Top 15 Free Tools which Make Tester’s Life Easier

I’ve been working as a tester for more than 6 six years. During this period much has changed in QA practices, and I’ve always tried to keep up with times. As I have quite a decent experience in software product testing, from time to time my colleagues ask me of some advices concerning various tools that simplify performing their routine tasks. This finally brought me to the idea, the result of which is in this post.
So, I’ve decided to make a list of tools, which I often use in my work and which make my life as a tester easier.  They are all used for different tasks, on different platforms and in different cases. This list contains only free and open-source tools which are useful for testing any software products (perhaps, I’ll make another one for paid tools).

1. Xenu’s Link Sleuth

Xenu’s link Sleuth is a great tool for checking links. It was named the fastest link-checking software by industry authorities. Apart from checking for broken links, the tool provides a much broader functionality, which is useful primarily for website optimization. For instance, Xenu provides the site map, detects and reports redirected URLs, finds non-unique page titles, finds images with missing ‘alt’ attribute, etc.
Testers can use one more Xenu’s feature, which is searching for pages with long response. Of course, this does not in any way replace load and performance testing, but can provide some useful information about the response optimization. I like Xenu for a simple and accurate interface as well.

2. Clip2net

Clip2net is a must-have tool for everyone, and testers are no exception. It allows quick and easy capturing, storing and sharing screenshots. I often use it during Skype calls. The simple image editor with arrows and notes is really essential when you need to highlight some points. Available for Android and iPad. Lite and Pro versions provide greater possibilities, such as bigger storage space, longer storage time and others.

3. PicPick

PicPick is a multifunction tool that allows capturing screenshots, editing images, picking colors, and provides a broad range of graphic design accessories. I use PicPick mostly when I have tasks related to redesign. It allows for quick checking pixel color instead of applying to code and digging in .css file. But the tool is actually much more than that.

4. Firebug

This well-known web development tool integrates to Mozilla Firefox. You all know its great debugging, editing and many other possibilities. I’d just like to add that it is especially helpful for beginners, who want to look through the code, to see what the server returns. When writing test cases, Firebug can be used to name an element, to know its id, to describe bugs and elements.

5. Android SDK: DDMS (Dalvik Debug Monitor Server)

This is a powerful tool for Android debugging. DDMS is integrated to Android SDK and ships in the tools/ directory of the SDK. Designed primarily for programmers, this tool is useful for us, testers, for collecting logs and capturing screenshots on Android devices.

6. Selenium IDE

I use this tool to generate locators of web elements quickly and easily. This powerful Firefox extension is really helpful in test automation. You can use this tool also for finding and testing already generated locators, which you use in your automated tests, for checking XPath existence on the page, testing the work of Selenium methods with them.

7. Sikuli

Sikuli is an image-based automation tool, which takes a visual approach to elements on your desktop. You show it how a button, shortcut or link looks like, and the tool recognizes it and captures some part of screen for active area. Sikuli is great for desktop automation when you cannot easily access GUI’s source code.

8. Apache JMeter

JMeter is a load testing tool designed initially for web applications. It allows measuring software performance both on static and dynamic resources. Apart from its intended application, I used its source code for writing scripts for continuous integration.

9. Jenkins

Jenkins is a perfect tool for continuous integration. We use it all the time: when some build is released, the tests start running automatically. What I like about Jenkins is an active community support  and a great amount of plugins to support development and testing process.

10. Appium

We’ve chosen Appium among several analogs for mobile automation. It supports both iOS and Android native and hybrid apps. The thing I appreciate the most is its dynamic development. New features appear frequently, bugs are quickly fixed, etc.

11. Robotium

Another tool for mobile automation Robotium is targeting Android only. It is a simple and stable framework, which requires minimal time and knowledge. Its smooth integration with Maven, Gradle or Ant allows to run tests as part of continuous integration.

12. Testlink

The tool is designed for test documentation management, such as test cases and test suits. It provides a big detailed report data, which can be managed easily. You can sort the reports by sections, which is really useful on big projects, when it’s hard to keep an eye on everything.

13. iTools

This is a great analog to iTunes, which simplifies the work with iOS devices significantly. It has a simple interface and all the necessary features to make the work with iOS devices easy.

14. Github

This is a public cloud repository, which provides convenient management of your code. Multiple users can make changes to the code, comment on lines, report bugs. When you have a big team, Girthub is great for work optimization, integration and synchronization.

15. Maven

Maven is a project management tool which makes it easy to work with Java projects. Maven has its own repository where the libraries are stored. It decreases the project size significantly when developers pass it to testers and vice versa. The libraries are downloaded locally and you don’t need to look for new versions through Internet to update them.
These are my top 15 free tools for testers.  Which would you add or remove? I’d be glad to hear your thoughts in comments.

16 Social Media Marketing Tips From the Pros

 

Are you looking for the latest social media marketing tactics?

Do you want to know what the social media marketing pros are doing today?
Keeping up with the latest social media changes is not always easy, and our social media marketing tactics may need to be refreshed.
We asked 16 social media pros to share the best marketing tactics worth doing today.
Here’s what they have to say.

