Delicious VS Google Searches

I searched for "black friday" on both Delicious and Google. I was disappointed that the most recent search on Delicious for that tag brought up pages of items that were not what I was looking for. I am looking for sites and ads for "Black Friday" and Google search had what I wanted. None of the results on the Delicious search were very recent or reliable. I couldn't find much of anything I had wanted to see. Delicious brought up 516 pages Google produced 748,000,000 sites

Clearly Google had lots of the top sites and ads that have been leaked already. The ones on the first few pages have all been added in the last month. It even brought up my blog on the Dollar General Black Friday ad I had posted in the last 5 days on the first page. I will stick to using Google for searching the internet.

To Share or Not to Share

We all know that Flickr is the social networking site to upload your pictures, but to also share with your friends or family. Other users can also find your pictures if set to public and share. What sets Flickr apart from many other sites is they add a Creative Commons licensing to all the pictures you upload.

Why have a Creative Commons License on your pictures? It keeps others from taking your photos and trying to use them on their own websites or blogs and taking credit for a picture they didn't take. It wouldn't necessarily pose a problem of most family pictures, but you are a photographer trying to make a living on the pictures you take. Then thousands of others are using them without giving you credit. You lose money.

The upside to this problem is to use a Creative Commons License. You have many options on how restrictive you want for each photo. Users will still share your work, but have to give you credit. This is a great way to drive others to your website or blog! You can generate more traffic and possibly more clients.
I personally do share my pictures. There are times I add a logo of my blog to a picture in a spot that would be hard for anyone to edit. Many times I take pictures for giveaways, and not upset if others share my pictures. This is why I also add in tags to bring more traffic to my blog. I do receive a few hundred visitors looking for pictures and find my blog.

How to Add Pictures on a Blogger Post

Flickr is extremely popular with many users on the internet. It makes sharing and embedding pictures very easy. It is also a great way for people to share with their pictures with friends and family. I know I have family scattered all over the country so I enjoy being able to connect with them on sites like Flickr. There are two ways to post pictures on a blog post. The first one is to just upload the picture and publish directly on Blogger. It is very easy to upload. The picture below is one I uploaded directly into this blog post.

First you click the picture icon in the post settings. Then you will browse by uploading a picture directly from your computer. You can center the picture or align it to the right or left and choose the size you want to the image to appear on the post. The biggest benefit is you do not have to open another window to find html as it's all done on Blogger. The second way to post a picture on a blog post is to copy and paste the html from a picture hosting service like Flickr.



It is also very easy and you do not have to host the picture on Blogger which saves memory and space. By hosting on a site like Flickr, other users can share your picture if you made it public. The more your picture is visible on more than one site, the more people will see as it will be in search engines. I prefer to upload my pictures directly on Blogger as it is easy and quick. I can add custom tags to the pictures that I upload onto Blogger. The tags also helps to have my image in search engines, which brings more visitors to my blog.

How Financial Companies Keep Content Fresh

I read an interesting article called Financial Companies Use RSS Feeds which helps them to find the newest information about interest rates, stocks, loan rates, and more. They were slow to adopt but now are using RSS Feeds to keep an edge over competitors. As many laws are constantly changing on Tax Returns this is extremely helpful to tax preparers. One mistake could cost their clients either too much or miss out on a bigger refund. Technology is continually changing how corporations and businesses must change to keep ahead and profitable.

Feed Reader Experiences

I use a feed reader through Google since I am already on the site for my blogs, Gmail, and such. I have several blogs and websites that I subscribe to their feed. I really do like using a feed reader as it adds new content directly to my dashboard. It saves me time by not having to visit multiple sites daily. I definitely don't have time to always check these sites daily. I enjoy being able to browse through the content as I wish. I also enjoy being able to search through content by newest or oldest. I do search for posts by newest as I want to see new posts and then click on the articles that interest me.

A couple of things I don't like is that I have to log into one reader which requires internet if I want to see my list or look at the content. Sometimes on my phone I don't have wireless access or might hit a dead spot. The other drawback for me is that I can't easily unsubscribe from a feed. I have some sites that I like to get rid of but am having a hard time as the one click button isn't working on some of the feeds I don't want. Overall, I must say I like Google Reader.

Wikis in Business

Most people think of wiki as the information site about a given topic. Did you know that many businesses are using them as a way to collaborate and save time and money? All users can edit and change the information they share which is faster than using emails and more efficient. A large group of people have the ability to add and/or change information in the document. Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment banking division of Dresdner Bank AG is using wiki as a way to collaborate. This has helped them to reduce emailing time by 75% and meeting times in half. More work can get done without having to co-ordinate schedules. This saves the company time and money. They can also have group projects finished quicker as editing and sharing is done in real time. This is great for global companies. If you aren't using wiki, then you should really look into it.

Update!

I haven't posted on here since March. I have been pretty busy with school and writing my other blogs. For my computer class this semester we have to write a blog. I already have a lot of experience with this, but I am using this blog instead of starting a new one. I really want to start writing on here again. I like sharing my writing and about school.

I did graduate in May 2012 with my AS Degree in General Studies. I am back at school to get work on my BA in General Studies. My son started middle school this year! So far so good. He loves it and has more freedom and responsibility. I am proud of how well he did during this transition. I also started selling It Works! I will post more about it and the 8 week challenge I am starting. I have already lost 25 pounds and only 35 more to go to get back to my lowest weight.

I am pretty upset as my domain expired and I didn't receive a notice from Blogger (Google)! Someone bought my domain! WHAT?!! So I will have to be a blogspot for now but not happy at all and plan to call them to complain. Oh well. I might just change it later to A Cajun Blogger instead since it's available. I need to blog more before I worry about it. Just wanted to update everyone on why I have been MIA. Here are three of my favorite websites.

IMDB

Thrifty Momma Ramblings

Bayou Land Families Helping Families

Get Your Grass Growing with Scotts® Snap® Spreader System

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I live in South Louisiana so we do not get snow, but my grass still has dead patches on it every winter. It's brown and discolored and just doesn't look like nice. I do have sections in my yard where the grass is not lush but very sparse.

Scotts® Snap® Spreader System can help me getting my grass looking lush and pretty. The system is perfect as there is no guess work or heavy lifting. The Snap Pac connects directly to the Snap spreader which makes it very easy to use. I can even do it myself as I won't have to lift heavy bag and try to pour it plus no waste spilling it.

The system is automatically set for the proper flow rate which spreads it nice and evenly all over your yard. The EdgeGuard keeps it from going into my neighbors yard or into my flower beds which is another great feature. I can store it in the garage where it stays nice and neat. 

Check out Snap perks on Facebook and "LIKE" Snap Perks so you can kknow about all of Scotts great promotions and contests. The program has already started so don't miss out!

Don't take my word for it and watch the video clip below to learn more about Scotts® Snap® Spreader System.

 

Don't Forget to Spring Forward Tonight!

Tonight is daylight savings time so we all know what that means. Yes we will lose an hour of sleep. *Sigh* I need all the extra sleep I can get since I'm so busy with school work. I don't have that much time for sleep now. I have 3 papers due by next week, an exam, and I have to watch 4 movies this week for film class. I'm having so much fun with 3 English classes.

Does anyone else loathe springing forward as much as I do? Yes I do love some extra daylight, but I really treasure my sleep. Plus I hate putting my son on the bus while it's still dark outside. It seems like we are springing forward earlier each year, and falling back later. Do you love daylight savings or not?

Wordless Wednesday: Leap Day