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top ten most weird dish in world

2012-01-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

1. Shirako, Japan
Considering the popularity of caviar—not just in Japan, but worldwide—it’s not outlandish to imagine eating the male counterpart to fish roe. That is, milt—the sperm-filled reproductive glands of male fish (usually cod, anglerfish, or puffer fish). In Japan, it’s called shirako, which translates to “white children.” At best, when cooked, shirako has a creamy, custardesque texture. At worst, it’s an unctuous gooey blob served raw—and eaten proudly by only the most, er, seminal of Japanese diners.

Though many of these culinary ambassadors may seem bizarre to us, they’re often delicacies in their homelands. It’s not always our fault that we find them strange. Ethnic specialties are often made more palatable as they travel overseas. We may think we know everything about a country’s cuisine, but our domestic versions may barely resemble the originals.

2. Lutefisk, Norway

This traditional Norwegian dish is made from air-dried or salted whitefish and lye, the corrosive alkaline used in oven cleaners and drain openers. The trick to making a decent lutefisk is to incubate the fish in the lye solution for just the right amount of time that the fish fats don’t turn into soap. It’s ready when it has a jelly-like consistency—and smells awful. In 2008, more than 3,000 tons of lutefisk were snatched from Norwegian shelves.

3. Kenke, Ghana

It may sound innocent enough—fermented, partially cooked cornmeal—but kenke is one of the planet’s most pungent foods. Ground corn is soaked in water, then allowed to ferment for three days. The kernels are then partially cooked, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed until they reach the consistency of warm, mushy polenta. Kenke is usually served with a stew of crushed tomatoes and pepper.

4. Airag, Mongolia

Mongolia without airag would be like America without Budweiser. Both are mild, slightly acidic alcoholic beverages—but airag is made from fermented mare’s milk. During production, lactobacilli bacteria acidify the milk, and yeasts turn it into a carbonated and moderately alcoholic drink. To get the right consistency, the mix is stirred no less than one thousand times every day. The final product is around 18 proof—stronger than beer but weaker than wine.

5. Trung Vit Lon, Vietnam

Need an aphrodisiac? Try eating a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside. The age of the egg is a matter of regional preference. Northerners often prefer theirs mature, when the chick is old enough to have a beak and claws. Trứng vịt lộn is boiled and eaten in the shell; the broth surrounding the embryo is sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled. Inside, the unborn chick’s bones are firm but tender.

6. Capybara, Brazil

While cooks in Peru and Ecuador are busy serving guinea pig—the meekest of all rodents, known locally as cuy—some Brazilians grill up their larger, meaner cousins, known locally as capivaras. Adult capybaras can grow to four feet in length and weigh 140 pounds. The meat is usually marinated with crushed garlic, onions, pepper, bay leaf, and vinegar for five hours, and served up as a sort of casserole. Capybara was more popular centuries ago, in part because of the Catholic Church’s directive to skip meat on Friday. When European missionaries first encountered the capybara, they classified it as a fish.

7. Black Pudding, England

Black pudding isn’t pudding at all, but a type of sausage made by combining blood with a filler and cooking until it will congeal when cooled. Fillers run the gamut from meat and fat to oatmeal and bread. Traditional British breakfasters indulge their vampiric tendencies with a few slices alongside baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and eggs. They call it a fry-up—and while it’s guaranteed to inflate your cholesterol levels, it does cover many nutritional bases.

8. Boshintang, North and South Korea

Like it or not, in some places man’s best friend is man’s best-tasting friend. On the Korean peninsula, the most common dish involving dog meat is boshintang—a soup featuring meat from the noranke (“yellow dog”), which are raised specifically for human consumption. The meat is boiled with green onion, dropwort, perilla leaves, and perilla seed powder. Despite pressure from international animal rights groups, it’s still reportedly served at more than 6,000 restaurants in South Korea. Figures aren’t available for the north.

9. Muktuk, Greenland

Since roughly the last ice age, Greenland’s Inuits have been harpooning 3,500-pound whales from kayaks in the open ocean. During the brief summer they also hunt narwhals (the so-called “unicorns of the sea,” thanks to their long spiraled tusks). The dish made from the blubber and raw skin is called muktuk—and it’s considered a delicacy. The textured layers consist of the rubbery, hazelnut-flavored skin, the chewy white fat, and in between the two a thin, corklike protective layer (the hardest part to bite through).

10. Tacos de Sesos, Mexico

In a sly inversion of the old adage “The brain is a terrible thing to waste,” Mexicans are proud to serve up tacos de sesos. That’s cow brains—and, strictly speaking, they’re not unhealthy. But gray matter is very high in cholesterol—and according to the medical textbooks, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (a.k.a. mad cow disease) has an incubation period of up to 50 years. Brave this national dish at your own risk.

The No Pants Subway Ride 2011

2012-01-15T06:24:00.000-08:00

The No Pants Subway Ride is annual event staged by Improve Everywhere every January in New York City. The mission started as a small prank with seven guys and has grown into an international celebration of silliness, with dozens of cities around the world participating each year. The idea behind No Pants is simple: Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.

for someone it may be culture shock but participate enjoy it .

Martinez said, "They’re like, why are you wearing no pants? I’m like, ‘it got kinda hot like in the USA’."

"Some people looked with disgust, some people they liked it, they enjoyed it, they smiled, it’s pretty good time," said Petra.

This year in No Pants Subway Ride, 3,500 people participated in New York and thousands more in 48 cities across the globe. But the first ride included 7 participants, all male. One participant entered the train pantless for 7 consecutive stops. They pretended not to notice each other, and if asked claimed that they "just forgot" their pants. On the 8th stop, someone came through with a duffle bag selling pants for $1. No photographs were taken .

Camille Anderson wallpapers

2012-01-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

Megan Fox wallpapers

2011-12-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Malaika at Taiwan Trade Fair

2011-12-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

Bipasha Get Styled at Mad-O-Wat

2011-12-19T05:23:00.000-08:00

Bipasha visits 'Mad-O-Wot' salon to get a new hairstyle from Sapna Bhavnani in Bandra, Mumbai on 19th September 2011

Sunny Leone Big Boss participate's Wallpaper

2011-12-18T04:03:00.000-08:00

Check out her latest happening of Sunny Leone in Big Boss.

