How to Change the Number of Posts that Appear on My Blogger Blog Homepage

One of my amazing artist friends Mary Beth Volpini asked me a question today that I thought could make a neat “Tutorial Thursday” post.  Her question was about changing the number of posts that display on her blog homepage.  So, today I wanted to share the few simple steps to change this number.  If you aren't using blogger or don't need to change this setting, be sure to scroll to the end of this post to get a peek at MB's art!

How to Change the Number of Posts that Appear on My Blogger Blog Homepage

1. Login to Blogger
2. Click on “Settings”.
3. Click on the “Formatting” tab and look for the first item, which says “show at most”.
   
4. Change the number from the dropdown to the number of posts you’d like to display on your main page.
5. Be sure to click on “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page. 

You’re all set!

Be sure to visit Mary Beth’s blog.  She is an “artist, designer and mom…redesigning her life after cancer”.  Mary Beth is “Drawn to Color” and you’ll surely be touched by her beautiful mixed media artwork. I'm sharing a few of my faves below. Simply breathtaking!

Melting Colors Garden

Stand Alone

Follow Your Heart

Love

Have a great rest of your week.

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

How to Change Your Default Fonts on Your Blogger.com Blog

You may be interested to learn that you have new font options for your blogger blog!  This is great news for many of us, who’ve enjoyed a similar feature over on WordPress for quite some time.

I’m sharing instructions today (on this “Tutorial Thursday”) on how to change your fonts on your blogger.com blog.  Have fun and enjoy your font facelift!

How to Change Your Fonts on Your Blogger.com Blog

1. Login to your blogger account
2. Click on “design” from your dashboard
3. Click on “template designer”
4. Click on “advanced”
   
5. You’ll see the different font areas of your blog (body text, background, links, etc).  Click on each font area you’d like to select a new font.  To the right, select the new font you’d like to use.  The neat part here is you can “preview” what the new font will look like.  Simply look below on your blog as you click on various fonts, and you’ll see the changes.  Don’t worry, nothing is applied until you click on “apply to blog” on the top right. You can also change font size as desired.
6. Change the font colors as you wish as well! Simply adjust under the “text color” area.  For example, I changed link color on this blog to red instead of the blue that you used to see.  It’s a neat way of infusing a little more style/personality into your blog.
7. Click on “apply to blog” when you’re happy with your new font choices, sizes, and colors.

Choose new fonts/colors/sizes with caution.  Remember to consider readability in addition to design.  Some fonts work OK for titles but would present readers with a challenge in the post copy. Have fun and happy updating!

Laura

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

How to Add Pages to Blogger Blog: A "Tutorial Thursday" Post

If you have a blog on blogger.com, did you know that you have the ability to create several “pages” within your blog? Adding pages makes your blog look and feel more like a website! Even better, no advanced technical ability or html knowledge is required.  In today's "Tutorial Thursday" post we'll cover how to add pages to your blogger blog. 

How to Add Pages To Your Blogger Blog:

1. Login to Blogger
2. Click on “settings” from your dashboard
3. Click on the “posting” tab
   
   

   

   Adding a page to your blogger blog

4. Click on the “edit pages” tab (this will take you away from your blank post, which is OK)
5. Click on “new page” button.  You can add up to 10 stand-along pages to your blog!
6. Name your page and enter your copy.  The blogger tools you know and love are still available to you…adding photos, links, etc.
   
7. Tip: click on “post options” below the post copy to turn comments on or off for each of your pages.  
8. Click on “publish page”.
9. You’ll have three options for how you’d like your pages gadget to appear.  Blog tabs will display your pages just below your header, like a traditional website.  Some may prefer the pages listed in the sidebar.  Most will want to choose one or the other.  If you are doing advanced editing to your blogger template and know html, you may wish to select “no gadget”.  For most of us, though, we’ll choose between the sidebar or tab layout.
   
10. Click “save and publish”.  You’re all set!

Tip: To edit your pages later, you simple follow steps 1-4 above and then select the page you’d like to edit.  

Note: While you are editing a page, it will temporarily disappear from your navigation/sidebar.  As soon as you finish your edits, be sure to select “publish” so it re-appears.

I hope you enjoy adding pages to your blogger blog! It’s empowering to know that you can add pages to your blog without being a webmaster or programmer.  

I’ll be back tomorrow with some great Facebook Friday updates.

Laura

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

How to Add “You Might Also Like” Boxes to the End of Blog Posts

I’ve been noticing a pretty neat feature on many of my friends blogs lately…essentially, a widget embedded into the end of a post that reads “You Might Also Like” and includes links to several other blog posts by the blogger, with handy thumbnail images (example below). At first, I thought it was a WordPress feature, but did a quick search to find it was available for blogger, too.  Even better, install took (literally) less than 2 minutes and it’s been working wonderfully since. Today's "Tutorial Thursday" walks you through the simple install process.  Enjoy!