#1: Host Social Media Events

Mari Smith

You can build a loyal, raving community by hosting online events that put the focus on your fans.
A fun and effective online event is hosting a “Fan Page Friday”—it’s essentially a virtual networking party where you allow all your fans to share links to their own pages on your page.
The event can last as long as 24 hours or more and is a great way to discover new businesses, get more fans, and build tremendous community while increasing your EdgeRank (news feed visibility), too.
Many page owners launch a Fan Page Friday event every week; however, I find it much more effective to host one about every four to six weeks, as it has a bigger impact. On my last virtual party, several thousand page owners participated, many of whom picked up as much as a hundred or more new fans as a result.
Be sure to include a hashtag like #FacebookFriday and schedule your initial invitation to go out very early in the morning. Then add another couple of invitations throughout the day.

Facebook Friday is a great way to build your community.

Another example is to host live webinars where you give away great content. You can monetize your time and effort by making a great offer on the webinar. Many businesses both large and small use this model well.
By way of example, my latest Facebook marketing webinar had over 13,000 registrations; I like to provide ongoing access to the replay as well. Whether your fans ever purchase from you as a result of one of these webinars, you’ll find a good percentage become evangelists for your brand and love to help spread the word to their own community.
Mari Smith, author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.

#2: Use LinkedIn’s “Your Day” Feature

Viveka von Rosen

Get a big return on your time investment using LinkedIn’s Your Day feature.
Linda Coles wrote a very thorough article on the new LinkedIn Contacts back in June. If you haven’t read it yet, go read it now!
Sync your contacts and your calendar with LinkedIn and the Your Day feature will give you an opportunity to more deeply communicate and engage with your network, especially as this feature is new and most people aren’t using it. Strike while the iron is hot!

Use the Your Day feature to deepen your relationships on LinkedIn.

The Your Day section in Contacts will show you if your contacts are having a birthday, have been promoted or are in a city you’re traveling to.
Your average Facebook user probably gets between 50 and 100 congratulations on his or her birthday. They might get one or two on LinkedIn. Who’s going to stand out?
If one of your contacts just got promoted in a company that you’ve been prospecting, this might be a really great time to reengage with him. And what better way than to congratulate him on his promotion?
How much more business are you likely to close in a face-to-face meeting? What if you could set five additional meetings in the next city you are traveling to? At the very least, you could write the trip off! The announcement section will also show you who in your network lives in a town you’re traveling to and you can set up a meeting right from there.
Any reminders you have set to get back in touch with the connection will show up here as well. And keep showing up until you do something about them.
Finally, when you sync your calendars to LinkedIn and have an appointment with another LinkedIn connection, LinkedIn will pull up her profile information in the Calendar feature so you can quickly get a snapshot of whom you’ll be talking to. Check the notes you’ve taken on her, as well as who introduced you so you can thank them later. A win-win-win situation!
Taking just a few minutes every day to review and congratulate your connections could have a big effect on your bottom line. How’s that for your return on time investment (ROTI)?
Viveka von Rosen, author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day, host of #LinkedInChat and co-moderator of LinkedStrategies.

#3: Use Images to Amplify Your Facebook Updates

Amy Porterfield

Let’s face it. If you’re posting on Facebook and not seeing engagement in the form of likes, shares or comments, you’re wasting your precious time. You need fan engagement if you want to continually be seen in the news feed (which is where all the action is on Facebook!).
One simple way to boost your engagement is to use images to amplify your status update. Here’s what I mean:  Search for “blank” images like talking bursts, chalkboards and signs, and then add text to the images, in the form of a question for your followers to answer.
Here’s an example of one of my latest image posts where I used the soda bottles as a fun way to amplify my question and grab attention. Almost 200 people left a comment! (Plus, this question also served as great free-market research for my podcast!)

You can use fun images to help amplify your question and grab attention.

Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies, a social media trainer and speaker.

#4: Go Deep, Not Broad

Rich Brooks

When it comes to social media, businesses should go deep, not broad. It’s better to become a master of one or two channels than flounder in many.
When you look at social media channels, a good model is to break them into social platforms vs. social networking sites.
Social platforms are like soapboxes; they allow you to establish your expertise and credibility, but provide a method for feedback and discussion. Examples include blogging, YouTube, podcasting and SlideShare.
Social networks are more like a real-world networking event. Think about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and possibly Pinterest.

Find the right social platform or network for your business.

Whether your business is B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer), it’s beneficial to choose one platform and one network to focus on initially, and really develop a deep engagement level with your ideal customers there. As you master those channels, you can then start to expand into other realms.
Rich Brooks, president of flyte new media, a web design and Internet marketing company that helps small businesses succeed online.

