Welcome to the second edition of the question and answer portion of the Blog Tip Sharing series.
I feel like I should remind everyone reading that all 11 of these blog tip sharing posts have been based solely on MY experiences and the things I have had success with. You may possibly disagree with my answers and I’d love to hear your opinions. The point? There is no ONE, RIGHT way to be successful blogging.
Okay, then. Let’s get started, shall we?
Question 7 comes from Anne Glamore: (paraphrased) How about explaining HTML coding in your sidebars? For example, explain how you do your reading list, buttons, and widgets. Also could you discuss your thoughts on the effectiveness of the stuff you have in your sidebar, which you like to be clean– like feedjit (love!!) that savvy source thing, the flickr deal, etc?
Ooh, great question! First of all, I think that the majority of the stuff in my sidebars are unnecessary, yet I like them and keep them. As I mentioned in my BTSP post number 6 about sidebars, there are things that are necessary like a subscribe button, a search function…the other fluff could all be done away with. I really love that Feedjit widget and my flickr badge so I keep them, clutter or not!
So onto HTML coding. For simple things like text only things in your sidebar (like my book list), here’s what you do:
1) Find the correct widget from your Dashboard, probably a Text widget.
2) To make a list you have to put breaks in between each item. For example my book list looks like this:
<b>Book List for 2008</b> (The <b>, </b> tag makes it BOLD.)
<br/><br/> (The <br/> tag is a break. Two together makes two spaces, one make one space.)
The Kite Runner
<br/>
Memory Keeper’s Daughter
<br/>
Water for Elephants…
Easy peasy.
To make a button in your sidebar…well, see, that’s tricky. I’ll do my best to explain.
1) First the picture you want to make into a button needs to be uploaded onto a photo hosting site like Photobucket or Flickr.
2) Once uploaded, you will be able to get an HTML code for your pic/button. You can change the coding to make it clickable to whereever you wish. To further explain, using an example from Photobucket…
<a href=”http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/jenleah99/?action=view¤t=sowqueen.jpg” target=”_blank“><img src=”http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/jenleah99/hello.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket“></a>
I’ve colored each changeable part with different colors…let’s discuss the RED first. This is where you can put the url that you’d like the pic/button to redirect to when clicked. Let’s say, you want to redirect it to Shamelessy Sassy’s site. Instead of what’s written in RED, you’d write http://shamelesslysassy.com…making sure to keep the quotation marks.
Now, the part that’s PURPLE is where you can write whatever you want. You could say “She rocks!“ Or whatever you want. Once posted, you can place your cursor over the pic/button and see what you’ve said.
See how simple that is?!
Moving on…
Question 8 is from Stacy: What’s your opinion on whether or not to display the labels (or tags or categories) on your website?
After mulling this question over, I think that it’s very important. So important, in fact, that I’ve now added my categories in a pull down menu to my sidebar. I think it’s helpful when you’re searching for something specific in someone’s blog to be able to search their categories. I know that you can search in the Search Box, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to go directly to a category.
Questions 9 and 10 are from Marinka: I noticed that some blogs, including yours, have all those buttony- things at the end of the post–digg it, stumble it, etc. How do they get there?
By magic. Kidding. And for the record, the buttony things are called social bookmarks. With Blogger, it will take some code tweeking in your template. Since I’m not certain exactly how to do this, I’m going to refer everyone to this guide:
Tips for new bloggers, social bookmarks
With self-hosted WordPress, you can simply add a plugin that will add the buttons for you. There are so many, if you’re interested just Google “wordpress plugin social bookmarking.”
Also, do SiteMeter and StatCounter do pretty much the same things?
Basically, yes. I don’t use StatCounter, but I asked folks on Twitter what they could tell me about the differences. Laurin and Kelly sent me to an article on BlogCoach. The summary of the article: StatCounter gives information on the last 500 visitors, Sitemeter does the last 100. Reportedly, StatCounter shows 1-10% more visitors than Sitemeter. Also Cagey said, “[StatCounter] is the BOMB.” You heard it hear first!
Question 11 is from Kia: What makes for a good Bloggy Giveaway? What products do people want and how do you get word out in the Blog community that you’re having a giveaway?
I hate to cop-out on this one too, but I honestly don’t really know what makes a good bloggy giveaway! I asked some folks on Twitter and got one response: Starbucks gift cards. Maybe expensive items do well? Those of you who do giveaways, can you help?
As far as getting the word out in the blog community, you can use Twitter and Plurk to let people know. You can make a button for your giveaway or ask other’s to help promote it on their blogs by giving those that help 5 extra entries in your contest. Any other suggestions from the peanut gallery would be great. HINT, HINT.
