It’s not possible, today, to detach social media from online users. For instance, last month, the strength of facebook was 350 million users, only 30% Americans among them. This figure comprises 25% of the total web traffic. Almost every one of them uses Tweeter or some other similar service to confirm status messages. Over 94% of the active enterprise tends to uphold or raise their investment in social media. It isn’t just a vogue now. People use social media in houses, SME’s, and business giants. It is now reaching health, education, and non-profit sector. From excitement, freshness, and bewilderment, social media is now a form of communication, to be precise “a language.” From entertainment, to importance, it’s now “a necessity”.

So, what would it look like in the coming year? What would be the meaning of being connected? According to me, social media will change in 2010 in following 10 ways:

1. Social Media Will Emerge As One, Interconnected Experience Entrenched In All Our Gadgets and Actions:

   

   By the end of 2010, social media won’t be just ‘Social Media.’ It will emerge as a combined, inseparable element of your online and offline activities. The presence of unified social media will be single across platforms, and on all the devices and gadgets like Television, internet, mobile, radio, video, etc. It would not be, then, possible to detach social media and any experience.

   Web users will view content from any platform through any gadget, mashup their pics, send text and video, and communicate with everyone effortlessly. New games, new content, new videos, and everything new will be uploaded for the amalgamated population. People will be able to get everything on their desk or palm, like the world is exactly in front of them, ready to be edited, loaded, or vacated from any device, any platform.

2. The Modernization in Social Media Wouldn’t Be Restricted By Technology:

   With perpetual improvement in web services and extinction of constraints like closed platforms and separate logins, organizations are finding ways and will unquestionably come up with modern ways to exploit current technology instead of improving it. The world will witness a shift to influence the existing assets of content and abilities in a newer way that will transform knowledge into wisdom and insight into activities. We will watch more valuable pieces of information coming in, eradicating the useless one through collective oneness.

3. The New Fad – Mobile:

   Almost one-third of the total web traffic is brought in by iPhone. According to IDC, the number of internet users through mobile will reach 1 billion by the end of 2010. With the reduction in technology constraints and ease in browsing internet, people would prefer browsing through mobile while they are not using their PC or notebooks. Gradually, mobile will take the center stage. The decade, if not the year, will bring in thousands of mobile application, diminishing the usage of personal computers.

4. Battles for Content Enhancement:

   In 2009, content exploded throughout the web, making it accessible to everyone, everywhere, anytime, and by anyone. Google managed to sort out the information this year, but it will become intricate every year. Content will increase dramatically, but quality will be demanded.

   Along with companies, the content is now being developed by individuals. With lesser search result relevance delivered by search engines and hazardous effects brought in by free websites, people have started generating and integrating their own center of knowledge.

5. Social Media Will Be Reshaped By Enterprises:

   How effortlessly we forget that some of the major social media pillars like forums, intranets, collaboration tools, and listservs were introduced by large enterprises and not individuals. With social media taking the front seat, enterprises have planned to use the existing media to suit their needs. This year, they have planned to allocate 26% more funds in social media to market their services, solutions, and products.

   They have got the need and the resources. So, don’t fret if the future of social media is being shaped by the enterprises. They will amalgamate their current system with social media to meet their needs of sales, surveys, promotion, automation, monitoring, and developing. Recently, Salesforce.com came up with ‘Chatter’ that made the CRM and consequently, the company, social. It’s quite new, however it already has 69,000 users.

6. People with start gauging Return on Investment:

   Due to huge amount being invested in the social media, companies will start gauging the returns on the invested amount. Last year, although 18% of the investors were happy with the results of returns, the remaining 72% weren’t happy due to less return or their incapability to gauge the returns. Lessons from 2009 and more money invested will compel them to develop an infallible gauging system, and not results based on number of fans or users. They companies who will be successful in gauging the return on investment will be the ones that will survive.

