Bloggy Hint: Favicon

I've gotten several comments today on my new Favicon- that's the cute pink S up in address bar you'll see when you are at my site.

First, I created my little S graphic. Now I don't have a fancy graphics program, so I use Paint- otherwise known as the PMPS (Poor Man's PhotoShop). I just created a text box and made a cute pink S and cropped it down to a square.

Then I followed the instructions at Dummies' Guide to Google Blogger to add the Favicon to my template.

Super easy! If you don't have Paint and would like some help creating the graphic, let me know and I'll be glad to do it for you.

Hot Damn

Lookie what I did- all by myself! A 3 column template!

Actually, I followed the step-by-step guide at The Blogger Guide and made changes to the html and it worked! Modifying your current html code insures you don't lose your widgets. (Although my Running Revolution blogroll seems to have gone missing....)

Off to tweak!

Bloggy Hint #7 - Comment Page

Lipstick said...thanks SO much! you are just full of cool tips! BTW...do you know how to have "show original post" on your comment screen? For some reason, my blog doesn't say that and I can't figure it out.

Lipstick, I have no clue. But here's my setting on the comments tab. See if this helps! My guess is it's the third set of options- Comment Form Placement. Try switching to "Full Page" and see if that fixes it. Let me know!

Bloggy Hint #6 - Making a Picture a Link

Rae writes: Hi Sasha! I love your blog! Thanks for the link to these cute bags. I ordered the Zebra one! I have a question though, how did you get the pic of the bags to be a link to the website? I read your tip on making a link with words, but how do you do it with a picture like you did? Thanks!

Thanks Rae! How sweet are you?

Linking from picture is pretty much the same as linking from a word or group of words.

In compose mode, just click on your picture, and you'll see some little boxes around your pic. Then click on the link button and paste your link!

Hope that helps! Smooches!

Bloggy Hint # 5 - How to Change "Posted By"

See down there at the end of my post? See how it says "Said by Sasha"? Isn't that catchy?

To change this on your blog to something unique to you:

From your dashboard, go to the Layout tab.

Then go to the Page Elements tab.

In the box that says "Blog Posts" click the edit button and all kinds of options pop up.

Change away!

I'm Super Cool, So Follow Me!

Yay!

I love the new "Follow" feature! How fun!

I never figured out the whole outside reader thing. It never worked right for me. In it's defense, I have a very short attention span for things I can't figure out in less than 10 seconds.

But I figured out Blogger's Follow in no time!

So follow me, and I might just get around to following you too!

Edited to add: Ok girlies.... here's what Bloggers says about following:

What is Following?

Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a fan? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! You can even keep track of the blogs you follow via your

Reading List

on the Blogger dashboard.

How do I become a Follower of a blog?

There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the Following widget and click on the "Follow this Blog" link under the "Followers" widget.

Bloggy Hint # 4- Making it Pretty

A Belle and her Beau (who by the way, is beyond precious) asks: next I need to know who creates all these super cute blogs! do you all know how to do that yourselves? I sure hope not or then I will feel really bad. I got my background free from suckmylolly but my mother says i need to remove it bc it sounds like a porn site :) lol.

Well, Belle, (can I call you Belle?), if I can figure out cute, so can you!

First, I had to find a pink template because I'm all about the pink. Now, I just used a blogger template since I didn't know about all those background sites when I was first setting up the blog. So I chose Ms. Moto for all its pinkness.

But I really think it's the header that really gives the blog its "look". I make my headers at Scrapblog. They have lots of super-cute stuff for absolutely free.

After you've made your masterpiece, chose the option under File to export as jpeg. This will save your page as a picture on your computer. Then you'll just upload that on blogger as your header!
Let me know if you have further questions!

Bloggy Hint # 3: Creating a Link

Always wanted to include a link in your post without posting all the HTML?

Let me help!

First, type the words that your want to be your link. For example, type "I found a fabulous dress here."

In another window or tab, pull up the page your want your link to go to (website where you found your dress). With your mouse, highlight the entire address and do Ctrl-C. This copies the link onto your clipboard.

Go back to your blogger window or tab. With your mouse, highlight the word that will be your link (dress, here, or whatever you want).

Next, hit the button I've circled below. This will bring up a the link window- just do Ctrl-V. This will paste your destination link in the box. Click OK.

That's it! Now your word will be a link!

Bloggy Hint #2 - Using a Signature

Want to use a cute signature like this



on your blog?

Here's what to do:

1. Go to http://www.mylivesignature.com/ and create you a pretty little siggy.

2. Choose the option to create HTML.

3. Save this HTML in a word document (I'm sure there are other ways to do this, just is just how I did it).

4. When you get to the part in your post where you want your siggy, switch to "Edit HTML" and cute and paste your HTML from your word document.

5. Switch back to "Compose" mode and fix your spacing and such.

Voila!

Thanks to Smoochiefrog for these instructions for permanently installing a signature so you don't have to cut and past each time you post:

On the dashboard, it's under Settings and formatting. Then you scroll down to post template. You insert your code there and it will post it every time for you.

Bloggy Hint #1- Spaces Between Paragraphs

We all know Blogger can be a little snarky sometimes.

Sometimes your post looks just like you want on the first try, but sometimes it takes holding your tongue just right.

So here's a little hint about how to insure that there will be spaces between your paragraphs.

Type this where you want a space: <.P.> (but take those two periods out)

Voila!

Moving to Your Own Domain

Kelly Bee asks: Sasha, Could you please, please, please do a quick post on how to make the leap to your own domain name??? I would love to do that if it isn't too terribly hard. I think it's your duty as Ashley's hero, don't you??KB

Sure Kelly Bee! I've got a lot going today, so I'll post a few steps at a time. (By the way, I tried to check out your blog, but your profile isn't enabled....)

1. You are going to need to secure your desired domain. Mr. Sasha reserved http://www.sashasays.com/ for me a few years ago because he swore someday that I could somehow use as it as place to post reviews of all my product/makeup/food finds. Who knew this blog would develop and he'd be right!

There are lots of hosting sites, but we use http://www.1and1.com/ and Mr. Sasha says it's $6.99 a year to buy a domain name. Yahoo is $9.95 and GoDaddy is $9.99- so if you are bargain shopper like me, go for 1and1.

2. The next step is to create a CNAME record for it to point to ghs.google.com.

Here is the bloger help document with specific instructions for each hosting site on how to do this. I followed these instructions for 1and1 and GoDaddy with no problems.

3. Next, you need to update your blogger settings to reflect the change.

You'll do this on the Settings Publishing tab for your blog in Blogger. Click the link at the top that says "Switch to Custom Domain" towards the top. Fill in the domain you registered, and then save your settings.

It may take a bit for all the DNS servers to update. If it doesn't work at first, try again later.

Your original Blog*Spot address will automatically forward to your new domain. That way, any existing links or bookmarks to your site will still work.

And of course, I'm glad to help anyone that is having trouble. Provided, of course, that you name me as the "Hero of the Year" for your blog.