With Facebook lists and individual sharing settings for each update and photos, its now very easy to share what you want with certain people and hide it from others.

Although its been quite some time since the social network introduced these features, people still come to me asking for help as they think with new developments, they’re lost in the UI as Facebook’s become too complicated for them. So I decided to write about how anyone can use these great features easily.

The first thing you need to do is sort your existing friends list into individual lists e.g. I wanted to make two lists – one with friends that I actually knew in person and wanted to share personal updates with and another list with people that were online connections & clients, people that I wanted to maintain a formal relationship with and not share personal updates, photos etc. with.

To do this, click on the ‘Friends’ link on your Timeline profile, just below your profile name. You’ll now see all your friends listed out. When you hover your mouse over one of your friends, you’ll see a popup like the one in the below screenshot.

When you hover over the ‘Friends’ tab, you’ll see another balloon showing all the lists available; with the one connected with that particular friend marked by a tick. To create a new list, click on the ‘Show all lists’ link at the bottom of the balloon menu, just above the ‘Unfriend’ link. So you can either use the default lists like family etc. offered by facebook or create your own.

Now you need to go to each friend and tick mark the list that you would like he or she to belong to.

When adding new friends or accepting friend invites, use the balloon menu to select a specific list for your new connection as shown below.

Now that all your lists are in place, you’re ready to post an update visible only to a specific group of your choice.

To post something, enter your update in the status area. Then use the ‘Public’ tab to select the list you want to share this particular update with from the balloon menu before clicking the ‘Post’ button. This way, your update will only be visible to the people you wish to share it with!

Even when you upload new photo albums, you’ll see the ‘Public’ tab at the bottom of the page that lets you select your audience.

I hope this is helpful for those who until now had heard of these features but have had trouble using them effectively! I welcome your comments.

#1 Down for everyone or just me?

You must have come across situtations where a particular site or your own website seems to be down or not accessible from your computer. In such situations, instead of panicking, wondering whether its actually down or there’s a problem with your browser, head to http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/. This is a simple and fast tool that lets you check whether or not your site is up. It’s a real time-saver.

#2 Feng-GUI

Feng-GUI is all about testing the performance of advertisements, or call-to-actions on a webpage based on the analysis of how a visitor ‘looks’ at your site. This is crucial because the success of your online campaigns entirely depends upon how well you grab the attention of your visitors.

#3 Tagul

Tagul is an online tool that lets you create beautiful tag clouds as opposed to the ugly ones that come with every WP theme. With this tool you can create tag clouds in shapes that go with your blog theme.

#4 Mailcounter

There are several plugins out there to give your users the option to email an article to a friend but if you rather not use a plugin or if your website is a custom coded one, here’s a simple way to add the “Email article to friend” feature to your site. This code opens up the default email program on your machine with a message sharing the article.

#5 Bit.ly

Bitly lets you shorten your URLs. This is very useful when you publish an article with a keyword rich long title that looks quite ugly when posted on a social network. Bitly also tracks & analyses your links helping you understand how your links are performing.

Are there any useful tools you’d like to share?

Though using Adsense or any other program on your corporate website isn’t a good idea because your company site is all about your brand identity and about making a professional business impression, we definitely recommend it for use on personal and other blogs.

Here’s a roundup of how to set up Google Adsense on your site, along with its advantages & disadvantages.

Adding Google Adsense to your site is simple. here’s how to set it up:

Step 1:

Go to google.com/adsense
Sign up for a Google Adsense account. For sign up, you’ll need following information: Your Google account credentials, website language, your name, address and phone number. Activate your Account.

Step 2:

Once activated, you can go to your ‘My Ads’ tab as shown in the above screenshot, and set up ad units based on-
1. Sizes that fit well on your website’ sidebar or under your posts etc.
2. Type of ads: Text or Media based or both

Step 3:

For each ad unit, Adsense will generate a code. You need to copy and paste this code into your website templates depending on where you want them to show up. Once you add the code, it may take a couple of minutes for the ads to start showing up. You can use the same ad unit on as many websites as you want.

Remember, once you earn your first $10, Google will ask you to verify your address by requesting a pin. Upon verification, Google will start sending you cheques only after you make $100.

