Hope the hangover from last year’s parties is over, and that you passed by here to see what’s new on Blogzoner.

First of all, we’ve made some optimizations so the site is loading (a little bit) faster in IE. We’re still working on doing the same job for firefox, and we’re still coding the search function, so you may filter more easier the blogs you’re interested into.

Second, there’s plenty of new people around. So, check out Rockbear’s blog about getting out, being active and live happily, or kbarret’s blog about pretty colors and layouts (and believe me, they ARE pretty!), or, why not, EvanVolm’s blog about video games.

And if you have some spare time, just check out Shakelton’s Italian Alps hotel blog and finish with Redmin’s photos from amazing places.

I’m astounded at the quality of the blogs being put on the map on blogzoner, and I do hope many more will want to share their blogs with the world.

Now, prepping for a huge wave of newcomers…

ps. I also found Slide, a nice application that lets you create a guestbook for your blog in which visitors can put a photo - with them, or from their place (I have to thank Imen Dani’s blog for this!)

Have fun!

Here it is: Flash Earth

Be sure you bookmark it, it’s pure gold.

The boys are currently making changes to the search function, streamlining it and enabling users to search for bloggers in a more intuitive way.

Will follow an advanced search interface, which will be the real deal. And a surprise…

Soon

Now you can display your latest Tweet in your profile, by simply completing the ‘Twitter’ line in your profile. Your latest tweets will be fetched automatically, and instantly.

Enjoy it, while we add even more functionalities to Blogzoner. Stay putt, in the next days we will start to implement the final version of the search function, and some more.

What a ride! ILaRia’s blog is filled with all kind of interesting information, but above all was a link to a website featuring Christmas e-cards. But not the usual stuff. Try clicking on the ecard with the snowman, or on the one with penguins… Have HUGE fun!

Thanks a lot ILaRia!

We discovered this amazing concept through Nikita Begun’s blog, and we’re stunned.

If Nikita knows some English, we’re inviting him to give us more details about mirtesen.ru, a website that lets it’s users chat via a… map. How is this working, you can see for yourself (don’t mind the russian alphabet, the concept is in itself stunning).

Via Michael Langham’s nice blog about tech news we got our hand on this 1-hour video from Google’s Campfire. So, everything about OpenSocial is spelled out for you by the Google guys:

We’ll see how this integrates with what we’re doing here at Blogzoner, and perhaps something new and interesting will come out of this

He’s a young cartoonist from Romania, but you don’t need to know Romanian in order to enjoy his drawings. Take a peek!

And that birthplace has a name:  Sighisoara. You can see how this medieval city looks today via some beautiful panoramas made by Zdeto, a fellow Blogzoner.

So here we are: Sighisoara panoramas and some more panoramas and a little bit of history.

Next in our top 3 is the Bran Castle. As Elizabeth Miller, a renowned expert says: it never belonged to Dracula, but is still the most visited place by Dracula-fans, and it surely is scary in itself.

And finishing our top comes a fortress built by Dracula’s family high in the Carpathian mountains, Poenari, where his wife found her demise hurling herself from the top of the fortress when hearing the Ottoman troops approaching.

Next year, be sure to plan a trip to these places. You have nothing to fear, though. Or do you?

Joel Libava is recognized as The Francise King in the U.S. because of his expertise regarding franchises. A powerful blogger, he’s #77 on the top 100 Business Blogs list.

We’re honored to have Joel on our map, so we asked him some questions regarding blogging. He was so kind to answer us, so here they are:

1. What takes to be a successful business blogger?

One must be willing to follow business trends. I read a lot of business magazines, network with other business bloggers on the internet, and keep my ear to the ground. The most important thing however, is to write posts 2-3 times a week. It IS a commitment! Keeping new content up very search engine friendly.

2. Name three things that a blogger should do to increase his visibility and authority
As I mentioned, posting new content is crucial. Also, I recommend commenting on other business blogs, and befriending other bloggers. They will get to know you, and you build cred.

3. What do you think about social networking websites and their business effects?
The social networking sites are really innovative. I do have concerns about the predators that may hang out on some of these… Business wise, companies that target young techy folks can do well!

4. What do you think about Blogzoner?
I liked the “look” right away. I am not sure if you somehow researched the colors that you use, but they are outstanding.
I like to geo-mapping, also. Nice concept and I hope you do well.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us Joel and we do hope your blog will be in top 50 next time we’ll check it out :).