Gaurish Sharma Live » Blogging

Google’s New Year Gift to me

gaurish — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:54:14 +0000

I just got New year gift from Google, something I have been waiting for over a year now. Finally it arrived via Blue-Dart Courier. it was the first thing I saw when I woke on 1 Jan 2010, at 1:00PM(late due to new year bash).So, curious to know what the gift is?

It is my adsense payment cheque, since its my first. so I am pretty excited about it. although, the amount is small but it means to me alot as it has been entirely generated by Gaurish Sharma Live & as you all might know this site has a special place in my heart . I am thankful to all my readers who did read my random chatter and provided constant feedback so that I would improve. here is a mandatory picture proof:

Lastly, I would wish you all A Very Happy New Year 2010, Have a great year ahead!

keep reading, there is more to come from my twisted mind.

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Migrating from Blogger to selfhosted WordPress

gaurish — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:36:10 +0000

Google’s blogger software for blogging is easy to use and effective. But the major drawback is that, blogger is not fully flexible to suit everyone needs, it does not support additional static pages. In short, with blogger you can’t have full control over your blog. this is where wordpress scores the most. Being of Open Source nature, you can modify it to your needs & extend its functionality further with help of plug-ins.

I myself have migrated to a self-hosted wordpress driven blog and would share my experience; the most seamless way to make the switch.

Please Note: As i was running blogger with a custom domain(gaurishsharma.com) so switch was relatively easier for me, as i didn’t have to use any dirty scripts to redirect traffic from old blogger blog to new wordpress blog.

Aims of this Guide:

Move all the posts and comments data from old blogger blog to your new wordpress blog.
Maintain the permalinks of your old blog, so links from search engines and bookmarks don’t get broken in process.Thereby maintaining backlinks for a good Page Rank
Carry Over your RSS feed subscribers to new blog.
Making the switch as seamless as possible with least amount of downtime possible.

Assumptions while making this guide:

You use feedburner service, for feed syndication
you are publishing your blog on a custom domain(eg. yourname.com) and if you are still stuck on sub-domain of blogspot(like xxx.blopspot.com) its time to take the plunge, go register your own domain(yourname.com).A custom domain helps build a unique online identity and shows that you are really serious about blogging. these days Domain are really affordable around Rs.350INR per year.

The Procedure Explained, Step-by-step:

Moving to custom domain: If you are publishing on subdomain of blogspot(xxx.blogspot.com). First step is switch to a custom domain, instrutions can be found on Google Help page.After changing to a new address, kindle wait for atleast 3-6months, so all traffic from your old blog’s URL its automatically your new custom domain. I realize 3months is a long period but its necessary for making a smooth switch, but if you are less patient then try this hack.
Importing Data: Since, all of your traffic is coming to your new custom domain(yourname.com). its time make a switch. Go to WordPress.com and sign-up for a free blog. choose whatever address you like as that’s gonna be temp. Now, Import data from your blogger blog by logging into wordpress dashboard & Tools –> Import –> Blogger.Next authorize wordpress to access your blogger blog and press magic Import Button. importing post would take some time. so please be patient.after importing completes, set the author name.
Exporting Data: Now navigate to Tools –> Export.Save this file to your computer.now all your posts & comment are saved on your computer disk. at this point we no longer require that free wordpress blog we registered in step 2
Installing WordPress:Login to your webmaster’s Control Panel. most webhost have Cpanel installed which has Fantastico feature, with its help you can install wordpress in few clicks. else you could The famous manual install, the only extra step in manual method is database creation by phpadmin.
Importing final data: Login into your newly installed wordpress’s dashboard. Goto Tools –> Import > WordPress. broswe to the location of file which you saved in step-3.
Maintaining Permalinks: Now we need to use the exact URL stucture as we had in our blogger blog. First Install plugin called – Maintain Blogger Permalinks by uploading this to your wp-content/plugins/ dir. Activate the plugin once and run it via Tools > Permalinks. This is one time task and you can safely remove this plugin afterwards.
Next go to Settings –> Permalinks –> Custom & enter the following stucture:- /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html
Importing feed: Login to your feedburner account. and click on Edit Feed Details. In feed url enter http://www.your-domain-name-here.com/feed/rss eg. http://www.gaurishsharma.com/feed/rss

Thats all.
Now you change update NS records of your domain, to redict visitor to your new wordpress blog. Remember: It takes about 24-48 in Dns propagation.

