Winners of Lets Win Contest Together

You can call me third time lucky as this was my third contest and I am very happy to see the overwhelming response for it. I take this opportunity to thanks all the contributors and participants to the contest. You all make it a successful event and yes encourage me to plan some more contest and events in future. Thanks everybody again for the support you extended to“Win This Contest Together”.

Now come to the results, there were 208 Entries total, considering 5 Entries for Blogging about the contest and 3 Entries for every e-mail subscription during contest period. I used services of random.org to draw the results. To make the things more transparent and clear I have posted screen shots of results been drawn at Randon.org. Hope you will appreciate this.

Congratulations to all the winners, Hope you will write a post about your winning experience (not a big deal -I guess:-)

One thing I would like to mention here that previously I planed that the winner would contact to the prize sponsored directly to get the winning prize, but as the organizer of this contest I feel it’s my duty to see that every prize that been offer and won should be properly distributed/provided to the winners. So I make a call to all my prize sponsored  of Entrecard Credit to transfer offered EC credit into my Entrecard Accounts with e-mail ID Shankerbakshi@gmail.com so that I can distribute the same to the winner.

I also request all my sponsored for extending their help and support to me and to all prize winners for distributing prize as promise within the time frame of next couple of days.

I congratulate all the winners again and thanks a lot to my prize sponsors who make this contest a real big one.

Click on picture to see results

Entrecard Credits

• 10,000 Entrecard Credits from Shanker Bakshi dot Com (worth $95) Winner Wiehanne
  
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from Ragnarok (worth $10) Winner Blog Tactic
  
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from The Delano Observer (worth $10) Winner ThemeLib
  
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from Newz Around Us (worth $10) Winner Sherry
  
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from Michael Aulia dot Com (worth $10) Winner Ruben
  
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from Rumbling Lankan (worth $10) Winner Danandmarsh
  
• 1500 Entrecard Credits from Gyutae Park – Winning the Web (worth $15) Winner Guitarjockey
• 1000 Entrecard Credits from Abhishek Deshpande (worth $10) Winner bm
• 1500 Entrecard Credits from Live the Best Life Online (worth $15) Winner Marlene
  

Click on picture to see results

125 x 125 Square Ads

• 125×125 Entrecard Widget Design by Mohit Aneja (worth $15) Winner Affandi
  
• 125×125 block ad for one month on iLUVcontests (worth $15 ) Winner Riyanne
  
• 125×125 block ad for one month on Shopping (worth $15 ) Winner Riyanne
• 125×125 block ad for one month on XSrealities (worth $25 ) Winner Nadeesha Cabral
  
• 125×125 block ad for one month on Inspirit Blog (worth $35) Winner Amor
  
• 125×125 block ad for permanent on Fundraiser Support (worth $10) Winner nhc1987
  
• 125×125 block ad for one month on Lemback -Potpourri (worth $25) Winner Topen82
  
• 125×125 Block ad for four months on Shanker Bakshi dot com (worth $80) Winner Wiehanne
• Two 125×125 Blocks ads for one months from LegitGeeK.com (worth $320) Winner Blog Tips for Beginners
  
• 125×125 Block ad for one Week on confoozled (worth $10) Winner Sherry

Click on picture to see results

Text Link Ads

• Text Link Ad for a month on Ragnarok (worth $10) Winner Dollar Dude
  
• Text Link Ad for a month on WebTrafficROI (worth $10) Winner Sherry
• Text Link Ad for a month on Mr. Javo dot Com (worth $10) Winner Indocontest
  
• Text Link Ad for a month on Blogging From Scratch (worth $10) Winner Manusia Pejalan
  

Click on picture to see results

Some More Prizes

• 250×250 ad spot for a week at ROCKFUSE (worth $20) Winner Danandmarsh
• 468×60 ad spot for six months on Brood online (worth $100) Winner ZK
  
• One Free blog review by Inspirit Blog (worth $150) Winner Eerik
  

Web Hosting Rating -New Hosting Directory and Rating

Someone is doing it for you, in a better way, in the most informative way and in a way that you can trust their information for setting up your NEXT BIG THING blog. There are various support forums where people  whining about their bad experiences with their WEB HOSTING SITES. You remember when I told you about my dirty dancing with bamboozle hosting provider. I was about to loose my blog due to their dreadful service and negligence. I was not provided full access to my control penal and when I lost my WordPress SQL data base then only they come up for providing me my PhpMyAdmin keys.

t’s not a secret that a good web hosting site plays an important role in success of your website or blog. You must be equipped with all great tools that these Web hosting sites provide before jumping and pumping into the blogsphere.

