Adding a forum to your blog is a great way to get your visitors to stay on and continue engaging other members in your community. There are plenty of third-party solutions that bloggers can take advantage of to implement a forum on their blogs. If you are not technical, that could be a bit complicated. That’s where Tal.ki comes in. It’s a light-weight forum script that you can add to any website to keep people talking without leaving your website.

Tal.ki may be a forum script, but it has a few social features as well. For starters, your visitors can use their Twitter or Facebook credentials (just to name a few) to log on to your forums. The fun part is, Tal.ki automatically detects your website’s background and font and customizes your forums accordingly.

The script is SEO friendly (allowing domain aliasing) too. It shows you who has signed on to your forum. Also makes it possible to turn your forum into a private one. It’s perhaps the easiest way to add a forum to your website. The premium plans can cost you a bit of money, but you won’t have to deal with anything technical. Very interesting script.

In the past, I have talked about ways you can add more features to your blog and provide more value to your readers, as a result. It’s all about finding ways to evolve your blog. Adding a web directory to your blog (as a resource for your visitors) is one way to do just that. DirectoryPress is a cool WordPress script that lets you accomplish that task in a flash.

Web directories may be the old school way of organization information, but it’s still very effective. No matter what niche you are in, you are not going to be the only player involved. It pays to do some research and find out about goods and services that your readers may find handy. DirectoryPress is designed to let you organize your information in a more effective fashion.

This theme’s back-end is quite impressive. It has a ton of options and lets you customize almost all aspects of your website. You can define categories for your website easily. DirectoryPress is image friendly as well. If you are starting a premium directory, you can use this theme to put together a membership package for your visitors.

Overall, DirectoryPress is a solid WordPress script that gives you yet another way to provide more value to your visitors. You’ll have to do some research to build a killer directory. With DirectoryPress, at least you don’t have to worry about the platform.

It always surprises me when I see bloggers who are just “winging” it. Most successful bloggers have a clear content strategy for their blogs. They spend a lot of time improving their plans and adding new dimensions to their business strategy. Of course, those who are just winging it are much more susceptible to blundering and falling into traps. Bloggers need to wear many hats, making it easy to miss those smallest details and important things. That’s why I always use mind-maps to plan my next moves more effectively. Mind-maps not only make it easier to gather my thoughts, they also let me discover new ideas and areas to address on my blog.

iThoughts HD is a wonderful iPad application that lets you take create and modify your mind-maps on your tablet on the road. It enables you to visually organize your ideas and stay on the right track at all times. It’s also compatible with MindManager, NovaMind, and FreeMind. So once you have designed your mind-map on your iPad, you can transfer it to your desktop for further changes. Some may find the iPad to be too distracting as far as reading and learning are concerned. Tools such as iThoughts HD prove that the iPad can indeed be more than just an entertainment device. Since the device takes advantage of a touch-screen, you can draw your mind-maps, move them around, change relationships, and add all kinds of cues to your diagrams. You can even use it in conjunction with Box.net service.

Transferring your maps to your box.net account or sharing them with your colleagues via e-mail could not be much easier. You can always export your documents in a format that works for others. Mind-mapping may take some getting used to if you have never tried a mind-mapping software. However, it can make you more organized and help you get more done in less time. With iThoughts HD, your mind maps will be only a touch away.

As a blogger, you are going to have to read a couple of books each and every week (at least!) to keep yourself up to date with things that are going on in your niche and learn new things. The more you know about more topics, the better chance you have of coming up with unique blogging ideas. After all, you can’t always talk about the news and need to add your unique insights to your blogs from time to time. The iPad is your friend in that regard. It makes it so easy to keep up with the latest blogs and even helps you manage your blogging business on the road (if a president can run a country with an iPad, you can definitely run your blog with it). Unfortunately, the iPad is not exactly very flexible when it comes to working with your files. You can always drag and drop your files to iTunes and sync your device that way but wouldn’t it be nice if you could just use your iPad a big flash drive? That’s where GoodReader comes into play. It’s a very easy-to-use document reader for your iPad that lets you transfer your large PDF and text files to your iPad (from your computer) without too much hassle.

Opening large PDF files on handheld devices could be quite a hassle. GoodReader can open those kinds of files without keeping you waiting for minutes. It also supports .doc, PowerPoint, and Excel files. So you can go through your blog charts and presentations on your iPad. It is capable of handling mixed content (text + video or audio), so that is a plus.

What I really like about GoodReader is the fact that it is quite flexible and is designed to save you money and time. There are many iPad developers who charge a fortune for their apps (just because those apps are written for the iPad). That’s not really how you should run a business. People are not stupid and can see through you easily. GoodReader developers have kept the prices low and added features that iPad owners want to see and use. The fact that you can transfer files to your iPad from your PC or services such as iDisk, GDocs, and DropBox is a huge positive.

Overall, if you are hooked on your iPad and want to use it to keep yourself informed as a blogger and save money with e-books, GoodReader is a must have document reader. It’s cheap, versatile, and gets the job done!

What’s your favorite document viewer for iPad?

There are some folks who can operate in total chaos and can stay productive at the same time. I prefer using to-do lists and reminders to keep on the top of the tasks I need to tackle on a daily basis. I have found out that using check lists and to-do lists has made me more productive. The problem that I have had with some of the to-do lists software packages on the market is the fact that they don’t allow you to sync your information online and access them on the go. That’s something you won’t have to worry about with ToDo.ly. It’s a simple-to-use to-do management web application that lets you keep track of your daily activities and get more done no matter where you are.

ToDo.ly is an intuitive all in one task management solution that lets you keep track of your projects and your daily tasks online. For starters, it’s free of charge. So you won’t have to spend money to take advantage of it at this point. The interface is very easy to use and the drag and drop feature comes in handy. The service makes managing projects a whole lot easier. It’s a powerful task manager too as you can use smart filters to tackle things that matter the most and need to get done first.

What I like about this service is the fact that it allows me to create multiple levels of projects and tasks. You can also use different colorings to manage your important tasks within each group more effectively. Editing, assigning due dates, and postponing tasks couldn’t be any easier. All in all, a very solid task organizer for those who want to keep track of things online.

The iPad is one heck of a life saver if you are a blogger. Blogging and keeping track of the news on iPhone is fun, but it’s not exactly ideal as the screen is small and typing and reading is not that easy on the eyes. The iPad can not only act as an e-book reader, it can also help you keep track of the latest news and feeds in your niche. Tools such as The Early Edition make the process much easier. The Early Edition enables you to make a daily newspaper out of your favorite blogs, websites, forums, and Twitter streams. So it’s a news tracker on steroids.

The Early Edition checks for the latest news and updates based on the items that you have added to track, and it will gather the data and presents it in form of a newspaper. You can then skim through pages to find stories that interest you or get a sense about what the web is buzzed about.

The app takes advantage of all the cool features that Apple has introduced with the iPad to give you a more realistic reading experience with your iPad. You can easily add your favorite websites, blogs, forums, and Twitter streams to the Early Edition to stay on the top of everything going on in your niche. Of course, you can add anything else that is available in RSS format.

All in all, if you are tired of the good old way of reading your feeds and want to try something new or are just a newspaper junkie and love that format, The Early Edition has something for you. It’s pretty easy to use and makes reading on the go quite fun.

In case you haven’t noticed, many top bloggers have started offering iPhone applications for their blogs. While many of these apps are pretty simple and not too fancy, they do allow their owners to reach out to more people and give their readers more ways to read their content online. Many assume that you have to be a super programmer or invest a lot of money to take advantage of the iPhone platform to take your blog to the iPhone community. That can’t be further from the truth when you can use apps such as Blogapper to create an iPhone application around your blog fast.

Blogapper gives you an affordable way to create an iPhone app for your blog without having to know iPhone programming. All you have to do is choose the layout for your blog, upload your graphics and customize every section of your iPhone app to get the job done.

Blogapper allows you to customize your header, footer, and body sections of your iPhone app. You also get to choose the category under which your blog will show up on iTunes.