Right click on Sunny Leone wallpaper and click on Save it as to save into your PC, enjoy high resolution Sunny leon photos.

Kareena Kapoor-Kareena's wax figure unveiled

2011-12-09T02:16:00.000-08:00

Kareena Kapoor, left, poses next to her wax work at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool, England, on October 27, 2011. Kareena's helping to launch a Bollywood exhibition which will be on show at Madame Tussauds until January 2012. (AP/Tim Hales).

who is well dressed actress

2011-12-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Don 2 Movie HQ Wallpapers Shahrukh, Priyanka

2011-12-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

Malaika Arora Khan Hot Photos in Polo Match Launch Party

2011-12-02T03:13:00.000-08:00

Hottest Photos of Maria Sharapova

2011-07-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

On April 19, 1987, Maria Sharapova was born to parents Yuri and Yelena Sharapova, in western Siberia. When Maria was two years old, her family moved from her birthplace in Nyagan and settled in Sochi-this was yet another move for her parents, who had moved to Ngygen from Belarus the year before Maria was born in order to escape radiation from Chernobyl. Sochi was home to Russian tennis great Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the time-and would soon be the home of another tennis star.

Kim Kardashian’s Sexiest Photoshoot Ever

2011-07-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born on October 21, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is the daughter of the late Robert Kardashian, who was best known for being OJ Simpson’s lawyer during his murder trial.

Dina Pandzic in lingerie

2011-07-24T02:28:00.000-07:00

Dina Pandzic was born on August 18, 1991 in Lukavac, Bosnia. She currently resides in Toronto, Canada. She is a model with two years experience and a student in esthetics. Dina specializes in the following genres: editorial, fashion, fitness, glamour, lifestyle, lingerie, swimwear and implied. She will not do nudes. If expenses are covered, she is open to travel worldwide. Her choice of compensation are through paid assignments only, however, there are special exceptions for very established companies.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara review

2011-07-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

Directed by Farhan's sister Zoya Akhtar and produced under the banner Excel Entertainment, "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" is about a holiday that changes the lives of three best friends - Arjun (Hrithik), Imraan (Farhan) and Kabir's (Abhay) forever.

Kabir, a wealthy young man who works with his father's construction company in Mumbai, is engaged to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin), daughter of a hotelier. Kabir wants to go on an extended bachelor party with his best friends Arjun, and Imraan, before he ties the knot with her and invites them to join him.

London-based Arjun is a financial trader who works at a huge firm. As he grew up without a father and lived a tough life, so his entire focus is to get bigger, better and faster, while Imraan is a copywriter who works at an advertising agency in Delhi.

When Kabir offers to take them on a vacation, Imraan readily agrees, but Arjun is reluctant as he is too tied up in his work. However, after much cajoling he agrees and thus starts their Spain sojourn. All three meet up in Barcelona and set off.

As luck would have it, Laila, played by Katrina Kaif, a bohemian fashion student from London is also there. She takes time off to teach diving every year and this time she decided to do it in Spain, where she meets Arjun, Imraan and Kabir.

First thing’s first, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has all the ingredients to make one travel to his past. The film, a take on growing up, becoming a man by taking on responsibilities is sensibly written and shot by Zoya. In a way, all it tells is living the moment as if there’s no tomorrow by seizing it.

The film is not just a trip to Spain but it is the journey of each soul, who is involved in it. Thorough banters between Farhan and Hrithik only tell about the serious emotional issues and doubts that they need to overcome. Though the first half is low on drama and restless as the protagonists travel in and out of their hotels, the film is a free spirited drama that engages as it progresses.

Adventures such as tomato fight in Bunol, sky diving in Sevilla, deep see diving in Costa Brava bring and lastly San Fermin Bull run in Pamplona act as catalysts that bring best from the three male guys and Katrina.

The film is a poetic take on comrades and camaraderie as the adventure helps them iron out their differences, get rid of their fears and alter their perception about various things in life. Overall the holiday turns out to be a lesson in life for them and force them to break out of the box.

Yes, the film has its downs too as the comedy in the first half fails to evoke mirth. The film’s running time is another issue as its tad bit long apart from it’s slow pace. Spain was best promoted in the first half after ‘Vicky Cristina and Barcelona’.

Coming to performances, with actors known to excel in their characters, it is no doubt that the three male protagonists deliver what was expected from them. Katrina is improving day by day and this is an example. Kalki lifts her character. While Naseeruddin Shah’s cameo is praiseworthy, Deepti Naval does a fair job.

But on the whole, the true hero’s of the film should be writers Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar as they penned it with incidents truly borrowed from real life. Carlos Catalan’s camerawork is simply outstanding. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music fits the bill.

After ‘Luck By Chance’, Zoya brings out another drama that truly lives up to its name, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. A perfect road movie for the weekend.

MOVIE Trailer

Candice Swanepoel Looking Too Hot

2011-07-15T04:10:00.000-07:00

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Elle Liberachi In Lingerie

2011-07-14T04:21:00.000-07:00

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Force Hindi Movie Trailer

2011-07-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Force Movie Trailer John Abraham,Genelia Force Movie Trailer

Gandhi To Hitler Movie Trailer

2011-07-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Gandhi To Hitler Hindi Movie Trailer

Delhi Safari Hindi Movie Trailer

2011-07-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Delhi Safari Hindi Movie Trailer

Monika Pietrasinska Sexy Photoshoot

2011-07-09T04:12:00.000-07:00

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'Band Baaja Baaraat' wins three IIFA awards

2011-06-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

Maneesh Sharma's 'Band Baaja Baaraat' won three IIFA awards Friday night as Sonu Nigam joined Jermaine Jackson, elder brother of the late Michael Jackson, to pay a moving musical tribute to the legend at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Toronto.

In fact, Nigam's 'Thank you for the legacy' on the second death anniversary of the 'King of Pop' set the stage for the IIFA Rocks show in the city's ultra-modern Ricoh Coliseum, jampacked with more than 25,000 people.

