Free Icons for Everyone

Today I wanted to post something about icons. Yesterday someone asked me via email where he could find free nice looking icons for his blog. The following list contains links to some free icon websites. These sites are from my point of view the best of all. There are many free icons you could use , but remember that image is everything, so if you are looking for professional nice looking icons take a look to these resources. Here it is Mathew , Enjoy them!

Pixel Girl has a great collection of free icons.

N. Design Studio has also some cool icons for you.

Vista Icons offers free vista style icons.

MaxPower has a nice listing of free icons for your website.

The Icon Factory has shareware and freeware icons.

Iconaholic has very nice icons too.

The Power of FeedBurner

If you are looking for a good RSS Feed solution for your blog, then FeedBurner is what you are looking for. For those who don´t know what this means let me give you a brief introduction about this powerful tool.

What is exactly FeedBurner?

It is basically a news feed management provider that has just been launched in the year 2004. Now it is the largest service provider of its kind serving over 20 million subscribers all over the world. FeedBurner helps commercial publishers, bloggers, and podcasters deliver and promote the content of their sites, and even make money out of it using invaluable web-based services.

This tool also provides the greatest network of advertising for feeds, bringing together an unmatched level of content fed from the leading bloggers, blogging networks, publishers, and media companies all over the world. This makes FeedBurner an indispensable tool for those who are looking for imaginative methods of attracting viewers and listeners as well as those who need to know how far one’s content reaches in the competitive world of information technology.

Why is FeedBurner so good?

As you can see I use FeedBurner for Blogger Lounge, but there are thousands of blogs that are doing the same, why? What makes this tool so special? Most blog users publish feeds automatically as they post their content online since most blogging platforms and publishing tools already have automatic feed options. FeedBurner helps the publishers to enhance their feeds and make it more easily distributable to their audience. It also publicizes the content, making it easer to be subscribed to by viewers and optimizes the distribution of content, making it easy to share, link, and tag by subscribers.

This tool helps you analyze your traffic, informing not only how many have subscribed to your feeds, but also where the subscribers come from and what subscribers like the most about your blog. FeedBurner adds value to your blog by processing it and providing a valuable boost that could make it attractive to the hoards of potential subscribers online.

Now your blog can be worldwide recognized and known thanks to the power of FeedBurner, This post is a personal review about this tool.

Tips on How to Promote Your Blog

Each day you update your blog with new posts and new articles. You keep writing everyday about your life or about something you really like. But no one reads it. At that point you notice that something is not working, then you try something else you start writing about the latest technology and gadgets hoping that you will get some visitors and some comments from readers on the next day but still, not many people comes to your site. But you still continue posting and updating your site everyday, every night. After some days, you realized that you need to promote your blog, but you just don’t know how.

Here are some tips on how to successfully promote your blog to get more traffic.

First of all visit other blogs, similar to what your blog is about but also try other successful blogs to see what makes them special and unique. Don’t wait people come to your blog, first visit theirs, comment about their posts and remember also to include after each comment your blog´s URL.

Another tip to promote your blog is to join bloggers forums, participate in them, introduce yourself and your blog and describe it , tell them what your blog is about and remember one more time to include your blog´s URL.

Submit to blog directories, submit your blog to as many directories as you can. Many of them are free, but there are others in which you will have to include a backlink to their site

Don’t forget search engines, they are maybe the best source to get traffic to your blog, submitting to search engines ia very easy you just have to add your blog´s URL to their index and that it but there are some basic principles about search engines that you have to have in mind, like backlinks, you need many backlinks to your blog, your articles and posts need to be optimized for search engines also, you can find many posts about SEO in this blog.

The Best Books for Bloggers

Now my bloggers, I´ve compiled a list of the best books for bloggers, some of them are not about blogging at all but about business and leadership. When I´m at college I like to visit the library because it has a lot of books and digital resources that I really enjoy. Some of my favorites books are “Funky Business” which I found very useful and full of creative ideas and successful stories, “Freakonimics”, “Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands” and “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, but the most important thing is that you really learn from these books and make the most of them.

About The Blogging Business

Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business
Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
Blog Marketing
The Corporate Blogging Book
100 Ideas for your blog
Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World
Blog!
Blogging for Business
Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content
Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging

About Money Making

Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free: Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash
Making Money on the Net
The E-Code

About Success

Kaizen: The Key To Japan’s Competitive Success
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters

About Creativity and Innovation

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want
Making Innovation Work: How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It
Talent (Tom Peters Essentials)

About Branding and Design

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People
Designing Brand Experience: Creating Powerful Integrated Brand Solutions
Branding: From Brief To Finished Solution
Logo Lounge 2
Letterhead and Logo Design 9 (Letterhead and Logo Design)
Color Index: Over 1100 Color Combinations
Web Design For Dummies

About AdSense

The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense
Adsense Unleashed: Adsense A-z Plus 175 Killer Tips And Tricks
Make Easy Money with Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program
Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing For Dummies

Note for all our readers: You can buy all these great money making books at Amazon.com, but you can also look for them to read at Google Books! (Did I mentioned it´s free?)

