Thursday, December 4, 2008

A work in progress

I'm new to this whole blogging thing, although I have been reading blogs for a long time. The hardest part for me so far is not really the writing, it's the whole knowledge of computers and this crazy Internet thing. I know that google and many others have made blogging, email and whatever else they offer so easy that my lazy St. Bernard (who by the way is snoring so incredibly loud right now- do dogs get sleep apnea?) could figure out how to use it, but I'm a bit overwhelmed. What really is HTML code, and how can I crack it? I only discovered how to copy and paste recently and I'm even not sure if I'm doing that right. Surprise, surprise, I have had no formal training.

So, my latest brain benders:

1. I read many blogs that reference stats like- search words people use to find their blogs. Mostly cited for comedic reasons- but hey, I hate to miss out on a good laugh. How do I find that?

2. How do I obtain buttons, badges? I see many sites that have free buttons to stick on the sides of the blog but I can't figure out how get it in a gadget. Like
this one. I want to tell the world that 1.20.09 is get rid of your Bush day, but I can't figure out how.

I'm not really looking for a hand to hold, because I probably will figure it out on my own...eventually. I'm just wondering if there is something I'm missing. A google search isn't always helpful, and hitting the keyboard with my fist doesn't help either

This blog has been a lot of fun for me so far. I have been able to connect with many people and besides, it's just plain therapeutic.

If anyone has any simple suggestions let me know in the comments.

7 comments:

skyewriter said...

Hey, Aliceson,
I am way new to this, too, and more computer illiterate than anyone you've ever met.

I stumbled across this site:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/gadgets/

Search for the type of gadget you want (click "find gadgets" on left hand side). Some you can modify; after you modify click "Get Code." Copy the code (place cursor inside box, hit ctrl a; right click, copy).

Then go to your blog; either click customize (top right) or layout on "new post" screen.

Click "Add a Gadget" (on my screen it's on the top left).

In the pop-up window, scroll down to "HTML/JavaScript" and click on it. You can give it a title/caption; it will prompt you with a spot for the code (paste it there).

Hit save. Your blog layout page will now show you your new gadget and then you can just move it where you want it to go by left-click holding and positioning it.

Hope this helps. There's a lot to choose from in terms of gadgets or widgets or whatever they call them.

Have fun and let me know if you have questions and I'll try to help in any way I can.

skyewriter said...

PS:
1. Sorry that was so long.

2. I forgot one thing: you can resize the gadget (usually on the modify screen it appears as a sideways arrow if you hover over the bottom right corner of the gadget picture) so that the obnoxious ads for losing belly fat and 45 lbs in 2 weeks don't appear. Mine give me a serious complex but sometimes you can't see the whole gadget if you downsize it too much.

Hope this is helpful and not overwhelming.
Cheers!

Aliceson said...

Totally worked, I never would have guessed the HTML/javascript thing.

Thank you, Thank you.

This whole blog thing is teaching me so much about this computer thing.

A Christian Mom said...

Glad you got the button thingie (technical term, by the way! lol) working. It does take time & I've banged my head against my keyboard more than once!

As for the part about finding out what words people use to find your blog, I don't know how to do that with blogger. I use wordpress and their "dashboard" gives you all the stats right there. When I used blogger, I used http://www.sitemeter.com/

I still never got the hang of it, though... but I'm sure if I stuck around long enough, I would have, lol. In case you didn't know, I changed blogs THREE times before I felt settled.

Anyway... stick at it & know that your commenters will always be there with a tip or suggestion. You're never alone in the blog world. ;)

skyewriter said...

Yeah! So glad it worked. Love the save the date for the inauguration.

It's addictive. . .

Aliceson said...

Ladies,
Thank you both so much! I got my shave the date and sitemeter up and running.

Aliceson

Stacy Hackenberg said...

You might want to try blogpatrol.com. I know you already have a site meter but when you use theirs you can access all sorts of info on their website. It can tell where your viewers are located, what search engines and terms they used to find you and all sorts of other info just by installing their widget. Plus, you can block multiple IP addresses so if you're like me and blog from home and work (shh, don't tell my boss) your views won't be counted.