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10 Extensions That Make FireFox A Killer App

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Everyone these days seems to have a particular application which they label their killer app. As I depend on FireFox more and more to get things done, I have come to rely upon a set of extensions which really enhance my productivity. Here are the extensions which I consider to be the ones that give FireFox the title as “Killer App“.

Built In FTP Client – By using the FireFTP extension, I have access to the various FTP servers of the sites that I write for at the click of a button. Having an FTP client built into the browser means I can get things done faster as acquiring links to files is a matter of switching tabs rather than application windows. If you would like to learn more about this particular extension, please see this article. (FireFTP – The Best FTP Client I Have Ever Used)

Easy Access To Google Services – Despite the funny name, Gbutts is a FireFox extension which provides easy two-click access to the majority of services that Google Provides. I am only two clicks away from Google Docs, Gmail, Google Earth, etc. The extension can be configured so that only those services that you use, appear in the drop down menu. Since I routinely access Google Docs and Google Maps, this is yet another time saver.

Measuring Pixels – If you do any design work, you’ll know that at times, it can be time consuming to figure out the pixel size of an image. Thankfully, the MeasureIt extension takes the guess work out of the equation. MeasureIt provides an easy interface to measure things within the browser window by pixels. This extension saves time because you no longer have to open an image within an editor to figure out its dimensions.

Keeping Tabs On Forums – I’ve noticed in my own self monitoring that I spend a lot of time checking out the newest posts on the Hive and on various other forums I participate in. Intead of visiting the forums, I’ve since installed a RSS FeedReader for FireFox called SageToo. SageToo is a continuation of Sage with additional functionality. Essentially, it is a feedreader for FireFox. I use this tool to check out the latest forum posts on multiple forums from a sidebar rather than having to view the actual forum. This saves time because I tend to click on other things once I reach the forum and before I know it, I’m a long ways away from where I started.

Multi Blogging – Long time readers of Performancing will recognize this next extension called ScribeFire. Although I’d like to think that I don’t have any time to publish articles on my own blog, ScribeFire changes that by allowing me quick access to a blog editor which if configured correctly to take advantage of the XML-RPC features of WordPress, I can quickly write an article, place it in a category, tag it and then publish it live on my blog, all without thinking about it.

Page Rank And Alex Rank Without Searching – Ever come across a cool site within your niche and wondered what their Alexa rank or Google PageRank values were? Typically, you would have to use a tool and type in their domain name to figure out the values. With the SearchStatus extension, that information is provided to you within your browser. You can even check out the Compete rankings with this extension.

Creating Screen Captures – One thing every blogger has in their toolbox is a service, program, or extension in which they use to capture images. In my personal toolbox, I use a piece of software known as SnagIt by Techsmith. Although I don’t use the specific software by itself, having the software installed gives me access to the SnagIt Extension. This extension has saved me a boat load of time when it comes to creating images since I can create them on a per pixel basis within the browser window, edit them within the SnagIt software, and then save them to the desktop. Although the full version of the software is not free, this is the best screen capturing tool I have used. As an alternative, you can use Jing Project which is a project sponsored by TechSmith.

Creating TinyURLs In Seconds – Long URL’s are a pain in the rear to send someone whether it be in an email or a message that can only contain 140 characters or less. Navigating to the actual TinyURL web page to create the tinyurls can be time consuming. That’s why I’ve included the TinyURL Creator extension. This bad boy makes it as easy as a few mouse clicks to create a tiny url from a page or from a specific url. When created, the url will automatically be saved to your clipboard leaving you the only step of pasting it into the desired location. Definitely another time saver if only convenient.

TwitKit – I don’t care what anyone says, Twitter is a great service for networking and conversation. However, using Twitter through the actual website is a time consuming and mundane process. It’s much better to use a third party application such as Twhirl or in this case, TwitKit. Now, I typically use Twhirl for all things Twitter but when I want to quickly share a link or publish a quick thought, accessing Twitter through a sidebar in FireFox is a time saver.

