Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Share Blogger Post Automatically to Facebook using IFTTT

Automatically posting a blog post to Facebook used to be a challenge. The idea was simple, which is to notify Facebook that you have a blog you want posted on your wall, and the social media will do as you command. The implementation, however, was more complicated than that.

Even with Facebook's post-by-email feature, only the blog name and title will appear on the wall, leaving behind the content or link. There are other plugins available, but they don't work as straightforward as they're supposed to be. There is always something missing.

How to Share Blogger post automatically to Facebook using IFTTT

Here is an online utility IFTTT (If This, Then That), which is capable of moving social postings between sites. Setting it up is fairly easy, and just as easy to use. So, let's see how we can share Blogger posts automatically to Facebook using IFTTT.

Step 1. Sign up for a free IFTTT account

Visit IFTTT.com and set up an account by creating a username and password.

sign up IFTTT to connect Blogger with Facebook

Now, IFTTT will take you through a mini-tutorial - click on the word 'this', 'that' and 'Continue' button several times. Finally, select 3 channels that interest you and click 'Continue' to finish with the registration.

Step 2. Create a new recipe

Once registered, we need to 'Create a Recipe'. A recipe is basically the process of combining two platforms together - in our case, we will combine Blogger with Facebook. This shouldn't take more than five minutes.

To get started, click the 'My Recipes' link and then click the 'Create a Recipe' button, as shown below:

create IFTTT Blooger to Facebook recipe

Start creating the recipe by clicking the blue 'this' word and select a "trigger channel". The trigger you need to choose is Blogger - search for it in the box, as illustrated below:

create Blogger recipe using IFTTT


Step 3. Connect Blogger blog with IFTTT

Connect your Blogger account in order to tie it with your IFTTT account. A 'Request for Permission' pop-up will appear > click the 'Allow' button and choose which blog you want to use with IFTTT from the drop-down menu, then click the 'Update' button.

add Blogger blog to IFTTT for automatic posting

After our Blogger blog has been connected, 'Choose a Trigger' that allows you to specify what kind of posts will be published to Facebook. You can choose 'Any new post' or 'New posts labeled'.

automatically publish new Blogger post using IFTTT

Finally, press the blue 'Create Trigger' button to proceed to the next step.

connect Facebook to Blogger to post automatically

Step 4. Creating the 'That' trigger

After registration, Create a Recipe that will specify the direction with which your blog posting will take. Since you want to link Blogger to Facebook, then the Recipe will be - if Blogger, then Facebook. What you're doing is replacing 'this' to Blogger, which is the source, and 'that' to Facebook, which is the target destination.

if Blogger then Facebook IFTTT

To set up 'that', click on the blue-colored 'that'. This will bring up a window that contains a list of social media sites. Search for 'Facebook' in the box and select the 'Facebook Pages' option (select the plain 'Facebook' option if you want to post to your personal profile).

choose action channel IFTTT facebook

Step 5. Connect Facebook page with IFTTT

Connect your Facebook account. Make sure you are logged into your Facebook account, before you connect. Pressing the 'Connect' button will open a pop-up window to allow IFTTT post on your Facebook page, then select your Facebook page.

connect facebook pages channel on IFTTT

Hit the 'Done' and 'Continue to the next step' buttons and we're almost done...

You will be prompted to 'Choose an Action', where you get to specify if you only want to 'Create a status message', 'Create a link post', or 'Update a photo from URL'. Choose 'Create a link post' as shown below:

post Blogger automatically to facebook

Step 6. Choosing the ingredients

Once you choose an action, a 'Complete Action Fields' window will appear with 'Link URL' and 'Message' box. To add an ingredient, click on the 'Message' field and you'll see a test tube icon on the right hand side. If you click it, a drop-down menu will appear which will let you choose a field to include - select 'PostTitle' and click 'Add Ingredient' blue button on the right side.

IFTTT Blogger recipe ingredients for Facebook

If you are unsure of what each ingredient does, please visit this page.