Disclaimer: No one is paying me for these suggestions : )

How to Analyze your Blog

This is a very simple but effective post. Do you really know how good is your blog? Do you know if your visitors really like it? Or do you know if they really enjoyed it? To make any business successful you need to look to the inside. Think in your blog as your own business, it´s true that there are many tools that help you analyze your blog or your website using stats, but remember they are just tools.

To successfully analyze your blog you have to review it as if you were another visitor, try finding mistakes or something that is not right, try reading the content, the posts and then ask yourself, is this really a good blog? How about the design? Does it has a good looking? Is the content reliable? By doing this you will know which parts of your blog need to be modified or removed. Try doing this task each moth as your blog grows and you´ll see that your traffic and your income are going to start growing also.

How to Attract Advertisers for your Blog

First of all, what you need is obviously a blog full of good content, You will also need to have a targeted audience. Then promote your blog, you can find all the information you need to promote it in our archives. If you want to make real money from advertisement, don’t wait for advertisers to com to your blog, visit their sites and offer you blog, show them a brief description of the blog and also show them some of your latest stats. Look for similar blogs see if they have ads and what kind of advertisers and sponsors they have, analyze their content and see if it looks like yours, if it does then this means that you can have also the same advertisers and sponsors but remember the stats, you need traffic, lots and lots of traffic, if you don’t have readers then no one will see the ads, and your sponsors will leave.

To contact the advertisers send them an e-mail that includes your name, where are you from and for how long you have been blogging ( they will want to know who is behind the blog) after that add your blog´s address and explain them what´s your blog about, what it offers and how frequently you update it, then explain your reasons why you are looking for advertisers, and show them your stats just an overview. Remember to include your future plans for your blog. Here is a sample email to attract advertisers for your blog.

Hottest Topics to Blog About in 2007

Happy New Year bloggers! This time I wanted to post something for you as a gift for 2007 to start the year on the right foot. That´s why I´ve been doing research, this time I wanted to see which topics are going to be the hottest and most profitable ones to blog about this year. As you know there are some topics and subjects that are more interesting than others, so if you want to get a lot of traffic the entire year and to make a lot of money you have two options, create a blog exclusively for these subjects or talk about them in the blog you already have, you´ll see how your traffic increases and also your earnings, but remember to promote. To compile this list I analyzed different sources looking for trends , experts predictions and new product announcements. Ok, now take a deep look to the most profitable topics for 2007 and start posting, good luck!

Broadband Internet for cell phones

The use of mobile Internet services is increasing, and for this year all the new technologies and services focused on attending this market are going to be very profitable, therefore millions of users of these services are going to start searching for information about the benefits and functions on the use of broadband in mobile devices like cell phones and pda´s they will want the latest news and information about the new technology and most of them are going to start looking in blogs. Just give them what they want.

Wireless Cities

The use of wireless technology is also going increasing, and some countries are investing millions on wireless technology. There are many cities in Latin America and Asia that are beginning to use this technology to improve their infrastructure. The use of free wireless access points in public areas like parks ,museums and libraries in the cities is increasing the number of Internet users. Many fans and followers of the wireless culture will began to search for information, update your blog and make it a rich source of knowledge for thousands of new users.

Internet and TV

Both very powerful mass media tools, but what happens when tv and Internet are combined? well the result is an enormous number of people looking for the best television services on the Internet, which will also increase the number of new television networks looking to offer their services on the web, a blog about the best online tv options will attract thousands of visitors. Another good ideas for this topic is to create a blog about reviews of these new kind of websites. Tv advertisers will also want space for their ads, another good opportunity to make money.

Microsoft´s New products

The giant is going to surprise us all again this year with new tools and products like the new Windows Vista and all its features and add-ons. According to Microsoft there is going to be Windows Vista in each new pc, this means that all users that are not very familiarized with this product is going to start looking for information, create a blog exclusively about Vista.

VOIP

This technology is hotting up and new players will arrive, Skype´s competitors are growing in number and size and they want a piece of the telecom industry.

Online Advertising

The online advertising market is going to grow this year. Google is still going to be the leader with its AdSense program, but Microsoft and others are going to take part in the game. This trend will benefit webmasters and advertisers that are going to find new ways to create fortunes with their websites.

The war of Browsers

The war between Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox is going to increase and other browsers like Opera and Flock will continue to gain users this will lead to a continuous search for the best browser, great for a blog about reviews.

