Facebook Like Button for WordPress.com

I don’t use facebook myself, but I know a lot of you (and your readers) do, so today I’ve added a new Facebook Like button to GetSocial Live. As always, it’s WordPress.com compatible, but will also work on other websites. What do you think?

Try it:

You can add the new button to each of your posts, and whoever clicks on it will see the title of the post, a like counter and some pictures of his friends who liked it too.

What else?
GetSocial is totally free. If you like it, please consider a donation. Thanks!

You can get all the latest updates about GetSocial/GetSocial Live via Twitter.

PERMALINK / SHORTLINK

Google Buzz button for WordPress.com

Take two cups of Facebook share, add a spoonful of twitter and two quarts of no respect for peoples privacy and you’ll get Google Buzz.

How to Generate a Google Buzz Button for WordPress.com?
I’ve added a new feature to GetSocial Live: you can now use it to generate Google Buzz buttons for your WordPress.com blog!

Try It (It’s alpha transparent and will work on all types of backgrounds):

The button is routed through Google Reader. it’s a temporary solution until a better API for Google Buzz becomes available. Get yours now!

For the best results, you should use your permalink (instead of shortlink) when you generate Google Buzz buttons. The reason for this is that the source of the link is extracted from your post URL. If you’ll use the shortlink GetSocial will not be able to extract the name of your blog. Instead, it will assign WordPress.com as the source for your link (the link itself will work fine, and correctly connect to your post though).

For regular updates and status reports follow GetSocial Live on Twitter.

What is Google Buzz?
Google Buzz is a new service from Google. it was launched a few days ago, and is probably intended to compete with twitter. You can post text and images there, comment, ‘like’ and follow/unfollow people. It’s a hybrid between the Facebook share feature (which automatically fetches images and other information from your posted links) and Twitter (excluding its famous 140 characters limitation).

What’s Wrong With Google Buzz?
Google Buzz was integrated into Gmail, so it’s already got a huge user base. That’s also one of my problems with it – I think that Google Buzz is imposing itself on Gmail users, and that’s just ain’t right. Also, many Gmail users found themselves ‘following’ (and being ‘followed’ by) random people who Google Buzz have automatically selected from their email contacts. This was done without them even using the new service! That’s bad for privacy, and also not particularly fun – do you really want to find out that you’ve been “following” your ex?

But wait, it gets even worse: since you can click through to other people’s profiles and see who they follow and who follows them, you can (at least in this early stage) deduce who they’ve been exchanging emails with – and again, that’s without them even using the service! I’ve personally found out the secret identity of an anonymous blogger using this method.

The thing that really amazes me about Google Buzz though, is its name. What’s going on here? Doesn’t Yahoo already have a service called Yahoo Buzz? Am I the only one to notice that? ‘Like’? ‘Follow’? I think we’ve seen all this stuff somewhere else already…

In my opinion Google Buzz, like GTalk and Google Wave before it, was designed to keep you connected to your Google account for as much as possible so that Google could phish (and keep, forever) even more personal information about your browsing habits and use it for targeting ads. But hey, that’s just me.

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GetSocial Live Status Updates @ Twitter

GetSocial Live users might have noticed some new updates recently (better tooltips, interactive previews). Since it’s much easier to update a website than it is to update an application, GSL users can expect a much more rapid rate of new developments! So if you think of some new features you’d like to see in GSL, do tell :)

Some updates (on the domain side) require scheduled downtime, and that’s why I’ve recently created this Twitter account as an independent source for updates about GSL upgrades, new versions and maintenance downtime. Needless to say, it’s a 100% spam free twitter account – so go ahead, start following GetSocial Live now!

