Everything Typepad

SSL For Blogs with Non-Secure Content

Now included free with every Typepad account is an automatically added SSL certificate for your typepad.com, blogs.com, or custom domain site. SSL certificates are important for your site, especially for search engine ranking, so be sure to visit our Knowledge Base to learn more about them.

However, when you visit your site, you may notice that your blog is showing that it's not secure due to mixed media items which includes things like videos and images.  This is happening because these files are uploaded on another site - not Typepad - that is not using secure https links.

For instance, if you're using an image hosted on a site not on Typepad on your blog, even though all of your Typepad files are secure, this image is not, breaking the secure SSL lock in your address bar when visiting your blog.

One way to work around this is to save a copy of the image to your own computer.  Then, on Typepad, upload the image and replace the old, non-secure URL with your new Typepad URL.  Once all files have been fixed, you'll see the secure green padlock on your site.

To help determine what's causing your site to not be secure, you can use a service like Why No Padlock? to find the culprit. Typepad Support, of course, is always here to help too.

We hope you are excited as we are about SSL and Typepad!

Switching To a Mobile Design - Let Us Help With Typepad Design Services!

For some of our long-time Typepad bloggers, the thought of redoing your entire blog design can be stressful. Where do you even start?  Usually when this request comes in, we first recommend creating a test blog so you can play around with our different responsive themes first before applying it to your main blog.

But what if you don't have the time to do all of that? Let Typepad Design Services help!  Typepad Design Services includes Tune-Up service and Custom Design service for an additional fee. We will work with you to create an amazing blog that is everything you could wish for.

When we receive a request to update a blog design, we always refer to the Nimble Design Lab to get started and build your design around this theme. Here are a few of the Design Services we loved!

Here is a great example of using a Landing Page with your mobile design.

When was the last time you updated your blog design? Are you using a Responsive theme for your blog? 

Add A Scroll Bar To Large Tables

Sometimes you need to provide a lot of information in a table format. Large tables can be hard to read when they are shrunk down on mobile devices. You can quickly add a piece of code to your table to give it a horizontal scroll bar. When mobile readers view your blog, they can scroll through the table. 

First you will need to add your table. Click on the Table drop down and select Table. Highlight how many cells you will need. 

After you have inserted your table you can customize it by adding your content and changing the properties. 

Once your table is complete, click on the HTML tab on the top right of the compose page. Find the table in the HTML. The table starts with <table> and ends with </table>.  A great way to help block out this code is to put a space before and after the table code.  

Here is how it looks before you enter the code:

Above your <table> tag, add the following code: 

<div style="overflow-x:auto;">

After <\table> add the following code:

</div>

Here is how it looks after you add the code

Save/Publish your changes, then click on the Rich Text tab to see your table. You may not see the horizontal scroll bar on the compose page, so preview or publish your post to see the scroll bar.

Check out the horizontal scroll bar in action. We have added it to the table below. You may need to reduce the size of your browser window or view this post on a mobile device to see the scroll bar at the bottom of the table.

	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade	Grade
Eric	75%	80%	100%	94%	87%	100%	79%	86%	92%	86%
June	95%	78%	100%	86%	73%	96%	97%	92%	86%	94%

When creating any post you need to make sure you keep your mobile readers in mind. When the table is viewed on a mobile device your readers will be able to horizontally scroll through all your columns and easily read your table. Make sure you are using one of our mobile themes so your blogs looks flawless on mobile devices. 

Go to your account now to get started!

IFTTT Applets And Your RSS Feed

Readers do not want to travel to different URLs to get all the information they find interesting. If only there was a way for readers to read all their blogs in one place???

This is where IFTTT and your RSS Feed can be used! IFTTT (pronounced like "Gift" without the "G") is a free platform that helps different services easily speak with each other. You can find an applet that brings a lot of services together. Today we are going to focus on applets that work with your RSS Feed. With a Pocket, Tumblr, LinkedIn, or Pinterest applet, your posts will automatically appear in their feeds after you publish. (Just like our Twitter integrations!) These are available for you and your readers to use. Set up once and forget it!

