My Favorite WordPress Plugins

One of my favorite things about being a WordPress user is the near unlimited number of plugin options that I have access to.

Plugins can be used for anything - tidying up the back end of your blog, helping you organize and schedule your posts and content, formatting pages and posts and image galleries. Some plugins are totally priceless, too, like the ones that protect your admin panel from hackers, or others that automate your SEO keywords and such so you get optimal Google ranking.

I've tested out a lot of plugins over the years, and while some aren't all that great, others very quickly made it onto my "must have" list. Today, I thought it would be fun to share my top three favorite plugins!

Jetpack
This plugin is totally indispensable to me now. Jetpack lets you crosspost your content to social media, add share buttons at the bottom of every post, track stats daily, build contact form pages, and a ton of other cool tweaks. This plugin was created by the official WordPress team, and is one of the best that I've used yet.

Stealth Login Page
I only recently began to think about the security of my blog. After reading a few different articles on WordPress security, this was the first plugin that I installed to combat hacking. It's really easy to use, and basically just forwards the default WordPress admin panel address to your homepage, while giving you the option to set a custom, secret URL.

WordPress SEO
Over the last few months I have been testing various SEO plugins to find the one that suited me best, and I think that I've finally found it in Yoast's WordPress SEO plugin. It's extremely easy to use, and features an innovative red-yellow-green light system to show you how effective your SEO is. This is definitely a plugin that I would recommend any WordPress user add.

How about you guys? If you are a WordPress user, leave a link to your favourite plugin in the comments! I'm always on the hunt for new and awesome plugins.

Six Things You Can Do Today to Improve WordPress!

Over the years that I've written online, I've used various platforms.
Like a lot of people, I started out with LiveJournal. I've also dabbled with tumblr, for about two seconds I had a Vox account, and a few years ago I registered my own Blogger - which I still continue to use.
Since Blogger, I have also become a user of WordPress, which very quickly became my go-to for blogging needs. The most difficult thing about WordPress is how incredibly sharp of a learning curve there is in learning to use it.
So today, I'm sharing six things that I recommend doing to all WordPress blogs - whether they're freshly made, or just looking for a quick face lift!

1. Deactivate and then delete all of the plugins you don't like, or aren't using.
Benefit: Not only will your blog run faster, it will also be more secure! One of the most well-known ways of compromising WordPress blogs are through deactivated files that haven't yet been deleted, so cut your chances from the get go and get those files gone.
2. Change the default settings on your Permalinks page
Benefit: Your posts will rank higher in SEO.
WordPress default (for some reason) is to file your posts by /year/month/date/your-post-name. Change it to just /your-post-name and your content will automatically become more likely to be crawled successfully by Google's search index program.
3. Limit yourself in categories, not Tags
Benefit: Your content will be easier to discover.
Think about your categories as genres, and your tags as ways to narrow those genres down. This will allow your reader to discover more content (via category), yet still find specific content when they want it (via tag).
4. Make WordPress work for you and your content!
Benefit: You can spend more time writing, promoting, and networking.
Install an Editor's Calendar plug-in to schedule posts ahead of time, find social network plug-ins so your content is automatically published to Twitter, Google, and Facebook, and automate as much SEO as you can! Make your blog "work for you" and you'll cover more ground in success in a shorter amount of time.
5. Remove your beginning widgets, and start fresh
Benefit: Your blog will have a cleaner, more customized look
Removing your starter widgets will allow you to decide the flow of your website that you'd most like your reader to follow. What is more important to you for your reader to see first: Instagram photos? Your pins?
Also, remember to remove the "meta" widget. Not only do you not really need to display it, if you do, you'll basically be showcasing a direct link to your admin panel to those who may use it for not-so-nice purposes.
6. Start adding META information to each image
Benefit: Increased ranking in Google Image Search
When you upload post photos or graphics, type in some keywords or even an image caption into the various ALT values that are there. Google will scan through your keywords whenever someone searches with Google Images, and can potentially be a great source of traffic if you nail the right words!

That's it! My six favourite tips. What are yours? Feel free to leave your own in the comments.

How To: Add a Search Bar on Your Blogger Homepage...and Why You Should.

Search Bars! Search Boxes! What the heck are those and why on earth would I want one on my blog?! Aww friend, I am SO glad you asked! Let me tell you all about this fun lil thing.

Search Bars/Boxes- What are they?

Simply put, a search box/bar works the same as any other search engine would (Ahem...Google, anyone?) except it's on YOUR BLOG and searches through YOUR STUFF! Wheeeeeeeeee! We like that.

