However, after some thought I became concerned that ten sitewide external links might be a bit of a drain on my pagerank. If only I could add “rel=nofollow” to all those links. But there’s no option in the RSS Widget to do that.

Well, I decided to dive in and fix it myself.

Where the RSS Feed Widget is Located

This is actually a very simple hack to the WordPress source files. You’ll need to edit two lines of the file, upload it, and you should be good to go.

The file we’re looking for is “widgets.php” – it should be located in the wp-includes folder. This holds all the functions related to creating widgets and it also holds the standard widgets available in the Dashboard.

We need to scroll down, find the “RSS Feed Widget,” find where the links are created, and add “rel=’nofollow’” to those anchor tags.

Hack It Up – Add Some Code

The function we’re looking for should be around line 935 – titled “wp_widget_rss.” Once you’ve found the function, look for this line – it should be around 965.

$title = "<a class='rsswidget' href='$url' title='" . 
  attribute_escape(__('Syndicate this content')) ."'><img 
  style='background:orange;color:white;border:none;' 
  width='14' height='14' src='$icon' alt='RSS' /></a> 
  <a class='rsswidget' href='$link' title='$desc'>$title</a>";

This creates the “RSS Icon” link to the original feed. There’s a second link in there that makes the link for the title of the RSS feed. To make these nofollow, simply add the phrase rel='nofollow' right after the <a. Be sure to use single quotes around the nofollow – or else you’ll break the PHP statement and cause an error.

When complete, it should look like this. Notice that we’re adding rel=’nofollow’ in two places.

$title = "<a rel='nofollow' class='rsswidget' href='$url' title='" . 
  attribute_escape(__('Syndicate this content')) ."'><img 
  style='background:orange;color:white;border:none;' 
  width='14' height='14' src='$icon' alt='RSS' /></a> 
  <a rel='nofollow' class='rsswidget' href='$link' title='$desc'>$title</a>";

Now scroll down a bit more to roughly line 990. The line we’re looking for creates the individual links to the articles. You should see this bit of code.

echo "<li><a class='rsswidget' href='$link'
  title='$desc'>$title</a>$summary</li>";

Again, add rel='nofollow' right after the <a. The result should look like this.

echo "<li><a rel='nofollow' class='rsswidget' href='$link'
  title='$desc'>$title</a>$summary</li>";

Upload the File

That’s it. Those two small changes should make your RSS Widgets nofollow from now on – preserving your pagerank.

Simply upload the file to the server (be sure to replace the old wp-includes/widgets.php) and reload your site.

If you run into an error, double check that you used single quotes around the ‘nofollow.’ The PHP string is started with a double quote (“), so if you place a double-quote there you’ll prematurely end the string – and cause a parse error.

There are plenty of places to look for free backlinks – some of better quality than others. One trick you can use to build up a decent collection of backlinks is to regularly post on forums in your niche.

Not All Backlinks Are Created Equally

Before you go about posting on every forum you can find, understand that not all backlinks are of equal value.

Some forums (as well as blog comment areas) use the rel="nofollow" attribute in links. This means that Google (and possibly other search engines) ignores the link when crawling and calculating search engine placement.

Some other search engines – like Yahoo – may still count these. There’s no certain way to know how valuable they are, so I wouldn’t just ignore them. However, if you have a choice you should steer your time and effort to forums where the links you create do not contain the rel="nofollow" attribute.

Where Do I Put the Links?

On most forums, it’s considered bad form to just run around posting links to your site. Be sure to read the rules for the forum. Some forums may allow you to link to your site if the article directly relates to a question someone else asked.

However, there are two places you’ll generally be able to put backlinks.

In your profile, you should be able to set a “Homepage” value. Always do this. On some forums – like Programming Talk – each post contains a link to your homepage by your name.

You can also create a signature. This appears at the end of every post you make, and it is typically considered ok to place self-promoting links here. Some forums will have special rules about this – so be sure to read them.

Once you place links in your signature, make them count. This is a great place to start doing SEO. If you already have a link to your homepage underneath your name, I would use the signature to link to some deeper pages – like content categories. Give the links targeted text (like “PHP Tutorials” or “Web Design Tips”).

A Few Forums to Start With

Since you’re a webmaster, you’ll always find something interesting to talk about on webmaster forums. Here are a few well-trafficked forums that I frequent.

• DaniWeb – I think signature links here are rel=nofollow, but it’s a good forum
• Digital Point – Lots of traffic, and links are followed
• Programming Talk – Decent traffic, and links are followed
• Site Point – Lots of traffic, and links are followed

Start Posting!

What are you waiting for? Get out there and start posting!

If your website isn’t about websites, then you should probably search out some other forums based on your niche as well.

Forum backlinks aren’t going to make your website a success by themselves, but they are a good stepping stone to better SEO. You can use them to quickly build up backlinks for a new site until you start getting better backlinks from other sites.

Using some simple css and a little color know-how, he shows you how to turn a square button into a pseudo 3-dimensional button. I’ll take it a step further and add a gradient background image to enhance the lighting effect. Like this…

Web Cash

We can build this button up in a couple of steps. First, we need to make our anchor tag (link) into a block – with some padding and a background.

