How to Share a Facebook Page or Banner that has your Like Button on it. And...check out the Giveaway and Tour Schedule

Hello fellow authors.  Today’s tip to increase your Facebook fan page popularity (meaning to increase your page visibility and the number of page likes) involves sharing your page or banner to your own Newsfeed, and/or a friend’s page, and/ or to a group of which you are a member.   The idea here is that you share your page banner several places and friends see it and ‘Like’ it.  The flip side of it is that friends may share their page banner to your page.  In this way, all parties benefit.   

 

So, how the heck do you do this sharing thing? I’ve discovered two ways to share a page or banner.  The first method doesn’t work all the time.  I believe it works only on older Facebook accounts?  The second method worked on all my pages.   I’ll share both and you can choose what works for you.

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Method One:

From the Admin Panel of the page you want to share go to Build Audience, drop down to Share Page.   Continue with Method Two instructions below, starting with number 3.

Method Two will work if your Build Audience menu does not contain the Share Page option:

Go to the Fan page you want to share and find the little wheel image that is to the right of Message.

Click on the little triangle to open the drop-down menu.

 

Select from the Share this Page drop down menu to share on your own timeline, to a friend’s page or group. I suggest you share to all three locations. Make sure you click Share Page to finish.  You will see a pop-up message that tells you the post was successfully shared.

 

This is what the result looks like from the receiving end of your sharing.

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I hope these tips increase your Facebook popularity by leaps and bounds and wish you great success.  Remember, success is always best when shared with fiends.   I am delighted to share an opportunity for you to win my books.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway below by clicking on the Rafflecopter link.  Please, check the tour schedule below and stop in and visit with my tour hosts.

Best of luck, friend.
~Scarlett

Enter for chance to win fun prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Tour

Artemis Books Featured Author

Jan 27th

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog

Jan 28th

Aspired Writer

Jan 29th

Book Reviews by Lynn

Jan 31st

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog
Feb 2nd

Touch of Book Madness

Feb 3rd

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog
Feb 4th

Book Reviews by Lynn
Feb 7th

 Clue Review 

Feb 8th

Clue Review

Feb 9th

Aspired Writer

Feb 10th

Clue Review

Feb 11th

The Rising Muse
Feb 12th

Clue Review

Feb 13th

Artemis Books Featured Author

Feb 14th

Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed 

or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

My Blog Tour and Valentine's Day Giveaway have started....

Hello everyone.  I had so much fun with the Book Blast that I just had to follow-up with another event.  This one will be a little different in that we have scattered some how-to posts here and there on the tour that are designed to help authors learn how to help themselves while helping others: a win-win, if you will.  I hope the tips help you and that you enjoy this tour and take time to get to know the tour hosts.  They are terrific  people.  

Speaking of terrific people...I want to give a special thank you to my Artemis team for all their hard work putting this together.  Carolyn and Roberta, you are troopers to forge on even when down with the flu. I appreciate you so much!

Now, on with the event.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway.  I wish you blessings and luck.

~Scarlett

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Follow the Tour

Artemis Books Featured Author

Jan 27th

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog

Jan 28th

Aspired Writer

Jan 29th

Book Reviews by Lynn

Jan 31st

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog
Feb 2nd

Touch of Book Madness

Feb 3rd

Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog
Feb 4th

Book Reviews by Lynn
Feb 7th

Clue Review 

Feb 8th

Clue Review

Feb 9th

Aspired Writer

Feb 10th

Clue Review

Feb 11th

The Rising Muse
Feb 12th

Clue Review

Feb 13th

Artemis Books Featured Author

Feb 14th

Enter for chance to win fun prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed 

or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

WHY SHOULD I COMMENT ON A BLOG…AND HOW THE HECK DO I DO IT?

These may seem like a ridiculous post, but, readers have let me know that they are confused by how to ‘comment’ on blogs.  Not so surprising that a novice would be intimidated, considering how many variations on the ‘commenting’ theme exist. If you are having trouble, I hope this tutorial will help you develop into a person who actively comments.

Why should I bother to comment on a blog?

