Adding Extra Things to a Blog Design

It shows how silly I am – I thought the Labels I had to add on the blogs were like meta tags and I had such a long list showing down the side of my blog it was ridiculous so I have spent some time sorting them out into less sections (why don't they call them that ???) so it is easier for anyone to find them under subjects.  As I just write a lot about my life in general I could only think of “me and my life” to cover that group which will probably end up quite large as I think my readers are probably more interested in general meanderings rather than continual blogs about how I made this pendant and how to bead a bracelet.  I am still adding things and rearranging the side of my blog too, until I have it just how I want it.  It is nearly there but there are a few other things I may add as it is always nice to see things right down the side when you are reading down more than one blog rather than it just going blank.  At this stage though I definitely don’t want to add any adverts (I probably never will) and most definitely not any of those annoying flashing images that distract you.  I want my blog to be fun to read and each blog to give multiple things to read as well like the trivia and joke bits at the end.  If you have ever seen anything on the side of other people’s blogs that was particularly interesting then please do let me know and I can see if I can add it to mine too.  I am still looking out for a bank of buttons to have the choices of forwarding my blog too, rather than the patch of buttons I have.  It would be nice to get a strip or bank of them that are easy to click so that you can all share my blog, in the hope that I get more followers.  They don’t have to read all my blogs but they can at least follow them so they have the choice.

As much as I say it myself I am getting a dab hand at finding ways to get things on the side and bottom of my blog though.  LOL – I am spending more time doing that recently than writing my actual blog or making my jewellery.  I want to get it right though.  It’s funny how much you learn though in a short space of time if you put your mind to it.   I am a bit of a ferret when I get going, trying to find things and how to add them.  It’s fun but also very frustrating sometimes.  I like the rewarding bit when something I have added actually works.  I have made most of my buttons actually work down the side rather than just sit there so I am pleased with that.

I have spent a lot of time recently going to other peoples blogs to get information about how to do my blog – you know all the buttons and extras they put on their blogs as I wanted my blog to look interesting.  The must frustrating thing I found, even with the really good SEO blogs and Media blogs is HOW TO FOLLOW THEM!  If I have found their blog interesting I want to be able to see their future blogs and maybe even go back to see another older blog but I spend ages sometimes searching up and down trying to find a way to follow them, other than by email or RSS.  I want to be able to follow them on Google+ preferably, or if not on Facebook as they never ever use Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs.  Obviously when you get to a certain stage in blogging and have “Your Own” blog site then you expect people to follow you with RSS.  But some of us novices would like to follow them too so please give us the basic follow buttons.  I suppose I could follow by email but I never like giving out my email to these types of sites as you tend to get inundated with requests to buy things, go to places etc. etc. so I would rather play it safe and just be able to follow their new blogs when they are posted via Google+ or Facebook.  With all the tips they give you on how to do things you would think that anyone too much “in the know” wouldn’t really need them so aiming at the “need to know” market would mean we novices need to follow in the basic ways like Google+ or Facebook.  Unless they feel we would only visit the once so wouldn’t want or need to follow them.  They have whole banks of buttons to share their information to others via our connections on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, bookmarking sites etc. so why not use another bank of buttons for us to follow them???

Autumn has definitely seemed to settle here in our part of England as the evenings are getting chillier and we have toyed with the idea of putting the heating on a few times but can’t quite bring ourselves to put it on yet J  So we have put more clothes on instead.  The annoying thing is that our lounge seems to be quite cool (which is great in Summer) so when I come out of the office upstairs or the kitchen to go and sit and watch television for a while then it feels very cold as the computer in the office or cooking in the kitchen keeps it warm.

One good thing about Autumn is that some decent television programmes come back on and some new ones start.  Doc Martin is a favourite one of mine that has come back on now and a good new one has started called The Body Farm which is good.  I remember reading a book about a Body Farm which was either Patricia Cornwell or Minnette Walters which are both favourite authors of mine.

Time for the trivia snippet:

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.       

And a chuckle to finish on:

An elderly man is stopped by the police around 1 a.m. and is asked where he is going at this time of night.
The man replies, "I am going to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body."
The officer then asks, "Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?"
The man replies, "That would be my wife."