Ok, another new word, scraping.  I was notified that I had comments awaiting moderation. These comments showed a small portion of my original post, including a link back to my blog.  Usually I check the website address for the comment to see if it’s legit and found that these types of comments were on a useless blog.  I couldn’t figure it out….until today.

I have made it a practice not to approve comments that don’t really add to the blog, that are blatantly bogus. I subscribe to a ton of blogs and I found this post, "One Sure Way To Stop Scrapers From Earning Off Your Blog", from Blog Content Provider.com to explain it well.

Let me know what you think by commenting below.

I found a great blog post on Copyright Laws for Bloggers that I wanted to share.

I also thought I’d share some of the sites I find the images I use, so I don’t violate any copyright laws (no, you can’t just google images and use them)! Two of the sites I use are:

iClipArt is holding a sale right now, $29.95 for a year. You can search for clipart, photos, sounds, video and web graphics. It’s easy to search across the categories and has a great variety of images.

Check this out if you want to add some "eye candy" to your posts.

iStockPhoto offers low cost photos for your commercial use. You need to purchase credits and a normal image costs 2 – 3 credits.

iStockPhoto also has videos and illustrations, which are really nice. If you are a photographer or graphic artist you can earn credits by offering up your work. It’s a great site, check it out.

What resources do you use for images and photos?

I posted about becoming an Amazon Associate over at Magic In Word’s Blog.

One of the WordPress plugins I really like is Now Reading, which makes use of your Amazon Associate ID, allowing you to display books on your blog. All you need is either the ISBN number, the title and/or author’s name.

Once you bring the book up through your search, you can manage it letting your visitors know you are about to read the book, are currently reading the book, or have finished the book. The images displayed through the Now Reading Widget are of the books you are currently reading. The others are shown as text links.

You can display the images in three different sizes and you’ll also have a "library" on your site. Just tap the book, or text link and you’ll be taken to the library page which will show all the books you have read. It’s a great way to monetize your site.

You can take it one step further and review the books as a blog post, giving your visitor a reason to tap the link to purchase the book.

So, are you an Amazon Associate? And, if you are, how are you using it to monetize your site? Feel free to leave a comment below.

When you visit any of my sites, you’ll notice that I have a feature that, when you roll over the icon, a preview of the linked page will appear. It’s Snap Shots, and now you can use it on your site too!

Snap Shots is the world’s most popular way to give your users a more fun and interactive experience on your site or blog. Now with Snap Shares, you can monetize inventory you didn’t know you had. It’s a complete system designed to help you get more from your site.

• Snap Shots uses your links to bring the most appropriate information about the sites you’re pointing to. Your audience doesn’t even have to leave your site to get the best of other sites.
• Snap Shares gives you a portion of the ads that appear in Snap Shots and lets you do what you wish — serve ads through your regular provider, market yourself or share them with charity.
• Snap Shots Engage looks for certain key phrases within your site and connects them with the best content in the world. And you don’t even have to write a link.

There is also a WordPress Plugin for Snaps which makes it easy to add to your WordPress blog. Here’s the Snap Shot Guide for your use.

When you visit any of my sites, you’ll notice that I have a feature that, when you roll over the icon, a preview of the linked page will appear. It’s Snap Shots, and now you can use it on your site too!

Snap Shots is the world’s most popular way to give your users a more fun and interactive experience on your site or blog. Now with Snap Shares, you can monetize inventory you didn’t know you had. It’s a complete system designed to help you get more from your site.

• Snap Shots uses your links to bring the most appropriate information about the sites you’re pointing to. Your audience doesn’t even have to leave your site to get the best of other sites.
• Snap Shares gives you a portion of the ads that appear in Snap Shots and lets you do what you wish — serve ads through your regular provider, market yourself or share them with charity.
• Snap Shots Engage looks for certain key phrases within your site and connects them with the best content in the world. And you don’t even have to write a link.

There is also a WordPress Plugin for Snaps which makes it easy to add to your WordPress blog. Here’s the Snap Shot Guide for your use.