How to Add “You Might Also Like” Boxes to the End of Blog Posts

1. Login to your blog
2. In a new window, visit http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget
3. Fill out their simple form (email address, blog address, platform, width)
   
   
4. Click on “Get Widget”
5. You’ll be taken to your blog to install the widget and save

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

{How to Add Google Analytics to your Blogger Blog} - A "Tutorial Thursday" post

Today's "Tutorial Thursday" post is on "How to Add Google Analytics to your Blogger Blog". Your blogger blog comes with a small (as in very small) analytics tool to help you measure traffic.  That said, there is MUCH for information to be uncovered when you take advantage of google analytics.  This tutorial will be short and easy-to-follow.  If you’ve been saying you want to install Google Analytics but haven’t taken the time, this is a great day to follow the instructions and knock it out. I’ll be posting similar instructions for WordPress next Thursday. Just in case you were wondering, this is a free tool!

Google analytics provides you a snapshot of how many unique visitors, visits, and pageviews your blog receives each day.  It also covers traffic sources, so you’ll know how your visitors are finding your site.  Google analytics will show you whether the majority coming from facebook links, google search, twitter, another blog, etc. etc.

How to Install Google Analytics on your Blogger blog

1. Visit http://www.google.com/analytics/ and sign in with your Google account.  Don’t have one? Create one in just a few quick clicks.  You don’t need a google email address and it’s a simple process.  
2. Click on “add website profile”
3. Select “add a profile for a new domain” and enter the website URL in the box provided, click “finish”
   
4. The next screen will provide you the web code necessary to install Google analytics on your blog.  Copy the entire box of text.
   
   
5. Before you leave the screen, pay attention to the “web property ID” in the yellow box area towards the top of the page.  This will come in handy.  Some websites allow you to paste this string of numbers instead of your block of code.  You’ll be prompted either way.
6. Sign in to blogger and click on the “design” button next to your blog in the dashboard.
   
7. Click on “add a gadget” and then click on “HTML” as your gadget type.
8. PASTE the block of code into your html gadget and click “save” (note: do not name this gadget)
9. Google analytics is now installed! Within a few days, log back into Google analytics to ensure it is functional on your blog and tracking things.

Congrats on a successful Google analytics install! I’m excited for you and know that you’ll soon be analyzing which of your blog posts are most popular, how people have found your blog, and so much more.  In an upcoming tutorial Thursday, we’ll also cover how to effectively navigate and analyze Google Analytics information.

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS.

She is accepting clients in need of:
Website Design - Social Media Management - Facebook Business Page Design
Twitter Profile Design - Blog Design - Logo Design
Print Design -Press Release Writing & Distribution -Email Marketing - And More

Contact Laura to discuss your unique marketing needs!

Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

{How to Add a Search Box to Your Blogger Blog} - a "Tutorial Thursday" post

Today’s “Tutorial Thursday” post is a short, sweet, and often overlooked tip. Does your blog have a search box/bar that is easily located and hassle-free? 

As the items on the right-hand side of this blog have grown, my “labels”/topic list has been pushed down a bit.  This got me thinking…what if people may be overlooking this? It’s really one of the key ways to navigate my blog by topic.  When I couldn’t decide what items to shift around to move the labels up, I thought a search box could be a nice option.

Lucky for us, blogger has this covered! Adding a search box is a super simple process that takes seconds (literally).

How to add a Search box to your blogger blog

1. Login to your blogger account

2. Click on the “design” button for your blog

3. Click on “add a gadget”

4. Click the “+” sign next to “Search Box”

The search box has now been added to your blog! You may wish to rearrange your design elements so that the search box is located in your desired place on your blog.  It may default as the top widget unless you move it elsewhere.



Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. 

She is accepting clients in need of:
Website Design
Social Media Management
Facebook Business Page Design
Twitter Profile Design
Blog Design
Logo Design
Print Design
Press Release Writing & Distribution
Email Marketing
And More

Contact Laura to discuss your unique marketing needs!
Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

I’m a SquareSpace Believer! My SquareSpace Customer Review…

I built a website using SquareSpace last night and wanted to share the experience in case you haven’t checked SS out yet. It was the first time I’d used SquareSpace to create a website (I usually build websites using Dreamweaver).

Quick background on my typical website project….I’ve designed 15 or so websites in the past few years. Most are 5-15 page websites and the build-out/design/launch takes me a few weeks. If I really push it, I can crank out a website in a weekend, but it’s one of those “didn’t leave the house, lived at the computer” kind of weekend that isn’t much fun at all (I don’t recommend this approach…stop the madness!).