#5: Get the Attention of Influencers

Joe Pulizzi

Influencers are important in every industry. They generally have “real” jobs, and are extremely active on social networks, spending their time sharing content and blogging. Getting on their radar is not easy, so to get their attention, you need to give away “content gifts.”
Originally coined by Andrew Davis, author of Brandscaping, Social Media 4-1-1 is a sharing system that enables a company to get greater visibility with social influencers.

Use the social media 4-1-1 for your company, to get better visibility with social influencers.

Here’s how it works.
For every six pieces of content shared via social media (think Twitter, for example) four should be pieces of content from your influencer target that are also relevant to your audience. This means that 67% of the time, you are sharing content that is not yours and calling attention to content from your influencer group.
One piece should be original educational content that you have created.
One piece should be sales-related—like a coupon, product notice, press release or some other piece of content that no one will likely pay attention to.
While the numbers don’t have to be exact, it’s the philosophy that makes this work. When you share influencer content, they notice. And you share this content without asking for anything in return (so that when you do need something someday, those influencers are more likely to say yes).
Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of Epic Content Marketing, now available for preorder.

#6: Focus on the Platforms Where Your Customers Are

Rick Mulready

Social media overwhelm is one of the biggest challenges for small businesses. They think they need to have a presence on every social platform including the latest “shiny object” that comes along. This spreads them too thin and causes wasted time and effort.
The solution is rather simple: if social media makes sense for your business, be where your customers are. Find out where your customers are hanging out online, choose 1 or 2 of those platforms that you enjoy and that align with your business objectives and then focus deeply on those platforms.
There are a number of tactics to help you find where your customers are online such as: ask them (so simple, yet so many business don’t do this), use the search functionality in each of the social channels to see if there are communities talking about your business or topic of interest and use Google Alerts.

Discover who is talking about your topic using Google Alerts.

Set up alerts for your name, business, industry and topics of interest. This will give you insight into the conversations happening that are relevant to your business, so you can join the conversation where appropriate.
Rick Mulready, creator of the Inside Social Media Podcast.

#7: Choose Your Image Wisely

Cynthia Sanchez

It’s been said that an image is worth a thousand words and since the explosive growth of Pinterest, more and more emphasis is being put on images in social media marketing.
Images can help clarify a message and can also quickly grab someone’s attention. Images used in blog posts help the reader to comprehend the content and tend to be more memorable. The images can then be shared across networks like Pinterest, Facebook and Google+ to help promote the content.
However, images are open to interpretation. Before you settle on an image for your blog or social media post, ask yourself “Does this image communicate my message well?”
For example, take this image below. What does it say to you? Is it about how to make a salad or is it about food photography lighting?

This image could send out different messages.

What about now?

Most people don't take the time to read the text.

Or now?

Use simple text to help bring attention to your pins and posts.

Most people scan the content they come across and don’t take the time to read the descriptions or comments associated with the image, unless the image grabs their attention first. A little nudge in the form of a simple text overlay can go a long way in bringing targeted attention to your pins and posts.
Text overlays can be added quickly and easily with online image editing tools such as PicMonkey or Pixlr.
A few words can make the difference between your content being overlooked and attracting a targeted audience.
Cynthia Sanchez writes and podcasts about all things Pinterest at Oh So Pinteresting.

#8: Communicate With Your LinkedIn Connections

Ian Cleary

Send an email to your connections on LinkedIn every month and generate leads and sales.
Although LinkedIn only allows you to send to 50 contacts at a time, you can send many emails.
We tend to connect with people but not communicate with them enough. When you send the email, don’t make it promotional. Provide something of value that’s relevant to your business.

Communicate with your connections on LinkedIn by sending them an email.

If you have an audience relevant to your business and grow your connections, the regular emails will be a good source of leads of sales for your business. Recently I sent an email to 1,000 contacts about a new tools guide and got 100 people signed up for it—10% conversion!
Are you communicating with your LinkedIn connections?
Ian Cleary, founder of RazorSocial.

#9: Optimize Your Facebook Ads for Your Intended Action

Jon Loomer

The typical advertiser promotes a post or creates an ad and accepts Facebook’s automated optimization.
Facebook will typically optimize promotion of a post for engagement—surfacing your ad to people most likely to click within your ad. But what if you want a specific action? This is where Conversion Specs come into play.

When evaluating ads, you may only look at the cost per action.

Within Power Editor, you can tell Facebook to optimize your promotion of a specific Facebook post for any of the following:

• Comment
• Post Like
• Link Click
• Photo View
• Share
• Post Engagement
• Post Story
• Claim Offer
• Video Play

This is done within the Pricing & Status portion while creating your ad. There you’ll notice a text box that looks something like this:
[{"action.type":["XXXXXXXX"],”page”:["XXXXXXXX"],”post”:["XXXXXXXX"]}]
Leave the Page and Post info as it is. But you’ll need to update the Action Type. The codes you should use for the action.type field here are as follows:

• comment
• like
• link_click
• photo_view
• post
• post_engagement
• post_story
• receive_offer
• video_play

This gives Facebook the relevant conversion information it needs to help you.
Use Facebook’s Power Editor to optimize your ads for the specific actions relevant to your business goals.
Jon Loomer trains and consults advanced Facebook marketers to maximize profits through the use of Facebook ads.

