How to Increase blog traffic and visitor

How to increase blog traffic is the most important thing every blogger is looking for. For increasing blog traffic, bloggers try hard looking for information and ways and spending lot of time on socializing sites, directories, discussion forums etc.

I find lot of sites have come up giving paid services for SEO, SMO, link building etc. Moreover they advertise openly with proofs, testimonials and google search engine policy is against buying and selling of links, buying paid traffic etc. So only google knows what is legitimate and what is not.

As google search engine algorithm has become more smart nowadays, it is not easy to trick the search engine for top ranking. So it is better to follow google webmaster guidelines
and google search engine optimization starter guide.

To increase blog traffic there are already two posts on my blog related to Search engine optimization and building blog traffic published in 2007, so you can go through these articles to begin with.

As in last two years things have changed. There are now more ways to increase blog traffic using different methods and resources.

So I would like to mention few more tips to increase blog traffic.

1) For search engine traffic, do not depend only on google search engine. Please confirm that all your posts / pages are listed in major search engines like search.yahoo.com, bing.com, ask.com, aol.com.

2) You should know basics of SEO to get top ranking in these search engines. Different search engines give different weightage to factors like meta tags, title, etc. You should also know how to get all your posts / pages indexed in bing.com

3) Keep your template SEO friendly. I have seen some templates with missing h1 tag and missing basics of SEO.

4) Facebook traffic is now almost equal to google so you must use facebook efficiently to drive traffic to your blog or site. You might be having facebook profile and group but creating facebook page and using facebook application is must for this.

5) Learn how to use twitter to get more followers and how to write tweets.

6) Keep commenting on do follow blogs related to your category with genuine comment given after reading their post.

7) There are other high traffic sites, also giving search facility. You should enter your blog information and create a page for your blog on these sites.

8) Write articles related to your subject and submit to good article directory sites which has high traffic and allows you to give link to your blog. Find the list of Top 50 article directories here.

9) Everybody knows submitting to bookmarking and socializing sites like delicious.com, stumbleupon.com, digg.com etc. But you also need to know efficiently using these services, type of link they give to your blog, how it is indexed in search engines, etc. You also need to find better bookmarking and socializing sites which work better for subject of your blog because some subjects / niche has limited target audience. e.g. for a pregnancy related blog you can find directories and socializing sites specific for mothers.

Source: www.blogtraffictips.net

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How To Dealing with People

" You must look into other people as well as at them."  Lord Chesterfield

" A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness gathers love." Basil

" A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners."  Lord Chesterfield

" The secret of many a man's success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them."  J. G. Holland

" To rejoice in another's prosperity, is to give content to your own lot: to mitigate another's grief, is to alleviate or dispel your own."  Thomas Edwards

" Hear the meaning within the word."  William Shakespeare

" Charity, good behaviour, amiable speech, unselfishness — these by the chief sage have been declared the elements of popularity." Burmese Proverb
" Kind words are the music of the world." F. W. Faber

" We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates." Denis Diderot
" Arguing with a fool proves there are two." Doris M. Smith
" Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those be well-tried before you give them your confidence."  George Washington
" Look to be treated by others as you have treated others." Publius Syrus

" Success in life, in anything, depends upon the number of persons that one can make himself agreeable to."  Thomas Carlyle

" Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life."  Jean Paul Richter

" Let us believe neither half of the good people tell us of ourselves, nor half of the evil they say of others." J. Petit Senn
" The more you say, the less people remember." François Fénelon

" Never lose a chance of saying a kind word." William Thackeray

" The soul of conversation is sympathy."  Thomas Campbell

" It is always good to know, if only in passing, charming human beings. It refreshes one like flowers and woods and clear brooks." George Eliot

" Every man is a volume if you know how to read him." William Ellery Channing

" Learn to regard the souls around you as parts of some grand instrument. It is for each of us to know the keys and stops, that we may draw forth the harmonies that He sleeping in the silent octaves." Anonymous

" If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it." Epictetus

" In many things it is not well to say, "Know thyself"; it is better to say, "Know others." Menander

" The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it."  Lord Bacon

" He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers and ceases when he has no more to say is in possession of some of the best requisites of man."  Johann Casper Lavater

" Men are more mindful of wrongs than of benefits." Proverb

" A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence; which costs us nothing."  John Tillotson

" It requires less character to discover the faults of others than is does to tolerate them."  J. Petit Senn

" Do not forget small kindnesses and do not remember small faults."  Chinese Proverb

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B Vitamins and the Aging Brain Examined

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutritionist Lindsay H. Allen has collaborated in ongoing research that has taken a closer look at the role these nutrients may play in preventing decline in brain function. The investigations, led by Mary N. Haan of the University of California-San Francisco, are part of the multiyear Sacramento (Calif.) Area Latino Study on Aging, or "SALSA." Begun in 1996, the study attracted nearly 1,800 Hispanic seniors, ages 60 to 101, as volunteers.

