Tips and Tricks - from the comments

A few weeks ago, we asked you for your best blogging tip. Here's some of the highlights that folks from the TypePad community contributed in the comments.

Christa Wells said..."I think people enjoy humor and authenticity--since I also enjoy humor and authenticity. I make an effort to write with that in mind. A few well-crafted paragraphs that let readers into your life and that bring some joy or hope into their day...that's what I aim for.

Visuals--photographs or video--are great to sprinkle in whenever possible!"

Good Girl Gone Blog said... "My tip is to write posts whenever the inspiration comes to you."

Christopher Ming Ryan said..."Thanks for posting this helpful excerpt. I wrote a post recently on how I get inspired when I get stuck.

It's right here on my typepad powered blog, The Way We Watch, entitled 11 Posts From Around The Web To Motivate Your Blogging."

NJ said... "My blogging tip is too use images in your blog posts. With Typepad blogs you can even create a link from the images to an external URL. People love to "click" on things, why not to something that you want them to visit!"

Noelle Mena said..."...loved the graphic organizer used above. I have always used those for writing period with my students. So is great to see it moved over into blogging! I see where that 'mind mapping' can lead you to writing a great 'series' on your blog. Which of course if its a good one, your readers will keep coming back for more!"

Got more blogging tips to share? Let us know!

Add Images to your Navigation Bar

Sometimes it's the little things we don't think much of that can make a blog pop. A well-designed banner can tell your visitors in a single glance what your blog is about or show that you have a funky, fun, or romantic personality. A simple, clean layout can showcase your post content by allowing it to speak for itself without the distraction of other items fighting for visibility. Beautiful photographs can catch the eye, compelling visitors to stay a while to appreciate the hard work that went into them.

That much-requested horizontal navigation bar, which sits between your banner and post content, is loaded with potential. Since the navigation bar is a new feature, you may not have thought much about how you can spruce it up. "It's just a list of links," you say. "Let it just do its job," you plead. To which I have to ask, "what if it could do more for you?"

By creating some simple images and adding them to the navigation bar, those links suddenly stand out more and will attract the attention of your readers. Your visitors’ eyes will be drawn to where you want them to look. Then the navigation bar becomes more than just a list of links - it becomes a design element.

Interested in doing this on your own blog? Great!

Here are the steps to get you started:

1. Create, or commission someone to create, some fantastic images for your navigation.
2. Upload them to your File Manager at Control Panel > Files (we recommend clicking on your blog's folder name and uploading there in case you want to repeat this for your other blogs!)
3. Click on the filename of your images, one-by-one, and copy the URL of each image. (Save these URLs because you'll need them later!)
4. Go to Weblogs > Design > Content, and make sure the module box for "navigation bar" is checked.
5. Click on the pencil icon in the same module box. A pop-up window will appear.
6. Where it says "Home" in the #1 position beneath "Title", delete the text and type in:
   
   <img src="">
   
   
7. Between the two quotation marks, paste in the URL for the "Home" image you created. The "Title" field will now look similar to:
   
   <img src="http://example.typepad.com/blog/home.jpg">
   
   
8. Verify that the URL that is in the URL field to the right of your "Home" image code is correct. If it's not, correct it. For example, I would use:
   
   http://example.typepad.com/blog
   
   >
9. Repeat the process for the remaining navigation bar images you want to add. It'll look like:
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Save your changes on the pop-up, then again on the Content screen.

The only step left is to reload your blog and enjoy the work you put into sprucing up your navigation bar!

Making The Most of Your TypePad Profile

You probably already know that your TypePad account comes with an About page, which can be used to tell people about you and your blog. But did you know that as a TypePad Subscriber or a TypePad Connect user, you can use TypePad Profiles to let the blogosphere know more about your public activity?

Your TypePad Profile is optimized to show off your basic information, any blogs that you contribute to, and your other accounts around the web. Depending on your preferences, it also features your profile photo, a list of your TypePad Blogs, and direct links to social networking services that you have added, like FaceBook, Del.icio.us, and Twitter. Your most recent Twitter update will even display as your current Status on your TypePad Profile.

Your profile also features your activity around TypePad, such as recent blog posts and comments, so it's easy for your friends and followers to keep up with what you are involved in. Your unique profile URL can also be used as an OpenID on other sites, services and blogs, so it's a great way to promote yourself when leaving comments!

Ready to get started? You'll find an excellent guide to setting up your TypePad Profile in our Knowledge Base!

What's Your Biggest Blogging Tip? (Here's One of Ours)

 What is your biggest blogging tip? Tell us in the comments below and you might win more tips than you'll know what to do with!

We asked the ultimate problogger, Darren Rowse of Problogger.net for one of his juiciest blogging tips. He's co-author of the book Problogger: Secrets to a Six Figure Income and has just released a workbook with 31 exercises for bloggers to help them improve their blogs, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.

Here's an excerpt from the workbook:

---

Ever Run Out of Things to Write About on Your Blog?

If your answer is yes, you’re not alone. One of the biggest challenges facing bloggers with blogs that have been around for longer than a few months is to come up with fresh content on a regular basis.

The key with this process is not to put yourself under pressure to come up with completely new and out-of-the-blue ideas for every post you write. Instead, this process taps into what you’ve recently written on your blog and helps you to identify ways to extend those ideas.

