HOW does your blog fare in different search engines? What’s the result for a keyword at different search engines? Ask, Yahoo and Google are three major search engines and now you can compare results in these three search engines in one page.
Just click the image above to figure out the results for the search term “Netty Gritty”.
What does AskYahoogle do? It lets you view:
-Analysis Chart
-Agreement Bar
-Combined Rankings and
-Individual results
Not bad! But um…..why does my Yahoo look so blank under Individual Results? Don’t forget to check the site and tell me if Yahoo returned no links for the search term you entered.
FINALLY here is a way to have a poll in a wordpress.com blog that actually works in a wordpress.com blog! Polldaddy is a rocking polling service that now provides codes for wordpress.com blogs.
Available Features
* Unlimited free polls with unlimited votes per poll.
* 14 PollDaddy skins to choose from or create your own in CSS.
* View poll results online, as XML, CSV, or subscribe to them via RSS!
* Polls provided in HTML or Flash depending on your needs.
* Full foreign language support.
* Block repeat voters by IP address or cookies.
* Create single choice or multiple choice polls.
* Close polls after a certain date, randomize answers, allow text entry ‘other’ field, show or hide results from voters and much more.
* New: Track individual votes, get voter location and detect fraudulent votes. (Pro Account only)
From the site
To have a poll, first sign up for an account.
Creating a poll is very easy.
First write your poll question.
Then you are asked to enter the answers in multiple fields. Just use as many “Answer” fields as you need.
You can set the poll to randomize answers, to allow poll takers to choose multiple answers or write their own answers.
You can choose a language for the poll. If your language is not listed, just ask them and they say they will add it to the list! Well, now they are really talking my language!
Now you are all set to set a style for your poll. . Choose an available theme or if you know CSS, then roll up your sleeves and create your own theme!
Here are the available themes. I have painstaking created these screenshot so that you can have a sneak peek even before you sign up!
After you are done creating a poll, they will give you the poll code. Choose the code for wordpress.com. Paste the code in a post/post in your blog and the poll will appear there! And it actually works in your wordpress.com blog! This is the first time a poll works right inside a wordpress.com blog, so here is a big yippeeeeeeee!
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I like Polldaddy a lot. But um..
Problems
I have some grievances.
1. If I set the poll to allow users to write comments, then the user is taken to a separate Polldaddy page where they can write a comment.
2. The poll can be created to let the readers enter an answer on their own. The problem is, when the “Results” button is clicked, the actual answers are not seen in “Other”, it just shows the result bar.
3. Another thing is, you can’t paste the poll in the side bar of your wordpress.com blog.
4. Some polling services allow the poll creator to use images in answers. You can’t do that at Polldaddy.
Solutions (but not all)
1. There’s no way to overcome the first problem. No, wait! Maybe there is! Don’t set the poll to allow users to post comments at all. Instead, urge people to write comments in your post. That way you keep the readers in your blog.
2. I don’t know how to get over this problem. Any idea?
3. About the second problem, well, why not link to your poll in your side bar using some text or some image?
4. I have no idea how to bypass this problem, other than to use a different service from the list found in the link under this post.
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Important Update
It is now possible to embed a workable poll in the sidebar of a wordpress.com blog. So I have one less grievance about Polldaddy!
This is such a good news indeed! I know that many users of wordpress.com almost left the platform because they couldn’t embed a workable poll right in their blogs. Now we have it all! WordPress rocks!
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A friendly suggestion
If comments about a poll are important to you, then I suggest that you embed the poll in a post or page and not in the sidebar. Provide a link to your poll post in your sidebar. That way, your poll will get full exposure in your blog at all time.
If you think that polls really belong to the side bar, rather than in a page or post, then you might want to put a text link under the poll, which will lead the reader to a post where they can write their opinions to encourage discussions.
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Further readings Create free polls and free surveys for your wordpress.com blog
This post lists features of a lot of good survey and polling services that are wordpress.com compatible. You can even check out sample surveys and polls before you actually sign up for one!
EVER wanted to chat with your readers? Why not try Raply? All you have to do is visit the homepage of Raply and enter the url of your website or blog. The “chat room” for your blog will be created instantly. Click the logo below to ty it out!
After you enter the url, a little chat window opens in the same window. You can chat with readers of that site while still browsing any page or post!
To view my Raply page, click the image below.
Did you know that you can even print discussions? Not bad for a service that is totally free. Why, you don’t even have to register!
So, how can your readers know about your “chat room”? Why not link to it in your blog?
STUCK for a word? Need something to adequately describe your day yet doesn’t already have some other meaning? Look no further than the random word generator!
By analyising the frequency of pairs of letters in 45,402 different words it is possible to generate new words which, although don’t have any meaning, are reasonably syntactically correct. Sometimes you may get a word which does already exist, but there should be plenty there that don’t.
WRITER’S BLOCK is something every writer dreads – be it a blogger or a novelist! Sometimes all we have to do is “explore new territories” and our braincells are again as good as new again!
Creativity tools online generates random words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs.
I tried Random Paragraph Generator and quite liked it! I chose two words (Muse and night) for my Primary subject and secondary subject and this is what I got……
Muse treads the changed heresy. The spent fortune rushs toward Muse. How can the fuss rend Muse? Should the miscellaneous ruler differentiate night? Should the talent smoke opposite Muse?
I can’t help looking out of the corner of my eye at that typo there, though!
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