5 Vital Tips For Writing Killer Guest Posts

Guest Post - Today's host is Harrison Kratz who provides fresh tips for writing great guest posts.Want to get involved ? See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Blogging effectively is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Guest blogging may be even tougher. When guest blogging, you have to adapt your writing and content to another source in order to appeal to a community other than your own. That said, guest blogging can be one of the most effective ways in building your brand and authority as you open yourself up to new readers and conversations.

Here are five tips for writing effective guest blog posts that any blog owner will be happy to publish:
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Add Floating Social Media Sharing Buttons To Blogger

The Floating Social Media Sharing is a very popular widget on all the top blogs and this is one of the ways to increase the number of times your posts get shared on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

This floating social bar has the following options: Facebook Like, StumbleUpon, Twitter Share, Digg This, Google+ and each of them comes with a live counter. You can add more sharing buttons or social bookmarking icons later if you want.

How to add the scrolling social bookmarking bar

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard, select your blog and go to Layout 

Step 2. Click on Add A Gadget link

Step 3. From the pop-up window, scroll down and select HTML/Javascript 

Step 4. Copy the code below and paste it inside the empty box.

Step 5. Save the gadget.

The code to copy-paste (updated!):

Tweet

Get widget

Customization:

• Vertical alignment - Change the 15% value of bottom. The code positions the social bar relative to the bottom of your browser window. To fix the distance even when window is resized, specify the value in px (pixels) instead of %.

• Horizontal alignment - Change the -721px value from margin-left. Negative value pushes the button to the left of the main blog column, positive value pushes it to the right. Increase or decrease the value based on your needs.

• Twitter setting - Replace Helplogger with your Twitter username

• Replacing and removing buttons - You can replace existing buttons with your own. Each button is represented by this code:

BUTTON CODE HERE

Enjoy!!! :)

Create A Rollover Image Effect (change image on mouseover)

The Rollover effect is one in which an image web object changes (swaps itself) on mouse over to another web object (called rollovers) and reverts back to the original image on mouse out. Rollover images are preloaded into the page when it is loading, this ensures that the rollovers are displayed quickly. The onMouseOver and onMouseOut attributes of the link tag are used to make this functional.

Demo:  Place your mouse over the image below to see its rollover effect

Making Rollover Effect Image

You have the following code:

URL ADDRESS">URL OF THE FIRST IMAGE GOES HERE" onmouseover="this.src='URL OF THE SECOND IMAGE GOES HERE'" onmouseout="this.src='URL OF THE FIRST IMAGE GOES HERE'" />

Change the colored texts as it follows:

1. URL ADDRESS

This is the address where somebody will be sent when clicks on the image.
Example, my blog address: http://www.helplogger.blogspot.com

2. URL OF THE FIRST IMAGE GOES HERE

Replace the orange text (two times) with the URL address of the image which will appear before you hover over it.

3. URL OF THE SECOND IMAGE GOES HERE
Replace the text in blue with the url of  the image that will appear when the cursor hovers over it.

Now you can paste your image inside a blog gadget, going to Layout > click on Add a Gadget link (right side) > Select HTML/JavaScript from the pop-up window, then add it to your sidebar.

You can also add it inside your post by going to New Post > Switch to HTML tab and then paste the code in the empty box.

That's it. Enjoy ;)

6 Reasons Working From Home Improves Your Life

Guest Post - Today's host is David Crawford ,Many chase the dream of becoming a professional Blogger and working full time from home David looks at how this can improve your life.Want to get involved ? See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

When I started working from home, I had many friends ask me why I was doing so. After all, we are so accustomed to heading to work each morning that for many people it seems strange that I roll out of bed, head to my little corner room, and start working. Because I am eager to tell people about my personal experience and love to share what I have learned, I want to present you with the reasons I work from home and how I benefit.
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How A Blogger Can Benefit From Pinterest

Guest Post - Today's host is Sam Peters who looks at how you can use Pinterest to help your Blogging efforts.Want to get involved ? See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

When it comes to gaining traffic for your blog or website today, social media is key, and few are more influential than that new kid on the block, Pinterest. Pinterest has grown from an unknown site-sharing website to a networking blockbuster in a very short amount of time, and savvy bloggers are taking advantage of its popularity and a variety of benefits that they can have by becoming a member of Pinterest.

