The Official ActiveRain Guide

Taking RSS Feed and Syndication to the next level, I think this one is pretty self explanatory.
Here's another ActiveBrad tool and concept to enhance the mktg. senses and stir the creative juices.

Here's an RSS sample of some "Top Point Scorers" on AR, "fuzed" from 20 of our Industry Categories.

This really represents RSS well, Really Simple Syndication, and NOT Really Stupid Stuff. :-))

A couple months ago, I decided to create a post on my Searching Solutions Blog that contained a giant list of blogging tips on everything from setting up an effective blog, to advanced SEO tactics.  It has become a regular feature of my site, and something I update every week with new tips.  There are currently over 100.

I'll be posting portions of the list on AR for reference.  If you want to see more, make sure to check out the origianl list here: Ultimate Guide to Blogging

 

** If you plan to link to or bookmark this guide at some point, please do me a favor and link to the original at: www.searchingsolutions.com/blog   Thanks for your help!  **

 

Here are some of the categories I cover in the guide:

 

Contents:

• Tips For Getting Started
• Basic Blog Formatting & Structure
• Blog Design & Features
• Blog Content Tips
• Blog Participation
• Blog & Article Promotion Tips
• SEO For Blogs
• Social Media

Here is part 1 in this series on Blogging Tips:

Tips For Getting Started With Blogging:

• Track Your Analytics - I'm a huge fan of Google Analytics, but sitemeter can work for the more basic user.  Tracking all this data can be huge for SEO efforts, and help to give you benchmarks on traffic, pageviews, and search traffic.
• Sign Up For Webmaster Tools - Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo Site Explorer, and MSN Webmaster Center.  All of these can give you great insight into crawl data, errors, strong pages, keyword data, and alot more.  It's like looking through a window into the secret search engine world... albeit a bit cloudy.
• Register On Blog Directories - This is the classic first step when setting up a new blog or website.  Get on some relevant directories.  Since you have a blog, blogging directories would be appropriate here.
• Get on Dmoz, Yahoo, and BOTW - Yes, there is a small financial investment here, but it's worth it.  These will all help you build trust with the search engines.  When you submit to Dmoz, only do it once, and don't write about your site like you're writing an advertisement.
• Claim Your Blog on Technorati - Go to Technorati.com and register.  Simple.
• Use An RSS Reader - As a blogger, you're an RSS publisher.  Because of that you'll want to familiarize yourself with an RSS reader and get used to the technology.  Beyond that, it's a great way to process alot of information quickly and will help you progress as a blogger.
• Naked?  Put On Your Avatar - Register for the following:  Gravatar.com, Mybloglog.com, Blogcatalog.com, Yahoo Avatar, Blogger.com, Wordpress.com.
• Don't Blog For Someone Else - Let me explain... there is nothing wrong with participating on industry blog sites like Activerain.com.  But don't use them as your primary outlet.  It may be a great way to promote your articles, and network with other people, but you need a voice of your own on... a web property that you own.  When you write for a blog network site, you are giving away the rights to that content... read the fine print!
• Have a Launch Party - Email everyone you know, send out cards, tell everyone you meet... the launch should be BIG.  Make sure you build up a decent amount of articles before you open the doors.  Your first big push (if done properly) should be able to secure many subscribers and create a buzz in your industry for at least the first couple of months.
• Create an About Page or Mission Statement - Every blog needs a purpose.  There is nothing worse than going to a blog and not being able to figure out why it exists.  Make your purpose clear, and introduce yourself properly so readers understand the direction you want to take them in.
• Build Core Relationships - Find 10 experts in your industry, and do what you can do to get to know them.  Comment on their blogs, participate on social media, interview them, write about them, call them, and work on building meaningful relationships.  These are the people that will help to grow your blog.
• Write Your Brains Out - When you start, it is extremely important to build a base of content.  Try for 5 new posts per week for the first 3 months.  That will give you roughly 60 articles to work with and a good base to build from.  After the first 3 months, write at a pace that is comfortable for you.
• Build Basic Directory Links - This can be a daunting task, but it's completely necessary in order to build some basic links and trust with the search engines.  Here are some links to some lists of directories and tips:  From: Blogger Buster, From: Search Engine Journal, From Searching Solutions: Article #1, Article #2
• Setup Google Alerts - This is a very simple way of finding out who is saying what about you or the blog.  Setup alerts for your blog name, company name, blog url, and anything else you want to be notified of.  Also, read this post on how to find new customers through Google Alerts.
• Read The Best "How to Blog" blogs - In my opinion, these blogs have the best information about learning how to blog effectively... in no particular order: Problogger.net, Real Estate Tomato, CopyBlogger.com, ihelpyoublog.com,

