Integrate

We have seen many blogs/websites showing “follow me” banners and links. But, it would be better to show the social proof to arise their willingness to follow(Better to have atleast 100 followers, before showing the follower count).

We can show our Twitter follower count (much like a feedburner chicklet) by using Twittercounter.com. TwitterCount uses Twitter Authentication API while you use your Twitter username and password to sign in, so there is no problem.
If you authenticate your Twitter ID, then your ID will be displayed in the “Interested to follow” field, so that you may expect some more targeted followers.

You can use TwitterCounter services even without authentication. Just follow below procedure:

Replace my Twitter ID (technotip) with your Twitter ID:
For stats: http://twittercounter.com/technotip
Follower Count Badge: http://twittercounter.com/counter/?username=technotip
or
http://209.20.76.117/counter/?username=technotip

You can use anchor tags to link to your Twitter profile:


<a href="http://twitter.com/technotip" >
<img src="http://twittercounter.com/counter/?username=technotip" ></a>

For more buttons, more colors! goto TwitterCount.com

If you are using WordPress and looking for a plugin, then you can make use of Twounter. It is a WordPress Plugin that fetches the number of followers for a twitter profile and returns it in plain text format. You can then use your CSS skills to style your follower count number.

Use the <?php echo twounter(’username’) ; ?> function in your template files to show the number of Twitter followers. (replace ‘username’ with your Twitter user name)
If you want to show it inside post then, use shortcode [twounter]username[/twounter]

Replace your default wordpress theme search engine with Google Custom Search Engine.
There are 3 option’s to show the result page:-

If you want to have results within your own site, then you need to create another page similar to your blog pages(to make it look more professional), and add the codes from Adsense account. This requires one to have some knowledge about html and some other basic Internet programming knowledge.
If you are using a magazine style theme and if you are showing additional advertisements on the sidebar, then remove it from your result page. Because its an violation of adsense policy.

There is another easy option, which doesn’t require any programming knowledge.
1. Open results on Google in the same window.
2. Open results on Google in a new window.

Now you decide about opening results page in new window or in the same window(Its considered user friendly, if all links open in same window, so we recommend selecting the 1st option. i.e., Open Results in the same window.)

Goto your Adsense account or Google Custom Search Engine page and get the codes to paste in your wordpress blog.

Now login to your wordpress and click on the “Design” tab –> Click on “Theme Editor”. Now search for “searchform.php” or similar file and click on it.
Now look for <div class="search"> </div> tags and delete everything inbetween them and paste the CSE codes from your adsense or Google CSE account and save it.

For Example:- Look at my Custom Search Engine[Top right corner — near navigation bar] and search for any keyword and see the result page.

If you are good at HTML and PHP, you can integrate the CSE into your own site and you can make the results to be shown in your own site. This looks even more professional.
But having any type of Custom Search Engine is better than not having one, so follow any method and integrate CSE to your blog.