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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Submit blogs and sites to multiple Web directories and bookmarking sites for free

Submitting your blog/ site to web directories and social bookmarking sites is generally a good way of attracting interested people to your blog. You also get backlinks to your blog, that would play a role in increasing your pagerank. However, signing up at each and every directory and bookmarking site before you can submit your blog can be a boring and tedious process. I recently found this site that does away with the task of signing up with each directory before submission – all for Free.

20080727submitterbot01

Submitterbot is an online service that allow you to submit your sites/blogs to multiple Web directories and Social bookmarking sites without having to sign up on each and every one of them. It claims to be able to submit to more than 400 directories and an equally large number of bookmarking site.

The site has got a clean, uncluttered layout – a definite good first impression. Signing up was simple. You have to put in some relevant information about your site. Once done, you can start submitting your site to the different directories it supports. All you have to do is select the relevant category under which you want it submitted and, if asked, fill up the captcha. Once done, it will open the page to the next directory your blog can be submitted to. Submitting your site to bookmarking sites is done the same way. You submit articles to multiple article directories in a similar manner. Multiple sites can be submitted  through it, though at a given time you can submit only one site.

I normally wouldn’t have bothered submitting my blog to directories and bookmarking sites. But the sheer ease with which one can do so prompted me to sign up with the service. Submitting to each directory/ bookmarking site took no more than a couple of seconds. I must add, though, that the directories and bookmarking sites it submits to are all relatively new and quite unknown [to me at least]. But hey! it is quick and more importantly it is Free! [though it does some paid features, something that I couldn’t be bothered with]. It is a win-win situation for you [it is wise, however, to use an email id that that you do not use for important correspondences].

I Googled [not very hard ;)] for similar services and found that most of them are either paid or submit to a relatively less sites.

Your site being approved for listing on the respective directories is subject to approval of the directory owners you are submitting to [something that I just learned he he!!].

Submitterbot, in my opinion, is  a very useful service they have developed and could be used to good use by those wanting to increase their sites visibility. Give it a try – you might benefit from it.

Godspeed


Friday, July 11, 2008

How to use a custom domain name with Tumblr?

I recently started Tumblogging. Quite enjoy it too. I use it to share interesting News that I come across while going through the RSS feeds/ Google Alerts I have subscribed to. Tumblr is a relatively new blogging platform that has combined in its service aspects of micro-* along with the traditional blogging in a seamless manner. It also allows the user a high degree of customization of his/her blog. One of them is the ability to use your own custom domain name with your blog - Free of cost, quite like Blogger.

In order to use out very own custom domain name with our Tumblr blog, we would be using 3 free services.

1.) CO.CC [Domain registrar/ custom domain name provider]

2.) EveryDNS [Nameserver providers]

3.) Tumblr [Blogging service]

 

1.) CO.CC [Domain registrar/ custom domain name provider]

co.cc is one of the two free domain name registrars that allows the use of DNS for your domain name. The other such service that allows the use of DNS is uni.cc [example.uni.cc]. But IMO co.cc sounds better and most importantly sounds quite like a paid domain name too ;). So your custom domain name will read example.co.cc, where you replace example with the name of your choice.

Register yourself for an account with co.cc. Once registered, on its home page, type in the your desired domain name in the box provided.

co.cc domain name

If it is available [and for Free], you will be greeted with a message that looks like this.

20080711tumblr04

Click on continue to registration. It will then ask you to setup the domain within 48 hours.

registered domain

Click on the Set up button. In the page that opens up, select the first option – Manage DNS. Add the following information the space provided for Name Server [will be discussed later]

ns1.everydns.net

ns2.everydns.net

ns3.everydns.net

ns4.everydns.net

co.cc Name Servers

Click on the link [+ Add more name Servers] if enough boxes are not provided to enter all the Name Servers shown. Then click on the Set up button, which will take you to the page telling you that your change have been submitted – click on OK. You may now log out of your co.cc account; your work here is over.

You could use any domain name – paid or free.

2.) EveryDNS [Name Server provider]

We will be using the free Name Servers provided by EveryDNS for our blog. Register yourself with EveryDNS for an account. Once registered, log into your account. On the left, you shall see a section marked Webhop Domains. Type in the domain name you had registered with co.cc earlier and click on the button marked >>(basic).

20080711tumblr06

Once done that domain name will now appear on the left column in the section marked Primary Domains.

EveryDNS domain

Clicking on it will open up a page showing you dummy entries for that domain – one A-record and one CNAME entry. Delete the A-record entry from there. Then got down to the section marked Add a record and enter the 2 A-records as shown. Click the Add Record button after each addition.

(click on the image to see a larger image)

 A-records

Once the record is successfully added, delete the CNAME record entry. Your records in EveryDNS control panel will look like this.

EveryDNS records

Delete any records other than these two. Your work in EveryDNS is over, you may now safely log out of the account.

 3.) Tumblr [Blogging service]

Signing up for Tumblr is a quickie quickie no-brainer – just do it. The first time you login, you will be given a guided tour of sorts.

Tumblr customize

On the dashboard, click on the customize link. The page will automatically open up in the desired tab. Check the box and type in the registered domain name.

Tumblr domain name  

Once done, click on the Save changes box and log off. Wait for 48 hours [safe estimate] and you will find your Tumblr blog accessible with your own custom domain name.

Your Tumblog alongside your existing blog/site.

If you wish to maintain your existing site/blog along with your tumblog, then you could create a sub-domain pointing to your tumblog. This blog also has a tumblog as a subdomain – tumblr.shubhspace.co.cc. Choose any word that you wish – I chose tumblr. Go to your Tumblr control panel and in the very same place mentioned earlier type the appropriate subdomain.

20080711tumblr11

In your EveryDNS control panel [assuming you using EveryDNS ;)], add an A-record pointing the subdomain to Tumblr.

Tumblr A-record

Once successfully added your Tumblr blog will now be accessible with the address which is a subdomain of our existing blog.

Happy tumblogging!!

Godspeed


Thursday, July 03, 2008

Update and backup your drivers with DriverMax

Just finished formatting and re-installing on my Windows partition. Of all the steps involved, installing the device drivers usually  takes the longest, not least because each of them need to be installed one by one, meaning multiple mouse clicks and is accompanied by a need to restart the computer after each driver installation [restart every time can be avoided, but it is preferable]. Not quite the case since the last couple of installs though ;).

Drivermax

Using DriverMax, you can back up all the drivers from your previous installation and install them all together in your new Windows install with a single click and needing just a single re-start.

Once installed, it also searches for updates for your installed drivers and informs you when available, thus helping you keep your installed drivers up-to-date. You can use it to generate a detailed report identifying each and every hardware present in your computer. This can then be shared with friends or your tech support guy. Very useful in case your computer starts acting up and you need someone to help you fix it without much trouble.

Best of all it is a freeware, though it requires you to register on their website for free before you can start using this useful windows-based software.

Godspeed