Real Time Monitoring – Often times, I have no idea if my blog has received a major spike in traffic through the likes of Digg or Stumbleupon until after the fact. Watching these types of traffic spikes in real time is exciting and an amazing boost of confidence, even if the feeling only lasts for ten minutes. Whos.Amung.Us is a service that has been around awhile which is used by many to keep tabs on who is browsing their site in real time. After registering your site with the service, they provide you with a unique 8 character key which you then plug into their FireFox extension. The extension will then display the number of concurrent visitors on your blog in real-time and upon clicking on the number, you’ll not only be able to see the number of people browsing your site, but the URLs in which they are viewing and the number of people per URL. Woopra, and Pmetrics have this LIVE capability but having it built into my browser is convenient and notifies me of when I am in the middle of a traffic storm.

Conclusion:

FireFox is an awesome piece of software but the extensions for it are even better. The motto for FireFox used to be, “Take Back The Web” and that is exactly what the browser enables you to do. I tend to think that FireFox is a cockpit and each extension is like a gage or control that I can use as I navigate the web. With the extensions I have listed within this article, you are sure to save time and become more productive. Just be sure to disable that StumbleUpon toolbar during working hours!

If you have any FireFox extensions that are either alternatives to the ones listed above or, that solve a particular time sync which makes you more productive, please share them in the comments.

Open Mic On Perfcast

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This week on Perfcast, Tom Leroux of Leroux.ca will be joining us to talk about his work as it relates to blogging. All in all, the show will be an open mic discussion where all things related to the subject can be discussed. If you have been waiting for an excuse to call into the show to ask a question or give us your opinion on something, this is it. Be sure to join us live on Talkshoe.com on Thursday, October 30th at 7 P.M. EST.

If you are not sure on how you can participate in the show, please refer to this post. (How To Participate In Perfcast Live)

7 Tips On Building Relationships Through Blogging

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For anyone who has blogged for three months or more should know that as time moves on and you continue to blog, natural relationships are formed. These can be formed from comments/replies, linking to others, email contacts with similar niche blog authors, etc. I was thinking the other day how many people I wouldn’t know anything about and vice versa had I not started publishing content on my own blog. The past year and a half of serious blogging has giving me the opportunity to build relationships with people all across the world. In fact, one of the readers who regularly interacted with me on my blog sent me a Christmas card. All the way from Australia none the less! It is events like these that give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Sometimes, the relationships you build during your time of blogging can become more important than the income a blog may make. Here are seven tips based on experience that will help you build relationships with other bloggers.

Stop Being Competitive – Although being competitive can serve as the driving force to make someone a better blogger or to have the better blog, competitiveness can and usually does promote self interests and in turn, breaks relationships. Learn as soon as possible that the realm of blogging is a huge pool of knowledge sharing. Learn to link out to ideas and highlight things you come across rather than keeping yourself and your audience in a silo.

Give More Than Take – Everybody that is alive on this planet today has a specialty whether it be fishing, cooking or blogging. Learn to give as much information as possible to your audience rather than sitting back and taking everything in. A great example of someone who does this on a regular basis is Chris Brogan who is always giving more than he takes.

Link Out On A Regular Basis – In my own experience, each time someone has linked to a specific post on my blog, I always visit that post in return and give them a thank you. Sometimes, that blog author replies to my comment and before you know it, we regularly exchange emails. Through the use of pingbacks/trackbacks, linking out is like sending out a beacon. Not only are you letting that person know that you have linked to them but you also let them know that your blog exists. Sometimes, thats all it takes is to let someone know you’re out there.

Start Small – The A-list bloggers are the ones pulling in massive traffic and because their time is taken up between all of the aspects of blogging, it is very hard to get in touch with them, unless you’re a big wig yourself. Start out small and network with blog authors who write about the same subject within your niche that are not breakout hits. Starting small and continuing to build on that foundation will slowly build your list of contacts where eventually, in the right conversation at the right time, someone may bring your name to the attention of someone else that could change your career for the better.