Building a Fan Base

Whether your blog is monetized or you simply do it for the simple pleasure of sharing your views, your main goal will always be increasing traffic to your site. The more readers you have, the more publicity you'll get, which will increase your readership even more. Using Pinterest is a great way to do this.
Whether you have a financial blog or a fun crafting site with instructions on recycling sweaters, you'll find fans of your subject on Pinterest. Do a search for people with your same interests and follow them. Some of them will follow you back. Pin your post on argyle pillows and people searching for your subject will link to it, causing any number of people to check out your blog.

Finding Topics

Everyone who writes a blog has a dry spell once in a while, when inspiration doesn't come and they have a hard time finding a topic to write about. Spend a few minutes clicking through some boards and you'll find dozens of new ideas to spark blog posts. Use the Pinterest boards as a starting point when searching for new material, and you'll tie your blog posts into subjects a lot of people are talking about.

Gauging Interest

Every blog has posts that seem to hit a high note with its readers as well as those that hardly anyone shares or comments on. If you're looking for posts that create a discussion and social media sharing, look through Pinterest to find out what the hot topics of the day are. Don't just stay in your area of interest -- look through other topics that have nothing to do with your subject.

If you find a hot button subject that people are pinning across the site, you've probably got a good topic for your next blog post, as long as you put your own spin on it. If they're talking about it on Pinterest, they'll probably talk about it on your site, as well.

Pinterest is one of the hottest social media platforms known today, and will only continue to grow in popularity as the months continue on. So if you are a blogger and are serious about increasing your online visibility and readership, then you need to not only be on Pinterest but utilizing it as part of your regular social media strategy.

By Guest Author -Sam Peters is a blogger focusing on personal finance. She specializes in teaching people how to avoid falling in to credit pitfalls.

Animated Sassy Social Bookmark Gadget For Blogger

I know how much you all like social bookmarking gadgets and widgets especially unique gadgets that can catch the eye of readers and get them bookmarking your blog.Today I have a very cool social bookmarking gadget with a stylish animated effect.With the Sassy bookmarks gadget a basic share button is placed in the corner of your blog, then on hover 6 icons for the main social bookmarking websites appear in a semicircle.The buttons that appear are for Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Email.Below we have a live demo then check out the tutorial to add the Sassy Bookmarks to Blogger.

Add The Animated Sassy Bookmarking Gadget To Your Blog

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Will Password Managing Applications Keep Your Blog Safe ?

We all use passwords to protect our personal material on the web, from our blog content to our online financial information. Passwords are practically ingrained into our very understanding of how the web works; they’re literally the means by which we access critical information online on a daily basis. That’s why it’s so important that you secure your data with the best password possible. You know the drill: a random sequence of letters and numbers works best, no familiar names, and nothing that a potential hacker could figure out. Most people (myself included) use multiple passwords for various sites just to be on the safe side.

While this advice is simple, the actual practice of keeping multiple complex passwords for the very large (and only getting larger) amount of sites you login to is extremely challenging. I've dealt with these challenges personally, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to reset passwords that I got mixed up with other accounts. Thankfully I never lost any access to an account completely.

The value of a password manager
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Five Tools For Managing Your Social Media Accounts

Guest Post - Today's host is Elle-Rose who looks at some of the tools you can use to manage your Social profiles.Want to get involved ? See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Managing all your social media accounts is something which can be pretty time consuming – if you’re not doing it properly. Updating regular posts is something which takes time to adjust to and work at - but something that your blog or business can really benefit from greatly. Investing your time and effort in social media is something totally worthwhile – and something much easier once you’re using the right tools and equipment to help you out.

Don’t feel scared or intimidated about using online tools to help manage your social media – it can help save you time and it can also mean you efforts are being recorded properly too. After all, time and effort saved in one part of your marketing efforts – is time and effort you can use somewhere else.

So here are 5 great tools you can easily sign up to online – they are easily to navigate too, so you don’t need to worry about being overwhelmed by new technology. Let us know what you think of these tools, and feel free to comment below is there are any you’d like to add.