Question 12 is from Sarah: I hear randomly from (a fair amount) of people that it takes FOREVAH for my blog to load on their computer. I was even having this problem myself until I switched to Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. Is there something I can do myself to make my blog load faster? Or do I have to boss everyone who complains to just SWITCH TO MOZILLA ALREADY DAMMIT BECAUSE I AM WORTH IT!
Oh Sarah. You ARE worth it. I was so inspired by your question that I have officially switched to Firefox and haven’t looked back, nor have I had to reboot IE 2000 times in an afternoon because it locked up. I wonder, “Why in the hell did I wait so long???”
Firefox is heaven! If you’re not using Firefox, YOU ARE MISSING OUT. This is the last question, so go! GO RIGHT NOW AND DOWNLOAD FIREFOX and make it your browser. DO IT.
Other Blog Tip Sharing Posts HERE!
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Love the tips! I look forward to them every Saturday now!
brittany’s lastest post..Holy 1983
By brittany on 08.16.08 6:42 am | Permalink
I’m afraid I’m definitely on the baby steps plan, but I have picked up great tips from you in the last couple of weeks. I love picnik, and gmail. I started using Firefox two weeks ago, and wonder why anyone would ever use IE again. It really is great. I’ll work my way up from the baby department to grown up blogger one of these days.
Mom24’s lastest post..Dear Master Scheduler
By Mom24 on 08.16.08 7:40 am | Permalink
statcounter is amazing. 100%
ali’s lastest post..The Boots is three
By ali on 08.16.08 9:21 am | Permalink
Safari also rocks. I have tried Firefox….didn’t like it as much.
I need to make a new header….can you help me with that?
Heather-Domestic Extraordinaire’s lastest post..In honor of Jennifer’s last "official" Haiku Friday
By Heather-Domestic Extraordinaire on 08.16.08 9:31 am | Permalink
Firefox does rock! thanks for the tips! I have been befuddled on the buttons. This helps.
Mama DB’s lastest post..I’m a rambling wo-man.
By Mama DB on 08.16.08 9:50 am | Permalink
@Heather-Domestic Extraordinaire: I think Safari is only for Macs? I hear good things about it!
By Jennifer on 08.16.08 10:04 am | Permalink
I will be the first to say that you have made me a firefox convert as well. It’s SO GREAT! I never knew what all the fuss was about…and I was so missing out.
I think I’m just going to become a playgroupie groupie and start a fan club.
By Maggie on 08.16.08 10:34 am | Permalink
Oh, and I forgot to add my thoughts on giveaways.
I think that anything where you can just enter makes a better giveaway than one that makes you write your own post, link back, go to site X then Y, etc. I understand that people want to do their contests to get more readers and visibility, but having to write a post about a giveaway is something that I find highly annoying, and will usually (although not always) prevent me from entering.
I think that anything that is a “no strings attached” giveaway is great — I don’t think that the actual prize matters as much. Although I also think that things like the Pay-It-Forward contests are fun, like when Swistle hosted one in July and had lots of people join in.
Maggie’s lastest post..Wordless Wednesdsay: Full Bloom
By Maggie on 08.16.08 10:38 am | Permalink
If Firefox does have an error message it will reopen windows it had to close.
Jackie W transplanted Okie (Buried in Legos)’s lastest post..Fight the Frump With Fussy !! … Faux undershirts
By Jackie W transplanted Okie (Buried in Legos) on 08.16.08 11:23 am | Permalink
Thank you for the linkage. Additionally, everyone does need to d/l firefox. I’m serious, people! Download firefox right now. You will not believe how much better it is.
Shamelessly Sassy’s lastest post..Boys Pee Standing Up
By Shamelessly Sassy on 08.16.08 11:39 am | Permalink
Thanks for the link. Glad the article on statcounter helped.
I’m a new Firefox convert. After IE crashed umpteen times yesterday and then refused to even load, I switched completely. It is SO much better. The Google reader even works better. Did you know that the feeds that only allow summaries of their posts can be accessed inside the reader in a website view by clicking the post, comments and all? I’m sure you knew that but it blew my mind!
Laurin’s lastest post..Am I the only one who doesn’t drink coffee?
By Laurin on 08.16.08 12:57 pm | Permalink
Okay I’d like to do the Firefox thing but I’m so nervous… trying to stick my big toe in the cold water…. will Firefox still allow me to use my Google reader? IS that a dumb question? IE is all I’ve ever used. And why is it so much better? I have never had a problem with IE but I would be willing to try it out. And if I like Firefox, will I then go ahead and remove IE from my hard drive or just leave it alone and use Firefox as my default?
