Add Social Networking Icons to Your Blog

When you write a regular blog, you want to attract as many readers as possible to it. You also want your readers to share your blog with their friends, followers and connections. The best way to achieve these goals is to link your blog with your social networking sites. You can do this by adding social networking icons to your blog that will automatically link people to those sites with a simple click. Having easy to access and noticeable social networking icons on your blog will make it more successful. Add social networking icons to your blog by locating the images you want, uploading them to your blog and including a brief HTML code that will customize the icons to your site.

Steps

  1. Decide which social networks you want to list on your blog. The most popular icons include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
    • Choose social networking spots where you and your blog readers are active. For example, if you have a great Facebook page, you will want to include that icon. If you want to encourage your readers to pin your blog onto their Pinterest boards, be sure you have that icon present.
  2. Locate the best icons for your blog. You can download standard icons for all of the social networking sites at several websites, including IconArchive, Web Designer Depot and Icon Dock. An Internet search of "social icons" will provide several other options.
    • Use updated and easily recognizable icons. It is okay to be creative, but make sure your readers can recognize the link provided by your icons. For example, most Twitter icons are a small "t" with a light blue background or an image of the Twitter bird. If you change the color, you might confuse people.
  3. Create your own icons if you want something different. You might want the icons to match the design of your blog.
    • Use Photoshop or Adobe InDesign for the best results in creating your own icons. Try to keep your design to 60px by 60px for easy downloading and linking.
  4. Download the icon images you plan to use onto your computer. This is as easy as saving it in a file on your machine.
  5. Upload your icon images to a photo site such as Flickr or Photobucket if you often use these sites to place pictures and graphics on your blog.
    • Add the images to your media library in Wordpress if that is the blogging platform you use.
  6. Check to make sure each image you have uploaded has a URL (this stands for uniform resource locator).
    • Look for the URL in Wordpress by clicking on the image in your library. You will notice the URL in the "File URL" field. It will start with the letters "[http." http."]
    • Find the URL on photo sharing sites by clicking "share" when you let your mouse hover over the image. You will see a "get link code" tab, and the link will be displayed. The letters "[http" http"] will be the start of the URL.
  7. Find the right spot for the HTML code, which will depend on the blogging platform you use. Most blogs are created on Wordpress or Blogger.
    • Place the code in the HTML widget area on Blogger. For Wordpress blogs, place the code in the text widget area.
  8. Add the following HTML code: "http://www.linkgoeshere.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.imageurlhere.com".
    • Put a link to your own social networking page where it says "link goes here" and put the image's URL where it says "imageurlhere."
  9. Run a test. Have a friend pull up your blog and click on the social networking icons you have included. Make sure it takes the user to the right place.



Tips

  • Work with a web designer or a social networking pro if you are having trouble including social networking icons on your blog.

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Sources and Citations

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