How to use Addthis to offer “email post” and social bookmarking options for wordpress.com

ADDTHIS is probably the most discussed method of social bookmarking in wordpress.dot.com forums. Until now, no Addthis code worked for wordpress.com blogs that created “email post” options as well as social bookmarking options. I worked out a bookmarklet that works perfectly for wordpressdotcom blogs, but it dodn’t produce an “email post” option.

If other blogs can have it, why can’t we wordpressdotcommers?

Addthis creates both email post and social bookmarking options for wordpress.com blogs!

I approached the Addthis forum for a solution and they have corrected the Addthis bookmarklet I created before. You can access the latter bookmarklet at Addthis forum.

If you don’t know how to create social bookmarking lists for your wordpress.com blogs using the bookmarklet, just read this Addthis tutorial for wordpress.com blogs. Follow the instructions on that post, but DON’T download the bookmarklet offered there. Just use the bookmarklet given at the Addthis forum.

Why not click the button below to see that it actually does include the “email post” link as well as social bookmarking options?

So, why is it better? Because the previous code does not include “email post” options. Click the button below (created with the previous bookmarklet) and see for yourself!

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Related posts

The easiest way to insert “email post” and social bookmarking options under wordpress.com blog posts

How to use Addinto to offer social bookmarking and email post options for wordpress.com blogs

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How to use the Addthis button PROPERLY in the side bar of a wordpress.com blog

ADDTHIS is popular with bloggers, as it faciliates multiple social bookmarking options in a blog.

If you are a wordpress.com blogger and you use the Addthis button in your blog, then I suspect your button is linked to http://www.addthis/bookmark.php .

The button is linked in this way in ALL the wordpress.com blogs I have seen so far. This is how I derived at my suspicion.

I also assume that you use the Addthis button to encourage your readers to bookmark the blog post (s)he is currently reading.

Did you know….
that there is 100% chance that the reader will not be able to submit his/her preferred blog post using Addthis in your sidebar?

Why?
Addthis bookmarks ANY url that is present in the address bar of the browser.
And it’s not ALWAYS that the address bar of your blog is occupied with the permalink of a blog post that the reader wants to bookmark!!!

What sort of url’s can occupy the address bar of your blog?
-The home page of your blog
-A search result page (if someone used the search box to look for something)
-A tag page (If a reader clicked a tag)
-A category page (If a reader clicked a category)
-A “Previous entries” page (If a reader clicked a “Previous posts” link under a post)
-A “Next entries” page (If a reader clicked a “Next posts” link under a post)
-An “Archive” page (If a reader clicked a month from the Archives)

You do get the idea, no? If not, why not experiment a bit? Click around your blog in the ways mentioned above. If your blog is configured to show more than one post, you will have at least two posts in the window. Say you want to bookmark a post. What do you do? Click the Addthis button in your side bar, of course.

You will be taken to the Addthis page that has this url in the address bar:
http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php

The peril is not obvious as yet. Choose a social bookmarking site from the list, log in to your account and save the url from your blog. It is NOT the url of a blog POST!!!

My verdict
You should never test the patience of the average web reader. Web readers typically have a short attention span and they are not going to remeber clicking the permalink of a blog post (the only way to make Addthis work for a wordpress.com blog post) in order to save it. They don’t have to do so in non-wordpress.com platforms and therefore they are not habituated with it!

So, what to do?
In my opinion, Addthis in the sidebar can be used only for one purpose – to encourage the reader to bookmark the ENTIRE blog. And how do we ensure that the reader is able to do that? We have to modify the Addthis code.

How to modify the Addthis code for the sidebar of a wordpress.com blog
You must Include your blog url and blog title in the Addthis code.

http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?&url=http://EXAMPLE.wordpress.com&title=BLOG_TITLE

Please copy the above code and make necessary changes. Then link your Addthis button to it.

Is there absolutely no way to make the side bar Addthis button to bookmark an individual blog post?
There is no user-friendly way to use the Addthis button in your side bar to bookmark a blog post. Sorry.

