Check out the ActiveRainGuide.com manual now, it is 100% functional with search capabilities and category searches. I am totally stoked at the job our TEAM has done with this.  Jorgen, Mike, and Diego are to be commended and deserve all the kudos for a stellar upgrade to ActiveBlogs last night!  :-)  Thanks Guys.

Jeremy - I was just projecting! lol~

Lesley - you're gonna love these and what they'll do for your new Blog.

Donna - I'm the founder!!  haha hehe

Karen - they're so easy to use, there's really nothing to learn. :-)

Zilkia - better overloaded than underachieved. (wink wink)

Larry - these only affect the new outside blogs.  It's nothing like adding them to your AR blog.

Steve - I prefer the word improvement or enhancement versus overload.  And it's easy to learn and do. :-))

These are definitely some powerful upgrades and very useful tools. 

There are some other enhancements that are already in place from last nights update.  I'm still waiting to see if any members notice or comment about it.  If you are the first to find it and comment here, I'll see that you get 1000 bonus points from the point hamsters.  (hint: The enhancement has nothing to do with widgets)

Joan - just let me know, we're getting those Blogs setup in record time now.  Let me know if you need any assistance.  Give yourself about 3 minutes if you already have a good domain name picked out.  Otherwise give yourself an hour to come up with a name that is available. (LOL~)  We'll do all the rest.  :-))

Kim - 4375?  What are you doing?  Looking at every single group on AR?  (haha)  Now that you've read this post, there's only 4374 to-do's left to go.  Just eat the elephant to-do's one bite at a time.  :-)

Kristi - I just looked at your Blog, it is seriously time.  This is a perfect opportunity for someone like yourself.  Start driving traffic and SEO right out the gate.  Let me know when you're ready, I can help.  :-)

Brad - it was great finally meeting and getting to talk to you.  Hopefully what we discussed will work, if not, just call me back.  The RSS feeds might not be working properly on the subdomain free blogs, I'll have to check.  The work around should be ok.  Have fun with your "widget" gizmo gadget what-ya-macallit.  :-))

Jo - you know how I hate writing tutorials! LOL!~ 

I was just over adding some of these to my Outside Blog (ActiveBradsBlog.com) when I realized I could just comment from the outside Blog. 

I think being more active directly from the outside blogs can't hurt the SEO and activity levels. :-O   I call that a BFO - Blinding flash of the Obvious!  haha

I'm not pushy at all, just anxious to see the SEO results.  I'll get the apture thing going in a bit.  :-)

Mike - you can add them to your outside Blogs really easy.  I've added them now to both group and individual blogs and it's a breeze!  :-)

Sally - yes you should be, at least the one's we're talking about here?  Look what they've done for the ActiveRainGuide. Blog.  The search functionality is the coolest.  :-)

Debi - no problem.  I actually wrote this post Blind with screen shots, but it turned out exactly like our guys said it would.  I call it Blogging by "Faith!"  These guys behind the scenes rock and deserve all the credit on this one.  I'll pass your appreciation on to them.  Thanks. :-)

Widgets... SEO Upgrades... you guys are incredible!  Thanks for all you do- we appreciate it and are looking forward to the fruit from it all!!  Go AR!

JB - the seeds are planted, we're watering and fertilizing Blogs now for the harvest soon to come.  You're fortunate...no, we're ALL fortunate to be a part of it.  Thanks.  :-)

Mara - hahaha!  I mean hohoho to you as well.  Enjoy!!

Kathy - I have an easy solution for you.... never sleep again! lol~

Keahi - check it out, these are the "no ka oi" of widgets.  Did I say that right? :-)  Aloha my friend.

Courtney - these widgets are the bomb.  Have fun.  :-)

Loreena - we had to let the programmer go home this morning and sleep.  We got the half of feedburner up that does the count, but we were remiss in getting up the subscribe part of it. (LOL)  He'll know when he wakes up that we had a minor oversight on that particular widget.  No worries, it'll get corrected and more widgets are coming...we just had to let him get some rest after a long and productive night.  :-)

Barb - I knew if I didn't comment or call you right away, you'd figure it out.  Sometimes that's really the best way to learn.  Glad it's all working out for you now.  Looking forward to your posts.  :-)

Thanks for the info Brad.