You always wonder which web hosting site would be best for your purpose. You wanna so along with which web hosting partner for setting up your site. I am trying to give you one stop shop tool where you can find all information about web hosting sites. Right from web hosting rating to budgeting, by web hosting type to support services.

Web Hosting Rating is places where you can find all the information you need to compare for choosing the right web hosting site partner for your “site plans”. Independent customer rating of top 10 web hosting companies based on the customer satisfaction, affordability, reliability, uptime and technical support. Web Hosting Rating is the biggest searchable web hosting directory featuring complete information on all web hosting providers, their web hosting plans, promotional and discount coupons, and unedited reviews by real customers.

WebHostingRating.com is a new host rating site where we are trying to build the biggest searchable web hosting directory featuring complete information on all web hosting providers, all their web hosting plans, promotional and discount coupons, and unedited reviews by real customers.

You as a customer can rate various web hosting sites based on factors like uptime, technical support and price affordability. Rating are based on web hosting types namely

• Unix
• Windows
• Reseller
• VPS
• Dedicated
• Colocation
• Managed

Moreover if you are newbie and want to brush up your knowledge about the technicalities of web hosting then there are several web hosting tutorials where you can find article to learn about web hosting. So if you wonder what is cold fusion; learn from expert at web hosting rating.

Web hosting awards

Here you can see Web hosting Award under different segment but not much have been mentioned Web Hosting Rating has to improve documentation under this section soon.

• Best Budget Hosting
• Best Blog Hosting
• Best Forum Hosting
• Best Unix Hosting
• Best Windows Hosting
• Best PHP Hosting
• Best Email Hosting
• Best Ecommerce Hosting
• Best Multi-Domain Hosting
• Best VPS Hosting
• Best Reseller Hosting
• Best Dedicated Hosting

So now you know,  if you have to dig about the best Web Hosting site next time where you will find it all.

Singing Along With Michael Jackson

The date is Nov. 01, 1996, Michael Jackson History Tour in India. The stage is set at Mumbai’s Shah Jee Raje Andheri Sports Complex, and there I am, singing and dancing along with Michael Jackson before a crowd of over 60000 people. I can hear the 150K Watt Sound, people cheering up our names; I am singing “Heal the world” along with Michael Jackson. The greatest performer ever live on earth.

Well, this is my dream and I have seen this hundred and thousand time since my college days. It’s still a dream, I never got a chance to meet Michael Jackson in person; ( Please don’t kill me to confuse you for a while) I know this dream is too big to turn into reality. last week I come across  with a person who made this dream possible for me through his graphical skill. Let me tell you about my new friend Nilo.

Meet NILO EVANGELISTA

This 25 year old Filipino Graphic designer has immense talent, and he is really a master craftsman.  He  is Nilo Evagelista the man behind artistic work you see above. I met him through our common friend and blogger Amor. She awarded him with “The Kick Ass blogger award” last week. Thanks Amor for introducing me to such a great talent.

You can see show case of his capabilities at the following spots

• Photoshop World
  
• Graphics Design By Nilo

You can also find him at these places

• Money And Nature
  
• Sports News
  
• People Scandal
  
• 2008 Beijing Olympic
  

Its really a pleasure to watch how he turn a squirrel as Captain Squirrel, how an alien might look like or even a veggie kid. It’s interesting to know how it all get started

The journey begins when I was 3 years old and started to draw the basic, which means stick like people, sun with smiling face, a nipa house with a coconut tree beside and a mountain behind with clouds while birds are flying. This simple idea stop because something big happen. I was 5 years old and it is time to explore the world where children will learned and be guided. And then a blessing came, a group of Filipino-Catholic N.G.O. (None Government Organization) who are seeking for qualified student knock into our door. Their mission is to help children and support their studies financially. And the vision is to make them excel in their chosen field. This includes academics, sports, literature, music, arts, and stage play. Thank God they came in to my life, inspite of the educational support they also help me to enroll in a art organization to enhance my skills in drawing and painting.

