Fixed Hovering Social Bookmarking Widget For Blogger - Video Tutorial

You may have noticed Social Bookmarking Buttons or Icons in a fixed or hovering position that scroll with the page on many of the blogs you visit.This type of Fixed Bookmarking widget has become very popular and can get more people sharing your content on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.In this Blogger Tip i will show you probably the easiest way you too can have fixed social bookmarking buttons on your blog.The widget we are going to use is from Share This, it looks great, offers users the option to share on almost every Social Network and is easy to implement.

This is a video post so you can follow the steps in the video with a quick run down of the steps below it.I also have a demo so you can see exactly how it looks :


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Google Update Page Rank Has Yours Increased ?

Google today updated their page rank (PR) or the so called toolbar page rank.Page rank is basically a signal of how important any given page is in Googles eyes.Page rank goes from 0 (zero) to 10 (Ten) with 10 being the highest thus the best.The page rank we see is called toolbar page rank as it was first displayed on the Google toolbar although there are many other ways to view it.In general people refer to their website or blog PR by the PR of the home page, but every single page on your blog will have it's own PR.More on Page rank can be found in this post from when i informed you of the last update in January - Google Page Rank Information and even more from the great Matt Cutts Here.

In this post i want to look at how the change effected My Blogs, What will an increase mean, How to check your blogs page rank and some tips on increasing your page rank.

Our Page Rank ?

The update was very kind to Spice Up Your Blog as it has jumped from PR3 to PR5, many posts have a page rank of 3-4 also.It is a small percentage of blogs that reach PR5 (Half way up the ladder)  so I'm delighted to achieve it and see my hard work pay off.As a large part of Page Rank is from people linking to a site i would like to thank everyone that links to us and hope you continue to do so.I actually got a bit of a surprise to see our Blogger template site BestBloggerTemplates.Net jumped from PR0 to PR3, considering the domain was only connected a few months ago (Was formally www.templates.spiceupyourblog.com) it's great.I have had other blogs also increase, my Social Icon site also jumped from PR0 to PR3.

What Will Increased Page Rank Do ?

When we talk about things like page rank it is important to remember it is just one signal.Spice Up Your Blog going from PR3 to PR5 does not necessarily indicate that i will see an instant increase in traffic from Google.It does show I'm heading in the right direction and performing well in search but many more factors come into play.

Check Your Blogs Page Rank

You can check your blogs current page rank with this Page Rank Checker (Do please ignore all the rubbish ads with offers to increase your page rank) let us know your results in the comments.

How Can You Increase Your Page Rank ?

Google use over 200 signals to determine Page Rank, some we know others are kept private.The main signal is backlinks, links Google find around the web pointing to your blog.If lots of people link to your blog it must be good, makes sense huh ? This post has more on the subject - Building Backlinks And Information To Increase Google Search Rank And Page Rank.Recent signals added to the google algorithms include Social Signals and Page Load Time.What you need to be doing is publishing Regular Good Unique content, Building Links to that content and staying patient allowing natural links to build.You can find lots of information and tools for this in our selection of Blogger SEO.

Let us know if your blogs page rank has changed in this update ?

How To Use Images For List Bullet Points On Your Blog

In this post i have a really cool Blog Design Tip to spice up the lists on your blog.When you create an ordered list, items in the list are numbered, and in an unordered list items have what is called a bullet point.What we will do in this post is replace the default bullet point with an image.We do this with just a small snippet of Css including the image URL.To make it as easy as possible i have 10 ready to use images for your bullet points but you can of course use your own image.I also have this set so you can just use the image bullet point on selected lists.If we set it to work on all lists on your blog it could mess up your sidebar and other sections.
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Writing Top Class Blog Posts : A Definitive Guide

This is a guest post by Charlie Carey.

In a world where Google search rules the blogosphere, and where we often obsess over the smallest changes to the homepage, the most important thing is often ignored. What is this magic ingredient, you ask? What is the magic tool that can make a blog stand out from all the rest? Well, it’s simple: good content. Without it, you can be mediocre at best, boring at worst, and you’ll scare away repeat readers like flies from a flyswatter.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Follow a few simple rules, and this stumbling block can be entirely removed from your path.
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How And Why To Log Into Facebook As Your Fan Or Like Page Not Your Profile - Video Post

In this Video Post we look at a feature of Facebook some of you may not know, I didn't know myself until recently.Most of you will have a Facebook Fan Page or Like Page for your Blog and If you have not you should create a fan page for your blog.Did you know you can log into Facebook as your Fan Page Or Like page (I keep saying both Fan and Like as Facebook are trying to have them referred to as like pages but many still know them as fan pages).Now the advantage of logging in as your Fan Page or Like Page is two fold, the notifications and other updates that are displayed are for the page not your profile and as you navigate your way around Facebook any comments or information you leave will also be left as your page not your profile.Confused Yet ? In the video i show exactly how it's done and the advantages, it can even help you get more fans !

