Blogging Tips

January 22, 2015


Happy Thursday! There's only one day left between us and the weekend! Doesn't that feel incredible?! Today's post is not my usual, nor my expertise. However, there have been so many tips and tricks that I have learned about blogging over the last couple of years that I decided I would share them with you. Because I wish I could have found all the blogging answers I had in one place.

While I surely won't have every answer to your blogging questions, I thought I'd share some of my favorite know-hows. Whether you're a new blogger or you've been blogging for years, maybe there is a tip in here that will help you out!

Putting an image on your sidebar without a title:

Who has tried to add an image to their sidebar, but they have to include a title? You don't want a title so you add a period or some other small grammatical punctuation just to avoid an actual title. Well I've got a super quick fix for you to rid of the unnecessary/unwanted title situation.

Whenever you add an image to your sidebar, type the following HTML into the title box: 
And just like that there is no title and nothing but blank space above your image!



Changing your link colors:

I love the little details, and it's important for me to stay consistent with my color scheme in anything I do. That means the blog too. So if you want to pick a custom color for your links, I've got an easy way to add some CSS to your blog to transform those links!

First, go to your blogger homepage, click your blog, and on the left-hand side, click "Template." After the new page loads, click "Customize" right under the photo of "Live on the Blog." Once in that window, click "Advanced" on the left side of the window. Next you will scroll through all the options that appear, and at the bottom click on "Add CSS." You will copy the following code into that space.

.post-body a{
color: #ffcc00 !important;
}
.post-body a:hover{
color: #ffcc00 !important;
}
.post-body a:visited{
color: #ffcc00!important;
}

Now for the fun part, selecting your link colors! The hex code (#ffcc00) is currently a bright shade of yellow. So we need to change that. I use a great online Hex Code Generator, for picking all of my colors. Once you have found your color, copy the hex code it gives you. Then paste it into the CSS you have just added. If you like, you can pick a different color for each part of the CSS (see how you have to enter the hex code three times). I prefer to leave my text all the same color to keep some simplicity to my blog. But the choice is yours!

After you have added the right hex code(s) to your CSS, make sure to click "Apply to Blog" in the upper right-hand corner. After a small box appears stating your template has been saved, you can click "Back to Blogger."


No-reply comment blogger 

I had no idea this was something that I even needed to deal with or double check on. But, apparently I was a no-reply comment blogger and it was keeping me from interacting with other bloggers. Not my cup of tea.

What is that exactly? It's when your email is kept private, and when you leave a comment on another blog, you don't know if the blogger has responded back to you without going back and visiting that exact post. But, sweet Ashley from Life On The Parsons Farm was kind enough to bring it to my attention. And she pointed me to Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls for a "how-to" on changing my no-reply comment blogger status. 

Here's how you can change that and it will take you less than a minute:





1. In the top right hand corner of your blogger platform, click the drop down arrow next to your blogger profile photo.

2. Click Blogger profile. 





3. When the new window opens, click on "Edit Profile."

4. A new window will open and click the box next to "Show my email address." When the checkmark appears, scroll to the bottom of the page.

5. Lastly, click "Save Profile." And just like that you are no long a no-reply comment blogger!

Now when you leave a comment on another blog, or want to respond to comments left on your blog, you can directly receive a reply or send your own reply.


That does it for my tips today! I hope you were able to find something helpful!