How to find your RSS Feed

When you first start a blog, the Subscribe link is automatically added to your navigation bar. Click on the subscribe link to get the RSS Feed URL. You may also have the Subscribe module on your sidebar. That is another place to get the RSS Feed URL. 

If you removed these you can get the RSS Feed URL from the source code of your blog. The source code will give you the atom.xml, rss.xml, and index.rdf. For IFTTT you will want the atom.xml. To learn more about how to find your RSS Feed URL check out Typepad 101: What Is My RSS Feed URL? on Everything Typepad. 

Use an IFTTT Applet

Once you have your RSS Feed you can now add it to any IFTTT RSS applet. There are many applets you can use make sure your posts show automatically on different platforms. Here are a few we like. 

Pocket

Pocket is a platform that saves interesting articles for your enjoyment later. When a reader uses the Pocket applet all your posts will show up in their Pocket. Provide your readers with your RSS Feed URL and they can use this applet to have your post automatically  show up in their pocket!

 

 

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging and a social networking site. Using the Tumblr applet, you can make sure any new blog posts show up on your Tumblr feed. If your readers follow you on Tumblr they will see it too! Don’t have a Tumblr account, no worries. Readers that are active on Tumblr can use this applet to connect your RSS Feed to their Tumblr account. They will never miss a post!

 

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is for professionals to network. If your blog is professional in nature, we recommend you use it to promote your blog. This applet allows you to share your blog posts on your LinkedIn feed. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, your readers can use it to make sure your posts show up in their feed. Great for that busy professional!

 

 

Pinterest

Use the Pinterest applet to automatically share your posts on one of your Pinterest boards. This applet also lets you add a customize image that will be shared along with your post.  You and your readers can use this applet to make sure your posts show up on any board you want.

Quick Tip: Use the File Manager to get an image URL for you to use. Easily upload the a custom image to your File Manager then copy the image URL. You can use this as the Photo URL. Use Picmonkey or Canva to create a great image that shows everyone that is looking at your board, what it is about.

Explore IFTTT today to see what all you can do!!! Share this post with your readers so they can see all the great ways to read your blog. 

How To Add A Pinterest Button To All Your Images!

Pinterest is a great place to get your blog seen! Who doesn’t love spending free time searching Pinterest for their dream DIY? Make it easy for your readers to add your amazing images and posts to their Pinterest boards by adding a Pinterest Save button.

First,  go to the Pinterest Widget Builder and click on the Save Button. From the Button Type drop down, select Image Hover. Select if you want a round image or a large image.

After you are done designing your button you will be given code to add to your blog.

From your Typepad account, click on the Blog tab > name of your blog > Design > Content. Add an Embed Your Own HTML module and Paste in the code. Give the module a name and click on OK. Last, click on Save Changes. Don't worry, the Label will not show on your blog. 

Now your readers can share your amazing images on their Pinterest boards. Just hover your cursor over the image to see the Save button.

Log into your Typepad account today to get started.

Our Favorite Third-Party Integrations: ShareThis

We know how important it is to share your blog content with your readers on social media.  The share buttons we offer in the blog post footer is a popular feature but there is just not enough room to include every social media platform out there.  That is why one of our favorite third-party sources to integrate into Typepad is ShareThis.

Before you create your free account at www.sharethis.com, you must have a Unlimited account or higher as the Head module is required to set this up on your blog. 

When you add your blog, you will get a red message that says: 

We were unable to verify **your blog URL**. Please ensure sharethis.js is copied to header of your site!

Click the "Get the Code" button and copy the code that appears in the pop-up window. Open a new browser window (keep ShareThis open) and in your Typepad account, go to Blogs > (select your blog name) > Design > Head, and paste the code provided and save your update: 

Then go back to ShareThis and click the "Verify" button and you will get a message saying that the installation was successful.  Now you can create your share buttons! ShareThis allows you to add more share buttons to your blog posts such as LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, and more. 