Web Cash

a.button {
   background: #ab7f20;
   padding: .5em;
   color: white;
   text-decoration: none;
   font-weight: bold;

That gives us a nice, squarish look… kind of like a button. But it definitely looks flat and two dimensional. The next step we’re going to take is to add a gradient background. This will add a nice lighting effect – giving the button a bit of depth.

To do this, we need a background image. I made a gradient image in GIMP (read this tutorial to learn how to create a gradient image like this). Then we need to add the image to the css declaration by changing one line.

Web Cash

a.button {
   background: #ab7f20 url(uploads/2008/01/gradient-button.thumbnail.png)
     repeat-x top;

Notice that the color (#ab7f20) is the same as the second color in the gradient image. This gradient is long enough to color the whole area – but if our button gets too tall, we want it to blend in nicely.

The last thing we need to do is give it some borders – light on the top and dark on the bottom. This will give it the illusion of being hit by the light. It’ll also accentuate the effect of the gradient background image.

Web Cash

a.button {
   border-top: #f6daa3 3px solid;
   border-right: #724f05 3px solid;
   border-bottom: #724f05 3px solid;
   border-left: #f6daa3 2px solid; }
 
a.button:hover {
   border-top: #724f05 3px solid;
   border-right: #f6daa3 2px solid;
   border-bottom: #f6daa3 2px solid;
   border-left: #724f05 3px solid;
}

Notice that the background colors are flipped when you hover over the button. This gives the illusion that you are actually “pressing” the button – just by flipping the way the lighting hits.

You could also use the special “inset” and “outset” border types to cut down on that last css declaration. You lose a little control over the color and light placement, but it gives a pretty decent effect. Like this…

Web Cash

a.button {
   border: #ab7f20 3px outset; }
 
a.button:hover {
   border: #ab7f20 3px inset;}

And that’s all there is to it. Change the colors to your liking, add a custom gradient image, and you’ve got a nifty little 3 dimensional button.

All it takes is some css. No need to create a bunch of fancy images, and it’s easily expandable to accommodate the text inside of your button.

But even if you’re not interested in being published on someone else’s site, AC can be a great tool for you as a webmaster. You can use it to get optimized backlinks and targeted traffic.

If you’re not familiar with AC, here’s a quick rundown of how it works. You write an article which you can either submit for up front payment (in which you get paid ~3-8 bucks if they like it) or you can bypass the review process and get published immediately (without upfront payment).

Either way, once your article is published you earn a revenue share (Performance Payment, $1.50 per 1000 page views). The good thing about skipping the up front payment is you can post articles that advertise your site – without it getting reviewed and picked over.

Although most of my AC articles are strictly for content, I have created a few as an experiment for gaining backlinks and traffic. Here’s what I typically do.

I identify a topic on one of my sites that I’ve written a few articles on (3-4). Then I write a brief “Guide” article that gives the reader an overview of the topic. I dedicate one to two paragraphs to the sub-topics that each of my pages targets, and I include a link to my content page so that the reader can get more information.

You can see an example with this article on graphic organizers. It targets three content pages that I wrote on my other website (Babel). It also gives the user some useful information.

I originally tried this strictly as a method to gain backlinks. On that grounds, it definitely worked. I included four links to my site – one to the front page and three to individual content pages. They were indexed quickly and picked up by the search engines.

The unintended consequence of this is that it directed a bit of traffic to my site, too. It’s by no means a vast amount of traffic, but every little bit counts. In the past week, that article sent 21 visits to my site – a couple of visits per day (see the Google Analytics screenshot).

Doesn’t sound like a lot, but consider this. If you write ten guide articles that get an average of ten click throughs per week – that’s another 400 visits per month. On top of that, you’ll get 30-40 backlinks with keywords that you chose to best benefit your site.

This seems like a great tool for promoting your site – especially a relatively new site. You can get optimized backlinks, you can drive some traffic, and you even get income from Associated Content if people do read your article.

Get paid for advertising your own site? I don’t think it gets any better than that. Go sign up for Associated Content and write a few stump articles yourself.

There are plenty of other times that you’d want to use a tooltip, though. If you’re wondering how, check out this previous post on how to create a custom tooltip with css.

Otherwise, read on for some thoughts on when to use these tooltips.

5. Definitions of Words

One interesting way to use custom tooltips is to show the definition of a word. This would be great for educational sites that aim to teach their users about a given subject. Rather than link to a new page with information on a word, just include a brief explanation in a tooltip.

Likewise, this could be used on coding tutorial sites to pop-up information on built-in functions and such. Hmm… do I smell a useful WordPress plug-in?

4. Movie/Book/Television Spoilers

Do you write about movies, books, or tv shows? Well, I don’t. But if you did… you might want to share spoilers and other information with your users.

The problem is that not all users want to have the ending spoiled for them. I saw a similar thing used in a forum – all spoilers had to be wrapped in a bb-code tag that made them invisible until you moused-over them.

This way users can choose whether or not to learn the ending of the story. If you leave it out on the screen, they might read it by accident and blame you for ruining the whole thing.

