Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for visiting the FAQ page on AltGlobe! You can find here questions that we have been asked along with their respective answers. If you have any question, and you wish to share it with us and others, click on the Submit FAQunder My Globe top menu, fill in the short form and you will get a prompt answer from one of us soon.
If your question should not be shared with others from any reason, email us to admin@altglobe.com.
Blogging
Questions related to blogging and bloggers on AltGlobe
A blogger feed is a form that Bloggers on AG fill in with their RSS Feed. By doing that they populate their AG's blog with their original blog automatically.
Find out here how to incorporate your blog RSS Feed to AltGlobe.
The Globar is a great tool for discovering Positive Alternative content from people who are committed to make the world a better place, each in its own way.
Here is an example of the Globar on one of our Bloggers' posts.
The bar has few exciting features now that are available to everyone who follows the AltGlobe links from any place they appear at on the web. Note that the Globar will appear only on web pages that their owners are members of the AltGlobe community and posted their Blogger Feed to their AltGlobe account.
What does the Globar do?
- Vote on Content - Anyone can share his or her opinion on AltGlobe Blogs, by giving (or not) a "hug" to the post that was just read. More votes (hugs) will promote the post on lists and search results.
- Search Blogs - This is a link to search AltGlobe blogs with an option, for logged in users, to use the advanced search.
- Related Links - Clicking on this button will give you a list of the most related blogs to the current post you are on. In case there are no related links, the button will not appear.
- More from this user- This button will give you a list of 5 posts from the blogger who wrote the post you are on.
- Random Blogs- With this button, you can browse random blogs from AltGlobe's database.
- Join as a Blogger - A link to know more about joining as a Blogger to AltGlobe.
Send this post to a friend.
Share this post with the AltGlobe bar on your Facebook wall.
Tweet this post.- Edit - If you are viewing your own blog post, then an Edit link will appear. This link will take you to edit your blog on AG and will not affect your own blog.
- X - Close the bar and stay on the blogger's website.
More features are coming up! A note will be added here once new features become available.
To manage your RSS Feed, go to your account (www.altglobe.com/user) and look for the tab that says Blogger Feed. Once there, click on it and on the new page scroll down and configure your blog's feed.
Make sure that you copied the right url from your website and pasted it on AG. If you are not sure where to find your RSS feed url, ask your programmer or your blog system support. If that does not help, email us your user name on AltGlobe and a link to your external blog/website and we will do our best to help you incorporate you blog's feed to AG.
The Teaser View of your blog post, usually, is the first thing people see of your blog. You want to consider optimizing this view for better reads. Thus it is important to have the opening of your engaging text wise and image wise.
A teaser view of blogs can be see on the front page of AltGlobe and on any blogger's blog.
In order to have a clean look of Teasers Lists throughout the AltGlobe blogosphere, we ask our bloggers to add the "Teaser" break after 6 lines of the body text. In that way the image, which is located on the right handside of the blog Teaser View, will have the same height as the text.
To add the Teaser, simply go to the body area of your blog post (to get there, visit your blog post and click Edit), click with your mouse on the body text, after 6 lines, and then click the "Teaser" button to limit the appearance of the text to the 6 lines above the teaser mark.
Teaser Image: On Teasers Lists of blogs the thumbnail is the first Image that you attach to your blog via the seperate field on the blog form. This is not the image that you embed into the body area of your blog post. The image to attach, is located on the same blog form, further down the page.
Becoming a Blogger for AltGlobe is very simple! After you have created your account, send us an e-mail with your AltGlobe username and a link to your own blog (if available) asking to be approved as a blogger. One of us will follow up with you right after the email was received.
What does the Blogger role grant you?
As a Blogger, you will have access to a very advanced publishing tool (rich text editor) that works similar to Word document. You will be able to manipulate your text; add tables, images, buletins, links, flash animation; and access all the other tools you can find on the editor.
As a blogger your blog posts will get dramatically enhanced exposure on AltGlobe and on AltGlobe social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and others. This includes having your content on AltGlobe's bar (Globar) and even on AltGlobe's widget, which is spread throughout the web on our affiliates' websites.
To create an image slideshow, use the "Image" link towards the bottom of the "Create Blog entry" page. Every image uploaded here will automatically be a part of the image slideshow. You can also add captions to your images, which will appear in the slideshow.
Yes, you can take advantage of this feature to add a personal touch to your AltGlobe blog! When you are logged into the site, you will see an option in the right sidebar that says "Blog Header Image." Clicking on this link will take you to a screen where you can upload a banner image. Images should be 800x120 px or they may be distorted. Allowed file types are gifs, jpgs, or png files, no bigger than 5 MB.
