Getting around Blogger – a quick tour • Lynne Garner

Have you ever considered joining a blog team like Author's Electric but thought you couldn't because of the learning curve it would involve. Well, don't let that put you off. To help you here's my quick tour for getting up and running. 

Note: For this post I've assume you've taken the leap and joined a team, so you can at least sign in to your account.

Top tip:

But before we start my top tip is that although blogger auto saves, I'm a belt and braces type of blogger. So, I press save (top right) on a regular basis, just in case. 

When you sign in hopefully you’ll get this page – obviously with you at the top and not me.

Starting:

Click on the ‘new post’ rectangle at the top of the screen near your photo. This page should appear:

I begin by giving the post a title which is followed by my name. I tend to place a dot between title and my name (I’m a Mac user so this is alt and 8  – not sure for PC).  I then paste in the content (no images, no formatting). Once the text is in I start to format and insert pictures. I do this way because Blogger can get confused with formatting you’ve pasted in. Which then means you have to waste time correcting it.

Formatting:

If you're a user of word most of the symbols you’ll already know.

Some are a little different, so:

To insert media:

• Click on the landscape icon to insert photos/images
• Click on the clapper board to insert video

Obviously be aware of copyright when inserting media, ensure it’s either yours or you have permission to use.

You can position images left, middle and right. Increase or decrease size plus add a comment below the image. To do this once you have inserted left click on it and you get this:

Simply make your choices about position, size and any captions using the menu below the image.

To make words or phrases a hyperlink then highlight the words or phrases you need, click on ‘link’ and use the drop-down bar to insert.

The next step:

Once you’ve written, formatted and inserted images/links you’ll want to make sure it looks good, that you schedule (if working before your allocated date) or are ready to publish. For this you’ll be using the menu on the right-hand side.

To check everything is where it should be click on the preview button. A new window will open and your post will appear. If you’re happy with it then great. If not then make the changes, save then check again. Once you’re happy then add a few labels to your post. These will help people find your post when searching the web but also on the blog. To do this click on ‘labels’ and type in the terms you think are relevant, not forgetting to include your name and the name of the blog.

If you're being organised and working ahead of yourself  then you can schedule your post. Simply click on 'schedule' then choose 'set date and time' and finally pick the date and time you want your post to come live. Then save then you HAVE to click on ‘publish.’ The will send your post to the scheduled section and will auto publish.

If you want to do more work on your post or want to manually post then DO NOT press publish just press save and your post will go into the ‘draft’ file.

I hope that has been of some help and happy blogging.

Finally:

If you're a Blogger user and I've missed anything please do let me know and I'll add to this.

Lynne

Blatant plug time - Check out my various collections of short stories (ebooks just 99p).

Hedgehog of Moon Meadow Farm

Ten Tales of Brer Rabbit

Ten Tales of Coyote 

Anansi The Trickster Spider