How To Log Into Facebook As Your Fan Page Video Tutorial

Have You Liked Spice Up Your Blog Yet ? Click Like Below Now !

That's it, make sure to check out more of our Facebook Tips For Bloggers.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

Switching From Blogspot To A Custom Domain Your Questions Answered

Last weekend i published two Blogger Tips on using a custom domain instead of the blogspot sub domain on your blog.The first post covered why in my opinion your must switch from the Blogspot sub domain to a Custom domain and the second showed exactly how easy it is to switch from blogspot to your own domain.The reaction to the posts was great and I'm delighted to see readers placing trust in my opinion and knowing i wont lead them in the wrong direction.I know from the over 50 comments and lots of Emails a big number of blogs have made the change.But like most things in life change generates questions and this was no different.So in this post i want to look at some of the questions that were received in the comments for the posts and by Email.

I will start with some of the basic questions and then get into some of the more tricky issues.

Questions On Changing From Blogspot To A Custom Domain

Will I loose My Followers When I Change To A Custom Domain ? - This refers to the Google Friend Connect Followers and the answer is No you wont loose them.Blogger have posted both on the known issues page and on the Blogger Twitter account that there has been problems with the Followers gadget recently so you could have experienced unrelated problems.

Are there any limitations on bandwidth, visitors etc ? - The answer is No, there are no limits imposed when you change to a custom domain.

Does my feed automatically redirect ? - The short answer is Yes.The default feed will fully redirect.However if you have a feed on feedburner it simply keeps pulling your posts from the blogspot domain.It is important you not change the domain in your Feedburner settings as then you will loose the subscribers.So to wrap up, on Feedburner your feed will stay connected to your old sub domain but that is not an issue.

Do I Lose Page Rank and Alexa Rank ? - As you will be using a brand new domain the answer is yes.However you should not loose traffic or search traffic which is the important factor.

If I change to a custom domain, will the URL of a particular post (not the blog itself) still be functional after a change? In other words, will the old URL direct you to that particular post? - The answer is yes.Every post and every page of your blog will redirect to the new domain.So for example a post published a year ago as :

yourblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/an-amazing-post.html

Would then automatically be :

yourblog.com/2010/06/an-amazing-post.html

Can i control the dns after setting up a new .com domain with blogger ? - Yes and i show you how to access the Domain Name Settings in this video - Create Email Addresses Connected To Your Blogger Custom Domain Plus Access DNS Settings.

If i buy a custom domain from blogger,then is hosting from blogger will be free or we have to pay some more amount for hosting also ? - There is no extra charges, hosting works as it does with the sub domain it's totally free.

If u change to a custom domain, do you still have the blogger features and can you return to a blogsot domain after ? In the case of your domain expiring would you be changed back to a blogspot domain or would your blog stop working ? - You can at any time switch back to the blogspot sub domain by going to your Settings > Publishing at the very top of the page you will see "Switch to blogspot.com".On a side note if your domain expired i think (cant confirm) you would need to manually switch to blogspot it would not be automatic.So basically the option is always there to switch back and if your domain is expiring and you are not going to renew make sure to switch it back yourself.

Will my stats be reset to zero - This refers to Blogger stats available on the stats page and they can be displayed on your blog via the stats gadget.I'm afraid i don't know the answer to this one although i would imagine the would continue on.Perhaps someone that recently bought a domain could let me know in the comments.Update - Geri Centonze has confirmed in the comments your stats are not reset and will indeed continue as before.

Update, Losing Blog List - A lot of comments suggest you loose your blog list once you connect your new domain.So it will make sense to save your blog list links so you can quickly add them again.

Domain Not Connected Blog In Transition

Usually when you buy your custom domain it is in transition for 20 to 30 minutes before the domain is connected.During this time readers can still access the Blogspot address so no harm done.However some people do experience a longer transition period.There is no major advice for this apart from be patient.It is also wise to clear the cache on your browser before checking as the new domain could be connected but your looking at the cached transition page.