"I want to say how much I love you, because I see Michael in each one of you,'' said Jermaine, the former Jackson 5 singer, as he ended the soulful song with Nigam.

Nigam said he wrote the song after the death of the legend, and thanked Jermaine for joining him in singing it just a day before the second anniversary of Michael Jackson's death.

"Insha Allah, hopefully very soon,'' said Jackson earlier on the green carpet when asked whether he would ever perform in Bollywood.

Friday night's IIFA Rocks music-cum-fashion show lived up to its hype as virtually the whole of Bollywood, including Shah Rukh Khan, descended on the Coliseum to entertain Toronto.

The four-hour-long IIFA Rocks show - conducted by Karan Johar and Anushka Sharma - unleashed a fusion of music, fashion and dance as awards were announced in various categories.

Dia Mirza cast her spell with her stunning dance medley of hit numbers such as 'Pyar Do, Pyar Lo,' 'Parda Hai Parda,' and 'Aapka Kya Hoga.'

Mallika Sherawat gave a performance of 'Arabian Nights.'

Sonu Nogam returned to the stage to wow the audience with his 'cocktail of qawwali and rock'. The Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy musical trio carried the night show through.

Namrata Rao won the IIFA award for editing, Naharika Khan for costume and Vijay Dayal for best song 'Ainvayi ainvayi' in 'Band Baaja Baaraat'.

Pritam Das for best sound recording in 'Love, Sex aur Dhokha', Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for background score in 'My Name in Khan', Leslie Fernandes for re-recording in 'Dabanng', and Sudeep Chatterjee for cinematography in 'Guzaarish'.

Sabu Cyril won the award for art direction in 'Robot', which also won the IIFA awards for special effects and make-up.

Jayde Nicole Showing Her Sexy Cleavage

2011-06-25T01:52:00.000-07:00

I bring you a few shots of some nice Playboy cleavage. Here’s Jayde Nicole showing off her lovely lady lumps in a tight dress.

Urmila Matondkar Photo Shoot Making

2011-06-24T03:50:00.000-07:00

Urmila Matondkar Photo Shoot

Delhi Belly UNCENSORED Trailer

2011-06-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

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Aarakshan Movie First Look Trailer

2011-06-24T00:42:00.000-07:00

Aarakshan Movie First Look Trailer,"Aarakshan" features Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpayee and Deepika Padukone. The movie, based on caste-based reservations in Indian society, will release in August.Aarakshan Trailer,Aarakshan Movie new Trailer

Always Kabhi Kabhi Movie Trailers

2011-06-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

Always Kabhi Kabhi Hindi Movie Theatrical Trailers

Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap Movie New Trailer

2011-06-24T00:31:00.000-07:00

This is a cool new video from the movie Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap - Amitabh is back at what he knows best - dialogues and action right throughout the movie,Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap Trailer,Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap New Promo Song,Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap Hindi Movie Trailer

Cycle Kick Movie Trailer

2011-06-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

Cycle Kick Movie Trailer

Bhindi Bazaar Inc Hindi Movie Trailer

2011-06-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Bhindi Bazaar Inc Starcast: Kay Kay Menon, Prashant Narayan, Piyush Mishra, Pawan Malhotra, Shilpa Shukla, Deepti Naval, Shwetabh Varma, Vedita gautam ; Director: Ankush Bhatt ; Music: Sandeep Surya

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Sexy For Maxim

2011-06-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

pictures of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley hanging out in bed half naked for Maxim magazine

Beautiful And Sexy Natalie Portman

2011-06-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Natalie born June 9, 1981, better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while still working as an actress. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2003.

Sexy And Beautiful Gisele Bundchen

2011-06-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here’s supermodel Gisele Bundchen showing off her supermodel body as she leaves the gym the other day. I’m not all that impressed, I thought her hotness was all natural, I didn’t think she had to go to the gym like the rest of us slobs. At least she looks better than most in those sweet yoga tights. I wouldn’t mind watching her workout using some of those sexy eighties nautilus machines. Hot.

Hot And Sexy Lola Ponce Pics

2011-06-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

Lola Ponce (born 25 June 1977) is an Argentine singer, actress and model. She made her breakthrough in Argentina and Latin America with her debut album Inalcanzable, which was released in 2001. Ponce also earned a great popularity in Italy, after starring in musical Notre-Dame de Paris in Verona. She has since released albums in English, Fearless (2004), and Italian and Spanish, Il Diario de Lola (2008). In 2008, along with Giò Di Tonno, Ponce won San Remo Festival with the song “Colpo di fulmine”.

Kate Upton Hottest Bikini Photoshoot

2011-06-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

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Taylor Momsen Forgets Her Pants

2011-06-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here’s former Gossip Girl and present teenage bad girl Taylor Momsen leaving some club in London the other day without any pants on.

Beautiful And Sexy Lara Dutta

2011-06-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Lara was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to a Punjabi father and an Anglo-Indian mother. Her father is Wing Commander L.K. Dutta (retired) and her mother is Jennifer Dutta. She also has two older sisters, one of whom serves in the Indian Air Force and a well known younger sister. Famed composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney is Lara’s cousin. The Dutta family moved to Bangalore in 1981 where she completed high school from St.Francis Xavier Girls’ High School and the Frank Anthony Public School. Lara graduated in economics with a minor in communications from the University of Mumbai. She was crowned Miss Universe in 2000 which led to her appointment as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 2001.

BRAVO Fashion Underwear Show

2011-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

The fashion house Bravo of Belarus held another underwear show. This time the main motto was liberty. A woman in such underwear has the right to choose everything she wants. Who can argue?

Michelle Rodriguez In Bikini

2011-06-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

Funny and Creative Wall Stickers

2011-06-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more pleasant than a comfortable home and a favorite room, where you can just rest and forget about everything; a room where you can meditate and be creative. The way a person decorates the house says a lot about him/her.

Just some special colors that you see in your room can make feel comfortable or get your imagination go wild. Another thing to consider are wall stickers. These are also pretty fun and can really change the aspect of a room. Whether it’s an abstract design, typography, cartoons or images inspired by nature – all of them are pretty cool.

