Search, Find, Drag and Drop Freebie Images

As you’re writing an article, enter a term into the search box of the Freebie Images interface located to the right of the post panel. Huver on the resulting thumbnail images to view larger versions and to read descriptions.

When you find an image you want to use, simply drag and drop it into your post! The image will float to the right of your text.

Freebie Images are perfectly-sized for blogs, between 300px and 400px in width. However, you can adjust dimensions with the built-in WordPress image editing function.

You can also add a caption above an image. Set your cursor in the left margin of the image and…just type. If you delete the image by accident, hit the post edit redo button and try again. You’ll get the hang of it.

Special Images Database

Images accessible through Freebie Images are the donated works of Crestock photographers and illustrators. You need never worry about properly crediting an image. Images contain a Crestock watermark, a link to the image location at Crestock.com, and often a link to the photographer’s website.

Images without watermarks or links are available to purchase. Use the image thumbnail to click through to the Crestock online store.

Installing Freebie Images Plugin

You’ll find the Freebie Images Plugin in the WordPress Plugin Directory. Install as usual. If it doesn’t work, check your other plugins. I found a conflict between Freebie Images and another plugin.

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Google News allows you to set up a news feed for topics relevant to your blog. Do you write about celebrity gossip? Post about technological gadgets? Blog about cats? Whatever your niche, run a Google News search to zero in on your topic research. Below are examples of how you can research your niche topic in Google News, and even discover unexpected but valuable related news articles.

Google News: Cat Fancy

Let’s say the readers of your blog are cat fanciers. You know people are fascinated by animals dressed like humans, and that it is a controversial topic among animal lovers. You decide to add a new section about cat fashions to your blog.

Go to Google News and form a search query like this: [cats fashion OR clothes OR dressing –football]. (Use Advanced Search to insert query syntax automatically.)

The results include a fascinating article about wigs for cats (Want to Dress Up Your Cat? Explore the Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs), including a delightful photo your readers will love (see above). Bingo! You also pick up an article about Dewey the Library Cat being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. This one isn’t actually about cat fashions, but it is none-the-less a newsworthy item for your cat blog.

Goolge News: Florida Vacation Rentals

What if you blog about vacation rental properties? Say you want to research for an article specifically on Florida vacation rentals.

Enter the following search: [Florida "vacation rentals" holiday OR renting OR time-share]. (Again, use Advanced Search for ease.) The results include an excellent article about vacation home rentals (A Holiday Home Away From Home). It isn’t necessarily about Florida, but gives readers applicable advice for rentals in any region – information you can use for your blog.

Hmm…better try a new search to snag only Florida rentals. How about the exact phrase: ["Florida vacation rentals"]. It returns an article from Australia (Florida Vacation Rentals Site Offers New Destinations). It’s about staying in smaller historic towns in Florida, such as Tarpon Springs (my hometown; and yes, it’s on the money!) This is a perfect reference for the article you’re writing!

Google News Custom Sections

Streamline the work flow of your Google News research with Custom Sections, a new feature that allows you to turn your searches into permanent news feeds. Very convenient! Once a Custom Section is set up, you can always click on the section in the left-hand sidebar to get the latest news on your niche topic.

Want to drill down to regional news? Custom Sections let you restrict your search to sources from a particular country or U.S. State.

Once you run a Google News search that effectively returns the kind of results you want for your topic, scroll to the bottom of the page. You’ll see links for staying up-to-date on your search results:

• Create an email alert for [your search topic]
• Add a custom section for [your search topic] to Google News
• Add a news gadget for [your search topic] to your Google homepage
• Search blogs for [your search topic]
• Search Google Fast Flip for [your search topic]

Creating Quality Content

Instead of reviewing what other bloggers are saying about your niche topic, go straight to original news sources with Google News. You’ll be ahead of the curve.

Increase your content productivity with Custom Sections. Check each of your Sections fast…boom, boom, boom!

Find news worthy of your readership? Discover something completely unexpected? Start blogging about it!

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Attractive WordPress Themes that Set Up Fast!