3. Citations and Source Quotes

Do you find yourself quoting other sources often? Maybe your blog is a bit on the literary or academic side?

You could use these tooltips to contain footnoting and citation information. Rather than clicking a link to go to the bottom of the screen (i.e. Wikipedia style), have the information pop-up on a tooltip.

I know that when I’m reading a book I’m far more likely to pay attention to footnotes that are on the same page than footnotes at the end of the chapter or book. Convenience is key.

2. Puzzle or Logic Game Tips

Do you have some kind of puzzle, quiz, or game on your website? People love a challenge… but they hate a game that’s too hard.

The solution, of course, is to offer the user hints. These can’t be readily visible, though, or it’ll spoil the game.

With the tooltip, the user can easily mouse-over some text that says “First Tip,” to get a little hint without opening up a new window. Convenient indeed.

1. Instructions and Information for Forms

I’m not a big fan of extra text hanging out on a form telling a user what to do. It seems to get in the way and detract from the look of the form.

Instead, use a tooltip over the label (or add a “?” for the tooltip) to tell the user what to enter in a field. That way you can include lots of information – so much that you might find it to be over-simplifying – and the user won’t have to read this “help” unless they actually need it.

You help the confused users without turning off the savvy ones.

What Else?

I’m sure there are dozens of other ways to use custom tooltips. Got some ideas?

Then leave a comment. I’d love to hear how you’d use them.

I’ve tried out a few methods, with varying success. What has worked really well, so far, is submitting an article to a niche site: Good Tutorials.

People often advise you to submit your articles to social networking and article sites. Often times this will get you a few backlinks and little to no traffic.

I stumbled on Good Tutorials when I was looking for some information on a different topic. After browsing around the site, I noticed that they take and review submissions of tutorials for inclusion in the directory. I thought what the hell, let me try it out.

I submitted the tutorial I wrote about creating a php script to send trackbacks. After signing up and submitting the tutorial, they told me it would take one to two days to be reviewed.

I never got an e-mail back confirming that my tutorial had been accepted or not. I forgot about it for a couple of days – kind of busy at work. Then, today, I logged in to see what the status was.

My tutorial had been accepted two days ago. In that time frame, it got 95 clicks. I logged into Google Analytics, and sure enough there was a big jump in traffic. Good Tutorials had sent me approximately 90 visits, and some of those people had looked around the site at other entries and articles.

I also noticed a bit of traffic coming from another new site – Tuts Buzz. I checked it out and it was another tutorial directory. A link to my tutorial had shown up there as well, probably from Good Tutorial’s feed.

Whether or not I’ll continue to get substantial traffic from these sites, I don’t know. It may be that I’m getting some click throughs because my tutorial is on the “Newest Tutorials” list. Maybe it’ll drop off to nothingness when it just becomes a filed away tutorial.

However, it definitely seems to be a worthwhile way to get some traffic. Unlike a lot of article sites – that send you a few low PR backlinks and no traffic – I got a real measurable increase in traffic.

So, if you write any tutorials on coding, software, or technology – head over to Good Tutorials and see about getting your own listing.

Here’s the situation.

The guy wanted to send out a newsletter, so he grabbed a pre-fabbed newsletter script. The PHP script seemed to work fine – it read an HTML template and then fired off the e-mail in HTML form.

There was just one problem: none of the images were appearing in the HTML e-mail when he tried to view it.

What was the culprit? The PHP script? Or simply some faulty HTML?

It turns out the PHP script was working just as intended. If you view his post, you can get a copy of the source code. I haven’t tested it, but he claims it worked fine.

The problem was a simple mistake in HTML coding.

When the img tags were declared, the src attribute was set with a relative url instead of an absolute url.

What’s the difference?

A relative url tells the browser the path to a file from the current file’s directory location. So, for example, let’s say I have a file “index.html” and a file “guide.html” inside the directory “web-design-guides” on the domain “http://www.earn-web-cash.com.”

If I want to create a link from “index.html” to “guide.html” using a relative url, I simply use this tag…

<a href="guide.html">Guide.html</a>

That tells the browser to look inside the same directory for the file “guide.html.”

A absolute url defines the absolute path to a file. In the same example, we’d have to include in the href the domain, the directory, and the file name, like so…

<a href="http://www.earn-web-cash.com/
  web-design-guides/guide.html">Guide.html</a>

The advantage of relative URLs is that they’re quick to type and they make webpages easily portable. If all of my links are relative and I move the entire site to a new server, I don’t have to edit anything.

If I had used absolute urls, I would have had to change the domain name in every anchor tag. The advantage of absolute urls, though, is that they can be accessed no matter where the page is accessed.

So, for example, if I turn the webpage into an e-mail (or if it’s read in an rss reader), the absolute url is still valid. If I use a relative url in an html e-mail, the reader’s browser won’t be able to find the file – it will look in the directory that the e-mail script is running to find the file you’re linking to.

So what’s the lesson here?

If you’re writing HTML that is going to be displayed somewhere other than your server – i.e. in an e-mail, cached on someone’s hard drive, or on an rss reader – remember to always use absolute urls.

This is especially important for <img> tags – because they are almost always declared in regular pages as relative urls.