- Instructions to clear Cache on all browsers

Recommended Reading

nitecruzr is a top moderator in the Blogger Help forum and also provides great information on his blog The Real Blogger Status.Here are four posts from that blog that give some more information on changing you domain -

- Custom Domain Setup, Your Blog, and Your Readers

- Custom Domains, And SEO

- Blogger Magic - Custom Domain Redirects

- Custom Domain Migration - Managing The Traffic

You should Subscribe or Follow The Real Blogger Status as Chuck always seems to have his finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest Blogger Issues.

That's it i really hope that answered many of your questions, if you have more questions or answers leave a comment.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

A Cool Any Size jQuery Powered Featured Posts Slider For Blogger

Over the last few weeks i have published some cool jQuery Gadgets and Widgets for your Blogs.In this post i have taken the jQuery Easy Slider, a stylish slide show with some neat options and turned it into a kinda mini slider with the option to go large.We previously published the Blogger jQuery Anything Slider that had the option to add videos or images as slides and a Simple But Stylish Blogger Featured Posts Slider.So i wanted to continue with a slide show that could be easily re sized from spanning the width of your blog to the miniature example i have here.

This jQuery Featured Posts Slider also has features like auto scroll, continues scroll plus next slide and previous slide buttons for manual scroll.The original Easy Slider script and code was created by the very cool Css Globe, below is a live demo of our version.



As you can see i have gone small in the demo but it could be even smaller and of course much much bigger.

Add The Any Size jQuery Slider To Blogger

Remember Always Back Up Your Template Before You Make Changes - How To Back Up A Blogger Template

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Edit Html



Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - How To Find Code In A Blogger Template)

]]></b:skin>

Step 3. Copy and Paste the following code Directly Above / Before ]]></b:skin>

/*Slider Css*/
#slider{}
#slider ul, #slider li{
margin:0;
padding:0;
list-style:none;
}
#slider li{

width:320px;

height:111px;

overflow:hidden;
}
#prevBtn, #nextBtn{
display:block;
width:30px;
height:77px;
position:absolute;
left:-30px;

top:15px;

}
#nextBtn{
left:320px;
}
#prevBtn a, #nextBtn a{
display:block;
width:30px;
height:77px;
background:url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjinBWMSLCpuyTA73IADqTHLYuteEk_yQLfzdoOfFYT26U6_INsiRhl_A3ooYdlnV4GSHM24t-gcYXnCK0TBnj7NkFGm4R5odqAUnXEhhNCbwbD7767H8wHGf5UsISkc8Iy7fM9Zfa2Q00/s1600/btn_prev.gif) no-repeat 0 0;
}
#nextBtn a{
background:url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmKCg-JlDtIrujH3Xxti1dNYZJaa30gwiODIKIzQ0cJ-obHK-Pows4ZE4sHIuTDDZwkv8dfzlbKFPd6VTdSPk-b9Fnle92OJ2zswtdRPpBld1x1_RB9IgocdMre0AB4v58Z0nBV3yhmY/s1600/btn_next.gif) no-repeat 0 0;
}
/*Slider Css Info @ http://www.spiceupyourblog.com*/

Change the size of the slider - The width and height are highlighted in yellow so you change these to your required dimensions.You will also have to change the position of the next and previous buttons which is a little more tricky.

Highlighted in red you can see i have the buttons 15px from the top, if you made the slider bigger you would increase the margin from the top.So for example if you made the slider 222px high you would make this 30px.You can try a few margins until you get it right.

Step 4. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - How To Find Code In A Blogger Template)

</head>

Step 5. Now Copy And Paste This Code Directly Above / Before </head>

Note - If you have previously added jQuery to your template you can leave out the section in green.

<script src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<script src='http://suyb.googlecode.com/files/easySlider1.7.js-blogger.js'/>
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
$(&quot;#slider&quot;).easySlider({
auto: true,
continuous: true
});
});
</script>

That's the Css and Script added for the slider now we add the Html for the actual images.

The Html, Links And Images

This is the html for the actual slider in the demo blog, you can see the links and images highlighted.You can copy and paste this code into a Html / Javascript gadget from your design page, add your links then save and drag and drop into position.

<div id="slider"> <ul>

<li><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHD-dhk4BRiANnubspFizl5KMqRI1MkGz4byJy6PMNlfrHEyGEaL6su8g_e9XWnaRvAAeC62ZslPMaNzDEgAQLhWKwPaPUTH2J98nju7f1jCy-nBT8vAWft9ZyinMOx7cPrKCWnOqjdk/s320/01.jpg" width="320px" height="111px" /></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bestbloggertemplates.net"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNqHoHxz3JgxQZUYCoy2lQlEqCCzcokNDoOS8QkoT6iUvCiIA5Rv0F9cHFitRMKLhyphenhyphen2pWQAtJ5egF7gSvle3P8ZQe9MbmXpIcHld0Rr-vzH3HLGT0Qu5V2VaE0DqqSJRl5cod8T-wDHo/s320/02.jpg" width="320px" height="111px"/></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.socialiconstudio.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6msJa-7Ghkd79xwW2eDkCcooPOihYzSXLzAXRItsFmdVHxeqBSOzNKh8jeDxcCZIfmLWqDpdd8fcm5pGUxa3fdnmWOaMohQkzdPcONL39cVCZlK_YaXy2I9Ts_b0Bkpglqv9wHCHtGQ/s320/03.jpg" width="320px" height="111px" /></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAMzyW5B5wweEKDNt1AEcydyhg5Npsk-jrE_s65livNR_AhOEt1AN4z14-3pgcC-AdgeSqTZI_0v8YlujS4hqJUtCSni5cVxi1Ykoc3VZDnlGy6nqMCW7fnx7qMse7VqHNk11oO9XS_I/s320/04.jpg" width="320px" height="111px" /></a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bestbloggertemplates.net"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmR4XNPc1sHtPippvjlFQ5hcZfrVg9KJSeuAORy6k8lzTDsFjYd7R8-B0XdgZmnDGwKpYc0s0YLNrY33N5aBxe6bl9zGgDmt1m3rE27QAK23F3f8luwvqq0bLmGCGN308TCAfGX5hZcQ/s320/05.jpg" width="320px" height="111px" /></a></li>

</ul>
</div>

Note - The links are in yellow and the image URLs in red, change these to your links and images.

Note 1 - If you do change the size of the slider you need to change the width and height in each slide above to the same dimensions.

Add More Slides - To add more slides you simply add another link and image like this after the <ul> tag above :

<li><a href="http://www.bestbloggertemplates.net"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmR4XNPc1sHtPippvjlFQ5hcZfrVg9KJSeuAORy6k8lzTDsFjYd7R8-B0XdgZmnDGwKpYc0s0YLNrY33N5aBxe6bl9zGgDmt1m3rE27QAK23F3f8luwvqq0bLmGCGN308TCAfGX5hZcQ/s320/05.jpg" width="320px" height="111px" /></a></li>

That's it for the versatile jQuery Easy Slider and this Blogger Tip.Once again thanks to Css Globe, and make sure to check out more of our jQuery Gadgets and Blogger Gadgets.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

Create Email Addresses Connected To Your Blogger Custom Domain Plus Access DNS Settings And More

This week we looked at using custom domains on Blogger Blogs, why you should get a custom domain and the steps to buy and connect a custom domain on Blogger.Those posts have been popular and I'm delighted to see many of you have took my advice and bought domains for your blog getting rid of the ugly blogspot.In those posts i mentioned Google Apps and how when you buy a domain through Blogger you get a free Google apps account.Google apps actually offer some great features that are all available to you once you buy your domain.Two of the main features of Google apps are the option to create Email addresses associated with the domain you bought.So you can create for example yourname @yourblog.com or info @yourblog.com and so on.Another feature of Google apps is the option to access your DNS or Domain Settings.So you can log into your domain host account and access things like Cname records.

In this video post i do my best to explain the whole process from accessing your Google apps account to creating multiple Emails connected to your domain, enjoy !

Google Apps Video Tutorial

That's it for this Blogger Tip, have to admit it was hard to explain so the video went a bit long (As did the title of the post :p).Luckily YouTube did take the full video so hopefully you have learned just some of the Google Apps features available to you.

Remember Google apps offer many many more features and we only touched on the basics, you should take 30 minutes when you get the chance to look through all it offers.The Google Apps Support center is a great place to start.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

A New Blog This Google Chrome Extension For Blogger

Blogger and Google Chrome today made a 'Blog This' extension available for the Google Chrome Browser.Blog This lets you instantly share any web page on your blog.Once Downloaded simply clicking the Blog This icon in the browser address bar will open your Blogger post editor with a link to the page your on included in the editor.If you highlight some text on the page before clicking the Blog This button that text will also be pre-loaded into the post editor with the link.So for example if you wanted to share this post on your blog you would highlight a few lines of text, click your Blog This button and your post editor would open in a new window with that text and a link to this post already in place.
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How To Buy A Custom Domain Directly From Blogger And Connect It To Your Blog - Video Post

In the last post i told you how i though Not having a custom domain on your blog was stupid.For me getting rid of the blogspot sub domain is very important.In this post i want to show you exactly how to get a custom domain directly from Blogger.When you buy a domain from Blogger you can do it from your dashboard, use your Google/Blogger account to set it up and best of all the job of connecting the domain to your blog is done for you.

This is a video post and in the video below i go through each step.

Connect Custom Domain To Blogger Video Tutorial

Update - Make sure to also check out this post on How you can choose between eNom and GoDaddy when buying your domain.

That's it follow the steps and your done !

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

Why Not Getting A Custom Domain For Your Blogger Blog Is Stupid

In this post we want to look at custom domains and using a custom domain on Blogger instead of the blogspot sub domain.When you start your free blog on Blogger you choose a free sub domain like spiceyourblog.blogspot.com.This is the address of your blog and in general you carry on setting up your blog and start posting.However you do have the option to use a custom domain and get rid of the blogspot part, to be like spiceupyourblog.com, a full domain without blogspot.What are the advantages of this ? In fact the advantages are huge !

Blogger is totally free and that is a big attraction over other platforms like Wordpress, while there is a free version of Wordpress it is rubbish and constraining.The self hosted Wordpress is a fantastic platform but you must have a custom domain and pay for hosting every month.So if you want to set up a blog quickly with a lot of freedom most will go with Blogger.Blogger do not charge for hosting or indeed anything connected to your blog, 99.9% of Blogger templates are free as are any gadgets etc you require (And you have amazing blogs like this with Blogger Tips helping you along the way :D ).

Dot Blogspot Dot Com

But Blogger or more specifically blogs using Blogspot sub domains have been in some quarters for this very reason associated with low quality sites.In fact many people land on a blog, see it has a blogspot sub domain and are immediately sceptical.Why ? Here's what i think ..

The great feature of being able to start a blog on Blogger in less than 5 minutes also has it's downside.Tens of Thousands of blogs started are by people that write 3 or 4 posts and realize it's not as easy as it looks so quit.Leaving low quality outdated blogs behind them.

Spammers using the free service to set up auto blogs and republish copied content surrounded by ads.Some of the blogs i have seen are a joke with more ads than content.

While there are lots of amazing blogs using blogspot sub domains there are now hundreds of thousands of abandoned or low quality blogs also.And these blogs in many ways hurt the general image of Blogger Blogs using blogspot sub domains.

In the same way as i when i see a blog with the domain .co.cc or .tk (both free) i instantly think the site will be low quality, if they were serious about the site they would have a full domain often a blogspot sub domain is looked at in the same way.

Custom Domains Are Almost Free

That is why in my opinion not having a custom domain is just stupid ! If the custom domain cost $100 i would think OK well that is a lot of money for most people.But it's nothing near that.Setting up a custom domain directly though Blogger is easy and costs just $10 per year.

That's $0.83 cent per month or less than $0.3 cent per day !

Every thing else is free, surly you can afford $10 bucks in a year.And by setting it up through Blogger it is all done for you and you have features like free Email accounts connected to your domain (yourname@yourblog.com).In fact just this week your Google Apps account connected to your domain can act as a full Google account, more on that at a later date.

In a Recent post on ProBlogger the question was asked "Why are Bloggers so against spending money on their blogs?" That post was about buying advertising and spending a few hundred bucks.But it is a valid question, why are Bloggers so against spending even a few dollars when it can have such a huge impact ? We really do need to get out of the "Everything Should Be Free" Mentality.

Setting Up Your Domain

In the next post that i will publish (Later Today) to run along side this i will show you in a video just how simple it is to buy and set up your free domain through Blogger.Update - That video post is published and can be found here - Buy A Custom Domain Directly From Blogger And Connect It To Your Blog.

And remember even though a domain can be bought for around a dollar cheaper elsewhere always use Blogger, and people telling you otherwise are probably doing it so you use there referral link for domain registrars.The last thing a newbie wants to be doing is trying to figure out the DNS settings on a site like GoDaddy.

