How To Make the Best Blogroll Ever

I’m sure you’ve notice the plagish spread of these MyBlogLog current readers boxes of faces on everyone’s site.

Today I had one of those thoughts that only true geeks have popped into my head. Could I go to all the sites that I read on a regular basis and create a killer blogroll that not only links to my friend’s sites but shows who’s reading them as well.

[note to RSS addicts...this won't show up in your reader; so you'll have to actually visit the website to see it; it won't hurt at all, I promise]

Best Blogroll E-V-E-R

Yaro’s Internet Business Blog	Darren’s ProBlogger Site	Ben’s Instigator Blog

The result is a look at my favorite sites, but also a look at who’s reading them. That way I never miss a party…you know how much it hurts to miss a party right?

So How is it done?

It isn’t too complicated, but does require a bit of work. The recipe is…
Raw Materials

• You’ll need the AdSense Deluxe plugin. Forget Adsense, but you need a way to use javascript in a post, which is really what the AdSense Deluxe plugn does. Step by step instructions on how to use the AdSense Deluxe plugin.
• You’ll need your MyBlogLog code to display the Recent Viewers. You can get this from your MyBlogLog account on the right side there is a widget and it says “Get this Widget” or something like that. Most people paste it into their sidebar, but just hold onto it for now.
• You’ll need the MyBlogLog user IDs of all your friends. You’ll need to visit there site and view the source code. Do a search for this “mblID=” [without quotes] and grab the number that follows it. You’ll see a big hunk of code with this in it: .php?mblID=2005100707241172&c_width=140&amp you need just the part in bold.

The Steps

1. Go into AdSense deluxe and create an “Ad” for each of your friends by taking your original “Recent Visitors” code and replacing the mblID with the mblID of your friend. If you want 20 people on your best blogroll ever, then you’ll need 20 AdSense Deluxe ads. Give each one a unique name.
2. Create a post or a page and drop each of the AdSense Deluxe snippets in.
3. Format to make it all purdy [add some links to your friends and titles] …you my need a table or some other fancy html to make it all line up properly.
4. Publish

Notes:

1. Not 100% sure, but you may end up [you the reader] if you are logged into MyBlogLog, being the first reader on each site
2. If one or more of the boxes don’t show up then you probably made a mistake pasting in the ID number, make sure you don’t delete the “&” that follows it.
3. You can play around with the parameters like I did to mix it up a bit or just get creative.
4. If you wait a minute or two and then refresh, you’ll see the images [visitors] changing on the sites.

Enjoy…any thoughts?

- Jon Symons
Having fun when I should be working

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