I’d contemplated building my own website (web design/social media consulting) on SquareSpace, but somehow felt like that would be “cheating”. After all, a “real” designer/programmer would never do such a thing, right? Would I look less legit in doing so?

This week a client needed a website fast, and I mean “can you have it up by tonight?” fast. They are attending a tradeshow this weekend and will be handing out biz cards/flyers with their site on it, etc. I decided it was the right time to give SquareSpace a whirl!

You know I love a good list, so here goes…

Top Ten Reasons You Should Build Your Next Website On SquareSpace

1. You can create your website 10 times faster (seriously) and won’t compromise on quality.

2. It’s so user-friendly a tutorial isn’t even needed! It does help if you do take their tour, though, and it’s short and sweet.

3. Your website won’t have the dreaded “templated” look, really. I designed my graphics in photoshop (including a nice sized header) and uploaded them into my design. It was easy and felt familiar, since I often do that when using Dreamweaver, too.

4. Their photo galleries are divine and ready-to-go. Enough said!

5. You can add “widgets” using html code. This may remind you blogger a bit, in a good way. Go ahead, bring in your twitter widget & facebook badge! Don't forget your Google Analytics, too.

6. Your clients will LOVE you for making their lives so much easier. Don’t be the kind of webmaster who has an iron gate around your client’s website. It just doesn’t fly anymore. With SquareSpace, you design it, and then can share the username/password with your client in the event that they want to update copy or add more photos, etc. You aren’t putting yourself out of a job, I promise. Trust me on this.

7. SquareSpace adds new features/tools that you can easily implement on your SS sites. This makes your SS websites look great and stay great looking (make sense?).

8. They “get” social media (@SquareSpace) – this is huge.

9. You can seamlessly import your blog

10. You can’t beat the cost! Free for 14 days, then as low as $8/month.

PS - If you want to see the site I built, it's here. I'll be adding more features over the weekend. :)

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Looking for a Striking Website or Blog Background?

Your website or blog background is often underestimated in terms of what a striking effect it can have on your overall design. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this inspirational post that features 25 beautiful websites with striking backgrounds: http://dzineblog.com/2008/06/25-websites-beautiful-bg.html

As you begin your search, don’t get too discouraged when you come across site after site of dated backgrounds. When I did a search today for “website backgrounds” I found more than my fair share of dated designs. Now that I've found these great designs, it's time for me to upgrade my own blogger background. :)

Website Backgrounds:

• http://www.dinpattern.com/ - I like how you can test the background out on their website to get an idea of the effect.
• http://webdesignledger.com/freebies/40-beautiful-patterns-and-textures-for-ornate-backgrounds - if you like patterened/antique/scrapbook type paper, there is potential here
• http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/citrusmoon/ - this website hasn’t been updated in years but still has some striking designs
• http://www.backgroundlabs.com – a little cutesy for me

Of course, if you’re looking for blogger backgrounds, there’s lots to choose from! A few of my faves below.

Blogger Backgrounds:

• http://www.shabbyblogs.com/
• http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/
• http://hotbliggityblog.com/
• http://simplychicblogs.blogspot.com/

How to Make a Blog Button with Corresponding Code

A great way to generate traffic to your blog is to create a blog button so that visitors to your blog can very easily copy and paste the button code you've provided onto their own blog or website. This is often a reciprocal swap, where you'll also place buttons to blogs you're a fan of on your own blog as well.

I've taken the html guesswork out of the process, so no worries if you aren't comfortable with coding. Steps below...

How to Create a Blog Button:

1. Create your blog button graphic itself (sized 125 pixels by 125 pixels) using a graphics program such as photoshop.

2. Save the image as a jpg or gif, then upload it to a photo-sharing website (such as http://www.imageshack.us/) that gives you the option to grab the direct html image code link. Leave this window open on your browser so you can come back and copy the html image code it assigns your uploaded button.

3. Open notepad/wordpad/word on your computer.

4. Paste the text below into notepad/wordpad/word

<img src="http://www.image-url-goes-here.com" /><br> <textarea name="textarea" cols="13" rows="9"><a href="http://www.your-blog-url-goes-here.com" /><img src="http://www.image-url-goes-here.com" /></textarea>

5. Replace the image src code in red with your direct html image code (copied from the photo-sharing website)

6. Replace the a href code in red with your website link (be sure to use http:// format)

7. You’re ready to copy and paste the entire string of code into your blogging layout.

8. If you’re using blogger, go to design/add a gadget/select “html/javascript”, then paste your code into the box.

9. Preview your changes and save if everything appears correctly.

You're all set! If you've followed the steps above, you've created your own blog button!