Cool Links

MonkeyJar (http://www.monkeyjar.com)
Affiliate shopping network

Drop.io (http://www.drop.io)
Large file sharing website

Easy Extract (http://www.easyextract.me/)
Pull all of the links from a single webpage

Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com)
Easy way to share files among computers

OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org)
Free Microsoft Office Alternative

Paint.net (http://www.paint.net)
Free Adobe Photoshop Alternative

Pidgin (http://www.pidgin.im/)
Universal Instant Message Client

SeaMonkey (http://www.seamonkey-project.org/)
All-in-one Internet Application Suite

Filezilla (http://filezilla-project.org/)
Free FTP Solution

PixelPipe (http://pixelpipe.com/)
Auto-submit for social media

Website Grader (http://grader.com)
Grade your website

Webscale (http://www.webscale.com)
Measure your website keywords

Namechk (http://www.namechk.com)
Check username availability on social network sites

Dynamic Toolbar (http://www.dynamictoolbar.com/)
Custom toolbar

Conduit (http://www.conduit.com/)
Custom toolbar

Cleverbridge (http://www.cleverbridge.com/)
Online e-commerce platform

Fastspring (http://www.fastspring.com/)
Online e-commerce platform

Mail Chimp (http://www.mailchimp.com)
Low cost email program , offered free for 500 subscribers

Project Cartoon (http://www.projectcartoon.com)
Project Management Parody

TinEye (http://www.tineye.com)
Duplicate Image Finder

CLKR (http://www.clkr.com)
Royalty Free Images

Picol (http://www.picol.org/icon_library.php)
Royalty Free Icon Images

Klout (http://www.klout.com)
Social Media Clout Measurement

Revealing Detailed Error Messages With GoDaddy Hosting

As a part of our effort to help the developer community with common “gotchas”, we like to openly share quick fixes to problems we’ve encountered.

For security reasons, detailed error messages are disabled by default on Windows GoDaddy Hosting.  Instead of a detailed error message, you would receive only an Error 500 message.  Unfortunately, the instructions currently listed in the GoDaddy Knowledge Base do not resolve this issue.

The solution is to modify the Web.Config file to include the following:

<httpErrors errorMode=”Detailed” >
</httpErrors>
<asp scriptErrorSentToBrowser=”true”/>

Specifically:

<configuration>
<system.webServer>
<httpErrors errorMode=”Detailed” >
</httpErrors>
<asp scriptErrorSentToBrowser=”true”/>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>

Best Software For Windows

CNet just announced the best software programs for Windows operating systems … some good picks here !

Antivirus software: Avira Antivir
Diagnostic software: CCleaner
Encryption software: TrueCrypt
FTP software: FileZilla
Internet security suite: ESET Smart Security
Media management: Picasa 3
Office suite: OpenOffice
PDF reader: Foxit Reader
Screen capture: SnagIt 9
Spyware removers: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
System utilities: Smart Defrag
Video Jukebox: Miro

Keys To Success

Ted.com, one of my favorite rich media websites, recently posted a follow up by Richard St. John entitled “Success is a Continuous Journey“.  It is a follow up to St. John’s previous speech about the Secrets of Success, which are:

  1. passion- be passionate about what you do
  2. work – work hard
  3. focus – be focused
  4. push – push yourself
  5. ideas – develop ideas
  6. improve – always improve yourself
  7. serve – serve others things they value first, the money will follow naturally
  8. persist – be persistent

In his latest video presentation listed on Ted.com, St. John talks about how once success is achieved, the natural reaction is to relax.  But, in fact, success requires you to continually embrace the steps that initially brought you to success.

Blog Search Engines : Getting Visibility For Your Blog

Many of my friends, colleagues, and clients have been asking “Ok Scott, I’ve created a blog.  Now how do I get people to visit it?”

There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog.  One is to list your blog, and the RSS feed of your blog, with Blog Search Engines.  Blog Search Engines are just like traditional search engines, except the specialize in blog content.

Here are a few tips when submitting your blog to Blog Search Engines:

  1. Only use those that allow free submissions.  There is really no reason to pay for a submission to a blog search engine.
  2. Always list the domain name of your blog, not the URL of the 3rd party blog provider.  For example, I list “http://www.scottgordon.com”, not “http://swgordon.wordpress.com”.   Why?  Because I own and control www.scottgordon.com.  I’m want to drive traffic to ScottGordon.com (the domain I own), not wordpress.com – which I don’t own.  And, if I decide to change blog providers (from wordpress to blogspot, for example), these listing will follow me.
  3. Whenever possible, add your blog RSS feed as well.  Follow rule #2, and use your domain name as well.  For example, use http://www.scottgordon.com/feed/ instead of http://swgordon.wordpress.com/feed/ .  And always test the URL of the feed you are submitting before you submit it!

So where do you submit your feed?  Here is a list of Blog Search Engine sites:
2RSS
http://www.2rss.com/

Blogdex
http://www.blogdex.net/
http://blogdex.net/add.asp

Blogdigger
http://www.blogdigger.com/
http://www.blogdigger.com/addFeedForm.jsp

Bloghop
http://www.bloghop.com/search.htm
http://www.bloghop.com/addblog.htm

Blogsearchengine
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/add_link.html

Daypop
http://www.daypop.com/
http://www.daypop.com/info/submit.htm

Eatonweb
http://portal.eatonweb.com/
http://portal.eatonweb.com/register/

Globeofblogs
http://www.globeofblogs.com/

IceRocket
http://www.icerocket.com

Read A Blog
http://www.readablog.com/
http://www.readablog.com/AddFeed.aspx

Sindic8
http://www.syndic8.com/
http://www.syndic8.com/suggest_start.php

Technorati
http://www.technorati.com/

Weblogalot
http://www.weblogalot.com/Ping/