If you want to get fancy, you can upload your own splash screen and icons and provide a support URL for your app. As you can tell, the app that gets made for you is real and does give your audience a better chance to view your content on their iPhone. But more importantly, you can use Blogapper to brand your blog more effectively.

The plans are not that expensive either. Considering that you don’t have to deal with Apple to keep a developer account open, the service is a life saver and can save you time as well. Who says you need to spend thousands of dollars to turn your blog into an iPhone app?

In case you haven’t noticed, many bloggers are now adding social footer bars to their blogs to let their visitors communicate and connect with them more effectively. Whether you have a Facebook fan page or just a Twitter account that you want your blog visitors to take notice of, social app bars can help you get more people to pay attention to your other online presences. Social toolbars have been around for a while. I was never a big fan of them as I found to be detrimental to my sites’ usability. But the latest wave of blog toolbars are much more user-friendly and don’t slow sites down either.

If you have multiple social profiles that you want to promote on your blog (in your footer section), here are 3 blog toolbars you should consider:

Wibiya: Wibiya is my favorite social media toolbar. It’s not only very easy to install no matter what platform you are using to run your blog, it also comes with a ton of apps that you can use to promote almost anything on your blog.

Meebo Bar: Meebo needs no introduction. Its blog toolbar is pretty useful as well. It allows you to promote your Twitter account, your Facebook fan page, and your online presences on sites such as StumbleUpon, YouTube, and Flickr in your blog’s footer. Very easy to install as well.

Skysa Blog Toolbar: another interesting social bar for your blog. It has some apps that are not available through the above two services. Currently, you can choose from 22 apps that are available through Skysa. Integrated membership offers you more flexibility.

There you have it. 3 powerful social toolbars for your blog that let you promote your online presences and get more followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook. You don’t want to go overboard with these toolbars. At the same time, they do provide value to your audience. Worth trying if you ask me.

Whether you are posting affiliate links to your blog or want to make sure how many clicks your banners get, it’s always nice to have a tool that lets you know exactly how many clicks you have gotten, and how many of them are possibly fraudulent. ClickMeter is an innovative service that is designed to help you figure out just that and more. If you have a URL that you want to track more closely, ClickMeter has you covered.

You can essentially think of ClickMeter as a URL shortening and management tool. It allows you to add your own links to your dashboard easily and track unique clicks and possible fraud clicks at all times. Once you have added your URL to the system, you can use the links on your dashboard to upload your link to social networking website or just map their links (see above image). 

I personally love the charting capability of this service. It makes it so easy to find out how well each link is performing. You can compare unique and fraudulent clicks as well which is a big plus. This service is capable of tracking IPs and can show you click distribution over a world map as well.

Adding a link to this service is not too hard either. You can define what tracking service you want to use for each link and can pick a friendly name for your link as well. You even have the option to choose the type of redirect you want to use for each link (307 or 301). ClickMeter may not be completely free, but it’s a useful service for anyone interested in gathering information on links. Makes dealing with links much more scientific.

As someone who is online for hours everyday, I have gotten used to working with others online and collaborate with them without having too many face to face meetings. But there are times that you want to share more than just e-mails with those who work with you in your projects. That’s where Cacoo comes in. Cacoo is a very useful diagram tool that lets you create diagrams for your clients, develop ideas, and collaborate with your colleagues. Since the service is online, you don’t need much to get started. Besides, you will have access to your diagrams at all time.

Cacoo is a complete online collaboration tool. Not only it allows you to share your own diagrams with your colleagues, it also lets you organize and view those that have been shared with you by others. You can create folders to better manage your work, which is quite useful for frequent users.

The design interface is pretty intuitive and easy to use as well. Whether you want to work with lines, draw diagrams, or even chat with your colleagues, Cacoo allows you to do that easily. Once you are done with your diagram, you can export it to a PNG file and share it with others.

Online collaboration is a must for online start-ups or teams whose members are not in the same continent. It won’t replace face to face meetings, but with today’s tools you won’t have to jump through the hoops to work with others online. Cacoo is an easy tool that lets you do just that.