PureBlogging

Google Toolbar has a cool feature that allows you make and install custom toolbar buttons. I created one for PureBlogging.com and actually get a few visitors from Google’s Toolbar Button Gallery every day. So not only can your regular visitors add your button to their toolbar, you may get a few new visitors too.

To make your button, all you have to do is create a simple XML file that contains some basic information about your site. After making your new button, you can use this simple form to add it to the button gallery. Google offers a few samples here and their official instructions can be found here.

First, let’s take a look at a basic template:

What you need to do is copy the above XML code into your favorite text editor and replace the values inside the elements. The elements are:

1. title - Enter the name of your site or button between the tags.
2. description - Enter the description of your site or button between the <description></description> and tags.
3. site - Enter the URL of your site between the <site></site> and tags.
4. update - Enter the location of the XML file on your site between the <update></update> and tags.
5. feed - Enter the URL to your rss feed between the <feed refresh-interval="1800" refresh-onclick="true"></feed> and tags.
6. icon - Enter the base 64 version of your favicon between the <icon mode="base64" type="image/x-icon"></icon> and tags.

If you don’t have a favicon, you can easily create one using your logo or any other picture with this tool. After you have created your favicon you will need to convert it to base 64 by using this tool. You then place that code between the <icon></icon> and tags in your toolbar button XML code.

You should now save your XML code with a .xml extension.

And that’s it! You should now have a functioning Google toolbar button. Here is what my XML code looks like:

After you have created your XML file you need to upload it to your server. I recommend saving it to your domain root so the button address would be something like:

http://www.domain.com/your_button_name.xml

Once the button is in place, try it out. You can use something like this for a link (be sure to enter the URL to your XML file):

<a href="http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/add?url=URL%20TO%20XML%20FILE">My Toolbar Button</a>

That would result in a link like this: PureBlogging.com Toolbar Button

Click on your new link and make sure the Google Toolbar is actually adding your button. If all goes well, go ahead and submit your button to Google with this form.

It’s Friday! I’ve got a couple of things that I wanted to mention that I thought you guys would find interesting and/or useful. So here’s a couple quickies about a new Wordpress plugin, a little NFL talk, and a few changes on the way for PureBlogging.com.

Bob’s Simplistic Navigation
Bobs at ReformatThis created a nifty little plugin for all you Wordpress users that would like to add a way for your readers to navigate forward and backward on your single post pages. I have already installed it here and love it. Be sure to check it out… your readers will love you for it.

All NFL Talk
If you’re a fan of the National Football League then you should check out All NFL Talk. It’s created by one of my friends who never has a shortage of opinions so it should be quite entertaining. He has already posted his mock draft and has a lot of other commentary on this weekend’s draft so go by and see what moves he thinks your favorite team will make.

A Few Changes On The Way
One of the reason for having the blog review contest was to get suggestions on how to improve this site. You guys came through with some really good ideas and I have been working on implementing some those suggestions. Tune in next week to see the updates!

It’s Not Too Late
Speaking of that little contest… I will continue to take entries through midnight CDT on Monday so you still have time get your entries in. The winner will announced on Tuesday. Wouldn’t you really love to win that 8GB Apple iPod nano? Click here find out how to enter.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I know some people don’t like these link trains but what do they know? Not only do increase the number of backlinks to your blog and gain a little traffic, you get a chance to discover some great blogs that you may not have found otherwise.

I got tagged twice on this one… Bobs of ReformatThis and Danielle over at Ms Danielle both added me to their list. I am a big fan of both blogs and I recommend you check them out if haven’t already.

If you participated in the Technorati Favorites train then you already know how this works. The difference is, this train will help you grow your MyBlogLog Community.

***Start Copying Here:***

Here are the rules:

1) Write a short introduction about how you found this list and include a link back to that blog.

2) Copy these rules and the entire list below and post it on your blog.

3) Take “My New Community Members” and move them into the “The Original Community Members” list.

4) Find 3 new blogs, join their MyBlogLog Community and add them to the “My New Community Members” section. Remember to also add the “Join the Community” link next to your new blogs.

5) Join as a member to each Community listed here by clicking on “Join the Community.” The goal is that all of the new Members listed will join your community, and you should do the same!

