So Many Buttons And Badges
If you’re relatively new to blogging, you may be wondering what all the buttons and badges you see in people’s sidebars are. I know when I started blogging they looked very foreign to me. I had no idea what all of them were or why people were sticking them in their sidebars. Well, here’s a little explanation of the ones I have in my sidebar for you.
1. In the top left portion of my sidebar you see two buttons which say, Subscribe in a Reader and Subscribe by Email. For a long time I had no idea what this meant and I was so happy when I discovered what a Reader was. Feed Readers reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check blogs for updates. Once you’ve subscribed to a feed, new content on the feed you’ve added is checked for and updated. So updates are brought to me instead of my clicking on individual links over and over without promise of new content having appeared. Some popular feed readers include:
* Google Feed Reader
* Bloglines
* Omea Reader
* Awasu
I use Google Reader to keep up with my favorite blogs.
2. Also in my left sidebar is a small pink box with a link underneath that reads, Follow me at Twitter. Occasionally, you may notice the content in this box changes. This is Twitter, the newest internet phenomenon, and it’s rather fun. I post little blurbs all throughout the day about what I’m doing.
3. Below is my Cre8Buzz Badge, that you can find in the left sidebar. Cre8buzz is a social networking site that I have found to be both fun and helpful in boosting my blog traffic. I highly recommend it so go sign up!
4. Technorati Buttons like the ones below:
“Currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. Technorati is the recognized authority on what’s happening on the World Live Web, right now.” - Technorati Website
Technorati features a well respected ranking system for blogs. My rank is 26,828 which means I am 26,828 places away from being the #1 ranked blog on the internet. They also point out what is called Authority. You can see above that my Authority is 187. This means that 187 different blogs have linked back to my blog. (Not just 188 different times, but 187 different blogs). You add your blog to your Technorati page and then hope that people will add it to their favorites, hence the, Add to Technorati Favorites small green button above.
5. All of the little buttons below, are also found in my sidebar. Each of them link to different Blog Directories I have joined, hopefully getting my blog more exposure. On most of them, people can also rank my blog.
:heart: 
What a brilliant post idea! I remember so well those days of cluelessness and wondering what all the jargon meant.
Kimberlys last blog post..Won’t You Be My Neighbour?
Huh! I actually didn’t know all that stuff! I just like to write and come in and out of actually promoting my blog and furthering it’s potential. Right now I’m actually in a debate with myself whether or not to go private. I like that other people can come in and read, but I wish I could be more specific sometimes about where I live etc but don’t want psychos stalking my kids… you know!
That was very useful! I haven’t actively promoted my blog until the last about 4 months… I have had it for almost 3 years. Do you think all the stuff you mentioned has really helped? I have debated back and forth about registering with all those sites you mentioned… I’m undecided still.
google reader is one of Gods greatest inventions!
themotherboards last blog post..Throwback Thursday
This is such a great post! I know you posted it ages ago, but it’s in my favourites and I refer to it all the time! Thanks so for all this info! Just wondering if you could actually help me? I’ve been after a Facebook widget code to put on my blog (I know, pretty basic - I’m still learning!) and if you know where I could get it? I’ve been searching through all sorts of sources and can’t find one. Hope you can help
Nickys last blog post..Enough is Enough!!!
I’ve awarded you the One Lovely Blog Award.