#10: Make Real Life Connections

Andrea Vahl

Connect in real life with your social media network. Take some time to reach out via Skype or even the phone for a quick hello to people who are active in your niche or in a complementary business to yours.
Many times there are great ways to partner up between people in the same niche or there are ways that complementary businesses can be referral partners.
I know every time I have connected in real life either through a conversation or by meeting at a conference, the social media connection is so much richer and more meaningful. If I look at who retweets, shares and comments the most on my posts, it’s usually the people I’ve met in real life in some way.
It’s easier to have online conversations after you’ve had an offline one.

Google+ is a great way to make real-life connections.

Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies, uses her improv comedy skills to blog as Grandma Mary, Social Media Edutainer.

#11: Build Online Influence

Stephanie Sammons

I have a simple philosophy when it comes to social media marketing: build online influence.
Influence is the secret to social media success. It’s the sugar in the cake. It’s the foundation for building an authentic following online that can ultimately lead to new clients or customers.

Your online influence can lead to new clients or customers.

With the social media landscape constantly evolving, new networks, tools and tactics are always going to come and go. You will hear of new tips and tricks daily regarding “what works” for building your brand and your business through social media.
However, without a strong foundation in place that positions you as a person of influence, it will be difficult to sustain success. You can try every social media tool, strategy or tactic available, but without influence at the core, you likely won’t get too far.
If you focus on becoming a person of influence in your market, you’ll build more trust and loyalty. People will know that you are sincere and that you truly care about helping them.
Building influence through social media doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long-term investment in helping others solve problems, get smarter, and achieve more. If you consistently spend your time on these influence-building activities, you can achieve great things with social media that will benefit you personally and professionally for many years to come.
Stephanie Sammons, founder of Wired Advisor, a digital strategy coaching and marketing company for financial advisors, business professionals and professional services firms.

#12: Use “Here on Biz” to Connect With People in Person

Greg Hickman

There is nothing more powerful than meeting people face-to-face. We connect with so many people online but when you can put a face to the name and even share coffee with someone, opportunities will start to arise.
Even if you’re “best friends” on Twitter, sharing a coffee with that person can change your life and business. It has for me.
Because meeting people in person is so important, I’ve recently started using the Here on Biz app. It connects with your LinkedIn account to show you who’s a local and who’s in town visiting that you may want to connect with.

Here on Biz is a mobile app that will identify the most valued professionals to you and when they are nearby.

You can quickly see their name and title before connecting with them. You’re able to check into events to see if anyone within your network is attending the same event and even initiate a chat to schedule a meeting.
If you’ve ever met someone in person who changed your business, you’ll understand the opportunities this creates for you.
Look for new ways to create a real handshake with the awesome people in your social networks.
Greg Hickman, founder of Mobile Mixed, a blog and training resource for businesses going mobile.

#13: Make Following/Follower Management Part of Your Daily Routine

Neal Schaffer

Obviously a Facebook page can’t follow fans, but Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram all give businesses the chance to search for relevant social media users based on their biography or the content they post and follow them.
While there are tools like Tweepi or SocialBro which can help you find and follow relevant users on Twitter, other platforms will require you to do a bit more searching and perusing of profiles to find and follow relevant users.

Use SocialBro to find relevant users on Twitter.

That’s why you should make following/follower management part of your daily social media routine. Invest a few minutes a day, or perhaps 15 minutes a week, in finding new social media users to follow while maintaining a following/follower ratio that you are comfortable with.
This will help you not only get noticed in various social media communities, but undoubtedly help you build a larger, more targeted base of followers.
Neal Schaffer, president of Windmills Marketing, author of Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing: Understanding, Leveraging and Maximizing LinkedIn.

#14: Use Live Internet Broadcast to Connect With Your Audience

Paul Colligan

Your audience has a million options for content. Effective marketing means that you have to rise above the noise and differentiate yourself from everything else so that your audience, in fact, chooses you.
Nothing does this like a live Internet broadcast. An article can be read later, a Facebook post can be commented on whenever and tweets can be consumed when one gets around to checking in.
A live broadcast has to be consumed right here, right now. It “gets the click” like nothing else out there. Use this to your marketing advantage.

A live broadcast "gets the click" like nothing else.

Don’t market the platform you’re on (nobody cares that you’re having a Hangout on Air or using Ustream.tv), market the fact that you’re live, right now. The important thing is that they connect with you right now. They can find out what platform you’re using the second they jump on over to your live broadcast.
Consider the multicasting model for your content. Take the content from your live broadcast and publish it to the streaming sites, podcast it into all the directories, embed it into your blogs and share it on your social networks. Make the transcript from your event available for people who like to read on blog posts, Kindle books, etc.
You’ll be surprised how many touchpoints the content from your live broadcast can have and the ROI you get from such an approach.
Paul Colligan, director of content marketing at Instant Customer.

