Your Blog Tools

Have you ever wanted to release a product or service you thought was unique only to discover someone’s beat you to it?

If so, you’re not alone. It happens to the best of you. Instead of giving up, look on the bright side – it means you’ve generated an idea that’s got the potential to succeed. Ok so you were not the first, but if you could do it once you can do it again.

Refine Your Ideas

Take time out to refine your ideas. Don’t ditch the idea because it’s been done, look for ways to develop it so you’re providing something or a service to make it better.

If computer manufacturers gave up because desktops computers were made, we wouldn’t have laptops today. The same concept goes with any other technology or business idea, from cars and mobile phones to making card payments and online transactions.

So next time you’ve got a light bulb moment, and discover it’s already been done – study and research how it’s been done and see push your imagination to the next level.

You may have started the year with a set of goals, but along the way, you find yourself distracted by other things i.e new plugins, services or tools.

Before you go crazy kitting your blog out, always ask yourself, ‘is this going to help me achieve the objective of this blog?’

You always have to consider if the time and effort your spending is taking you closer to achieving your goals. If they don’t help in attaining your goals – then get rid of them.

This post was inspired by a meeting I had last night with a friend, as part of a project we’re working on. During the meeting we reviewed and analysed a few tools. And I saw just how the level of information services and tools out there are overwhelming. It’s so easy to get side tracked, whereas keeping focused and on target is the crucial to achieving set goals.
So if things don’t align with your overall goal then move on.

Your time, is your most valuable asset, once gone it can never be reclaimed.

Here’s a few questions I ask myself before getting involved with a product, service or tool.

- What is the overall objective of the product?
- How can it benefit me and my business?
- Does it help in attaining my goal?
- How long does it take to implement?

How do you deal with distractions?
Would love to hear your suggestions.

Ever had the urge to quickly push out a blog post?
And straight after doing so, you find yourself going back to make some urgent adjustments.
To some of you who regularly publish, these reminders may not directly apply to you.

Personally, I have had one or two blooper moments, which has led me to keep a mental note of 4 things to do before hitting the publish button.

(1) Set Your Permalink

Permalinks are unique URL that points to your blog post.
Set your permalink to something short, descriptive and search engine friendly.
For this post I have adjusted my permalink to (before-you-publish)
So my URL now reads:

http://www.yourblogtools.com/before-you-publish

instead of:

http://www.yourblogtools.com/4-things-to-check-before-hitting-the-publish-button

(2) Use Relevant Tags In Your Post.

Picking relevant tags helps to connect related topics together.

(3) Select Appropriate Categories

If a post belongs to a particular category then specify it.
It helps with the overall content organisation of your blog.

(4) Spell Check Your Title.

To avoid embarrassment, double check your post titleS.
By default, title text fields does not spell check your words.
However, there’s a quick hack that can enable spell checks within text fields.
The magic happens within your browser settings

In Firefox

- Simply type about:config into your browser address bar and press enter.
- You should now be prompted with confirmation screen, press OK to continue
- In the filter field, type the value layout.spellcheckDefault
- Once value has been located from list, change parameter value of layout.spellcheckDefault from 1 to 2 (by double-clicking it)
- Close the configuration page
- All Done, Now go ahead and check your text field. It should now underline any spelling mistakes.

Although, I haven’t tried this with other browsers yet? but Google Chrome appears to have acknowledge the change.
Does it work for you?
Do you keep a checklist of things to do before publishing?

Seeing as it is the weekend, I wish to add a slight twist to my regular style of posting, which brings me to the question…

What Blog Related Emails Do You Enjoy Receiving?
If like me, you constantly get bombarded with tons of emails from all walks of life, out of those will be some that brings a smile, joy or satisfaction – something of a reward for your hard work.

Then again, you may have most of your notifications switched off,
but surely, there must be some you rather keep a watchful eye on.
What are they?

I have listed 3 of my top happy emails below, emails that I subconsciously look out for.

(1) Disqus [Yourblogtools]

• (New blog post comment notification)

(2) AWeber Sign-up

• (New Email list subscription)

(3) Affiliate Commission Report

• (Sales made through affiliate marketing)

It’s now over to you.
What emails or subject lines are you ever happy to receive, if any?