Happy Blogging

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Get Free Web-hosting Account of ExperTrio

gaurish — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Preshit Deorukhkar who Blogs at Preshit.net is Giving away 5 web-hosting accounts which otherwise are Paid, for Free of cost under a promotional contest.The accounts will be hosted with ExperTrio Web Services, and you are entitled to get full support from them for your accounts.

To participate you have Three Options

1) Write About This contest on your blog
2) Follow Him & tweet about this competition on Twitter

3) Make Cool Video of yourself Expressing why you want a account.

Earlier Madhu From Unlimited Internet Services gave 20 free web hosting packages at Digit Forums. This is very good-old promational tactic, used for promoting new services.

Anyways, If you are a Blogger and looking for reliable hosting plan. you should check this contest.

Link:Free Web-hosting Account Giveaway

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Make your presence felt on the Web in about $8USD/Rs350INR

gaurish — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Do you want to have a Personal blog with a address of yourname.com and a personnel email id of you@yourname.com but you were shy because it costs too much very year. Check again now prices has fallen drastically it is possible to register a Domain for about $8USD/Rs.350INR per year.
Now, many of you would like to ask “can I make your blog & email with just a domain?”. The Answer is “No, you need other things”.but good part is almost all other things needed for a personnel email & blog solution can be brought for FREE!.
Here is the list of things we would be needing:-
1) .Com or any other gTLD with Managed DNS service: you can buy a domain from any ICANN accredited registrar but I would recommend buying from namecheap.com as you also get ability to create CNAME,MX records, which need for brought separately for all other hosts. although Namecheap.com says Price at$9.29USD but it can be reduced to $8.41 by using a Coupon code:BACK2SCHOOL(Source:Retailmenot). if you have already brought a domain from a different registrar and it didn’t give Managed DNS. you can use FreeDNS service for no extra charge.
2) Google Account: for Blogspot blogging service. Mostly Likely you would be having a Google account, if not then create one. After you created a Google account, Goto Blogger.com/start and create your own blog on Blogspot.com. choose available subdomain. if you already have a blog at Blogspot then no need to create a new one, you can transfer your existing blog to your new domain.

Note:Instructions for configuring DNS are different for every registrar. Hence,for clarity I would be using FreeDNS service. it would enable me to give specific easy to understand, step by step. Since free service which is open to everyone without paying any charge.Therefore, you are encouraged to use this service.

PART-I

Setting up DNS Records

1) Signup for FreeDNS. Complete Registration by clicking on Activation link which would be sent to email address you provided at time of registration.Now your account activation is complete and you can proceed next step.

2) Add Domain: From the Homepage, Click on Domains. your would be asked to login to your newly created account. Now click on Add a Domain.Now you should see a screen similar to what is given below. Enter the your Domain address, Choose Share State to Private and click on Submit

3) Change NameServers: Most likely you would receive a warning that your Domain is marked BROKEN. It is because you need change your Domain NameServer configuration. Instead of using default server, you have to change to FreeDns supplied nameservers which are:

NS1.AFRAID.ORG
NS2.AFRAID.ORG
NS3.AFRAID.ORG
NS4.AFRAID.ORG

Changing Nameserver usually requires logging in to your Domain Control Panel and click on Option Named “Change Nameserver Records” or “Modify NameServer”. If you need help you can contact your registrar and Perform a Google search. in search box enter “Change Nameserver ”. for example Namecheap. A DNS change takes upto 24hrs after the change you should no longer see see the broken mark

4) Now Click on Domains. you should get your newly added domain. to create DNS records click on Manage.

5) In the next Screen, click on ADD to add a new subdomain.In enter the following values and click Save.

Type = CNAME
Subdomain = www
Destination = ghs.google.com

6) Now click on yourdomain.com(remember there should not be any prefix before it).In the Next screen Click on Forward to a URL. we should now create a Web Forward record.