#15: Get Social Media Metrics From Google Analytics

Nichole Kelly

Use Google Analytics custom UTM parameters on links shared in social media channels.
This will pass the source (social channel name, such as Twitter), medium (content type shared, such as a blog post) and campaign (content name or title) you added for the link right into Google Analytics with your other web reporting.

With Google Analytics, you can add custom campaign parameters to your URLs.

Bonus tip: If goals are set up inside Google Analytics, you’ll also be able to tell when social media was the last source prior to a conversion.
Nichole Kelly, president of SME Digital, the digital marketing division of Social Media Explorer.

#16: Create Loyalty by Participating in One-on-One Dialog

Stephanie Shkolnik

Provide your customers with the most valuable content and insights across your social channels by participating in two-way dialogue on the right channel.
If you find your demographic is most active on Twitter, or congregates in a smaller forum, join that platform, be transparent and participate in one-on-one dialog.

With Twitter, you can participate in one-on-one dialog.

You can actually ask your customer directly online how they feel about a particular topic. Learn about their pain points, what they like, don’t like and take those insights and apply them to better your business. Do not pose broad questions to everyone, but home in on specific individuals who will yield a higher response rate.
Perhaps your content can solve some of the issues your customer faces. For example, if you’re a smaller neighborhood grocery store and you know your target audience, let’s say moms, is struggling to find ways to maximize time with their family and minimize time shopping for food each week, provide them with quick tips they can use when navigating your store. This will help simplify your customers’ shopping journey and create loyalty.
Stephanie Shkolnik, social media director at Digitaria.

Who are these social media pros?

The social media marketing experts who contributed to this article are all speaking at the Social Media Success Summit.Social Media Success Summit 2013 is a live online conference that will empower you to use social media to gain more exposure, increase traffic, cultivate loyal fans and grow your business. More than 45 of the world’s leading social media pros will show you how. The event is spread over four weeks in October.
Join nearly 3,000 fellow marketers at the online mega-conference designed to empower and inspire you with social media marketing tactics—brought to you by Social Media Examiner.

Why should you attend Social Media Success Summit?

You’ll hear from 45+ of the world’s top social media marketing pros as they reveal their newest social media marketing tips and practical, real-world, proven examples.
You’ll be able to take your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, blogging, podcasting and video marketing to an entirely new level.
What do you think? Do you use any of these social media tactics? What’s working well for you today? Please share your comments below!

The 3 Secrets to Massive
Online Marketing Success

Actually, there are three secrets that work together. To be blunt, these three magic success secrets separate the winners from the losers. Master them and you’ll start to move forward. Slowly at first, then you’ll pick up momentum and things will start to move amazingly quickly. No baloney, no tricks. These three secrets are . . .

Success secret #1: Take action

Every year, hopeful entrepreneurs buy millions of dollars’ worth of “how to succeed” or “how to start a business” products. The market isn’t limited to doing business online, but the idea of working at a computer making “six-figure incomes in our pajamas” is especially irresistible.

95% of the customers for these products will spend thousands of dollars, then turn around looking for the next magic pill before their credit card gets a chance to cool off. So are online marketing products all garbage? Are they just hype and spin?

There are some junky products out there, but the truth is that many of them are excellent. The “gurus,” as they’re (not always affectionately) called, have a lot of sound advice to give. Their advice can make you lots of money, if you know the success secret:

You actually have to do something with the advice.

Most customers for “business opportunity” products value the dream more than they do the result. They want to get out of the cubicle, out of their crummy apartment, out of credit card debt. They might even want it desperately. But they don’t take action.

I’m not saying this to be flippant or harsh. It’s not actually all that easy to go from advice to action. If you don’t have a good track record for that, if you’ve spent a lot of time or money on how-to products but never really done anything with it, you may believe you’ll never master it.

That’s BS.

Your new productivity methodology

Get a little notebook. This is your to-do list for your project.

If you’re a content marketer, most of your actions will revolve around creating content, creating products, or delivering services. Be sure and maintain a long list of content ideas, so you’re never at a loss when it’s time to knock out a post or a podcast.

Write down all the actions you must take to get you to the next step. Add more actions as you think of them. Cross them off when you’re done. When the list is a mess, rewrite it.

You don’t need an elaborate system that wastes more time than it frees up. Your system only needs to help you know what to do next.

Work every day (7 days a week, no exceptions), even if some days you only have 15 minutes. Working every day will increase your productivity by spurring your unconscious mind to come up with more ideas. This is helpful for entrepreneurs, and critical for content marketers.

Make a daily habit of one hour of action on your biggest goal. You’ll be astonished at how quickly you start to make progress. Ready, Fire, Aim author Michael Masterson recommends an hour of work on your dream goal every morning, as a way to start your day with a terrific rush of productivity. I’ve been doing just that for the past few months, and I’m starting to get used to the “whooshing” sound as the pieces fall into place. Not only does it work, it feels great too.

You can spend that hour all at once, or divide it into two or three pieces. Make it work for you. And once you develop the hour-a-day habit, you’ll actually find yourself making excuses to do more work on your project.

