Buttons for your Blog

Since starting my venture into the blogging community I have done some research on how to make my blogs easier to access.

I have since taught myself how to make a Linky Button that people can copy the html from my page so they can have your icon on their page that links back to your page (that was a mouthful!)

I have also figured out the html and java script necessary to make Social networking buttons for Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feeds, Favorites list, and Email. This was quiet a bit of figuring on my part, but I got them to work and I will attempt to put the process here in the simplest way I can.

You will first need the images you will be using for your button(s). You will need to upload them to a website like Photobucket so that you will have a URL for your images. There are a lot of super cute, fancy and fun social networking buttons that are offered free. I just went to Google and searched "free social networking buttons." The site I like the best so far is Webtreats. Your Linky Button image should be approximately 150 pixels x 150 pixels. I like the social networking buttons around 75 x 75.

The Add to Favorites Button should work on both Firefox and Internet Explorer. I am not sure about any other browsers though.

The HTML required for your buttons will look like this. Simply copy and paste these into an HTML widget on your blog and replace any of the writing in capitals with your information.

For example, where it says YOUR BLOG URL HERE, I would delete that and replace it with http://leetahinwriting.blogspot.com.

Where it says NAME OF BLOG HERE, I would delete that and replace it with Leetah In Writing.

Where it says PICTURE URL HERE, I would delete that and replace it with the "Direct Link" from Photobucket to my picture. Mine happens to be http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j167/lilsprouts/VictorianButtonImage.jpg

Where it says YOUR USERNAME/PAGENAME HERE, I would delete that and replace it with my username on my Facebook account or Twitter account. personal Facebook pages don't automatically have a username, you will have to set one in your account settings, however, it is better to have a Facebook page for your blog anyways, and that will have a Page name. For my cooking blog, this part of the link looks like this, http://www.facebook.com/AFK.Dinner. For Twitter it is https://twitter.com/AFK_Dinner.

Where it says YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE, simply type in your email address like you would anywhere else. bloglady@2gud4u.net

For the Linky Button:

<div align="center"><a href="YOUR BLOG URL HERE" target="_blank"><img alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE" src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE"/></a> </div><div align="center"><form><textarea rows="6" cols="20"><a href="YOUR BLOG URL HERE" target="_blank"><img alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE" src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE"/></a>

For the Facebook Button:

<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/YOUR USERNAME/PAGENAME HERE" target="_blank"><img src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" border="0" alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE"></a>

For the Twitter Button:

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/YOUR USERNAME/PAGENAME HERE" target="_blank"><img src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" border="0" alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE"></a>

For the RSS Feed Button:

<a href="YOUR BLOG URL HERE/feeds/posts/default" target="_blank"><img src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" border="0" alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE"></a>

For the Add to Favorites Button:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> function addBookmark(){ if (document.all) {window.external.AddFavorite(location.href, document.title);} else if (window.sidebar){window.sidebar.addPanel(document.title, location.href, "");} } </script><br /> <a href="JavaScript:addBookmark();" onclick="addBookmark();"><img src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" border="0" alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE" /></a>

For the Email Button:

<a href="mailto:YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE"><img src="YOUR IMAGE URL HERE" border="0" alt="NAME OF BLOG HERE"></a>

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions or leave comments! Don't be shy!