Question for you:  I tried using bligets and I implemented their recent blog posts widget as a flash plugin and found this widget caused an extra 5-10 second delay in page loading versus it not being there, and that was just unacceptable so I removed it.  I've noticed on other AR members blog page that have it there is the same kind of general delay.

Has AR tested the performance of these widgets for outside AR use beyond their great functionality?  Does it add to the loading time of the page?

Chris - great question.  I never used a Blidget before so I'm not the guy to give an experienced answer, but I do know that some widgets can slow up a page load, especially for users with Internet Explorer, dial up modems, old operating systems, and even low memory video cards.  There are too many variables to simply blame it all on a widget, blidget, or whatchawhosit. 

Yes, our widgets have all been tested and approved by our programmers and developers.  You won't see any of those types of blidgets on our list.  :-)  These are for outside blogs only.

Steve - it was great getting to talk with you the other day, you're just in time to try some of these on your new Blog.  Let me know what you think or if you need any assistance at all.  I still love that photo you took of the Hay Bails and the cows!  :-))

Virginia - Rich only deleted all his because he saw this post before I could make it public.  I'm surprised he hasn't dropped in here to defend himself or give some smart @$$ comment.  (he always gives me a bad time) He must be really busy. 

You will see the difference on your Blog only when you start adding some of these widgets to your sidebar.  You can remove any or all of your sidebar including categories, and local posts.  You get to choose what you want and what you don't.  :-)

Valerie - easy answer and solution.  Use Firefox, and now you know why.  :-)

Vickie - looking forward to my visit at your office next week.  I will try and set a few minutes aside after so we can meet.  Thanks for inviting me, it should be a great class.

Eileen - let me know when you're ready, your Blog awaits you.

Teri - you'll have an idea of how cool this is when you see it live on your own site.  You'll love this.  :-)

OK Brad I can't believe you are accusing Rich of being addicted to widgets!!!! I think at one time you had close to 200 of them in your side bar. Wasn't it your blog that shut down the Internet for 2 hours back in 2007?

Broker Bryant - yes it was me!  lol~  I remember when TLW commented and said she was never coming back to my Blog because I kept locking up her Internet Browser.  haha~  Thank goodness I got rid of a bunch of widgets.  I only have 180 now.  :-) 

Tell her hi for me and keep a howdy for yourself.  It's always nice to see you.

Castellum - (Victor) thanks!  :-)

Roland - truth is, Rich follows after me.  LOL~  I have the cooler stuff on my Blog... but I have to be careful, he can go into my Blog and wipe me out if he wants.  He's been around the inner-workings of AR longer than I have. :-))

Christine - you're messin with me....   :-)

Brad- As soon as we have returned all the calls for short sale listings that we get from just our AR blog this week, I will get right on this. I wanted to be activeblog live on the 26th when we could move our domains over. First things first, and just getting better! I love that SEO sitemap, google loves that! The spiders will be happily munching away! Widgets, love them!

Katerina - make sure you call me when you're ready, I want to show you a few things.   :-)

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

We've added the FeedBurner E-mail Subscription widget to the ActiveBlog platform. YEAH!!  :-)

Brad, I am convinced I will forever lag behind....but I want to get my outside blog up and do think it's going to be one terrific source of business.  I must have every ONE of your blogs bookmarked--and it's a good thing, I'll be needing them!

Carole - no worries, you always got me here to help.   I'm honored that you would bookmark any of my posts, I'll have to share an idea with you that might make it easier.   Just fyi...you are not lagging behind at all, you're way ahead of the pack if you ask me.  :-)

Lane - I never really looked at it that way, but if the shoe fits.... lol~   You know that's NOT it at all....

I am waiting to see you get an OB for the "Racing Lane" site you know you want.  You should call me, I got a few killer ideas for ya...  :-)

Brian - just let me know where you are having any difficulties and I'll direct you to the right posts and members that can help.  There's nothing that hasn't been written about multiple times on AR, including any challenges you may be having.  Just let me know....

Frank & Sharon - Yep!  Drag and drop is as easy as it gets. 

Wish writing these posts and commenting was that easy.  haha!!   :-)

Laura - you are already one of the most creative people on the planet!!  BTW - It was great talking to you the other day, we need to do that more often, I just need more hours in the day like everyone else!  MWA!  :-)

Liz - you have been missed big time!  I am glad to see you at least back commenting with enough spunk to get riled up over another member passing you up.  Just remember dear, those points may move your picture on the page, but they will never move you any further from your relationships.  Your readers and friends don't care about your picture and placement, they care about you. 

