WTF? New Feature!

Hello all,

Yes yes... it's been a while. Been a tad busy catching up here in Support :). All the while, as you may or may not have noticed, Technorati has launched a new feature called WTF (Where's The Fire?). If you didn't catch it yesterday, or noticed that the site was down for a bit, there was a planned site outage for system maintenance.

But we're back and up and running now! We're still ramping up to full force so if you see a little bit of slow or glitchy behavior, please bear with us, all should settle down and run smoothly again soon. In the meantime, please feel free to play around with the new feature! It's kind of addictive. Below is a fun little vid about wtf? WTF is :) enjoy!



Oh and by the way, many thanks to our friends who've also blogged about our new feature.

Successful Blog: WTF? T-rati Monster Diggs Up a New Feature!!

Link Count Widget for Blogger

Hey Folks!

Some of you may have heard about the Link Count Widget that allows you to see how many links there are to a specific post right next to the post. I've installed it in this blog as well for folks to see. It is indicated by the "View blog reactions" link or the "# blog comments" with the Technorati talk bubble icon.

Some may be a little confused as to where to find this code to install the widget. Well, you can find it right here:

http://technorati.com/tools/linkcount/

Also, some may wonder where this code should be placed. This code needs to placed in the blog HTML or blog template. Thus you will need to be able to edit your blog HTML to use this feature. It is recommended to place the code in the footer section of the template. Where is that you say? That would be where you see this code in your template:

<p class="post-footer">

Please note, you should not place the code in a post. The widget will not be able to work here. It'll look like:
View blog comments

but go nowhere.

Hope this helps!! Enjoy the Widget!

P.S. For those on Blogger Beta, here's a great post to add the Linkcount widget to Blogger Beta blogs' item pages with just a couple of clicks at Consuming Experience

Test Claim!

Technorati Profile

Having Trouble Claiming Your Blog?

1. Double Check that your Claim Code is Correct
Goto: technorati.com/account/blogs
Goto: Complete Claim or Configure Blog

Compare the Code to make sure it matches up with the code you have in your Blog.

This may occur particularly if you've tried deleting a prior claim and reclaiming the blog. The reason this is different is that each time a claim is created for a blog, whether it’s been claimed before or not, a new unique code is created.

2. If you are using the "a href" code to claim your blog

Make sure that the code Displays just the "Technorati Profile" text as a link in the Preview or after the post is published (See Example Below). Otherwise the claim will not work. The link must also appear on the Blog Home Page for the Technorati spiders to be able to find the code as well. Best bet: Place the code in at the top of a brand new post.

If it looks like this in your post in your Preview, it won't work (plus it's uuuugly!)

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/xxxxxxxxx" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

If it looks like this in your post in your Preview, it's all good!
Technorati Profile

3. Double check to see if you are claiming the right URL

The claim process is URL specific. Thus if your blog resides at a particular URL or redirects to a particular URL, claim that URL.

This also applies to framesets. The reason behind this is that anyone can submit a claim request for a framed URL regardless of their control of the underlying content.

4. I use Movable Type 3.2 and Quick Claim doesn't accept my password

Movable Type 3.2 has made a change so that the password for Quick Claim is actually the API password in Movable Type. For more information, refer to: "http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/beta/2005/07/xml-rpc_and_ato.html".

5. Check your Validation

If the Technorati spiders are unable to pick up your feed and/or your blog information, they will not be able to see the claim code needed to claim your blog.

One reason our spiders may run into problems may be because of validation errors that they are coming across in your blog HTML code. Try checking the validation of your blog HTML using the W3C Markup Validation Service (validator.w3.org). Correcting errors will also help other visitors better subscribe your blog as well.

6. Is the "Checking" Page just Spinning Around Making you Dizzy?

This happens when our spiders that are sent out to check out your site to complete the claim don't make it there. If this happens, go ahead and close the page before it makes you dizzy and fall over. To complete the claim, you can contact me here at Support and I can help you complete your claim OR Try initiating a Ping to us from "http://technorati.com/ping".

Technorati Tags: Technorati Support, Technorati Help, Technorati Tips

THANKS!! MORE TO COME...

A Tag is a Tag is a Tag... or is it?

1. Post Tag vs Blog Tag
To add tags to your blog, the Help section in the Technorati website should help you (technorati.com/help/tags.html).

But basically, one thing that is good to know is that Tagging can occur on Two Levels: Post Level and Blog Level.

Post Level:When you add Tags to your post, this will allow your posts to be listed in Technorati's tag search from "http://technorati.com/tag". To add the tags, add the below code for each tag you'd like add to your post into the Body of your post (very important, since we only read tags if they are in the body of the post)

<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/[TAGNAME]" rel="tag">[TAGNAME]</a>

Blog Level:On the Blog Level, as a account member, you can add tags to your blog from your Blog Configuration from "technorati.com/account/blogs". These tags allow your blog to be listed in Technorati's Blog Finder "technorati.com/blogs" and NEW Explore feature. For more information or if you are not an account member, you can refer to:

www.technorati.com/help/blogfinder.html

P.S. Cool Tag Tip (works for search to):
Want the search one of your Tags in just your own blog?
Try this:

http://technorati.com/tags/[YOURTAG]?from=http://[YOURBLOGURL]

Link Count & Ranking Questions

1. How come my Link Count is only increasing a little or is decreasing?

Just to clarify how link count is calculated, Technorati currently looks at all links from the past 6 months only. Ideally your rank will change daily based upon your blog's activity 180 days ago up to your link activity today. Thus, as older links fall off and new links are added, your link count may increase, fall, or stay the same over time.

2. How come my Link Count hasn't updated yet?

Also, it is a known issue that there are delays with this update for up to a week. We are currently working on this issue, and hope to fix this soon. If you find that your link counts have not updated when it should for over a week, please feel free to send in a support ticket and I'll be sure to investigate it further.

New post on Technorati Weblog and Thanks for the Support! (No pun intended)

Just wanted to put it out there that it is now official. :) Technorati made an announcement recently on the Weblog of my arrival to Technorati as full time Customer Support Specialist as well as restating commitment to improving Support in responsiveness and communication. :) And I'm excited about it!

This blog is where I'll be posting any quick tips and tricks that may help folks use Technorati while the current Help and FAQs get reworked (suggestions welcome here!).

I also want to thank everyone who have responded with Thanks and words of encouragement. It means a lot!

Many Thanks to:
Successful Blog
Resonance Partnership Blog
Micro Persuasion
Knappster
Spin Doctor

Ok, well time for me to get on to tickets!!

PS. For a neat tip on Technorati Categories, check this out

OH! and for searching tags just in your blog try this little tip:
http://technorati.com/tag/{TAGNAME}?from=http://{YOURBLOGURL}