If we’re already talking about downtime, some of you may have noticed that GetSocial Live was unavailable at times during the last few weeks. The reason for this, is that GetSocial Live was hosted (for free) on Google Pages. When the service suddenly shut down, GetSocial Live became unavailable. Migrating to Google Sites (the successor of Google Pages) was impractical because you can’t run HTML files directly from Google Sites, and that’s why GSL went down. Currently, GSL is temporarily hosted on a paid host, but will soon migrate to a permanent location (still paid though). I apologize in advance for any resulting downtime, and will try to provide alternative links via the GSL Twitter as needed.

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GetSocial Live: a cross-platform social bookmarking widget for WordPress.com

GetSocial is now a web service!
It works with PC, Mac & Linux and no download is required:

getsociallive.com

I’ve just launched a new (and very special) version of GetSocial:
GetSocial Live is a web service that generates script-less social bookmarking toolbars for your WordPress.com blog. It’s fast, extremely easy to use and absolutely free!

Here’s an example of what you’ll get:

GetSocial for Mac
GetSocial Live is similar to good ol’ GetSocial, but it offers only the basic functionality of the Windows application. On the other hand, it’s got some huge benefits too:

1. GetSocial Live supports every OS and every web browser (Mac users, this time I totally came through for you!).

2. No download is required.

3. GetSocial Live will be centrally updated (so you will always use the latest version).

How can you help?
GetSocial is free, but manufacturing and maintaining it sure isn’t!

You can help by donating (even in Euros and Pounds) – Contributors of 25 USD or more will receive a 50 USD worth* promotional Google AdWords coupon code for free!

I’ve also embedded some Google AdSense into GetSocial Live, and while Google policies forbid me from directly encouraging clicks – I’ll merely say: CLICK ON THOSE ADS!!!!!!

If you like (or even if you just use) GetSocial – tell your friends about it! Post about GetSocial/GetSocial Live, add getsociallive.com to your blogroll, share getsociallive.com via social networks and generally let people know that there is a new social bookmarking service in town!

Known issues:
‘Copy to clipboard’ will only work with IE. FF and chrome users need to right-click and copy the code manually…

Check out GetSocial Live!

* The coupon code is only valid for new (less than 14 days old) Google AdWords accounts. The coupon marked value is 200 NIS, actual value in USD may vary. Available while supplies last.

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Get social with GetSocial 1.04

GetSocial 1.04 – new and improved :)

There is a new version of GetSocial, what are you waiting for? Go get it now!

What is GetSocial?
GetSocial is a slick application that will help you add Social Bookmarking buttons to your WordPress.com blog! It’s fast, reliable, user friendly and absolutely free! :)

What’s new in version 1.04?
Well, there are all sorts of neat stuff:

Yahoo Buzz: Diigo.com purchased and then scrapped furl.net , so a free spot became available in the GetSocial toolbar. It was rapidly occupied by a shiny new Yahoo Buzz button (via AddToAny).

3rd party functionality: GetSocial 1.04 can generate AddThis & AddToAny buttons in a snap! Also, ‘Email to a friend’ and ‘Press This’ buttons are now available (via AddToAny).

Try it:

Press This

Email to a friend

Technorati Fix: GetSocial 1.04 is fully adapted to the modifications that were implemented by the Technorati team.

Better SEO: GetSocial 1.04 marks all outgoing links as nofollow. It’s okay if you don’t know what I’m talking about :)

Optimization: Some tweaks and a smaller executable, as usual.

Where can I download GetSocial?
You can always find the latest version of GetSocial here.

How can I help?
Make a donation, give as much (or as little) as you want :)

Contributors of 25 USD or more will receive a 50 USD worth* promotional Google AdWords coupon code for free!

* The coupon code is only valid for new (less than 14 days old) Google AdWords accounts. The coupon marked value is 200 NIS, actual value in USD may vary. Available while supplies last.

PERMALINK / SHORTLINK

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: GetSocial 1.03 is here!

Oh boy, have I got some neat stuff for you today – GetSocial 1.03 is ready, and it’s jam-packed with new stuff, go get it now!