Success is built on lots of small steps. Start taking them. You’ve built this up in your head to be 1,000 times harder than it is. The fact that you have historically been terrible at getting stuff done is not relevant at all.

Just start taking action. It honestly is that simple.

Success secret #2: Have a plan

The down side of “just taking action” is that if you do a lot of random tasks, you tend to get a lot of random results.

You need to put together a simple, reasonably logical plan. If you want notoriety and attention for its own sake, put together a Paris Hilton sort of plan. If you want credibility and trust from your customers, make it more of a Copyblogger kind of plan.

There’s an old saying that when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem tends to look like a nail. Fight that kind of thinking as much as you can. Your plan may call for expertise you don’t have, or actions you aren’t very good at. So make some room in your plan to partner with someone else. If you’re great at connecting with customers but lousy at technology, find a partner whose strengths and weaknesses perfectly complement yours. Believe me, that person is out there and wants desperately to work with you.

Making too many plans can be the enemy of success secret #1. Be sure your plan has plenty of room for “actions I will take.”

For most of us, grandiose plans don’t get implemented. It’s great to have spectacular goals, if that inspires you. But put together plans for relatively simple, manageable projects. A dumb, simple little project that gets done is infinitely more valuable than an impressive one that gets 99% done.

The reason “back-of-the-napkin” project planning is a cliché is because simple, compact plans tend to get put into action, while 1,000-page strategies to create business empires tend to gather dust.

Keep your project plan in your little notebook. If your plan doesn’t fit into a small notebook, make a smaller plan.

If you want to make a million dollars online, start with a project to make $10. Figure that out, then scale it. It sounds simplistic and even silly, but it works.

Success secret #3: Your secret sauce is you

This is the one that’s going to take #1 and #2 to a completely new level. Success secrets #1 and #2 can make you a decent living. Add #3 to those and you’ll start to create an extraordinary business that supports a meaningful life.

As a content marketer, you’re going to need to create interesting, useful and compelling content pretty much every day you’re in this business. Your blog posts, free reports and email newsletters all contribute to one goal: to establish you as a trusted authority on your topic.

If you’re just going to regurgitate the usual stuff in a lame me-too blog, you’re not going to find too many customers. You’re betting off spending your time surfing or skateboarding — at least with those, you’ll get some exercise and you might meet somebody cute.

You have a unique view of your market’s problems. You have a unique set of techniques and approaches to solve those problems. You have a unique set of experiences to put the problems in a fresh light. Share those unique perspectives in your content.

If you need more expertise to establish yourself as a credible authority, get out and start asking questions. Be a reporter. Look for case studies. Look for real-life examples, even if they’re tiny. Look for lessons in your own life. Make connections no one’s made yet. Bring someone else’s expertise to light in a new way.

If you’re a Franciscan monk, write about the Franciscan monk’s guide to brewing better beer. If you’re a doting parent, write about the toddler’s guide to success. If you’re an indentured servant for a big corporation, write about how to avoid doing all the really dumb stuff your company does.

There will always be people — often thousands of people — who know more than you do. Acknowledge that so you stay humble and open. Then put it to one side and speak up anyway.

Keep whittling down your topic until you’re speaking with an authentic voice about something you genuinely know and care about. Stay curious and you’ll find the path that works for you and only for you.

The real secret

Nearly everyone will read this, feel inspired for about 45 seconds, then go off to hit Starbucks and check out what the hottie on the 2nd floor is wearing today.

But you’re going out at lunch today to pick up your small notebook. As soon as you get back, you’re going to scribble a simple plan and a good handful of actions that will make the plan happen. You’re going to put some thought into how you can execute this plan in your own inimitable way.

You’ll make 10 minutes and take an action today, even if it’s small. Tomorrow morning, you’ll start working for an hour every day, 7 days a week, toward your biggest goal. And just like that, you’ll be on your way to true, meaningful success, however you define it.

Send me a postcard when you’ve reached your dream. I’ll be very jazzed to hear from you.

what is difference between For loop and Foreach loop in C#.Net

what is difference between For loop and Foreach loop in C#.Net

For Loop:

• In case of for the variable of the loop is always be int only.
• The For Loop executes the statement or block of statements repeatedly until specified expression evaluates to false.
• There is need to specify the loop bounds(Minimum, Maximum).

example:  
       
               using sytem;
                 class class1
                 {
                   static void Main()
                    {
                      int j=0;
                       for(int i=0; i<=10;i++)
                         {
                           j=j+1;
                            }
                             Console.ReadLine();
                                }
                           }        


 Foreach  loop :

•  In case of Foreach the variable of the loop while be same as the type of values under the array.
• The Foreach statement repeats a group of embedded statements for each element in an array  or an object collection.
•  You do not need to specify the loop bounds minimum or maximum.

example:  
       
               using sytem;
                 class class1
                 {
                   static void Main()
                    {
                      int j=0;
                       int[] arr=new int[]{0,3,5,2,55,34,643,42,23}; 

