Are you planning to buy a new android phone but can't decide which one to go for? You are at the right place. In this post I have highlighted 5 key points that must be considered before shelling out your money for a new android phone. I hope this post will help you narrowing down your search :)

1. Internal Storage

Also called the phone memory, internal storage is that limited storage space on your phone which keeps many important elements like installed apps, their data, contacts, messages, bookmarks, cache and many other personalized phone settings. Moreover, unlike a regular micro SD card, it can neither be upgraded nor replaced. Feeling the importance? You should :)

Over the time, with low internal storage (anything less than 500MB), you will always have trouble pushing more and more apps to your device. What's worse? Even after moving all the installed apps to your SD card, some portion is left stored on the internal storage. Thus, for every app that you install, some portion of the internal storage does get filled up! So if you are an app maniac, consider buying an android with a minimum of 1 GB of user-available internal storage.

2. RAM

Random Access Memory is basically responsible for multitasking on smartphones. A phone with 1GB of RAM will effortlessly run 5 to 7 apps simultaneously in the background when compared with that with a mere 256 MB of RAM! Moreover, caching of apps occurs only in RAM only. Whenever you quit an app, android doesn’t actually quit it, instead, it allocates some space for it in the RAM and stores it over there so that next time whenever you wish to use that app again, it can be launched much more quickly (because RAM is much faster than your internal/external storage)

3. Processor Speed

Processor is the CPU of your smartphone. It is responsible for the overall performance and speed of your smartphone. The operating speed of a processor is measured in hertz (Hz). A high operating speed means that the processor is able to execute more number of cycles per second, thus giving you a noticeable boost in the overall speed and performance of your device. Ideally an android device with a processor speed of 1GHz or more than that should be suffice to handle almost all the high-end tasks effortlessly!

4. Screen Size and PPI

Having a grand screen is always advantageous to accurate typing, reading eBooks, playing games and watching photos and videos. But always make sure that the sybaritic screen is pocket-able and comfortable to hold (3.5 to 5 inches is ideal)

Then comes the PPI (Pixels Per Inch). To acute eyes, less PPI tends to make the edges (of text and icons) appear rough and chunky, whereas more PPI will make it difficult to discern individual pixels on the screen! For a better grip of the concept, i have created an image above. The two screens are of almost the same size but the PPI on the left screen is much better than that on the right one. Now that's one of the reasons why the 5 inch screen of Galaxy S4 (with 441 PPI) appears so lively and brilliant as compared to the same sized screen of Galaxy Grand (with a mere 187 PPI).

5. Android Version

Always prefer a phone with the latest android version (it's Jelly Bean right now). A phone that ships with the latest android version out of the box is much likely to support the upcoming android updates, however it largely depends upon the manufacturer.

Benefits of having the latest android OS:

• Performance boost
• UI (user-interface) improvement
• More stable, secure and reliable
• Access to more apps (for example – Google Chrome works only on ICS and above & Google Now works exclusively on Jelly Bean!)

Besides these, do you consider any other factor before buying a new android device? If yes, feel free to share it in the comments below :)

Are you in a serious need of fresh and unique content for your blog? Running short of good ideas? Don't have enough time to keep your blog updated? Then just go ahead and jump upon the guest blogging bandwagon!

But wait! You are ready for guest posts, that's good, but, is your blog ready? Yes, you have to make sure that your blog is matured enough to handle guest posts at the very first place or else you will end up struggling to attract good guest bloggers forever :) My today’s post highlights 5 important and proven tips that are sure to inundate your inbox with great guest blogging proposals...

1. Write consistently

Guest bloggers do notice the frequency of your published posts. If you are not updating your blog even once in a month, then you are sending strong signals to the potential guest bloggers that your blog is nothing more than a parched page on the internet. In blogging, just like in real life,first you have to dance alone(write content) passionately on the DJ (on your blog), then only others will express their interest in joining You! I hope you're getting my analogy ;)

2. Grow your blog

Growing your blog is just as important as writing consistently. To understand its importance, first you have to understand the needs of a guest blogger. Why do people write guest posts? What will they get out of it?
People write guest posts with a hope to come in front of their target audience, with a hope that their post will be able to leverage some traffic back to their own blog and with a hope that their post might get them some quality exposure. Can your blog fulfil all these requirements? If yes, then you're awesome! And if no, then you have to learn how to grow your readership and then how to convert that readership into your loyal readers/subscribers :) 

3. Grow your social presence

I'm not sure if everyone pays attention to this metric or not, but I really do. If the blog/blog owner has a decent social following, he/she can effortlessly promote the guest article, thereby, getting more people to read the guest blogger's content! That makes some sense, right ?

4. Have a separate 'Write For Us' page

Again, an important and very obvious point. Unless your blog is a diamond, don't expect anyone to contact you regarding guest blogging proposals.
Solution - Create a separate page on your blog and let everyone know that your blog is open to guest blogging opportunities. List down all the important guidelines and clearly mention the way how you can be approached for guest posts. There is one more major benefit of doing this - Once you have created a separate 'Write For Us' page, Google will start crawling and indexing that page, thereby sending guest bloggers your way whenever they search for guest blogging opportunities on Google. How cool is that ?