Step 7. Finish creating the recipe

Finally, click the blue 'Create Action' button and your recipe should look something like this:

share blogger post automatically to facebook

To complete your recipe, hit the 'Create Recipe' button.

And that's it! This is how IFTTT recipes are created. Next time you publish a Blogger post, it will be automatically shared to Facebook.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

How to Add Font Awesome Social Icons in Blogger

It's near impossible to find a blog or site these days without at least one social media account to their name. Be it Twitter or Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, or all of those for that matter, what's become increasingly clear is that social media helps increase your online presence.

Gone are the days when you used to rely on good old search engine results alone. These days, maybe you don't rank well in results for your keyword on Google or any other search engine, but you can launch a social media campaign that can hopefully give you the results that you want.

Essentially, your site and social media need to co-exist. One cannot live without the other, if you want another way of putting it. Social media is one of the best drivers of traffic on the internet, and if you want to increase your chances of being seen, then you have got to get an account on one or more platforms as long as it fits with your brand's identity.

font awesome social icons

Spreading Awareness of Your Social Media Presence

Once you've set up your social media accounts, you don't just leave it there to be discovered. Sure, you can make use of hashtags and communicate with industry leaders, but that's not enough to bring awareness to your customers. To let them know you have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine or Pinterest, you have to make use of the real estate on your website.

How exactly do you do that, you ask? Well, by means of social icons.

Social icons are those little images you see that represent a symbol associated with a particular social network. For example, social icons for Twitter usually feature a blue bird. If not that, then a lowercase letter T.

The presence of these images remind your viewers that they have other ways of being up to date with whatever you put out. Social media use is pretty high these days thanks to the immediacy of the medium as well as the fun factor. And more likely than not, your audience would want to know whether you're on any social network.

If you're on the Blogger platform, you can add these social media representations through Font Awesome social icons.

What is Font Awesome?

Font Awesome "gives you scalable vector icons that can instantly be customized - size, color, drop shadow, and anything that can be done with the power of CSS". In essence, it functions as a toolkit where you get access to more than 500 icons for use on your site - free of charge.

Now, if you've used social media icons before, you know that there are non-vector varieties. But those offered by Font Awesome are scalable vector icons, and in the long run, they are the better option for your site.

Why is that the case?

Well, a very good reason would be that images take time to load. Yes, these images are tiny but the point still stands. Plus, images tend to lose their quality as computer resolution increases. In other words, if you want your icons to load faster and have a nice, crisp and clean look, then you're better off with using the collection of Font Awesome. Also, the chance to customize your icons accordingly is definitely an attractive factor too.

Why you should start using Font Awesome?

Of the many providers out there, why stick with Font Awesome?
  • Large collection of icons. You'll not only find social media icons here, but other traditional icons as well.
  • CSS support. With CSS, you can adjust the icons according to what suits your site best. You can tinker with the colors, size, shadows and other components. This is something sorely lacking with non-vector images because you're stuck with the icon you chose.
  • Speed. Vector images are lightweight and therefore load faster.
  • Free. You don't have to pay a single thing when you use Font Awesome.
So now you know the importance of icons on your site, it's time to learn how to add Font Awesome icons in Blogger.

Adding Font Awesome Social Icons in Blogger

The adding of icons to your Blogger isn't rocket science. In fact, the process is pretty straightforward.
Here's what you have to do:

Add Font Awesome Stylesheet into Blogger

Follow the steps below to get Font Awesome working with your blog:

1. Open your Blogger dashboard, go to Template and press the Edit HTML button.
2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press CTRL + F keys to open the search box.
3. Type the <head> tag inside the search box and press Enter to find it.

font awesome stylesheet

4. Add the following line of code referencing the location of the font-awesome.min.css stylesheet just below the <head> tag:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" />

5. Click the 'Save template' button to save the changes and start playing with Font Awesome!

Using the Font Awesome Icons

After you get the steps in the previous section done, you're now ready to use Font Awesome in your blog. The first thing you need to do is add the social icons links to the HTML and delete the icons that you don't need anymore. This is a sample HTML that you can add:
<div id="fawesomeicons">
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Facebook" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-facebook"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Google Plus" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-google-plus"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Twitter" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-twitter"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Pinterest" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-pinterest"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Instagram" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-instagram"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Bloglovin" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-heart"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Tumblr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-tumblr"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="RSS" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-rss"></i></a>
</div>
In the above HTML code, we can see 8 separate social icons which can be recognized by looking at the link title attribute. For example, the first one is for Facebook.

To use the social icons, paste your URL where it says URL-HERE for each social icon you want to include. Put the link between the quotes and make sure to not remove any of the quotation marks.

If you want to remove a social icon, just delete that line of code starting with "<a href" and ending with "</a>".

Now, keep in mind that Font Awesome works anywhere with the <i> tag as it was designed to work with inline elements. Although you can use <span>, official documentation prefers the <i> option for brevity.

Font Awesome icons can be placed anywhere using the CSS prefix fa together with the name of the icon. For a list of social media icon names, you can refer to the official website of Font Awesome.

Let's say that you want to display a Youtube icon so you can link it to your official account on the platform. Find the Youtube icon on the list and click on it:

font awesome icon

That will bring you to a page for Youtube where you will see this code:

font awesome social icons

To include the icon within the list, copy any line starting with "<a href" and ending with "</a> from the code above, paste where you want it to appear and replace the code starting with "<i class="fa " and ending with "</i>" with that of your chosen icon.

Finally, after adding the icon, the list will look like this:
<div id="fawesomeicons">
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Facebook" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-facebook"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Google Plus" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-google-plus"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Twitter" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-twitter"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Pinterest" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-pinterest"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Instagram" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-instagram"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Bloglovin" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-heart"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Tumblr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-tumblr"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="RSS" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-rss"></i></a>
<a href="URL-HERE" title="Youtube" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i class="fa fa-youtube"></i></a>
</div>
Note: don't forget to change the title and add your URL between the quotes.

Once you've finished editing the icons, insert the code into a HTML/Javascript gadget by going to "Layout" and click on the "Add a gadget" link. If you're using WordPress, paste it in a Text widget.

Customize the Font Awesome Icons Using CSS

Suppose you want to make the icons a lot bigger than they currently are. That task is made simple with the use of CSS. Here's a sample code:
#fawesomeicons a {
    font-size: 16px;
    width: 30px;
    height: 30px;
    line-height: 30px;
}
To change the font size, increase or decrease the 16px value. Below are the values (30px) for the container's width and height which should always match. Increasing/decreasing these values, will increase/decrease the size of the container where is the font.

Here are some different styles for the font awesome social icons. In the CSS, look for the #background-color, #border-color, #font-color and #hover-color text so that you can know here to put the color codes. You can use this tool to generate the color code: Color Code Generator. If you don't know how to add CSS, follow this tutorial.

font awesome social icons

#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
display: inline-block;
font-size: 16px;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
line-height: 30px;
margin: 0 1px 6px;
}
#fawesomeicons a:hover{
background: #hover-color;
}

font awesome social icons

#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
display: inline-block;
font-size: 16px;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
line-height: 30px;
margin: 0 1px 6px;
-webkit-border-radius: 100%;
-moz-border-radius: 100%;
border-radius: 100%;
}
#fawesomeicons a:hover{
background: #hover-color;
}

font awesome social icons

#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a {
border: 1px solid #border-color;
color: #font-color;
display: inline-block;
font-size: 16px;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
line-height: 30px;
margin: 0 1px 6px;
}
#fawesomeicons a:hover{
background: #hover-color;
}

font awesome social icons

#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a {
border: 1px solid #border-color;
color: #font-color;
display: inline-block;
font-size: 16px;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
line-height: 30px;
margin: 0 1px 6px;
-webkit-border-radius: 100%;
-moz-border-radius: 100%;
border-radius: 100%;
}
#fawesomeicons a:hover{
background: #hover-color;
}

font awesome social icons

#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a {
color: #font-color;
display: inline-block;
font-size: 23px;
margin: 0 6px 6px;
}
#fawesomeicons a:hover{
background: #hover-color;
}