7. Remarkable online-offline combination

   Varied avatars, games and virtual world replication was just the commencement of online offline combination. In the coming year, users will witness and experience innovative permutations as physical remoteness and barriers won’t matter. ‘Augmented reality’ now being available on iPhone, will help people to search relevant content on their mobile. Twitter360, of course through mobile, will let users contact each other, communicate, find status, and check updates. New products resting on the glass shelves of the stores would be observed from mobile devices and instant purchase would be possible. You will get discounts and offers on the products of your interest.

8. Re-hire older skills and professionals

   The upturn of social media and downturn of the financial system disappeared the conventional marketing and Public Relation roles. However, it is predicted that this year will be a comeback of these professionals. Most of the companies using social media tools will hire employees that can comprehend user psychology, and those who master the art of using online and offline social media. After sales service and customer support will be online, from top to bottom.

   The testimony developed by R&D department will be based exclusively on user experience and habits through social media, which will then be used for production and innovation. Very soon, you will come across job advertisements displaying vacancy for social media promoters, social media psychologists, and social media heads. These roles would be an integral part of the organizational structure and will handle the endless task of dealing with mass public.

9. The New Rulers of Social Media – Women

   The 2009 statistics shocked the world with some astounding revelations. It was proved that almost three-fourth of the buying decisions are made by women. The social networking sites have more than 50% female users, with women in age group 30-56 comprising a larger part of facebook users. Unlike previous decade, females today are free to express and involve themselves by the means of social media tools. Inherently equipped with excellent communication, grabbing attention, and building strong relationship, women will guide the social media, personally and professionally.

10. Entering New Spheres

    Due to the ease of use and interconnectedness, social media will enter new domains like education, hospitality, training and development, non-profit, and healthcare. The importance and pervasiveness of distance learning will surge as people can access much through their mobile.

By the end of this year, the introduction of social media would be a long forgotten topic. People would be discussing quality, value and relevance of these tools.

These are my predictions, what about you? How do you think will the social media change in 2010?

And you probably wouldn’t believe if I say that being away from your blog is actually the best you could do to improve it.

If you are among those who are always thinking about their blog, its performance, its traffic, etc. then probably these tips a re tailor-made to suit your needs. Sometimes, I just sit against my computer and stare at the blank word document because I don’t know what to write. My mind is as blank as the word document. Perhaps, it might have happened to you as well.

That’s the time you need to be away from your blog. Here is how it helps:

1. Coming up with Fresh Ideas
   This is something that even the best blogger of the world might not be consistent in. It requires a calm and clear mind to generate new ideas. And do you really think sitting in front of your computer for hours would help? It wouldn’t.One possible option is to get away from your PC and relax for a while. Then, take a pen and paper and start jotting down all the topics that you have written about. Select any topic among them and try to look at it from a very different perspective, from all the possible angles.

   Ask yourself: have you covered all the sub-topics that could possibly be created from this topic? What else people would need to know about this topic? For instance, ‘Blogging Content’ is a topic or an idea. However, there can be numerous sub-topics or sub-ideas created from this topic like ‘How to write good content?’, ‘What is bad content?’, and so on.

   This is a very good exercise that promises consistent flow of ideas. You would never have to stare at the blank screen and keep thinking for hours.

2. Relate with the real world
   The real, refreshing outside world probably has much to offer. It can help you to come up with something that the internet wouldn’t. How do you think a new idea is generated? It is generated when we look at various things and think about it differently. Look at everything around you, everything in the outside world, each or any of them could be your next topic, or a new blog.Let’s look at something concrete for now. Pick up any magazine and you will find hundreds of article, which is no different from a blog. Magazine itself is a big blog.

   Next, a business. Any business. My father owns a departmental store. His business, in many ways, can help me to improve my blog. No, I cannot start writing about shopping habits or prices of groceries, if my blog is about improving the way your blog. But I definitely can learn  lot from the smart business models, new ideas applied in the store, how advertising affects the business, or just the way people act, and apply it in my blog someway or the other.

