Well, I’ve got the blog working in both browsers now. The basics are done, I think. I’m still working on it though. Still need to finish tweaking the comment display, but at least they’re working now. Today they were pretty much hosed while I was working on that part of the wordpress theme.
I did figure out how to get rounded corners in both IE and Firefox. The Firefox fix should work in some other browsers. For the IE version I have to thank Zach Beane for the work he did on Cornershop. That’s where I started on the new layout. I’ll probably be using it a bit more.
I hope to get this done soon so I can get back to talking about the trivial stuff. 
The small amount of tweaking I started on the site has turned into a redesign. I’m doin’ my best with it. It’s still unfinished, but it looks ok in IE. Firefox doesn’t agree. Ugh. I’m tempted to just slap a banner on it that says “Site viewed best in Internet Explorer”, but I just can’t do it.
Anyone got any tips for matching Firefox’s display to IE?
Thanks to a few suggestions I’m trying to tweak the site design. I’m trying to add a bit more color. I’m also trying to make a few other adjustments.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment. I’d really appreciate it.
Please, let me know what you think about the adjustments.
Ok, I saw this and had to post it. I love this. I’m gonna have to see if they ship to the States. They have lots of Doctor Who stuff as well as other geeky interests.
Dalek bath & shower gel. Wow, the only way that could be any cooler would be if it was a pump bottle with gel squirting out of one of the weapon/antennae things.
They also have a Cyberman voice changer helmet, a radio controlled talking K-9 and of course, a sonic screwdriver.
I’d love to get that Cyberman helmet. Those are my favorite Whoborgs. Yeah, I know Daleks are cool too. What can I say? I like the Cybermen.
Yeah, sounds kinda weird huh? I think it’s a great idea though. Pick your fandom, anime, comics, games or books. They’re all expensive. Any way you can save a little bit of money, so you can buy more stuff, is always cool.
Coupon Chief can help you save that money. I was looking around over there. They’ve got coupons for a tons of stores. The page listing the stores is huge. I’ve bookmarked it. I’m gonna have to spend some time looking through there. I already found a couple places I know I’ll be spending money at. Amazon coupons are great of course, who doesn’t shop there? Zappos is another one I’ll probably be using. That’s where my gf gets her shoes. Yeah, a woman that doesn’t like to spend all day shopping for shoes, I’m so lucky.
Check it out. With all the online shopping coupons they have, you’ll definitely find some you can use.
Shoot, here’s a few ideas for ya. Cosplayers could save money at Joann.com, that is an expensive fandom. Computer geeks, like myself, can get some deals at mwave. They’ve got good prices already, this makes ‘em better. Even the trendy kids can find something, they’ve got Hot Topic coupon codes. It’s hard enough being emo. If your friends saw you using a coupon in the store, LiveJournal would probably crash. Better play it safe and shop online.
Seriously, if I can save money on that kind of stuff I’m going to do it. Manga alone puts a hurtin’ on my wallet. I need all the help I can get.
I’ve decided to share the memorial band. I made it after reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I still don’t want to get too spoilerish, but it’s safe for people to assume there would be a battle at Hogwarts. After all it was the first place both Harry and Tom Riddle felt at home. it’s important to both of them.
The band is made for a light background. it looks jagged on a dark background.
Here’s the graphic.
Here’s the code I use with it. Yeah, it’s not perfect. You might need to tweak it for your site.
CSS
#hanger {
float: left;
position: absolute;
top: -49px;
left: -149px;
height: 240px;
width: 255px;
background-image: url(http://www.yoursite.com/graphic.url) ;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
border-width: 1px;
border: none none none none ;
border-color:#00C000;
}
HTML to include in your page.
Just an empty Div with id=”hanger”.
A disturbance in the Force.
After signing up with other post sponsors, I figured I’d give PayPerPost a shot. I did some reading about it first. Wow. A lot of people really went spazzo when it launched. Completely ignoring the fact that people can choose what to write on their own darn blogs, there were cries of outrage. Why all the fuss? I have no idea. PayPerPost is pretty upfront about their word of mouth ethics.
I guess there are people who think blogs have some sort of divine purity and that ads on blogs are some sort of desecration. Those people were mostly bloggers. Funny coincidence huh? Well, if they can afford hosting without ads, good for them. Though, come to think of it, quite a few of them did have ads. Ah well, their blog, their choice.
I figured if they tried to tell me what to write, I’d just quit. It’s not like I really have anything to lose. If I can’t find opportunities I’d write about anyway, I’m no worse off than I was before. Right?
I doubt that will be a problem. Much like the others I signed up for, I can choose what I want to write about. That even applies to the buttons on the sidebar. If someone wants to hire me specifically, that’s great. If it’s something that doesn’t belong on here, I’d just have to reject it. Though, I can’t see that being a problem just yet.