Glad you are back and feeling a bit better!!  :-)  We luv ya...

Amber - I've marked my calendar.  :-))

Jason - there is only one way to say cool....  COOL! 

Shuki - you bet we will, you can count on that.

Keith - it'll keep coming for sure, and it just keeps getting better and better...  just wait!

Mary - I'm always happy to help out others if I can, it's very rewarding contributing to others successes.  :-)

Loreena - don't say that too loud, they might get jealous.  (Over the sleep that is....)   :-)

Amy - there are 2 non-branded themes you can use until we release more.  The new ones have to be created before we can release them. Elements of SEO (3-Column) and Legends (2-Column) are both custmizable and not branded.  Hang tight for more of a selection sometime in the near future.   :-)

Sonja and Loreena - we are working on the ability to add the GA widget to your outside blogs.  Should be available soon.  We will continually keep adding more to the options for our ActiveBlogs.  Thanks for being patient and understanding.  :-)

Missy - dick on the button that say Reorder Widgets, then just drag and drop them above or below the other widgets where you want them to appear on your Blog.  You can do it!  :-)  If you need some help or it's not working for you, let me know, I'll go in and do it for you.

Mike - these specific widgets are only for the New Outside ActiveBlogs, all other widgets for your standard AR Blog run separately and should all work fine.

Wendy - there is an RSS link on your toolbar of your outside Blog.  The link there is what you want.  The mybloglog you are trying to add is NOT the visitor tracking widget.  It is the personal mybloglog widget only.  We are adding more widgets once our programmers get some sleep! :-O 

Glad you figured out that a snippet is just the piece of HTML code required to install that particular widget. :-)

Lora - there are posts that will help you to install widgets on your AR Blog. Use the search tool at the top of any AR page and just type in the word "widgets" and you'll get many posts that members have created and contributed just to help you. 

That's just one of the things that makes this network and community so POWERFUL. I even wrote a post on how to do this: http://activerain.com/blogsview/170783/Widgets-How-to-Add-Them-to-Your-Blog I hope this will help.  :-)

Yes it is. We refer to outside blogs as ActiveBlogs on most occasions.  :-)

You can use the CTRL+ 1-6 shortcut keys, or you can use scribefire.com.  That's what I use.  BTW - thanks for your great praise report below over on GetSatisfaction.com, I really appreciated you taking the time to do that, and then allowing me to share this with others!

You Rock!!  :-)

Andrew - Point made.  I have seen what you have seen many times over, read the book, and got the t-shirt.  I was even one of those who got the A for effort but created a frankenstein of a mess.  I have learned from my mistakes and still have not yet arrived, but hopefully we are on the right track by limiting the AR outside Blogs to widgets that do work, are non malicious, and have proven to be successful over time. 

It's a fine line we need to be careful crossing when we limit an individuals ability to start with that "Artists Clean White Surface" and their desired outcome they have for their art.  Being here to help them is the key, and with members like yourself assisting, it's truly what makes AR the powerful and supportive network that is is today. 

Thanks for the candid and always appreciated comment my friend, they're always welcomed. :-)

Michelle - thanks. :-)

Stephen - I appreciate that, thanks.

Suma - I'm here to help you anytime you need it, just shoot me an email or give a call.

Here's a couple links that will give you a headstart.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1142301/the-activerain-rainmaker-getting-results-

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1074552/top-10-activerain-tools-for-new-members-and-rainmakers

Hi Chris - they are all my babies, too hard to pick just 3.  I guess it really depends on your audience and what value you're trying to bring them.  Some are cool, some are fun, but the ones that make you drive to the bank to make deposits are best!!  :-))

Hi Margaret, yes, you can drag and drop any of the widgets onto any location of the sidebar you choose. They only appear on the sidebar of your outside blog, you can't just place them anywhere on the Blog, they all appear on the sidebar just as they do on the ActiveRain internal Blogs. Hope you have a great 2010 New Year!!  :-)

Suzanne - you're in the right place to learn about a lot of this stuff!!  :-)

Thanks Jeremy - it's hard to go wrong with "MOST" google tools out there!!   :-)