   If I can’t apply it, at least I would know how to operate a business. However, that’s not what we are focusing on right now. According to me, you will get something out of it. Remember, it all depends on how we look at something.

3. Use the technology
   If it’s really urgent to update something on your blog, or replying a comment, and your are traveling, or just far from accessing a computer, don’t fret. Just relax and enjoy the benefits of the improvement in technology. You can access your blog or edit it through your mobile, iPod, blackberry, PSP, or many other devices.An application called WordPress for iPhones can allow you to type and post your article on your blog. You can also edit blog pages, upload images, or reply to a comment. So, you aren’t actually away from your blog, are you?
4. Offline Advertising
   It is the most effective way to utilize your time improving your blog while you are away from it. Unfortunately, very less percentage of the bloggers today use offline advertising as a source of promotion. This can be very effective if your blog discusses something about the real outside world. Offline blogging can be done by distributing t-shirts, car stickers, posters etc. I will be soon writing about the various ways to advertise offline because I rally think it’s quite effective and least used.
5. Just Relax
   Here is another point on which you won’t agree with me, but relaxing does help to improve your blog.
   I have seen many bloggers face something known as ‘Blogger’s Block’ i.e. a time when they are not able to write, not even a word. Relaxing, then, is the best solution. Even if you are a bit overworked, relaxing will help you to soothe you mind and body, which is quite important to come up with new ideas regularly.Being relaxed is a way to calm your mind.
   Being relaxed is a way to be creative.
   Being relaxed is a way to be in a proper state of mind.
   Being relaxed is a way to improve your blog.

Okay. These were my suggestions on how can you make optimum utilization of the time you are away from your blog. Some people have the habit of carrying a pen and paper along with them, wherever they go. I do believe it’s a great idea because it helps you to jot down every idea you come up with.

I would really appreciate if you can discuss how you can utilize you “non-blogging” time. Would love to read your inputs.

Suggestions Please!

Another fact is that most of the blogs are opinionated. If it isn’t, then probably it’s a news article you are looking at. This post is opinionated, wrong or right, that you have to decide.

But the thoughtful opinion and the research can prove to be quite ineffective and useless if it doesn’t reaches enough number of people. The blog has to be promoted and I guess you know most of the ways to do it online.

However, I have noticed that offline advertising is something that people are not much aware about. Or may be they don’t want to do it. Again, I don’t know the reasons but it’s a fact that offline advertising is hugely neglected by bloggers.

Here are few ways to promote blog ‘researched’ and ‘opinionated’ posts offline:

1. Print it on a T-Shirt
   

   Okay. Not all methods are neglected. This is the most common one among bloggers. If you are a beginner and don’t know much about it, let me tell you this is not a new idea.To do this kind of promotion you will need several t-shirts on which you get the name of your blog printed. If you are quite good looking, get you photo on it. I would suggest keep it simple. Just the name and a relevant small logo or a picture. Then, get some people to wear those t-shirts. If none agrees to wear it, at least you could, right? Yeah! Keep loving your blog.

2. Why only T-Shirts?
   You won’t get a lot of people easily who would agree to wear that creepy t-shirt. Who cares, you have many other options, all better than the t-shirt idea. Be creative. Use pens, paper weights, coffee mugs, free calendars, or anything that people commonly used.
3. Pinning Posters
   You will probably need a well designed poster if you are a part of any community. They have these bulletin boards or notice board where you can pin the posters that describes about the blog. A good design can attract a lot of people. Add some punch lines or humor in the poster to get more readers.
4. Sponsor
   If you have enough funds, look for things, small events, or camps that you can sponsor. It’s an amazing way to promote your blog. Sponsoring charity events can work well because blog is also something that helps people. It shares the same purpose, same connection, and same feeling. It’s a courteous way of promotion.
5. Car Sticker
   

   I love this because I have a sticker saying bloggingwithchris.com on my car. It a good way to promote you blog but remember you cannot travel around the world in you car. It’s local. However, it can reach more number of people than a t-shirt, coffee mug, or a bulletin board can.Make sure the letters are big enough for people to read easily even if you are driving speedily.

