I'm a full-time mummy

Finally can't resist and succumbed to the temptation of creating the "I'm a full-time mummy Fan Page" for my blog on Facebook!

It came about when one of my blog reader (Thanks to mamapoekie for the inspiration!) who asked me through her comment whether I have a Facebook page and I replied that I don't think I can handle too many accounts at the moment!

. . . . . (please wait while I put my foot into my mouth)

Okay, okay... I just can't resist it any longer! I thought over the idea of creating the Facebook page and what benefits & good it does for my blog and it came down to these few reasons:

* a great platform for my loyal followers to come together for my website

* gives more footing in search ranking

* able to track the number of interactions my page has with fans, view key demographics like sex, age, and location, and more

* a variety of customization options when choosing to communicate with my fan base

* able to communicate messages and posts directly into my fans’ homepages

* it’s completely free!

* Facebook allows users to Comment, Like & Share any update, link, photo, video etc. This has the opportunity to turn viral depending on the popularity or interest in the subject.

* The process of becoming a fan is simplified – NO friend request to be ‘accepted’ or to view your page. Just the decision to become a fan and at the click of a mouse the avenue of communication is open to you both.

Another article on the benefits:

* Unlike profile and group, both of which are limited with maximum 5000 friends and 5000 members, fan page is unlimited, a fan page can get as many fans as it can

* Fan page can be searched or found by search engine, it is powerful, imagine whatever you post in fan page will be indexed by google,doesn’t it mean more traffic to the page and also target business website or blog?

Now how to create a Facebook page for your blog? I'm just going to put in those steps that I managed to screenshot for your guide, you can actually surfed around the Net for tutorials to do this as well. So here goes:

#1: Login to your Facebook account. If you don't have an account, you need to create one first by going to Facebook home page.

#2: Now go to Facebook | Create a Page option. You will see there are 2 page options to choose from, "Official Page" or "Community Page". Choose the one on the left.

#3: Select the 2nd option which is "Brand, product or organisation" and look for "Website".

#4: Key in your page name. In my case, of course I key in my blog name which is "I'm a full-time mummy".

#5: Check the box under "I'm the official representative of this person, business, band or product and have permission to create this Page." and click the "Create Official Page" button.

#6: From there onwards, you will be prompted to add your info, such a picture for your page profile, basic and detailed info and so on.

Now what good is a fan page if you can't import your blog RSS into it right? Honestly, I'm kinda tired having to copy my posts link to my personal Facebook profile whenever I publish a new post. So, doing this especially under my own blog profile is good for me!

Option 1: Via Facebook Notes

#7: Now, what you do is go to "Edit Page", look for "Notes" and click at the "Edit" option. Look out for the option to "Import a Blog" and key in your blog URL. Check the box at the end before clicking on the "Start Importing" button. (I actually have to search around for more tutorials as it cannot detect my RSS link and I finally found the solution which is to just key in my blog URL)

#8: If your URL is correct, you will see the preview of your imported blog. Just click at the "Confirm Import" button.

Option 2: Via NetworkedBlogs on Facebook (** FYI, I USED THIS OPTION!)

A note of thanks to a bloggy friend, MieVee for highlighting the differences between these 2 options. I'm using the 2nd option  based on this tutorial after MieVee's tips and we'll see how it works out when my next post is up!

Of course, the final step is to "Like" your own fan page and then start spreading the news that you have your own Facebook page now!

For me, I added a new social icon on my blog sidebar so that you guys can just click on the button (2nd from left) to follow "I'm a full-time mummy Fan Page".

Hope the above tutorials help!

Now come and start liking "I'm a full-time mummy Fan Page" already!

See you in Facebook! 

Oh wow! Maybe it's just me not being aware of such features until few minutes ago, but I just learned a new thing today!!

You see, ever since I moved out from Blogger to my own domain here, I do still keep the old blog in Blogger running (as in I still go to the Dashboard and check out those blogs I followed) but I don't publish anymore posts in Blogger.

Now what did I learn you ask? You see, I have no idea there is this feature we can put in to inform Google to redirect the blog's URL to our new domain URL! (*Smack head!*) I've always wondered how do I tell my blog readers and visitors to go to my new blog domain now instead of still going to the old blog in Blogger but I never realised there is this feature until now!

Look and read below for better understanding and how to go about doing it:

1. Login to your Blogger account. Go to Dashboard

2. Go to "Settings", click at "Publishing".

3. Click at "Custom Domain" - opt for "Advanced Settings"

4. Key in your new domain URL and check at the box underneath (which says Redirect something.com to www.something.com)

5. Enter the word verification code and your settings will be saved!

6. From here onwards, everytime someone tries to go to your old Blogger URL, they will be prompted with the "Redirect" message screen.

Hope the above screenshots & guides help!

(*Note: I did not set the above for my old blog in Blogger as I still want to refer to some of the old posts I have there so the above tutorial is written just in case one day I decide to officially stop directing anyone to my old posts in there...)