According to Allen, the research is needed because many studies of B vitamins and brain function have given inconsistent or conflicting results. Allen is director of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif. ARS is the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA. Scientists from the University of California-Davis (UCD) and the UCD Medical Center also are collaborating in the research.

An analysis of volunteers' blood samples showed that lower levels of one B vitamin, folate, were associated with symptoms of dementia and poor brain function, also called "cognitive decline," as determined by standard tests of memory and other factors. The impairments were detectable even though less than 1 percent of the volunteers were actually deficient in folate.

In women, but not men, low levels of folate were associated with symptoms of depression. In fact, female volunteers whose plasma folate levels were in the lowest third were more than twice as likely to have symptoms of depression as volunteers in the highest third. That finding provided new evidence of an association between lower blood folate and depression. Depression is already known to affect brain function.

In research with vitamin B-12, the SALSA team determined that a protein known as holoTC, short for holotranscobalamin, might be key to a new approach for detecting cognitive decline earlier and more accurately.

The researchers have published these and other findings, beginning in 2003 and continuing through this year, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The Journal of Nutrition, and The Journal of Nutrition, Health, and Aging.

Source: sciencedaily.com

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Tips How to avoid late night eating?

Does this sound like you? You inhale a light yogurt for lunch and eat hardly anything all day so by the end of the day you are so hungry that all your discipline goes out the window. You have a night eating habit and are someone who uses food not as fuel but as an antidote to stress.

There are two troubling behaviors that come into play with night eating and those are mindless consumption and lack of portion control. This can make trying to lose weight extremely difficult and can also increase the likelihood of obesity.

Why do we eat at night?
Many women eat late at night because that is the only time of day that they get in any peace and carbohydrates offer stress relief because they raise the level of serotonin, the good mood chemical in the brain that makes us feel at ease.

Other diet minded women eat very little during the day thinking their self -discipline will carry them through the evening, only to have the strategy backfire. Going for long period restricting food makes it harder to eat reasonable when you begin to eat.

Tips to stop night eating?
Don't starve all day. Make sure to eat breakfast, lunch and snacks so you are not ravenous in the evening.

Curb your appetite- Try a drink that nutritionist call Citrus Chill which is a squeeze or lemon and lime and some artificial sweeter over crushed ice. Try on of these before dinner and after dinner.

Set a clear food cut off time - Try brushing your teeth at 7:30 pm and designate that as your food cut off time. This is hard at first but gets easier over time.

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RIM Debuts BlackBerry Podcasts App

With the launch of the BlackBerry Torch and the new BlackBerry 6 operating system, Research in Motion clearly hopes to carve out a bigger share of the consumer market. But even with upgraded hardware and software to challenge the iPhone, analysts have noted that the BlackBerry platform still falls far short, with only a modest selection of third-party apps.

It offers only about 9,000 compared to the iPhone's 225,000 and Android's 70,000. But with the launch of a free new app offering programming from content providers including Discovery Communications, Bloomberg, NPR, and The Onion, RIM aims to improve its standing as a media device.

The BlackBerry Podcasts app offers nearly 1,000 audio and video programs for any BlackBerry model running OS 4.6 or higher. Users can search categories like news, arts, business, TV and film or search by key word to find specific content. Push technology also alerts users when a new podcast they subscribe to is available.

Downloaded episodes can be stored on a microSD card for later viewing. RIM has also started its own BlackBerry Channel, including how-to videos and related product-themed podcasts. To boost distribution of the app, it will be preloaded on BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry 6, including the Torch.

"RIM's move to offer podcasts helps the BlackBerry maker expand the appeal of their product line, especially in light of podcasts already available to be consumed on competitor Apple iTunes platform and the multitude of Apple mobile devices," said William Ho, research director for wireless services at research firm Current Analysis. "RIM's podcast implementation stands out as it uses its tried and tested push technology to notify users of new podcasts."