It isn’t always a straight forward process to get downloaded themes to look and act like the demo model. Fearing another black hole poised to vacuum my time, it was with trepidation that I downloaded the new ZenVerse Zionn theme. HOWEVER. I’m happy to report that  ZenVerse themes are a breeze to set up! In fact, they’re so easy to work with, I installed all of them. Go to the àlaBuzz WordPress page to compare ZenVerse WordPress themes.

ZenVerse WordPress themes are well conceived. They’re coded with up-to-date features, eliminating the need for so many plugins and thereby reducing load time. With perfectly balanced margins and precise formatting, ZenVerse themes are not only aesthetically pleasing, but they look spacious on the computer screen. They get an A+ for good  looks and readability.

You can quickly have an attractive, feature-rich blog operating with a ZenVerse theme. The options panel handles all of the following:

• Logos - Upload your own logo image, if you like
• Categories - Choose which categories  to show in navigation bar
• Featured content – Set the animated gallery with category of choice
• Twitter feed – Insert your Twitter user name and number of tweets to display
• Flickr photos – Install the FlickrRSS plugin to use this feature
• FeedBurn subscriptions – Settings for RSS feed and email
• Google AdSense – Set up Banner and sidebar ads, and Google Analytics
• Thumbnails - Set a default thumbnail image for posts

ZenVerse Support and Customization Available

Fill in the settings, then you’re free to develop fantastic blog content! Still, if your needs require customization, you can contact Zen, himself. He’s a self-taught, 18 year-old freelance web designer and programmer from Malaysia. He’s laying the groundwork for a commercial enterprise at ZenVerse Web Design and Development. He is currently offering one paid theme, MonoShade, that includes support. More will be added in the near future.

Gray-Tone Palette Makes Images Pop!

Some may not care for the gray-toned palette used in ZenVerse WordPress themes. Yet, subdued neutral hues make images leap off the page! With the tiniest bit of care, almost any image you put in the huge feature content gallery will look stunning. ZenVerse themes pay homage to content, whether it be text or photos.

It’s Autumn, so I’ll now upload a beautiful photo of Fall foliage for this post. You get to see how great the ZenVerse animated content gallery looks. I get to work on content (smile!)

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Automatic Image Insertion

For consistency and ease, determine the best size for your SmoothSlider images, and get into the habit of using that size for the first image in your post content. However, SmoothSlider does allow you to use a custom field for image insertion.

In the post editing panel, simply check “Add this post/page to SmoothSlider.” The post or page is automatically loaded to the slider. No fuss, no muss.

SmoothSlider Recommended for Blogging Productivity and SEO

SmoothSlider is a a truly functional feature content slider that can be placed on your home page or in your sidebar. It has an adequate number of bells and whistles. It certainly is the easiest to install and use. I had it up and running in basic format in under ten minutes; it just “popped” post images right in!

There’s one more thing you should know about SmoothSlider. Because it is both JavaScript and text-based, search engines can read the slider content. Therefore, SmoothSlider is a great feature content slider for SEO, as well as blogging productivity.

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NewBee bloggers will be interested to note that Blippr offers a simple and fun way to keep up with new, popular, or highly-rated apps that are useful for blogging. Click on the “Apps” tab in the Blippr menu bar to reach the Appspage. From there you can read app reviews, browse apps, and zero-in on recommended apps.

Blippr is a productive preliminary research tool for finding useful blogging applications. You will naturally want to visit the app’s home page for further information. Open a new tab and type in the app name; Blipper does not provide links to apps.

Additional features on the Apps Home page to aid the discovery process include:

• Clickable app images slider
• Tag cloud; click “more tags” to find:
  • Blog
  • Blogging
  • Blogs
• Recent reviews in Apps
• App news from across the Web
• Top App Blipprs

Join Blippr to post your own recommendations. If you are trying to build a reputation in your niche, consider Blippr a small ion in the Blogosphere that may help you. You can’t enter a link to your blog, but you can mention it in your profile.

Blippr has been added to the Great Free Online Resources List for Bloggers.

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