6. Radio is still in
   For those who think it’s obsolete and useless, I declare that it will, for sure, reach much more people than your car, or thousands of t-shirt can.You need to check out which channels are within your budget and advertise there. However, you also need to ensure that the selected channel is the right fit for you. You cannot promote your blog on a channel that plays records from 1910-30.
7. Business Cards, Letter Heads, and Diaries
   This isn’t as far reaching as other because you (or any other individual carrying your card) wouldn’t stick your business card on your head or shirt and walk on a busy street. However, somebody knows about your blog instead of none. This is a promotion strategy, and I don’t think it’s wise to miss it out just because it reaches small number of people.
8. Voicemail
   Wow! This was my expression when I first read this idea on a blog post some months ago. It’s really a cool idea to mention the URL of your blog with your message. However, make sure you don’t get into the details of the blog and kill the main purpose of the voicemail. They called you to know where you are. Remember?
9. Promotion Leaflets
   If it’s possible for you to design a leaflet or a brochure (ideally A4 size) and print a few thousand copies, do it. Get on your bike and drop a copy in the mail boxes of the houses in your locale. Or hire a school boy, he will enjoy doing it. However, make sure that it’s legally allowed do so in your area, or you might end up paying more than your blog can make.
10. Yellow pages / Newspapers
    There are numerous firms that will readily post your URL and details in the Yellow Pages and local newspapers. Why can’t you do it? You can and this time it’s 100% legal.
11. Use Yourself:
    You are searching numerous sources to promote your blog, when the best source is you. Start speaking about your blog to the relevant people and I am sure the snowball will get bigger than your expectation. Ask your friends, family, and relatives as well to help you spreading the word.

In most of the above mentioned ways, I have compared one method with the other regarding the reachability, just for your understanding. So, if you happen to choose just one, you can select the best one. To promote your blog offline effectively, use a combination of all the methods.

I am pretty sure that there are several other way to market your blog offline. If you think I have missed the major ones, please leave a comment.

It may sound weird because it is. I am going to explain you how to read an article effectively without missing out important information. And it may also feel idiotic to go through something that teaches you to read, but it’s important. Each person who reads blog must go through this article at least once. Most of the time, I just go through the headings and sub-headings of the blog post and very often I miss out the essence of the blog post.

Don’t read just because you came across the article. If you read it, don’t give up before ensuring that you some new knowledge from the post.

Don’t read. Interpret.

Most of the blog posts are opinionated. The blogger might support or be against an idea. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to agree with him and go against the idea just because the blogger has put it agreeably or rhythmically or intelligently. What worked for him may not work for you. What is right for him may be wrong for you.

There are some exceptions to this. Some posts offer tutorials which needs to be followed as mentioned in the article.

Okay. Now let us consider an example.

Mr. A writes a blog post about how he made money. He explains in depth the steps he took to generate his income. It also involves a product. It turned out to be a great article because he also mentioned what kind of personality you need to adopt in order to sell a product in ‘today’s market.’ He later informs his reader about the type of market he worked in and how much time did he take to get the targeted money.

Mr. B reads the article carefully. However, unlike us, he reads the article carefully and lists down the facts:

• About the product he used to generate income
• The steps
• The type of personality required to sell the product
• Lot of research needs to be done before jumping on to a conclusion and start selling.

With this information, he can make money in his own way instead of following it blindly. He knows he cannot directly relate to the article, despite the fact that this article has been on the best one and topped Digg for many weeks, mainly because there is a difference in personality. Mr. A and Mr. B are very different from each other. However, there were a couple of things Mr. B liked and were in common, which he directly applied.

This may sound weird but this is what many bloggers asks their readers to do. For instance, relationship blogs. If you are going through a break-up or post break-up depression, they straight away ask you to do this or do that or follow 5 steps to lead a happy life again. How? The blogger and the reader are so different. I hope you got the point.

