Perceptions of an Ambivert

I have compiled a list of tips for people who are new to blogging. Make use of these tips and you shall notice your alexa ranking and pagerank skyrocketing, within months.Many friends of mine have been asking me how to blog and what a blog actually is, and here's a complete knowledge portal. I have googled and made sure i am providing you the best links.If anyone wants to make a link back, please contact me so that i will know. Please don't copy-paste the contents and pass it off as your own. I have done an extensive research and have come up with something useful.Well, If i have missed out anything, feel free to point the points out.

#1.Firstly, to know what a blog or a weblog is, click here.After you decide as to what your niche is, select the best blogging platform. There are many free blog hosting services out there and all you have to do is have a mail id to verify the account after your blog is created.Wordpress,Blogger,Livejournal and Typepad are some of the best blog providers and here's where you can find a comparison chart featuring wordpress and blogger.I would personally prefer Blogger to wordpress, for beginners.

#2. Now that you have selected your hosting platform, select a blog name that tells people what your blog is all about. Eye catching and different names are always in vogue. Select a name that suits your content best. If the name you had in mind, is not available, go for the closely related ones. Don't neglect the name.

#3.After you are done with the registration process, go to your dashboard and start posting. Add tags to your blog. It's an effective way of attracting people.

#4.Now comes the template part. Keats says, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever". Yes, beautify your blog and make it presentable.You don't have to be a CSS whiz to modify the templates. Templates are available aplenty, in the case of blogger and wordpress and using them will work just fine. Don't panic. If you are a novice, consider sticking to the default templates. Concentrate on your posts. Good content never fails to amaze people.

#5.Now, if you feel like your blog really needs a makeover, some of the best websites out there, to provide free quality templates, are, Blogskins , Finalsense, Pyzam ,Blogcrowds and Eblogtemplates
If you are still not satisfied with the list, here's the google page featuring the best of free blog templates .Enjoy!

#6.By now, you might be confused as to how to change the templates and where to place the copy paste code.Don't worry!It's very easy!Just follow the series of instructions!This is only for blogger blog.

Click layout in your dashboard and then,Edit html.
The space below is to be used for changing the template.Before you attempt to change the template, download the current template first(not needed for the first time.. but for subsequent changes in the layout)

#7.Now,go to the free blogger templates providing website and download the xml or the css code.All you have to do is copy the code and paste it in the box provided for editing the template.Click "Save template" to save the template. If the xml elements are parsed and are not coded properly, you might get some errors. In such a case, you shall copy-paste your previous layout code or opt for another.

#8.Don't mess with the xml and css if you don't know. It's always better to google stuff and find out or go to Blogger help.

#9. You might add polls, pictures, text and labels by clicking on "Add a page element" in the page elements section.A new window opens up and you will be asked to choose the new page element.If you want to make a slideshow of your pictures, click "Slideshow" and you'll be asked to enter your username and password.You might re-arrange the page element anywhere.

#10.Your new template looks all grand and you want to publicise your blog.Here the tips go for the same:

First click Settings to modify your priorities.Your settings window will look like this:
Now, after modifying the other choices, click on Site feed , one of the tabs , and here's where you have got a little work to do..You might not know what an rss feed is.

#11. Now that you know about rss, all you need to do is create a feedburner account to make your posts reach people easily. There are very many chicklets and feed icons to display on your blog and make people subscribe to your feeds so that they don't have to visit your site every time; the site tells them whenever your blog is updated. However, this pinging is not done by Feedburner. It just creates a valid rss feed but subscribing to feeds comes out with a multitude of options.

#12.Some of the most famous RSS readers or aggregators are Bloglines, Newsgator, Netvibes,
Google reader and Pageflakes.I personally use Bloglines.Subscribing to people's feeds is just a click away!

#13.You may even offer email subscriptions on your blog. Your favorite blog's posts will come directly to your mailbox. For this, click the publicize tab on your dashboard and choose the services that you think will woo people.Feedblitz is an exclusive website for email subscription.But i'd personally prefer using readers.

#14.Show off your feed count only after the readers are many. RSS feed icons are available in various sizes and colors and you may find exclusive, stylish ones here, here, here and here.

#15.I would like to conclude THIS part by saying "Comment on at least 5 posts a day on other people's blogs". Yes, Commenting on other people's blogs will drive traffic to your blog and believe me, it'll work beautifully for you. You might even get get to know like minded people on the blogosphere and befriend them.

This part just covered the basic tips and the subsequent posts will feature very many useful tips. Now that you are not a novice anymore, we'll deal with social bookmarking and networking, the ultimate fun.Happy Blogging!Ciao!