Now, what if we want to change the background or font color of a specific icon? First, we need to identify the icon class which is just after the <i class="fa ..." and add it like this:
#fawesomeicons a .fa-facebook {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
}
Here, we can change the background and color for the Facebook icon but we can do it for any icon you want. For example, let's add another rule for the twitter icon:
#fawesomeicons a .fa-facebook {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
}
 #fawesomeicons a .fa-twitter {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
}
To make the fonts bigger, we can add the CSS code like this:
#fawesomeicons {
text-align: center;
}
#fawesomeicons a .fa{
display: inline-block;
font-size: 16px;
width: 30px;
height: 30px;
line-height: 30px;
}
#fawesomeicons a .fa-facebook {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
}
 #fawesomeicons a .fa-twitter {
background: #background-color;
color: #font-color;
}
To apply, copy the code above and add the CSS rule with the icon class that you wish to change.

Important: When adding the class for your icon, always put a dot (.) in front of it as you can see in the example above, otherwise it won't work.

And that's it! Hopefully, this tutorial helped you to add Font Awesome social icons in Blogger. If you're still in trouble adding them, please take a look at Examples page.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Social Media Buttons With CSS3 Cubic Bezier Transition Effect

social media buttons with css3 cubic bezier transition effect

Hi friends, Today I came up with new social media widget or buttons with CSS3 cubic bezier transition effect. There are many social media widgets with transition effect you might seen before but this widget have transition effects with cubic bezier. and button is highlighted with awesome effects such as bouncing ( like using j Query easing ) well get on with it.

Also Read: How To Add Professional Author Box In Blogger Below Post

HTML Code


HTML structure of button divided it in li to facilitate the increase / decrease buttons you want , please delete the section "< li > <a href="#" class="icon cb" > < span > ....... < / span > </a> < / li >". For example, If you want to delete YouTube button then just delete < li > <a href="#" class="icon ytube" > < span > YouTube < / span > </a> < / li >.

[<div id="buttoncb">
<ul>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon fb" ><span>Facebook</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon twiter" ><span>Twitter</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon google" ><span>Google+</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon pint" ><span>Pinterest</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon linkedin" ><span>LinkedIn</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon devart" ><span>DeviantArt</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon ytube" ><span>Youtube</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="#" class="icon rss" ><span>RSS</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>]

 

CSS And CSS3 Transition :


Below is the CSS code used to create the effect on this button . CSS3 is used to give the effect is by using a cubic - bezier transition ( 1,2,0,0 ) is on all elements . For more details see the code below.