Okay. What’s more?

If you are really reading something to extract information from the article, you need to analyze it. And by doing this, you will definitely learn something new. That’s a guarantee from my side. Here are few ways that can help you to analyze any piece of information.

1. Read it again:
   This is quite boring and I am sure most of skip this. Even I skip it. But not when I really need the information. Do this once and you will be astonished to know how it benefits you.You got a general idea when you read it once. However, after reading it for the second time, you understand much better.Generally, when we read an article, we come across many sentences, the meaning of which is not quite clear to us. However, we proceed and never come back to the un-comprehended sentence.
2. Does the current paragraph relate to the next or the previous one?
   Paragraphs are made to differentiate sub topics under a topic. If you can relate the interlinking meaning, you will get a bigger and better picture of the whole. Try this, it’s fun and useful.
3. Your title test
   To know whether you will learn something from the article or not, try this. Read the title, and before reading any part of the content, just reflect everything you know about the topic.If you don’t know much, you must definitely read it, may be twice. Even if you know about it, read the article and check what did you miss or sometimes, what did the blogger miss.

I know it may sound quite tedious to many and quite impractical to some. However, I found this to be of great use. You read (or just glance through) the article once and I am sure you don’t remember anything. But read it twice with focus, you will not forget it anytime soon.

An Average American Blogger, says Technorati, earns around $6000 every year through blogging. However, around $200,000 is earned by the top 1% probably due to the same reason, they are dedicated.

But dedication isn’t enough; you must have the right approach and must be able to choose the right path. So, how do you get started with the right approach? By being practical.

If you enter areas like celebrity gossip, politics, gadgets, and photography, you will face very stiff competition. Instead, it’s better to choose a niche area; something that you are good at.

Another thing that you must take care of is the vocabulary. Remember you are writing for a huge population. Hence, you cannot afford to make minor spelling or grammatical errors. Nor can you use very tough language. Be simple but perfect.

Once you get the basics right – and selected a niche area – next step is to know how money is earned through blogs. If you don’t master at any or all of these five methods, you cannot earn money.

Advertising

Simple. Everyone knows that advertising is easiest method to make money online. However, to make a large income, ads on your blogs needs to be clicked innumerable times. You get few cents per click or few dollars per thousand clicks, or whatever the method is; but money is definitely difficult to earn through advertising till your blog becomes quite popular.

Providers like Google Adsense, BidVertiser, AdGenta, and AdBrite will provide ads irrespective of the number of readers on your blog. You can also approach advertisers directly, but they will entertain you only if your blog’s readership is high.

Affiliate Marketing

This program is quite similar to advertising. You place links or banners on your blog to earn money. However, in most cases, you wouldn’t get paid if a reader clicks on the link. He should purchase the item. Hence, earning money through affiliate marketing becomes more difficult. However, the each sale can earn you as much as 10-30% of the sale price. So, the potential is high but conversion ratio is low. Have a look at websites like ClickBank, Commission Junction, or LinkShare to check the list of affiliate products.

Pay Per Post

This is another cool method of earning money online. Many companies will pay you to post articles bout their services or products. The pay rate, however, depends on your blog’s readership.

Hence, if you have started your blog today, you wouldn’t get an opportunity earn through ‘Pay Per Post’ for at least a month or two. And you must gain readership till then.

If you are a good writer, you can earn as much as $1000 per article. However, don’t expect more than $10-$20 initially. If you have it in you, you will gradually reach the peak. To start with it, visit SponsoredReviews, Blogvertise, or PayPerPost.

Employment

Due to increased dependency of readers on social media and other internet tools, employers are exploiting all possible options to reach the customers.

Many companies have started hiring bloggers to send out their voice. If you are a good blogger, you too can join a company as a part of their marketing or advertising strategy. However, your grammar and accuracy needs to be impeccable.

