Hot Linking In Your Blog

One of the things you are going to want to do is to direct your readers to other locations on the Internet. You do this by placing Hot Links in your post. You can recognize a Hot Link in a post because the word that contains the Hot Link will have a different colored font. When the reader runs his mouse over that word, a hand will appear. If he clicks on the word, he will be taken to the new location.

To have a word or image contain a Hot Link, you are going to have to enter the HTML portion of the WordPress editing area. This will show you all the hidden HTML codes that make magic happen.

Go to the word or image that you want to contain the Hot Link. Highlight the word with your mouse. Now click on the “Link”icon above the data entry area. A window will open up requesting the URL of the location on the Internet you want the word to point to. When you click “Ok”, the magic HTML cose will be inserted and you now have a Hot LInk. Here is a Hotlink to the WordPress FAQs.

Widgetizing Your Sidebar

Your blog is made up of at least two information areas. The primary area is where you will write each post. The secondary area is called the “sidebar”. Depending on the theme, you may have one or two sidebars.

The theme usually comes with a standard sidebar. If you are happy with it, you don’t need to read any further. However, if you want to modify your sidebar, continue reading.

Sometimes You Need Inspiration

Well if you made it this far, you should have a WordPress blog going and you are starting to get your feet wet.

I sometimes need a little relaxation time and enjoy reading other Blogs on the net. Also, it is a good way to  get some new ideas on things you can do with your blog just by seeing what others are doing with theirs.

WordPress helps you see other free version WordPress blogs. If you are still logged in and are looking at your blog page you will see an arrow in the upper right hand corner of the Blog area. If you click on that arrow, you will visit another WordPress Blog.

Try it. Meet some other bloggers and leave them some comments. It will also help your Blog to get some visibility. Nothing will replace writing an interesting blog, but for others to read it, they have to know about it.

Photos Add A Lot

When you include photos or images to your Blog, it really adds a lot. Photos add a little extra complication over just writing, but it is worth the effort and after a while it will be a piece of cake.

The first thing to know about Photos is that you may need to operate on your original photos before you upload them to your Blog. The size of an original photo may be over a megabyte in size and that is too large to be shipping on the Internet. You have heard that time is money and when it comes to photos time is related to size. If the photos are too large they will take too long to load and people will not return to your site.