Why You Should Use it

It’s FREE earning. If you already have a site, installing Adsense is extremely simple. And even though many blogs make money through this program quite slowly, you’re not investing anything. Even if you make a 100 bucks in a couple of months or more, you’ve got nothing to lose. It’s a win-win.

Also, for certain kinds of blogs, Google ads might even help give your visitors information related to your site/area of expertise making your website more resourceful.

There are a few other companies offering Adsense alternatives like Pod Ads, Chitika etc. however let’s face it, you’re never going to trust these services over Google. Atleast not me.

Known Issues

The program does have some problems just like any other program but I still think it’s the best among the ones available out there. One issue a client of mine as well as personally I faced was with the address verification. Even after requesting a pin to my address 3 times (their max limit), I did not receive it.

This was also frustrating because Google enforces a significant time gap between any two attempts made to request a pin. Once I ran out of the 3 allowed attempts however I was asked to simply email them an scanned address proof.

This worked so fast I felt it was what they should have asked for in the first place! More than a few people I know have had a similar experience.

Tell us, have you used Google Adsense? What’s your experience? Is it working for you?

1. SkillShare

Skillshare is an online marketplace for offline classes. The creaters’ vision is to increase the global passion index by building a new world of education. Here you can offer and take classes belonging to a range of streams.

In the last eight months, thousands of teachers have used Skillshare to teach more than 15,000 hours of classes. A few have even quit their jobs to teach Skillshare classes full-time, according to Mashable.

What started only for classes in New York City, is now spread to San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere.
Definitely something to watch out for.

2. JetPitch

Jet Pitch connects companies with world class candidates from colleges across America bridging the gap between recruiters and candidates. Jet Pitch is built on the mission of connecting talented candidates with promising career opportunities no matter where the candidate is located.

3. Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a great tool to spread the word about your event. It helps you customize and publish a professional online event registration page, offer easy online registration, enable professional ticketing, use powerful event promotion tools to raise awareness and increase attendance. It even lets you sell from your own site!

Do you know any start-ups that you would like to add to this list? Maybe your own?
Send us information about it and we’ll showcase it here.

Lightboxes are basically jquery scripted pop-ups that you can show either when a page loads etc. or on a mouse event. These definitely help when you don’t want the user to have to scroll up and down to click on the available links and then to read content connected with that link.

I tried out several scripts and finally chose the Fancybox which I think is by far the best of what’s available. You can get it for free here.
Here’s my example of a Fancybox that displays an image and some text content.

Another feature my client required was to display FLV and other videos inside the lightboxes. After a lot of research I concluded that the HD FLV Player is what I was looking for. The player supports both HTML5 & Flash player and has a premium as well as a free version. The premium version offers additional features for branding, advertising, skin options etc.

With a little bit of work, I clubbed both to have a link open a fancybox with a video in it.

Below is a screenshot of what I set up:

If you want to display zoomed in photographs, forms, details of a product or videos on your website, I think you should definitely check out Fancybox & HD FLV Player to see how they can help. Fancyboxes are the way to go when you need content displayed in a stylish manner!

CommentLuv: Scroll down to the ‘Comments’ section under this post.
Pay with a Tweet demo

CommentLuv

CommentLuv is a very effective tool to encourage visitors to comment on your site. The plugin lets your commenters choose & get a link back to one of the 10 latest blog posts published on their own site. No need to mention how important backlinks to a site are.

You can either offer this feature to all your commenters or choose to offer it only to registered users and display a message like ‘If you register as a user on my site, you can get your 10 most recent blog posts to choose from in this box’ when a visitor is commenting (included in the free version). Non-registered users in that case will get a link back to the latest article on their site by default, without an option to choose the post they want to share.

It also offers your commenters an option to get a link back to their Twitter account (premium feature).

The premium version offers the following additional features:
- Integrated anti spam measures that prevent almost 100% of botspam
- Dofollow readers links with advanced rules so you look after your most loyal readers
- Unique social enticements which helps your posts to go viral on Twitter, facebook and Google+
- Improved version of Keywordluv with much tighter control over who gets to use keywords
- Exclusive top commentators widget with advanced display control
- Dashboard and advanced stats that show you where your links are getting clicked

Even if you’re not ready for the premium version, you should definitely try out the free one as it’s a proven way to get more comments on your site.

