I noticed that most sites have a messy page title. They have like a shit load of stuff in the page title. Now that’s not really good. You need something nice and clean. Let me try to explain why. Oh and this post is targeted towards dynamic sites like forums or blogs.

SERPs! You need to get clicked on the SERPs. People are a bit lazy. They don’t read most of the time. They “scan”. And the last thing you want is a huge page title. All you need is a good title for your post (or page).

Which one looks better to you?

• What is “Twitter Follow” Spam? - WebRampage | Domains, Hosting, News, SEO, Tips, Tricks, etc
• What is “Twitter Follow” Spam?

I even saw people include their tagline. Like I don’t think your site’s name, keywords and/or tagline is important. And I noticed TechCrunch, Daily Blog Tips, ProBlogger, etc with these type of “clean” page titles.

So, go ahead and clean yours up. Oh and you can put your tagline or a few good keywords in the title of your home page. Well anyways feel free to share how you like to keep your page titles and if you’re thinking about switching to these “cleaner” titles.

Update (Sept 5, 08): This isn’t really exact science. This post was made to light that bulb in your head. You need to play around and find the one that works for you. And if you plan on taking out your site’s name then don’t worry about the branding part like Kara (a reader) was. A good favicon should do the job.

Keep it short, simple and descriptive. That should work like a charm!

I’ve seen a lot of bloggers say that you shouldn’t micro-blog, it’s a waste of time, bla, blah. But, some did say that you can micro-blog, but it shouldn’t be your priority. Now I agree with these folks.

You could micro-blog, but make sure its down somewhere on your list of priorities. Don’t spend too much time on it. Well here are my 5 simple reasons:

1. Get my name out

I know that my blog isn’t popular (yet). I need to promote my blog and get more people to read it. They need to know about it. I need to spread the word. Once in a while, I share one of my posts there and a lot of people check it out. I got a bunch of new readers from Plurk too. Sometimes they even share my post with people, so that’s great.

And of course, self-promotion. I need to get my name out too. Actually wait. I don’t really do it for self-promotion. Well maybe, a bit.

2. Breaking news

People do a bit of micro-blogging when something is going on. There was an earthquake and the news got on Twitter within seconds. Redux.com got 8 million in funding. People are like mini-journalists on there.

So, I can stayed updated and hopefully, get the word before other sites do. I try to be the first one to blog about something important. I like to beat those big guys at blogs like TechCrunch. It’s like a little race, you know? Never mind.

3. Traffic!

Oh yes, don’t forget traffic. I got my link on my pimpin` profile. People go check out it and they click on the link and tada! I signed up for Twitter a few weeks ago and I didn’t really use it. Yesterday I started using it properly and I got about a hundred unique visitors. Not bad, huh? Think about what you could do in the long run.

4. Connect with people

Yeah I don’t just micro-blog for traffic and promotion. I also do it because its a great way to meet different people. Like connect with other bloggers and don’t forget, you can meet a few important figures (aka web celebs) on there too. Its a great way to share tips, ideas, etc.

Oh and with you guys too. I mean my readers. I think bloggers should get to know their readers and so, a lot of them do it on micro-blogs. I haven’t done it yet, but I will. I’ll put up links to my Twitter and Plurk on the sidebar.

5. Because I actually want to do it

Okay people seem to forget this. I wanna micro-blog because I like the idea. I have things to talk about which are too short and sometimes, irrelevant for my blog, so I do it there. That way I’m keeping up the quality of content on my blog rather than quantity.

Now I don’t mean micro-blogging about things like “okay I’m going to take a shit now. i’ll be back in 10″. No. I mean geek stuff. For example, sharing what another blogger posted about, a breaking news, sharing links to cool sites, etc.

Over to you

Are you micro-blogging right now? Are you thinking of doing it? Or will you pass? Tell us what you think about it. And check out my Twitter vs Plurk post if you’re not sure which one to use.

Oh and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Plurk.

Yeah I’m talking about Google AdSense. Well I call it AdCents. You know why, right? You only a few cents (and dollars if you’re lucky) per day. Today I’ll just tell you a few things about it and hopefully you’ll stop using AdSense.

Now think about it. Is it worth it? Is it worth putting those (ugly) ads up for a few dollars. Do you care about your site more or the revenue from it? Plus do people even click on ads anymore? I don’t think so. CPM? That pays like nothing.

You have to stick the banner in your visitor’s face and just hope they click on it. Or you trick them into thinking its a link and make them click it. Either way, its annoying. You’re just shoving visitors out.

You can be a lot less annoying, but then you don’t get the clicks. I know there is a balance between them. I tried it and the most I ever made in a day was $3. 3 dollars? WTF? And that was just because I got lucky that day. Usually it was around $1.

Oh and remember the $100 goal? You need to make $100 before you can get your first check. Hmm lets do the math. Lets say you make $1 per day. So, it takes you 100 days to reach the $100 point. Holy shit! That’s like 24 weeks. I wait 24 weeks and I just make $100? And that’s even if I was lucky.

A lot of people just quit. They don’t have the patience to wait for that $100. A good example would be me. I have like around $50 in my account. I’m done with AdSense. I don’t care about that $50. There’s tons of people like me. But, what happens to the money left in the accounts? Google takes it!