For any Blogger users out there, this is in the form of a "Gadget", and is something we can SIMPLY add to our blog to give it a bit more blinggy-bling. 

Why Should I Have One on My Blog?

Well, there's a couple of reasons! For one, functionality! This little Gadget-O-Love adds a lot of functionality to your blog. It enables readers to search through all of your hard work and find exactly what they are looking for.

Why is that important? Because if any readers out there are ANYTHING like me, they don't have a lot of time to scroll through each and every post you've ever written until they find what they're looking for. They'll most likely give up along the way and go somewhere else (GASP!) to get their info. We definitely don't want that.

So, by adding a Search Bar/Box you are saying to your devoted readers, "Hey, I get it...time is money. Why not type in exactly what you're looking for and be on your merry way?"

That's exactly what it does. It creates a little internal search engine within your blog! So now, anytime you've tagged a post (I hope you're making precise tags within each blog post you publish) those tags get stored in your search engine. So let's say Sally loves your blog, is trying to do something she knows she's seen posted before, but can't remember when. By having a Search Bar/Box all she needs to do is kind of know what it is she's looking for (maybe..."fun fonts for free"), type those words into your bar, and hit enter. Your internal search engine will now do the work for her! It will search through each and every post you've written, and then bring up a nice little tidy list of previous blog posts that has something to do with her key words!

So instead of 700 posts, she now only has to go through a couple. Usually the search engine is so smart and precise, that it narrows it down to only 3-4. Badda Bing, Badda Boom. 

In essence, a Search Bar/Box makes your blog work the way it should, as well as making it engaging and helpful. This keeps your readers coming back time and again.

So now, How Do I Add One to My Blogger Blog?

Easy Peasy! Just follow these steps and you'll be there in no time at all :)

1. First and foremost, make sure you are signed into your Blogger account. Once you are, you're going to go to your blog's homepage and click "Design"- which is up on the top right!

2. By clicking "Design" you are able to see your blog's inner core- where you can do any and all changes you might want to make. There are so many lovely things you can do in this place, so play around! 

For our purposes we will need to find "Layout" and click it.

3. Next, you'll see you're now able to see your blog's "skeleton" (in a sense). This is an outline of what you have on your blog, where everything you've added is placed, and an easy way to make any changes- like moving something around, deleting something, or adding on.

Find where you want to add your new Gadget (a Search Bar/Box is indeed a Gadget!)- this place doesn't have to be exact- but has to be around where you're thinking of having it go. I suggest having a search bar somewhere close to your main information on your home page (i.e.: profile pic, social media, etc). We can move the Search Bar around once it's installed.

Click "Add a Gadget".

4. Now we are seeing a list of all the different Gadgets available on Blogger! There's some neat ones there, so look around! You might find something you didn't even know you could do! As you can see, Blogger lets you know what's already been installed by simply saying "Already Added" on the right side of each Gadget.

Scroll down until you find, "Search Box" and click the little "+" on the right. This adds it to your blog!

5. Now we need to simply configure our Search Bar/Box. All this means is we're going to make it do exactly what we want it to do.

A. Here you can title whatever you want your bar to be. Keep in mind that this "name" will show up on your blog for all to see. You can also leave it blank should you choose.

B. Make sure this box is checked! This allows people to type in key words (i.e.: How To, Blog Design, Blog Help...) and your Search Bar will search ALL throughout your blog's posts for any post related to those words! Neat huh?

That being said, I personally want the Search Bar to ONLY search my blog, so I unchecked the following two boxes. I don't want people seeing results from anywhere else, other than my blog :)

C. Here is where you will see a nice little preview of what your Search Bar will look like :)

D. When you are satisfied, click "Save". This will apply those changes to your Search Bar/Box.

6. Now as you can see we're taken back to our blog's skeleton. And, as you can see in A. our Search Bar is automatically up at the very top of my Gadget list. I'm not happy with it being there, so to move the box around all I need to do is click and hold down on the box, and drag to where I want it (within that area). Usually just up and down. If you're wanting it somewhere completely different, you'll need to delete (by clicking "Edit"), delete the Gadget, and start over someplace else on your skeleton.

B. When you think you know where you want it, click "Preview" to be shown a mock-up of what your blog will look like once you hit "Save". Click out of that box and come back here to make changes. I usually have to "Preview" 3 or 4 times before I've got it right.