Free Vector Photoshop Brushes for Download

2011-06-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

This wonderful brushes is new in town but it is already one of the best in its field. Having some talented and skilled people making their ideas and inspiration work for them has made it one of the must-visit places both for a newbie in Photoshop and for professionals and design artists. There are brushes for everyone, all that is needed from you is some enthusiasm and that creative spark that would guide you through your journey. Just bear in mind that if you are a beginner in this domain, you would probably use some browsing through tutorial websites.

Free Websites to assist your Blog’s Popularity & Statistics

2011-05-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Blog Popularity and Statistics tools can tell about your blog’s position and similar websites that are in your competition. By exploration you can learn about a particular website and its work and you can follow their path with features, design, structure, content etc.

So, coming to the point below these free web tools can provide you a deeper insight about the statistics.

Alexa

Quantcast

Statbrain

FeedCompare

BlogPulse

Yahoo! Site Explorer

WebsiteOutlook

Compete

Best Useful Screen Capture Softwares For Windows

2011-05-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Do you want to take and print screen shot from desktop screen and add some annotation on it? Screen Capture is such a powerful screen capture and image editing utility. It allows you to take screenshots from any part of your screen in more than 10 ways, and save images in BMP/JPG/GIF formats supports hotkey, auto-saving, clipboard. You can edit the screenshot by drawing shapes, arrows, text, filling color, cropping, resizing and so on. It is easy to use and user friendly! It is most useful resources for web designers and developers as it helps in making designer and developer’s job much easier and fast. In this post, we introduce you with some best Windows screen capture software. Some of these softwares are totally free to download while other comes with free trial version. These softwares are worth for every designer to keep in their toolbox.

MW Snap

Screen hunter

Screen Capture

Gadwin

FS Capture

Full Shot

IE-Screenshot-Pro

Jing

Hyper Snap

Snagit

Firefox 5 Beta Available For Download

2011-05-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Mozilla Foundation has officially announced availability of Mozilla Firefox 5 Beta for download. This new version will be available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux OS.

Its been said that the new Firefox 5 will be more efficient in terms of display and performance. Firefox 5 will have improved performance with lower memory or resources utilization.Its also been said to be compatible with browser based CSS Animation and highly compatible with web standards like HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL etc. Mozilla Firefox 5 is also available in specialized local language versions, i.e. Firefox 5 is available in various local languages like Hindi, Malyalam, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujrat, Maithili, Marathi and Telugu for India ; Sinhala for Srilanka, Italian, Irish, Russian and a dozen other languages.

Download Firefox 5 Beta from here : Firefox 5

What Is an RSS Feed?

2011-05-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

RSS came into the market quite a number of years back though it did not receive the recognition it deserves. However, with each passing day, RSS technology is becoming increasingly common among the webmasters. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary.

Others refer to RSS as Real Simple Syndication. With this technology in place, the publishers and the webmasters are able to reach out to prospective clients with the use of informative summaries. The approach entails providing regular news updates to the subscribers. The beauty about this approach is that the publisher has total control of the content provided while on the other hand the end user gets to select what topics interests him or her. The popularity of the RSS feeds can be attributed to the fact that the content will definitely be delivered to the end user. This assurance is in place because RSS content is not filtered.

The web plays host to thousands and thousands of websites which greatly increases on the competition levels. Content is very essential as it determines the effectiveness of your website. Webmasters are constantly striving to come up with new and fresh content for their visitors. RSS can be used to provide new information on the web.

The RSS feeds are made in XML format that happens to be a rather easy markup language. It makes use of labels in a bid to locate the different fields. The webmasters should be creative enough to come up with catchy titles and summaries. The feeds should be continuous and be able to supply a stream of automated new information.

RSS provides the webmasters with an opportunity to publish new, relevant and informative content on their sites. This has a positive effect on encouraging the users to come back. The content has to be regularly updated which in turn has a positive effect on improving the page rankings on the search engine. The fact that the new feeds are delivered automatically to the subscribers eliminates the hustle of having to delete a lot of emails.

RSS is not only beneficial to the webmasters but also it has numerous benefits to the internet surfers. The news sent on the RSS feeds is consolidated and thus the reader can quickly go through the headlines and get to read articles of their choice. Since the data is singled out in one location, it saves the reader a lot of time as he or she can go through a lot of data quickly. The readers also get to select the information that they would want to receive. This implies that the reader is in control of the information he or she gets and therefore the issue of spam is totally eliminated. In a nutshell, RSS will provide the users with an easy avenue to identify the data they require condense it and classify it within a short period of time.

In order to view the RSS feeds, one has to have an RSS reader. There are different types of RSS readers available which include the web based aggregator, desktop application, plug-in aggregator, email client reader and the mobile reader. It is without a shadow of a doubt that RSS technology is here to stay.

How to Make Money Blogging

2011-05-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

With record numbers of people currently unemployed, a lot of people are looking online for ways to make money. In this article I'm going to talk about how to make money blogging.

The best way of how to make money blogging is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing refers to taking someone else's product and selling it to other people online. When other people purchase that product because of your promotion, you get compensated in the form of a commission.

A lot of people learn how to make money blogging because all you need is a website and a product to promote to make money. Setting up a website is very simple, especially today. I'm not talking about using any kind of website creator software, but instead using free software like WordPress to automatically install your website for you and you can use predesigned themes to change the look and feel of your website with just the click of a button.

Once you have your website set up, you just need this put some affiliate offers on your site. These are products which you can promote through a number of different methods. There are a lot of different affiliate networks for connecting affiliate marketers with product owners. Affiliate networks act like the middleman and handle giving you your affiliate code and tracking and and paying you for your sales.

When it comes to actually promoting these offers, you have literally hundreds of traffic sources to tap. The most common traffic sources are relying on paid advertising or getting your website to rank high in the search engine so that people will naturally find your site, but there are dozens of other free methods of traffic which I employ on a regular basis to bring traffic into my site.

Other traffic sources include article marketing like that found right here on this site, blog and forum commenting, guest blogging, and taking advantage of any one of the hundreds of prominent social media sites such as YouTube or Vimeo or social networks out there like Facebook or Twitter, as well. Facebook in particular continues to play an increasing role in SEO and determining how a web page ranks, so it's important to know how to use that network effectively and to your advantage.