What is GetSocial?
GetSocial is a program I’ve made, that will generate social bookmarking toolbars for your blog or website within seconds! Because it makes pure HTML code without scripts, GetSocial is the ideal social bookmarking solution for WordPress.com bloggers. Oh, and it’s also absolutely free!

What’s better in GetSocial 1.03?

Add to Twitter
I’ve considered replacing the Ma.gnolia button with either Twitter or Yahoo! Buzz, but apparently there was nothing to consider: Twitter it is! I’ve decided to go with the following twitting format: “Title @ Permalink”.

Character limit handling
Twitter has a 140 characters limitation, so I’ve designed GetSocial to handle long inputs when necessary. Realizing that your link is the most important bit of information, the title will be automatically trimmed if the total length of the message is too long. If there’s only enough room for 5 characters of title or less, only the permalink will be sent to Twitter. Note that your permalinks will never be trimmed, even when the link itself is longer than 140 characters.

Inspired by the Twitter thingy, I’ve also added auto handling for Digg (which has a 60 characters limit for its title field).

Permalink verification & Automatic error correction
Okay, I’m officially sick and tired of this bug in WordPress.com where you get the permalink all messed up if you copy it from the edit window (the PLEW bug). The first thing I did with the new version of GetSocial was to add a permalink check feature. This (optional) feature pings your website while making the toolbar, and makes sure that the permalink you’ve entered actually exists.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to solve the permalink bug because WordPress.com generates error pages, so if you’ve got the domain name right, there is no (simple) way for the program to know that the post address is correct.

This is why I’ve also added a special algorithm that detects and autocorrects permalinks that are affected by the PLEW bug. This is a heuristic algorithm, but tests have shown very high (>95%) rates of success in detecting and repairing affected permalinks.

Support for CSS effects
If you’ve got the CSS upgrade from WordPress, you’re going to love this! With GetSocial 1.03 you can easily add special graphic effects to your GetSocial buttons, simply by pasting some CSS code to your blog.

For example (Internet Explorer only):

(Hover your mouse over this toolbar and see what happens)

CSS Code:

#primary .getsocial img {
filter:gray
}
#primary .getsocial a:hover img {
opacity:1;filter:alpha(opacity=100)
}

Add the above code to your blog’s CSS, and your GetSocial buttons will appear in B&W. When visitors to your blog will hover over them with the mouse – they will change to full color. There are tons of other effects you can make, but if you want to support browsers like Firefox you can only use alpha effects (you can find an example at the bottom of this post).

Text links
In additional to the regular buttons, GetSocial is now capable of producing a text-only version of the social bookmarking toolbar:

Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine

Better support for Mozilla Firefox and Google chrome
Your toolbars will now have tooltips for Firefox/Chrome in addition to the previously available tooltips of Internet Explorer.

Code and image optimization
I’ve managed to remove a few extra bytes from the images GetSocial puts in your blog, and there are also 5 new mirrors for the images. Some tweaking I’ve done also slightly reduced the size of the GetSocial executable (so this time you’re actually getting more for less!)

As usual, I’ll be absolutely delighted if you’ll click either one of these buttons (preferably both!):

PERMALINK / SHORTLINK

Which social bookmarking network would you like to see in the next version of GetSocial?

First of all, get this: my very own GetSocial is now featured in Google’s auto-suggestions – yeah!

On a different note, I’m currently working on a new version of GetSocial, and I’ve decided to remove the Ma.gnolia button and make some room for one lucky social bookmarking network (as you may or may not know, Ma.gnolia isn’t doing very well lately).

Now I need your help: which social bookmarking network would you like to see in the next version?

I’m thinking either Twitter or Yahoo! Buzz but I’m open for suggestions…

UPDATE (February 26, 2009): GetSocial 1.03 is ready, Twitter is in da house!

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Hillel’s Blogging Tips & Hacks

If you’re here, then you’re probably searching for ways to make your blog better (and get some more traffic while you’re at it!). As you already know, the internet is packed with literally millions of blog posts about this subject – so in order to avoid wasting your time I’ll skip all the obvious and generalized advice that’s been copy-pasted around the blogosphere so many times already and focus only on the things I know from my own personal experience.

1. Place a PERMALINK in the bottom of every post

Okay, I’ll admit that this is a weird tip to start up my list, but I bet that it’s something you haven’t already read ten thousand times before. So why is it a good idea to place a permalink in the bottom of your post?

First let’s define ‘permalink’: a permalink is a static link that points to a specific post. The reason I use permalinks (which seems redundant at first, because the title of each post also serves as a permalink) is to protect my blog from content theft. There are many blogs out there that take your posts and republish them as their own (it’s called sploging). Why? So they could post a lot of new content in a very short time span and use it to promote their blogs in search engines (oh, and also monetize from advertisements and link exchange while they’re at it!).

If you have a permalink in your post, every time someone steals it you will be notified by a trackback/pingback. It may not prevent people from stealing your stuff but it will at least notify you when it happens. An additional benefit is the incoming links you’ll receive from your own permalink when your post is republished somewhere else. Such links will improve your page rank and in some cases will increase your Technorati authority as well. Sploging isn’t so bad afterall, isn’t it? :)

2. Make sure your blog is optimized for Google.co.uk

First of all let’s make sure that we’re on the same wavelength here: different Google’s (Google.com, Google.co.il, etc.) will bring up different search results for the same search queries – I hope you already knew that, but even if you didn’t – you do now. No matter which country you live in, and what language you speak, it’s absolutely essential that you promote your blog/website on Google.co.uk!

This includes monitoring your position in search results for your keywords, and also publishing your AdSense ads there (in addition to Google.com and your local Google).

The reason I’m saying this is not because I’m the co-founder of Google.co.uk, it’s because of a rather unpredicted reason: Microsoft! When you select a search provider for the built in search box in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, the default Google search is not google.com – it’s google.co.uk! This means that whoever uses IE7 as their web browser and selected Google as their search provider (but didn’t manually set it to google.com) is searching through google.co.uk!

This advice alone would probably cost you hundreds of dollars if you’ve gotten it from so called SEO “experts”, and here you are, getting it for free at
hillelstoler.com, why not link here from your own blog and help spread the word?

3. Make sure you understand incoming links

I’ll do this one real quick: one of the most important things for any website or blog in terms of traffic and SEO is incoming links (links from other websites that points to your site). There are three things you must know about incoming links:

3.1 ‘nofollow’ links are links that might get traffic to your page (via people who click on them) but will not increase your page rank. This generally includes links in comments, forums and wiki pages. So there really is no really need to spam Wikipedia after all! :)

3.2 When you link to your website it’s best to use anchor words. For example, if you want your site to appear on search engines when someone searches “La Costa Lotta” – it will be best if you could get other websites to link this anchor term to you. For example, this link: read about La Costa Lotta is much better than this one: read about La Costa Lotta here.

3.3 Incoming links from other blogs can have different values for you. A blogroll link is the best because it appears on every page and regenerates itself every time a new post is published (important for your Technorati authority). Links from inside posts are good because they’re tracked by Technorati and others, and there is also a good chance people will see (and use) them when they read the post. Side bar links are good because they are always visible, however they don’t count on Technorati, and the chances of getting any click through traffic from them are slim. Last on my list are links from pages – which are nice to have but not very great.

4. Use GetSocial

GetSocial, that’s the only unoriginal advice here, but it works, and it’s my software – so what can I say? The way I see it, social bookmarking is a lot like playing the lottery – it wastes your time in most cases, but sometimes, rarely, you can hit the jackpot in terms of traffic, and I like those odds! According to my personal experience, StumbleUpon produces the most traffic, followed by del.icio.us but I guess it’s different from blog to blog. I’ve also noticed that when people write a description for the bookmark, it returns MUCH more traffic – so please: take the time to write a short description of this post when you bookmark it!

PERMALINK / SHORTLINK