COMMENT On This Post And Let Us Turn Your Dream Into Reality – Graphically At Least

This idea blow up my head when I was writing about Nilo, lets do it. Tell us about your dream like the one i explained above through comments. Please tell us in comment below with which celebrity you wanna photograph yourself with or how you wanna see yourself. I will ask Nilo to select one entry and try to turn his/her dream into a graphical virtual realty. I know Nilo would be great enough to do that for you and me.

So comment below about your dream and we will try to turn it out into reality (Graphically) . Right Nilo.

Shanker Bakshi dot Com Completed One Year

Proudly Announce that this blog Shanker Bakshi dot Com turns One year old today (29th August)  Oh !!! What a memorable journey so far? Achieved so many targets, missed few, learned so many new things, make some really worthy and sweet friends during this period one year.

I will write a complete post soon on this one year journey which was initially started from here, and then it turns there and finally arrived here. There are so many sweet reminiscences to share with you.

In short i thank you all who supported me through my voyage. Thanks for visiting Shanker Bakshi dot com. Thanks for your valuable inputs in form of comments. Hope you will show your love toward SBDC in future. also. Love to see you around.

Happy Birthday Michael Jackson

I share my birthday with celebration of Saint Valentines Day and my blog share it with the greatest show man ever lived on earth Michael Jackson. I love to listen to and dance to his tune since I was in school. I consider him as a great musician, a big performer and indeed a great humanitarian too. It dose not matter much to me what you think about him, he will always have a respected place in my heart.

Cake Courtesy Lucy was here

UBD 1 Year Anniversary Contest Win a Free Apple iPod

I started a blog contest in the beginning of this month, thanks very much for your enthusiastic response. You guys rocks, but one thing is for sure that if you want to learn how to do a blog contest? Learn from these blog design experts guys from Unique Blog Design (UBD). I always try my hands whenever they toss a free WordPress blog theme in their contest after all they are the best in designing WordPress themes. This time they have come up with this Apple iPod Stuff along with a free WordPress theme called Citrus to be released soon. This time occasion is also something special – Unique Blog Design turn one year old.

Let me tell you now how you can enter this contest:

• For one (1) contest entry – just reply to this post with a comment.
• For five (5) contest entries – write a blog post about the UBD 1-Year Anniversary Contest and link back to this post

Official Contest Rules:

• The contest runs from 12:00AM PST Friday, August 22nd, 2008 to 11:59PM Sunday, August 31, 2008.
• Winners will be chosen Monday, September 1, 2008 through a random drawing.

Prizes include (1) grand prize of an Apple iPod Touch 8GB ($299 value) and three (3) copies of new UBD Citrus WordPress Theme ($99 value).

Go for it – It really big but not as bigger then THIS ONE

If you planning to jump into this contest then hold on also CHECK OUT THIS CONTEST.

SEO Sucks – Oh Really?

Skill to pay the bills – Thats what his Meta Tag Title conveys – He never claim himself a SEO but love to move up his thin (once Fat) ass among SEOs . I admire him for his wittiness, this super kid Jeremy Schoemaker did a fun.

At SES I thought I would spice it up a bit and wear my “Seo Sucks” t-shirt as a bit of a social experiment to see what kind of reaction it would get. Being at the largest and most respected SEO gathering/conference I was curious to the reactions.

So guys whats your take on his social experiment. Do you really think SEO Sucks?

Digg This Out

I never hit the Digg front page, they say its a big thing, yes it is, but its also not the real thing my boy, Hitting Digg’s front page is not that you have some great story to blow up the blogsphere, it just about the strategic tactics that help you to hit the front.

