Entries Tagged 'Freebies' ↓

As I mentioned in my blogging challenge last week (which can be continued each week by the way *wink wink*), one way to improve your blog is to update your Wordpress theme.

If you happen to be on the lookout for a fresh new design for your blog, I found a free Wordpress theme over at TopTut.com that would be perfect for a “work at home mom” blog. It’s a vector-based theme which is really popular.

Here’s a cool new Wordpress widget you can download for free. It displays how many visitors your blog currently has, as well as how many visitors you’ve had in total that day, plus the country each of the last 5 visitors are from.

Here’s what it looks like.

A widget like this is a fun way to make your blog a little more interactive. Your readers can see how many other people are reading your blog at that very moment, and they can get an idea of where your visitors are from.

You can download the “Online Now” Wordpress widget here.

I’ve been using Twitter for a couple months now and soon after I first signed up I downloaded Twhirl which is an application that allows you to use Twitter without using your web browser. A week ago I decided to try TweetDeck, which is essentially the same application but with a few more features. In the end, I weighed the pros and cons and came to the conclusion that Twhirl won the battle of the two.

Here’s why I think Thwirl kicks ass:

Twhirl

• Small unobtrusive notices pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen each time Thwirl refreshes and new tweets are posted.
• When you receive replies or direct messages, Thwirl will ding at you. This might annoy some people but it’s handy for me when I’m puttering around the house. When I hear the ding I’ll quickly check it out. Otherwise, replies or direct messages may not be replied to for a long time if I’m not sitting at the computer.
• You can set the options to make the Thwirl program opaque. I like this feature so that when I’m not using it I can see right through it and view my desktop wallpaper. Dumb, but I like it anyway.
• Thwirl has a refresh button. I have it set to refresh every 5 minutes but if I want to, I can refresh any time.
• Thwirl is extremely easy to use. I figured it out in no time with no confusion whatsoever. And that’s saying a lot (for me).
• You can shorten your URLs from within the Thwirl application.
• Everything you can view with Twitter on the web can also be viewed in Twhirl, such as Replies, Direct Messages, Followers, Favorites, etc. This is really handy.

Why I don’t like TweetDeck

• TweetDeck doesn’t “ding” at you when you receive direct messages or replies.
• There are no popup notices each time new tweets are posted.
• From what I could see, there was no refresh button. You had to wait for TweetDeck to “Auto-update”.
• While it was nice to see replies and direct messages in their own column next to regular tweets, the application took up a lot of room on my computer screen.
• I couldn’t find any “Options” to change any settings. The first thing I do when I download a new program is mess with the options so this was a point lost for TweetDeck as well.

Now, TweetDeck is in Beta mode so they’re still working out bugs and adding new features. Both Thwirl and TweetDeck also have other cool features in addition to the ones I’ve listed above, but I just stuck to the ones I use.

Ultimately, we all have our own preferences and reasons why we use Twitter. While Twhirl might work better for people like me, TweetDeck may be a better option for others. These are just some reasons why I personally prefer Twhirl over TweetDeck.

I’m planning some big redesigns for my blogs so I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for some cool RSS icons to use. Lucky for me, I found some neat web 2.0 style ones today.

TopTut.com has some “glossy balls” you can download for free.

Giving credit is not necessary but if you do use any of these RSS icons it’s appreciated if you do acknowledge the designer for her work. She has some amazing designs, including lots of Wordpress themes that are free as well.

Even if you don’t use any of her themes, they’re great for inspiring some cool design ideas of your own. Take a boo, you shan’t be disappointed.

This is not a paid post, just so you are aware. I’m a regular reader at TopTut.com and I just wanted to share it with you.

Are you using Google Calendar yet? (It’s free by the way.)

I tried it a year ago and quickly switched back to using my trusty paper organizer and post-it notes.

Then I read a post over at WAHM 2.0 by Kelly McCausey and figured I would give it another try since she was liking it so much.

I’m not sure how much Google Calendar has changed in the past year, but I’m sure loving it now!

I’m saving trees since I cut down my paper use by at least 75%. I’m also saving time because I’m not searching all over the place for things I’ve written down and then forgotten about. My kids aren’t ruining my lists and notes with their own crayon and marker masterpieces. And best of all, my crap is all in one place!

I’ve been trying for months to get more organized with my work, on my computer and my desk and I can honestly say that Google Calendar is the perfect solution. It’s really handy for those of us who work online because you can set a reminder to pop up each time an event is about to happen.

Here are some things I really love about it:

• Instead of bookmarking links to check out later, I copy and paste it into my calendar.
• You can create an “event” and choose how often you’d like it repeated. Once a day, once a week, etc.
• You can have multiple calendars and view them all at once or chose which ones you don’t want to see – all within one window. Super cool.
• You can share your calendars with others. Works great for projects you’re working on with a partner or Virtual Assistant.
• You can easily drag an event to a different time or day, or edit the settings of that event with one click.
• You can chose to view your calendar by day, week, month, next 4 days, or agenda view – or you can print the whole thing.

If you’re in need of a better way to organize yourself, Google Calendar could be a great option for you – especially if you’re a list-making freak like me.