Why You Wouldn't Change To A Custom Domain

I guess there are a few cases in which i wouldn't change.The main one would be if you have a really well established blog.Lets say you have been blogging for a few years and have already built a brand around the Blogspot domain.But even if your blog is lets say a year old with 100 posts i would still make the change.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

How To Add Footer Columns On Blogger To Display Labels

A recent Email i received asked about two of my other blogs and how i had managed to place a list of labels across five columns in the footer.The two blogs in question are gallery's for Blogger Templates and Social Icons, as they are gallery's they both have a lot of labels or categories.Displaying all labels in the sidebar is not an option as it would take up too much room.So i have placed them listed alphabetically neatly in the footer across five columns.I then display some of the main labels in the sidebar with a link that jumps directly to the list in the footer for people to navigate.I find this a great use of space and in this Blogger Tip i will show you how i have done it.Below you can see some screenshots and i have the links to each site for you to see the section in action.




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Adding Simple Stylish Css Captions To Images On Blogger

In this blog tip we will look at a quiet simple way to add captions or descriptions to the images used on your blog.On Blogger there is an option when you click on an image uploaded to the post editor to add a caption.This adds the caption below the picture using a table.However with just a few lines of Css we can have the caption across the bottom on top of the image with an neat opacity background.You can also change the colors of the caption to suit your blogs design, You can see some examples in the demo below.
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How To Automatically Bookmark Your Blog Posts On Delicious Via Twitter

In this Blog Tip i will show you how you can have your posts automatically Bookmarked on Social Bookmarking website Delicious.Delicious is a very popular social bookmarking site used to store bookmarks of your favorite pages online.Delicious was bought by Yahoo in 2005 and in what seems to have been a very low key transaction Yahoo actually sold Delicious in April this year (2011) to AVOS Systems, a company owned by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen the founders of YouTube.Delicious is often used as a gage of a blogs popularity including on advertising site BuySellAds were the number of bookmarks for each site is listed.OK so enough of the history lesson lets see how to automatically bookmark your blog posts on Delicious.
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The New ShareThis Bookmarking Buttons With Share Count For Blogger

Share This is a very popular service offering multiple Social Bookmarking Widgets for blogs and websites.The green Share This icon is a familiar sight on many of the top blogs opening up a wide range of options for readers to Bookmark and share the content.In this post i have a Blogger Tip show you how to add the new Share This 'Oath' Counter Buttons to various positions on your blog.You can see the buttons in question to the top of this paragraph and that position will be one of the options for your blog.

To generate the buttons you will need to go to the Share This website and use their very easy generator process.In the video below we will go through the steps from generating the buttons to adding them to your blog.Lets look at the demo on the test blog from the video.
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New Blogger Feature - Add A Favicon To Your Blog

One of the things that can give a blog more of an identity and a brand is a logo that people will come to associate with the blog.In the same way we become used to seeing the logo of a blog also used as the favicon.Favicons are an important part of how we see a blog and how we remember a blog.In a previous Blogger Tip i showed you how to add a favicon to blogs on Blogger but today Blogger have taken action and made it part of the options on your blogs design page.So from now on with just two clicks you can add a custom favicon to your blog.



What is a favicon ? A Favicon is the small image you see beside the address bar in your browser and depending on the browser you use it is also visible in the tab menu.If you look beside the address for this page at the top of your page you should see the same brush logo that is in the header.For more information here is a link to the wikipedia page on Favicons.

To see how to have a custom favicon on your blog check out the blogger in draft post here - Customize Your Favicon.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

16 Best Free Blogger Templates Featuring Amazing jQuery Featured Slideshows

One of the popular features of Blogger Blogspot Templates is the Featured Post Slider or Slideshow Carousal.Not too long ago a very plain Image Slider was the best you could hope for and you were lucky to even get that.However now with so many awesome Free Blogger Templates and Designers creating templates and converting Css and Wordpress Themes to Blogger the options are fantastic.We constantly see templates of premium quality with stunning Image Sliders available for free download.In this post i will list 16 of the Best Blogger Templates With Featured Post Sliders, Image Sideshows and Picture Carousals.All the Sliders are created with jQuery which allows some cool features such as the transitions (The effect between each slide).

