webrampage

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.

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.

Its been a long time since I made a post related to SEO. So, I’ll do that today. I’ll talk about all the basic SEO stuff you need to know about domains. Okay lets get started

Register domains for long periods

Google (and other search engines) penalizes sites with domains that are going to expire soon. And you should always buy domains for long periods (like 2-3 years) because search engines look at the domain’s stability and spam sites often buy their domains for short periods.

It won’t cost you a fortune to buy the domain for a few extra years, but it will be worth it.

Does TLD matter?

Nope. It doesn’t matter to Google which TLD you’re using. That’s good, huh? I’ve seen a lot of people say that Google prefers .coms but that’s not the case. And one more thing, Matt Cutts was saying that Google might penalize .infos because they’re mostly used by spam sites.

You get the old PR if you buy the domain

Wrong! Google resets the PR and doesn’t count the old backlinks when you buy the domain (whether it was expired or if you bought it directly from the owner). Well it should be a bit obvious. Why would someone wanna give you credit for something you didn’t do?

BTW, there are ways to keep the old PR. You need to buy the domain directly from the owner. Make sure that it isn’t about to expire. Don’t change the content and design right away. You’ll have to do it slowly or else Google will just reset the PR because its not relevant to the site anymore. And make sure that you don’t change the registrant details right away. Change it one by one (ex: email address, name, phone, etc).

Moving site to a new domain

Don’t worry you can “safely” move your site to a new domain by using a 301 redirect. You’ll have to do it by putting this small code in your .htaccess file.

Redirect 301 / http://www.NEW-SITE.com/

Keyword in the domain

Does Google like domains with keywords in them? Yes it does. So, it would come in handy if you could have an important keyword in the domain. But, don’t make it long and ugly. Take a look at this if you need help choosing a great domain.

Check the domain’s past

Some domains might have a horrible past. You wanna check it before you buy the domain. The domain could’ve been banned by search engines (maybe for spam or adult content). Just go to the Wayback Machine and do a quick search.

Also see if it had some heavy link exchanging (aka link farm). Link farms get banned by search engines. So, you better watch out.

Okay that’s it. This should get you started. Just remember not to go crazy for a high PR or backlinks. Be honest and play safe. Oh and take a look at WebsiteGrader (it scores your SEO).