Sunday, March 30, 2008

Topic Talk #4: PIMP MY BLOG... Extreme Style...


The more and more I research blogs and look at other blogs, the more and more I find. 
In an older post called "Useful Links to Help Bloggers," I had talked about a wonderful site called Blog Buster. This is the site that provided step-by-step instructions on how to change your layout to the 3 column format (which I adore). 

Today, I discovered some new things on this site that are fun to add, ways to save space, and make your blog more attractive (or more to your personal style rather than the same old, same old blog template). 

COLORED BACKGROUND WITH ROUNDED CORNERS
For the frequent visitors, you can see I have changed my blog to put a colored background with rounded corners for my middle section (You can chose any colors and even put colors in the background of the side bars. I have yet to decide if I like the light blue (do you?), but I thought it was fun. I just hope it does not make my blog look cheesy.

Want a colored background with rounded colors?  VISIT HERE


LABEL DROP DOWN MENU
I had not had a labels widget on my blog since I have way to many labels (tags for posts). I did want to try the labels drop down menu and give it a whirl. Check on the right side of my blog to see what it looks like (under my "Blog Archive" section). This saves a ton of space for those who do include labels and is an easy way to search subjects on a blog.

Want your own drop down menu for your labels? VISIT HERE


MYBLOGLOG COMMENT AVATARS TO YOUR COMMENT SECTION
I signed up for MyBlogLog today. I am not too sure what this really does, but I will be in touch again about this. Many bloggers are signed up for it though. Anyways, if you have one (or even if you dont) this special feature will put BlogLog avatars with comments when a visitor to your blog comments on a post. Mine all have question marks for now, but I am going to see if this works. 

Want avatars for those who comment to show up in your comments page? VISIT HERE


GET RID OF "NOFOLLOWS" 
The three top search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN prevent you from becoming indexed in their searches most of the time because of this tag embedded in your blog "rel='nofollow'." This is used in HTML coding to reduce spam when indexing these sites. The bad part for you is that you are a "legit" site, but these codes automatically prevent you from being indexed into these sites. Yes, when we "Google" ourselves, they come up, but you could have EVEN MORE!
I could only find two of the three places where this code is embedded. Maybe you will have better luck, but 2 out of 3 still help.

Want the NOFOLLOW taken off of your HTML? VISIT HERE


NAVIGATION BLOG BUTTONS
I found a way to put text buttons on the blog. They are supposed to be light blue with white lettering, but I have not perfected it yet. It can be seen at the top of my blog on the upper right hand side. This is experimental for me...

Want your own link buttons for easy navigation? VISIT HERE


SNAPSHOT
I have not decided if this is useful or annoying (Please kindly give me your opinion). Snapshop lets you view the webpage of an active link in a small "snapshot". It makes your site more interactive and does not affect the blog loading time. Please try it out on my site and let me know what you think.

Want your own Snap Shop widget on your blog? VISIT HERE


Well... I have been on the computer for way too long... Try these out and let me know what you think! I hope it helps you "Pimp out your blog" as some might say. Check back for more tips soon!

*Links and information provided by www.blogbuster.com under the "Tutorials" link.
*Image provided by etsy user spidercamp.

21 comments:

fi at moose and bear said...

great post - i'll have to check out the site you mentioned. I also use zemanta as an interesting blog tool. my personal opinion on the snap view widget thing is that it is really annoying, but that's just me!!

UniqueNurseGranny said...

So much good information here.Thanks so much.I am not sure what I can make work but great of you to share.
I do not care for the snap view much.

BackwoodSophisticate said...

Amazing information here!! I am going to have to take some time to read over it all again.
I have tagged your blog on my blog, check it out to find out the details.

Unknown said...

thanks for all the wonderful blogging tips!

Kate Fitzpatrick said...

Thanks! Your support is much appreciated! I am so excited to get matched soon, and I will be sure to post all about it!!

Unknown said...

I happen to love the snapshot widget. It lets me decide at a glance if I want to click on the site.
Thanks for great resources!

TotusMel said...

I am SO using this info later...thanks!

Unknown said...

This is great stuff - thanks.
Curious about your Weekly Etsy Shop Sharing - can you please contact me?

Thanks!
Christy

Blue & White Wear said...

Thanks so much for all the info! It's great.

Junkstylediva said...

Thanks for the info! I will check out each one and use the ones that work for me.

Southern Lady's Vintage said...

Nice blog and great info!! Thanks for sharing!

Ann said...

Thank you for the great information!

Robin Lynne said...

Personally, the "snapshot" thing makes me want to run away from a blog. I've always liked rounded corners, too (too complicated for my brain though).. great blog :)

Unknown said...

thanks for the post! I just did the nofollow removal.

Grizzly Mountain Arts said...

Great post! Thanks for all of the tips!

mama said...

very nice! I am going to try some of this later!

Rascallion said...

Great post, some useful info here for new bloggers.
I have to say that I find Snaps annoying tho, IMO. To each their own I suppose?

lhansen said...

Fantastic info...thanks for posting it! As a new blogger, I can use all the advice I can get!

Alison said...

I found your blog through your comment on Etsy. I noticed that you asked for comments about "Snapshots". I have no issues with embedded links in a page, but I found the presence of Snapshots very annoying, since they pop up and obscure the content I am attempting to view. My initial reaction is just to navigate away from a page that is "cursed" with the snapshot gremlins. I, upon much searching, eventually found a way to disable the snapshot program.

Allie said...

How thoughtful of you to provide such great tips! I am new to blogging and really apprecite your information! thank you! :), allie

Chelsey - The Paper Mama said...

Thank for all the information! I'm so glad to finally have a 3 bar blog!

I didn't see your snapshops working, but from my personal blog that snapshots are a little annoying. I don't like them.

That's my input!

-Chelsey

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