However, if you are really desperate, you can use the Addthis button linked to the original unmodified code. But please be sure that you include an instruction right above or below the button. Something like this maybe:

To bookmark a blog post using any bookmark manager, please click the permalink of the post first and then click this button.

If you are lucky and if your reader is not in a hurry (s)he will take the time to make an extra click to bookmark your post.

A suggestion
If you want Addthis to be able to bookmark a blog post, you should have it under the blog post. But you must first modify the Addthis code to work for that blog post and link the Addthis button to it.

You can learn how to automatically modify Addthis for wordpress.com blog posts. This easy process will enable you to modify the Addthis button in such a way that all that a reader has to do is click the Addthis button and (s)he will be able to bookmark the blog post. Even if the address bar is not occupied with the post permalink.

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Top 5 ways to promote your Tag Cloud

TAG CLOUDS are an aesthetically pleasing way of giving the first impression of your blog in a nutshell. So how about promoting the Tag Cloud of your blog to prospective readers?

Idea #1: Promotional emails

Everybody uses emails.

Compose an email and paste your Tag Cloud in the body. Just copy the Tag Cloud from the page of your wordpress.com blog and the Tag Cloud will appear in the body of the email! Additionally, write something like this:

This is the Tag Cloud of my blog about [...]. Please forward this email at least to one person to help them find out this wonderful blog!

Send the email to a close friend of yours (who may or may not be a reader of your blog). Because (s)he is a good friend, she will forward it to another friend. And pretty soon, friends of your friend and their friends and their friends will learn about your Tag Cloud and hopefully feel intrigued enough to visit your blog!

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Idea #2: Via links in comments

Be your usual generous and intelligent commenter self and write comments in different blogs. But instead of pasting the address of your blog in the url field, paste the url of your Tag Cloud page. That way, those who are intrigued about your blog because of your (excellent) comment will access the Tag Cloud of your blog in just one click.

You should not comment just for the sake of promoting your Tag Cloud, make it a real comment that relates to the corresponding post. Avoid being spammy.

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Idea #3: Showcase your Tag Cloud in your Facebook profile

This can work wonders if you use Facebook actively, especially if your friends visit your profile frequently. If not, you can simply send your Facebook friends a message, inviting them to visit your profile and click on a Tag to find something useful in your blog. I am sure you know how to cajole your friends!

So how do you get to show your Tag Cloud in your Facebook profile?
Add an app that allows you to paste HTML code. I used Profile HTML.

Simply view the Tag Cloud of your blog in Firefox. Select all the tags, right-click and select “View Selection Source”. Copy the selected code and paste it in the body of your “Html Profile” box. Your Tag Cloud will be sitting all dressed up in all its clicky splendour right in your Facebook profile!

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Idea #3: Make a Tag Cloud T-shirt

Yes! Although a T-shirt is not exactly clickable, it’s a nice way of promoting your blog in real-life. Just make sure you include the url of your blog somewhere in the T-shirt.

Copy your Tag Cloud in MS Word and reformat it in such a way that it’s suitable as a layout for a T-shirt. Now paste the Tag Cloud in a file in an image processing program and save it. Open a store at Cafepress and follow the necessary steps in order to create the T-shirt. You will find all the necessary information in Cafepress. And the best part is, you don’t have to spend a single buck before someone actually places an order.

If you have some money (like, 18 dollars), then check out Snapshirts, they extract a tag cloud out of a url and create a T-shirt adorned with the Tag Cloud.

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Idea #4: Create you business card showcasing your Tag Cloud

Create a business card (or get it designed by an expert) and use the Tag Cloud as a watermark. Provide all the necessary information that belongs to a business card. And oh! Don’t forget to provide the url of your blog! Now all you have to do is distribute the cards!

Idea #5: Share your Tag Cloud as a Posted item in Facebook

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook – well, it’s one of the most happening social networking sites out there. So, it wouldn’t be a good idea to ignore it!