1)Shortstack (www.shortstack.com) This is a great service that aids businesses to design and build a better looking Facebook page and customise it with various things such as videos and contests. The service is mainly free (they won’t charge for pages that have up to 2,000 likes). Beyond that, a tiered pricing system kicks in, but it’s very reasonable.

2)Buffer (www.bufferapp.com) is a brilliant way to schedule your social media activity and tweets. The website and tools lets you distribute you’re statuses and tweets throughout the day (at times you can choose and coordinate). The basic package is free – but if you want to add more accounts or schedule tweets for longer periods of time, you’ll need to upgrade. The tool is great as it lets you be sure that fresh social content is getting to your audience daily.

3)Postling (www.postling.com) was intended for small business users in mind and delivers easy-to-use tools, alerts and understandings that will help you get the most out of social media marketing and let you make the most out of your business. Postling lets you publish to all of the major social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Tumblr and Flickr and schedule your posts in advance. It also pulls comments from all of your social media sites into one place which saves a lot of time and effort for responding.

4)TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com), This tool is now owned by twitter and is a fantastic way to manage multiple twitter accounts. It takes the form of a “dashboard” from which you can manage a variety of social media accounts all together in one place. It allows you to monitor and manage unlimited accounts, schedule tweets to suit your audience and filter content to focus on what matters to you the most – it’s the kind of thing you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.

5)HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com) This website and tool is very similar to TweetDeck and lets you manage all of your social media accounts on a single dashboard. This is a good solution if more than one person at your business posts to your social media accounts.

By Guest Author -Elle-Rose is a medical writer and social media manager for XXPress PCR.

Catching Readers By Using Personal Stories In Your Blog Posts

Guest Post - Today's host is Carlina Yepinski who covers adding the personal touch your blog posts.Want to get involved ? See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

There are a variety of ways that you can work to build a readership for your blog. One aspect of blogging is attracting new readers to your blog, but an equally important one is retaining those readers, so that they become regular readers of your posts. One of the best ways you can do this is to share the stories of your life in addition to the information or subject you are blogging about. For example if you are writing a food or cooking blog you can add in the details of the funny things that happened while you made the recipe or your children’s reaction to the food. These additional details are what capture your readers’ attention and keep them coming back for more. The difficult part is finding the perfect balance of detail and personal stories.
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A Complete Flag Translate Gadget For Blogger And Wordpress

Your blog is open to readers from all corners of the world so for many it is important to offer content in the Language of the reader.Making your blog easy to translate is a great way to accommodate a global audience.There are a number of options when it comes to translation widgets and in this post we have an extensive Flag gadget.This gadget was created by Chuck at the real Blogger status and includes flags for 54 different country's or languages.This Flag translate gadget will fit nicely in your blogs sidebar ready for readers to click their flag view your content in their language.

Take a look at the demo below :



We have an quick and easy Add To Blogger button for Blogger users and the code is provided for Wordpress and other blog users.

Add The Complete Flag Translate Widget To Your Blog

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Google drive launched : Start Sharing Files

Guest Post By Jalil Rehman.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Google has been launching many new services. A few days ago, It launched Google Code and provided an amazing service to the users. But it was not just over, Now it has launched the brand new Google Drive and gave users a new experience. Google Drive actually is online file-storage service like Microsoft's SkyDrive. But as expected, it comes with many amazing features. The main goal is that, it let's users to upload files and share them with anyone on the Internet. It gives you 5GB free online storage with many new exciting features including smart tagging, image recognition etc. Let's discuss about other features.

Setting up Google Drive

You will need a Google Account to set up with Google Drive. If you have google account, then start using Google Drive with free 5GB online storage. You will be guided step by step after logging in to Google Drive. It's very easy.
What's amazing about it?

There are many unique and latest features in the new Google Drive. Watch the official video of Google Drive below to get familiar with Google Plus in detail.


Sharing and Storage

As already mentioned google drives gives 5GB free online storage. The maximum upload file size limit is 10GB. But the users which have 5GB of total storage, can upload a file of 5GB. It's really amazing. You can upload images, documents, videos etc. and can also share your files with people which also have Google Drive Account.

