ActiveRain Tutorials

In case you missed it earlier today, ActiveRain introduced the ability to now upload an HD profile picture in which you can crop & edit right on the network.  If you missed the announcement, take a minute to read all about it on Brad's post: It's time to update your photo- In HD.  To me, this is such a wonderful feature because for some reason, it seems the pictures of me where I am actually smiling and have my eyes open always have someone else in the photograph. (I should win an award for the worst person ever to be photographed.)  Now, I can use some of those pictures & crop out the surrounding people without needing to use photo editing software.

The video below will show you just how easy it is to use this feature.  I uploaded a new photo of myself, edited & saved it in less than 2 minutes.  Remember though, when choosing your new profile photo, make sure it is at least 600 x 600 pixels wide or you will receive an error message.  As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me for help!

I get asked often how I created my custom header for both my ActiveRain Blog and also my Outside Blog.  The process of creating one is actually pretty simple to do.  Instead of doing a tutorial with screen shots, I thought it might be easier to see how I created my header & uploaded it in a video format.  So, I made a generic header for my blogs today & taped it as I made them.

The entire process from beginning to end only took me about 5 minutes.  I actually spent more time locating the photograph I wanted to use & enhancing that.  So, if you are unsure about how to design your own header, watch these two videos below and you will be on your way to creating a great looking new header for your blog in no time!

This first video walks you through the process of actually designing the header.  It shows you how to re-size, crop, and also add text to your photograph.  I used a free online photo editing software called picnik.com to create mine.  If you have photo editing software that you are familiar with, you can use that & have the same results by following the steps.

Now that we have created an awesome looking header, it is now time to insert it onto both our ActiveRain profile & also our Outside Blog.  This video will walk you through uploading the picture to both places.

As always, if you run into any problems, do not hesitate to contact me.  Now go off & add Jazz Up Your ActiveRain & Outside Blog with a Custom Header!

The number 1 question that I get asked each week by new members is how to insert photos into your blog and move them around.  I would guess this question comes up anywhere from 3-5 times each week.  Adding photographs to your ordinary blocks of text in a blog post can take your boring posts to another level. 

However, many are confused on how to insert photos, or use the different components of ActiveRain's photo editor, so I am going to break this down into several components. 

The first part I am going to show you is how to insert photos either from your computers Hard Drive, or from a link to the photo on a web hosting service like Flickr. (Remember to read the TOS of the web hosting site before uploading photographs for commercial use.)

The one advantage to loading your picture to a web hosting site first is that it gives you another link in your blog that helps to build your SEO & Google juice by linking from the photo site to your blog.  You will notice that since I uploaded the picture of the Lilly Pads from my photo account, I have the ability to go back & place a link on it as well back to the photo album.  Since the picture on the left came straight from my hard drive, there isn't a way to link back to another area.  The other nice thing by linking this photograph is that if someone wants to see it much larger, they can click on the picture and will be directed straight to where the photo is available in full size. 

This first video will just show the 2 different ways to insert a picture onto your blog. I broke this tutorial into two parts to keep the videos from becoming too long. When you are actually inserting the picture into your blog, you would do both processes of both tutorials before clicking the update button.

This second video shows you how to align the photo in your post, re-size it & also place some white-space around your picture so that the words of your post do not run into your picture.

Here are a few final reminders for inserting photos onto your blog:

• Do not use any photo that is not yours without written permission from the owner.  Using a photo without permission can result in an instant lawsuit and cost you thousands of dollars!
  
• Remember the importance of labeling your photos!
• Keep your photos on your ActiveRain blog under 550 pixels in width.  Any wider than that and you can run into major layout issues on your Outside Blog.
• Turn off Pop-Up Blockers. The number #1 issue that people run into when trying to insert a picture is that they have a pop-up blocker that is prohibiting them from loading a photo.  Sometimes even after changing the settings they run into issues.  If this is the case, hold in the CTRL button on your keyboard when clicking the links and it should allow the boxes to load properly.
• Give Credit to the Photographer.   Some places have a creative commons license which allows you to use another persons photo, but you must give them credit for taking the picture. 

The photos I used for this demonstration were taken from my Flickr Set that were taken on my recent trip to Atlanta & our journey to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

I hope this tutorial answers any questions you may have on how to insert an image into your blog.  If you have any other, do not hesitate to contact me.

I get asked several times a week by members on how to insert links into blog posts.  So, I decided it was time to do a blog post about how to do this.  Watch the short video below as I walk you through the process of adding links & unlinking on your ActiveRain blog.

As always, do not forget to label your link! It takes only a second but can really increase the power of your blog exponentially!

If you are having trouble viewing this video, click the button to watch in HD & you can view this tutorial in full screen mode.