More information
Download plugin from wordpress.com

Pay with a Tweet

This is an amazing tool that helps you get your visitors to share links to your posts or site using their Facebook & Twitter accounts.

How this works is you offer your visitors something in return if they share a link to your site. This way, you basically get your visitors to get the word around whenever you post something. Your visitors’ connections in turn visit your site and share your link again and so on.

The tool’s site looks pretty basic but works like a charm. Plus, there’s no plugin to be installed. The site simply generates a button script for you to add into your post html and you’re done!

More information
 

I hope these lighten up your time on the computer! Happy holidays everyone!

Click the button below to tweet or post an update to share this with your friends and start the download:

Here are 3 things you definitely need to avoid:

Don’t Do Something You Know Nothing About

Unless you have experience developing a website, do not design your website yourself!

This is a common mistake. People sometimes approach us with designs done in Paint or Photoshop and want them converted into a working website. This is a problem because, a website can not be designed like a billboard. You need a professional or need to have some web development knowledge to create a design that is right for the web in terms of fonts, images, dimensions and a lot more.

Many times we are even approached with designs that are REALLY bad! Don’t try to do everything yourself. Hire someone who is an expert and knows what he’s doing. And then give the expert some creative freedom. See what he comes up with based on correct designing guidelines, norms and trends. Otherwise, your lack of knowledge about the field might hold you back from getting a stunning website built for yourself.

Don’t Start Off Clueless

Before starting, build a List of Must-haves and Nice-to-haves. The Must-haves are the features you just can not do without. These could include features like newsletter subscriptions, option to login with Facebook or Twitter, ability to make changes on the website yourself etc.

Nice-to-haves are features that you would like to have on your website but could do without depending on complexity and cost. Make sure you share these two lists with your designer before going ahead.

Don’t Ignore Your Logo

To save on cost, some people approach us, saying they need a website and they don’t have a logo but don’t want to spend on a logo design. Opposed to our advice, they insist on instead simply putting their business name in text form in a color of their choice and use it as their logo. This is a huge mistake. Even if you’re budget is low, you should never ignore the importance of a business logo and launch your website without giving it much thought. People think they can start off with a text logo and then later get it designed when they’re ready to spend more but your website’s first impression is EVERYTHING for people who visit your website. A business logo is not only your company’s identity but it’s also a symbol that you want your potential clients to remember you by. If what you need them to remember is not up to the mark and memorable, it can totally damage your online campaign.

I hope these tips help!
Feel free to share your comments and tips with us!
 

Here’s are a few tips to help you get your blog designed in a way that makes it special:

1: Make your standard template your own

When it comes to getting your blog up fast, there is no such thing as a completely original template. Most themes are built by making changes to existing themes so you do not have to start from scratch.

If you’re going to hire a professional, then work with him to find a template that comes closest to your vision of the site. Then discuss with him clearly about the kind of customizations that can be done, before starting the project.

Don’t just think about your website banner; the feature to change that is built into almost all existing themes. There are several other (usually overlooked) changes to consider e.g. link colors, menu & footer colors, any other special features you wish to have on individual web pages or posts.

Ask your designer about all this before hiring him; because if you don’t, it can lead to problems later on when he cannot make the changes you envisioned & require.

2. Clearly state the purpose of your blog

Make sure your blog header has a title and subtitle that make it clear who you are and what you intend to write about. First-time visitors to your blog will leave right away in case they can’t quickly understand what you’re site is all about.

3. Navigation menu

If your theme doesn’t already have one, make sure you can add a navigation menu just below the header. Here you can provide links to pages other than your blog posts e.g. About me, FAQ, contact etc.

4. Place important information “above the fold.”

Put important information such as more about you, your e-mail, sign in/log in links, search functions, RSS feed subscription link social media links, and any calls to action in the top half of your blog page, so that your readers will be able to see it as soon as the page loads without having to scroll down.

Got your tips to share? Please add them in comments below!
 

Here’s a set of 8 different shadows you can use in your web projects. Be it your homepage banner or sidebar widget boxes, these shadows are great to make your site layout look professional in no time.

Click the button below to tweet or post an update to share this with your friends and start the download: