Blogging Basics 101

How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers

I just returned from BlogHer 2008 in San Franciso. I appeared on a panel with four other women called FAQs for Beginning Bloggers. Our panel was flat-out amazing. We met fantastic bloggers and answered many beginner questions. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to answer everyone’s questions. I hope to talk to the BlogHer Three (Lisa, Jory, and Elisa) to discuss having this panel again next year and including a Birds of a Feather Room so we can continue our discussions.

Below you will find my notes from my portion of the panel. After each of the presenters (me, Michele Mitchell of Scribbit, Nelly Yusopova of Webgrrls International, and Shazia Mistry of Adventures in Motherhood) gave a short overview of some basic FAQs, we broke into smaller groups discuss platform-specific questions (i.e., TypePad, Blogger, and WordPress).

We have also compiled a Blogging Resources Document (pdf) for you to download.

In addition, you can find Nelly’s notes at WebGrrrls and Michele’s notes at Scribbit.

How do I find basic html resources to help me remember how to do things like strike-thrus etc.?

When I research information for Blogging Basics 101, I start with a Google search of key words. I also go to each of the three main platforms (Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress) and search their help files with those same key words. More often than not, I find what I’m looking for.

The following five sites are excellent resources for all bloggers to refresh your memory on how to do things like strike-throughs or add a button to your sidebar.

• Blogging Basics 101: This site starts from the beginning and walks you through everything from choosing your blog host and choosing a blog name to figuring out how to do a strike-through and customize your sidebars.
• Blogger Buster: Blogger users should have this one in their bookmarks. Everything you want to know and then some about how to manage and customize your Blogger blog.
• Edublogger: This site is specifically written for people who design, develop, and use educational blogs. However, the information spans niches and is valuable to all bloggers. The author uses many screen captures to make instructions especially easy to follow.
• BlogWell: This site offers everything from theory and design articles to HTML and CSS instruction for WordPress. It is targeted to small businesses and non-profits.
• Lorelle on WordPress: As the name suggests, this blog focuses on WordPress.org and WordPress.com blogs and how to take them to the next level. Lorelle provides tips, advice, and techniques for WordPress bloggers.

What are and how do I create permalinks?

A permalink is the link to an individual blog post. These are important because if you ever need to link to an exact blog entry (e.g., for a carnival or an archived post), you use the permalink as your link. It's poor blog etiquette not to use the permalink.

If you don't use the permalink, you'll just be linking to your main blog page. The problem with that is that, as you post new blog entries, the newest entry appears at the top of your main blog page and the other entries are pushed down on the page. The entry your readers are looking for may be down at the bottom of the page or already in the archives; your reader has no idea where to find the entry! If they click over to your site expecting to see a post specific to a carnival and they see a different post, they may not take the time to find the "real" post they're looking for.

You can find the permalink link under any blog entry. However, not all blog hosts/designs handle permalinks the same way.

• Typepad: There's a link that actually says Permalink under the entry.
• Blogger: The link varies. It's usually the time stamp of the post or the title.
• WordPress: Has a link at the bottom of the post named Permalink and/or the title of the post.

What kind of basic sections should I have in my blog?

I take this to mean What should I place in my sidebar? Your sidebar is your list of things you want to keep handy for your readers and for yourself. Your sidebar is offering your readers something in addition to the day’s post. However, too many links in the sidebar can clutter your design and overwhelm your audience. Keep things clean and orderly.

• Recent Posts/Most popular posts/Archives: You don’t need all three. Just choose one of these.
• Categories or Search: I find that search works well for my blogs, because I have a long list of categories. The search takes up less space and is an easy-to-install widget from Widgetbox.
• About Me/E-mail/Contact information: This is your opportunity to explain your blog. E-mail or other contact information should be readily available so your readers (or PR and marketing people) can contact you.
• RSS subscription button: Blogging Basics 101 has an entire section on RSS and installation and you can review Nelly’s notes at WebGrrrls as well.
• Blogroll (if you choose to do one)

Hosted vs. Non-Hosted?

Hosted: A blog that resides on the host’s server (e.g., Blogger or TypePad or WordPress.com).

Non-hosted: A blog that resides on the user’s (yours) server. You pay a third-party to host your blog (e.g., Moveable Type or WordPress.org).

Hosted Pros: Easy to get started because you don’t have to worry about server issues.

Hosted Cons:

• Blogger blogs can appear to be less professional
• Platform limitations (e.g., archiving can be less than user-friendly; TypePad can have issues with comment spam and trackback spam; difficult SEO)
• Less control over HTML and CSS
• WordPress.com does not allow advertising.

Non-Hosted Pros:

• Control over permalinks (articles aren’t randomly named) which can help with SEO
• Control over how archives are managed
• Control over CSS/HTML

Non-Hosted Cons:

• WordPress.org only supports one blog per installation; however, Moveable Type supports multiple blogs per installation.
• Moveable Type isn’t as malleable as WordPress.org.

How do I make a custom header?

• Using GIMP (free to download) to make custom blog banner (via Simply A Musing Blog)
• How to use PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements to design a custom blog header (via DesignMom) 

To those of you who joined us, thank you! It was a pleasure meeting you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions. For those of you who were unable to attend our panel or BlogHer ’08, please follow the links to our Blogging Resources Document and panel notes. I’d love to hear from you if you have questions!

I am cross-posting this at Don't Try This at Home and BlogHer.com.

How do I install a ShareThis button?

The ShareThis button looks like this

When a reader clicks on the ShareThis button, they can choose the link they want to submit your article to (e.g., kirtsy, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, etc.). It's an uncluttered and very useful.

ShareThis actually has it's own web site that walks your through setting this up on your blog. I'll point you to the pages you'll need.

• Blogger Plug-In
• TypePad Plug-In
• WordPress Plug-In

One word of caution: When I installed the ShareThis button on my TypePad blogs, I received numerous e-mails stating my sites were loading incredibly slowly. Once I removed the ShareThis button, things returned to normal. Instead of the ShareThis button, I use the FeedBurner option of placing these links in the footer of each post. I don't discourage you from using the button, but if you do, check with your readers to ensure the load time of your site hasn't been compromised.

On my Blogger blog I have a links section on my blog that is growing too large. Can you recommend a good drop down menu code generator?

If you just want to make your archives into a drop-down menu, that's pretty easy in Blogger. To make your Blogger archives into a drop-down menu, these are the basic steps:

1. Go to Layout.
2. Click Edit on the Blog Archive page element. A Configure Blog Archive window will pop up.
3. Beside Style choose Dropdown Menu. Then choose the format you like best.
4. Click Save Changes.

However, if you want to make another page element into a drop-down menu (e.g., your blogroll), we need to get a widget and/or insert some code. There are several places to get this information:

• A Drop-Down Menu for Your Labels. I like Blogger Buster's tutorials. They are easy to follow and concise.
• Drop-Down Menu Creator. This is an easy-to-use widget, but you do have to plug in each title/link and click Add after each one. If you have your links ready, this shouldn't take too long.
• Drop-Down Menu for Blogger Beta

I have tried each of these and found them to be very easy to install on a Blogger blog.

You need to be aware that if you put too much information in a drop-down menu, your page will load slowly. You still have the same information, it's just in a drop-down menu. That makes it easier to contain, but doesn't fix the slow download.

If your page is loading very slowly, you may want to make a separate page or post with your links in it and just use a text or graphic to link to that page from your sidebar.

How can I remove widgets from my sidebar in WordPress?

Jordan McCollum from Momma Blogga is answering this one because she's awesome at WP.

To get widgets out of the sidebar in WordPress:

1. Go to Presentation > Widgets. 
2. Click the widget you don't want anymore and drag it down to the "Available Widgets" box before releasing it.  It must be below the words "Available Widgets" before you release it (even if it's in the blue area). The other boxes in the Available Widgets will move when you have it in the right place. 
3. Then drop it.
4. Click Save Changes and it should be out of your sidebar for good!

I've seen many blogs with countdown meters for blogaversaries (5 days until my blogaversary, etc). How do I go about getting one installed on my blogger account?

Countdown clocks are fun for many bloggers and they are fairly easy to install on your blog.

The Annual Occasion Countdown Clock is very easy to set up. You just type in all the pertinent information (including the size you'd like the calendar to be) and click the Get Widget button.

SpringWidgets.com's Widget Gallery offers even more countdown widgets with many themed designs. Just do a search for countdown and see what comes up.

Plugins for WordPress:

• KB Countdown Widget
• WordPress list o' widgets

How do I add an Amazon list to my sidebar?

Amazon.com wants to make adding their info to your blog page as easy as possible. To that end they have developed many widgets to help you. There is an entire page of Amazon.com widgets to choose from. When you choose which widget you want to use, Amazon will explain how to use it. For the most part, you'll want these widgets to appear in your sidebar. Choose your widget, then copy the code, and follow these instructions for adding the code to your sidebar.

Typepad has instructions for the following:

• Displaying your Amazon Wish List
• Using Amazon.com's Widgets with Typepad

Typepad also has a list of Amazon.com widgets that should install by themselves. Once you have installed the widgets, you'll want to customize where they appear in your sidebar. You can do this by going to Weblogs > Design > Current Design > Order Content.

For Blogger users:

1. Login to Dashboard.
2. Click Layout.
3. Click Page Elements.
4. Click Add Page Elements.
5. Choose HTML/Java Script (click on Add to Blog button).
6. Paste the code from Amazon in the Content area (it's not necessary to have a title here).
7. Click Save.

WordPress users can download plugins for Amazon at WordPress, WordPress Plugin Database, and  Widgetbox.

What is a widget?

The word widget is short for window gadget. A widget is simply a visual element of your page that does something (e.g., a drop-down menu, an iPod playlist, ads, or even your RSS subscription feed).

How do I use Mr. Linky?

When you are hosting a carnival (e.g., Works-For-Me Wednesday or the Blogging Story carnival) you are inviting people to write on a specific topic. You give them the topic, which day they need to post the blog entry on that topic, then ask them to come back to your site and submit their link so everyone can see what everyone else wrote.

Carnivals are a great way to improve traffic to your site by hosting, but also through participation. The beauty of a carnival is that links to all the participating blogs are in one place (the host blog). The best way we've found to host all these links easily is a program called Mr. Linky. You can see Mr. Linky in action every Wednesday at Shannon's Works-For-Me Wednesday extravaganza.

To get started with Mr. Linky:

1. Create an account at the Mr. Linky site.
2. Next, click on the Wizard link at the top of the page.
3. Choose your server (e.g., Typepad, Blogger, Wordpress).
4. Choose the widget you want to use (I usually just use Original Auto-Linkies).
5. Click on the Generate Code button.
6. Follow the instructions provided.

That's it. It's really a very straight-forward program that is endlessly useful.

How do I add blogring code to my blog?

A blogring is a group of blogs that all have organized links to each other. These rings usually link like-minded blogs together. For instance, there are state blogrings (e.g., Blog Oklahoma) , knitting blogrings, mommy blogrings (e.g., Crazy Hip Blog Mamas), etc. For more information, see the Wiki on webrings.

Every blogring has its own code that each participant puts on their blog sidebar. This code usually provides links to the other blogring users and the blogring home page. Copy your blogring's code and follow the directions below for your platform.

Blogger

1. Log in to your Blogger dashboard.
2. Click on "Layout".
3. Click on the Template tab, then click on "Page Elements".
4. Click on "Add a Page Element".
5. Add the "HTML/Javascript" element by clicking the "Add to Blog" button under that choice.
6. Paste your blogring code into the blank content area. Providing a title is optional. More than likely your blogring code will have the title of the ring embedded in the code and it will show up after you save and publish. However, if you would like to name the element, type the title in the "Title" box.
7. Click "Save Changes".
8. Click the "Save" button on your Page Elements page.

Typepad

1. Login to your Typepad account.
2. Make a new Links Typelist.
3. Paste the blogring code into the "Notes" field. You can leave the "Title" and "URL" fields blank.
4. Click Save.
5. Click the "Configure" tab.
6. Under Display, choose "Show Notes as text".
7. Click Save Changes.
8. Click the "Publish" tab.
9. Choose which blog(s) where you want to publish this new Typelist.
10. Click Save Changes.
11. Republish your blog pages.

WordPress

(These instructions provided by Jordan at Momma Blogga.)

To put your blogrings in your sidebar:

1. Log in to WordPress.com and go to Presentation > Widgets.
2. From the Available Widgets, drag a Text widget into the Sidebar box (above).
3. Click on the small graphic beside Text 1 in the Sidebar ('Configure').
4. A new box will appear.  In the small text box at the top, you can type a title for the field ("Blogrings").  In the larger box, paste your code.
5. Once you've entered the code, close the box, then click Save Changes.
6. NOTE: If this is the first time you've used widgets in your sidebar, it will replace everything that was already there.  You should use the Available Widgets if you'd like to re-add your Search, Pages, Archives, Categories, blogroll(s) (the 'Links' widget) and Meta to your sidebar.

To put your blogrings on a page of your site:

1. Log in to WordPress.com and go to Write > Write Page.
2. Title the page ("Blogrings") and select the Code tab.
3. Paste your code into the text area and click Publish.
4. NOTE: If you have customized your sidebar with widgets, don't forget to include a Pages widget so people can find your blogrings and other pages.