You will have to install a software for Google Drive in your PC, and then it will create a folder named "Google Drive" on your Desktop. You just have to drag and drop the file you want to upload and share, in that folder and your files will start uploading on your Google Drive account. The files which are uploaded will appear on your account and you can share that. People can download, view, comment and edit your files with your permission. You can also sync your files with iPhone, Android etc.

By default, you will be provided 5GB of free storage. Maybe that's not enough for you. You can extend it at reasonable prices as given below. You can buy up to 1TB of storage.

25 GB = 2.49$ / month
100 GB = 4.99$ / month
1TB = 24.99$ / month

Integration

You can integrate your uploaded files with many products of Google e.g Google Code, Google Docs, Gmail etc. You can choose file of any format and even you can also covert your format before uploading.

Smart Tagging and Search Filter

These are one of my favourite features of Google Drive. You can filter anything from your files e.g you can find images, videos, documents etc. from a bunch of files in seconds. You can tag the images with different labels and then find them easily with one click.

Text Recognition and Offline Viewing

If you've forgotten the name of any file and you want to find it, then Google Drive can find it by matching your given text with the text in the files. Viewing your documents offline is another goal of Google Drive. You just have to install an app in Google Chrome, and then you can view your documents offline in Google Drive.

Google has always tried to provide the users with latest and unique tools and features. Google Drive has many features which other related sites don't give. I hope Google will update this Google Drive and provide more flexibility to users.

By Guest Author - Jalil loves to write about Blogging Tips and SEO Techniques. He is interested in tweaking templates and creating Blogger Widgets.

Photography Blogs - SEO Mistakes To Avoid

Guest Post By Charles Mburugu.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Nowadays, more than ever before, the Internet is intensely competitive. With hundreds of photography websites and Blogs being launched on a daily basis, it has become increasingly difficult to rank well in search engines. This is why search engine optimization is vital for the success of any website. Research has shown that search engines like Google and Yahoo account for more than 70% of traffic.

When it comes to photography sites, the following are some of the SEO mistakes to avoid.
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How To Add Your BuySellAds Marketplace Page To Your Blog

BuySellAds.Com (BSA) is by far the most popular direct advertising site for Bloggers.Recently BuySellAds updated the site to version 3 introducing not only a fresh new design but also some new options for Publishers.One of these options is to place your Marketplace page on your actual blog.The Marketplace page is the page people are directed to on BuySellAds when they click the Advertise Here banners on your site, the page displaying your available ad spots and stats.

BSA call this option the Ad Sales Widget "..Show your ad availability and pricing right on your website. Most publishers use this as their entire "Advertise" page for their website.."

You can see a demo of the Ad Sales Widget for Spice Up Your Blog Here.

If your not yet a user of BSA or have had trouble getting approved take a look at out post "BuySellAds.Com Review And Interview With Founder Todd Garland"

Add The BuySellAds Ad Widget To Your Blog

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7 Fresh Ideas For Bloggers To Deal With Writers Block

Guest Post By Grace Pamer.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Blogging is a phenomenon of the Internet age that has few precedents from the past. Bloggers have to come up with new ideas for articles on a regular basis, write and edit their work, and post them, ready to move on to the next blog entry. On the whole we undertake no formal training for such demands and yet the pressures can sometimes be intense. We often work in a particular niche, sometimes alone, and on occasion may feel the constraints of such choices. In fact, in many ways, the only activity prior to the advent of web logs (blogs) was the work of professional column writers at newspapers and magazines for they had to come up with new ideas regularly to maintain their readerships expectations - and they were paid to do it!

As such we blog writers can become overwhelmed by the task of creating new content especially when we feel like we have ran into a wall of non-creativity. In addition real life problems also play their part in causing blogger's block and it can sometimes be difficult to get back on track after life has thrown us a curve-ball. But rest assured there are tried and tested ways to overcome this problem, and to feel productive again. When you need a consistent well of ideas for articles, here are some methods to consider.
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Blogger jQuery Scrolling Social Bookmarking Bar On Posts

The most requested tutorial over the last few months has been for the scrolling share buttons that sit alongside posts and scroll down the page with the reader.This gadget is popular on all the top blogs and really does help increase the number of times your posts get shared on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.Using jQuery we attach a bar to the side of your blog posts with bookmarking buttons, as the page scrolls the bar neatly follows giving readers the option to share at any time.The gadget I have been using for the past few months and I share with you today has the following options : Twitter Share, Facebook Like, Stumble Upon, Google+, Pinterest Pin It and a Rss Feed Icon.Wordpress users can try out the Wordpress Share Bar listed in this post.

