Do you wonder what those orange squares (chicklets) that are on blogs and sites that you visit? Wonder no more feedburner writes an explanation here about what they are and why they're so useful.They're not only for big media companies or large websites they're also for garden bloggers like you and I. You can use them to allow people who come across your blog to subscribe and keep up-to-date with your blog from their favorite home page.
The image in this post is a screen capture of my Google Reader. Every time I come across a site or blog that has an chicklet (mine is at the top right hand corner) I'll click it and subscribe to the feed and when I'm signed into my Google Account I can go to my Google Reader and see the latest updates on the blogs I visit right away. I can read the blog entries and click on them to visit the blog and comment or do whatever. It's a neat way to keep up to date with the news and blogs that interest me all in one place.
But here's the thing- I just checked and most of the blogs that I have a link exchange with don't have a chicklet that I can use to subscribe to the blog with. And I'm hoping that this post will encourage more people to provide a chicklet for their feed so that they can be kept up with easily. It's not hard to do set up and makes for easier blogging so give it a try. If you have questions you can always feel free to ask and I'll see if I can be of help.
BTW if you're using Blogger maybe you've noticed that you now have a widget that you can add to your blog where your shared items from Google Reader show up. I may add it soon but so far I don't like the colors they have available because they don't really blend in well with the template.
I looked and I'll admit, I don't know where to turn it on.
ReplyDeleteDS,
ReplyDeleteYou mean the shared items from Google Reader displayed on your blog? If so I don't think they've added it yet to the widgets on the blog. I've noticed the option after posting and you get the "posting successful" message next to that there is usually a message that says "do more with Google Docs" well pay attention next time because it will change to the option to adding your shared items.
The other way to get it is to go to your Google Reader page and click on the link in the top left corner that says "shared items" click on it and you can also find get the code there to put on your blog. When you copy that code you can place it in the html/javascript window that pops up when you click add a page element under template.
Let me know if works.
I should also mention that you should make sure you have shared some items for it to work. When you're reading your feeds on Google Reader click the title of a blog post. When you're reading below it should says "add star" "share" and "email"---
ReplyDeleteClick share there and that's what will show up in the little box on your blog. You can share anything that you're reading from just about any feed.