And if you have made a good name on the web, promote yourself, and companies will find you.

Sponsorship

Few companies offer sponsorship to bloggers. This is much like an advertising program, wherein your blog will contain and promote company’s brand. However, you cannot mention the products and services everywhere on the blog. It is just a blog sponsored by a corporate. Content, in most cases, remains unaffected.

These are usual ways of making money online or specifically though blogging. Methods adopted by all the bloggers may vary. However, they have one thing in common, dedication because any of the above methods require enormous time and effort to become a successful one. Everything is available online. How you use it is what makes the difference.

How to do it? Just go to the Text Link Ads site and sign in to be a publisher. It takes some time for you site to get approved so you need to be patient. Once you get the approval, you can configure the advertisements according to your preference. You can choose the amount of ads that will appear on the display, whether they will show up on the entire site or single page. You need to be careful while choosing the advertisements. For example you can choose five ads to appear or ten. But if you choose the latter, there will be reduced revenue for each ad. The potential will be high but every link will give you less income.

After you choose the ads, you can opt for the colors to go with your Website. I recommend you to select colors which blend well with the site. You might think of using contrasting colors in order to catch attention easily but if the colors don’t go well with the site, it will create an eyesore. For Wordpress users, there is a plugin available which is simple to install. For blogs which use Movable Type, be wary of the script, I faced some problems there. You also get to approve each link personally but you won’t be bothered by this much because you probably check your site everyday. If there is something wrong there, you will notice it immediately.

So that’s it. Once the script gets installed, your site will get listed on Text Link Ads website. Every time a link gets sold you will receive an email also the money will be deposited in your PayPal account.

If you are still skeptical about this, check out the Link Worth Calculator on the Text Link Ads Website. It will give you an idea about how much is the worth of a link on your site. Link placement matters too! So you will have to make sure you put them in the right place to make plenty of money.

I think that Text Link Ads is the greatest revolutions ever in SEO space because you get combination of both – exposure through links that are put on strategic Websites that relate to your field and you get link value. When you are looking to get some links in front of search engines so that they can find you and learn a bit about your Website, Text Link Ads gives you the ability to do that and you can also drive traffic to your Website through it.

Finally, I thought the Text Link Ads has a good customer service. They take good care of you, if you want to move your links. Text Link Ads is great from customer service point of view. If you are looking for text links, this is the place for you.

So, I tried to think beyond the uninteresting, usual ideas and stepped into the ocean. I came up with 3 unusual ways to attract people to visit your blog. These aren’t very thoughtful ones because you see them daily. However, you don’t use it as a source of promotion of your blog.

Alright. Enough of mysterious talks, let’s discuss the three ways. Okay wait! Remember, I said DISCUSS, and not just listen. I will come back to this point during conclusion.

1. Misspell some words

   Do it purposely. After writing the content of your post, select few words that are commonly misspelled and misspell them. You are getting it, right? Okay. So, do it and watch how the traffic pours into your blog. You will also find numerous comments under your post correcting you. Okay, I know it’s quite unethical to do such stuff just to attract traffic. I am not asking you to do it often. Do it once and for god’s sake, don’t do it if it’s your first article.

   Maybe you will be surprised noticing the traffic directed toward the misspelled blog post. And you will feel like writing another misspelled article. Don’t do it. If this happens a number of times, people will doubt your vocabulary and would never re-visit your site.

2. Video Blogging

   This is an easy one. All you need is a video editing software, a web cam, and a Youtube account. You don’t need anything else, that is, after assuming you have good imagination. A tinge of humor, beautiful looks, pleasant quotes, or unmatched sound would be an added advantage.

   What do you do with this webcam? Switch it on and start talking. The echelon of simplicity or complexity would depend on the niche and obviously you. You can opt to show the demo of a product or a service, if you are a reviewer. Or you could simply talk. Do something that people really want to see. Warning: Don’t start stripping, you may be banned.

   This is far more effective than simply writing text. Such blogs has the potential to reach millions and millions of people through web.