[#buttoncb ul {margin:10px 15px;padding:0px;}
#buttoncb ul li {list-style-type: none;padding: 0;background: transparent;margin: 0;}
#buttoncb ul li a{background: url('https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqB0K3f8hp1CTGyKKXSEKRujgnSCSFTAEVP4_p0PTL1WkRqOg652_mHMohIJLoac76J22zp7HiWWRpTAq_mJ_xIPFW0UcC_F-HMu0JLH0JMJE91T44pGPWgI5MrhxguMbI7dsuVFeDcSQ/s1600/blsocial12.png') 0 0 no-repeat;   height:48px;padding-left: 48px;cursor: pointer;text-decoration: none;border-radius:0.5em;-moz-border-radius:0.5em;-webkit-border-radius:0.5em;-o-border-radius:0.5em;display:inline-block;margin:0;width: 220px;}
#buttoncb ul li:hover span {margin-left: 10px;opacity: 1;}
#buttoncb ul li span {border-radius:10px;
-moz-border-radius:10px;
-webkit-border-radius:10px;
color: white;
margin-left: 100px;
opacity: 0;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
width: auto;
padding: 5px 10px;
transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
-moz-transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
-webkit-transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
top: 14px;}
#buttoncb span{padding:5px;background:#000;color:#fff;margin:0 5px;}
#buttoncb .fb span {background-color: #0853A3;}
#buttoncb .twiter span {background-color: #00B1F7;}
#buttoncb .google span {background-color: #9E0202;}
#buttoncb .pint span {background-color: #D00;}
#buttoncb .linkedin span {background-color: #005075;}
#buttoncb .devart span {background-color: #4C7A4A;}
#buttoncb .ytube span {background-color: #A00;}
#buttoncb .rss span {background-color: #EC5601;}
#buttoncb a.fb {  background-position: 0 -384px;}
#buttoncb a.twiter {  background-position: 0 -432px;}
#buttoncb a.google {  background-position: 0 -480px;}
#buttoncb a.pint {  background-position: 0 -528px;}
#buttoncb a.linkedin {  background-position: 0 -576px;}
#buttoncb a.devart { background-position: 0 -624px;}
#buttoncb a.ytube {  background-position: 0 -672px;}
#buttoncb a.rss {  background-position: 0 -720px;}
#buttoncb a.fb:hover { background-position: 0 0px;color: #0374DD;}
#buttoncb a.twiter:hover {  background-position: 0 -48px;color: #00A1DF;}
#buttoncb a.google:hover {  background-position: 0 -96px;color: #A70000;}
#buttoncb a.pint:hover {  background-position: 0 -144px;color: #C00;}
#buttoncb a.linkedin:hover {  background-position: 0 -192px;color: #005772;}
#buttoncb a.devart:hover { background-position: 0 -240px;color: #4C7A4A;}
#buttoncb a.ytube:hover {  background-position: 0 -288px;color: #A00;}
#buttoncb a.rss:hover {  background-position: 0 -336px;color: #EC5601;]

 

How To Install This Widget In Blogger :


1. Go to Blogger Dashbord >>Layout
 
blogger layout

















2. Click Add a Gadget

add gadget

3. Choose HTML/Javascript

choose html/javascript

Copy below Code :

[<style type="text/css">
#buttoncb ul {margin:10px 15px;padding:0px;}
#buttoncb ul li {list-style-type: none;padding: 0;background: transparent;margin: 0;}
#buttoncb ul li a{background: url('https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqB0K3f8hp1CTGyKKXSEKRujgnSCSFTAEVP4_p0PTL1WkRqOg652_mHMohIJLoac76J22zp7HiWWRpTAq_mJ_xIPFW0UcC_F-HMu0JLH0JMJE91T44pGPWgI5MrhxguMbI7dsuVFeDcSQ/s1600/blsocial12.png') 0 0 no-repeat;   height:48px;padding-left: 48px;cursor: pointer;text-decoration: none;border-radius:0.5em;-moz-border-radius:0.5em;-webkit-border-radius:0.5em;-o-border-radius:0.5em;display:inline-block;margin:0;width: 220px;}
#buttoncb ul li:hover span {margin-left: 10px;opacity: 1;}
#buttoncb ul li span {border-radius:10px;
-moz-border-radius:10px;
-webkit-border-radius:10px;
color: white;
margin-left: 100px;
opacity: 0;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
width: auto;
padding: 5px 10px;
transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
-moz-transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
-webkit-transition: all 0.3s cubic-bezier(1,2,0,0) 0s;
top: 14px;}
#buttoncb span{padding:5px;background:#000;color:#fff;margin:0 5px;}
#buttoncb .fb span {background-color: #0853A3;}
#buttoncb .twiter span {background-color: #00B1F7;}
#buttoncb .google span {background-color: #9E0202;}
#buttoncb .pint span {background-color: #D00;}
#buttoncb .linkedin span {background-color: #005075;}
#buttoncb .devart span {background-color: #4C7A4A;}
#buttoncb .ytube span {background-color: #A00;}
#buttoncb .rss span {background-color: #EC5601;}
#buttoncb a.fb {  background-position: 0 -384px;}
#buttoncb a.twiter {  background-position: 0 -432px;}
#buttoncb a.google {  background-position: 0 -480px;}
#buttoncb a.pint {  background-position: 0 -528px;}
#buttoncb a.linkedin {  background-position: 0 -576px;}
#buttoncb a.devart { background-position: 0 -624px;}
#buttoncb a.ytube {  background-position: 0 -672px;}
#buttoncb a.rss {  background-position: 0 -720px;}
#buttoncb a.fb:hover { background-position: 0 0px;color: #0374DD;}
#buttoncb a.twiter:hover {  background-position: 0 -48px;color: #00A1DF;}
#buttoncb a.google:hover {  background-position: 0 -96px;color: #A70000;}
#buttoncb a.pint:hover {  background-position: 0 -144px;color: #C00;}
#buttoncb a.linkedin:hover {  background-position: 0 -192px;color: #005772;}
#buttoncb a.devart:hover { background-position: 0 -240px;color: #4C7A4A;}
#buttoncb a.ytube:hover {  background-position: 0 -288px;color: #A00;}
#buttoncb a.rss:hover {  background-position: 0 -336px;color: #EC5601;}
</style>
<div id="buttoncb">
<ul>
   <li ><a href="Your Facebook Page URL" class="icon fb" ><span>Facebook</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Twitter Page URL" class="icon twiter" ><span>Twitter</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Google+ ID" class="icon google" ><span>Google+</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Pinterest ID" class="icon pint" ><span>Pinterest</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Linkedin Page URL" class="icon linkedin" ><span>LinkedIn</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Deviant Art URL" class="icon devart" ><span>DeviantArt</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your Youtube ID" class="icon ytube" ><span>Youtube</span></a></li>
   <li ><a href="Your RSS ID" class="icon rss" ><span>RSS</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>]

