Link to Bridlepath

Reciprocal links always welcome! Here are some buttons you can use to link to Bridlepath; please either download them to your own server, or use the PhotoBucket links provided.

80×15 pixels

http://tinyurl.com/kwhq2

80×15 pixels

http://tinyurl.com/zz9so

103×85 pixels

http://tinyurl.com/jefop

292×56 pixels

http://tinyurl.com/hmqze

Adding a link button with WordPress

Go to your dashboard > Blogroll > Add Link.

Enter name (Bridlepath).

Enter link (https://bridlepath.wordpress.com).

You can enter a description in (surprise!) the Description field–this will be visible when your mouse hovers over the link.

Go to Advanced–you may need to click on the + sign to expand it.

Enter the link for the image in the Image Address field.

Enter notes and a rating if you like.

Click Add Link to finish.

Adding a link button with Blogger

Go to your dashboard > Template > Edit Current.

Scroll down until you get to the links section.

Enter the link (http://bridlepath.com) and insert the image link as well. You can copy & paste what I’ve done here–but just use one!

<a href=”https://bridlepath.wordpress.com”><img src=”http://tinyurl.com/kwhq2&#8243; alt=”Bridlepath: Enter the world of horses”></a>

<a href=”https://bridlepath.wordpress.com”><img src=”http://tinyurl.com/zz9so&#8221; alt=”Bridlepath: Enter the world of horses”></a>

<a href=”https://bridlepath.wordpress.com”><img src=”http://tinyurl.com/jefop&#8221; alt=”Bridlepath: Enter the world of horses”></a>

You probably won’t want to use this one, as it’s a bit big for most blogs; use it on a regular webpage instead, if you like.

<a href=”https://bridlepath.wordpress.com”><img src=”http://tinyurl.com/hmqze&#8221; alt=”Bridlepath: Enter the world of horses”></a>

Click Preview to see if you like it, and if you do, then click Save Template Changes.

Blog promotion tips

Most people use Google when they’re looking something. Want to know how to improve your hits? Google uses a proprietary search algorithm which determines the best results in part by how many OTHER sites link to a page. Thus, if you’re looking for “quarter horse“, the AQHA home page shows up as the first result partly because it’s the Quarter Horse site with the most links to it. Granted, this is a HUGELY simplified explanation of how Google works, but hopefully you get the idea. 🙂 You can read more here if you really want to. Anyway, the more people link to you, the more traffic you’ll get. You can use a free service like Submit Express to make sure your blog gets into the major search engines, but there are other options as well.

When you update your site, send a ping to let others know. Good places to do it: Technorati, Pingates, Ping-o-matic, BlogFlux.

This page from Robin Good has a CRAZY number of places to submit your blog and increase traffic. Like him, I also recommend going to Technorati and claiming your blog with them. Mark certain blogs as favourites and encourage the authors of those sites to add you as well. Globe of Blogs has gotten me a few hits as well, as have BlogFlux and Blog Top Sites. Bloggeries is an excellent site as well.

If you’d like to make your own 80×15 buttons, go to http://button.blogflux.com.

Blogging Explorer has a great post about social networking: Bookmarking Effect : Netscape vs. Digg vs. Stumbleupon. I’ve been Stumbling for over a year and I highly recommend it; you’ll need to install the SU plugin for your Firefox/Mozilla browser, and you’re off! (If you want to add me to your network, I’m samoboe)

Check out these tips on How NOT To Be A Successful Blogger and Pimp My Blog.

Join reddit (forget Digg; it’s full of arseholes and cliques) and submit your original posts (i.e. written by you). Vote up your friend’s posts and encourage them to vote up yours.

Participate in blog carnivals! Social networking is definitely the way to go.

Defeating splogs

A splog is the bastard stepchild of spam and blog. You may notice that your comments are filled with invitations to gay spanking sites, casinos, dubious prescription drugs, and so on. There are also “blogs” which are nothing more than linkdumps, intended to generate revenue from Google AdSense or similar schemes. They clog up search engines and they blight the blogosphere.

If you’re running a WordPress installation on your own site, you should definitely install the Akismet extension, which kills the splog comments very well. (If your blog is hosted on WordPress, like Bridlepath, congratulations! Akismet is built right in)

You can also help clear the airwaves of those crappy link sites by reporting them to and using their promotion buttons on your own site. Other good anti-splog sites include SplogSpot, and antisplog.net.

Oh, and check out all these “Andy Curry” horse training blogs/splogs. WTF is this guy doing?!

 

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