The beauty of this is that you actually end up building a sense of momentum on your blog, where your posts build upon and relate to what you’ve previously written rather than just writing a collection of posts that fail to grow in any one direction. Here’s the mind mapping method that I’ve used:

Simple changes that can make a big difference

Sometimes a few small changes can make a big difference for your blog. Adding an email subscription option means that many more people may be notified when you update your blog and will come back to read your new posts. Displaying social bookmarking tools beneath each post via FeedFlares allows readers to share your posts with others, drawing more attention and traffic to your blog. A favicon, the small icon that appears next to the URL in the address bar of your browser and in browser bookmarks, strengthens your visual branding, bringing your blog to mind when people see the favicon. The more memorable your blog is, the more likely people are to keep coming back to it.

These are just three of the nearly 30 tips and recommendations our Blog Tune-Up Service provides for you. Whether you would like to improve your blog to get more readers, but aren't sure where to start, or if you would like to have somebody else take care of tweaking your blog design and features so you can concentrate on writing great content, the Tune-Up Service has you covered! Sign up now!

Away From Home With Windows Live Writer

Are you ready to add some power to your blogging workflow away from home? If you’re like most bloggers, your workflow looks a little like this:

- Check your RSS reader

- Compose your post

- Add photos, tags, and any relevant TrackBacks

- Check your statistics and other data

- Move on to read and comment on other blogs

But what if you're not within easy range of an internet connection? Whether you're away from home in a rustic mountain cabin or on an airplane, you don't have to lose time waiting until you're at the local internet café to write your blog posts.

Composing your blog posts offline with the free desktop client Windows Live Writer is an easy way to make sure that TypePad goes wherever you do.  Additionally, once you have downloaded the client and completed the easy setup, you only need to launch the program and start writing; with an abundance of plugins in the Windows Live Gallery (which you can browse here and here), you won’t need to switch to another tab or window to find many of the photo and video codes that you might need. 

Featuring a WYSIWYG Rich text editor, the environment in Windows Live Writer will be familiar to you as a TypePad blogger. Because it offers support for TypePad Pages, as well as Categories, Excerpts, and Extended Entries, you won’t even have to change the way that you blog. The inline spell check ensures that your proofreading will be an easy task, and if you need to present your data in a column, you can insert tables easily.

Using photos in your posts will become a particularly pleasant experience with Windows Live Writer. Just insert a photo from your computer’s hard drive, then add borders and special effects. If you like, you can even create an album for your photos right on your blog; you only have to select the style and sit back while Live Writer does the rest.

There’s no guesswork involved with Live Writer. The live preview feature allows you to see exactly what your post will look like once it has been published, down to the fonts, colors and formatting. Add it all up, and Live Writer’s built-in features may give you back some of the time and productivity that you're missing by being in-flight or at a remote location.

You can read more about Windows Live Writer and download it for free at http://download.live.com/writer

Does your blog need a little love? Tune it up!

Maile had recently launched her blog, Dancing in the Sand, and wanted to really make it stand out. She wasn't sure what steps to take, however, so she purchased a Blog Tune-Up Service from TypePad One.

She had a custom banner image she wanted to use so we created a design that matches her banner. We also created a favicon (the little icon that appears in the address bar when viewing the blog) that matches the banner and now her blog has a unique visual brand. Then we added social media tools like the Add This and Email This FeedFlares so that people can easily share her posts with others, and an email subscription widget so that visitors can be notified whenever she updates her blog. These are great ways to get more traffic to a blog, and make sure people keep coming back.

We also gave Maile tips on how to improve the navigation on her blog, and best practices when posting. She was very happy with our work and told us:

"The tune-up was such a great experience and ended up saving me a ton of money.  It was just what I needed to take it to the next level.

Thanks again, you guys have been wonderful to work with from day one, I'm a big fan and have already recommended your platform to several new bloggers."

Want to show your blog some love with a Tune-Up? Head over to TypePad One to sign up!

Add a Welcome Message to Your Blog

Here's one way to use the Feature This Post feature:

1. Go to Compose and scroll down.
2. On the lower right, click on Display Options.
3. Check the box for Feature This Post and then click OK.
4. You'll now see a 'Feature This Post' check box on your compose screen.
5. Write your welcome message, back date it a bit.
6. Be sure you check the checkbox to feature the post. Note: You can only feature one post at a time. If you had previously marked a post as featured, this new post will be featured instead.
7. Save and publish the post.
8. View your blog's homepage to be sure the welcome message is in the right place.

Quick Tip: Changing A Post's URL

Did you know that you can change the URL of your post, instead of having it just take the words from your post title? For instance, if you make a spelling error, or want your URL to be more SEO-friendly? Here's how:

Click on "display options" on the right hand side of your compose window.
Check the box next to "filename".
Now, your URL should come up in the right hand side. Feel free to change away!
The post will now display as example.typepad.com/your-new-title.html.

Got a quick tip for TypePad that you want to share? Let us know in the comments.

Add Your Ad Tags to your TypePad Blog

Our Six Apart Media team put together the latest Professor Wibbles video on how to add your Adify ad tags to your TypePad blog here: