Every once in a while I want to populate a new blog with articles from InfoGoRound. The usual method of cut and paste can be horribly tedious and time consuming, so I turned to some free software I created several years ago to convert InfoGoRound articles into neatly formatted HTML files.

InfoGoGetter allows you to name files with any extension, and use any template you want, so I created a template.xml file that looked like this:

<item>
<pubDate>Mon, 26 October 2009 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category>Wordpress</category>
<category>Blogging</category>
<title><!--TITLE--></title>
<content:encoded><p><!--ARTICLEBODY--></p></content:encoded>
</item>


Of course, you’d want to change the date and category names to ones that fit your blog, but that’s all there is to it.

Then, I went through and converted all the articles I thought were useful with this template and saved them with a .xml extension.

Once I was done, I used a search and replace tool to remove spaces between the paragraph tags, since the WordPress import documentation said that linebreaks would convert as extra br tags, which would make way too much space between paragraphs.

Then, I opened a Command Prompt window, navigated to the directory where all the articles were stored, and typed:

type *.xml > file.rss


This command works like cat in linux/unix to concatenate all the xml files into one big file.

Then all that was left was to import the new file.rss into WordPress.

The Import menu is under Tools in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Simply choose the RSS import option, find the file on your hard drive, and voila, they’re all done!

Of course, the more articles you want to import, the more useful this is. Still, even with just 11 articles, it saves a fair chunk of time.

If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you’ve probably experimented with some external blogging clients.  I’ve tried a number of them over the years, yet always seem to go right back to WordPress’ admin when I want to post.

But for the next little while, I’m going to experiment once again and give the various blogging clients a try. After all, they do have a lot going for them… from spell checking, browser integration, and the ability to blog to multiple accounts without opening a new browser window.

Today I installed Deepest Sender, a blogging client for Firefox.

Deepest Sender installs like any Firefox plug-in. Its effortless and comfortable for anyone who has ever added plug-ins to their Firefox installations before. This also means that updates will happen effortlessly, as Firefox will prompt you when new updates are available.

Once you’ve installed Deepest Sender and restarted Firefox, you’ll need to set up some accounts in Deepest Sender. To begin, start the editor by either using the Deepest Sender menu item from the Tools menu,  or typing CTRL+\ on your keyboard.

You’ll be prompted through a very easy new account wizard to set up your first Blog. Deepest Sender will work with LiveJournal, Blogger and WordPress blogs, and should be adaptable to any other platform that uses the metaWeblog API.

Once you’ve set up your blog, you can log in and make a test post. You”ll notice that unlike many other blog editing tools, this one doesn’t leave unasked for links at the end of your posts. Yay!

From the main editor window, you can see your post in either WYSIWYG format, which is “Normal”, in Source mode, which will show you all your tags, and in Preview mode, which will show you, hopefully, what your finished post will truly look like, title and all.

You can choose  which category you want to place your post in from the drop down box at the upper right.

Adding posts to your blog is very straightforward. Simply type away, adding links and text styles with the built-in editor, then post.

Deepest Sender does not yet have a way to upload an image from the editor to your blog. It only accepts the image URL when you choose the image icon from the toolbar,  so if you want to use an image in your post, you’ll need to make sure it’s already online somewhere.

My only other complaint is that Deepest Sender does not include a way to add tags to your posts. I rely heavily on tags, and adding relevant tags to posts has greatly increased my search engine rankings for many keywords, so I am loathe to give them up.

In summary:

Pros:

• Fast and easy install and upgrades
• Offline editing ability
• Access to all your blogs from one place
• Nice WYSIWYG editor
• No extra advertising or links added to your posts
• Free!

Cons:

• No image upload function
• No place to enter tags

Also on my wishlist would be a way to post-date posts, but that’s not a deciding factor for me.

Overall, Deepest Sender is a very nice tool, but I’m not sure it’ll work for me at this point since I almost always use my own images (uploaded via the WordPress image uploader) in my blog posts, and I always use the Tags fields that WordPress and Blogger provide.

I’ll keep the plugin installed, though, and check it out each time there’s an upgrade, since I’m sure it’ll be changing for the better with each new version.

Entrecard is a social blog advertising system with a whole lot of potential and a number of pitfalls which, with a bit of experimenting, can be overcome.

For those who have never understood the widget, here’s the deal: you place a widget with a 125X125 advertising space on your blog. Below it is a little Entrecard line that says “Drop”. When other logged in Entrecard users surf by, they can “Drop” their card on you. Their blog then appears in your Entrecard dashboard and you can (if you wish) reciprocate the drop by visiting their blog and dropping your card. For each time you drop, and for each time someone drops on you, you get one point.

With those points, you can buy advertising on other people’s site widgets. And here’s where it gets tricky. The more people ‘drop’ on your widget, the more credits it will cost to advertise on your site. However, many of the sites that have the highest advertising rates do not have the highest quality traffic. If, for example, the blog you’re advertising on primarily gets its traffic from people reciprocating drops, they’re unlikely to click through the advertising widget to your site. And often, if power droppers do click through, it’s only to drop their card and move along.

While I’m hardly an Entrecard guru, I have picked up a few things from playing with the system for a few weeks.

So, my first tip is this: Don’t be in a rush to advertise with the highest priced sites in your niche. First, check out their profile. If it’s going to cost you 500+ points to advertise on a blog, and the profile says the blogger is:

Deeply committed – Deadly serious. A drop master

That’s your first clue that maybe the traffic isn’t going to be quite what you’re hoping for. It’s a clue, mind you, not a bang on certainty.

To find out more, head over to the blog and see how many of the recent posts are about Entrecard. If most of them are, you’re again looking at a pretty good clue that nearly all the traffic coming to that blog is from one source. (And you’ll never guess what that source is!)

Give the blog a pass if the ad rate is high and the blog hasn’t had a post in a week or two. Definitely.

Finally, check the post comments. Make sure there’s a fairly good variety of people posting, rather than the same few on every post.

If the signals are mixed, flip a coin when deciding to advertise. After all, credits come cheap, and at some point it gets hard to dispose of them all.

Now that I’ve pointed out a few of the signs of a bad purchase, here’s a must-buy in any niche… find the bloggers with ad prices over 40 credits who are given the drop rank of:

Just here for the view
or
Casual and relaxed

You then have a good idea that they get traffic from places OTHER THAN Entrecard. Its no guarantee, but it’s a good place to start.

Some of the best traffic I’ve gotten through EC is from a few quality blogs that hover between 20 EC and 80 EC to advertise on. Apparently I’m not the only one finding out these guys drive great traffic, since it’s getting harder to snag advertising spots in their queue.

I, apparently, am “A dedicated dropper with a hint of addiction.” To achieve this lofty title, I basically reciprocate my drops inbox every day, and surf my way through some of the more interesting ads on weekends.

To reciprocate without pain, I use the Firefox addon “Linky” to quickly load up all the sites in my drop inbox in different tabs. (To do this, install the plugin, go to your drops inbox, highlight all the ad boxes, then right click and choose “Linky-> Open Selected Links in Tabs”. Then go grab a coffee while all the sites load, then whip through the tabs dropping your card on each of those blogs and closing the tab when you’re done.) Using this method I get through about 50 by the time I’m done my first cup of coffee for the day.

Finally, when you’re through with all the productive things you should have done in any given day, or while you’re in the middle of a really boring conference call, you can use Sitehopping to autosurf your way through Entrecard sites effortlessly.

While I prefer to take my Saturdays completely away from my computer, Sundays usually include a little bit of work and a little surfing for fun time.

This Sunday, my leisurely surfing time was done by clicking Entrecards, dropping as I went. (Ick, that sounds a little vulgar, doesn’t it!?)

Here are my favorite finds from my crawl:

1. Marketing Tools Review has this mother of all Adwords tips lists. If you can’t find even one tip in there to make your day, you’re a greater Adwords expert than I. (Well, that’s not saying much, really. But check it out anyway.)
2. Telecommuting Diva offers her list of 4 warning signs of a Work at Home scam. I’ve met more than a few people taken in by these sorts of scams over the years. Reading a warning list like this might have helped a few of them. The rest have never listened to any good advice before in their lives. It’s not likely they’ll start now.
3. Think Blogger experiments with Entrecard Chain Dropping with some interesting methodology and encouraging results. The carpal tunnel effect will slow him down before long, I’m sure, so the rest of us can catch up.
4. Justin Khoury interviews Digg user msaleem. While it’s not the most probing interview I’ve ever seen, there are a few tips to pick up by reading this interview with Digg’s second most successful user.
5. JTPratt discusses ways to track search engine rankings on your blog. I should take his advice. I am very bad at tracking my blogs, but heck, I’m still not even sure WHY I blog. I think you can tell from the Adsense placements here that it sure ain’t the revenue.
6. Canucklehead reminds Entrecard users to step away from the computer now and then. Not sure what he’d say to those folks who blog in order to get away from their families. That’s not me. I think.
7. And although I’m a godless heathen now, I was raised Christian enough to appreciate Church Jokes. “…the sermon topic will be “What is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.” See, I’m still laughing