Why You Are Lucky That You Started Blogging In 2012?

No, we aren't going to talk about doomsday predictions here, nothing of the sort. But we are gonna talk about how you can start a new life in the world of blogging (ironic huh?). Blogging is becoming more and more common these days. There's a blog about virtually everything. And not without reason.Blogging is a great way to express and share your thoughts with the world. Most use a blog to earn money. In fact, a blog is one of the best ways you can earn money online. And businesses use blogs to promote their products and services, and grow a customer/audience base. A blog is a major tool for promoting a brand. Hence, there are lots of benefits of blogging, especially in this era. If you don't already have a blog, now would be the best time to start!

There are so many blogs out there that some people think they are just adding to the noise. And we totally agree. There are literally tonnes of blogs that are low quality, poorly written, not very actively maintained, or worst of all, are spammy. But just because there are cheap blogs out there doesn't mean it is a reason not to start blogging. Which brings us to the question of the day; Why should you start blogging? Why now, and not later?

The competition is growing!

Don't let that hinder you! Blogging is on the rise! If you don't go along with the wave, you will get left behind! It is estimated that hundreds of blogs are published every minute! You should create one too before it is so late that you are unable to surface. Also, domains are being scooped up really fast. Who knows, the domain you want to register today might be gone tomorrow? Start blogging now!

Internet services have increased

There are tonnes of services out there that will help you instantly create a website or blog. Free publishing platforms such as Blogger, WordPress etc are the most widely used. Other than that, you can easily buy hosting and domain from services such as HostGator, which also provide free site builder tools for you to get your site up and running. There are other such internet services which makes life easier for bloggers. So why hesitate when you can get job done as easily as ever?

Google policy changes, now means business

This is the most important point I want to discuss about. Google changes its algorithm almost each year.  This year, it was the Penguin while last year, it was the Panda. Both these updates wrecked havoc among many websites and blogs. Before Penguin, people didn't know what to do, and how to recover. But now, after Penguin, Google has made it pretty clear that low quality websites or sites with cheap or fake backlinks are going to be punished. This impacted a lot of bloggers, who now have to work very hard to increase quality throughout their sites.

But for those wanting to start now, this could prove to be beneficial. They now know what Google wants. They won't be penalized. And so, they can start with a fresh, clean record. Old bloggers will need to fish out their old, low quality posts while new bloggers will have no such problem! :)

Start today, earn tomorrow!

If you're into this stuff, then there's really no reason to hold back. If you start today, you will start earning tomorrow. Little by little, you can build your blog into a brand and start making money. Don't hesitate about the time it'll take, because it will always take a lot of time, and effort. That's the secret to blogging actually. Time, and effort. Put in both, and over time, you'll see vivid results.

Always remember that everyone has to start from zero. Even pro-bloggers started from zero, years and years ago. Some blogs are as old as 6 years old. And their efforts have finally paid off. Now, they are earning thousands of dollars monthly! Who knows, you could be the pro-blogger everyone looks up to in four year's time? :)

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How To Merge & Manage Two Google Plus accounts Together?

When Google Plus originally started out more than an year ago, it was somewhat exclusive to Gmail accounts. most people signed up using their Gmail accounts, which might not have been their primary accounts. So they ended up with their Google+ operating on one Google account, and other serviceson another. In such a scenario, managing multiple Google+ accounts can be a headache, especially since you need to log out of one to use the other (unless you're comfortable with changing your browser). An any case, you might end up having two Google+ profiles, with similar friends, or more followers on the account you do not want. Well now, there's a solution for you. You can merge your Google+ accounts together into one, so you can easily manage your circles, posts, photos, and more!

Google didn't offer this kind of functionality before. But now, you have a good option. Using Google Takeout, you can merge any two accounts together. You just need to figure out your Source and Destination accounts. Google Takeout will take all the information from your Takeout account, and merge it into the Destination account. Hence, the Source account will be removed, and the Destination account will remain, an amalgam of the two profiles.