Here are our general guidelines for posting blogs on AltGlobe.com and some more tips you might want to be aware of.
Original materials - All blogs posted to AltGlobe should be original, unique materials written by the blogger who submits them to the website. (Learn more about adding content to AltGlobe on our Terms of Use page).
Complete articles (blog posts) - Only complete articles will be accepted. Nevertheless, feeds from Bloggers' external blogs will appear in some places only as teasers or lists that are click-throughs to the original article/blog on their sites.
Who can blog on AltGlobe - Everyone can blog on AltGlobe! It does not matter if you are an experienced blogger or a newbie that is about to start with its first blog post ever. Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student here, therefore the possibilities to grow your audience, relationships and knowledge are endless.
Your blog content - Share with us your knowledge, ideas, thoughts, feelings, and experiences from life and enrich us with your positive solutions for them (if you have any). Our bloggers talk about all aspects of life from home and garden to health, well being, education, food and so many more. The unique thing with AltGlobe bloggers is that they all write about the positive aspects of these issues. For example, popular topics on AG will be Organic Gardening, Green Living, Sustainable Products, etc.
Only post things that you wish to share with the rest of the world on AltGlobe. After submitting your blog (or feed), its content will be available to many people who are part of our network. See below more info about spreading the word.
No advertisment on blogs - To advertise your holistic services, your web site or sustainable products, there are other forums that you can use, rather than blog posts. If you did not find your way to expose your products or services, email us and and we will help you out.
Word editor use- You may use the rich text editor or HTML to add formatting to your blog such as headers, bullets and other features. As a blogger on AG you get a bigger selection of features that can help you with putting your blog together. This editor is pretty much like a word doc. Click here for more information on formatting your blogs with HTML. If you did not choose to be a Blogger on AltGLobe when you registered, email us asking to become a blogger and have free access to the AG editor.
Spreading the word about your blog - As a member and a blogger of the AltGlobe community, your blog post will be available to all AltGlobe's website users and to the broader AltGlobe community on social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and others. This will happen automatically once your blog is approved by our team. Nevertheless, if you want to draw more attention to your AltGlobe blog post, use the links at the bottom of your AltGlobe blog to submit your post to any of the social networking sites.
Supporting media in your blog post - If you use someone else's media to move your idea on your blog, make sure that you have the rights to do that, as described in our Terms of Use. If you do have the rights, properly cite the creator of the original work.
Blogging FAQs
Basic blogging tips
Why blog with AltGlobe
Recent blogs on AltGlobe.com
1st option to upload an image
The best option, and actually a requirement for bloggers who post to the Featured Blogs pages, is the Attached Image option.
The first image that is uploaded through the Attached Image option will appear as a thumbnail on the teasers views, like here.
This option is located at the bottom of the Blog form and is a collapsable menu. Note, it is not the image upload from the body of the blog post. All images uploaded through the Attached Image option will be part of the image slideshow that accompanies your blog post.
2nd option to upload an image
The second option is to add an image through the editor, which is very similar to a Word document editing application. This editor is located in the body of the blog post submission form.
Click on the Insert/Edit Image icon, and then follow the instructions in the popup window to select and upload your image.
Some HTML tags, such as header tags and images, will not work in the basic input mode.
Just below your text editor (while editing r creating the content) you will see an option that says "Input Format." If you open this menu, you will have the option to save your blog in "Full HTML" mode, which will display your code to readers as you see it on the editor.
Note, FULL HTML is available only for Bloggers on AG.
MUST DO! If you are copying and pasting text from another website, fist copy the text to a notepad (to get rid of all the "junk" HTML) and paste it into your AG blog post's body. You can do the same thing on the body editor itself by choosing all the text you have in there and clicking the Remove Format button, which is located at the top of the editor.
Advanced Option - If you know some HTML, you can see and play with the code by clicking the "Source" button at the top left corner of your editor. To go back to the previous state, just click the "Source" button again.
Check some basic blogging tips here
Why should you blog with AltGlobe
Recent blogs on AltGlobe
Registration and Login
Questions related to the registration and login process
Anyone can share a link to any content posted on AltGlobe! To do that, go to the page where the content you want to forward appears and look for the Forward icon (
). Click the icon and follow the simple form instructions. After submitting the form, you will be redirected to the page you visited before.
How to Invite a Friend to AltGlobe - Quick answer
Go to Invite friends to AltGlobe link, which you can find on your right hand side.
Drop in your friend's email, a private message and send invitation.
You invitee, once registered, will become your friend automatically.
