Recent Posts with Thumbnails Widget for Blogger

This post explains how to add Recent Posts widget in Blogger with image thumbnails:

Yesterday, when I was working on my new Magazine style wordpress to Blogger template conversion (I'll release the template tomorrow)
..this idea popped up in my mind. This feature is also requested so many times here.. so, here we go..
After many trial n errors, I finally did it!

Features:
Thumbails to Recent Posts
Comment Count

So, let's see how to install this cool widget in your blog..

1. Sign into Blogger dashboard
2. Go to Layout » Add a gadget » html/javascript

3. Just copy and paste this code..




Explanation:

(Edit the values to fit your blog)

boxwidth - Width of the widgetcellspacing - Space between cells (default one is good)
borderColor - Border color (add the background color of your template to perfectly blend it in the template)
thumbwidth & thumbheight - Width and Height of the thumbnail (default are good)fntsize - Font size of the titleacolor - Color of the titleaBold - you want bold titles? (true or false)
numposts - How many posts you want to show?
home_page : http://schemar-mag.blogspot.com/ (change this to your blog url)
This script is currently hosted in my server ( http://myblogtalk.com/bloggertemplates/js/recentposts_thumbnail.js ).
But, it is STRONGLY Recommended to download the script and upload to your own hosting (google for free javascripts hosts) and replace that url with yours.

4. Last but not the least.. Save the Changes.

That's it guys!

Note : Make sure you selected YES in Settings » Site Feed » Full » Allow Blog Feeds

How to get Free One Way Backlinks to your site

One way backlinks are very critical to any website success. The more one way backlinks pointing to your site, the more your Google Pagerank and the more amount of traffic you will get. This should also increase your sales,etc.
But the thing is.. getting the right and quality one way backlinks from high pagerank sites is not an easy task, and in this article, we'll find out some of the best ways to get free one way backlinks:

1. Try to write as much quality content as you can... that will encourage the readers to link to your site. The more useful, informative content you post, the more likely people are to link it. But, this method can take a while to really pay off because like all the new websites, you don't get much traffic.

2. Write quality articles and submit them to top article directories like ezinearticles and goarticles. The advantage in this is, you'll not only get a backlink from high pagerank directories, but also you'll find that your articles are used on other people's sites with a backlink to your site.

3. Participate in forums,discussion boards that are related to your website's niche and add a link to your site in the signature. Make sure that you write quality posts, don't spam. This will also help you get some decent traffic to your site.

4. There is absolutely nothing wrong to get a backlink from a related blog post you decide to comment on. This is one of the effective way of one way link building especially if you comment often on blogs. Comment on blogs related to your niche with a link back to your site as your signature.. and Again, make sure you never spam.

5. Submit your site link to major, well known web directories. Getting listed in directories related to your site not only bring you tons of targetted traffic, but will also improve your search engine rankings. Some of the popular directories to get listed in are DMOZ directory and Yahoo directory. You can submit your link to both paid and free directories and they worth your time.

Useful Widgets,Add-Ons & Tools for Your Blog,Website

Adding Widgets, Add-Ons & tools to your blog is not just a lot of fun for your blog readers, but can also be very useful and help you to create a community for your blog or even a loyal reader base.

Here's a collection of best and most useful blog widgets or add-ons that can be easily integrated with any website/blog. All these below add-ons are 100% Free and they are very easy to install.

Outbrain Star Ratings Widget: Very eager to know what your readers think about your posts?
Here is a cool star rating widget by Outbrain. The insttallation is very simple,
just follow the step by step instructions on their site.

ShareThis or AddThis : Sharethis or Addthis social bookmarking buttons makes it easy for your visitors to share your content with others. It is a good way to increase your link popularity and publicity. Their nice css dropdown icons reduces the clutter on your pages and eliminates the need to add a different button for each social bookmarking service.


whos.amung.us : This is a real time visitor tracking widget and displays
the number of people currently on your site and what pages they are
reading. You don't need any sign-up's to grab this widget.

Web2PDF Online : With this widget installed, your visitors can easily download
your articles in PDF format with just a click. The downloaded PDF's are
free of any advertising and you can get full access to download stats,etc.

ZOHO Creator: With Zoho Creator, you can create professional online
contact forms/web forums in minutes. The good things about this is
there are no data limits and readers can also upload attachments while
submitting the form.

Google Talk Badge: Google Talk Badge will let your visitors to
chat with you.The badge will active whenever you sign in to
Googletalk. The nice thing is your visitors can chat with you even
if they don't have a google account.

Yahoo Media Player: With this very useful widget, you can easily add a simple media player to your blog which can auto detect mp3 links and create an embedded player. This tool is very useful for especially audio,music blogs.


Cbox: Cbox or Chatbox is a chat widget which can be easily embedded
in any web page. It is free and have many features including message
history, spam blocking,etc. It can be easily customizable to fit your
blog layout.

Google Translate: This widget lets your non-English speaking
visitors to quickly translate your webpage in their native
language with just a single click.