Many times I come across blogs that specialize in “how to blog.” Though my blog is not for that purpose, I thought I would share some simple tools that I found on the web. Look them over and decide which tools would be helpful for your blog site. Also, non-bloggers will find this interesting and be able to see how things are actually done.

BLOG HOPPING and 

Blog hopping is going from one blog post to another blog post by clicking links within each post. Before you hop to another post, you leave a link to your post. Each post then has a list of links of other posts to choose from. You visit a lot of blogs posting on a similar topic while leaving a way for your post to be visited. You get more people to view your site and even pick up some regular followers.

One tool to enable others to place their link on your post is INLINKZ. After reading your post, a reader clicks on a button to bring up a form to enter linking information.

You enter your post information.

In order to get the link tool on your post, you sign up for an inlinkz account at inlinkz.com. You set up “collections” for your posts. There is no charge for text only collections or for $19.99 per year, you can have an unlimited amount of thumbnail collections. The image below shows the dashboard with two collections on it.

Below shows the options for a collection such as description, start and stop times for link submission, and layout of entries among others.

Once your options are set, you copy and paste the generated code into your post.

The tool is now on your post for bloggers to submit their links for all to view and follow.

PRINT FRIENDLY

Print Friendly is for bloggers and non-bloggers alike. You can place a bookmark on your browser’s bookmark tool bar to make any site you are viewing printer friendly.

Supposed you wanted to print an article from a news site.

Click the bookmark on your toolbar and a pop-up appears of the page in a printer friendly view. You can print the article or make a PDF file of it.

COMMENT LUV

Comment Luv is a Word Press plugin that allows readers leaving comments to include a link to one of their posts and also display their twitter name for others to follow.

A list of most recent posts displays when you enter a site address in the comment form.  You have several posts from which to choose to have displayed with your comment.

Here is a comment where the reader selected to leave a link to one of his posts called “The Obnoxious Parrot.” You have the option to use commentluv when commenting or not by checking or unchecking it.

I have upgraded to commentLuv Premium to include other posts from my site that is displayed when someone hovers over the red heart that is at the end of my recent post line in the comment I left.  A summary of my page is is included too.  The option for a twitter link is also available! Check out commentLuv Premium!

DISCLOSUREPOLICY.ORG

It is common practice for most blog sites to have a disclosure policy, especially if any monetary compensation is being made from advertisements or sponsorship. An easy way to do this is to go to disclosurepolicy.org and answer questions about your blog and the policy is generated for you to copy and paste. The generated text can be edited for full customization.

KONTACTR EMAIL FORM

It is always recommended to not put your email address on a site with the @ symbol and .com to prevent spam “robots” from snatching up your email address and using it to generate spam. Some people list their address with an AT DOT COM spelled out. The spam bots don’t recognize that, but the reader who wants to email you has to manually enter your address to send you email. KONTACTR lets you place an email button on your site to bring up an email contact form. The sender fills out the form with his email address and message. Kontactr then forwards this message to your email.

Your email address is not displayed on your site and is hidden from the person emailing you until you reply back from your own email account. This is a very easy tool to use, and I highly recommend it for any blog or web site.

I hope these tools are helpful to anyone who blogs and informative for those who just read blogs. By the way, why just read? Why not start a blog yourself if you don’t already have one? Ask me how.