The podcasts are not typically full-length versions of TV shows or movies so its not nearly the equivalent to shows and movies available through iTunes. But if it is the start of RIM upgrading its content offerings in conjunction with more media-friendly devices and software, then it could help people think of BlackBerry as more than a business phone.

Source: mediapost.com

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Singapore Stocks-Down on economic concerns, may extend losses

(Economy news)SINGAPORE, Aug 12 - Singapore shares were down 0.96 percent in morning trade on Thursday, and may extend losses as Wall Street's overnight drop sent investors fleeing from equity markets amid renewed uncertainty over U.S. economic growth.

* Index down 0.96 pct at midday, to test 2,640 in next month

* Concern corporate earnings growth may slow in 2011

At the midday break, the Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> was down 28.17 points at 2,921.09 but slightly above its intraday low of 2,917.58.

"Fears of a double-dip recession are growing. The U.S. is still the largest consumer market in the world and if they see any double dip, exporters like Singapore and China won't do well either," said Carey Wong, an investment analyst with OCBC Securities.

He said he expected the STI to remain weak in the afternoon, and may see a slightly steeper correction in the next month to test 2,640.

"The market may be weary about the outlook for next year. Especially with the strong earnings from companies in 2010, it may be hard-pressed to match this performance," Wong said.

Singapore shares were dragged by telcom firms, as Singapore Telecommunications , Southeast Asia's largest telcom firm, fell 1.6 percent to S$3.01 after it posted worse-than-expected first quarter earning.

SingTel said its April-June underlying net profit was S$943 million, but analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast an average net profit of S$982 million. [ID:nSGE67406B]

The FT Straits Times Telecommunications Index <.FTFSTAS6000> fell 1.6 percent, underperforming the broader index.

City Developments shares were down 2.2 percent at S$11.66, after its second quarter net profit rose 17.6 percent to S$164.6 million. But this was lower than the average of S$190 million from three analysts surveyed by Reuters. [ID:nSFK000017]

Shares of Singapore-listed Indonesian palm oil firm Golden Agri-Resources fell as much as 1.8 percent to over a two-week low of S$0.56 after brokers cut their target prices because of a more cautious second half outlook.

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Fed Embraces Japan-Style Tools With Floor on Securities

(Economy News)The Federal Reserve’s decision to sustain the current level of its assets intensifies the focus of the central bank on policy tools similar to those used with little impact by Japan last decade.

The Fed on Aug. 10 set a floor on its holdings at the current $2.05 trillion level, aiming to stop any contraction in the balance sheet from pushing up borrowing costs during a slowdown in economic growth. Other Fed tools, including a reduction in the benchmark interest rate almost to zero, revived credit markets without yet ensuring a sustained recovery.
A policy that associates the Fed with the Bank of Japan’s unsuccessful strategy of expanding reserves poses a risk for U.S. central bankers, said Stephen Stanley, a former Fed researcher. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has called Fed policy credit easing to differentiate it from Japan’s so-called quantitative easing from 2001 until 2006, which failed to spur bank lending in the world’s No. 2 economy.

“I don’t think anyone in the market is fooled” by the distinction, said Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “That is a problem, both substantively and also from a perception standpoint.”

Fed officials would probably “try to argue their way around that and say it wasn’t so much that quantitative easing doesn’t work at all, it’s that there were problems with the Japanese carrying out of various policies,” Stanley said. He and other Fed watchers dubbed this week’s move “QE Lite.”

Stocks Fall

Treasuries rallied and stocks fell yesterday for a second day after the Fed’s move to start reinvesting principal payments on mortgage holdings into long-term government bonds. The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped at 4:03 p.m. to 2.68 percent from 2.76 percent, while the two-year note yield fell to 0.51 percent, near a record 0.49 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 2.8 percent to 1,089.47 at the close of trading in New York, the biggest drop since July 16.

The Fed said yesterday it will buy about $18 billion of Treasury securities and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities through mid-September in the first month of purchases under the new plan.

The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark rate near zero as it used quantitative easing, becoming the first central bank in modern history to embark on the policy. The BOJ targeted the level of reserves and pumped trillions of yen in excess cash into the economy, trying to encourage bank lending to companies and beat deflation.