7) Leave the Redirect From field as blank. In Redirect To Enter http://www.YourDomain.com. Please ensure presence to www. leave rest options at defaults and click on Save

Go Back to Domains & Manage(refer to step 4). Now we would change the MX record. click the link on which is has a value MX and 10:mail.yourdomain.com

9) In the next screen for change MX record. and click on save

Type = MX
Subdomain =
Destination = 1:ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM

10) We are Done with this part, your current screen should look similar to that of screenshot given below but the Domain name should be different and it should not appear broken as in my case. mine is showing broken
because i am working on a imaginary Domain. for you if everything is fine it should show status as active.

11) (Optional)To check email you have to use http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com. you want a shorter domain like http://mail.yourdomain.com then you have create a CNAME record mail.yourdomain.com pointing to ghs.google.com. Refer to Step 5 for more help

PART-II

Setting Up Email

1) Signup with Google Apps.Choose the Standard Edition. signup it pretty easy to figure out and you can read the inbuilt help in case of facing difficulty. After Sign you would be taken to your dashboard.

2) Verify domain ownership:You in your Dashboard you will be get a Prompt “To activate Google Apps services you must verify that you own your domain – example.com”. Click on Verify Domain Ownership.In Verification method choose create a CNAME record. Find the CNAME settings and enter the following as the CNAME value or alias: .Set the CNAME destination to the following address:
google.com. Refer to PART-I Step 4-5, this time just enter the Verification string in place of www as sub domain.the Verification string would be different for every Domain.

3) Active Email:Now you need to active Email service by clicking on Activate Email > I Have Completed these steps. if everything is done correctly you can now proceed to adding more users in Dashboard.

PART-III

Setting Up your Blog

1) Open Blogger Dashboard. if you don’t have a blogspot blog then get one
2) Under manage Blogs, click Settings

3) Navigate to Settings Tab Publishing Tab. Click on Switch to Custom Domain
4) Now Publish your Blog at www.yourdomain.com and click on Save. Also check the Box which says “Redirect gaurishsharma.com to www.gaurishsharma.com” and click on Save.

5) Wait for sometime for DNS changes to be replicated across the Internet Infrastructure. this normally takes upto 24hrs.

Final Thoughts

To make setup Process more easier you can Purchase Domain Directly through google. Google Takes $10. payment is done via Google Checkout
If you want a Static Website instead of a Blog, then you can use Google Apps’s Sites to Create one.
To check your mail you have to login at http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com or http://mail.yourdomain.com (If you created a Short URL)

Enjoy, your new CyberSpace !

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Howto get Inline/embedded Comment form in Blogger

gaurish — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:35:00 +0000

Most people don’t like the default comment style of blogger, which is to have comments in separate window with a diffrent theme which does not match your site. for this reason alone people switch to other blogging platform like wordpress which have this features since ages.

Now blogger team has came to rescue, added inline comments, so that your readers can comment right on the page.however this feature is in testing phase only as it has lot of bugs.

but this does not mean you should not try it.

I have successfully implemented this on my blog, and shall guide you to do that same

1) Open http://draft.blogger.com/ & sign in with your user id & password

2) Upon reaching Dashboard, Navigate to Settings

3) Under Comments Tab; select “Embedded below post” in Comment Form Placement. then click on Save Settings.

4) Now the Embedded comments should appear, If you have custom template, you will need to make a small changes to your template code. But don’t worry, it’s a small change!

i) First Backup your template. to backup, navigate to Layout>Edit HTML. Under Backup / Restore Template head. Click Download Full Template.

ii) Now go to Layout>Edit HTML in your blog’s dashboard and check the “Expand widget templates” box.Search for this line in template code:

< b:include data=’post’ name=’comments’/>

now just after this add line

< b:include data=’post’ name=’comment-form’/>

please note, the above line needs to be added without deleting other line. it should be added just below it

If you have done all above things correctly then you should see an embedded comment form. if not then please re-read the above and verify that you did everything correctly. if you still not get it then you can ask but do give me all details. like your blog url,template,what procedure did you take etc etc.

This is a welcome feature on blogger which would stop many users from migrating to other blogging platforms. i hope blogger team fixed all current issues and makes it LIVE soon.

Please feel free to comment on this post & test the new feature before implementing it on your blog. you can learn about embedded comment forum on Bloggerindraft blog

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