I know some of you guys would not agree with what i had said above, but some time its true. By the way i found this very interesting joke about Digg on internet, Immediately i decided to share it with you guys.

And yes would you help me hitting the digg front page for my this article.

See if you can Digg some help.

Digg it :

http://digg.com/odd_stuff/List_of_500_Do_Follow_Blogs

What Is Keyword And Why A Blogger Should Care About It?

People put different words in search engine when they make search about any specific product or service. The idea is to write the article or post on your blog using some specific words or keywords to rank high in search engine results for that particular targeted keyword.

Keywords are a list of words and phrases that help search engines index your website, they are part of the hidden HTML code called Meta tags.

Reality -seo

A word used by a search engine in its search for relevant Web pages

TrendMX

So it is very important that you should use some specific words in your blog post to be rank high in search engines for that specific word or keyword. The search engine uses the keyword to decide which webpage or site is providing information related to keyword and displays result in that particular manner. So ultimately keyword becomes very critical tool to market the content available on your website or blog to various search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask or for any other search engine for that matter.

Finding out High Value Keywords

Okay, now after learning the importance of keywords we have to find out what are the tools available on internet to find valuable keywords for our post. One of best keyword search tracker is available with Wordtracker. You can use their FREE keyword suggestion tool and if you wish you can opt to join free 14 days trail for just $1. In return you will get:

• How to create your first list of money-making keywords.
• How to build a basic, traffic-generating keyword strategy..
• How to avoid the biggest SEO blunders made by most people.
• Four simple ways to optimize your web content.
• The right way to use Pay-Per-Click
• How to find profitable new niche markets..
• How to get external links that will promote your site for free.

Keyword Management with WordPress -All in one SEO Plugin

If you don’t want to do search and all before writing every article on your blog then just install this WordPress Plugin and it will take care your keyword related worries.  This is the most popular Plugin for your WordPress Blog. It will help you manage your Meta Tag Title keyword for specific post. Title of your post is important for search engines and with “All in one SEO Plugin” you can choose fancy title for your post and interestingly the Meta Tag of that post can be something else a search engine keyword oriented.

Learn about “All in One SEO Plugin” HERE.

Download and install “All in One SEO Plugin HERE.

Now let’s end this post giving a practical example

Take this example of iphone launch in India. It was launch on 21^st August midnight, so it was the right time to write a post about iphone 3G as there would be a majority of people searching for this particular keyword in various search engines.

Let’s check with our Wordtracker which are the most searched about terms in search engine after launch of iphone in India.

Now if you look at the list above iphone in India is the top keyword related. Now let’s see who comes on the top of search result when we put this phrase in Google search box. Following is the top result page.

Click to enlarge the image

Now if you click on first result of this search you will see yourself that the guy on top place has very smartly used this keyword “iphone in India’ in his article. Here is the screen shot of article with keyword “iphone in India” highlighted.

Click to enlarge the image

So this is as sample to grab the top position in organic search results of various search engines. But please do remember don’t fill in up your article full of targeted keyword, make sure the keyword should not disturb the tone of that article and it should be use in article again and again without any purpose just to enhance the chance of search results.

Obama’s Lost Brother Found

This news hit the world today. Barack Obama’s long brother found in Kenya. This Twenty six year old guy Named George Hussein Onyango Obama found in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi. The youngest of the presidential candidate’s half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender for the most powerful post in the world. “No-one knows who I am,” the younger brother of the White House hopeful was quoted as saying by the Vanity Fair magazine.

According to Italy’s Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother — born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael. Embarrassed by his penury, he said, “If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed”. “I live here on less than a dollar a month,” he claimed, adding “I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist”. He has only met his famous older brother twice — once when he was just five and the last time in 2006 when senator Obama was on a tour of East Africa and visited Nairobi, Daily Telegraph newspaper said in a report.

