Today I’ll be reviving something that has been long forgotten. And long as in 2 years ago!

It’s the “Ask Carl” sessions.

I did it before for a couple of weeks when I first started my blog. You can check out the “old times” here.

BTW, the picture on the left – sooooooooooo 2 years ago too so please bear with it :-)

(but hey, I think I can still pull that pose!)

The idea is dead simple.

1. You ask me a question related to internet marketing via email or by commenting on this post.

2. I answer it.

3. Enjoy? (I think they add that for OCD purposes, so it would “look right” 1, 2, 3… not just 1, 2)

Well at least, that was the idea *before*. Now, let’s make it more… interactive.

The New Idea.

Since I’m not a Jedi master of everything – we’ll answer the questions. For every Ask Carl post, I’ll answer one question and I’ll open the other question to you guys.

And some little incentive, I’ll be looking for sponsors who can give a prize to the best contributing answer.

Ask Carl!

Well the comments are open, ask ahead! If you prefer to ask privately, you can also email me.

Little update 9/12/09: Thanks to Malek for alerting me via email that I said “the image on the right” instead of left! I’m glad I can still whip out articles even though I can’t figure out what’s left or right :-)

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The following questions have been submitted by Yvonne Russell of Grow Your Writing Business for the AskCarl feature

Assuming that you’ve checked that trackbacks appearing in your comments aren’t spam, is there any SEO or link advantage to leaving them or deleting them?

Trackbacks for me is just a way of thanking bloggers who have linked to your blog, and help your readers find more stories talking about the topic of a specific blog post.

Although trackbacks are being badly abused these days, they still have some SEO benefit. Because take note, they still count as a link. The “nofollow” attribute is just used to stop PR bleeding and not to stop search engines from crawling the link.

So, I guess there’s no change in your search engine ranking if and only if you use the nofollow attribute in the trackbacks.

If I want to have sub domains e.g. for a multi author site, which is best and why? www.mysite.com/subtopic or www.subtopic.mysite.com

Let me fix the definitions first, www.mysite.com/subtopic is called a subfolder, a subfolder is considered by search engines a connection to the main site i.e. www.mysite.com. On the other hand, subdomains (topic.mysite.com) is considered a different site by search engines and they crawl it without the help of the main domain. (independently)

So for a multi author site, I’d suggest using a subfolder if all the topic is relevant to the main domain and if not, a subdomain is suggested.

Submit your question!

If you have a sensible question that you think would be helpful for the blog’s community, send them in through a comment on this post and I’ll answer them in the next feature post.

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This post is for the AskCarl feature. Question submitted by Mark. If you want to submit a question, Just drop me a mail and I’ll try my best to answer it!

Most search engines value .gov and .edu backlinks. These links are so called “authority links” to search engines. That’s the reason why most SEO’s hunt for these kind of backlinks.

Even thought it’s quite hard to get these backlinks. Here are some tips for you to start with:

First, go to Google and try to do the following search:

For .edu domains

“Your desired keyword” “powered by wordpress” site:.edu

This search will help you find blogs that uses WordPress with a .edu domain.

“Your desired keyword “ “powered by vBulletin” site:.edu

This search will help you find forums that use vBulletin. Alternatively, you can replace the word “vBulletin” with your desired forum management program (Like Xoops, Phpbb, etc.)

For .gov domains

“Your desired keyword” “powered by wordpress” site:.gov

This search will help you find blogs that uses WordPress with a .edu domain.

“Your desired keyword “ “powered by vBulletin” site:.gov

This search will help you find forums that use vBulletin. Alternatively, you can replace the word “vBulletin” with your desired forum management program (Like Xoops, Phpbb, etc.)

That’s about it. Just play with the search terms. Hehehehe, use your creativity to find some “authority” links. You’re missing something good if you wouldn’t try this and you’ll realize that it’s all worth it.

Honestly, just about a minute ago, I found a .edu forum that allows anyone to register. Of course, I quickly registered and contributed some things. It’s just a matter of luck and some good Googling

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John e-mailed me a while ago asking me on how did I place AdSense to my WordPress blog. Too bad John didn’t have a site to show me. Anyway I’ll post here my tutorial on how to add Adsense into a WP blog.

Adding AdSense After Post Titles

Let’s go on the basics first. For example: You want to add a 336 x 280 AdSense block below you post title. Open your index.php then look for the part that looks like this:

And if you want to wrap that block, like most blogs do. Add a div into the Adsense code that may look like the one below:

Just adjust the margin that suits your blog design best and of course you could also change the float to “left” or “right”.

