So this is the final post to complete my gallery.  If you read the documentation carefully you’ll notice that the gallery doesn’t work until you have at least 2 posts in your gallery.  After adding 2 posts with the “Featured Content” category, and the articleimg custom field pointing to the exact location of my image I got a working featured content gallery slider on my site.  Check it out on the home page: Bloggers Project.

The image size I used on this article is 500×375.  Take a look at the Featured articles section and you’ll see that there is black space on the right and left side.  For optimal image size use the same size you specify in your gallery.  The other two articles I used are 557×333 which is the exact same size as my featured content gallery.

If you have any questions on the featured content gallery plugin then let me know.  I am by far from an expert, but I was able to get mine up and running.

This is part II and if you’ve read the documentation then you’ll know you need at least 2 posts to get this bad boy working.  My next post will be part 3 to complete the content slider.

There are so many plugins available through WordPress that I can’t imagine using another Content Management Software (CMS) package for any of my projects.  Joomla has come across my plate several times and I’ll work with Joomla, but WordPress is definitely my CMS of choice.

I was recently asked if we could add an rotating image gallery to a site a created about a year ago.  I was pretty sure there would be a plugin available and I’ve also built Flash files that rotate through a sequence of images.  After doing a little research I found the Featured Content Gallery plugin.  The plugin does exactly what I hoped it would do.  It’s very simple to use.  Just take a look at the Featured Content Gallery plugin on the home page of this blog.

Featured Content Slider

So what’s the step by step for this plugin?  Pretty simple.

1. I’m not going to review how to install a plugin, but just download this guy from here: Featured Content Gallery plugin and install like normal.
2. Here’s a screen shot of the options you can use on your blog:

1. I used the category “Featured Content” for all of my gallery posts.
2. It’s recommend you crop your images to equal the same size you create your gallery.  I used 557×333
3. I’m rotating the most recent 3 posts from the “Featured Content” category, but you have other options as you can see in the Featured Content Gallery Options menu

Back in the day…I’m talking 80’s and early 90’s I used a thing called the library when searching for information.  I often times ask some of my younger friends (you know the type – social media savvy, under 22 years old, internet power surfers) if they’ve used card catalogs, microfiche, or any general library skills.   Usually they have no idea what I’m talking about.

Information In My Youth

I was among the lucky one’s throughout grade school.  As I recall my parents purchased the 1981 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia.  Our household was the envy of the block.  No longer did we always have to trek to the local library for information.  Every bit of history was right there, readily available in the World Book Encyclopedia.

Ten years passed…I used the Encyclopedia’s as if they were gods word on what was fact and fiction.  I still had to check out other supporting resources from the local library (newspaper articles, books, magazines, etc), but my time spent there was limited compared to my friends and fellow classmates.  I was able to work faster and get things done much quicker then everyone else for ten years.  Ten years…of reports and school work.  Ten years…as the main source in my bibliographys.

The year was 1991…10 years after the purchase of our beloved World Book Encyclopedia’s.  1991 was the year I moved out of the house and into the college dorms.  Something happened during my time at the University.  There was a shift in how we got information.  Of course, I no longer had the use of the World Book Encyclopdias in the comfort of my home, but instead the University library was a hop, skip, and jump away from my dorm room.  This is not the shift I’m talking about.  During my time at the University I learned about computers, networks, email, and the internet.  Back then the internet was not as it is today.  However, during my time in college the World Wide Web came to be and I discovered the web browser and the vast amounts of information available at the touch of a finger.

“University of Arizona – 5 or 6 of the best years of your life!” I remember seeing a t-shirt during my freshman year that had that line on it.  I laughed at the time , but just as the t-shirt predicted…I graduated in 1996 (year 5) and didn’t move back to California until 1997 (year6)…5 or 6 of the best years of my life.  Everything had changed when I returned from my life in Tucson.  Most of my friends had an AOL account and email address, a dialup connection, and at the time limited access to the internet (we payed for dialup access by the hour back then).  Information was readily available 24-7.  I could pull up a search engine (I think I was using Alta Vista at the time) and type a word and receive hundreds maybe thousands of articles on the subject.  The way we received information had definitely made a shift during my time in college.

