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If you are new to the world of managing a website or blog, words such as HTTP and HTTPS might confuse you. So, this article starts with the very basics such as "what is HTTPS". If you are already there on the scene for long but have ignored implementing HTTPS on your website or blog, you better brush up your knowledge and install HTTPS on your website without losing time. For easy understanding, I have broken this article into sections. You can jump to a section by clicking on the link here: What is HTTPS? What is SSL? How does HTTPS work? Types of HTTPS How to install SSL certificate on your website?       WHAT IS HTTPS HTTPS is a secure way of transmitting data between a website and a web browser. The first expression in any web address or URL is http:// or https://. Even if the browser at times does not show this, it is there, hidden from our view.   Websites (static websites, portals, blogs, forums, social media entities are all different forms of websites) can b...

We have been introducing good free software and online tools, after testing them for various parameters. The two most important aspects that we keep in mind before recommending a piece of software is its being (i) free from harmful code and (ii) sturdy and dependable.  In this post, let's talk about a free, open-source sketching tool, Pencil , that can make documents with different shapes. [Before we move further, let us be sure to download it from the official website; on the web, old versions with limited features are available, which might not work properly.] Pencil is very simple and highly resourceful for some simple tasks for which we do not need to buy expensive and hard-to-learn software. The tasks that Pencil can do beautifully and easily include: Drawing flowcharts and similar diagrams . If you have MS Word or any other Office Suite installed on your computer, you can draw such diagrams using them. However, shapes do not always behave normally on Word, etc when you try to...

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms with a vast potential for marketers to grow their business. Since Instagram has more than one billion active users monthly, you need excellent marketing tips to stand out from the crowd. Engagement is the primary tool for your business on Instagram that leads to success. Without the right content suitable for your target audiences, it isn't easy to make your brand popular among broader audiences. The brands involved on Instagram have reached heights with correct marketing strategies suitable for their business. Instagram users aren’t only active, but they also engage themselves with exciting things. Among the active users on the Instagram platform, 59% of users visit this app daily and spend 7 hours per week interacting with their friends and brands and browsing the content. Instagram helps to increase brand awareness by promoting your business and helps to reach your new product to millions of people. The below points ...

The 11th edition of the  Directory of Best Indian Blogs  [in English] has been released today, the 15th of June 2021. The Directory has about 242 top Indian blogs. These blogs excel in content quality, regularity and overall blog resources, and meet a minimum design standard. They also show the blogger's commitment to blogging.  While we call the blogs listed in the Directory as the best blogs in India, there are many more that go under our radar or we have to exclude them. It is partly due to their content or regularity not meeting our standards. Partly it is due their becoming too business-like and maintenance of the blog like a stand-alone website (a static home page/ no archives/ etc). Yes, it is also partly because we have not been able to discover them. We look into blogrolls, other lists of good blogs, recommendations... We also receive hundreds of submissions on email. But we have to be discreet in choosing 'the best blogs in India'.  If you are an Indian blo...

This post is for Hindi bloggers. Bloggers who understand Hindi but write blogs in some other language (not English) will find it equally useful. यह लेख विशेषकर हिन्दी भाषियों और हिन्दी ब्लॉगर के लिए है।  यह लेख  कुछ बड़ा होने वाला है इसलिए इसे 3 खण्डों में  बाँट दिया है।  आप मानेंगे कि ब्लॉगर या अन्य साथी जो हिन्दी भाषी हैं और वेब (इंटरनेट) में हिन्दी भाषा में लेखन में रुचि रखते हैं, उनके रास्ते में सबसे बड़ा व्यवधान होता है हिन्दी में टाइप करना। साथ में, अंग्रेजी के शब्दों, विशेषकर टेक्निकल शब्दों, को हिन्दी में सोचना, लिखना और समझाना कठिन होता है। इसलिए कई बार  हिन्दी के लेखक (साहित्य के लेखकों को छोड़कर) अटक जाते हैं। और जब वह अटकते हैं तो ऐसे शॉर्टकट अपनाते हैं जिनसे उनके ब्लॉग या लेख का स्तर गिर जाता है।  इस पोस्ट में हम देखेंगे कि किस तरह नए उपकरणों/ टूल्स और मेहनत से हम अपने लेखों का स्तर ऊंचा रख सकते हैं।  हिन्दी में ब्लॉगिंग का अपना विशेष स्थान है, और बहुत सारा मूल लेखन हिन्दी ब्लॉगों पर देखने को मिलता है, इसलिए इसका जिक्र करना जरूरी है...

There are many dictionaries available free on the web. Some are available online and some can be installed on  the  computer and can be used offline . Of course, word processing programs come loaded with a dictionary. For example, Microsoft Office has an in-built dictionary which you can access by right-clicking on a word in Word, Power Point, etc. New versions of MS Office are quite intuitive when it comes to suggesting corrections. MS Word also supplies a list of synonyms through right click.  But, for writers and serious bloggers, nothing beats a professional thesaurus* that is available to them at all times. That's what prompted us to introduce such a tool, Wordweb , to you. It is a free dictionary app - with great thesaurus inbuilt. You can download Wordweb from its site free of cost. Once installed, it sits quietly on your system tray and can be called from a document by clicking control+right click ! If calling another app from a document feels like a bothe...

All website owners and bloggers are keen to take their websites to the top of Google search results. However, only about 10 out of millions of webpages can appear in the top search result page (SERP). It is found that searchers usually don't go beyond the first few search results. SEO experts (only a few of them may be genuine) confuse new bloggers and website owners with SEO terms like analytics, keyword research, deep SEO, search intent, algorithm and Core Web Vitals to fill them with awe. It is mostly deliberate. As if that was not sufficient, blogging and SEO experts often talk of tools and utilities such as Google Analytics, Keyword Planner, and SEO plugins. Some advice on SEO techniques and tools could be well-meaning, but much of that is hype. How much SEO is really needed to get your website to the top of Google search pages? Let me tell you the reality in short. Some search engine optimization is needed but not as much the SEO experts tell you. You can optimize your site w...