Some have situations adding an AdSense unit on their first post but not on the second (I used to do this before ) to do that, open your index.php then look for something like this:

We’re not done yet! Look for this on your index.php:

Then place this on the part that says “****Your Adsense Code goes here****“

See, piece of cake Special thanks to tamba2 for the code.

Adding AdSense After Every Entry

If you want to place an Adsense block every after your entry ( Like what I have — for now ) You will need to open your index.php then look for this part:

And if you want, you can also add a center tag to make it look more decent.

Adding AdSense to Single Posts

If you want AdSense only in your single posts. Open your single.php then look for something like this:

Actually it’s the same as Adding AdSense After Post Titles (Above)

Adding AdSense Before your Header

Lastly, if you want to add an AdSense unit before your header (Like b5media blogs, etc.)

Open your header.php and look for a code like the one below:

Easy!

But still if it’s that hard for you to integrate AdSense units to your WordPress blog, there’s always a plugins to the help.

If you have any comments or want to add or suggest something. Don’t be shy to leave me a comment

Have any questions? Don’t want to waste time searching Google? just drop me a mail and I’ll try my best to answer your question!

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Last week I launched the AskCarl feature thinking that it would be a great success. But I was surprised seeing nothing but dirt on my mail box this past week that wants to ask a question and participate to this new feature. Special thanks to Techzillo who dropped me a comment asking how did I make those 3d crystal buttons.

I didn’t waste any time and made a tutorial (To keep the new feature alive! ). So, here it is, enjoy!

How to Make 3d Crystal Buttons – Photoshop Tutorial

1. Start, by creating a 125 x 125 image (Like the C Image right) and put it in an empty 142 x 142 square.

2. Then add drop shadow (Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow) to your 125 x 125 square image (NOTE: The 125 x 125 must have a transparent background for the drop shadow to take effect). You can copy what I did below (Click to enlarge)

3. After that, add Bevel & Emboss (Layer > Layer Style > Bevel & Emboss) to your 125 x 125 square image. Follow what I did below and remember to also set your gloss contour. (NOTE: Blend the color of your shadow to the image)

The Result

Drumroll please!

Viola! That’s it! Easy as 1, 2, 3… If you have any comments or want to add something just drop me a comment below

Have any questions? Well don’t waste time searching Google, just drop me a mail and I’ll try my best to answer!

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Today, I’ll be launching a new feature of this blog. Thanks to Yvonne Russell of Grow Your Writing Business for suggesting it. She reviewed my blog 3 weeks ago on a different manner. It wasn’t that ordinary review that I get everyday, she gave some suggestions and criticisms. Believe it or not, I love hearing to those It’s just like a way of letting me know the things that you want me to improve.

But what I really like is her last suggestion about a new feature called “Ask Carl�? where you can submit a question and I can answer it on a post. Even though I’m not that good and all, I’ll try my best to answer every question you ask me. We will be doing this post on a weekly basis about every Saturday (+8 Philippine time). I really loved the idea and for suggesting it, she gets the chance to ask the first question.

Here are her questions:

My current permalink format is “?p=193″. I know I should change this in the WP admin panel. I guess my question has 2 parts.

1. Which is the best format and why? – Just name or name/date or custom?
2. I was holding off as I read that the next WP upgrade promises a redirect on these. If I change now, will I lose all the links I have to these pages from outside sites? (because the URL link will be different)

Answer:

1. A blog’s permalink should also fit its purposes. Like for example, you have a personal blog. You wouldn’t mind if it’s SEO right? So a custom permalink or your current permalink (which is “?p=193″) would fit just right. But if you want your blog to be search engine optimized, a permalink with the post title in it should work the best.
2. No, you won’t. If you change all your permalinks now, the links will stay in your current permalink, which is “?p=193�? (FYI your old permalink is still accessible even though you changed permalinks) In my opinion it will be considered as duplicate content so what you have to do is, redirect it, How? Don’t wait for the WP upgrade! There’s already a plugin for that! Check it out. I actually used that plugin when I first started this blog because I have the same permalink like yours before, hehehehe

So Yvonne, hope I answered your question. And oh yea, Thanks for suggesting this new feature again

So guyz (and gals) if you have a question, you can send it to me via e-mail, next week I’ll pick a lucky reader and he/she’s question will be answered in a post next week.

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