Internet Information Overload

All of this information easily and readily available to us can be a good and bad thing.  The bad thing is what spawned this article.

While I’m sure there are many bads here are a few that were bugging me today.

• Statistics - in my case I’ve been monitoring my statistics daily sometimes even hourly this has got to stop.  Of course in the back of my mind I remember reading a recent  Problogger article specifically about Blogging Mistakes with becoming a Stat-A-Holic being number 17 on the list.
• Statistics Part II – the obsession continues as I search through several blog lists trying to compare my blog statistics to other blogs around the internet consuming hours of time.  By the way, it’s easy to see other blog statistics by checking their “Advertise” page we’re the author will often times reveal key information such as Unique Visitors, Pageviews, RSS subscribers, etc.
• Reading and Not Acting – reading can be healthy, but when it consumes your day to the point where you are not taking action.  That can be an unhealthy obssesion.

As I’ve already mentioned this list should be much longer, but I’m really just venting my own frustration and by the way…after mentioning and looking over Darren Rowse’s 21 Blogging Mistakes article I wanted to write a follow up post about all the blogging mistakes this blog currently makes.

I hope you enjoyed this little rant.  What about you?  Where did you come from? and how do you feel about the availability of information in the world today?

This brings me to another goal that I can set for myself in the coming months. I’m currently working on 6 different websites and I set some money making goals in a previous post.  One additional goal I’d like to add is the PR rank for all six sites.  At the moment only one site has PR (PR2) all of the other sites are either shells or just domain names and an idea in my head.

My goal for these 6 sites is to have all sites between PR2 – 5 by the end of the year.  That gives me approximately 2 Google Page Rank updates and 7 months to achieve my goal.

My understanding is that the PR update I am talking about is only what is shown in the google toolbar and the actual page rank is always changing based on the dynamic nature of the web.

What about you?  Do you have a Google Page Rank Goal?

I think my biggest hurdle right now is information overload, and reading, but not acting upon all the great (and not so great) information on the internet.

For openers I’ve been wanting to accomplish several things on the internet and start my own little internet empire…moohaaaahaaa…

Current state of the Koala Kingdom

1. I’ve started a fairly successful blog in my niche that draws in about 1000 visitors a day.
2. I own several domain names in said niche and wish to develop each into a stand-alone website.
3. The sites I wish to develop are:
   1. Blog in the Niche – developed and going strong
   2. Blog in the sub niche – partially developed and needs daily articles
   3. Second blog in the sub niche – Undeveloped
   4. Membership Website – Undeveloped, but currently attending a highly regarded online course about membership sites.
   5. Static Service related website with blog to keep content fresh – Undeveloped
   6. Database Driven Website – Undeveloped and will require outsourcing

Instead of setting goals I think I’ll create a timeline. My end goal is to launch the membership site by November 10th, 2009

• May 21-31, 2009 – my goal for today is to work on developing blogs number 2 and 3. Put together at least 1 article for blogs 1, 2, and 3. Create a list of top 100 bloggers in my niche and start forming relationships. Create a list of top 5 forums in my niche and start networking and creating relationships.
• May 22, 2009 – May 25, 2009 – Memorial weekend I’m playing in a hockey tournament, but I’m bringing my laptop so all is not lost. Don’t expect much to get done during this time period.
• May 26,2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• May 27, 2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• May 28, 2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• May 29, 2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• May 30, 2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• May 31, 2009 – Write articles for blogs 1-3. Continue development on blogs 2,3.
• June 1, 2009 – Finish development on blogs 2 and 3 including all pages completed and at least 5 articles
• July 1, 2009 – Start creating content for Membership site,
  • start list of beta testers for membership site
  • start membership site design and development
• August 1, 2009 - Launch membership site for beta testers
• September 1, 2009
• October 1, 2009 – Complete first 3 months of content for Membership site
• November 3, 2009 – Begin Membership Site Pre-Launch
• November 17, 2009 - Launch Membership Site
• December 1, 2009 – Membership site maintenance
• January 1, 2009 – Begin work on Service and Database driven sites.