Target Increased

The policy failed because the BOJ’s funds sat static in commercial lenders’ accounts at the central bank, even though the target was increased by almost nine times to 35 trillion yen ($411 billion) by early 2004. The money didn’t spark business investment and consumption, and deflation plagued the economy through 2005.

The Fed, by comparison, is trying to lower borrowing costs by targeting the level and composition of assets it holds that correspond with bank reserves instead of the actual level of excess reserves, which totaled $1.01 trillion as of July 28.

Separately yesterday, the central bank posted a paper co- written by Seth Carpenter, associate director of the Fed’s monetary-affairs division, finding that the “quantity of reserve balances itself is not likely to trigger a rapid increase in lending.”

Greg Hess, a former Fed researcher, said the comparison between the Fed and the BOJ was overdrawn.

‘Aggressive’ Fed

“The way it is not like the Japanese policy is the Fed was aggressive, it’s still early in the process, and the U.S. economy is still in the position of having reasonable growth” in nominal gross domestic product, said Hess, an economics professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. “We have learned many of the lessons that Japan has learned the hard way.”

The U.S. economy’s headwinds may be related more to federal debt and won’t be cured by Fed actions, according to Gerald O’Driscoll, former Dallas Fed vice president and now senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington. “There’s no additional role for the central bank in curing what ails us,” he said. “The problem is on the fiscal side.”

With the action, the Fed is aiming to stop the shrinkage in its balance sheet from prompting an increase in long-term borrowing costs, potentially allowing rates to fall further. While the move shows a change in policy direction away from exiting monetary stimulus, the Fed didn’t indicate it was ready to pursue larger-scale purchases of securities.

Prepaid Securities

The New York Fed estimated in March that more than $200 billion of the agency debt and mortgage-backed securities held by the central bank would mature or be prepaid by the end of 2011, and the pace in payments has since accelerated.

“This is a strategic ploy of testing the waters regarding how receptive global financial markets might be to the application of quantitative easing,” said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s Capital Markets Group in New York.

The central bank acted this week after companies cut the pace of hiring since April and a government report showed the worst U.S. recession since the 1930s was deeper than previously estimated. Household spending fell 1.2 percent in 2009, twice as much as previously projected and the biggest decline since 1942, according to revisions released July 30.

Companies hired an average 51,000 employees a month from May to July, compared to 241,000 in April and 158,000 in March, Labor Department data show. A swelling trade gap, less inventory stockpiling and weaker construction indicate the U.S. economy slowed further in the second quarter than first estimated.

“Working with the size of the balance sheet is the only thing they’ve got left,” said former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, now senior economic adviser with Potomac Research Group in Washington.

Source: bloomberg.com

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VXL Announces TL100 and TL412 Thin Laptop Collaboration with Lenovo

VXL has announced two new the 14.1” TL412 and 11.6” TL100 virtualisation-ready laptop that conjunction with Lenovo.

The 14.1” widescreen TL412 model boasts a 1.86Ghz Intel Celeron Dual Core processor,1 GB RAM, 1GB Flash storage, Express PC Card Expansion slot, and three year warranty. The 11.6” widescreen TL100 model also includes a 1.6 GHz AMD Athlon Neo processor, 1 GB RAM, 1GB Flash storage, 4-in-1 card reader, and a one year warranty that’s upgradeable to three years.

Both laptops are available with a choice of Microsoft Windows XPe, Windows Embedded (WES) or Linux OS. The VXL TL100 and TL412 will be available in Q4 2010. No pricing information was announced.

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NASA's Great Observatories Witness a Galactic Spectacle

(Science News)A new image of two tangled galaxies has been released by NASA's Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in a new composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long, antenna-like arms seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced in the collision.

The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.

The X-ray image from Chandra shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas, which have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions. This enriched gas, which includes elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium and silicon, will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets. The bright, point-like sources in the image are produced by material falling onto black holes and neutron stars that are remnants of the massive stars. Some of these black holes may have masses that are almost one hundred times that of the sun.

The Spitzer data show infrared light from warm dust clouds that have been heated by newborn stars, with the brightest clouds lying in the overlap region between the two galaxies. The Hubble data reveal old stars and star-forming regions in gold and white, while filaments of dust appear in brown. Many of the fainter objects in the optical image are clusters containing thousands of stars.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Source:sciencedaily.com

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Stone Age Remains Are Britain's Earliest House

(Science News), The team from the Universities of Manchester and York reveal today that the home dates to at least 8,500 BC -- when Britain was part of continental Europe.