How PayPerPost works.
- Sign up and look around.
After you sign up you can browse the opportunities. Make sure to check and see what the sponsor is looking for. Sometimes they might want something you don’t want to write. If so, skip it.
- Start writing.
If you see something you want to write about, and if you qualify for it, you write up your post. PayPerPost checks to make sure it fits what the ad is looking for, and approves it or not.
- Get Paid, hopefully.
Once it’s approved, you wait 30 days for payment. Sounds like a long time right? It’s not really. It’s just a precaution to make sure everyone is happy with it. If there are any disputes over the post it can be taken care of in that time.
Things to remember.
PayPerPost wants honest bloggers. You have to disclose sponsored posts. If anyone tries to hide that, they can get kicked out. That goes for sponsors too. Sponsors trying to get bloggers to hide disclosure can be banned. I was very happy to hear that.
Read the guidelines.
PayPerPost can be a bit picky. You can’t write just sponsored posts. That’ll get you kicked out too.
Ok, I just finished book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you plan to read it and haven’t done so yet, get started. There are a lot of things in that book that people won’t be able to keep quiet about for long. So if you’ve avoided spoilers so far, you’d better hurry up.
I’ll be doing my review later on. I want to leave a window for those who haven’t finished it yet to catch up.
Oh, and don’t worry about my previous book 7 post. For those who may not have gotten the joke, it was just a humor post. There are no spoilers in it.
The Alexa rank is second only to Google page rank when it comes to measuring a site. People seem to have a lot of questions about Alexa. I’ll try to answer the questions that I’ve seen asked the most. The answers may surprise you.
- What is Alexa measuring anyway?
Alexa measures visits to your site. Sounds great so far, build traffic and get a better ranking right? No. It measures visits to your site, but only people with the Alexa toolbar installed count. If you don’t run a site about SEO or webmaster related topics, you won’t get very many readers with the toolbar installed.
- Should I be worried about my Alexa ranking?
No, not really. Unless you offer paid posts on your site, it’s meaningless. A lot of the better paying advertisers that use sponsored posting programs want a high Google PR and a low Alexa rank. I’m sure that makes sense, at least to them, since there are so few verifiable ways to measure a site’s worth to the potential advertiser. Even if you do offer sponsored posts to support your site, like I do, it might not matter too much. Your site will do a lot better, and probably make more money, if you focus on more important things. Content, site design and promotion, are far more important to you than Alexa.
- How can you get a better Alexa ranking?
Ask your readers to install the Alexa toolbar. This is your best option, and it’s even better now that Alexa supports Firefox. You can even get a custom toolbar for your readers. Alexa will let you offer your readers a toolbar with a custom graphic supplied by you. An added bonus for Amazon affiliates, if someone with your custom toolbar installed makes a purchase at Amazon you get a commission. That’s why I’m going to offer a custom toolbar in the near future.
There’s some speculation that posting an Alexa widget on your site will count the visitors without the toolbar. I have no idea if it works. I added one to this site’s footer to check it out.
Update:
- The Alexa widget does work. It counts everyone who visits your site, as long as the Alexa image loads. So your visitors don’t need to have the toolbar installed.
My thoughts.
If you write sponsored posts then improving your Alexa rank and your Google PR are probably in your best interest. Don’t start stressing out about it though. The best way to improve your rankings is to make your site or blog the best it can be. The only thing you really have control of is your site. Put good quality content on there and keep it updated. Make your site easy to use. Try to make it as appealing as possible to readers. If it’s something people want to read, the rankings will be good.
I’d also like to give a shout out to JohnCow.com who got me thinking about this. You might want to read his post titled ” Boost Your Alexa Rank Today “.
It’s been very hard to avoid spoilers this time. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series according to J.K. Rowling, is set to be released tonight at midnight. The witching hour is getting closer and avoiding spoilers for these last few hours is crucial.
Here are 7 steps to avoid spoilers.
- Don’t answer the door.
Oh, they say they’re just Jehovah’s Witnesses, but they’re trying to ruin it for you. I’ve practiced a very effective karate chop to the throat for just such an occasion.
- Talk to no one.
That means co-workers, friends or family. You never know who’s been on the Internet. Everyone is a possible source of unwanted information.
- No radio.
Radio personalties get paid to be controversial. Careers could be made overnight if they let something slip.
- No TV.
Especially the news. “Evening News” is a code phrase for spoiler factory. Stay away from it.
- No Internet.
That’s where spoilers are born. Log out now for your own sake.
- Read nothing.
No magazines, no letters and no e-mail. Nothing. Why are you still reading?!?
- The most important step of all.
Snape is Harry’s father.
Aaaahhhh!
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