                         foreach(int i in arr)
                         {
                           j=j+1;
                            }
                             Console.ReadLine();
                                }
                           }       

6 Major Differences between Joomla & WordPress

Developing websites is not easy especially when you are not aware of the web design applications. In today’s online world, Joomla and WordPress are two renowned web design applications that are utilized by majority of websites and blogs. These applications aid designers and developers alike in creating website via open source software. While there are other CMS tools like Drupal and Typo3, the popularity of WordPress and Joomla is still on top. But the question is how do you differentiate between these Web Design platforms? Which is better for your design needs…WordPress or Joomla? Many web designers and developers have argued over this question for several years. But the fact is that each of these web design applications has different and unique advantages for your site. Following are some of the broad difference between using WordPress and Joomla for your website or blog:

1. User-Friendliness:

From the usability perspective, WordPress is definitely more user-friendly than Joomla. This is including both the user and developer’s standpoint. Due to its convenience WordPress is simple to master and get used to. But this is mainly because Joomla provides many more features than WordPress which are advanced in functionality.

2. Flexibility:

WordPress is considered to be a better option when using as blog administering application whereas Joomla is a superior content management system (CMS). You will find that WordPress is optimum for content publishing. But Joomla in contrast provides various powerful features. Joomla offer such components that help you in targeting diverse market segments. For developers who have limited time in setting up a blog or website, WordPress is a better option. But for complex and advanced websites, Joomla is more appropriate.

3. SEO Savvy:

For a website to grow, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to its success. WordPress is renowned for its SEO benefits. When you use a WordPress based CMS for your blog or website, it will be search engine friendly your site will rank higher on Google’s search results. This is because of the in-built SEO pack that is provided in WordPress admin panel that helps your page optimize according to SEO standards. While Joomla requires some modifications in order to reap the complete advantages from various search engines. So if you rightly customize websites using Joomla, the outcomes can be comparable to WordPress. Any expert Joomla developer will design a website to be SEO friendly.

4. Integration:

Joomla has clear advantages with regards to extending and integrating the website with other third party applications of software. Joomla has a well formed and powerful API that developers can use to extend the software or integrate with other systems as required. Joomla websites can be easily integrated with other sources or websites.

5. Development of Add-ons:

In terms of Add-ons and additional features, Joomla takes the lead from WordPress. Even though modified developments can be made in both WordPress and Joomla, the latter’s development framework is more powerful for creating personalized features for websites. As a web designer and developer, you can easily develop additional features using Joomla’s development API. The API of WordPress is just not that robust as that of Joomla’s.

6. Administrative Qualities:

As already discussed, WordPress is an easy to use, and trivial CMS application. Its administration panel is very simple and accessible. You should prefer to use WordPress if your purpose is to just publish content and information. Its administration panel is restricted to updating or adding new content or media. While on the other hand, Joomla’s admin panel includes features like order management, e-commerce (Shopping cart), User management, multi-language content and more.

The 10 Best Social Sites and How to Use Them

There is no doubt that social media marketing has taken the lead in online marketing strategies. Social media sites have exploded and continue to grow in number and popularity. If you own an online business, it can be very difficult to know where to begin in this extensive marketing arena.

There are dozens and dozens of social sites and more popping up all the time. I have compiled a list of the ten best social sites with which to get you started. I have chosen these sites by my own professional opinion and by actual popularity.

1. Facebook – Facebook has an estimated 850 million users! This is the most popular social site and my favorite as well. Facebook is very versatile in what you can do with your page. Be sure to open a business account and also read the rules for businesses. Fill out your profile completely. Add images and videos to your page to make it more interesting and interactive. Visit your page every day and post helpful information, links and resources. Answer all comments promptly.


2. Twitter – Twitter has 200 million estimated active users. I like Twitter because it is quick, easy and effective for marketing your business. You simply add tidbits of information, new product info, sales and/or specials, links, motivational quotes, etc. and tweet! Keep your tweets professional and beneficial to your followers. Don’t tweet things like what you’re having for dinner or what movie you just watched. Get involved with other tweeters and participate!

3. LinkedIn – LinkedIn now has over 150 million estimated users. The thing I like about LinkedIn is how you can participate in groups that interest you or will benefit your business. Join groups and be sure to participate in the discussions by offering real and helpful information and advice. Follow their guidelines on how to completely and effectively fill out your profile.

4. Google+ – Google+ is one of the newer social sites, but it already has an estimated 65 million users! I must admit, I have not done much with Google+ as of yet, but I do like the format and versatility of the site. Be sure to add the +1 Google feature to your website so people can click it to show they like your site. This will help you in the ratings. Again, be sure to complete your profile and spend time daily or at least weekly on your Google+ page.

5. Pinterest – With over 10 million active users, Pinterest is growing in popularity very quickly. Pinterest has come up with something a little different. You are given a pinboard to add visual items such as photos, graphs, videos, etc. Pinning helpful visual information is a great way to attract people to your pinboard. You can add comments as well. People respond more to visual items than just words so get over to Pinterest and start pinning!

