Blog 101

I decided to put this little post together to show you around my blog. I meant to do this months ago when my new design was rolled out, but just never got around to it.  This post is for everyone new to the world of blogs or just unsure how to navigate and communicate in the blog world. For those that are experienced feel free to move on and come back tomorrow, or just stick around and comment if I missed something important!

Keep In Touch
I will start by going over the column on the right side of my blog.  The first section is the "Keep in Touch" section.

This has two options right now, Twitter and email.  If you are not following me on Twitter, feel free to click the "t" button to start following me.  I would also love to follow you so this will allow me to return the favor!

The second button is to email me.  If you ever have any questions or comments I would love to hear them. This could also include suggestions for blog posts.  If there is something you would like to learn more about just let me know!

I am in the process of setting up a Facebook button for "A Modern Hippie" Facebook page, be looking for this in several weeks. This button will be added to this section and allow you to follow me on FB.

Search This Blog
The next section in the right column is the "Search This Blog" section.   If you remember seeing something on my blog but can not find the post, just enter a keyword and search for it! It will pull up a list of blog posts that include that key word.

Grab A Button!

This section is for those with a blog.  It allows you to copy the code and put my button on your blog.  This allows readers from your blog to find my blog!

Followers

This little section allows you to follow my blog through Google Friend Connect (GFC).

I just added this to my blog last week and as you can tell I need some more followers!  You may be wondering why you would want to follow my blog or other blogs.  Following blogs (whether through Google or other means) gives you one location to view all the blogs you follow.  This allows you to interact more with my blog and others following my blog.

Once you are following my blog through GFC, it will be added to your Google Reader.  The Google Reader is a spot that allows you to read all the blogs that you follow.   Think of this as your list of bookmarked blogs. 

So now that you have an explanation of GFC it's time to learn how you can follow me! 

To follow me through GFC, just select the "Join this Site" button (see above screen shot).   When you select the "follow me" button you will have several options to log in, unless you are already signed in. See the below screenshot for the options you have to login for GFC.  After you sign in you will be following me! 

As I said about, by following blogs through Google Friend Connect you can go to one location and see all the blogs you are following.  You may be wondering what you do now that you have joined GFC.  All you do is go to Google and select the "more" button at the top.

Then select "Reader".  This takes you to your reader page which has all of the blogs you subscribe to.  You can read the blogs you follow in your reader without having to go to that specific blog. Just remember that it is not the "entire" blog, just the text and pictures.

One of the things you can NOT do through the reader is leave comments or see other comments that have been left for that post.  To leave a comment just click on the post header and it will take you to the actual blog to post a comment.   I will talk more about comments later.

There is a huge amount of things you can do through your reader.  A couple of the options include sharing a post that you enjoyed or emailing it to someone you know would like the post.  If you currently use the reader, what do you like most about it? 

Blogging Buddies

This section is a list of blogs that I visit on a daily basis. I highly recommend all of these blogs!  Just click on the name of the blog and it will take you there.

Eat Well Guide

This is a great place to find local food! Just enter your zip-code and hit search.  It redirects you to the Eat Well Guide site.  There is an abundance of information on this site, go check it out!

Topic Pages
Hopefully I haven't lost you yet and I still have a few newbies with me!  Now lets move back to the top of my blog. 

You will see these four links at the top of the blog (under my header).  Just click on these and it will take you to a separate page which features past blog posts related to that topic. 

Comments & Sharing
The final section I will walk you through  is at the bottom of every blog post.

Think of the comments section as your way to communicate with me and others that read my blog.  It also is a way to show me you enjoy the content of that post.  So I encourage you to show me some love through comments, concerns, questions, or just complete random thoughts!



If others have left comments you can also read them and/or respond to what someone else already said. As you can see below, Jodi left me a comment on a recent post, and her name is a link. If you click on her name it will take you to her blog.  I love finding new blogs through comments!

Under the link to post a comment are several icons. You may be wondering what some of those are so I will explain a few of them.

If you click on the "M" you can email the specific post to someone. If you read something on my blog and know someone that would enjoy reading it, go ahead and email it to them!

If you click on the "t" you can tweet about this specific post.  Again, if you read something that you would like to share with your twitter friends, share it!

If you click on the "f" you can share the post on Facebook.

That wraps up the tour of my blog. I hope you learned a few things and will be able to start using some of the features I talked about.  

Enjoy a wonderful Labor Day!  It is still rainy here from the tropical storms, so we are staying inside.

Til' Next Time,