C. Again, once you're happy with your placement, click "Save Arrangement"!

7. Viola! When I go to my homepage, displayed in all it's glory is my new Search Bar/Box! It's easy to see (up towards the top) and is titled appropriately (so my readers know what it is).

8. Here's how it works! Let's say you want to find an old blog post, or your reader really needs to know how to do something: Just type in the key words into your Search Box and BOOM a beautiful list of ANY and ALL YOUR BLOG POSTS that include those words, shows up! 

Neat. Tidy. Easy. That's what we like!

How To: Remove the Blogger Picture Shadow

I don't know about you, but one of the first things that needed to go when I first started my blog, was the weird little shadow that formed behind every picture!

I mean, don't get me wrong- I LOVE BLOGGER and will forever hold them close to my heart. For the most part they are easy to use and just plain awesome! But that one little tick- that darn shadow...just BUGGED ME!

If you just cannot climb in the same boat as me- no problem! No harm and no foul. Totally get it. But if you are sitting at your desk, hanging by the edge of your seat, going, "YES YES YES!" then this blog is for you. How to remove that silly little shadow around all of your images.

So as you can see, our blog images (and some images elsewhere) did indeed have that little bugger. I mean, I guess it's not the stupidest thing...but it sure bugged me! You Sir, gots to go!

This trick is like, SUPER DUPER simple. I promise. But I do need to say- this trick is (of course) only for Blogger users AND those that are using the SIMPLE VIEW template. So, if you're using DYNAMIC VIEW, this won't work. Also, my step-by-step will be using the new blogger interface. By "new" I mean the one you probably already have- because it was available back in like...2011 or something. 

Ok! Moving on!

1. Make sure you are signed into your blog. You can tell if you are by looking at the top right corner. On your blog's homepage, click on DESIGN.

2. Next, you're going to click on TEMPLATE on the left hand side.

3. Once that has been clicked, find the CUSTOMIZE box and go ahead and click it.

Notice, here is a great way to tell if you're using the SIMPLE template or another one. As you can tell, we are indeed using it!

4. Since we're good to go, on the left hand side, find ADVANCED and click.

5. A little scroll box will show up directly to the right. Scroll down until you find ADD CSS and go ahead and click that.

6. Next, a white box will appear. In that box copy and paste this code EXACTLY:

.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .ss, .Profile img, .Image img,

.BlogList .item-thumbnail img {

  padding: none !important;

  border: none !important;

  background: none !important;

  -moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

  -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

  box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

}

Easy right? Once your code is pasted, make sure to hit ENTER after the last character, "}".

7. Once the code is pasted and you've hit enter after the last character, go ahead and click APPLY TO BLOG. If you're nervous it didn't work- you will immediately notice the shadow has been removed on the preview that shows below what you're doing :)

Violà! You've now removed those pesky shadows from any and all images on your blog!

If you decide you hate it and want those shadow frames back, just follow the steps again- except delete all the text in that white box, then click APPLY TO BLOG. 

Hope that helps, guys!!!

How To: Add Pages on Blogger

Yesterday we wanted to get to know you and your needs as a blogger a little better so we asked what it is that you need help with. We got several emails and some comments and we plan to answer every one we can. Today we are answering Angie's question on how to add pages to her blog Keith & Angie Pope. We will be showing this for Blogger.

Step one:

You are going to want to create or download an image for the page[s] that you are wanting to add. I simply created one using PicMonkey by uploading a downloaded banner and adding 'SPONSOR' to it. This is the image that will be clickable for your new page on your blog. 

*Repeat for any other pages you want to add

Step two:

Upload your image to an image hosting site [I use Flickr]. Keep this window open because you're going to come back to it in a later step. 

*If you do not wish to use HTML for your pages, you can simply skip these two steps 

Step three:

Head on over to Blogger and click on 'Pages'. You'll then click on 'New Page' then 'Blank Page'. Add a title and any information you want for this new page. Once you added your content be sure to preview to check and make sure it looks how you want it. If everything checks out, publish like you would a blog post. Then be sure to click 'Save Arrangement' located in the top right corner of your Blogger dashboard. 

Once you're back on your 'Pages' screen, if you wish to use HTML for your pages when in public view of your blog, choose from the drop down menu next to 'Show pages as' and click 'Don't show' [shown in these brackets on the image below]. This option makes it where the default pages menu isn't shown on your public view of your blog and allows for the HTML [clickable images] to act in their place.

 

*If you are not using an image for your pages you are done!