It is considered a courtesy to comment on blogs that you read, and find interesting.  Doing so functions in much the same fashion as commenting on Facebook. It is the foundation of a dialogue and a means of interacting with the blogger to form friendships.  Most blog owners are conscientious about replying to comments posted on their blogs and are diligent about reciprocating and leaving comments on their visitor’s blog.  This is how the blogging community flourishes. Bloggers not only value your opinion, and friendship, but the number of comments (and followers) a blog has is also a measure of the blogger’s success.

All right. You sold me.  So, how the heck do I comment on a blog?

That’s the tricky part.  It depends on the type of blog: Blogger, WordPress or others.  Don’t run!  I’ll make this painless and give you plenty of clear examples.  Put down that Zanex!!!

Posting a comment:

The following is a common means of posting a comment on Blogger:

1. Look for the word "comment" somewhere at the bottom, or top, of the post and click on it.  If you can’t find it you can click on the title of the post and the comment form will open up below the post.

       

2. This is what the Blogger comment form typically looks like when it opens:

1. 3.    And now for WordPress (WP).  With WP, you may find the comment box anywhere. The first example is from my friend, Nancy Jill Thames’s blog.  Nancy’s comment box link is at the top.

Another WP example is found on my friend, Amelia Curzon’s lovely blog.  Amelia has the number of comments as a link at the top of the post.  If you click it, the second box opens up.  OR! Just ignore that number and scroll down to the bottom of the post and…

4.    the typical WordPress comment box awaits that will require entering your email address, username and website in a secure log in.

As you can see there are variations on the theme but, now that you have the idea, it is not so difficult to find the comment links.

One more thing:

Don’t freak out if your comment doesn’t show up right away, or a message pops up that says something like, “Your comment will be available after moderation”.   The blogger is just screening comments for spam and that sort of nonsense. No harm, no foul.  You can test your readiness to conquer your commenting fear by leaving me a lovely comment below. 

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About Scarlett Rains:

Scarlett is a mom, wife, granny, loyal friend, blog-a-holic and, oh yes, author. Scarlett loves to laugh and believes most people would benefit from a few, soul-cleansing, belly laughs.

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Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated. Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed  or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

How to get rid of that annoying wrench icon on the side of your widgets

This stupid wrench icon was driving me crazy! I finally figured out how to get rid of it...after DAYS of trying this-and-that! I thought you might appreciate a little time-saving information, so, here you go! I hope it helps.

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1. Go to Template and click Edit HTML, then click  Proceed.
2. Back up your template
3. Click on Expand Widget Templates
4. Click Control-f  key (for find)  anywhere inside the template and a search box will open above the template.
5. Type </b:template-skin> in the search box. This will highlight  
</b:template-skin> within the code
6. Type .quickedit{display:none;} just above the </b:template-skin> tag
7. DO NOT HIT SAVE YET!
8. Click Preview and check your blog.  The wrench icon should be gone.
9. If so, click Save.
10. If it is not, just hit Clear Edits , then Close.

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Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed 

or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

How to Grab Someone’s Button and Not Get Arrested

All right, Scarlett, you say (after reading How to Make a Blog Button and Remain Sane).  I’ve got my Xanax and Pepto in hand and I’m ready to do some code-kicking.  How do I grab someone’s button and not get into all sorts of trouble? 

Stop fretting. Take your attorney’s number off speed-dial.

It’s easy…and legal to grab a blog button.   Swapping buttons, amongst bloggers, is actually a sign of respect and support.   Here’s how you do it. Most bloggers put their buttons (and code) on their Home page, in one of the sidebars.   Look for something like this:

<center><img border="0" src= " http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oSqZY23BcZw/T7WHis_StZI/AAAAAAAABIM/1P6Cs_deHfw/s1600/scarlettblogbuttonwithhyperlink.jpg "/></center>

Just copy the code from the scroll box, paste it into an HTML/JavaScript Gadget (in RTF mode), or paste it into a Post (in HTML, not Compose mode) and there you go.  One blog button, and no time served for misbehavior. 

If you’d like to have a column of buttons in your sidebar, you can add more buttons to your gadget as you go.  Just open your gadget, make sure the setting is on Rich Text Format, and add the code to as many buttons as you’d like, beneath the original code.  Check out the example below.

Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed

or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

How to Make a Blog Button ... and Remain Sane

Be a ‘Champ’ in the continuing battle of

Blogger vs. Computer!

