Best Help Available for Blogger Blogs

Please check out this incredible resource for bloggers using Blogger blogs (i.e., yourblog.blogspot.com): Tips for New Bloggers.

I can't believe how many tips, instructions, guides, and resources this blog consolidates into one location. Personally, I used the instructions to install the Digg widget within each post on The Patrol Blog.

If you don't know how to do something on your Blogger blog, chances are you'll find what you're looking for on this awesome blog.

Don't take freedom -- or blogging -- for granted!

If you haven't caught the news about what's going on in Myanmar, you've got to take a minute to check out these articles:

• Internet cut in Myanmar, blogger presses on (cnn.com)
• Myanmar's blogs of bloodshed (atimes.com)
• Myanmar’s Internet link broken (Roundup Blog)
• Nine killed in Myanmar protest crackdown (Reuters.com)
• Myanmar: turbulent days of mass protest (int.iol.co.za
• Myanmar blogs (globalvoicesonline.org)

In particular, CNN highlights the incredible power of blogs in its news story:

The Internet connection in Myanmar was cut Friday, limiting the free flow of information the nation's citizens were sharing with the world depicting the violent crackdown on monks and other peaceful demonstrators.

Myanmar-based blogs went dark suddenly. But London-based blogger Ko Htike -- who has been one of the most prominent bloggers posting information about the violence -- has vowed to keep up the fight, saying where "there is a will, there is a way."

Newschallengeblog.org also discusses The Importance of Citizen Journalists in an article published earlier today.

The Patrol Blog doesn't normally comment on world events, but the importance of people risking their lives to get images and news out to the world should not be ignored -- and needs to be shared whenever and however possible. From Ko Htike's blog:

Latest news burma time 16:17 - i got news that 3 groups of protester are marching on the Ahnawrahta Streetv(which is near Sule pogada) toward Sule. it is around 4000 people. ...in this group we found some foreigners, as well. ..... said eyewitness. ...Burma time 14:28 - Thousands of protester are on the street of YGN, now.

BlogPatrol admires the courage of Ko Htike and his country men and women...

Outstanding Portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Tom Pick is a b2b marketer who's focused on research, writing, leadership and online marketing since 1996. He runs an outstanding portal dedicated to web marketing: WebMarketCentral.com.
I've been looking for new ad broker companies to help BlogPatrol serve geo-specific banner ads since nearly two-thirds of our site traffic is non-US, non-Canada. I found Mr. Pick's portal when I did a Google search for "ad broker international banner ad" and his Ad Networks page appeared as the top natural search result.

The Ad Networks page is a cool and useful resource. I like the page so much because it is so well organized. A paragraph at the top defines the purpose of the page:

Online Advertising Brokers, Networks and Software

The "middlemen" of Web advertising, these firms provide publishers (Web site operators) with content-relevant, revenue-generating advertising for their Web sites, and advertisers and their agencies with advertising opportunities on popular and relevant Web sites.

The list of ad networks is not only alphabetized but also organized in a consistent and easy-to-use manner: Hyperlinked name, hyperlinked contact info, phone number, and summary. A few examples:

BURST! Media
Contact Information
(781) 272-5544
Serves advertisers and publishers with ad serving on specialty content Web sites.

DoubleClick
Contact Information
(212) 271-CLICK (212-271-2542)
One of the industry's oldest and largest online advertising specialists, DoubleClick provides rich media advertising solutions for agencies, marketers and Web publishers. The company also provides solutions for search marketing, affiliate marketing, email and analytics.

ValueClick Media
Contact Information
(818) 575-4500
ValueClick provides advertisers and publishers with brand marketing through its advertising network, direct marketing through behaviorally-targeted ads and email list rental, and search marketing through its Search123 PPC offering.

He also has a companion WebMarketCentral blog that is really worth checking out. I'm currently diving into his 7-part series on Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites:

• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 1: Alexa Rankings
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 2: The Worst
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 3: Special-Purpose Sites
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 4: B2B Traffic Building
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 5: Tier 3 Sites...
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 6: Tier 2 Sites...
• Web 2.0 Social Tagging Sites, Part 7: The Best Sites

Websites like Tom Pick's portal and blog make the web a fun place to work because sites like these help you find the info you're looking for -- fast.

Weblog Tools Collection

Mark Ghosh has an impressive blog for WordPress users at the Weblog Tools Collection. According to his site description, "WeblogToolsCollection.com posts daily news, articles, reviews, plugins, themes, scripts and tools about blogging in general and Wordpress in particular."

If you're using WordPress, you've got to check out his site. For example, he's currently running a WordPress Plugin Competition that has 15 announced entrants. The site has over 140,000 unique visitors a month and more than 6,000 RSS subscribers. He must be doing something right!

Techmeme.com

Earlier this week, my friend Rasul Sha'ir of Threshold Blogazine and Vosica, told me about Techmeme, a useful aggregator of technology news. In the About Us section of Techmeme, Gabe Rivera writes:

At this moment, the next big story in technology may reside on a blog you've never heard of or a news site you don't have time to scan.

So I built a software agent to surface these links in real time and the result is Techmeme, the site you're visiting now.

Coverage is driven by a mix of industry insiders, passionate independents, and established journalists. So Techmeme gets the story no matter where it appears, and often days before it hits major sites.

According to Dictionary.com, a meme is a "a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation); "memes are the cultural counterpart of genes".

For example, on July 13, Techmeme aggregated a number of blogs discussing Microsoft's rumored plans to buy Facebook for an incredible tune of about $6 billion USD or more.

Kudos to Dosh Dosh

It's been a long time since I've been able to post anything other than info and instructions pertaining directly to BlogPatrol. However, I just stumbled upon a site about monetizing blogs that really caught my eye: Dosh Dosh.

I don't know the author, but I recommend his blog for anyone interested in learning how to earn income from blogging. You'll also learn how not to earn income from your blogs since one of his objectives is "exposing fraudulent scams".

In particular, I recommend the following posts:

• An Introduction to Niche Blogging
  
• How to effectively create content for your niche blogs: An Introduction and Guide
  
• Networking within your Blog Niche: 7 Essential Tips for Bloggers

Kudos to Dosh Dosh. The writing is relevant and true to its niche!