Perceived by rampantheart at Monday, March 24, 2008 | 0 comments Links to this post    
Categories blog, blogging, blogging tips for dummies, how to

I would like to thank The Blog of the Day Award team, for selecting my blog as the "blog of the day" on January 29. Sorry people, i should have posted this way back in January. But couldn't. Anyways, i really appreciate my faithful readers and people who regularly visit this blog thereby making it successful.I owe you guys a lot.Now, here the award goes;

Perceived by rampantheart at Monday, March 17, 2008 | 0 comments Links to this post    
Categories award, blog, blogging

After a long long time, i read this book called "The Department of Denials" by Anurag Mathur, a week back. An internet habitué, I googled and found out that the book was great or so people said. I was getting all thrilled to read because this was the second or the third time i was reading indian authors. Earlier, i had read Chetan Bhagat's books and was kinda fascinated, if not overwhelmed.A voracious book reader that i am , i read any book that i pick and so far, i must say, i have read the best of books. Classics that make you go all dry-eyed and satires that make you laugh your heads out and philosophical writings that make you all rapturous and tranquil. As an experienced reader(whoa, what a term!) i guess i can very well give a clean review of the books i read. Well, this time, before i even started reading the book, a friend of mine borrowed it and was all praise for it. She went ga-ga over the book saying it was so realistic that she didn't want to return the book. And i was like "man, i'll start this book now" and there the problem started.Now, you would have gotten an idea about the review. While i am at it, i will also tell you how he could have made it interesting.Here it goes:

Babar Thakur aka Babs, as he is endearingly called by his friends, is an ambitious(or so he is portrayed at first by Mr Mathur) youth, who wants to become the PM(unfortunately, yes) of India. His extremely ambitious(uh,huh) friend Jeet , tries to help him by tempting him about Sushmita Sen's bum(damn, did i get the word right?yes, i have). But why the overly ambitious Babar never actually tries to do anything but thinking of ways to take girls to bed, i don't have the faintest clue. Or, perhaps, Anurag Mathur feels strongly that knowing these kinda things will help a politician.Or perhaps he feels even strongly that young people must try to get to know these stuff first and then about other things. How inspiring!I would say Mathur knows real well how to attract readers with his characters.Well , before i become over oleaginous , i must stop with this.The ambitious youth that our lead character is, he ends up becoming a philosopher at the last. He asks a question that every man or teen in the world must know:Are all women leg spinners? to which none can ever answer. It's a conundrum. The philosophy involved here is something that can't be understood by silly people. So, don't ever try to cogitate . You won't find an answer.Anurag must be acclaimed for his efforts at bringing up a new philosophy that should be followed by all.Or at least i perceive so!

Enough is enough. Satire isn't the solution to what is exactly happening in the case of Indian writers. They think they are all jocular and overly humorous. Bluntly putting, they are not. They are far from writing interesting, decent stuff. In the name of westernisation , they create characters that shriek vulagarity and stupidity. Why are girls often portrayed this way?To this, all the feminists out there, won't get provoked.I was appalled when i read in the book about a 17 year old girl making love(the goddamn author calls it so) with our hero. Where's India heading and what do the writers have in mind?Are they writing solely for the purpose of power?Do they know they are brainwashing and leading youngsters in a wrong way and make them feel "Are, yaar, this is not a big deal!"This is dangerous and might make people take it for granted that such things as what the author portrays are not bad after all. It all depends on how we take it. You might ask me why i read the book throughout. I was literally struggling to find the story line;the book didn't have any.It's like watching a film and laughing with all others while you are there and after it's over, you end up saying "man,the film was great, but it just didn't have a story". Well, what will the book evoke in teens who read it?I don't know;i really don't know!And i really wonder what made this friend of mine say that the book was realistic. What made her say such flattering review?Did she at all read the book or was she just trying to sound normal?Or did the idea of a 17 year old making love (bloody hell?) excite her and made her look on the issue as normal and realistic?Who should i blame?The authors or the people that read such books and praise them?Pray tell me the answers to these questions.

I have come to a decision as to not read any of this "hilarious" stuff anymore. i might as well go for books that are deadly serious. I am not blaming everybody out there:there are always exceptions but deep inside, it just pains. Humor in the name of lascivious writings is not to be encouraged.

Now, some advice for our Indian authors:Don't write crap in the name of humor and satire. Read John Grisham's books. As a westerner, even he doesn't go the extent of writing such things. His satirical words are the best. Go grab a copy of his book,"Skipping Christmas". You will feel like committing suicide once you read such clean, really laughter evoking words.Try to read books by Maugham, George Orwell and Thomas Hardy. ANd if at all you feel like turning to humor, try P G Wodehouse and Roald Dahl. Don't ever publish yellow stuff and ruin the young minds, just for the sake of power and money.

Perceived by rampantheart at Sunday, March 02, 2008 | 0 comments Links to this post    
Categories article, India, review