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Have fun playing with LabPIxies, also known as gadgets for your website. LabPixies gives away free gadgets for everything from news, games, fun, or tools.
One of the most popular gadgets you can get from LabPixies is this calorie counter.
| Gadget by LabPixies.com |
I personally love the TechBlogs gadget. You can get a similar gadget for general news.
| Gadget by LabPixies.com |
LabPixies has dozens of other gadgets. Check them out. There may be the perfect item for your blog waiting there for you.
Not everyone thinks adding gadgets to your blog is a good idea. My Blog Coach by Shonnie Lavender says she thinks it's Time to put your blog on a diet. She argues that gadgets can be distracting, may not work 100% of the time, and lure readers away to the gadget maker's site. Her tips for gadgets include,
Ask yourself these questions to determine which widgets/add-ons to keep, which to toss, and which to limit in some manner. If you answer “yes,” this widget is good for your diet. Any “no” answers mean it’s time to wean yourself from the widget or not consume it in the first place.
* Does this add value for my readers?
* Does this add value for me?
* Is this the most simple/pretty/clean way to add the functionality I seek?
* Can the look of the add on be made to complement my blog’s theme?
* Do I get enough control of the widget to create a professional blog presence?
* Is this add-on being used by my readers now?
These are the gadgets I use on my Web Teacher blog. I have a job listing gadget that I think is important because people who are interested in teaching web design should know the kinds of skills hiring managers in the real world are looking for. I have an Amazon book recommendation gadget because reviewing and recommending books for teaching web design is a big part of the mission of the blog. And I have a Flickr gadget, just to show off. I think they add something worthwhile.
What's your opinion on gadgets for your blog?
The Cyclical Nature of Blog Stats at Lorelle on Wordpress contains some good advice for those of you who obsess over your blog stats. Lorelle urges you to remain calm about daily stats and look at the big picture.
Many stats watchers freak out when they concentrate on the day-to-day stats. Like watching the stock market too closely, decisions are made without looking at the big picture. I’ve heard panic from many bloggers who scream their stats have suddenly plunged. When you change the view from day-to-day to week-to-week, or even month-to-month, the picture changes. It’s now about the big picture of trends, not the daily fluctuation, some of them normal but noticed for the first time.
The Blogger bloggers out there can find help at Blogger Buster where Amanda dispenses helpful ideas, including this recent tool for those who use Feedburner: Author and Permalink FeedFlare (proof of original source for SEO).
I have created a FeedFlare unit which can be added to your Feedburner feed. This generates a link to the permanent page for each feed item, using the post author's name and the title of your blog as the link text.
Amanda explains why this is a good idea–not just for Blogger blogs, I must add.
Scraper sites are blogs which are made for Adsense. Rather than create original content, such splogs prefer to source content from other high ranking sites and present it as their own.
Where duplicate content is found in search results, the one which appears to be from the original source will rank most highly, while any sites which appear to be duplicating this content will feature much lower down the page (if their result even appears at all!).
By using this FeedFlare, you can add a link to the original source (the 'permalink') for each of your blog posts. This helps Google understand that your article is the original content.
If you are interested in learning
