More Stuff Added on to the Blog...

You know me, I like to change and add to the blog occasionally. Okay, more than occasionally. I've known about this for quite some time, but I've only just gotten to adding it here: Add This. It's for social bookmarking and blog promotion. You should be able to see the drop down button at the bottom of my posts.

To get the button you have to create an account. They don't have a email verification process, so it's fast. They do require an email, user name, and password for registration. It is free--you know how I like free. The site provides usage stats also.

Adding the button to your Blogger blog is really simple. Add This gives you all the instruction you need for several blogging platforms. For Blogger, you insert the code in the template html so it will show on each blog post automatically.

Why do you need this? So people can bookmark your posts. The more you are bookmarked, the more readership you gain. We've discussed this before here mostly, but I discuss it a lot throughout the entire blog.

My next find came while I was playing around on the forum at AC. I came across a post about custom widgets. There's a pretty neat site called Sproutbuilder that lets you build and customize your own widgets. Note my new AC widget on the top right--it matches my avatar.

Sproutbuilder is still in beta. I have had some minor issues like slow loading and linking issues. I changed the settings to avoid using pop ups to link as a temporary fix. The slow loading is something I just have to deal with.

The site is super easy to use. You can begin building widgets instantly, but if you want to save and use them, you must register. Registration is typical: user name, email, and password. You do have to do email verification. The best part about it is it's free!

You can build calendar, news, video, and music widgets. Whatever you want to promote, you can make and have it be customized with your own photos, artwork, or designs. Pretty neat stuff.

The last two adds came from BlogCatalog. I used to have a visitor widget, but when I updated the blog it got deleted. I put it back on. They have other networking widgets available, like neighborhoods, communities, discussions, groups, and news. I chose visitors and communities. The communities widget lets others know where else you can be found on the web.

I know there is a lot to swallow here.

Have fun!