Sharing the url of your Tag Cloud page as a Posted Item is a good idea. That way, those who don’t come to your profile can still access it.

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So, can you think up even some more ideas for promoting Tag Clouds? Don’t forget the extra hits they can generate {drool}!

Disclaimer

Copying the Tag Cloud from your Tag Cloud page will work only for wordpress.com blogs that created the Tag Cloud in a specific method. This method renders the font in such a way that the variation of font size remains unchanged when the Tag Cloud is pasted elsewhere.

If you don’t have a wordpress.com blog, you might still want to carry out the process in order to have a paste-worthy version of your Tag Cloud. If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to use the comment box!

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Why are social bookmarking sites important for blogs?

IF you are new to the concept of social bookmarking, then this post is you. Actually, there’s so much stuff available in the net on this topic that it might be overwhelming to novices. So I have gleaned sections of posts that deal with social bookmarking. Take a quick glance to prime yourself. Later you might also want to follow the links to learn more.

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What is social bookmarking?

There was a time, none too long ago, when your bookmarks were part of your private domain, hidden away in the browser and stored on your local hard drive. Consequently, what you deemed important – the sites you visited regularly – was no one’s business but your own. Like so many other things on the Internet, Web 2.0 has changed that.

The advent of social bookmarking and sharing sites like del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Ma.gnolia, Blue Dot, Furl, Digg and many others, has made it possible for what was once private to be made public. You can now publish your bookmarks to the open Web, making them available for all to see, use, share and comment upon.

Read more at about.com

Advantages of social bookmarking

In terms of creating a high-quality search engine, a social bookmarking system has several advantages over traditional automated resource location and classification software, such as search engine spiders. All tag-based classification of Internet resources (such as web sites) is done by human beings, who understand the content of the resource, as opposed to software, which algorithmically attempts to determine the meaning of a resource. People also tend to find and bookmark web pages that have not yet been noticed or indexed by web spiders. Additionally, a social bookmarking system can rank a resource based on how many times it has been bookmarked by users (who find it useful, or amusing, or otherwise worthy of remembering and sharing).

Read more at wikipedia
The importance of tagging for social bookmarking sites

Tags are specific keywords that you can use for classifying content (in this case, stories). Once you associate tags with a certain piece of information, this information can be organized accordingly, and made easily retrievable by using the same keyword or keywords.

Tags have become a staple of web 2.0 sites, and especially social bookmarking sites, as they allow a user to sift through large amounts of information and locate exactly what the user is looking for, very efficiently.

Read more at The Mu Life

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How to generate tags and social bookmarking links for your blog

Several sites are there to automatically generate tags and links to social bookmarking sites. Keotag and egmstrategy are a great help.

If you are a wordpress.com blogger, then check out the different ways in which you can create social bookmarking links using different sites.

Promote your blog with your blog’s business card online!

PROMOTE your blog with a business card! What a rocking idea!

Bla.st requires you to have a business card of a specific dimension (a GIF, JPEG or PNG less than 30KB in filesize exactly 270 x 165 pixels in size @ 72dpi). Got one? Submit it to bla.st for free!

Now, do you remember the announcement in my blog a few days ago?

You can tag your card with appropriate tags. Check out some cards under existing categories . Or how about checking out business cards of some blogs/sites?

And here are some tips on how to use bla.st successfully.

Make it obvious what you are promoting

Use both text and graphics in your card design

For businesses make it clear what you offer or sell.

For blogs make it clear what topics you blog about.

Don’t only use your logo or a screenshot

Make graphics and text big and clear

Make your card look professional

Make each card promote one concept or idea. Make multiple cards if needed

(excerpt from bla.st)

As for me, I haven’t made my card yet – instead I wrote this article to spread the word! Cos if I don’t write about it, then how will you know?!

Why don’t YOU make one before me and show me your card at bla.st and make me real jealous? What are you waiting for, go have a blast promoting your blog!

© copyright Sat Nov 03 13:33:07 MDT 2007 – All Rights Reserved

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