One of the great things about making money through blogging is you don't need a background or even a website to get started very quickly, it's just a matter of time before you start seeing the checks coming in - obviously a great feeling.

5 Ways to Get Free Traffic to Your Affiliate Marketing Site

2011-05-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to try and get traffic to your site when you are an affiliate marketer and most of them will cost you some money. If you really don't want to spend a lot of money to do that you can always consider trying the 5 ways listed here that can generate some traffic without spending any money just some of your time and effort.

One good way to get some free traffic to your site without spending a dime is to become a regular participant on several different major and proactive forums on the Internet. Getting involved in different forums is probably one of the best ways of getting traffic for free. Word of advice though, check out all the forums you might be interested in and join them for awhile as a guest to get the feel for the people that frequent. Don't join a forum before you feel comfortable with the people and the setting.

You can also consider setting up your own free blog. When you blog online you can do something that not only gives you freedom to express yourself but it also allows you to freely promote your affiliate associations, just as long as you don't go overboard and turn people off. You need to have content on your blog that is going to interest people and want them to comment on your blogs. In order for your blog to be successful remember that you need to post to it on a consistent basis and promote your blog. You can ping your blog, post comments on other related blogs and then include your blog in your signature, use RSS and podcasting technology as well. So to get that traffic you need from a blog you are going to have to work to get people to come to your blog.

There are a ton of active social networks still out there so you should start taking a look at all of them just like you did with the forums and see which ones that you might feel the most comfortable becoming a member of. Of course the three most popular are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace but there still are a lot of other ones out there that you might feel a lot better being a member of. When you have joined one or several then you can start building relationships where you can eventually start talking about and sharing with others information about your affiliate marketing.

You can also start making videos about your marketing and the products that you are trying to promote. Video has really become an important tool on the Internet so there is no reason why you can't cash in on it as well. Probably the best place to go would be YouTube. Create yourself a fun and interesting video about a certain product and then put it on YouTube and then start promoting. This could very well get you some free traffic to your site.

The last idea and some make think it's weird but do some free advertising offline. Go ahead and make up fliers and put them around places that have free WiFi and other public areas that have computers set up. You can then attract people to your site in this fashion. You also should remember good old fashioned word of mouth advertising. Tell all of your friends & family as word of mouth is still a powerful tool for getting people to take a look at your work.

Top Ways to Making Money Online

2011-05-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

There is perhaps no limit to the possibilities of making money online. Millions of people are generating income through the internet and many of them are doing this right in their own homes.

With the huge potential of making money online, most anybody can also become an internet success if you put in the work. The problem is, not many people survive long enough to see their online endeavor generate profit.
Some people think that the only way to earn a substantial amount of money from any type of business is to be innovative and create a whole new market where there is little competition. This can be true but this will take some time to create as most new entrepreneurial ventures need time to build their own market. If you want a sure-fire way of making money online, then you need to start a business that already has a target market audience that exists.
One of these ways is getting into an online business that caters to the needs of online business owners. With the growth in numbers of online business owners, and with the number still growing, there will always be a constant need for web site development, web hosting, website content writing, web designing and much more. Many companies are already providing these services but as more people make the decision to build a web presence for their business, there will be more demand for these services and more people who will be willing to pay for the fulfillment of these requirements.
This can include providing online marketing services. Not many people know how to do online marketing successfully and most online business owners know that without it they have no chance of succeeding. With that in mind, they wisely set aside some of their budget for online marketing. If you have the knowledge and skills to successfully provide this service, then you will be well positioned to seize this opportunity.
Another sure-fire way of making money online is, as mentioned above, making the transition from the traditional business sense to the online community. While you may have a fledging business in your area, going online will open up a whole new market for you. This will allow you to expand your business to a new customers base that your business has never reached helping your business to grow.
For those that will just be starting a business, a surefire way of making money online is by catering to a niche market rather than having a very broad target consumer base. Instead of being an automobile business, you can concentrate on a smaller market, like auto parts for certain car models. This will allow you to focus on a smaller market and allow you capture leads easier.

How You Can Earn Residual Income From Home

2011-05-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Starting a home based business can be scary. Many people choose not to embark on the idea of building a business themselves, from scratch. Instead they choose a multi-level marketing business.

These are extremely beneficial for the person who is looking for financial freedom but is not sure how to get there. With multi-level marketing businesses you build a team of people who all sell a little bit of products each month. In addition to the profits from each business, you earn a small bonus percentage based on the earnings of your team.
There are many multi-level marketing businesses available today to choose from. Most affiliate programs can be started with just a small fee. This small investment gives you the techniques you need to earn commission off of today's hottest selling products. There are so many different connections that any person can find a product or group of products that fits their interest to market.
Marketing is even easier. Instead of booking parties and alienating every person you run into trying to get them interested in purchasing your products, or service. There are companies that help you market your business that will sends customers to you. With link exchanges and online advertising, to attract thousands of customers to your website every day. Additionally, you will have new prospective business owners being driven to your site and seeing what the company is all about.
There are many opportunities to make extra income today. Most importantly the only tool you will need is a computer and the knowledge to market the product or service. Affiliate programs are the real deal. It is a simple way to create a business opportunity that is recognized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Simply put, you do the work once and then continue to reap the benefits of residual income for decades to come. The more people who become part of your team, the more money everyone will make. This business opportunity is easy to do and easy to maintain. It is the best opportunity for busy-bodies who need a way to bring in extra cash each month but do not have the time or resources to invest in a big to-do business opportunity or start their own business. Stop making excuses in your life and take action, and be apart of the many networking marketer today that are making online marketing their lives and making their dreams a reality.

Building Your Web Page's Ranking

2011-05-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Like most things, the most successful ways are not likely the simplest, and when you are trying to optimize traffic to your web page, there are various different strategies to increase traffic and boost sales.

To get the most out of your online presence, you require more than just owning a web page, and running a pay per click campaign that is not being maximized could potentially do more harm than help in some situations. There is much energy that goes into making a PPC campaign lucrative, and it is something that doesn't just occur over night.