5. Join MyBlogGuest

MyBlogGuest is a community plus platform that connects guest bloggers looking for quality homes for their articles with those looking for good guest bloggers to take a break from writing. The site has a vast range of categories ranging from SEO/Technology to Arts/Photography. As for now, It is the most credible and successful guest blogging platform and it is definitely worth giving a try.

What's your strategy?

So how do you attract guest bloggers to your site? Do you have any other worth mentioning tip to share? I would love to listen to your thoughts :)

The aim of this post is to highlight some of the common signs of the people from the SEO industry. Following are my own views, although the topic can be purely subjective. Just take it as a light entertainment ;) And if your views are in concord with mine (or even if you think quite differently), feel free to drop your comments below...

1. They Are Supercilious

SEO people usually have a habit of deprecating and deriding each others' efforts! Don't believe me? Try sharing your secret SEO formula on warrior forums or any popular internet marketing community and get ready to face the heat ;)

2. They Love Google

Their each and every discussion starts and ends with Google being the main subject. For example - How to rank well on Google? Google's views on guest blogging? Another Google penguin coming...Don't do this..don't do that...Google dislikes it..Google will penalize your website..OMG! Look at the height!

3. They Don’t Care About Bing and Yahoo!

Have you ever seen any discussion on any popular IM forum concerning Yahoo and Bing search rankings? Any news or concern regarding their algorithm changes? I guess No! Who cares about them?

4. They Seek Utilities Everywhere!

People, in the SEO industry are utilitarians. You will find their web browsers loaded with a good number of plugins and extensions like PR checker, Alexa checker, Gmail Notifier, No-Follow highlighter...the list is endless!

5. They All Follow Matt Cutts

In the SEO world, Matt Cutts is the only person who is given lots and lots of supreme attention by the entire community. After all, he's the distinguished Google-search engineer and who else will know Google SEO better than him? I wonder, how many will actually stop accepting guest posts on their blogs, if Matt Cutts starts criticizing guest blogging!

6. They Use Lots Of Hash-Tags On Twitter

…sometimes to the extent that dissolves the line of distinction between a genuine SEO and a spammer :)

Is there any other worth mentioning sign that I'm missing here? Do share your views in the comments below ;)

Receiving guest posts on your blog feels so good. Right? "It helps you keep your blog updated, especially when you are busy OR out of new ideas." While there may be some advantages of accepting guest posts on your blog, you just can't afford to condone the flip side of the coin!

My today's post is an attempt to shed some light on this side - Reasons not to accept guest posts on your blog -

1. Trustworthiness

Before I proceed ahead with this point, let me ask you a short question: Whom are you most likely to accept a birthday present from - a close Friend or a Stranger? I'm sure, most of you will prefer the former, because it's a matter of trust and you trust your friends far more than any stranger! The same applies to guest blogging...

You have received a guest blogging proposal from a person whom you have never met or known before. He purports to be a loyal reader of your blog (though he never ever cared to leave a comment on even a single post) and tries to impress you by mentioning how beautiful and elegant your blog is! Can you trust his content? Give it a thought!

2. Time Consuming

Reviewing guest posts is very much time consuming, especially for those who receive a spate of them. You run into the burden of reading each one of them thoroughly and that's just not enough. You also have to make sure that the content is unique and free from all sorts of editorial and grammatical mistakes!

3. Email Spam

If you are into the business of accepting guest posts on your blog, you are likely to receive around 80% of the guest proposals from link builders and SEO companies. And their guest blogging pitch simply sucks! They're so poorly written and full of clichés, that you might not even want to leave a polite reply :\

Here’s one of them that i received for Budding Geek:

4. Change in voice

Here, I believe that only a few people will agree with me. My belief is that accepting guest posts on your blog might dilute the quality and standard of your blog posts. Your loyal readers are usually accustomed to enjoy YOUR writing pitch and quality. Publishing a lot of guest posts without giving your blog YOUR own voice, might leave your readership a little bit pissed off! What's your thought on this ?

5. The term has been deteriorated

I probably shouldn't say this directly, but the fact is that guest blogging has become a new form of link building these days. Many people have forgotten that guest blogging was originally a great way of building solid niche relationships! Links were just seen as a way of crediting the author for his awesome content. Today, people care more about links than building potential relationships...And their guest blogging pitch reveals this attitude very clearly!

6. Another Google Penalty?

We all know how notorious Google is, when it comes to busting spam and unnatural links on the internet. Who knows, with which penalty Google might come up tomorrow against those accepting guest posts on their websites? Your thoughts ?

7. Because It's YOUR blog!

This can purely be a personal reason. It's your blog and why would you want a stranger to publish his article on YOUR blog? Of-course, unless your blog has turned into an article directory where anyone can come and publish his content in exchange for links and then never ever returns back!

Your Voice?

I have briefly expressed my thoughts. Now its YOUR turn! What are your thoughts on this topic? No matter if you agree or disagree with me, feel free to express your ideas in the comments below ;)