 

 

** If you plan to link to or bookmark this guide at some point, please do me a favor and link to the original at: www.searchingsolutions.com/blog Thanks for your help! **

New and "Approved" means "Improved"

Having a network with 123,000 members poses this question, can our network handle this kind of volume and continued growth at this rate?  Yes it can!  However, there are some things that have had to be changed in order to build a better, more secured and stable platform.  Here's your update from the "ActiveRain Files" regarding Widgets and the New HTML approved list.

There are more widgets out there than we have members and new scripts and widgets are being created by the hundreds everyday.  Unfortunately, some of those widgets, scripts, and HTML codes can jeopardize and compromise our growing network.  After taking a serious and detailed look at these, we have come up with the Approved ActiveRain Widget and approved HTML List.

ActiveRain historically has not supported or endorsed third party sites and software applications that are used to create and write posts, grab the code, text, or HTML,  then copy and paste it to ActiveRain.  Fortunately, many of these have worked in the past and will continue to do so, but some outside sources of  HTML may no longer be compatible with our system.  We recommend creating new posts in the ActiveRain formats provided.  Security is our #1 priority to avoid malicious or viral causing scripts or code.

What Is A Widget?

 

Here are the approved Widgets for ActiveRain 

• • codeamber.org 
  • apture.com 
  • blogburst.com 
  • edatanews.com
  • feedburner.com
  • feedjit.com
  • getclicky.com
  • google.com
  • mybloglog.com
  • designyourownweb.com
  • quickribbon.com
  • realbird.com
  • retaggr.com
  • sitemeter.com
  • topproducer.com
  • twitter.com
  • vflyer.com
  • weatherlet.com
  • amung.us
  • widgetbox.com
  • singlepropertysites.com
  • geovisite.com
    
  • babelfish.yahoo.com
    
  • entrecard.com
    
  • synd.trulia.com
  • blogrush.com is shutting down. Click Link.
  • Statcounter.com was removed
    

This list only applies to "script" widgets.  Not all widgets have script codes in them.  If you do not see a widget that you are using here, and it is currently working on your Blog, then it is not a script widget that we have to worry about, and it is automatically an approved widget.  If your widget is not working, then chances could be that it has code or script in it that will not be allowed on the network.  It may also be that the widget was not installed properly, dare I say...operator error.  LOL~  Here's How To Add Widgets.

(Got Your Own Widget? Make suggestions here, but I can't guaranty they will get approved)

Here are the New "approved" HTML Tags for ActiveRain

Don't pass out on me now, this is important stuff.  I'll provide a link to each <tags> definition.  Beginners: What Is HTML?

a, abbr, acronym, address, b, big, blockquote, br, center, cite, code, dd, del, dfn, div, dt, em, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, iframe, img, ins, kbd, li, object, ol, p, param, pre, samp, small, span, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, thead, tr, tt, ul, var.

For Font Sizes: Use the <h1-h6> tags, or in Wysiwyg mode, highlight your text then use the CTRL+1 thru CTRL+6 keys.

For Font colors: Use this html code now  <span style="color: #29d150;"> instead of this <font color="green"> Here's a link to some different color codes.   Still Lost or Confused?  Click Here

Look for enhancements and upgrades to the wysiwyg editor in the near future.

A Few New Fixed and Added Features

We updated the network last night and ran our maintenance & upgrades.  It will just keep getting better!!

• Every 10 seconds, your draft posts are now being saved automatically.  No more lost posts from frozen browsers, accidentally clicking the back button, or just mistakenly clicking on that red x up in the right hand corner.

• All hyperlinks in your posts should now open in a new window by default unless you change that option manually. Posts written with links in the last week or so will have to be manually corrected.
  

• Twitter Feeds from ActiveRain Posts are now working again.

• Links placed in comments will still work but have "no-follow" tags.  This allows members to place links that are related to the authors topic, but spamming will be useless.
  

