The Official ActiveRain Guide

How To Add a .PDF File To Your Blog Post or Website

Once you've learned to add photos, embed video and audio files, create hyper-links and anchor text etc, inevitably you'll want to know how you can add a .pdf file to your Blog post.  An Adobe Acrobat .PDF (Portable Document Format) file is a document that typically cannot be edited and is usually created from an original document using the Adobe Acrobat software or similar application.  .PDF files can be viewed by downloading the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Adding a .PDF file to your Blog post can be done one of two ways.  You can upload the .PDF file to a host server on the Internet and simply create a link to it using the location URL or web address. IE: http://www.DomainName/DocumentName.pdf  The second way is to use a program or tool that creates an HTML embed code which you can add to your Blog post or website.

Scribd.com is a site that offers users a tool that lets you upload your .PDF document onto their server, then use their widget/player to embed the file into your Blog post or site.  The site is FREE and once you've signed up and registered, the process is fast and simple.  The benefits of embedding the .PDF file vs linking to it are that visitors and readers don't have to leave your post or site to access the shared PDF document.

How To Add a PDF File to Your ActiveRain Blog Post

1. Join Scribd.com and setup a Profile

2. Upload your .PDF file to Scribd.com

3. Click on the .PDF File you want to embed to Blog Post or Website

4. Copy the embed code from the "Share and Embed" Toolbox

*Notice the options to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Buzz
(You can also create a hyperlink to Anchor text using the Link/URL)

5. Place/Paste the HTML embed code on the HTML tab of your Blog Post.
The code can also be added to your website using your HTML page editor.

6. Save your post or page and you're done!

 

Here's a sample of a .PDF file I created a couple years ago here on ActiveRain.

Brad's Top Free Online Website Tools and Picks

As an Absolute Last Resort

One last option would be to take a "screen shot" or capture the PDF file as an image (if it all fits on your computer screen) and save it as a .jpg file, then you can add it as a photo or graphic to your Blog post. Unfortunately, even a single page PDF file is hard to display the entire page on a computer monitor or single screen. To capture any computer screen image, use the "Shift+Print Scr" keys on a PC, or the "Shift+Command+4" on a MAC to capture the image. You can always crop out what you don't want in the image using a photo or image editor like picnik.com or Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like a free photo or image editing software similar to Adobe Photoshop, check out Gimp.org.

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.

Using wix.com, I was able to create this ebook. It was initially created to try and help visitors and readers find posts on my Blog that might be helpful to them. In an effort to try and sort them out, and make them easier to find, I was able to use wix to better organize my tutorials, how-to's, and tips etc. Hopefully, it will make things easier for folks to find articles of interest, or anything else I have Blogged about that they might be looking for. This seems like an easy way to keep different Blog posts alive after a long period of time.

The eBook tutorial can also be found and is available on my ActiveRain profile, just in case this post disappears off my Blogroll, (which it will) as they ALL tend to do after time. You can find out more about Wix at Wix.com. It's easy, it's fairly user friendly, it's useful, and the best part of all, it's FREE!

Sorry about the big white space above, it's not a boo-boo, it was intentional and here's why...

The blank space above was needed for when you hover your mouse over the wix graphic on the right hand side of the eBook, you'll see that my "Magic Banner" will appear there.

I know this post of Wix is small, and it may be difficult for some of you to read who have eyes like mine, but I had to re size it so it would fit into this post and not blow out my entire Blog. The larger version over on my AR profile is much easier on the eyes, and is the proper size. Enjoy!

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