Video Games

A multi millionaire industry that is growing with new announcements like the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 3, if I wanted to create a new blog I think it would be about game reviews for these gadgets, just think about it, how many people are fans of this technology.

That´s it I´m sure there are many hot topics to blog about but these are the ones that I found most profitable and with more possibilities to make money, if you have another idea please share it with us.

Top 10 Largest Blog Networks

Blogging has become one of the most profitable business on the Internet, I imagine that it is because the advertising industry is growing, many bloggers are earning thousands of dollars with their blogs. Just imagine how much money a 100 blog business can make. The following is a list of the Largest Blog Networks on the Internet, the list is huge but we are just listing the first 10, who knows maybe one day our own networks will be in the list. Say hello to this 10 giants of the blogging business.

1. Weblogs Inc..- Now owned by AOL it is the largest blog network with more than 100 blogs from traveling to technology and from fashion to business was founded by Jason Calacanis. This monster was making about $3000 per day with AdSense, just imagine.

2. Gawker Media.- Second blogging empire, from Manhattan to the world, this company owns some of the most popular blogs on the Web.

3. b5 Media.- Is one of the largest blog networks in the world has almost 100 blogs and with more than 110 bloggers from all around the world.

4. 9rules.- This is a different king of network because it groups more than 100 blogs from different owners but there is no doubt that 9rules is truly a giant, they also have the nicest looking blogs.

5. Shiny Media.- With almost 28 blogs this network reaches more than 1 million unique users per month.

6. Weblogs SL.- Spanish blog network, with currently 21 blogs up and running.

7. InstaBlogs.- Asia´s largest blog network really knows how to treat Asiatic bloggers.

8. Blogo.- With more than 20 blogs it is the leading network for Italian bloggers.

9. Mink Media.- Is the largest British blogging network with more than 25 units this company has also a place for chinese and german speaking readers.

10. TechCrunch.- Cool network with 9 units.

There are other large networks but these one are very important and popular.

Happy 2007!

Happy 2007 bloggers! Welcome to this new year! I wanted to wish you a happy new year and to wish you a lot of success for 2007. Blogger Lounge is going to have a lot of new things and a lot of interesting posts so stay around. I really hope you enjoy Blogger Lounge this year, one of my goal for this year is to provide you only the best information and to help your earn a lot of money with your blogs!

Again, I wish you a lot of success and a happy new year to you and yours, Let´s start on the right foot, and lets make our dreams come true. Cheers!.

Top 10 Search Engines

Internet is a great source of information, we can find almost anything we want if we use the correct tools and terms, with more than 300 billions of websites, it is almost impossible to find something without search engines, but the truth is that we are all devoted to Google or Yahoo! when there are other alternatives. These mega corporations are controlling the world of information and they have a market value o several billions of dollars, because those who control information will rule the word. Remember that. Here is our Top 10 Search Engines list.

1. Google: I think we all know what we are talking about, here is a company that needs no introduction, in less than 10 years has become a real giant some people say that in a few years Google is going to become the world´s largest corporation. Google´s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

2. Yahoo!: There was a time in which Yahoo! was the number 1 and rules the Web, it was the first search engine I used, but still now this tool remains in a very privileged position in the world of searches.

3. Windows Live Search: Formerly MSN Search , Microsoft´s second attempt to rule the world of information, they still can´t beat the giants. The software developer doesn´t want to stay behind in this billionaire race to take control of the web.

4. Ask: Formerly askjeeves.com, this is our fourth player. On September 11, 2001 (what a day) acquired Teoma another search engine who now gives power to ask.com. Since it’s founding in 1996 this search engine has been growing year by year.

5. A9: Amazon´s searching tool, the master of online sales want´s a piece of this multi millionaire cake.

6. Snap: Offers a very clean interface and some very useful features like a preview the websites displayed on the results, navigation hints and a prediction of your searches, you have to try it one day I really like it.

7. AOL Search: Owned by TimeWarner (95%) and Google (5%) even though it has the support of Google and Time Warner it still has a long road to walk before it reaches his brother.

8. Alexa Search: A subsidiary of Amazon.com it is best known for providing information about web traffic to their websites. In 1999 Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for about $250 million.

9. Altavista: This company was launched on 1995 by a hardware company, I remember that when I was 15 years old I used to play with this search engine at school, Altavista began as a showcase for new lines of products of its parent company, eventually they realized the enormous potential of web searches.

10. AlltheWeb: This norwegian searching tool ha also a very nice interface that allows users to search the web, images and news, AlltheWeb had a few advantages over Google, such as a fresher database, more advanced search features, search clustering and a completely customizable look.

That´s it, all these powerful resources are changing the Web day by day but remember no to stick with just a single one, be flexible and use the other alternatives.

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