Video Tutorial - For extra help at the end of the post I have a video tutorial displaying the steps.

At the moment this gadget is in use here so you should be able to see it, you can also see another demo below.



As this is an advanced gadget there are 9 steps to add it to your blog so more than ever its important to back up your template first in case of mistakes, then take your time and you should have no problems.

Add The Sticky Scroll Bar To Blogger

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For the Beginner College Blogger: Increasing Traffic

Guest Post By Samantha Gray.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Deciding to start up a blog while still in college is an excellent choice—not only can it help improve your writing and communication skills as well as improve your computer skills, but a blog can also help you find a job after graduation, especially if you create a blog that's in your "niche" or " industry." For example, if you want to become a music journalist, then creating a blog where you review bands and albums can help you get your foot in the door. But in order to show that your blog is influencing other people, you have to have an audience—i.e. continuous traffic visiting your blog. But word-of-mouth isn't enough. That said, below are few ways that can earn you some loyal readers.
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Add Facemoods Emoticons To Your Blogger Comments

Here are some amazingly funny emoticons compatible with your Blogger comments - also with threaded commenting system! If you want to know how to add them, just follow the next steps:

DEMO

Step 1. From your Blogger Dashboard, go to Template and click the Edit HTML button

...click anywhere inside the code area and press CTRL + F to open the search box:

Step 2. Type or paste one of the below lines inside the search box, then hit Enter in order to find it:

• For previous commenting system: 

• For threaded comments:

Step 3. Add the below code just above it

(for threaded comments, add the code after):

:a
 
:b
 
:c
 
:d
 
:e
 
:f
 
:g
 
:h
 
:i
 
:j
 
:k
 
:l
 
:m
 
:n
 
:o
 
:p
 
:q
 
:r
 
:s
 
:t   Add smileys to Blogger +

Step 4. Now search for this piece of code:

Step 5. And add the following code immediately above it:

• For previous commenting system:

Step 4. Save the changes by clicking on the Save Template button

Changing the default avatar

For Anonymous users: Replace the code in red with your image address
For Blogger users: Replace the URL in blue with your own.

You can choose an avatar from here and then copy the url of it:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUNSMJC6M684GSiMsrDmBsdd8J9h9LOZZv7h3o0H2swmtr3Y0Z65TysuIs4SrHGN0-rj0ua0fkoZjmbeXLYzAjewwzyq2IyBTytC0Dg8B6kRjMvcnc_yRmg97Mo9Yq-SONtMx9v_E-Wc/s200/default_avatar.gif

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhry6ctNoE0nDsBlla1XX6lAObskeMrTcpiRsR6h7xmeTVXcoeATXGnZKMUMixcPNKlCBS4CbNNYAKs2WavNGwAGt6qV5XL1L9PjNaIpqMWDiQWJ9Huxrgd8ilHCCHWU06LRJL6jP2iPLo/s1600/facebook.gif

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN31n_4ZGzCypXwuu6DFEXOj85-2XRr9W3gerAculsboCjB8mWAQP2IU4_J-c3fwJcUJjVHvwu4ew3M1augqaQBmIyMkYL1EstEdKh8-ldhwbCFMxZmgCIYrbxE-4kc2mC-gbbjUAI9oY/s1600/anonymous3.png

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyul-Acvj_sImK2ljWw6fgzM2KnFWTq-NuBn-Y1Ky6EO3MffNDeAmKMWsAZc4O2tkDciYGlI5eTJoRwK06szoBf9ap29ER8vy4jQaE4S_LoQFA4Myp-_rq3LaHPsbC7Lt99BVcFlPBg2IP/s1600/blogger-user.png

That's it! If you found this trick useful, please consider sharing it.