There are a lot of things you must implement, and occasional obstacles you have to overcome in order to run a lucrative campaign. By figuring out what works and what does not, you are able to tweak your methods in order to reduce wasted ad spend and secure better results; there is a bit of a learning curve as you secure your footing, and there is no specific formula for success.

One aspect to think about is landing page optimization to convert more clicks into profits and decrease your bounce back rate by giving the consumer precisely what they are searching for with as few clicks as possible to better your page ranking. There are assorted other variables that might still keep you from the first page of listings or from finding the results you expected right away, but by doing this right it will aid you get better qualified traffic to your page. It is important to understand where your opportunities are and implement them to grow your campaign; this is common, and though it may be stressful.

Maintaining a lucrative PPC campaign is a lot of energy, and needs much attention and time for the majority of people. To give your campaign the attention it needs, without neglecting other places, there are many businesses out there that specialize in management for your pay per click services and have the knowhow and the power to handle it. You must still be prepared to wait, as results won't present themselves instantaneously if you do decide to outsource the management of your accounts. Usually, it does take a little bit of time to increase your rankings as your campaign manager gets familiar with the intricacies of your campaign, but in the meantime, you can be sure that the necessary steps are being taken to limit wasted spend and utilize your campaign to the fullest of its potential.

With patience, dedication, and the correct attitude, you will surely see your campaign mature into a thriving part of your business, but like most things, victory doesn't happen over night.

How to Begin With Email Marketing

2011-05-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

If you already have a website, you know that traffic and conversion combined are the most important factors for your online business success. Whether you're using search engine optimization, social media marketing, advertising, or even direct word of mouth, the paradigm is the same. Sales is a process not an event. It takes an average of 5 to 7 exposures to make a sale. But the average web site visitor only stays for an average of 3 seconds before they make that decision to stay or go. And if they go, odds are you'll never see them again.

What this means to you as an online business promoter is both an opportunity and an obligation to turn your web site visitors into qualified leads for your business. That means enticing them onto your mailing list with a juicy free offer, then using a strategic e-mail marketing campaign to court them into your book of business.
For a lot of online marketers this makes perfect sense on the surface. But how do you get them to opt in? Is there a trick? And once they're on your list, what do you actually say to them and how often?
First, you'll need an auto responder account. Notable vendors include Constant Contact, iContact, Aweber, and even FreeAutoBot.com. They offer reliable service, some with more bells and whistles than others. But the most important element of e-mail marketing is to remember that you're building a relationship with your prospective customer. Start by offering them something of real value - a high quality report, or a piece of inside information they truly can't get anywhere else, at least not for free.
Place your e-mail opt-in form in the upper right corner of your website. Your visitors eyes will naturally rest there as they navigate to the site. Make sure there are no broken links and that the download process goes smoothly. Test it out yourself.
Your auto responder account needs to be loaded with a series of carefully written e-mail messages to your prospects. The ideal contact interval is every few days, starting immediately after they opt-in to your mailing list. Be scrupulous with your spelling, grammar and links. There's no room for mistakes. The tone of your e-mail series should be friendly and offer useful information that your prospect can use. It should also be entertaining, building anticipation for your next contact. You might choose to tell a story that leads the reader from one e-mail to the next.
Your e-mail series should be at least ten messages long. You can even load dozens or more than a hundred of emails into your account. But only one e-mail out of every three or four should actually be sales oriented. And whatever you do, make sure that you are contacting the people on your list only with relevant information. For example, if your newsletter is about parenting, it's not OK to solicit products in the make-money-online sector. Likewise, if you have more than one mailing list, it's not OK to cross pollinate unless you're offers are relevant to the interests of the people on that list.
The top online marketers like to say,'the money is in the list.' Once you've built a sizable mailing list, this is both an asset and a tool. Safeguard it and handle it with care, and you'll be richly rewarded every time you send another e-mail.

How to Increase Your RSS Feed Subscribers

2011-05-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

The success of a website can be measured in various ways. You can look into its traffic statistics. You can look into how many comments its content receives. Or you can ask the owner how much money he/she makes per month on the website. These are all good measuring sticks but one of the best ways to determine the success of a website is by looking into how many users are subscribing to its RSS feed. Browse around the web and look into the RSS subscriber stats of the most well-known blogs and websites. The numbers are pretty amazing. Reaching those numbers for your own business website or blog will of course be very difficult but it is not impossible.

Here are a few tips on how you can increase your RSS subscribers:

1) Focus on unique and great content.
Always keep in mind that content is king even if some people say otherwise. You may have all the marketing tips and tricks in the world but if your content is lousy, nobody will subscribe to your feed. Why would they? So always keep your attention focused on quality content.

2) Make it a point to post new content regularly.
If you can set up a posting schedule then by all means do it. You have to let your readers know that new content will be regularly provided to them. One of the main reasons why people unsubscribe to a certain feed is because they are not getting any fresh content. So don't make them unsubscribe by giving them what they want and need.

3) Make it as easy as possible for people to subscribe to your RSS feed.
Make the RSS button stand out. Position it prominently on your website. People online like to click on large and shiny things so take advantage of this trait by making your RSS button bigger and shinier.

4) Offer a full RSS feed.
Studies have shown that partial RSS feeds do nothing but irritate subscribers.

5) Give your readers the option to subscribe via email.
Not all internet users are comfortable with RSS readers so give them an email subscription as an option.

If you make use of all of the above strategies in building your RSS subscribers, your subscription numbers will surely grow. It's going to be slow at first but once it develops momentum, growth can be rapid. The secret to good growth is consistency with your strategies. So keep using the above tips until you get results.

What Is The Best Social Bookmarking Tool

2011-05-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

What is Social Bookmarking?
Well, think of it as a road map of the web, commended by people who have traveled it at length. It is a method for Net Savvies to tag, organize, store, manage, share, and search for bookmarks of resources online. These may include comments, votes for or against something, or tags that collectively or collaboratively become a folksonomy.
What features to look for?
A reasonable amount of users.
A wide ranging documentation, like FAQ's and a good support team
Excellent export and import features
A blog to have latest on new features
A good social bookmarking site ideally should comply with above criteria, based on these features the best social bookmarking tools according to me are as following.

StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon, ranked 116th in web traffic is among the best social bookmarking tools and can be a great tool to generate traffic to your web site. At StumbleUpon is you are able to take advantage of a huge network of dedicated web searchers who are sharing their experiences with you. StumbleUpon is definitely an extremely addicting way to search the internet because the caliber of the sites is simply so awesome.

reddit
At reddit users can create communities called "subreddits", which share common interests. Most popular examples are Pics, Programming, Science, Politics, Gaming and AskReddit. Ranked 138th in terms of web traffic, reddit is one of the best social bookmarking tools.

Digg
Digg is ranked 139th according to Alexa.com in terms of web traffic with an estimated 8.5 million U.S unique visits per month, its rank in U.S is 96. In May 2009, Digg launched a new feature integrating Facebook Connect with Digg which allows users of Digg and Facebook to connect their accounts. Users can share their Digg articles on their Facebook page when connected to a Facebook account.

Delicious (Formerly Del.icio.us)
This is by far the most popular, though not most powerful social bookmarking tool. It does not offer very powerful tools for sharing but the size of the community makes the experience great fun. By the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs. It has flourished in repute after being acquired by Yahoo.

Diigo
Diigo is being considered the newest favorite web tool. Besides saving your favorite internet bookmarks, putting sticky notes online and posting comments, it allows users to highlight any part of a webpage, attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page.

How to Do Affiliate Marketing

2011-05-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Affiliate marketing is both a profitable and a popular choice for many internet marketers that want to make an income online but the problem you face is what is the best way to make money with affiliate marketing?

There are many methods and techniques that marketers use to make money with affiliate marketing but most of them are a complete waste of time and instead of making money you will just send up wasting your time and spinning your wheels
In this article im going to tell you 3 of the best ways to make money with affiliate marketing and how much money you can expect to earn from each affiliate site with average results
Use the amazon affiliate program
The best way to start affiliate marketing is to join the amazon.com affiliate program
Amazon have a huge range of products that you can choose form to promote and also because amazon is so popular and reputable your conversions will be much higher
The best way to make money with amazon affiliate sites is through free search engine traffic. If you set your sites up correctly with good content and build good links then you will start attracting quality search engine traffic in no time
Become a Google AdSense affiliate
Some people call it being an affiliate of Google others call it being a publisher of Google, what ever the case you are working for Google, promoting ads and in return you get paid a percentage
Google AdSense is a great way to make an additional income online, and do not take Google AdSense lightly because using Google AdSense effectively can easily replace your full time income in a matter of months if used correctly
Simply create Google AdSense sites with keywords of a high cpc (cost per click) drive traffic to your site by free search engine traffic and then you will get clicks on your ads its that simple
Google AdSense and amazon combined
If you are a wise marketer and i hope you are then you should include both AdSense and amazon on your affiliate site
Including both affiliate programs on your site will give your traffic more options and you will also make more money from your sites.
If you set up your affiliate sites correctly then you can expect to earn anything from $150 up to $1500 a month from just 1 average size affiliate site.
If you build quite a few profitable affiliate sites then you can begin to earn some very good money pretty quickly.

Web Traffic Generation Tips

2011-05-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

The question in the minds of many online marketers and business people today is "how can I increase my web traffic?" A few years ago, most businesses were brick and mortar based and advertising was just about using TV, radio, print media and the word of mouth to tell people about your business and products. When the internet usage grew to a full blown level, most people turned to online business and online strategies of advertising their businesses.

These strategies have been changing with time. 2011 is no exception and a few things need to be held high for the success of your business. With online business, advertising has one sole purpose of generating as much web traffic to your site as possible. Here is what you need to do this year to get to the top of the game.

Have a nice simple website

It is possible to have a simple yet attractive website for your business. Color and graphics are important for the sake of the site's aesthetics but too much of it is harmful. The most important thing that you should keep in mind when designing your business website is ease of navigation. Ensure that your website visitors find their way around the site easily.

Find out the best keywords to target

A big percentage of the web traffic that you will get to your business site is most likely to come from search engines. However, you need to know which keywords and search phrases to target so as to benefit from this tactic. Fortunately, there are a number of keyword research tools that can help you achieve this. You would want to try out Google's keyword research tool. Just type "keyword research tool" in Google search bar and you will be directed to few websites.

List your website on local online directories

Listing your website in local online directories is free. All you need to do is provide information about your business like the name of your business, location and hours of operation. This seems a simple tactic but would go a long way to help you generate web traffic for your business site.

Study and counter your competitors' strategies

Every single business idea that you come up with today is sure to get a competitor. In order to make the most profit from your business, you need to know what your competitors are doing and come up with strategies to counter them. The best way to do this is to visit your competitor's website and try to find out what strategies they have put in place to attract traffic to their website. Also take time to study their social media activities. That will give you a clear picture of what you can do to gain competitive advantage over them.

Make use of newsletters

Develop an email list from the people that visit your website and send them regular newsletters with updates on what new offers or products you have on your business website. You can develop this list by simply requesting the visitors to provide their email addresses when they first visit your site. Explain that it is important to do that so that you can constantly update them on new to offers and products. This is a super way of generating targeted web traffic.

Virtual or Dedicated Server? How to Choose

2011-05-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

When a business realizes that its web hosting needs have changed, it's important to get information about all the options available. If your website traffic has increased dramatically in the last few months and you're looking for a solution to manage the extra bandwidth required to keep your website running, then you might be interested in two services offered by hosting companies around the world: virtual private servers and dedicated servers. This article will explain both types of servers, their comparative costs and their pros and cons. After reading this, you will be in a better position to make a choice that fits your web and data hosting needs.
Virtual private server: a flexible, low-cost solution for low- to mid-level traffic
Hosting companies buy a number of servers that they put together in a dedicated space, with proper maintenance and air conditioning. Some of these servers are used exclusively by some clients (that's a dedicated server, our next topic) while others are divided into parts and each part is rented separately to different clients. A single part is called a virtual private server.
The virtual private server works just like a regular server; the hard drive of the server is partitioned into two, three or four parts and each part is rented separately. In other words, although you share the hardware with other companies, you will not share the data. Virtual private servers are perfect for businesses with small to medium hosting needs, as one partition uses a fraction of the total space capacity of the server.
Virtual private servers can be used and managed just like a regular server. You can use whichever software you want. It also has the advantage of being highly flexible: if you suddenly need more space, all the hosting company has to do is dedicate another partition to your company. No new hardware is required. It's really that simple.
If you're not sure you need a complete dedicated server, you should start with a virtual private server. It's the perfect stepping stone to web hosting when you're just starting out. It costs less than dedicated hardware, and you get the same level of customer service from your company.
Dedicated server: for websites with lots of traffic
If you own a popular website, or if your company relies on Internet business for its income, then you might want to look into a dedicated server. Instead of sharing the space with other companies through partition, a dedicated server is just that, dedicated. It means it's only yours.