Texan Mama’s lastest post..Stuff I’m still not getting
By Texan Mama on 08.16.08 1:28 pm | Permalink
@Texan Mama: Not a dumb question at all!
Firefox is simply a different web browser and therefore you can use Google Reader and everything else like you do in IE. There are add-ons for Firefox, that can even make your browser experience better. To find add-ons, just google “firefox add-ons” and there are 1000’s. I use a gmail add-on, google reader add-on, twitterfox…
Also, it’s better because it’s a more secure browser. It’s WAY faster, too.
And no, I wouldn’t delete IE from your hard drive. I think you still need it for Windows updates. I do use Firefox as my default browser now, though.
By Jennifer on 08.16.08 1:43 pm | Permalink
@Laurin: I just recently learned that and it’s AWESOME!!
By Jennifer on 08.16.08 1:43 pm | Permalink
I just switched to Firefox. It IS better! thank you!
Anonymous Her’s lastest post..Hello!
By Anonymous Her on 08.16.08 3:36 pm | Permalink
people still use IE? get out of the cave people! Just kidding, but it is way better. Giveaways, I do them all the time, I think they are fun. No strings attached giveaways are the best.
DesignHER Momma’s lastest post..To facebook or not to facebook…
By DesignHER Momma on 08.16.08 4:06 pm | Permalink
people still use IE? get out of the cave people! Just kidding, but Firefox is way better. Giveaways, I do them all the time, I think they are fun. No strings attached giveaways are the best.
DesignHER Momma’s lastest post..To facebook or not to facebook…
By DesignHER Momma on 08.16.08 4:07 pm | Permalink
If you are self-hosted, you don’t need to upload your photos to flickr or photobucket. You can store them on your site. I like to do this to keep my flickr account clean.
I won’t switch from IE, but I have my own freakish personal reasons that have nothing to do with either browser. I wish I wasn’t so freaky.
Another fabulous entry!
Natalie’s lastest post..Empowered, Angry or Bully?
By Natalie on 08.17.08 12:29 am | Permalink
I had Mozilla Firefox on my old laptop, and loved it (most of the time) although either from issues with my lappy or with my internetz, I got those funky ‘error’ messages a LOT. Since getting my Macbook, I’ve loved Safari and have never gotten an error message.
Per your usual awesomeness, BTSP rocked. I love the idea of the Q&A!
Thanks for the coding for buttons-I’ve been copying other people’s codes (from the codes on their buttons) but it’s nice to have my very own template
Thanks Jennifer!
flickrlovr’s lastest post..I’ve Gone Over To The Dark Side
By flickrlovr on 08.17.08 2:19 am | Permalink
I seriously don’t know how people function with IE anymore. Firefox has so many great add-ons and functions that internet browsing has changed dramatically.
And stat counters? I really am beginning to hate them. I think I have about four different versions at the moment - trying to decipher which to keep, but they all give different numbers. It’s very confusing.
Excellent series Jennifer. I heart you!
By sam {temptingmama} on 08.17.08 8:53 am | Permalink
OMG. I’ve been hanging onto IE forever, and I switched to Firefox yesterday and I don’t know why I ever resisted. SO MUCH BETTER!
Devan’s lastest post..What in the world?!
By Devan on 08.17.08 10:26 pm | Permalink
You are soooo my blogging guru! Everytime I have a question about formatting on my blog, I totally come to your blog to check it out and I usually find my answer!
In the Trenches of Mommyhood’s lastest post..Sarah’s Olympic Opinion
By In the Trenches of Mommyhood on 08.18.08 8:02 am | Permalink
I use StatCounter religiously now, after being a SiteMeter girl for years. Wait, I haven’t been blogging for years. Well, StatCounter is the way to go and I expect to see the following point added to your post: StatCounter has just rolled out the function of tracking Exit Links. This is incredibly valuable if you want an easy way of seeing if your readers are actually clicking on all of those blogs and services you link to. I can now say, with certainty, that if I link to you, at least 10% of my readers will click on that link, which is actually pretty good.
Also, although I swear by Firefox, a good way to help a slow-loading blog that you refuse to clean up by way of uncluttered sidebars, is to put your content in the far left column. That way, while all of those IE losers are loading your blog, they can at least read your post while your sidebar full of blog bling loads.
Um, Jennifer, did you invite me to contribute to this Q&A? Because I just did.
Megan {Velveteen Mind}’s lastest post..Blog Nosh Magazine is… doing big stuff you don’t want to miss!
By Megan {Velveteen Mind} on 08.18.08 9:33 am | Permalink