Please replace the part that highlighted in Red color with your link". So if you want to increase your followers/fan page likes grab this widget now ! 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Facebook Popup Like Box Widget For Blogger

Facebook has become the leading social media service on the Internet playing host to over 1.3 billion users; of those, 800 million login to their dashboard feeds at least once a day. Thanks to the vast number of active users on services like Facebook, acquiring new readers as a blogger or content provider has become easier than ever.

In order to produce an effective digital campaign, you absolutely must take advantage of social media by doing things like integrating Facebook on Blogger. Email marketing can be useful, but it comes with restrictions that could limit your blog's potential. Perhaps the most significant problem is that emails don't come with a face or personality like Facebook does.

Think of a time when you received an email in you inbox from someone you didn't know. Where you inclined to open it or did you send it right to the junk folder? If it's your first introduction to new consumer, they simply don't know who you are, what you want, and how you got their email. This sets off an initial breakdown of any type of trust that might have developed. The reputation of email marketing is further deteriorated with a study done by Kaspersky Lab, an Internet research firm. They estimate that around 70% of all the emails sent in the world are spam.

Sharing site content using a Facebook Like Box is just one of many strategies that can generate a regular flow of traffic from a diverse demographic that might have been previously inaccessible. Adding a Facebook Like Box to your site helps to reduces your individual workload, and instead distributes that ability equally among your readers.

When someone reads your content and appreciates the kind of work that you produce, they'll be willing to share that information to their followers and fans, setting off a viral reaction. The first step necessary to making this a reality is to make this change to your site. These next few steps will provide you with a quick and easy guide on how to add a 'Like Box' to your Blogger site so that you can began taking advantage of these great opportunities.