You can set up the "Sticky Share Buttons" that appears on the left side of your blog, "Inline Share Buttons" which appear at the bottom of your blog post, or customize your share buttons.  

If you only want the buttons to appear on the left, just "turn on" the Sticky Share Buttons on top, and click which channels you want to display as well select the alignment, label, size, shape, count, etc.  then you are all set! There is nothing else you need to do.  The buttons should take a few minutes to appear on your blog.  

To add buttons in your blog post footer, there is an additional step which involves using the Signature module in Typepad. In ShareThis, select the "Inline Share Buttons" option. Like the Sticky buttons, turn on Inline Share Buttons, and copy the code: 

Place this code in your Signature module at Design > Signature, make sure it's checked off to enable it. You can also select which buttons to display, size, shape, and count.  As long as you have the code saved on your blog, any changes you make in ShareThis should be reflected on your blog after a few minutes. 

Here's an example of a blog that has both set up: 

With some social media platforms getting more strict with automated shares to their feeds, including share buttons to your blog posts is a good way to still share your blog content on places like Facebook and Twitter.  Do you include share buttons on your blog?  Sign in to your Typepad account and get started today!

Spotlight Posts To Draw Readers Into Your Blog

Getting readers to come to your blog is only half the story when it comes to building your audience - you also want to keep them there exploring all your great content. One easy way to do this is by adding a Spotlight module to highlight some of your recent posts.

For most Typepad design themes, the Spotlight module will appear in the sidebar. However, if you're using a theme from the Nimble Design Lab with a one or two-column layout, an additional option is available to you - the Spotlight module can be placed directly under your posts and will appear in that location both on the main page and on archive pages. Blog visitors don't always look closely at sidebar content, but having the Spotlight module right under your posts means they'll see it as they finish reading. If they enjoyed your post and want to read more of what you have to say, there it is right in front of them! To set this up for your one or two-column Design Lab theme, head to the Design > Content page and add a Spotlight module:

When you add the Spotlight module, you'll see a pop-up window where you can configure how you want the spotlighted posts to appear:

If you post a lot of photos to your blog, we recommend choosing the option to display a thumbnail image for each post - pictures catch the eye a lot more than text does. After you've configured the options you want and save them, the Spotlight module will be added to the sidebar as usual. Bloggers using a one or two-column Design Lab theme will see an additional option on the Content page, however. Under the representation of the main content column, you'll see an area labeled "Drop Spotlight Posts Below". Drag and drop the module to this area and you should see it settle in under the notice:

Go ahead and save your changes on the Content page and the Spotlight module will now appear on your published blog right below your posts. If you realize you need to tweak how it looks, go back to the Content page and click the pencil icon on the module to open the pop-up window with the configuration options again. A well-configured Spotlight module provides an eye-catching display drawing readers further into your blog, as shown in the example below.

You can also see the Spotlight module used in the main content column right here on Everything Typepad! Just scroll towards the bottom of the page. If you like what you see, why not log in right now and head to Design > Content to add the Spotlight module to your blog? And if you're already using the Spotlight module on your blog, let us know in the comments how you like it.

Can I Map More Than One Domain Name To My Blog?

You got your blog set up and readers are checking it out. You are ready to purchase a domain name so readers can use "www.myawesomeblog.com" instead of the default Typepad domain name.  You got the perfect name and you don't want anyone else to take it so you buy that name as a .com, .net, and .org. The question now is how can you get all of those domain names to direct to your blog?  This can be done through Domain Mapping one name and forwarding the other names. 

Typepad has made it easy to purchase a domain name through your account.  From your Dashboard, click Account > Domain Mapping, and enter the domain name you want to use. Then click Check Availability, and a list of available domains will appear. The name "myawesomeblog.com" is available in all three formats so you snatch them up.  