Go to Invite friends to AltGlobe link, which you can find on your right hand side.
Drop in your friend's email, a private message and send invitation.
You invitee, once registered, will become your friend automatically.
If you want to share content from AltGlobe with your friends read this short FAQ.
How to Invite a Friend to AltGlobe - Detailed answer
1. On your right sidebar look for the My Links block and click the Invite a Friend to AltGlobe.
2. Send an email and invite your friends: choose if to invite friends using an email address/es by writing them down or copying and pasting from any list (The tab called Invite, which is the default tab). See more details below.
3. Import your contacts: choose to import your contacts from more than 50 networking websites. Note, some of the websites on the drop down list will not work for you. We know that Gmail does work if you use your email instead of the usersame (tab called Import Contacts). See more details below.
4. If you chose to invite your friends by copying and pasting their email address/es, read the followings:
- Fill in the e-mail address(es) of the person(s) you would like to invite, and add a personal message.
- Press submit.
- This will send an invitation e-mail which you can now track from the 'Your invitations' page.
- Invitations show up in one of the states accepted, pending, expired, and the special case deleted.
- Accepted: Shows that the person you have invited has accepted the invitation to join the site. Click on the e-mail address to watch the user's profile page.
- Pending: The invitation has been sent, but the invitee has still not accepted the invitation.
- Expired: The invitation has not been used to register within the expiration period.
- Deleted: The user account has been terminated.
5. If you are importing your contacts:
- Choose the website to import from.
- Insert your user name or email address and password.
- Click import Contacts.
- Once opened, choose contacts you want to invite and click Send Invite Request.
- This will send an invitation e-mail which you can now track from the 'Your invitations' page.
- Invitations show up in one of the states accepted, pending, expired, and the special case deleted.
- Accepted: Shows that the person you have invited has accepted the invitation to join the site. Click on the e-mail address to watch the user's profile page.
- Pending: The invitation has been sent, but the invitee has still not accepted the invitation.
- Expired: The invitation has not been used to register within the expiration period.
- Deleted: The user account has been terminated.
At any time, you may withdraw either pending or expired invitations.
To login with Facebook Connect you will need to:
- go to the login page on AltGlobe and click the Facebook Connect button (
). - Enter your FB login details in the popup window and click Connect to go to the next step.
- If you are already a member of AltGlobe, choose to connect your exsisting account and then login as you usually do.
- If you are not a member of AltGlobe, click on the top link and create you basic account with the registration form.
- Once you are connected you will be able to share different features between your two accounts. More information will be added soon here.
You may terminate your Membership at any time, for any reason, by emailing us your user name.
Marketplace
Questions related to AltGlobe's online store
Each Seller on AltGlobe has his or her own shipping policies. If you did not note the estimated shipping time while purchasing the product, you can alway go back to the product page and look for the Seller's Store Details link under the Product Owner sidebar, on each product page.
In the Store Details page, you will find the shippng policies and other policies for that store.
If you are not completely sure about what you see, you can always contact the seller personally and ask your question to be more clear.
When you purchase a product on the AltGlobe marketplace, you join the community, hence you have an account with AltGlobe.
When you login to your account, on your profile, you will find a tab that says My Orders. click on this tab and you will see your order/s, which includes the status of your order.
In order to manage your stock for a specific product, you will need to go and edit this product first. Once you click on Edit, you will see 2 sub-tabs that say Product and Stock.
Click on the stock and in the new window enter the number of items.
When the stock level drops below the threshold value, you will be notified by mail.
Another way to manage a product stock is to click on "Save and continue", at the bottom of the product submission form, when you finished inserting the product details.
Simply, go to My Account, then click on the Edit tab and you will notice a sub-tab called Store Details. Click on it and fill in the complete form. This form will be the "ID" of your AltGlobe Store, where people can learn about what your business does and what are your positive alternatives for aware consumers.
This form is also the official application for opening an AltGlobe Store.
If your products are alternative and you make them on your own, you might want to join our sellers and expose your products with the AltGlobe community's members, and thousends other visitors.
Share with us the details of your store and why it is such a special product (in terms of being pro-humans and environment-loving). Once you did that, we will be notified, review your Store Details and grant you the role of Seller. We may not grant you the role , though we will let you know about that.
You need to have the Seller role on AltGlobe in order to submit products to the marketplace. Read here How do I get the Seller role on AltGobe.
If you are a Seller, check out the navigation block on your right handside and click the link that says Submit Product.
We are currently (and probably for long time) building our tips to make buying and selling on the marketplace easier for you and others. Please use the link on your right that says Submit FAQ. Choose Marketplace as the category for your FAQ to ask your question (you will need to be longged in to do that, naturally) .