What will be transferred?

The Source account will be gone. But its circles will stay, and will be merged with the Destination account. Anyone you have blocked or ignored will also be blocked or ignored in the Destination account. Circles with same names will be merged. Your contacts, +1s, docs etc will also be transferred. This service, however, will not transfer profile information, posts, and comments. Unfortunately, it will also not transfer your Google+ pages, although you will be able to set up multiple admins for a page in the near future.

How to merge accounts?

First, log into Google Takeout using your Source account. Once you log in, you will see a screen similar to the one below.

Click on Transfer your Google+ connection to another account. Then, you'll be prompted to sign into your Destination account. Once you sign in, you'll just need to verify your information for both accounts. After that, you can begin the transfer.

That's all there is to it! Just sit back and wait for Google to merge your accounts!

Some things to remember

As said earlier, your Google+ pages won't be transferred, so you might lose them. And as far as the waiting period is concerned, it will take around a week for Google to merge your accounts. During this time, if you decide to pull out of the deal, you can simply cancel the process if it hasn't already been started by Google. You will know by going into your Source account, where you will see a button to Cancel Transfer.

Make sure you get the Source an Destination right, and not the other way around. Otherwise, you can rectify your mistake only after six months. This is a relatively new service, and we are hoping Google will improve it soon and reduce the waiting period. And we'd also very much like to see improvements in Google+ page structures. However, in the meantime, you enjoy socializing and stay tuned for more updates on Google Plus. Cheers :)

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Find out whether a Link is Safe without Clicking on It

Cyber attacks are on the rise these days. And most of them come through links and web pages that a user opens. While anti-virus software can protect you up to a certain extent, there is no software in this world that can protect you from everything, no matter how good or how expensive it is. Scams and hacks evolve with technology, and most of the time, they remain a few step ahead of security companies. Usually, it starts with an innocent-looking link found on a website or passed on to someone by another person either intentionally or otherwise. These links can provide the entry way for malware and cyber criminals to access your personal information or hack your computer for other malicious purposes. So most of the time, it falls on the users to protect themselves. Well, you can scan these suspicious links before you click on them. Here's how.

Use Link Scanners - URLVoid

First and foremost, you can simply use a free link scanner service to check whether a URL is clean or not. These are plugins or websites that run scans on the link you enter, and verify their integrity by using some third party services. One such good link scanner is URLVoid, which uses third party services such as Google, Norton SafeWeb etc. Just go to the website, and paste your URL there, and it will tell you whether it is safe or not.

Sucuri SiteCheck

Sucuri SiteCheck is another great scanning service. You might have seen shortened URLs on Twitter and Facebook from websites like bitly (bit.ly/...), Google (gg.gg/...), TinyURL (tinyurl.com/...) and so on. Ordinary link scanners such as URLVoid can't properly scan these URLs, because these are redirect links. Hence, URLVoid only checks the website that is redirecting, such as bitly or TinyUrl. It can not check the actual URL. This is where Sucuri comes in useful. It will expand the URL and check it using again some third party services like Norton, PhishTank, Google etc. Sucuri will also check non-shortened URLs for you.

Look at the URL itself

Sometimes, malicious URLs can be hidden with innocent anchor text. For example, Home Page and http://trikitricks.blogspot.com/, both point to our home page. But while one lets me know immediately what it points to, the other can contain anything. It is always best to hover over the links to know what they are. Hovering will let you see their full URL.

Install a plug-in

To save yourself all that trouble of vising other websites, you can simply install a browser plug-in. one of the best plug-ins are provided by World of Trust. It is really easy to set up, and easy to use. With this plugin, you will hopefully never open a bad link again.

Those were some ways you could check for 'bad' links. Hope they will keep you safe. Keep in mind though, to always copy links by right-clicking on them and clicking on "Copy link address". Sometimes, while copying manually, people often end up clicking on the link itself, which is exactly what you don't want. Just take our advice, and you'll be fine. Stay safe :)

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