6. Ecademy – Ecademy has over 17 million users. Ecademy is a membership site for business owners to connect, help and grow with one another. There are paid and free memberships. Take the time to build relationships with other business owners. You can start your own clubs, write blog posts, and participate in discussions. This site is more involved than some social sites and will take more time to learn to use effectively.

7. YouTube – YouTube has an estimated 300 million users. YouTube is a video sharing site. Making an effective marketing video to share on YouTube can have a dramatic effect on your site traffic. Show your expertise with instructional and informational videos. You can also present slide shows to market your products and/or services. Set up an account and start uploading those business growing videos.

8. StumbleUpon – Despite a “stumble” in growth, StumbleUpon is now growing in popularity and has an estimated 20 million users. StumbleUpon is a social site that allows the users to share interesting and helpful websites. You will need to be an active user to reap the benefits from this site.

9. Ryze – With less than a million members, Ryze is not the most popular of the social networking sites but it can be effective. Ryze is similar to LinkedIn in that it is a place for professionals to grow, connect and help one another succeed. Join networks that target your business and network with other business owners.

10. Blogs – Blogs are very popular social sites and there are lots of them. Search for blogs that target your niche and become active with guest posts, comments, etc. Participating on blogs can help you make connections and get traffic you might not have gotten. Also, if you do not have your own blog yet, be sure to get started. I would recommend WordPress, but there are other blog services available.
If you are a business owner, you really cannot avoid social media in this marketing age. So rather than ignore it, you need to study it, learn it and participate in it. Once you do, you will find it to be a very enjoyable and beneficial experience!

ObjectZoom

How to Increase Google Page Rank of Your Blog: Blogging Tips for Beginners

How to Increase Google Page Rank of Your Blog: Blogging Tips for Beginners

As soon as you have set up your own blog, the first thing you want to know is how to make Google notice your blog and give it a great page ranking. The excitement of seeing a pretty decent Google page rank for your blog is tough to put into words. So, let us just get right to the point and start from the beginning.

What is a Google Page Rank?

According to Matt Cutts, who is the head of Webspam department, Google page rank (also known as PR) is the number and importance of links that a website / blog receives. It is always denoted as a number between 0 and 10, with 0 being the least and 10 being the most.

Why Should You Care About Google Page Rank?

Well, the reasons are many. Google tends to use page rank as an important criterion to decide how faster, how deep and often it should send the spiders to crawl your blog / site. Typically, the crawling is more favorable to sites with higher page rank, which means that a higher page rank site will be crawled more often than a comparatively lower ranking site.

Moreover, a higher page rank naturally confers higher authority and reputation to the site.

How Does Google Page Rank Relate to SEO?

We all are desperately trying to optimize our blogs and sites for the search engines and Google page rank comes in here as well. Google has always been emphasizing on providing relevant and quality results to people who use the search engine to find info on different topics.

Well, your page rank will determine how visible your blog will be to the people searching for info related to your niche. In simple words, it means that the blogs with higher page rank in a certain niche are considered to be more relevant in the eyes of Google than another blog within the same niche but with lower page rank.

When Should You Be Worried About Your Google Page Rank?

A page rank of 0 is something that seems straight out of a horror film for many bloggers and webmasters. Well, the fear of the zero is understandable as the usual tendency is to consider sites with zero page rank as spammy and low quality. But not all such sites are spam sites. It takes time and links to build your page rank, so if your blog is pretty new then obviously you are stuck for quite a while with the zero tag.

When Will Your Google Page Rank Change?

Google reviews sites on a continuous basis, but displays the results publicly approximately once in every 3/ 4 months, so that means if your blog is under 4 months of age, then you can hopefully look forward to a change in page rank soon. The last confirmed Google page rank update was on
May 3^rd, 2012.  There was another update on August, 2nd, 2012, since I wrote this post.

How To Check Your Google Page Rank?

Here is a handy tool to check your blog / website page rank for free. You only need to enter your home page URL to the page rank checker tool here and you will know the results instantly.

How to Increase Google Page Rank of Your Blog?

It is possible to increase Google page rank of your blog or site if you follow a few handy tips. Make sure that you provide only valuable, high quality and non-plagiarized content on your site. Check and double check that none of the links that are pointing towards your site are purchased from link farms and that sort of shady stuff.  This is especially true post-Panda and Penguin updates by Google in April 2012.

 Related: 3 Factors That Drop Your Page Rank by Matt Cutts of Google Inc

Synopsis

Page rank is dependent on relevance and reputation of the sites that link to you. So if you have a cartload of links pointing to your site, but none of them are coming from relevant / reputable sites, then say goodbye to your dreams of increasing your Google page rank. Try to get natural links from high PR sites.

Some of the best ways are to guest blog on such sites and post insightful comments on their posts. I have explained in complete detail in another post about steps to increase your page rank. Please read it to gain more information on how to increase your blog page rank.