Click here for a DEMO


How to Add the Facebook Popup Like Box Widget

1. Log into your Blogger account and select your blog > go to 'Layout' & click the 'Add a Gadget' link on the right side.
2. Once the popup window is open, select the HTML/JavaScript gadget from the list:


3. Copy and paste the following code inside the empty box:
<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>
<style type="text/css">
#fbox-background{display:none;background:rgba(0,0,0,0.8);width:100%;height:100%;position:fixed;top:0;left:0;z-index:99999}#fbox-close{width:100%;height:100%}#fbox-display{background:#eaeaea;border:5px solid #828282;width:340px;height:230px;position:absolute;top:32%;left:37%;-webkit-border-radius:5px;-moz-border-radius:5px;border-radius:5px}#fbox-button{float:right;cursor:pointer;position:absolute;right:0;top:0}#fbox-button:before{content:"CLOSE";padding:5px 8px;background:#828282;color:#eaeaea;font-weight:700;font-size:10px;font-family:Tahoma}#fbox-link,#fbox-link a.visited,#fbox-link a,#fbox-link a:hover{color:#aaa;font-size:9px;text-decoration:none;text-align:center;padding:5px}
</style>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
jQuery.cookie=function(a,b,c){if(arguments.length>1&&"[object Object]"!==String(b)){if(c=jQuery.extend({},c),null!==b&&void 0!==b||(c.expires=-1),"number"==typeof c.expires){var d=c.expires,e=c.expires=new Date;e.setDate(e.getDate()+d)}return b=String(b),document.cookie=[encodeURIComponent(a),"=",c.raw?b:encodeURIComponent(b),c.expires?"; expires="+c.expires.toUTCString():"",c.path?"; path="+c.path:"",c.domain?"; domain="+c.domain:"",c.secure?"; secure":""].join("")}c=b||{};var f,g=c.raw?function(a){return a}:decodeURIComponent;return(f=new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+encodeURIComponent(a)+"=([^;]*)").exec(document.cookie))?g(f[1]):null};
//]]>
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
jQuery(document).ready(function($){
if($.cookie('popup_facebook_box') != 'yes'){
$('#fbox-background').delay(5000).fadeIn('medium');
$('#fbox-button, #fbox-close').click(function(){
$('#fbox-background').stop().fadeOut('medium');
});
}
$.cookie('popup_facebook_box', 'yes', { path: '/', expires: 7 });
});
</script>
<div id='fbox-background'>
<div id='fbox-close'>
</div>
<div id='fbox-display'>
<div id='fbox-button'>
</div>
<iframe allowtransparency='true' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' src='//www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?
href=https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helplogger/120574614736021&width=339&height=255&colorscheme=light&show_faces=true&show_border=false&stream=false&header=false'
style='border: none; overflow: hidden; background: #fff; width: 339px; height: 200px;'></iframe>
<div id="fbox-link">Powered by <a style="padding-left: 0px;" href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com/2014/12/facebook-popup-like-box-blogger-widget.html" rel="nofollow">Helplogger</a></div>
</div>
</div>
4. Press the 'Save' button to add the widget to your blog. That's it!

Facebook Popup Like Box Customization

After adding the code, replace the address in blue https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helplogger/120574614736021 with your site's facebook page URL.

The widget will appear 5 seconds after the page finishes loading. If you want to change this delay, change the number 5000 to a greater or lesser number in this part:
.delay(5000)
By default, the like box only shows up the first time the user visits your page.  If you would like the Facebook box to popup every time the page loads, then remove this line of code:
$.cookie('popup_facebook_box', 'yes', { path: '/', expires: 7 });
If you want to display only when user visits your homepage, go to 'Template' > hit the 'Edit HTML' button on the right side and search by clicking anywhere inside the code area and pressing the CTRL + F keys for this tag:
</body>
Paste the facebook popup widget right above the body tag and make sure to include the conditional tags below:
<b:if cond='data:page.type == "index"'>ADD THE FACEBOOK WIDGET CODE HERE </b:if>
After saving this widget, you can test it out by returning to one of your old posts which should bring up a little popup widget asking if you'd like to join the site's Facebook page.

If you don't see the Facebook Like Box on the page, you may need to delete your cookies or check out the 'Customization' section above in order to display the widget every time a user visits your site. Once this widget is added to your site, all your hard work should start to translate into an increase in web traffic and number of Facebook fans.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Share Blog Posts in Social Media using AddThis

AddThis is the most complete social sharing service allowing you to share your posts in more than 270 different social networks. If you want to use the AddThis widget and get the AddThis sharing buttons, this tutorial will show you how to register and add this feature on your blog. Plus, you will get to know some of the customization options of these buttons. So let's get started!

