Everything TypePad

Add spark to your blog with a custom footer

2009-07-16T09:27:36-07:00

Have you noticed Typepad's new blog footer option? We introduced it to you briefly last month, but now we'd like to tell you a little bit about how to make it work for you!

Regardless of your account level, you can use some HTML or Javascript to add an advertisement, an image, or even some text (such as Copyright information) to your footer. This simple customization is a great way to add some spark to your blog.

Here, we have added a leaderboard ad to our footer:

Simply navigate to Weblogs > Design > Content and tick the box next to Blog Footer. Then, click the pencil icon to customize the content. To add custom text or code, select "Advanced". As an example, the following code can be used to place a leaderboard ad in your footer:

You can add HTML code, text or script there. Then, save your changes and you're done!

Our Pro and Business Class subscribers can also use some Custom HTML and CSS to place an ad or image above the blog banner.

Want to set this up on your own blog? You can use the code below:

<div style="position: absolute; top: 10px;"> YOUR AD SCRIPT or other content you want to display above your blog banner. This can be script, code or text. </div>

Now, add the following code to your Custom CSS area. (Edit the height to match the height of the content you are displaying above the banner area)

#banner {padding-top: 110px;}

Customizing the footer is a great, easy way to add some value to your blog!

(While we're talking about ads, did you know that Six Apart Media creates custom advertising solutions that empower marketers to connect with their target audience and help foster community? It's true, and we have a brand new home on the web: take a look!)

Why does my business need a blog?

2009-07-15T06:00:00-07:00

For a start up business establishing itself online today the options available are multiple and varied. Should you get a Facebook page, a Twitter profile, a website and a blog? Not to mention Friendfeed, Del.icio.us, Stumble Upon? Do you need any of these? Do you need all of them? How do they work together?

Recently we have found a few small businesses creating their online presence entirely on Facebook. This caused us some alarm. There are many reasons why you should "own" the space that presents your brand, creates your leads and establishes customer interactions.

Denise Wakeman of biztipsblog and buildabetterblog experienced another of these draw backs of resigning ownership to another site, in a very real way last week. Her Twitter account was suspended due to (unfounded!) "suspicious activity". Suddenly access to her clients was cut off. The list of followers she had built was inaccessible. The links to her content were gone.

Fortunately for Denise, she had her own blog where she had produced and archived her content and built her customer database so it was not the end of the world. In addition, her Twitter account was reinstated a little while later and she is back tweeting with the best of them. But had she based her online presence on Twitter alone those hours would have been even more nail biting.

These are just one reason to choose carefully when it comes to your online presence. Businesses need to be building equity on their own sites and using the social networks as outposts in communities to draw more traffic back to their sites.

Denise, a business blogging expert and consultant, has many more examples of how to set up your blog and social media presence for business success. She will be joining Andy Wibbels in the Small Business Center on Wednesday 15th July at 11am PST to talk about to launch the most effective online presence in a webinar entitled Top 5 tactics for a successful business blog

Please forward a link to this event to any one you think could benefit. It's totally free and open to any one.

Tips and Tricks - from the comments

2009-07-14T16:04:11-07:00

A few weeks ago, we asked you for your best blogging tip. Here's some of the highlights that folks from the TypePad community contributed in the comments.

Christa Wells said..."I think people enjoy humor and authenticity--since I also enjoy humor and authenticity. I make an effort to write with that in mind. A few well-crafted paragraphs that let readers into your life and that bring some joy or hope into their day...that's what I aim for.

Visuals--photographs or video--are great to sprinkle in whenever possible!"

Good Girl Gone Blog said... "My tip is to write posts whenever the inspiration comes to you."

Christopher Ming Ryan said..."Thanks for posting this helpful excerpt. I wrote a post recently on how I get inspired when I get stuck.

It's right here on my typepad powered blog, The Way We Watch, entitled 11 Posts From Around The Web To Motivate Your Blogging."

NJ said... "My blogging tip is too use images in your blog posts. With Typepad blogs you can even create a link from the images to an external URL. People love to "click" on things, why not to something that you want them to visit!"

Noelle Mena said..."...loved the graphic organizer used above. I have always used those for writing period with my students. So is great to see it moved over into blogging! I see where that 'mind mapping' can lead you to writing a great 'series' on your blog. Which of course if its a good one, your readers will keep coming back for more!"

Got more blogging tips to share? Let us know!

This Week's Release: Design, Workflow, and Bug Fixes

2009-07-10T18:33:46-07:00

Here's a few highlights from this week's release.

Add more awesome to your blog:
We've put together a great list of independent experts who can help make your blog design really sing. Check it out!

We're working on improving the new themes from Japan, too, and should have new widths available soon.

Improving Workflow:
Thanks to some feedback we got in our Get Satisfaction forums, we added the ability for guest authors to schedule posts. This helps a ton of people who are publishing with multiple authors.

Another cool little easter-egg feature for those of us who manage a lot of posts: if you hover over the date that a scheduled post is supposed to go live, you can see the time it's going live, too.

Live Chat Pilot:
We're now offering our TypePad Business Class bloggers live chat support to help with billing and account issues. Learn more about how TypePad Business Class.

Other bug fixes:
Fixed reply by email issue with TypePad Connect.
Fixed posting bug in IE (object tags were getting messed up)
Fixed issues with trackbacks not getting sent at the right time

Blog Tune-Up Service: Taking your small business blog to the next level

2009-07-07T08:52:39-07:00

Recently, Craig Bowman of Common Ground Consulting purchased a Blog Tune-Up Service from TypePad One. He was very pleased with the results and wrote up a great review.

Craig said:

"Common Ground Consulting is a boutique development firm that works around the world supporting social profit organizations and people who are committed to social justice. We've been blogging on TypePad for years-sharing resources and strategies, connecting people, and telling powerful stories of change. We've also posted a lot of pictures of the foods we've been eating along the way!

"This summer, with the help of TypePad's Tune-Up service, our blog has a new look and feel; and a lot of new followers.

"TypePad's knowledgeable technical advisors provided suggestions specifically tailored to improving our site's accessibility and appeal. After a thorough assessment (including a review of our corporate website at: www.commongroundconsulting.org), they made detailed recommendations about ways to improve a reader's experience on our blog. With our approval, they quickly implemented more than a dozen changes; and even designed a custom banner using an image we provided.

"Throughout each step of the process they provided frequent status updates and made us feel as though ours was the most important blog on the web. Thanks TypePad."

Let TypePad One help your small business today! Don't have a small business? Our services are available to every TypePad member.