I know many of you have been waiting for this post since I told you about it in When is it Hip to be Square, and you saw all those cool buttons of My Blogging Friends.  So, here goes.  First of all, I must tell you that I am not a programmer.  I’ve taken two HTML courses, a CSS and a JavaScript course:  mixed well with a basic knowledge of Photoshop, and I know enough to muddle my way through and somehow get things done.  Changing code can make you crazy.  I’ve been there, done that.  So, I’ve decided to share some tips with you that may keep you sane.  There are a few ways, I’ve found, to make a button.  The easiest way is described below. Follow the steps and you should be fine, but take them at your own risk. J

1)    Choose a picture you like with, or without, text.  I would size it at 150 to 200 pixels (square) and save it as a JPEG.

2)    It’s a good idea to compress the picture for the web before you upload it.

·       How to compress your picture so it doesn’t bog down your blog: Using Microsoft Office Picture Manager: Edit picàcompress picà for web pagesàOK

3)    Open a new post in your blog and name it ‘blog button’:

·       Click on the little picture icon and upload your newly made blog button pic into the post. 

·       Right-click on the pic and open ‘properties’.  You will see a gazillion-long URL which is your web address for this pic.  Copy that down.  You will need it, and your blog URL, to make your button.

·       Save the post as a draft.

4)    Copy all of the code below into a Word file where you can comfortably play with it and not do any damage.  Don’t change the line spacing or anything.

<center><a href="http://scarlettrainssistersoftheheartsblog.

blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Scarlett Rains

blog"><img alt="Scarlett Rains 

blog" src= "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/oSqZY23BcZw/T7WHis_StZI/

 

AAAAAAAABIM/1P6Cs_deHfw/s1600/scarlettblogger

button.jpg "/></a></center>

 </center>

<center><textareaid="code-source"rows="3"name="code-source"><center><ahref="http://scarlettrainssistersoftheheartsblog.blogspot.com/"><img border="0"src=" http://2.bp.blogspot.com/oSqZY23BcZw/T7WHis_StZI/AAAAAAAABIM/1P6Cs_deHfw/s1600/scarlettbloggerbutton.jpg "/></a></center>           

                                          

5)    Now, for the meat and potatoes: 

· Remove the information in red (in both paragraphs) and put your blog link (URL) there. DO NOT ERASE THE QUOTATION MARKS!

·       Replace the purple text with your blog name, in both places. DON'T YOU DARE ERASE THE QUOTATION MARKS!

·       Replace the green text with the URL of your pic (in both paragraphs). DO NOT ERASE THE QUOTATION MARKS!

·       Save this as a Word file so you have it in case of emergency.  J

6)    Go to your blog-àLayoutàclick ‘Add Gadget”à select HTML/JavaScript

7)   Before you paste the code into the gadget remember to click the box on the top-right of the gadget and change from HTML to Rich Text Format (RTF).  Put a snazzy phrase like, ‘Grab my Button!’ in the Title area & click ‘Save’. 

8)    Now, check that everything looks good and works.  If you click on the pic it should reload your blog because it should be a clickable link to it.

There you are!  Now, all you have to do is swap buttons with your pals and you are good to go.  Please, make sure to grab mine, and my friend, Krista’s.  She showed me a MUCH easier way to make this code work, and deserves a solid pat on the back.

Thank you so much for your comment at Scarlett Rains Sisters of the Hearts Blog. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe either by RSS feed 

or by email . Hope to see you again soon!

When is it Hip to be Square?

Don’t be one of those folks who rush right in and say, ‘never’!   Square is good…square is solid… Sure, a square won’t fit well inside a circle, but so what?  The last hip thing a circle did popped off your shirt and rolled away already.   So, let’s talk about squares.  Squares make great buttons (Stay with me here…the logic is circular.) and blog buttons are a good way to promote your blog.  Promoting your blog is definitely hip!

Yeah.  But, what’s hip about a blog button … a cone shaped, circle-loving, naysayer might ask.  This is where I close the circle.  All right, squares aren’t inherently ‘hip’ —they have to overcome Society’s infatuation with curvy shapes—but, when used properly, they are a cool foundation for friendship and support.  Here’s how the whole thing works:  I post your button on my page, and you post my button on yours.  Each of us benefits from a win-win.  Love abounds!  It is always hip to show love and support, right?   So, get off your butt-on and make a blog button so we can support one another.