10 Tips for New bloggers who want to add Blog Bling!

(I've only been blogging for 6 months, and I've enjoyed every bit of it- except the parts where I had no idea how to do something technical when it came to blog design. If you're a new blogger, I hope you'll find some answers to your questions.  This is really the second part to Blogging for 6months and what I've learned,
and it's all about the silent side of blogging- tech stuff.)

Home blogging is a great community to be in, and I love being a part of this group of women that share their resources. Everything I've learned about blog design has been because other bloggers have given such great  tutorials.  Technical blogging tips are difficult to read and write about. Here are a few of my favorite tips that have helped me with my blog. I hope you find what you're looking for- blog on!

Here's my "Get Connected bar", made with the help from these tips

Here's the Nerdy side of blogging and how I learned some technical things.
1.  If you use blogger, make sure you back up your blog.  Google "owns" your blog and some blogs have disappeared.   Back up your blog every week; once a week.  Go here to learn how to back up your blog- Funky Junk Interiors.

2.  I use picmonkey for my photo editing.  To learn about photo editing and how to make a water marks on your photos (like the iced coffee picture below), go here to It's Overflowing. 
 

3. I learned how to make a "Grab Button" with an html code in the box below for other people to grab and put on their blog.  You first have to store your photos on a site like Picasa or Photobucket.  I use picasa since it is also google and linked with everything on my blog.   I followed these easy steps from- Country Mama Cooks.

Here's my button.  I designed the look using Picmonkey then headed over to Country Mama Cooks for directions on the grab box.

<div align="center"> <a href="http://www.lewisvillelove.blogspot.com" title="LewisvilleLove"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKGOs-JaLdJRZlOrav5002GLN8sJniYag7MBNqcAX-EK0VdzLeyUZiO1SYmxJulvqDJW2Uin9hfi9S4Fz0uE9GHp8XsIU5D1Mx786Kw7pRhBxZOiNzi8QViz_Dkzf6XkpDxhrULzVhjF1a/s170/llovebutton.jpg" alt="LewisvilleLove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>


4.  For months, I couldn't figure out how to make a "dessert bar".  It's that bar above with facebook, pinterest, twitter, etc. To have all your connection icons in one place looks great, but how do you do it?  Something Swanky goes over every step so that even this new blogger could do it.   She has many great tutorial on how to make a navigation bar and design a new header. Visit her and follow her instructions.  She shares it all!  Thank you. Thank you. 

Here's another header I created using picmonkey.   I like having choices.

5.  And since I didn't even know how to change the color of my blog background, here's my own tip. I created a new blogger blog just to play around with all the setting without hurting Lewisville Love. Start a "new" blog that you don't intend to post or blog in at all. Go to templates and hit customize.  You can change everything.  This may sound easy, but I had a standard template for months because I didn't know how to change it and make it my own.  Be creative and experiment in the "new" blog without compromising the real deal.

6.  Link your words or link your picture?  I prefer linking pictures like the pictures on this post. If you click on any of the pictures, you'll be redirected to a new page in another window.  If you want to link a picture to an older post or another webpage,do the following.
   1. Insert your picture in blogger as usual.  
   2. In a new window, go to the web page you want to link to and copy the address/URL like www.lewisvillelove.blogspot.com. 
   3.  Go back to blogger- hit the LINK button at the top of your blogger page and paste the link into the "web address" box.  The "text to display" should be empty. (I have to hit link twice-not sure why?)
   4.  Hit ok and you're back to blogger.  Then you can click on the picture and "add caption".  If you add your caption  to the picture first and then click on "Link", it will only link your caption.  
Here the difference:

Click on the picture to be directed to this post.

OR.....

Click on this highlighted caption to be directed to the post

7.  To Link words like Lewisville Love- copy the url (web site or page) in another window,  go back to blogger and highlight your word, click on Link and your highlighted word should be displayed in your text box.  Paste the url in the web address box, (you can check the box that says open in another window- people like that), hit ok, and you're all linked up to something else. Hope these make sense.


 8.  Want to add a pinterest pin it button to each post?  This was the very first time I played around with html coding.  It was a little scary but I followed the directions to the exact T; step by step and checked and double checked each direction.  You can just google "how to add a pinterest button to your blog" and you'll get lots of information with different Pin it Button looks.  I happen to follow the directions by Marriage from scratch.  They were easy.

9.  I use LinkWithin. At the bottom of each post (like this one), you can have pictures from your blog archive appear leading readers to related post. It will say, "You might also like..." with a number of pictures from previous post.  I love this widget (that's what it's called) because I've used them several times myself while visiting other sites. It 's also super easy to add.  Follow these direction from BenDaggers. Again they're easy and they'll only take you a few minutes to do.

10.  For even more blogging tips, go here to At the Picket Fence.  They did a 3 part series which was really helpful and I'm sure they can answer any questions I didn't cover.  Thank you ladies. 

I hope you found what you're looking for.  I had so many questions when I started blogging, and there are still "things" I want to do to enhance Lewisville Love.  If you're not sure about any of the tips, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help.  

 Blessings,

Lisa 
 I link all my projects with some wonderful blogs.  To visit them, go to the {Link Party Love} page found at the top of this page on the {Home} bar.
Also linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Savvy Southern Style
No Minimalist Here
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Saved by Love Creations 
Miss Mustard Seed
Funky Junk Interiors
Coastal Charm 
Restore Interiors
Tip  Junkie