And trust me, you’re not gonna make a few grand per day once your site goes big. Maybe you could. But, you would do a lot better with private sponsors. Do you see any popular sites using AdSense? I never saw one.

Oh and you might have seen those screenshots of people’s AdSense accounts showing that they made a few hundred dollars that day. Let me tell you something. Those are fake! People do it to get traffic and to get their name out.

Update: A few haters were saying that I’m just posting this because I don’t make money off AdSense. Well let me tell you something before you go into “bitch-mode”. Its not just me. A lot of popular bloggers are saying the same thing. The guy over at CenterNetworks was complaining about what they make from AdSense compared to their private sponsored ads.

I asked people on Plurk and if they use AdSense and if they like it. About 95% of them said they don’t like it. There are tons of people out there who are still worshiping AdSense. I call them “AdCents bitches”. When you talk shit about AdSense, they’ll eat up you up man. They would kill you. I guess its their only source of money and they consider it the “big bucks”. They’re just being loyal. These are the people over at DP.

And one more thing, I didn’t stop using AdSense on my blog because I wasn’t getting paid enough. I stopped because I thought it was degrading my blog a bit (and its ugly!). Like do you see any popular blogs using AdSense? Well there is a handful of greedy bloggers who put in both AdSense and private sponsor ads. But, that’s a different case. (/Update)

So, don’t hope to get rich by using AdSense. I say quit AdSense and start getting private sponsors. That way you would be making a lot more and the ads are probably going to be a lot less annoying.

I try to keep the number of plugins I use on Firefox down. Right now I’m using about 6 or 7. Today I’ll be making a list of the 5 really important ones. These are really handy if you’re a web developer or a blogger.

Okay here’s the list in no particular order:

1. ColorZilla

This is probably the most valuable plugin to me. Its a color picker. So, I can just use it to figure out what the HEX code of a colour on a site is. I use it when I’m making sites and I need to take different colours from different places. Get this if you’re a web developer!

2. FireShot

This one’s for the bloggers. I use this plugin to make all my amazing screenshots. It lets you edit the screenshots by adding text, adding shapes, pointing, blurring out, cropping, etc. It’s really easy to use, trust me. It (kinda) does everything Photoshop would let you do.

3. Web Developer

The name says it all. Its an excellent plugin for web developers. It lets you do a lot of things. Like editing the source, disabling CSS, editing cookies, disabling cache, hiding images, etc, etc. There’s just tons you can do with this.

4. Greasemonkey

Probably the most popular Firefox plugin out there. I don’t think I have to tell you a lot about this because you may have already heard about it. Well its a nice plugin. Lets you play with JavaScript on sites. And there are tons of scripts for Greasemonkey over at Userscripts.org. So check them out.

5. MeasureIt

Yes its a ruler. It lets you measure the height and width of whatever you want on a site. Really handy for a web developer. I don’t have to say more about this. You get it. You know what it does.

Yeah that’s it. Go install them and let me know if you like them. I’m sure you will. And don’t forget to share any of your favourite Firefox plugins with us.

Hmm so I thought why not post a little guide about what people should submit to Digg. This should give you an idea of what kind of topics work best on Digg. And you might wanna check out my beginner’s guide to Digg.

Well you need to keep in mind that not everyone on Digg is going to like your submission. That’s how you get buried. Duh! Okay lets move on. No more noobish stuff.

1. Something hilarious

Everyone likes to laugh. If you can make them laugh, you’ve got their digg. Most of us have a short attention span (or we’re just busy). So, a funny picture would be perfect. Takes a few seconds to look at and figure out what’s going on (unless you’re a blonde, of course).

And what about videos? I’m not too sure about that. You would need to have something unique then. Like the website is down, for example. Here’s another great tip. Try making fun of someone (or a group). Everyone loves a racist joke (but most people have a hard time admitting it). Just don’t go all Nazi.

2. Breaking news (or just news)

Digg is the best social bookmarking site for news. Got something great to share? Do it ASAP. A submission with a headline like “McCain becomes President. WTF?! How?” would be perfect.

Now only submit news that will help people. Or at least the ones we’re interested in and try to stick to subjects like the web, tech, gaming and Digg itself. Oh and try to submit “bad” news because it travels faster and further.

3. Controversial

Make people argue. You need to make them shout. Make them go angry. Make them say “you’re wrong! I’m right! Digg is better than Reddit!”. Getting any ideas? Things like “McDonalds vs Burger King” will work well. Like comparing things and being neutral (no buries that way).

But, keep in mind that this doesn’t always work. So good luck! And let me know how this went.

4. Guides, tips, helpful things, etc

The subheading says it all. Help them and they’ll help you. Teach them something interesting. For example a guide on how to install Linux. Well maybe that won’t be extremely helpful, but you get the idea. A guide on how to make Vista use less RAM would be great. Just keep it unique and new.

Update: Another reason you shouldn’t blog when you’re really, really tired. Actually you can only submit those 4 topics to digg. But, everything wasn’t a complete BS. #1 & #2 works great. Try those two.

Yep that’s it. I hope this was helpful to you. A mixture of the right topic, loyal digg buddies and luck will take you to the front page. And let me know which one works the best for you.