Obama mentions his brother in his autobiography, describing him in just one passing paragraph as a “beautiful boy with a rounded head”

News Courtsy : Telegraph , Times of India

How Do I Check For No-Follow And Do-Follow Blog

I gave you a list of about 500 DoFollow blogs a couple of days back. If your blog allows user to get a back link through comment form by installing do follow blog Plugin and adopting DoFollow comment policy then you can ask me to include your blog entry into DoFollow Blog List.

But yes, before including your blog in the DoFollow blog list I check your blog is really a DoFollow blog or Not.  I don’t know about your method but let me explain what method I employ to check.

No DoFollow add-ons for Firefox

I installed Firefox add-ons called “No DoFollow”. Right click on browser and click at No DoFollow and you are done; it will mark all DoFollow Link on the site in BLUE and all NoFollow Link as RED as shown in the picture below. Its as simple as that.

Install FireFox No DoFollow add-ons HERE

Write Your BIG Success Story With SEO California

 

Your valuable contents need traffic; otherwise it would be nothing but a great script written on the wall of Nombre de Dios (whats that?). One of the great source is via “natural” search results for targeted “keywords” from various search engines specially Google. As a part of aggressive marketing strategy Webmasters / owners hire search engine optimization experts.  Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines.

Choose right SEO consultant for your site

Deciding about SEO consultant of your site is a very import task. A right decision can make your site potential and important for search engines but one wrong decision can also damage repute of your website. So be careful while hiring SEO consultants. Usually a SEO expert provide you following services

• Technical advice on website development
• Keyword research
• Content development
• Managment and development of brand campaigns
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.
• SEO training.

California SEO

California SEO has ten years of specialized work experience in search engine optimization. Basically company helps you to generate brand friendly and search engine friendly content, optimize current content, and utilize customized SEO strategies.

Our techniques have proven to work exceptionally well. We deliver much more traffic and much wider exposure than you’ll get with other agencies. We have extensive experience in accomplishing this and can apply these same techniques, principles and strategies to your site. All you need to know is that our clients have enjoyed enormous successes and you will be the next BIG success story.

Building of your brand Equity

As an internet entrepreneur you know very well that brand image of your company /site is most important factor that you must take care of. It’s the most valuable assets of any company. With Brand Identity Gurus at SEO California you can easily find a market niche for developing your core competencies. You can trust their team to develop a strong brand strategy that will make you the leader in your industry.

Brand Identity Gurus at California SEO explain how brand is the sum total of a company’s identity-from its name and logo to every piece of communication. They smarty relate branding with a apple pie with two scoops of ice cream and a cherry on top.

The cherry is a brand’s promise. The ice cream represents all your products and services. The apples are the corporation itself-the corporate environment. The crust is the structure of your company-not the building (although how it looks is part of branding) but your systems.

 

 

Client List of SEO California BIG (Brand Identity Guru)

Well their Clientele list says it all why they are the most trusted SEO consult on web. Caca-Cola, Verizon, Reebok, SunlLfe Financial are just to name a few. Building Brand image and doing SEO for any client is not a child’s play, expertise goes much deeper and broader than you may be aware. Why SEO California is a better option simply because their ranking goals are usually diverse extending beyond ranking for one popular keyword phrase. That translates to far better SEO results and value for you.

Beside Search Engine Optimization consultancy SEO California BIG Brand Identity Guru extend following services.

• Marketing Strategy
• Branding Strategy
• Website Design
• Graphic Design /Logo Design
• Research Techniques

So be with the Greatest and be with the masters of their art.

Hire SEO California HERE.

 

Picking The Perfect Domain Name

This is a guest post by Emila from AffiliateTips.com – a great place to find affiliate programs for your site.

When working in the world of affiliates there are many things to take into consideration and the domain name is for sure one of those things that can boost the success of your affiliate site. If you know what to think about and how to get an advantage to your competitors you could come to be the leader of the pack.

Follow these simple steps and get the knowledge you need to be on top of your game. Of course, you might not be able to follow all the steps when choosing domain name but just by taking one or two of them into consideration you have an increased chance of becoming successful.

What are Your Keywords?

Think of the question above when picking domain name since using keywords in it is a great way of attracting more visitors. What are your readers most likely to type in when searching information about your site’s content? When you think you know this, take advantage of it – this will get you a higher ranking on the various search engines.