So in no particular order here is the list !
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Beautiful jQuery Lavalamp Floating Bubble Menu For Blogger In 6 Styles

I recently realised i had not covered navigation menus too much in our Blogger Tips on Spice Up Your Blog.I Guess most custom templates already have a menu and templates from the template designer have tabs enabled which will turn a link list or page list into a menu.However i knew i wanted to cover the jQuery lava lamp or floating bubble menu as it is seriously cool, interactive and i have not seen it on any Blogger blog.The lava lamp menu has an effect you may have seen on other websites, a bubble is visible behind the first link title (Usually Home) on the menu and when you place your cursor over another link title the bubble slides up to that link.It looks awesome and as ever the use of jQuery makes it possible and smooth.As an extra bonus we have this effect added to 6 different color styles of menu you can quickly add to your blog !
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Google Friend Connect Followers - How To Have A Standalone Follow Button

The Followers Gadget from Google Friend Connect is very popular and one of the most popular ways especially on Blogger for people to follow their favorite blogs.By default you can only add one followers gadget to your blog via 'Add A Gadget' so a few months ago i showed you how to have a second Google friend connect followers gadget on your blog in this post i will show you how to have a standalone Follow Button Or Text Link.So with this you can add the option to follow your blog beside Rss your Twitter and Facebook icons.You could also add it below your posts or other areas.
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The New Google +1 - Add All The Plus 1 Button Styles To Your Blog

Google have been experimenting with their +1 (Plus One) button for a while and today they released it for websites and blogs.The plus one button lets you recommend things you like to friends and they will see your recommendations in Google search results and over time in Ads and possibly other places.In search now you can see the plus one's of your friends, contacts from Gmail, Google Reader and Google Buzz.So it makes sense to allow readers to plus one your content and recommend it to their friends.Adding the button you your blog will give the readers the option to plus you up !

Live Demos - Here are the 4 styles of the +1 Button, They Work Try Them Out !

+1 In The Default Blogger Share Buttons

Blogger users will be happy to know if you have the default share buttons enabled the plus one button may already be on your blog.Below is a screenshot You can see them working on the home page of this blog.

If you don't have them enabled here are the instructions from Blogger Buzz -

To add the +1 button to your blog, you’ll need to enable Share buttons on Blogger. To do this, go to Design > Page Elements on your Blogger dashboard, find the Blog posts area, click on Edit, and select the “Show Share Buttons” option. If you are already using Share buttons, the +1 button will automatically show up as a new share option.



You know i was never a fan of the default blogger share buttons but this does give them some merit now.

Using +1 Anywhere On All Blogs

You can also grab a standalone button to use on your blog by visiting Google +1 For Webmasters.

There are 4 sizes of button to choose from once you choose you generate two snippets of code.The script with the message "Place this tag in your head or just before your close body tag" goes directly before your blogs </head> tag and the second code goes were you want the button to appear.

Add Google +1 Above Posts, Below Posts On Blogger

Lets Look At Some Places You Can Add The +1 Button On Blogger.

You can go to the +1 for webmasters page to Get The Google +1 Button Codes but i have them here also.

Add The Script

The script only needs to be added once no matter how many times you add the button.The script is the snippet with the message "Place this tag in your head or just before your close body tag" on the +1 for webmasters page.I also have it below :

Go to your blogs Design Page > Edit Html > Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

</head>

Copy and paste the following code directly Above / Before </head> then save your template.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>

That's it the script is added now choose a button and add it as shown.

Small +1 Button



Small Button Code

<g:plusone size="small"></g:plusone>

Medium +1 Button



Medium Button Code

<g:plusone size="medium"></g:plusone>

Standard +1 Button



Standard Button Code

<g:plusone></g:plusone>

Tall +1 Button



Tall Button Code

<g:plusone size="tall"></g:plusone>

Add To Blogger Sidebar

On Blogger go to your Design Page > Click Add A Gadget > Choose Html/Javascript and paste in the code for the +1 button then save.

Add Above Posts On Blogger

On Blogger Go To Design > Edit Html > Tick Expand Widget Templates.

Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

<div class='post-header-line-1'>

Paste your +1 button code Directly Below <div class='post-header-line-1'> the save your template.

Add Below Posts On Blogger

On Blogger Go To Design > Edit Html > Tick Expand Widget Templates.

Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

Paste Your +1 Button Code Directly Below <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> then save your template.

That's Google +1, I like the concept but it remains to be seen how popular it will be and if it can challenge the similar Facebook and Twitter share buttons.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.