Please put a Pin It Button on your sidebar or in each post

To make it easier for me to pin the recipes on your blog to the Food on Friday pinboards and other Pinboards, please put a pin it button on your sidebar.  This is how you do it.  

You need to go to your Dashboard and then to Layout and add a gadget - the one you want is Configure HTML/Java Script.


This was the code I used:

<a href='javascript:void((function()%7Bvar%20e=document.createElement(&apos;script&apos;);e.setAttribute(&apos;type&apos;,&apos;text/javascript&apos;);e.setAttribute(&apos;charset&apos;,&apos;UTF-8&apos;);e.setAttribute(&apos;src&apos;,&apos;http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r=&apos;+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)%7D)());'><img alt='Pin It' onclick='doPinIt();' src='http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr300/blogsbyheather/PinIt.png' style='margin: 0 0 0 0;'/></a>

One last point, if your post doesn't have at least one reasonably sized image, Pinterest won't let me pin it.

Just do it!

A plea to all of you - please turn off the word verification. My eyes are going crossed trying to type in those blurry numbers and letters!  And it is in your own best interests - I know lots of people just don't bother to comment if you have word verification on.

This is how you get rid of word verification stuff on Blogger.

Just go to your dashboard and click Settings.  And then from the drop down menu that appears Posts and Comments.

Scroll down to the question "Show word verification?" and click no.

That will sort it. But you do have to click the orange save settings button at the top right.

PS  If you think I have been wittering on about this before - you are so right!  If only Blogger would change the default option!

You might find it useful to know how to code a link in a comment on another blog

So far, so good, I think I've killed the spam!

You know how I don't like the word verification stuff - and so don't have it turned on, on my blogs.  But on my main blog, Carole's Chatter, I have been getting quite a lot of spam comments.  I think this is because some of my posts have been submitted to StumbleUpon and Reddit and this seems to attract lots of page views - and spam.

Finally I figured out how to kill the spam - without having to use word verification.  All I did was go into my dashboard in Blogger and click Settings.  Then click Posts and Comments. You will find a question "Who can comment?".  I changed from anyone to Registered User - and that doesn't let anonymous comments through.  Don't forget to click on the orange Save Settings button towards the top right or else nothing will change.

I was a bit worried that some legit comments would be stopped - so I changed my little spiel about comments to ask anyone who had trouble to email me - but all the normal comments seem to be coming through just fine.

So if the thing stopping you killing the "prove you are not a robot" thing is the spam - I think this might solve your problem.  And it really is in your blog's best interests to change to no word verification - it does put so many people off from commenting on your blog.

Good luck.

Blogging 101

I just had to share this link to an awesome post by Pretty Providence called Blogging 101.  Do check it out.  This is the link.

Keyboard shortcuts - Today it's Alt + Tab

I find myself using Alt + Tab all the time.  It switches between windows - going back to the window you last visited and then if you do it again you toggle back to the one you just came from.  Unfortunately it doesn't switch you between tabs in your internet browser - but then it is easy to click on the tab you want.

So when I was drafting this and I wanted to go back to my browser to look for an image I just Alt tabbed it!

You need to see this fantastic infographic on creating content for your blog

I quite often see great blog tips on A Little Unhinged.  Here is a link to a fantastic infographic on creating good content for a blog.

Handy post by The Thinking Closet on tips for new bloggers - and, in my opinion, not so new as well.

Today I am giving you a link to a post by the The Thinking Closet called "10 tips for new bloggers".  I thought it contained very sound advice - even for some of us 1 year old bloggers!  This is the link

No pic following

Today's post is about how you appear as a follower on the blogs you follow.  I have noticed that some followers don't have any picture on their icon but just a silhouette outline of a head.  Now it might be that they are just shy.

However, Google in its infinite wisdom lists followers without images last in its follower lists.  So when a no pic follower signs up to follow you, you will see your follower number has gone up but unless you click right through to the end of your list of followers you won't be able to see who it is.

If you are a "no pic" follower, I suggest that you do go into your Google profile and add an image.  It doesn't have to be a photo of you.  It can be anything.  I have a water scene on my own one rather than a photo.

It is easy to change to being a Pic Follower.  Just go to your profile - one easy way to do that is to go to a site you follow and sign in .  Your icon will then come up and, if you click it, you will go to your profile - up the top right you will see "settings".  Click on that and you will be able to edit your profile including putting in an image.

Just make sure you crop or resize your image so that it will be accepted.  You can't use large image files for this.  Good luck.

Here's a link to a tutorial on making personalised social media buttons

This is a link to a tutorial about making social media buttons from a blog I follow called Charlies and Harry's Daddy.  It seems pretty clearly explained - although I haven't done it myself yet so can't say it works for sure!

Do you really know how many followers you have?

I don't think it is possible to be precise about how many followers your blog has and who they are.  If someone is following you by GFC (ie Google Friend Connect) then you will see their name in the list of followers – either by clicking their thumbnail in your sidebar or clicking Followers in your Overview page on your Blogger Dashboard.  So you do know how many followers you have on GFC.  It is not always easy to tie the follower's name up to their blog – sometimes they don't have a link in their profile.  And of course, some of those followers may not have their own blogs.

But it took me ages to realize that there can be people following your blog that you have to go looking for.  When I learned that you can easily check how many people are following you on Google Reader, I was stunned to find that there were just as many following that way as by GFC.

To check how many are following you, just add your own blog to the blogs you follow by Google Reader – if you are using Chrome, you just click on the big Google Reader icon on the right of the page and then click the red subscribe button in the left subscribe bar.  Just pop your home page url into the box that pops up and click add. 

You can then go to your blog's name in the list in the sidebar, click it and your posts will show up.   At the top under the search box on the right you will see a box called "Feed Settings". Click that and then click View details and settings in the drop down box.  This will then show you information which includes the number of subscribers.

You can check out how many subscribers other blogs have this way too – should you be so inclined.

I have yet to find an easy way to check how many people follow by email.  If anyone knows could you please comment about it. 

Do you make it easy for people to follow you back?

If you are participating in blog hops - which are good at generating new followers, you need to make it easy for people to follow you back.  Just putting your blog name into the comment doesn't do it - unless you code it as a link. (Click here if you want to know how to do that).

When I click on the name of the person who has left me the comment that they are following, or on their thumbnail in Bloggers followers page, it is frustrating to find that the person's blog isn't listed and linked in.  Do check your Blogger and Google profiles to make it easier for people to follow back.

Do you have trouble typing in those pesky "prove you are not a robot" things?

How the heck are you supposed to read that number!  And this is blown up a bit too!

Do you have trouble typing in those pesky "prove you are not a robot" things?  I especially have trouble with the blurry number photo part.  I'm not sure why people persist with having word verification turned on - but have come to accept that this will be the way it is - at least until Blogger stops making that the default setting.

One thing that I have found helpful is to enlarge the image - the easy way to do this is just to hit Control +.  You can do it a number of times and each time the page will zoom in until you can see it.

When you have finished you just hit Control - and it will zoom out again.

Here's a link to a custom made Blogger dictionary

A Little Unhinged has created a Blogger Dictionary which you might find helpful.  Click here to go to her post.