Step four:

Head on over to your 'Layout section and click on 'Add gadget' under your Header section. Select 'HTML/JavaScript' and paste this code:

<a href="PAGEURL" target="_blank"><img src="IMAGEURL" alt="TITLE" width="0" height="0" /></a>

Fill in any of the information in RED. You can find the page URL by clicking on 'view' under the page you created. Your image URL will be from the image you uploaded earlier on your image hosting site. The title is the name of the page you created. For the width and height numbers, simply put in the appropriate dimensions that would be proportionate to your blog and under your header. [Your image hosting site suggests different sizes you could use; I would go with the smallest to second smallest proportionate [not square unless your image is square] image size and grab that URL. ]

Repeat code and fill in all appropriate information for each new page.

Once you have pasted the code[s] and filled in the information, save it, preview your blog to make sure it all looks right, then click on Save Arrangement. 

If you are needing any help with any of the HTML or would like help in creating page images, please let us know! You can email us at b.you.blog [at] gmail [dot] com. 

How To: Add A Pin It! Button To Your Blog Posts

If you have a blog, more than likely you're pinning your posts. Much like we do here, you have an image you pin either to a Pinterest board containing all of your blog posts or another board about blogging. But aside from you pinning your posts, your readers can pin them too! The easiest way to allow for your posts to be pinned is to add a 'Pin it!' button to the bottom of your posts. In just a few simple steps you can expose your blog to hundreds of thousands more potential followers. 

Step One:

Upload a 'Pin it!' image to an image hosting site [I use Flickr]. You can find one by doing a Google search for a Pinterest image or you can create one yourself. I created my own for my personal blog A Fox & A Wolf by using PicMonkey. After your image is uploaded, find the image URL.

Step Two:

Head on over to Blogger and go to 'Template' and then 'Edit HTML'. Click 'Expand Widget', hit CTRL>f and search for <div class='post-footer'>. 

You're going to want to paste this code above that:

<a href="javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());"><img alt="Pin It!" style='border: none;' src="INSERT IMAGE URL"/></a>

Where it says 'INSERT IMAGE URL' you're going to want to paste your Pinterest image URL that you uploaded to your image hosting site. Click 'Preview' to make sure the code copied correctly, then 'Save Template'. 

Now you are on your way to having the best exposure on blog posts and your blog in it's entirety. You can view B.You's board on Pinterest here. 

If you have any questions about adding the 'Pin it!' button to your blog, please leave us a comment below or send us an email at b.you.blog [at] gmail [dot] com. 

How To: Add Post Dividers

Another way to add a bit of flair to your blog is to have a post divider image. This is a thin, horizontal graphic that separates your posts instead of just a line. It adds another level of personality to your blog, and can make your space seem more put together.

You can see what my divider graphic on Fox + Hazel looks like below:

First, you need to find or create a divider image that you like. Choose something that is noticable, but not so flashy that it distracts the readers eye.

Here are a few free resources you can use:

IROCKSOWHAT - 1 & 2 & 3

Sweetly Scrapped 1 & 2

MeinLilaPark

Make sure your image is the same pixels wide as your posting section of your blog. To find out how wide your post section is, go into the Template section and click on Edit Html. Search for "main-wrapper" (without the quotation marks.) This is how wide your images should be inside your post to fit. Make sure your divider is the same width. If it's too wide, it will hang over into your side bars. It's best to have an exact fit, but you can air on the side of too small to be safe. You can use Picmonkey to re-size your image if needed. You can also do this within Photobucket.

Take that image and upload it your photo hosting site of choice. I'm a Photobucket user, so mine is uploaded there.

Next, go into the layout section of your blog and click Add a Widget. Next find the Html/Javascript widget and click on it.

Copy & paste this code into that box:

<style type="text/css">.post {

background: url(YOURURLHERE) no-repeat;

background-position: bottom center;

margin:1.5em 0 1.5em;

border-bottom: none;

padding-bottom: 3.5em;}

</style>

Where it says YOURURL, paste the direct URL for your image from your hosting site. If you are using Photobucket for example, then find the direct link for your image from there and replace it.

Click Save. Your widget doesn't need to be anywhere specific in your side bar as it won't show up there because the HMTL is affecting the blog posts and nothing in your sidebar. I personally keep all my HMTL widgets on the bottom left hand side just to keep it organized.

Now view your blog and see your magical work! Amazing right? Now your blog is just a teeny bit more custom and a whole lot snazzier looking! Simple things like a post divider can help set your blog apart from all the others floating around in the blogosphere - and of course you want to be set apart, right? ;)

If you have any questions, please ask away! We'll try our best to answer them =)