.

3. After the installation is completed, it will ask to restart the browser. Click on Restart Firefox button.

4. Now, you will see a DownloadHelper button on the Firefox toolbar. Open the video you want to download and click on the DownloadHelper button, select the video and click Download. You can save the video anywhere in your harddrive.

Open the video with your favourite flv player. Enjoy your video. :)

Create customized Windows 7 theme

Windows 7 combines the look and feel of  its predecessor Vista and performance of Windows XP. One of the features that I really like about Window 7 is the availability of customizable themes. You can personalize your computer theme by using pictures from your recent vacation or photos of your favorite flowers/pet animal/players. You can customize the desktop background, color scheme of your windows, sounds and screensaver from Personalization panel. In this article, I will show you seven easy steps to create a Windows 7 themepack.

1. Right click on the desktop and choose Personalize. A Personalization window will open showing the available themes in your computer.


2. Click on Desktop Background on the bottom of the window to open desktop background change window
3. Click on Browse button and select the pictures you want to include in your themepack.Click on Save changes.
4. To change the color mode of your theme, click on Windows Color. Select the color scheme from the available colors. You can also change the color intensity using the slider. Click Save Changes after you are done.
5. Click on Sounds to change sound in different windows events. You can browse a .wav file and set to appropriate program event.
6. Click on Screen Saver to change your screen saver settings.
7. After you have completed customizing your theme, right click on the theme you have just created under My Themes and select Save theme for sharing. Enter appropriate name and save it as .themepack.

That’s it. You have created your customized theme pack in seven easy steps. In order to install it, just double click on the them pack icon.You can download more Windows 7 themes from Microsoft website here.

Jailbreak iPhone through JailbreakMe

iPhone is a really amazing device to have one, but you might get little disappointed because of the limited number of applications available in Apple Apps store.Good news open source fans. You can still jailbreak iPhone OS, thanks to the iPhone Dev Team.

What is Jailbreaking?

According to Wikipedia “Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run third-party unsigned code on their devices by unlocking the operating system and allowing the user root access.” Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many extensions and themes previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia. It gives you the capability to run applications that are not avilable in Apple Apps Store.

Is jailbreaking legal in US?

It is not against the law, anymore, to jailbreak your iPhone but it will void your iPhone warranty. A new DCMA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) exemption has been approved by the Library of Congress, specifically allowing jailbreaking. If you  ever decide to remove your jailbreak, simply connect your iPhone to your computer,sync and press Restore in iTunes.A jailbroken iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use the App Store and iTunes.
There are many ways to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, but the most easiest one is by visting a site jailbreakme.com. JailbreakMe may or may not work for you depending on your firmware version. Check your version at jailbreakmatrix.com to see whether this method works for you. Make sure to create a backup of your data before doing anything.

1. Go to jailbreakme.com on your iPhone browser and slide to jailbreak.
2. The jailbreak begins downloading on your iPhone. A message Cydia has been added to the home screen will be shown. Click Ok.
3. Go to the menu screen. You will find a Cydia icon. Launch Cydia and select user option. It will take some time to complete the process. You will see the Cydia home page, search the application you want in Cydia store and install it. Enjoy 

If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me using the form below. Thank You.

How to take screenshot in MS Word 2010

Gone are the days when you had to take a screenshot and edit the image in Ms-paint or other similar application and then insert into an Office application. Microsoft Office comes with this new feature which makes taking screenshot much easier and and without using any third-party tools.You can take screenshot right away from your MS Word window and even save the pictures to your hard drive. This feature will be really handy for those people who have to take screenshots quite often in Office applications.  I will show you step-by-step processes  to take screenshots in Word 2010.

1. Open Word and click on Insert tab. You will find a Screenshot button on the Illustrations panel.
2. Click on the Screenshot button which will show all the active screen under Available Windows. If you want to take screenshot of whole window, just select the window and the image will be automatically pasted in your word document.
3. If you need to crop your screen, click on the Screen Clipping. Select the portion of screen you want to capture and the image will be  inserted in your word document. If your selection is not accurate, you can still crop your image using the Crop tool in Word.

You can also do more basic editing using features in Picture Tools. If you want to save the screenshot, just right click on the image and select Save As Picture. You can also use this feature in other Office products like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. If you have any comments or suggestions, please use the comment box below.