Dedicated servers are obviously more expensive to rent than virtual private servers, but they have some advantages. The exclusivity on the hardware is one. You know your data is safe, and you don't have to share your bandwidth with other companies. Dedicated hosting services are perfect for those companies who don't have the space or the expertise to deal with a server on their own. And that is not counting the expense in energy for running and keeping the server cool!
A whole server can easily serve high-traffic websites, and it is also possible to use them for internal data like a client database or backups. If your needs change, you can simply transfer to another server or add one to what you already have.
Before making a decision, you need to know what you need and establish your priorities. Virtual private servers work well for those just starting out, while dedicated servers are good for businesses with more traffic and bandwidth and memory requirements. But no matter your choice, companies ensure that your domain name is exclusive and that your data is safe.

Increasing Visitor Traffic To Your Blog

2011-05-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Writing a blog is a time-consuming task that requires patience, persistence and enthusiasm. It can be easy to become disheartened, but there are steps you can take to increase the number of visitors to your blog.

Fresh Content

Regularly updating your blog with fresh, relevant content is the most important thing you can do. It has a two-fold effect on traffic to your blog: firstly, visitors will be much more likely to return if they see that you update your content regularly; secondly, your search engine rankings will improve as new, informative content is exactly what attracts the search engine "spiders".

Optimize your site with SEO

Search Engine Optimization is absolutely crucial for improving the presence of your blog in the rankings. You could use an SEO company, who specialize in increasing your website's positive web presence and often offer free tools to get started as well as paid membership. If you choose to go it alone, there are lots of helpful websites out there, both free and paid-for. Try searching YouTube for "SEO".

Optimize your site with SMO

There are those who say that SMO - Social Media Optimization - is the "new SEO". Twitter, Facebook and YouTube offer various ways users can find your site, thus increasing your traffic. Using Social Media to promote your blog is all about being visible, communicative and, of course, social! As with your blog, make sure you tweet, update your Facebook page and add new YouTube videos regularly.

Other promotional tips

There are other methods you can use to promote your blog and increase your visitor numbers. Here are a few of the most important to start off with:

1) Join internet marketing forums (there are many of these and they can be found easily through Google). Make regular, useful comments in these forums, and learn from the posts made by others. Once you've made a certain number of posts (usually 10) you'll be able to edit your signature to include a link to your website.

2) Make comments on other blogs in the same niche. A good way of doing this is to visit Google, look for "Blogs" on the left-hand side and search for relevant blogs in your niche. When you make a comment, make sure it is insightful and relevant to the content (simply writing "thanks" or "nice article" is not enough). The beauty of this process is that when you leave your name, you can enter your website address, thus leaving a link pointing back to your site.

3) Offer to write on these blogs as a guest poster. This gets you exposure and a link back to your site. Generally, you should not also post your guest articles on your own blog - they should be exclusive to the blog you are guesting for.

4) Write articles relevant to your niche and post them on a directory such as EzineArticles. You can include a link to your website or blog in your Author "Resource Box". Make sure to avoid outright advertising in the article itself - the content should be interesting, informative, useful and relevant to the readership.

5) Use Social Bookmarking. There are tons of sites out there for this, and it can be somewhat time-consuming as you need to create a separate account for each one, but the results are worth the effort in the long run. Some services can help you automate the bookmark submission process. Search Google for "social bookmark submission".

Overall, remember that increasing visitor numbers to your blog is all about visibility, sociability and fresh, regularly updated content.

How to Add a Favicon

2011-05-06T04:08:00.000-07:00

If you didn't know, a favicon is that little icon that appears both in your bookmarks in your web browser, your tabs in your web browser, and next to your navigation bar for whichever website you are on.

Adding a favicon to your website is a smart thing to do for a number of reasons. For one thing, adding a customized favicon significantly improves upon the level of professionalism for your website and company which people associate with it. It's another part of your branding which you should definitely not neglect.

Secondly, using a favicon on your website also separates your website from everyone else's. Not only does it help to differentiate your site from other bookmarks which someone might make within their web browser, it also puts you a leg up upon any website without an icon. Finally, it's also extremely simple to add a favicon to your website, so there's no reason to not do it.

Now that I've outlined what exactly a favicon is and why it is important to have one on your website, let's talk about how to add a favicon.

First off, you have to design your icon. Your favicon should be 16 pixels by 16 pixels in height and width. You can create an icon using your graphic designer of choice. I personally prefer Adobe Illustrator but I know a lot of people like to use Photoshop.

You can even get by using Paint which is a free program which comes with Windows. If you have an existing graphic or logo for your company, you might think about shrinking that or taking a piece of it in particular and shrinking that and making that your icon if you don't feel like creating one from scratch. If nothing else you might just take the initials of your company and write them in a flashy font.

Once your icon has been created, you should save it as a .ICO file. If you are having trouble with this, you can save it as a JPEG, GIF, or PNG file and then convert it with one click using a free service which I cannot link to here but will link to a mention of it at the end of this article. This service will churn out the exact file which you need for your website.

Now that we've designed our icon and rendered it down to an icon file, all that's left to do is publish it on our website. After we have uploaded this file using either an FTP program or your WordPress theme if your theme has a custom area for uploading your icon file, the changes will take place immediately and you'll see your icon in your browser.