We know that this won’t be an easy thing to do since many domain names already are taken. If you come up with one that is free – grab it at once! Start brainstorming various keywords that could potentially get you a high ranking on the search engines. Eventually you’ll find something matching your needs.

Match Domain Name with Website

This is a point that might seem obvious to many but a good idea could be to choose a domain name that matches the name of your website. Once people have become familiar with your site they will find it easier to remember and type in the name of your site if the name and site matches, simple as that.

In not matching these two you risk the chancing of losing many readers/visitors. In order to find out if a domain name is available, you can use a free domain name registry that’ll determine the availability.

Pick a Creative Name

Generic names are still very popular but it has become an increased trend to use creative domain names, and it’s not a bad idea. As mentioned earlier; many domain names are already taken and therefore might picking creative domain names be your best, or perhaps only, choice. In other words, it’s time to exercise your creative muscles now. Picking a creative domain name could potentially become a bigger hit than a generic name if your visitors are able to catch on to it.

Finding, or coming up with a top domain name isn’t the easiest thing in the world, we know. But take the time it takes to come up with something you’re pleased with. If you don’t like the name you can count on your visitors not liking it either. Increase your business identity as well as visitors of course, in choosing a great domain name!

 

New Features Added -Picture Gallery and dotComGuru Forum

I have added couple of new features to this blog. I was thinking to have a gallery installed on this blog from last few months finally I got the right software for it. It gallery version 2.

The best thing is that you can embedded it with your blog it means displaying Gallery2 output within your WordPress Page with a Plugin WPG2, but unfortunately I could not make it work on this site. Documentation at site is not easy to understand by me, am not a tech geek after all. Anyway I installed the Plugin and then deactivated it. No use for me. I can’t embedded my Gallery into my blog. Any help you can extend people?

Yes, this is what you do when you are in trouble; you ask your buddy bloggers tech geek buddies and write your quarry at different forum. Now am giving you one more place where you can discuss your blogging. Have a look at the last navigation button at very right hand side on this site that says dotcomguru. That’s a new forum build for you to discuss your blogging quarries and practices.

dotComGuru Forum

Initially I have made following sections where you can put in different topics. You can suggest the other section and some advices on how to go about it.

India International

Search Engine and SEO

Blogging Resource and Tools

WordPress Themes and Plugin

Tell Us About Your Site

I would like you Sign up for dotcomguru forum and provide some valuable participation.

Install Firefox Digg Toolbar And Learn How To Hit Digg Front Page

Would you like to research which type of stories digg most by user at digg.com? To hit the front page of digg is what every blogger aimed.  By installing digg Firefox toolbar you will never miss a popular story. This is a new feature added at digg recently.

While browsing internet it will let you know if a story already been submitted to digg, how many comments it got, if the story you are browsing has not been submitted to digg then you can instantly submit it with submit button at Digg toolbar.

The toolbar will alert you when new stories become popular on Digg by showing the story details in a small notification window at the bottom of the browser. You can easily turn this feature off if you don’t wish to receive such alerts.

I recommend installation of Firefox Digg Tool as Digg is a great traffic driver provided you know how to propagate an ordinary story.

Click below to Install Digg Firefox Add-Ons

Google AdSense for Rss Feeds

To gear-up FeedBurner Google introduce today AdSense for your feeds provided you have burn your feed with FeedBurner. While setting-up your AdSense Ads account today, you may have notice this new feature added by Google. Which mean you now use AdSense to place ads in your RSS Feeds.

There is one very interesting point that I should mention here, if you fix this RSS Feed AdSense Unit, and then if you decide not to go with it then and try to delete this ad unit then Google will come up with following answer.

Right now, it isn’t possible to delete an ad unit from within your account. This is designed to help avoid instances where an ad unit that’s in use on your site might be deleted accidentally. However, you can hide ad units by clicking the Hide links next to the ads you don’t wish to see.

Well you can’t expect this type of answer from google, but beleive me lots of wiered things are happening with Google these days

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