Persistence Pays Off – Just like everything else in life, persistence can play a critical role when it comes to creating a relationship with another blogger. Generally, things are not set in stone with one email or one instant messaging conversation. In fact, many times it takes numerous conversations between both parties before a relationship can be established. It is important that you do not confuse persistence with being annoying. Sending one possibly two emails in one weeks time is good. Instant messaging while sending a private message over a forum and then sending emails on top of that is just down right annoying.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask – Asking questions to your blogging neighbors is an excellent way to build relationships as these questions and answers can sometimes turn into debates or great conversations. Great conversations tend to make an impact on someones mind. Asking and in turn answering questions is a win-win situation as each person gets to know the other in terms of each others agendas. Also, answering questions pertaining to a specific subject may give others the opinion that you are an authority on that subject. This means that because of your knowledge on the subject, people may refer their friends or associates to you.

Look For That Wow Factor – Ever have a conversation with someone that made you go “wow, that was an awesome discussion“? Be on the lookout for these types of synergies where your thoughts and opinions flow well with someone else’s. These types of interactions usually form into strong bonds.

Conclusion:

How many times have you heard the saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know”? Although not directly applicable to blogging since authoritative bloggers are successful anyways, having a big or at least concise network of people around is a good thing to have. These people can help you get a job, land an advertising deal, pass client work your way, make your blog not so lonely, and last but not least, these people can become great friends and a source of inspiration. Just a word of warning though. Try not to burn any bridges you make because at some point down the road, you may need to cross them.

Image courtesy of wallyg under Creative Commons

Have you made any new friends in the blogosphere or in the real-world based on your blogging or social networking activities? How valuable do feel your relationships are? If you have any tips on building relationships, share them with me in the comments.

Freelancing In Tough Times

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Copyblogger has a good article worth reading if you’re a freelancer entitled, Where Have All the Freelance Writing Jobs Gone? The economy is creating tough times for Freelancers as more and more site owners slash budgets and cut costs. However, Yuwanda Black provides some tips on how to turn a down economy into an opportunity by looking at current trends and then providing information based on those trends.

One thing I think helps freelance writers get more writing jobs is to consider themselves as “information consultants” rather than freelance writers.

When you become an information consultant, your mindset shifts. Then you start looking to capitalize on trends.

For example, the trend right now is on information related to business, finance, and mortgages (sub-prime). It seems like everyday, we see, hear, or read news concerning one or more of these trends. That’s why, if you position yourself to be a leader in covering these trends, this downturn in the economy won’t be so bad.

At the end of the article, Yuwanda offers a 2008-2009 Freelance Writing Jobs Report in PDF format that highlights the hot niches and sub-niches for which Freelancers should be positioning themselves to write about. The report also contains four tips for recession-proofing your freelance writing career.

WordPress.com Denied Service

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Appscout is reporting that earlier this morning, WordPress.com experienced a denial of service attack which took down a number of sites that host within their system. A spokesperson stated that only a few blogs went down and that a large number of them were just running slowly. However, it appears as though WordPress.com is back on its feet and running just fine.

With Automattic based WordPress.com being as popular as they are, I’m surprised that we do not see more denial of service attacks than we do as I would think that they are a big target, especially considering the sites that host with their VIP package.

Was you WordPress.com blog affected this morning?

*UPDATE* Barry of Automattic gave a detailed rundown as to what happened during the DDOS attack.

AOL Journals To Disappear Oct 31st

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Those of you who are unfortunate enough to have had an AOL Journals account will need to find a new home soon as on October 31st, the Journals site will be closed down. Journals was AOL’s entry into the blogging services market. Due to the journals not being used as much as they once were, AOL had decided to close its doors.

According to the PeoplesConnections blog post, users will have two options:

You can either save your information manually and find another place to blog on your own, or let us handle the migration for you and automatically transfer your Journal to a different blogging service.

Blogger has seized this opportunity and has announced that they have created a Journals migration tool that will help move Journals users onto Blogger.com.

Not that I condone the use of blogger, but since there is a tutorial on how to go from Blogger to WordPress, it might be a good opportunity for Journal users to switch to Blogger and then to WordPress.

22 Piece Social Icon Pack

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SmashingMagazine has released a free icon set comprised of 22 icons in the shape of a heart. These icons represent various social sites and services such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, etc. The icons were created by TheDesignSuperHero while released through SmashingMagazine. The icons range from 16X16 in size to 64X64 and are in PNG format.

What better way to show some love than by displaying these icons of your favorite social services on your blog.