My New Community Members

Darin Carter - Join the Community
Truth & Opinion - Join the Community
BlogTalks - Join the Community

The Original Community Members

Marisa - Join the Community
Andy Beard - Join the Community
Ed Lau - Join the Community
Julie - Join the Community
David Culpepper - Join the Community
2Perfect - Join the Community
Dietriffic - Join the Community
Shawn Knight - Join the Community
Reformat This - Join the Community
Kelly Cho - Join the Community
Ms. Danielle - Join the Community
The Man of Silver - Join the Community
Nate Whitehill - Join the Community
Leo Chiang - Join the Community
Garry Conn - Join the Community
Samanathon - Join the Community
Mr. Gary Lee - Join the Community
Feats of a Chilean Dot Com Entrepreneur - Join the Community
Jon Lee - Join the Community
Everyday Weekender - Join the Community
Bryan’s Rants - Join the Community

***End Copying Here***

Darin.cc is a relatively new blog whose main focus is search engine marketing. Despite being new, there are already a lot of very informative posts and it looks like Darin is well on his way to carving out a nice little spot in the blogosphere.

I find the site to be very informative but I am particularly enjoying the series on how to successfully manage a ppc campaign. I have never been able to run a profitable ppc campaign an I’m looking for all the help I can get in that area. Part 1 and Part 2 have already been posted and I anxiously await Part 3. There are lots of other great posts too like: The State of Search Engine Marketing, Deep Linking Is Your Key To SEO Success, and How to Escape Google’s Supplemental Index.

The layout is nice, clean and easy to navigate. The only thing that I see that might need a little tweaking is the Top Commentators list in the right sidebar. The spacing seems to be a little off and it doesn’t match the other menu items.

Overall, Darin.cc is a site that is definitely worth a read and has earned a spot in my feed reader.

By the way, Darin is offering 2 links to your blog and a FREE Platinum IAWMD Membership and all you have to do is review his blog!

One of things that I struggle with is how often I should publish on this blog. At any one time, I may have several posts that I am working on and could publish multiple times a day if I wanted but I prefer to publish about 5 or 6 times a week.

Yesterday I ran across a post at 901am by Sharon Sarmiento that addresses this issue:

Really, take a moment to think about it–do you ever get the feeling in your blogging life that you’re running hard simply to stay in place?

One thing that springs to my mind is the standard for having lots of posts on a blog. The more content the better, it seems.

You may have started out with the personal expectation of posting 3 times a week, then increased the expectation to 5 times a week, then all the sudden it’s the norm for folks to publish multiple times a day every day of the week, and you’re wondering, “Should I be posting more?”.

I have to admit, I see blogs that have 4 or 5 posts a day and I wonder if I should be doing the same. It has become a race to see who can put up the most content in the shortest amount of time. For a blog with multiple authors, having several posts a day is no problem but what about those of us who own single author blogs? Can we expect to match their quantity and still maintain the quality of our posts?

In the article mentioned above, Sharon mentions surveys that were taken by Darren Rowse and Guy Kawasaki that seem to indicate that too many posts will cause readers to unsubscribe from your blog and it’s better to post when you feel like it rather than try to follow some set schedule.

I can certainly see how too many posts could make readers unsubscribe from your feed. With the number of feeds that I subscribe to, it is very difficult to keep up and I find myself doing more skimming than reading these days.

So, what do you think… how often should a blogger publish?

It’s that time again…

I am currently running a little contest where the winner gets a free 8GB Apple iPod nano. And I try to give those that have entered a little recognition by giving them a link here in the weekly update.

Here are the entries from the past week:

• Search Engine Marketing: Pure Blogging Site Review
• Best Air Miles Deals: Site Review - Pure Blogging
• Illuminating Antics: Review - PureBlogging
• Jess: PureBlogging.com
• BlissLogs: Review - PureBlogging

And that’s it… unless I missed someone. If you have submitted a review, please make sure I have included you in one of the update posts.

With only 15 reviews submitted so far, your odds of winning are still really, really good. Get those reviews in… only one week left and someone is going to win an iPod!

Click here to find out how you can enter to win an 8GB Apple iPod nano.