Came across this awesome article on a list of Web Design Mistakes we should avoid and decided to share those that I've came across quite a number of them together with my feedback about it. Feel free to leave your comment as well! (*Note: Text in red colored fonts are excerpts from the article.)

The user must know what the site is about in seconds
Attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!

My feedback: Agree! I find it hard sometimes when I was blog hopping and had to spend a lengthy time trying to figure out what is the theme of the blog I'm currently browsing. I want to know in a matter of seconds, whether the blog is about parenting, recipes, giveaways, photography, etc. Seriously, I have not much time to be reading every single post in the blog and it's best if I can quickly know what the site is about, then bookmark it so that I can come back to it when I have free time. Else, I'm sorry, I've gotta go and hop on to the next blog!

Now of course, being an owner of a blog myself, I too need to make sure that people who hops into my blog knows what is my site all about. I hope (and pray!) my blog title "I'm a full-time mummy" will give the idea that this site is all about mummyhood experience.

Do not open new browser windows

I used to do that on my first websites. The logic was simple, if I open new browser windows for external links the user will never leave my site. WRONG! Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to (even porn sites are starting to get conscious regarding this point lately).

My feedback: Oh well, I used to do that too, until I came across this article. I thought by doing this, you guys will never leave my site... I guess that's terribly selfish and controlling of me to be doing that. Agree with what the article said, if the reader wants to get back, they can always press the BACK button... So people, from now on, any URL links I'm referencing to in my blog posts will be opened up in the same window browser, once you're done reading it, you just click the BACK button and continue on...

Do not play music

On the early years of the Internet web developers always tried to successfully integrate music into websites. Guess what, they failed miserably. Do not use music, period.

My feedback: Yeah, I never like going to a blog which plays music on the background. I mean, if you really want to put in a play list, at least put in the option to allow your visitor to switch it on IF they want to hear it. Else, turn it OFF! You have to understand SAH mummies like me can only go online when my kid takes his daytime nap or goes to bed after 10.30pm. Imagine, you get comfy and all and just starting to enjoy a moment to yourself, then you catch up on your blogging and browsing through other blogs and suddenly a loud music blared out in the night, scaring yourself and might even risked waking your child up! So, no music please!

Do not clutter your website with badges

First of all, badges of networks and communities make a site look very unprofessional. Even if we are talking about awards and recognition badges you should place them on the “About Us” page.

My feedback:I truly agree! Even on my old blog, I will put all the badges/buttons into a running script which actually slides each badges/button vertically so that it doesn't clutter up my blog layout. As for my new blog now, I can't put in the script so I make do with putting all those badges/buttons in PhotoBucket, creating a slideshow from it and displaying the code link to the slideshow in my blog's static pages. You can find them at the following pages on my blog:

* My Blog Stuff!

* Cool Blog Memes

* PR Info!

So again, other than my own blog button which I put at my blog sidebar, the rest goes to the above pages.

Make sure to include contact details

There is nothing worse than a website that has no contact details. This is not bad only for the visitors, but also for yourself. You might lose important feedback along the way.

My feedback: Totally agree again! Which is why other than the option to contact me via email, I also frantically searched for the commenting widget to put into my blog since my readers / visitors using IE8 are not able to submit a comment or email on my blog.

Avoid "drop-down" menus

The user should be able to see all the navigation options straight way. Using “drop down” menus might confuse things and hide the information the reader was actually looking for..

My feedback: Uhuh... actually, why I don't like this probably stems from my previous working experience in programming line. I used to write codes in RPG/400 a very dinosaur language (which are still mainly used in banking and financial institutions in Malaysia) and being a dinosaur language, to code a "drop-down" menu is not so easy, so yeah, I guessed it is one of the reason why I don't like seeing "drop-down" menus as well.

No horizontal scrolling

While some vertical scrolling is tolerable, the same can not be said about horizontal scrolling. The most used screen resolution nowadays is 1024 x 768 pixels, so make sure that your website fits inside it.

My feedback: Yeah, it gets tiring having to scroll up and down and then left and right...

If you use CAPTCHA, make sure the letters are readable

Several sites use CAPTCHA filters as a method of reducing spam on comments or on registration forms. There is just one problem with it, most of the times the user needs to call his whole family to decipher the letters.

My feedback: Yeah... actually I don't like having to key in CAPTCHA letters whenever I try to leave a comment but I will close one eye and just go along with it. Now, I get real annoyed when the letters shown are hard to read (yeah, maybe it's not your fault) but having to type over and over again it's really stressing... not to mention those blogs that sometimes reload for every action you take, like you key in your comment, then click submit or post, and it reloads with the CAPTCHA for you to key in, then you key in the CAPTCHA and it reloads with your preview which you will then click (finally) the submit or post button in order to leave your comment. Frustrating!

Okay, that's about most of the common things I encountered during my usual blog hopping activities. Other than the above, I also get annoyed when I hopped into dark colored background. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to stay away from dark background... it also makes reading hard and I really don't want to spoil my eyesight so fast... Hope you guys enjoyed the above and let me know what other common things you encountered as well!

(*Images are taken from Google search)