2 Widgets You Will Want to Add to Your Blog Post

When it comes to making your blog more user friendly as well as subscriber friendly, you want to appeal to the reader as much as possible for their subscription without being annoying. The post footer is a great way to do this and there are several widgets you can consider adding to your blog for this very purpose.

The first widget you will want to add is a Share This widget. Share This has a wonderful customizable widget you can add at the foot of your posts that looks much more professional than blogger’s default social links. However, you’ll want to be sure that AFTER you add the Share This widget that you go back and delete the bit of html code for the default blogger social link bar. To you this you need to do the following:

1. Go to Template on your Design menu and select “Backup/Restore.” Select “Download Full Template.” This will ensure that in case you make a mistake you can always select this download to return to your current template. Once the template is downloaded close the Backup/Restore window.

2. Now select “Edit HTML.” Click “Proceed.”

3. Expand widgets and scroll down or use the find window (ctrl+F) to find the following code (or something similar):

<b:if cond=’data:top.showEmailButton’><a class=’goog-inline-block share-button sb-email’ expr:href=’data:post.sharePostUrl + "&target=email"’ expr:title=’data:top.emailThisMsg’ target=’_blank’><span class=’share-button-link-text’><data:top.emailThisMsg/></span></a></b:if><b:if cond=’data:top.showBlogThisButton’><a class=’goog-inline-block share-button sb-blog’ expr:href=’data:post.sharePostUrl + "&target=blog"’ expr:onclick=’"window.open(this.href, \"_blank\", \"height=270,width=475\"); return false;"’ expr:title=’data:top.blogThisMsg’ target=’_blank’><span class=’share-button-link-text’><data:top.blogThisMsg/></span></a></b:if><b:if cond=’data:top.showTwitterButton’><a class=’goog-inline-block share-button sb-twitter’ expr:href=’data:post.sharePostUrl + "&target=twitter"’ expr:title=’data:top.shareToTwitterMsg’ target=’_blank’><span class=’share-button-link-text’><data:top.shareToTwitterMsg/></span></a></b:if><b:if cond=’data:top.showFacebookButton’><a class=’goog-inline-block share-button sb-facebook’ expr:href=’data:post.sharePostUrl + "&target=facebook"’ expr:onclick=’"window.open(this.href, \"_blank\", \"height=430,width=640\"); return false;"’ expr:title=’data:top.shareToFacebookMsg’ target=’_blank’><span class=’share-button-link-text’><data:top.shareToFacebookMsg/></span></a></b:if><b:if cond=’data:top.showOrkutButton’><a class=’goog-inline-block share-button sb-orkut’ expr:href=’data:post.sharePostUrl + "&target=orkut"’ expr:title=’data:top.shareToOrkutMsg’ target=’_blank’><span class=’share-button-link-text’><data:top.shareToOrkutMsg/></span></a></b:if><b:if cond=’data:top.showDummy’><div class=’goog-inline-block dummy-container’><data:post.dummyTag/></div></b:if>

4. Select this entire code and delete it.

5. Preview your blog to make sure the blogger social bar is indeed eliminated and then select “save template.”

You now have one down and one to go.

The second widget isn’t really a widget but rather html code for a post footer subscribe box. While you may have a subscription box in your sidebar, your readers are more likely to subscribe to your blog if they have something in their same line of sight as the post they are reading. To add this widget, you will need to do the following:

1. Go to Template on your Design menu and select “Backup/Restore.” Select “Download Full Template.” This will ensure that in case you make a mistake you can always select this download to return to your current template. Once the template is downloaded close the Backup/Restore window.

2. Now select “Edit HTML.” Click “Proceed.”

3. Expand widgets and scroll down or use the find window (ctrl+F) to find the following code (or something similar):

<div class=’post-footer-line post-footer-line-2′><span class=’post-labels’>

<b:if cond=’data:post.labels’>
<data:postLabelsLabel/>
<b:loop values=’data:post.labels’ var=’label’>
<a expr:href=’data:label.url’ rel=’tag’><data:label.name/></a><b:if cond=’data:label.isLast != "true"’>,</b:if>
</b:loop>
</b:if>
</span> </div>

The main thing you want to find is the “post-footer-line” that is for your “post-labels.”

4. Below this section (ending in </div>), paste the following code:

<div style=’background:#FFFFFF;border:1px dotted #696969;padding:10px;margin:5px;’>

<center>"Like what you see? Stay connected to receive the latest updates free!"</center>

<br/><center><a href=’http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cornerstone-Confessions/223659941027323?sk=wall’ target=’_Like Me’><img alt=’Like Me on Facebook’ border=’0′ src=’http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z405/CornerstoneBlog/Facebook_32x32.png’/></a> <a href=’http://feeds.feedburner.com/CornerstoneConfessions’ target=’_blank’><img alt=’Subscribe via RSS Feed’ border=’0′ src=’http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z405/CornerstoneBlog/RSS_32x32.png’/></a> <a href=’http://twitter.com/#!/cornerstonekat’><img alt=’Follow Me on Twitter’ border=’0′ src=’http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z405/CornerstoneBlog/Twitter_32x32.png’/></a> <a href=’https://plus.google.com/102235997816598679660/posts’ target=’_blank’><img alt=’Follow Me on G+’ border=’0′ src=’http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z405/CornerstoneBlog/Google1_32x32.png’/></a><Your Feedburner Subscription Form Code></center>

</div>

5. Change the red links to your own. The first one is your Facebook page. The second, your feedburner address, and the third is your Twitter address. The final section is for your feedburner email subscription form code. To get your personalized code go to Feedburner, open the feed for your blog, select “Publicize” and “Email Subscriptions”. You will find the html code for your blog here. Insert it into the above code.

6. If you want to eliminate a button, highlight everything including and between the for that particular button. If you want to add other buttons, view my post on social media icons to learn how to add additional icons to your post footer subscription box.

7. Customize the text in purple to fit your own needs.

8. Change the background color and border colors (highlighted in green) to your liking using hex color codes.

9. Preview your blog to make sure the blogger social bar is indeed eliminated and then select “save template.”

That’s it. You are well on your way to increasing your reader involvement and subscriptions. Speaking of which, have you subscribed to Cornerstone Confessions yet? If not, I’d love to connect with you so be sure to check out my subscription box below to keep in touch.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. But set an example for the believer is speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12