The research team unearthed the 3.5 metres circular structure next to an ancient lake at Star Carr, near Scarborough, a site comparable in archaeological importance to Stonehenge.

The team are currently excavating a large wooden platform next to the lake, made of timbers which have been split and hewn. The platform is the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe.

A large tree trunk has also been uncovered by the team. Despite being 11,000 years old it is well preserved with its bark still intact.

The house predates what was previously Britain's oldest known dwelling at Howick, Northumberland, by at least 500 years.

Dr Chantal Conneller and Barry Taylor from The University of Manchester with Dr Nicky Milner from the University of York have been working at Star Carr since 2004.

The house, which was first excavated by the team two years ago, had post holes around a central hollow which would have been filled with organic matter such as reeds, and possibly a fireplace.

The site was inhabited by hunter gatherers from just after the last ice age, for a period of between 200 and 500 years.

According to the team, they migrated from an area now under the North Sea, hunting animals including deer, wild boar, elk and enormous wild cattle known as auroch.

Though they did not cultivate the land, the inhabitants did burn part of the landscape to encourage animals to eat shoots and they also kept domesticated dogs.

Dr Milner said: "This is a sensational discovery and tells us so much about the people who lived at this time.

"From this excavation, we gain a vivid picture of how these people lived. For example, it looks like the house may have been rebuilt at various stages.

"It is also likely there was more than one house and lots of people lived here.

"The platform is made of hewn and split timbers; the earliest evidence of this type of carpentry in Europe. And the artefacts of antler, particularly the antler head-dresses, are intriguing as they suggest ritual activities."

Dr Conneller said: "This changes our ideas of the lives of the first settlers to move back into Britain after the end of the last Ice Age.

"We used to think they moved around a lot and left little evidence. Now we know they built large structures and were very attached to particular places in the landscape."

Barry Taylor added: "The ancient lake is a hugely important archaeological landscape many miles across.

"To an inexperienced eye, the area looks unremarkable -- just a series of little rises in the landscape.

"But using special techniques I have been able to reconstruct the landscape as it was then.

"The peaty nature of the landscape has enabled the preservation of many treasures including the paddle of a boat, the tips of arrows and red deer skull tops which were worn as masks.

"But the peat is drying out, so it's a race against time to continue the work before the archaeological finds decay."

English Heritage recently entered into a management agreement with the farmers who own the land at Star Carr to help protect the archaeological remains.

Keith Emerick, English Heritage Inspector of Ancient Monuments, explained:

"We are grateful to the landowners for entering into this far reaching agreement.

"Star Carr is internationally important, but the precious remains are very fragile.

"A new excavation currently underway will tell us more about their state of preservation and will help us decide whether a larger scale dig is necessary to recover information before it is lost for ever."

The research has been made possible by a grant from the Natural Environment Research Council, early excavation funding from the British Academy, and from English Heritage who are about to schedule the site as a National Monument . The Vale of Pickering Research Trust has also provided support for the excavation works.

Source : sciencedaily.com

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Be Positive Thinking

A life of success and achievement is a direct result of utilizing the power of positive thinking. The most important asset you have in your quest to live your dreams? It’s right under your nose. Actually your nose is part of it. It’s simply – YOU. More specifically YOUR MIND.

" THE POWERHOUSE TO YOUR DREAMS - YOUR MIND AND THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING "

Your thoughts are the most important asset you have in your desire to achieve your dreams. They affect you in ways you never thought possible. The truth is, whether you know it or not, your thoughts are responsible for whatever place or situation you are in right now.
Nobody would argue that electricity exists. You can’t touch, smell, hear or see it, but its effects are evident everywhere you look. Its power is evident everywhere you look.
In the same way, your thoughts are energy. Your thoughts drive your life just as electricity drives a motor. That is the power there is in having a positive mental attitude.

Yes, I am not the first one to say this and I bet I won’t be the last either. You know why? Because it is true. It’s simple, but true. There is power in thoughts; in negative and in positive thinking.  
Choose positive thinking and you will enjoy positive energy and positive results.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK. This is one of my favorite positive thinking quotes:

If you think you are beaten you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you want to win but think you can't;
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose you're lost;
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

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