free tools
Find a color theme for your site
I like to think I’m a very creative person, but sometimes even I get stuck. Most recently it was on coming up with a color scheme for my case study site. So just to get some ideas, I started doing some research on the internet regarding free website theme ideas and such and then, came across the online color scheme generator!
The online scheme generator is an awesome tool. You simply click on a color, and it gives you other related colors that you can use to create a multi-colored theme for your site. The possibilities are endless with this tool.
I also use it for going back and fourth to quickly see what a particular HEX code appears as a color - so I can adjust on my site accordingly. I like the fact that it actually shows the HEX and RGB values of a particular color. This way you can just pop it in your favorite photo or design software and go from their.
Here is another screen shot of the interface:
A very helpful tool indeed and I love the fact that it can be accessed through the internet.
Popularity: 4% [?]
5 wordpress plugins for commercial sites
If your wordpress blog is designed to sell products, then these are the following wordpress plugins you can’t live without. Add these first before you add content to your site.
All in One SEO Pack: Best SEO plugin out there. Just make sure you use the %post_title% as the Post Title Format (One you get it you can change this from the options menu) and you are ready to go.
Google Analytics: You have to track what you are doing and this where the GooglE Analytics plugin comes in. Again just drop it in the plugins folder and activate it. All you need is your Google Analytics ID.
Google XML Sitemaps: This plugin is awesome and that is why my pages get indexed as soon as they are published. Yes I’m talking about IMMEDIATE indexing.
In fact, below is how fast it took to get this post your are reading right now indexed - when I said IMMEDIATE indexing, I wasn’t kidding. I don’t kid around buddy - I know my $hit!
Smart Update Pinger: This plugin only pings other Update Services but only when you post something new. Just a good way to manage all your content pinging automatically. Before or right after you install this plugin, use the following Update List under Update Services (Access this under Wordpress > Manage > Writing).
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc/
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
WP-ContactForm: If your customer can’t contact you, your sales will never increase and your current sales will drop. This is an easy ‘Drop n Load’ contact us form that you can use for your site so your customers can contact you and tell you what they really think about your product.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Free word count tool
I don’t know about you but when I’m writing articles (To submit to article directories), I like to use notepad. It is simple and it does what it is designed to - it lets me type stuff. Plus when you type in notepad, you can simply copy and paste your article on any site without doing any extra work such as HTML editing or removing HTML code (As some sites don’t allow that).
However, when I’m done writing an article, I usually want to know what my word count is. Since notepad doesn’t allow this option, I use a free online tool called the “Word Count Tool”.
I simply copy and paste my article in and press the button and I get my word count. Most article directories prefer a minimum 450 words per article so naturally I try to write a little bit more then that. On notepad at full screen, that is about 4 paragraphs with 4 lines in each paragraph.
I know their is a super duty version of notepad that has word count and spell check - I actually bought it too but I lost the company’s information. So until I find it - this is my preferred method.
Popularity: 2% [?]