Friday, 18 March 2016

Helpful Websites For Bloggers


Sometimes the blog world can get a bit confusing or hectic - and sometimes you honest to God, do not know anything about HTML or scheduling. You've not got the time to sit and learn it all and that's fine!

It took me about 18 months to figure out how to do layouts and certain HTML widgets, but I've got to a point where I'm quite confident to change the coding when needed. I've always known the basics to HTML and picture editing as this was something I learnt from school!

However, not everyone does, so here are some helpful websites for you budding bloggers who might want a little helping hand! These are for help with HTML, picture editing, scheduling and free picture sites and more!

This website is perfect for finding some stock pictures that are free for you to use on your blog. Remember using images from Google could lead to copyright infringements, so using free image sites are safest to do! 
You just search for what you'd like and pick from the results. Unless you upgrade to a premium account, the images are few, but there are still enough to work with for free!



I love PicMonkey! It's totally free to use, but there are ads on the pages that can make it run a little slow sometimes. You can upgrade to the Royale version which is totally ad free, and costs $4.99 per month. You really don't need to pay this at all as there are plenty of free features! If you use it a lot though or annoyed by ads, then maybe think about upgrading :)
With this website, you can edit pictures, touch them up, create images or make collages. I mainly use the collage feature for my YouTube video thumbnails, but occasionally use the edit feature for picture and text editing!


This website is so handy for learning the basics of HTML coding! You can do the basics such as font size, colour and font - as well as how to make things in bold or italics. There are some more 'tricky' ones such as how to make forms or tables.


I have an account on TinyPic, and if you want to use it frequently, I'd suggest signing up - it's all free! Just pic the image you want to upload and any addition information you want to add, and then upload!
Once it's uploaded, you'll have a list of links to use for the image. For HTML and layouts, you'll want the image link under 'Direct Link for Layouts' - Just copy and paste this where you want and you're all good to go! 



Most blogs have a 'grab my button' widget in the sidebar (I have one!) and they are super helpful for doing blog button swaps with others, or when I need to take a blog button from someone for their blog advertising!
All you have to do is enter your blog URL and title as well as the location of the image. I use TinyPic to host my images, so you just enter the link for the image in the final box and then they generate a HTML code for you to enter on your blog in the sidebar or where ever you'd like it to be.
If you're on blogger, you'd go to:: Layout > add gadget > HTML > paste the coding > save!



I could rave about Buffer all the time. In fact I probably do on Twitter.
Buffer is a scheduling website, and it's amazing. You can schedule tweets, facebook posts, pins on pinterest and google +.
Even though I have my Pinterest account connected, I very rarely use this as I don't use Pinterest too often. I do use Twitter and the Facebook page for my blog a lot though, so this is so handy!
Simply sign up for a free account, connect it to the social media platform you'd like to use and then add content to the site and it will publish at the times you set it for, or the times set by the optimal time tool.
You can track the time the tweet has been retweeted, liked or click on as well - which is very handy to see how interaction works with each one. 


Hope this has been helpful to you in some way, and I'll be carrying on with these 'blogger tip' posts over the next few months I think! If you try them out, let me know how it goes for you! What other sites do you use for blogging? Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)




22 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post dear..its very informative 😊
    www.freshfacebeauty.in

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  2. This is perfect thank you!I will check out Buffer!
    www.itsgirlthingblogging.com

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  3. I couldn't live without PicMonkey, but I've never heard of or seen the Grab my button link, that's so useful. Thanks for this post, it's so helpful!
    - Nishi x
    www.nishiv.com

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    1. PicMonkey has saved me soooo many times in the past few months! Hope you can use them all hun :) xx

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  4. Thanks for sharing these lovely. PicMonkey is one of my faves. xx

    Julie
    www.rainingcake.com

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    1. Most welcome hun, hope they're useful for you! :) xx

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  5. Thanks so much for this! I don't know why I never though about the copyright thing with Google. But I'm glad you E enlightened me �� and buffer seems really cool. I think I'll make it my permanent tweet schedule platform.

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    1. I hadn't either as it honestly never occurred to me! Do give Buffer a try, it's so useful! xx

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  6. The post is so helpful!
    Really loved it. I am gonna make my blog button as well.
    Can we exchange buttons? I'd love to have yours on my blog. xx

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    1. Glad you find it useful!! And of course we can, where can i sent it to you? xx

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  7. This is so handy, thanks for sharing! xxx

    Y x | www.thesweetsevenfive.com

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  8. Hi Tania,
    Grab My Button is new to me, other than this are already familiar and pic monkey is my favorite one. Thanks for share Tania.

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    1. Glad you find it helpful and good luck doing it :) xx

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  9. Thank you for these points, they're super helpful.
    Milly x
    milly--writes.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Most welcome! Hope they come in handy to you :) xx

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  10. This is one of the most helpful posts I've read. Thank you.


    www.poshmakeupnstuff.blogspot.com

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    1. Glad you found it helpful! Hopefully you get some good use from them! xx

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  11. This has been super helpful for me! Thanks so much for sharing :D

    VioletDaffodils
    xx

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    1. Glad you've found this helpful! I love these sites as they're so handy :) xx

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Thank you for dropping by my blog! I read all my comments, and will try and reply when I can!