Your question will be answered promptly and will be shared with everyone else here, on the Marketplace FAQs page.
If your question should not be posted here, email us.
Webinars
Questions related to the AltGlobe webinars.
Why write your Webinar on AltGlobe?
- Your webinar will be featured on the main page of AltGlobe.com.
- Email and phone support.
- Webinar blog posts may be featured on other networking websites, as well as online topic-related groups that AltGlobe is a member of (such as Facebook, Myspace, Care2, and Yahoo Groups, to mention a few).
- You can upload to your blog audios, embeded videos from other websites, you can create an image gallery related to your blog and have it available to your readers, all on the same form.
How do you become a Webinar writer?
Before you apply, you will need to come up with your proposal, which should include:
- Title of the course (webinar) — not more than 5 words.
- A two-sentence summary of the entire course.
- Titles for the 4 posts that you will be writing.
- A two-sentence summary ("blurb") for each post.
- The day of the week you would like the webinar to be published — you will provide one post each week on the same day for four weeks in a row.
Send us an email with your complete proposal. We will respond to you shortly.
Tips for creating successful proposals
Each blog post in your webinar should meet the following criteria to make it attractive to readers and ready to be featured on our front page:
- Choose interesting titles. Come up with something new that will surprise the community members and unique visitors!
- Format posts to make them easy to read. Use bullets and subheadings to break up blocks of text. Choose strong keywords for subheadings.
- Each post in the webinar should fit easily into one of the categories on AltGlobe.com. See the right sidebar for categoies.
- Each post in the webinar should be approximately 300-400 words.
- Check out the Featured Blogs from previous webinars to see examples of how your blog should be written and presented.
Happy blogging,
The AltGlobe Team
E-mail us your proposal
Tech Support
Questions related to technical issues on AltGlobe
The access to the Globar is through the AltGlobe website, a link from different places on the web or through a direct link a friend sent to you. For example, if you click on any of the blogs on the front page of AltGlobe, it will open up with the bar. If you go to a blogger's profile and click on one of his/her posts, it will open up with the bar. And so true to other places on the AltGlobe website. Note, some of the blogs on AG will not open up with the bar.
That would be very simple!
Go to your account, then to the Edit tab, choose Profile from the sub-tabs and once the profile form is open, scroll down and find your address.
You can drop the fields you do not want to share and leave the fields you do.
Note that Zip Code and Country fields are must.
To delete your account simply email us to admin@altglobe.com and we will do that for you.
That would be easy!
Go to the content you wish to erase, click on the Edit tab at the top. Now when the form opened, scroll all the way down, you will see the Delete button, click on it and confirm your deletion.
Note, this action cannot be undone.
If you do not see the Edit tab at the top of your content, that mean that you are not logged in to the site. If you are logged in and still cannot edit your content, email us asap.
First visit the person, you want to add as a friend, profile page
Now, look for the link on his or her profile -on the right blocks - that says "
Relationship actions Become [friend's name]'s Friend
Click on that and you will see a small popup that ask you a simple blurb to introduce yourself, then click on "Send".
Once you clicked the Edit tab on your account page, you will see a tab saying - Profile. Click it and make your changes.
Using Your Gmail Account:
Go to your Gmail Settings> Accounts; click on "Add another email address"; enter your altglobe email. Send a confirmation to your Gmail, as directed by Google. Once you confirmed the new address, you are ready to send emails from your altglobe.com address using Gmail.
Using your Yahoo Mail Plus Account:
Step1: On Mail Classic mode, chose Options> Mail Options. Click on Mail Addresses, click on Add. Select an account name.
Step2: enter your name and your email address yourname@altglobe.com; click on continue
Step3: type in Mail Server: mail.altglobe.com; username: yourname@altglobe.com ; password: your password. Leave other options as default.
Using your Outlook Account:
Go to Tools>Email Accounts... Select Add a new email account; select server type: POP3 and click on next.
Type in User information: your name and the email name@altglobe.com ; in the logon information: user name: yourname@altglobe.com ; password: the password for your altglobe email.; server information: for both incoming and outgoing, enter mail.altglobe.com. Test and click on finish.
You can have an email, definitely. This email will be composed from your user name and @altglobe.com.
Send us an email request and we will get back to you shortly.
If you wish to automatically forward your emails, which will be sent to your username@altglobe.com, to other email (like gmail, yahoo, etc), note that in your email and add the address you wish to use for that.
See also, How do I configure my outgoing mail to use my altglobe email address?
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