Though you may have experienced some minor technical issues in the past, or will from time to time in the future, just know that we are restructuring and rebuilding a stronger, faster, secure network for our members.  Your support and patience is always appreciated, and your help and participation has been stellar.

Thanks for Building and Growing with us. Happy Holidays. :-)

Images By: ImageChef.com

How do I get rid of the Antivirus Pro 2009 Virus? 

Those are the exact words I Googled when I found out we had been infected by the virus on our home network last Friday night.  Three days later, I'm here to tell you, BEWARE, WARNING, DANGER, CAUTION!

If you are reading this post, and you have been infected with the Antivirus Pro 2009 Malware Virus, STOP HERE!. This is the ONLY way I have found that will effectively kill and remove this "monster virus" from your PC computer.  I've tried every possible site, scanner, bug-fix, free application, and removal instruction, ALL to no avail.

After two days of (real-time) on-line battles with one of the nastiest, most malicious virus, Rogue AntiSpywares out there, today, I finally found the cure, the complete removal and fix.

This virus has many names, and it will usually appear as a pop-up warning in your system tray that tells you "Spyware has been detected on your computer", then it coaxes you to run their program to remove it.  DON'T DO IT!  Do NOT click on that pop-up bubble or the warning that appears.   Not even Norton was able to detect this one sneaking onto our home network.  Not knowing, my wife made the mistake of clicking on it.

Here is the known Danger level on a scale from 1 to 10. 

It is so bad, that as fast as people are posting instructions and creating solutions to fix it, AVP2009 goes  into your computer, and disables all the tools and applications that are created to kill it.  This is no joke!  Katerina Gasset had the same virus, but with a different name, and now even her instructions won't work.  This is one of the worse virus's I have ever had to tackle.

I spent hours researching this so you won't have to.

Click here to find out more about the Antivirus Pro 2009

Look what others have to say about it

Hundreds of computer users looking for solutions

Yahoo Answers solutions won't even work

How Do You Get Infected with It?

There are many ways your computer could get infected with Antivirus Pro 2009. It can come bundled and hidden with shareware or other down-loadable software.  Maybe watching a video, and a pop-up requires you to download a codec file that has it attached etc.  The worst part is that it looks legit.

What can the Antivirus Pro 2009 Virus do if not removed?

According to WidowsVistaPlace.com - "failure to remove Antivirus Pro 2009 results in instant bothering. Effects after Antivirus Pro 2009 presence are not just annoying, they also include upload of various viruses and programs pretending to be useful like either fake registry cleaners or system optimizer and privacy guards. These fake utilities share the same final aim with Antivirus Pro 2009, i.e. they want users to pay for registration. The last but not least undesirable consequences of Antivirus Pro 2009 activities are system disordering and data erasing."

THIS IS ONE SCREEN TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS!  THIS PROGRAM WILL COMPROMISE YOUR SECURITY.  IT CAN SEE YOUR PASSWORDS, LOGINS, ACCOUNT NUMBERS, ANYTHING YOU TYPE OR ANYWHERE YOU GO!

 

 

Here's The Solution I Found after Numerous Calls, Reading, and Research.

I'm not going to post the exact instructions, as it will only aid the creators in developing yet another way to prevent you from fixing your computer.  Instead, Here is the solution, it's the only company and application I found that could do the job!  They are the real deal.  Malwarebytes.com.  I'd also add AVG antivirus before or after.

They had to remotely access my system, run it in safe mode, run various scans, apps and cleaners, rename and remove files, reboot multiple times etc.  Even as an experienced (protected) PC user, I still couldn't have done it without their help.  This could happen to anybody, don't think it can't happen to you. 

This is a sure fire, guaranteed way to defeat this virus.  It's a nightmare, I hope this post will help you if you're a victim, or heighten your awareness if you're a target.  What's scary is, as fast as people are posting instructions and apps, this virus is finding ways to disable them, and doing it on your computer.  It's that bad.  Contact me if you need more details, I won't post them here because I know how this virus, and its owners work now.  It's really very disturbing.  Watch out for the Anti-Malware apps that say they can remove it as well, they are in fact Rogue Malware applications themselves. If in doubt, just call me, I will walk you thru this process right over the phone.  :-)