The Koala Kingdom Goals

• 20-30 hours a week into the Koala Kingdom – possibly more if I feel I’m coming up short on deadlines
• End of year goals – complete membership site and blogs 1-3. Service and Database Driven sites are secondary for now and at the latest should be complete by the middle of 2010.
• Create a list of goals and accomplishments on the 1st of every month to keep on schedule.
• Create a day by day timeline using calendar software at the start of every month.
• Read less do more!

Some other Random Goals

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense to you. Unfortunately, this is something I wanted to write for myself to prioritze and organize my thoughts. Now moving forward may I suggest adding a timeline to Google Calendar or maybe the Zoho Calendar.

That brings me to a question that I’m sure others have asked before me Zoho or Google? I’ll see I’ve I can answer that in an upcoming post.

I dug a little deeper and took a peek at my Google Analytics data and sure enough I had way more page impressions according to Google AdSense compared to Analytics.  One final test…my AWStats.  AWStats were also at a normal level leading me to believe that there was an issue with Google AdSense.

Google AdSense Bug?

My initial thought was that someone copied some of my pages and pasted it into their own site Google AdSense code and all thus accounting for my increased page impression number.  I did some research and sure enough came across a few forums mentioning this possibility.  Hmmm…time to contact Google and let them know that trouble is afoot?  Nope…time for more research.  I went to the Google site and while looking for a contact form I came across AdSense Help.  I searched the forum and found that people were having a similar problem in a thread started yesterday.  Here’s the thread I came across: Unusual Page Impressions.

People in the forum are calling it a Google AdSense Bug, but I don’t think anyone is really sure what we’re experiencing.  My main concern was that someone scraped my publisher ID and I was afraid of a Google Ban.  However, if it’s a Bug or Google just making changes to the way they report AdSense statistics then I’m not really concerned.

How about you?  Is anyone else experiencing this phenomena?  Is this a Google Adsense Bug or something else?  If you know what’s going on or have any theories please let us know in the comment section below.

Is it too late for New Years Resolutions?  I’ve known for years the importance of networking and building relationships after all I did work in sales for four years.  However, knowing the importance of something and acting on it are two completely different things.

So starting today I’m going to work on networking and building relationships.  I’m the shy type, but I figure as long as I put this down in words I’ll start changing my actions.

Why Networking And Building Relationships Is Important

There are many reasons, but I just want to point out the thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head.

• I look at the success of Linkin and think about the connections and relationships made there.  Today’s connection can lead to tomorrows job.
• I see Joint Ventures all the time.  If I don’t build relationships there will never be a joint venture.
• I’m not a natural when it comes to building relationships, but I do meet people through friends and sports teams.  Recently I’ve come into contact with three contract jobs and some possible volunteer work.  That’s without trying…imagine the kind of work I could get if I set my mind to building relationships.
• People you trust are more likely to give you work.  This might be a bad example, but I recently heard that a local school district were bidding for a new payroll system.  Unfortunately, they received a system that didn’t cover there needs and required a lot of work to get working properly.  Why did they choose such a poor fit for their new payroll system?  Someone had built an existing relationship with one of the decision makers and made millions on the sale of their payroll system.
• Another point I’ve noticed and you can ask this of yourself.  Who gets the job?  The best qualified?   From what I’ve seen the best qualified doesn’t usually get the job, but the person who knows or has a relationship with the boss.

I know there are many other important reasons for building relationships, but for some reason the points listed above have been really standing out in my head.  Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think and please add to the list.

How I Plan on Networking And Building Relationships

Offline

• Just be more friendly with people
• Work on remembering the names of new people I meet.
• Engage people in conversation
• Attend more social outings

Online

• Blogs – Use a commenting strategy to make a connection with key bloggers.
• Forums – Respond to relevant posts and add to the conversation and make contact with key members.
• Websites – Make contact with key website owners

This is a great start, but I also know the importance of organizing and tracking the people you meet.  For now, I’m going to test out Zoho CRM and see if that will suit my needs.  After a thorough testing period I’ll add my thoughts on Zoho CRM.

Anyways, this is just another rant and something I was thinking about today.  Let me know what you think and please add to the conversation and start building a relationship today!