Getting the AddThis share buttons code

Step 1. Visit the https://www.addthis.com/get/sharing page.

Step 2. To get the sharing buttons and to access the AddThis sharing stats to find out how many people shared your post by using the AddThis feature, click on the "Create account" button.

create addthis account

The site will ask you to make a small registration. Fill out the information to register. It's quick, simple and it's free. To finish the registration, click on the Register button.

register addthis

Step 3. After you've been logged in, right below the "Get sharing buttons for", choose the "A website" option.

addthis share buttons

Step 4. In the "Select style" section, choose the buttons style that you think would look the best on your site/blog. Please note that on the right side you can see a preview of these buttons.

addthis sharing buttons

Step 5. After you have chosen the style, the site will provide a code - click on the "Grab it" button to copy it.

addthis code

The code provided will look like this:
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN -->
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style ">
<a class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a>
<a class="addthis_button_tweet"></a>
<a class="addthis_button_pinterest_pinit" pi:pinit:layout="horizontal"></a>
<a class="addthis_counter addthis_pill_style"></a>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-XXXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<!-- AddThis Button END -->
Now that you have selected and set up your AddThis sharing buttons, let's add them in the footer of the posts.

Adding the AddThis sharing buttons on Blogger

Step 1. Access your Blogger Dashboard and go to "Template", then click on the "Edit HTML" button on the right side:

blogger template

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys to open the search box.

Step 3. Type the following line inside the search box and try to find the second occurrence of it - hit Enter:
<div class='post-footer'>
Step 4. Just above this line, add the code for the AddThis social sharing buttons.

Note: If you want to add at the beginning of your posts, add the code below the second:
<div class='post-header'>

How to add more AddThis buttons

To add more buttons, simply choose the button for that social network and add the code just before the </div> tag (refer to the step 5 from above).

Some examples:
<a class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> /* linkedin button */
<a class="addthis_button_google_plusone" g:plusone:size="medium"></a> /*gplus button */
<a class="addthis_button_digg"></a> /* digg button */
<a class="addthis_button_stumbleupon"></a> /* stumbleupon button */
<a class="addthis_button_print"></a> /* print button */

CSS3 AddThis Share Buttons

You can add just a single button, so that when the reader hovers over it, a menu will open with the options of social networks to share the post.

css3 share buttons, addthis

Visit this page for a demo.

Step 1. Go to "Template" > click on the "Edit HTML" button > press the CTRL + F keys and search:
<div class='post-footer'>
Just above this line, paste the following code:
<style type='text/css'>
.addthis_share_btn a, .addthis_share_btn a:visited {
background: #FF5C00; /* background color of the button */
display: inline-block;
padding: 6px 12px;
font-family: arial,helvetica,lucida,verdana,sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
line-height: 1em;
color: #fff;
text-decoration: none;
-moz-border-radius: 5px;
-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
border-radius: 5px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
text-shadow: 0 -1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
position: relative;
cursor: pointer;
}
.addthis_share_btn a:hover {
background: #D45500; /* background color on mouse hover */
color: #fff;
}
.addthis_share_btn a:active { top: 1px; }

.addthis_share_btn a span, .addthis_share_btn:visited a span {
background: url(http://www.addthis.com/cms-content/images/gallery/icon-addthis.gif) no-repeat left;
padding: 1px 0 1px 18px;
}
</style>
<!-- AddThis Share Button -->
<div class='addthis_toolbox addthis_share_btn'>
<a class='addthis_button_compact' href='http://addthis.com/bookmark.php'>
<span>Share</span></a>
</div>
<script src='http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<!-- End AddThis Share Button -->

Customization

  • To change the color of the button according to the colors of your template, modify the color value in red.
  • If you want to change the "Share" text, replace the text in blue.
Step 2. Save the changes by clicking on the "Save template" button and you're done!