3. Reply to comments, regularly

   If your article is genuinely good, the first-time visitor might or might not revisit your site. However, if he comments, he will definitely revisit the blog to check your reply. If you haven’t posted any reply, chances are rare that he ever want to come again. But if you reply, he will be obliged to return.

   Replying to comments makes the environment quite friendlier and pleases the commenter. Personally, I reply to each and every comment I receive for my posts except the ones with just “great post.” However, I don’t totally avoid them. An occasional ‘thank you’ is the best option.

   Not answering to their questions is possibly the worst thing you could do to your blog. Never do this. Whenever some visitor asks a question, answer them. Even if it means saying, “I am not aware about it. Let me do a research and get back to you.”

Okay. Now this wasn’t a well researched post. I just thought about it for a couple of minutes and started writing. I do believe that these three are effective, in fact very effective ways to attract traffic. Avoid using the first point repeatedly.

Before initiating with these unusual ways, I said let’s DISCUSS. I am sure you might have encountered many such unusual ways that could really pull people to your blog. Let’s DISCUSS them.

While surfing through the jungles of internet, I came across icons-land.com, a website that provides icons for your applications or Websites. Provided your software is useable, these icons will give you value addition to the products. There is a wide collection of icons for toolbars, places, sports, emoticons, transports, multimedia devices, and modern hardware. The icons are designed in Windows Vista style, so this will give you an idea about how cool the icons look. They will be a treat for your eyes in the Windows Vista Aero interface.

Icons-land has cheap high-quality icons in stock. You can visit the Website and get the ones that you like. If you don’t like what you see, then custom design service is also available out there.

There is a set of icons for variety of purposes like Points of Interest (POI), GPS, basic software, weather, etc. A set will cost you around $50-$120 depending on what you are buying and you can also purchase a single icon for $5.

These icons are a good option for developers who are looking for icons for their applications or Websites. I have seen a lot of iPhone apps using icons made by Icons-Land and was pleased with them.

The quality is top notch, it adds to the beauty of the user interface. The icons looked fresh, clear and they use vibrant colors.

Other highlights of this service are:

• Icon formats, which depend on the icon set. You can check the package details that you will be ordering. Mostly, the icons are given in .ico and .png format. The former is for Windows applications whereas the latter is for Websites, Linux applications, mobile phone apps, toolbars and Windows apps.
• Icons are given in Alpha channel+TrueColor. Maximum size of the icons is 256×256. You might need icons in different sizes like 128×128, 96×96, 80×80, 72×72, 64×64, 48×48, 32×32, 24×24, 16×16. You will get icons converted in your preferred size for free!
• Icons, once purchased can be used for unlimited websites and software applications. You buy them, you own them! You can also modify these icons according to your needs. However, you cannot distribute them to any other party for their use.
• The service uses eSellerate for payments. All major credit cards like JCB, American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa are accepted. You can also use PayPal while placing your order.
• Accepted currencies for payments are Swiss Franc, Sweden Krona, South African Rand, Singapore Dollar, Norwegian Krone, New Zealand Dollar, Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollar, Danish Krone, Canadian Dollar, British Pound, Australian Dollar, Euro and US Dollar.

I will be asking all my developer friends to have a look at Icon-land.com for icons on their applications.

WPWebHost is a hosting company which is specialized in WordPress. Their hosting plan is affordable, they have lots of features and customer support staff ensures you don’t get stuck for a long time with any related problems.

The highlights of this service are:

• Stable & fast network and server:
  The Company invests lots of money to make sure the network connections are fast and don’t let you down. Customers are guaranteed 99.5% of server uptime and 99.9% of network uptime.
• One Click Installation for WordPress:
  You can install a new WordPress on your Website through the Control Panel with just one click.
• WordPress Compatible Server:
  The configuration and servers are tailored for WordPress hosting. This gives you maximum performance and best compatibility for each of your WordPress sites.
• Support for WordPress Issues:
  WPWebHost is different from other Web hosting companies. It provides you support for WordPress issues. They provide help with themes, plugins, installation, and configuration issues.

Some of their outstanding features are:

• 99.5% Uptime
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I have hosted several sites so far with Wp WebHost and my experience has been great so far. So what are you waiting for? Come, join me!

Now, it isn’t that I don’t love my blogs. I love them as much as you do. And you know what, I have a secret that helps me to keep going and love my blogs, always. This secret can be used by you as well, when you feel low or uninterested.

Happiness

No, I am not a psychologist or a spiritual teacher. But I have learned one thing for sure that if you are happy, you are a good blogger. Don’t believe me? Try this. Write an article when you are very happy and post it. Keep writing and keep a note of which articles you wrote while you were happy. There will come a time when you aren’t quite happy or simply sad due to some reasons. Write an article and post it. You don’t really have to keep of note of this article because you will be reminded constantly by your readers through comments about the awfulness.

Yippee! It’s work time

In my opinion, blogging is a pretty cool work to do. Actually, I wouldn’t term it as ‘work’. It’s all about sharing, interacting, appreciating, and learning. And these things are best done when you are happy. Generally, except those sad days, I am quite excited to blog even before I switch on my desktop. It’s not work, it’s fun.

Future Envision

I left my job to take up blogging as my career. I hate the idea of working in an office or anywhere else to earn money. I didn’t want to sit a glass cabin and tally the balance sheet for the rest of my life. It was possible for me to quit because I saw the future. I asked myself how I would like to see my blog six months from now. I smiled. What about a year? I smiled again. That was my goal. And since that day, I haven’t stopped thinking about my aim and targets.

Everyday, before switching on my PC, I think about my goal, I think about my career. And guess what? I don’t need any other motivation to keep myself going. I work harder and happier.

However, I am talking about times, when you don’t feel like working because you aren’t happy. Here are some tips you can apply then. Or may be everyday.

Get ready to work

1. Pumping Music:
   For me, this is the best motivator, especially when I am a bit low. I listen to a couple of numbers that helps me get pumped up. Without this daily dose of music, I don’t feel quite ready to get started.
2. Boost your ego:
   I am not asking you to be very egoist one. However, you need to boost your ego when things aren’t going in the right direction. When I need it, I read the emails sent by readers or some very good comments that make me feel better about my work. This is necessary when you are down.
3. Celebrate every small success:
   The best way to keep going is celebrate and enjoy everything. If 4 readers subscribed for your blog overnight, rejoice and congratulate yourself. If your post receives 19 comments, jump and dance. Make a big deal about every small pleasure. If you won’t do it, slowly but surely, you become greedy. After some months, even 100 comments won’t satisfy you. Be content, be happy.
4. A Daily To-Do List:
   Make a to-do list for each day. Put down all the things that needs to be done, on paper. Include every small detail. I make a list every night for the coming day. And trust me, nothing is as motivating as check off something as done in your list. This will ensure that you are going in the right direction and working toward achieving your goal.
5. Your Role Model:
   Sometimes, when a pumping track or an ego boost doesn’t seem to work, I think about the person whom I admire. There are numerous such people in the world who are known for their success achievement. Pick any one of them and strive to be as successful as him.

What if you aren’t still happy?

How do you feel when you start working? Are you happy? Do you fell excited about your work or feel frustrated? If you don’t feel much good about your work, try these tips which I just mentioned.

Even after trying these things you can’t get interested, try a comprehensive self analysis and find out whether it’s blogging that you like or something else. It’s better to quit rather than doing something uninterestingly. In most of the cases, blogging isn’t the problem. It’s just the wrong topic.

What about you?

The whole article is my experience and my ways to get ready for work. It’s your turn now. How do you get ready for work? Do you get excited before starting your work or is it just a routine? Or do you have any better ways to get motivated and happy? We all work so differently, I am sure you have ample of ideas.