This is one of the most frequently asked questions on our blog. I receive a lot of emails asking me how I got the buttons on our blog.
This is a simple process. You will be able to follow the steps quite easily.
You first have to create the button. After you create your button you need to add the URL link to where you want the button to take your visitor should they click on a particular button. You add the URL through your Active Rain editor.
There are a lot of Free button creation websites all over the Internet. This is the one that I like because it is easy and has very few steps. Most of the free button making websites I have checked out all want you to add a link back to them in return.
Go to any free button site. This is an example of one of the sites.
Choose the button size, shape and color here.
Enter the text as directed. The instructions are simple to follow.
Click on get the code.
You then are going to copy and paste this code in your html editor on Active Rain.
When you are in Active Rain editor, click on the html tab. Once in this editor, scroll down to where you are going to want your button to appear. Here you will paste the code.
Then click on publish to draft to make sure it all works. After you have posted to draft go back into the WYSIWYG editor and click on the button. Then click on the link tab at the top of the editor and enter the URL that you want the button to take your visitor to. Once you are happy with the placement you can publish to public and you are done!
Here is the button site for the Twitter follow birdies. You can make your "follow me on Twitter " button here and follow the same copy and paste procedure above.
Once you have the buttons published on one of your posts you can copy and paste the entire button from post to post. You can also store your buttons on an unpublished page on your website.
You can also place your buttons in this same manner on your Active Rain profile.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful.
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
... you make these tech tips so darn easy to follow I love it !!!
Thank you for this little tutorial, a new button is on my horizon !
Cheers !
Sheldon
Thanks Sheldon, if you need me to detail how to get the URL into the editor on AR just let me know and I will do a post with diagrams.
You are the best. I have been wanting to add a button and didn't have a clue how to go about doing this. Your instructions look very clear and I am looking forward to making this addition to my posts. Thanks and have a great weekend.
Katerina - I great tutorial. I recently had some custom buttons made for me real cheap. I think the look great they really stand out.
thanks I didn't know where to go to make a button. You two are so smart.
Hi Katerina, thanks for the great tutorial. I was wondering how people were doing these buttons. I will be trying this a little later. Take care!
Katerina... thanks for sharing this. I have always done it a basic way, just copying the botton as a picture and not go the html route. Thanks for explaining this.
Nice tutorial on buttons, Katerina. Margaret Wode up Maryland way also took on button-making in a post this week.
I wasn't aware that there were"button" websites. Kewl - thanks. This was one of those burning questions in my mind.
Thanks for the tutorial. I still have not made the buttons but I'd like to. :-(
I may have to change buttons, yours look better than mine!
Katerina, Thanks so much for this tutorial. I have bookmarked and see some new buttons in my future.
Thanks I tried to use one site and hated it. I will go check out your recommendation.
Katerina ~ I love your tutorials and really appreciate your generosity in sharing! It is snowing here today....a good time to study up on buttons.
Thanks for putting up these easy to follow instructions. I will make them work for me ASAP!
I don't think I am ready for a blog button yet in my blog... ~~sigh~~ one step at a time.... BUT- I do have this bookmarked for future reference and soon. Thanks Katerina
Hi Katerina-Thanks for the tips and links on this post. I have a lot to learn, and this info will certainly help.
Great tutorial, thank you for the information.
The button generator site has so much action (from your blog no doubt) that the server is over loaded.
Does Active Rain work? :)
Hmmm, David- that is not my button generator:) I wish I could yield all that power LOL! The servers are acting up, the AR techies must be making some changes on the system!
Everyone! Thank you so much for all of your comments! I am so glad that this tutorial will help you make your buttons. If you remember the steps to this you will be able to understand how to add other types of gadgets to your blog as you find them. IT will start to make more sense the more you do it.
Thanks guys I love the hints you give us for free all the time. Thanks again.
Katherina - I agree with Sheldon, you make your tutorials so easy to follow. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Katerina, thank you for the tutorial, I am going to check them out right away!
Thanks for the post - I knew how to make the buttons. i didn't understand how to do the link for the button. I was looking for some magic words in the HTML code.
Katerina - I see more homework in my immediate future. Buttons should make my blog footers look more professional and will take care of some of that wall of words look. Thank you once again for sharing your knowledge.
Also I have to put in a plug for your SEO to the Top webinars. They are awesome. I have learned so much and IT WORKS!
Very nice post. Thank you although I knew how to do it. I think it's great you take the time to teach others!
OOOHHH - Thank you! I am in the process of creating a custom footer for all of my blog posts and a button was something I needed. Thanks again!
Ryan- I just add the link to where I want the button to lead a person to. I then either redo the link or just copy the whole button and move it from post to post. I know that it is better to host the button on your website on a non published page. Have not done that yet. Sometimes it is faster and easier for me just to move it from one post to another. The lazy way out.
Cool stuff! What do you use buttons for?
I really appreciate our community here for helping out one another ! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge
Sounds so easy. Hopefully I can figure it out. I need to spice up my blog.
Drew- You use the buttons for subscribe to my blog, subscribe to my ezine or newsletter, to home search, to CMA, to whatever you want them to go to:) It is up to you.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks very much - I've been wondering how to do this!
OUTSTANDING blog post--thank you. This makes it so much easier than it appears to be to do, and I've learned some things enough about html code from this post alone, to be dangerous ;-)
BB
Hey Katerina, you are such a wealth of information. Thank you!
I am going to save this for use at a later date but thank your for publishing this post!!
Thank you Katerina! Buttons have been a burning desire, but I didn't have all the steps. I can't wait to try it! Could your next tip be on adding color print??? Or do I need to be an html expert - which I am not! Have a great weeknd!
Thanks Katerina! I love your tutorial.
Great information, I have started following your blogs and really appreciate the insight you provide!
Nestor & Katerina - Thanks for the tutorial I always want to add some buttons but don't know how. I will definitely check this out.
Katerina,
You sure make the steps easy to follow...and I thank you. You are a gem!!!
Katerina,
Another great post. I have added buttons in the past and even added the widget for cluster maps, and enjoyed watching it get (slowly) populated. Now, it is gone. Poof it vanished somewhere along the way and I can NOT figure out why. The html code is still in my settings page where it belongs, but it doesn't appear anywhere on my blog. Am I doing something wrong? I have tried repeatedly and finally gave up, sigh.
I have also created a subscribe to my blog button, but each time I try to capture the link from the subscribe button, I end up subscribing to my own blog (Heavier sigh). Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? I would really appreciate the help.
Judy
katerina, I always love reading your post, they are always so educational. Thanks for the button information. I did not know about this stuff.
Going through your old tutorial posts to sharpen up my blog skills. It is very competitive to sell in Manhattan New York Real Estate, I need to employee all the help I can. You are an angel to me!
Katerina - Thanks for sharing. This is excellent information. Your detailed explanation make it easy to follow. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing. I really need to get my blogs spruced up and nothing does that better than images :)
I've been walking between the drops for only a few days. I've already made a lot of progress thanks to your blog tips. Thank you so much.
But I still don't know how to get my picture on my comments.
Thank you again Katerina for the wonderful information. I always find yout posts so informative and helpful. I went buttongenerator.com and it appears that I have to pay for the service. Do you know of another web site that I might try that does not charge a fee? Thanks so much Katerina.
Suzanne- They should be free. That is strange. Let me check on another place- be right back. Katerina