You can only set up Domain Mapping with one name to point to your blog, so you set up "www.myawesomeblog.com" to be the primary name where your all of your blog links such as permalinks will have the .com name.  One blog cannot have two different sets of permalinks created.  The the .net and .org names you purchased can be forwarded to your .com name through the Domain Forwarding Service.  If you are using a third-party to set up Domain Mapping such as GoDaddy, the steps would be similar as you are just forwarding the second and third names to your primary domain name.

Not only does buying a domain name with different suffixes help for brand identity, it can also help if you want your website to primarily be a .biz or .org. People are so used to typing .com for a website, you don't want to lose them for this oversight.

Have you purchased a domain name for your blog yet? Sign in to your Typepad account and purchase a name today!

How To Add An Amazing Background Image

Adding a background image is a great way to help your blog content stand out and reinforce your brand. When you use one of our Design Lab themes, you can use one of our pre-loaded background patterns or add your own background image. Today we are going over how to add your own background image. 

Find the perfect image

We recommend using one of the many free image finders available to you on the web. Some of our favorites are Pexels and Pixabay. Read our post "What You Need to Know about Using Images on Your Blog" to learn how to safely pick an image to use on your blog. 

When looking for the perfect image you want something that will look good repeating. You don't want the seam between images to sand out. You can use a simple wood image, brick image, or grass! Look for images that look good with your brand colors.

Save the image

Once you have the image, you will need to save it to your computer. Follow their instructions on how to save it to your computer.  A good image size to look for is around 2000px wide. 

Add to your Design Lab Background

The steps below work if you are using one of our Design Lab themes. Not using the Design Lab yet? Try changing your theme, or apply it to a test blog!

With few clicks you can change your background image.

1) Click on the Blogs tab, then the name of the blog.

2) Click on the Design tab, then on Style.

3) On the right, click on Background to display your options.

4) Under Pattern, select Upload Custom Image and upload the image you saved.

If you like how it looks in the preview window, save your changes.

Super easy! Now log into your account today to get started! 

Get Creative! Add a Presentation to Your Blog

Visually add to your message by inserting a presentation in to your blog post. There are many great programs out there to help you design a visually appealing presentation. Today we are going to focus on how to add a presentation from Google Slides, Prezi, and Emaze into your blog post.

Google Slides

Google Slides is a free presentation program that is included in your Gmail Account. Click on Google Apps (a 3 by 3 square of smaller squares on the right) and select Slides. Create your presentation. Once your presentation is complete, click on File, then Publish To The Web.  Click on the Embed tab, then select Small under Slide Size. Click on Publish to get the embed code.

Copy the code and log in to your Typepad account. From the Compose page, click on the HTML Tab. Search through the HTML to find where you want to paste the embed code. Paste in the embed code, then click on Rich Text to see it in your post. Last, publish your post.

Example of a presentation created in Google Slides:

Prezi

Prezi is a presentation program you can use to create an interactive presentations. Once you have created your presentation, you need to generate a presentation URL. Click on the Share icon and create the presentation URL. Copy that URL and save it somewhere (Notepad or Text Edit). Use the code below and replace your_view_link with your presentation URL

<iframe width="550" height="400" src="your_view_link/embed" webkitallowfullscreen="1" mozallowfullscreen="1" allowfullscreen="1"></iframe>

Copy your edited code and add it to your post. From the Compose page, click on the HTML Tab. Search through the HTML to find where you want to paste the embed code. Paste in the embed code, then click on Rich Text to see it in your post. Last, publish your post.

Example of a presentation created in Prezi:

Emaze

Emaze is a web based platform that helps you create engaging presentations. After you created your presentation, click on the Share button and copy the Embed code.

From the Compose page, click on the HTML Tab. Search through the HTML to find where you want to paste the embed code. Paste in the embed code, then change the height and width size. The height should be 340px and the width is 600px. Click on Rich Text to see it in your post. Last, publish your post.

Example of a presentation created in Emaze:

 

Presentations are a great way to visually sum up your blogs main ideas. Share them on social media along with a link to your post to help draw attention to your blog!

Use the comments to share with us posts you have used a presentation in. What other suggestions would you add?