After all, long-form content almost almost always performs better than its short-form counterpart.

Assuming it’s high quality, not just stuffed with filler words, visitors will stay longer on pages with long-form content.

Search engines will interpret these long pageview durations as a sign of engagement, thereby boosting the page’s search rankings.

A common challenge when creating long-form content, however, is making it easy to navigate.

The longer the content, the harder it will be for visitors to navigate.

To locate a specific section, visitors will have to scroll through the entire page while searching for relevant words or phrases.

If a visitor can’t find the subtopic that attracted him or her to the page, the visitor may leave.

Fortunately, you can overcome this navigational challenge by using jump links in your website’s long-form content.

What Are Jump-to Links In A Blog?

Jump-to links, also known as anchor links, are links that allow you to jump to a specific section of the same page.

They are typically used on long pages with lots of content, such as blog posts, tutorials, and product pages.

Jump-to links are usually located at the top of the page, and they usually have anchor text that describes the section you will be jumping to on the same page.

For example, if you have a blog post with a section on “How to Use Jump-to Links” and “Why Use Jump-to Links,” the jump-to link for the “How to Use Jump-to Links” section would have anchor text that says “How to Use Jump-to Links.”

When clicked, the jump-to link will take you to the section of the page with that anchor text.

Here’s an example of a jump link that was previously on our “Start Here” page:

Jump links can be very helpful for users, as they allow you to quickly jump to the section of the page that you are interested in without having to scroll through all of the content on the same page.

If you are creating a long page with lots of content, you should think to add jump links to help your users navigate your page more easily.

Creating jump links is not difficult, you can use HTML Code or link URL to create these types of links.

How Jump Links Work

Jump links work by automatically scrolling up or down on the page where they are published, the latter of which is most common.

Visitors can always locate sections of content by scrolling themselves, but jump links offer an easier solution.

If a page has 10 sections of content, for instance, you can create a table of contents with 10 jump links at the top.

The jump links within the table of contents should correspond with the page’s subheadings.

A page with 10 sections of content will likely have 10 subheadings.

You can use these subheadings to create the visible text for the table of contents’ jump links.

Visitors can view the table of contents, and if they discover a subheading of interest, they can click or tap the appropriate jump link to quickly access that section of content.

You can also use jump links to move visitors back to the top of your website’s long-form pages.

When a visitor reaches the end of a page, he or she may want to return to the top to reread some of the content.

Instead of manually scrolling up, the visitor can click or tap a jump link at the bottom of the page.

How To Add Jump Links To Your Post Or Page

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let me show you how to add jump links to your blog’s post or page.

Video Overview:

Step 1: Map Out Anchor Points

Start by mapping out the anchor points of the page for which you are creating jump links.

An anchor point is a location on a page that’s connected to a jump link.

Each jump link must have an anchor point.

Before you can create jump links, you must determine the locations to which they will point.

For long-form pages with multiple subheadings, you can use the subheadings as anchor points.

If a page doesn’t have subheadings, on the other hand, you can use the page’s various subtopics as anchor points.

Step 2: Name Anchor Points

Whether the page has two jump links or 20, you must give each of them a unique name.

Anchor point names aren’t displayed as standard text, but visitors can still see them when hovering their mouse over the page’s jump links.

In a text editor, create a list of the page’s anchor point names.

Ideally, an anchor point’s name should reflect the subheading or subtopic to which it points.

Anchor point names can’t have spaces, but they can have underlines and hyphens.

Therefore, you can use either of these nonalphanumeric characters to separate multiple words.

Step 3: Set the Anchor Points

After mapping out and naming the page’s anchor points, you’ll need to set them.

Setting anchor points requires the use of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

When you set an anchor point, you’ll add a piece of code containing its unique name.

Anchor points tell jump links where they should move visitors to when clicked or tapped.

Go into the page’s HTML and find the subheadings or subtopics for which you want to create jump links.

Immediately before each subheading or subtopic, create an “id” attribute tag with the anchor point’s name.

You’ll also need to place a closing tag immediately after the subheading or subtopic.

If a subtopic isn’t denoted by a title, you can wrap the anchor point HTML around the first few words.

The HTML for an anchor point should look like:

Subheading or Subtopic

Step 4: Add Jump Links

You can now add jump links to the page.

Anchor points don’t work without jump links.

Jump links are the visible on-page elements that visitors can click to move to an anchor point.

As a result, you’ll need to create a separate jump link for each of the page’s anchor points.

For a table of contents with 10 anchor points, you can add 10 jump links to the top of page.

The HTML for jump links is similar to that of traditional links.

Rather than adding a complete URL, though, you just need to add the name of an anchor point preceded by the pound symbol.

The HTML for a series of jump links should look like:

Section 1: Subheading or Subtopic
Section 2: Subheading or Subtopic
Section 3: Subheading or Subtopic

Step 5: Test

The page should now have functional jump links.

To verify they work, pull up the page in your web browser and click the jump links.

If any of the jump links don’t take you to the appropriate anchor point, check the HTML to identify the problem.

Maybe you forgot to include the pound sign, or perhaps you used an unsupported character in the anchor point’s name.

Jump links are fairly simple, but they require a specific format to function properly.

Important Things To Keep In Mind When Creating Jump-To Links:

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating jump-to links:

1. Anchor Text

The anchor text is the text that you use for the jump-to link.

This text should be descriptive and give the user an idea of where they will be taken when they click on the link.

For example, if you have a section on “How to Use Jump-to Links,” the anchor text for the jump-to link should be “How to Use Jump-to Links.”

2. Destination / Destination Link

The destination is the section of the page that you want the jump-to link to take the user to.

This can be any section of the page, including the top, bottom, or middle.

Destination links are hyperlinks that allow users to navigate to a specific destination page or file.

These can be found on Web pages, in email messages, and in document files.

A destination link typically consists of a link icon or text that, when clicked, takes the user to the destination page or file on the web page.

3. Placement

The placement of the jump-to link is important.

You want to make sure that the jump-to link is placed in a spot where it is easy for the user to see and click on.

For example, if you have a long blog post, you may want to place the jump-to links at the top of the page so that the user can easily see them.

tant blog: 7+ Free Tools to Help You Increase Website Traffic Exponentially

Best Practices For Using Jump-To Links On Your Website Or Blog Page

Following are some of the best practices for using jump-to links on your website:

1. Use Descriptive Anchor Text

The anchor text is the text that you use for the jump-to link.

This text should be descriptive and give the user an idea of where they will be taken when they click on the link.

For example, if you have a section on “How to Use Jump-to Links,” the anchor text for the jump-to link should be “How to Use Jump-to Links.”

2. Place The Jump-To Links In An Easily Accessible Spot

The placement of the jump-to link is important.

You want to make sure that the jump-to link is placed in a spot where it is easy for the user to see and click on.

For example, if you have a long blog post, you may want to place the jump-to links at the top of the page so that the user can easily see them.

3. Use Anchors To Link To Specific Sections

An anchor tag is a powerful tool that allows you to link to specific sections of a page.

This can be helpful if you have a long blog post and you want to give the reader the option to jump to a specific section.

For example, if you have a section on “How to Use Jump-to Links,” you can use an anchor tag to link directly to that section.

4. Use Jump-To Links Sparingly

Jump-to links can be helpful, but you want to use them sparingly.

If you use too many jump-to links, it can be confusing for the reader and make your page seem cluttered.

Wrapping Up

Visitors often struggle to navigate pages with long-form content.

With so many sections, they’ll feel overwhelmed when manually scrolling.

Jump links offer a lifeline to visitors by making long-form content easier to navigate.

Rather than scrolling, visitors can click or tap a jump link to quickly access a section of content.

Many Blogger users like using drop-down lists for long lists which minimizes clutter and enables information to be displayed in the sidebar neatly.

While Blogger offers a dropdown menu option for the Archives widget, we do not have the option to enable a dropdown list for our labels.

So in this tutorial, I will explain a simple method you can use to adapt your regular Label list to become a drop-down list instead, offering a neat and concise solution which will minimize clutter in your Blogger sidebar.

What we will achieve through this tutorial

In this article, I’ll explain how to transform your Blogger label list from something which appears like this:

To one which appears like this:

This customization can be achieved in a few easy steps with minimal adjustments to your Blogger template code.

How to create a dropdown menu for your labels

Firstly, you should make a complete back up of your existing template.

This ensures you can easily restore your current, working template in the event you make a mistake.

To make a back up of your current template, go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard and click the “Download Full Template” link near the top of the page.

This will offer the option to save your current Blogger template as an XML file to your local computer.

Be sure to save this file in a location you can easily find later.

Once you have made a back up of your template, you can proceed to edit your labels list and create your dropdown menu.

To proceed with this tutorial, you must ensure you have a “Labels” widget present in your Blogger template.

If you do not have a Labels widget, o to Layout>Page Elements and add a Labels widget using the “Add a Gadget” link above your sidebar.

Go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard (if you are not already looking at this page) and ensure you have NOT checked the “Expand widget templates” box:

Now using your browser’s search function, locate the following line in your Blogger template:

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/>

Highlight this complete line, and replace with the following code (copy to your clipboard and paste in place of the line above):

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'>
<b:includable id='main'>
 <b:if cond='data:title'>
   <h2><data:title/></h2>
 </b:if>
 <div class='widget-content'>
<br />
<select onchange='location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;'>
   <option>Select a label</option>
   <b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>
      <option expr:value='data:label.url'><data:label.name/>
         (<data:label.count/>)
      </option>
   </b:loop>
</select>
   <b:include name='quickedit'/>
 </div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Now preview the changes you have made to your template.

In place of the long, reular list of labels you should now see a neat drop down menu.

If all looks well, you can proceed to save your adjustments to your Blogger template.

Making adjustments to your dropdown menu

Once you have created your dropdown menu for your labels, you will be able to move this widget to a different location in your template through the Layout>Page Elements section of your Blogger dashboard.

You can also edit the properties of this widget to change the order in which labels are displayed by clicking on the “Edit” link for the Labels widget:

Here you can choose between displaying your labels in alphabetical order, or by their frequency (with the label linked to the highest number of posts first).

You can also choose to remove this widget altogether from your layout.

However, if you remove this widget and create a new Labels widget, you will need to customize this again (using the steps outlined above) if you wish to create another drop down menu.

To alter the phrase “Choose a label to view” which is visible when the drop down menu is contracted, you will need to go to the Layout>Edit HTML pae of your Blogger dashboard and check the “Expand widget templates” box.

Then search for this phrase in your template code.

Simply alter the wording of this phrase to something more suitable for your blog, being careful not to alter any of the surrounding code.

To clarify, here is the line of code where adjustments will be made.

The text which can be altered is highlighted in red:

<select onchange='location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;'>
<option>Choose a Label to View</option>
<b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>

Final thoughts

I hope you have found this Blogger tutorial useful and that this explanation will enable you to convert your regular Labels list into a dropdown menu with ease.

Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below.

The Welcome Mat plugin by SumoMe provides you with a wide range of tools to grow your blog, and subscribers.

The Welcome Mat is an awesome plugin growing in popularity over the months because of how easily it allows you to grow your subscribers, share articles, and optimize through analytics.

Before we get into the setup process, here are some of the cools thing you can do with this plugin:The plugin includes several FREE tools which integrate with other popular names like Aweber, MailChimp, MyEmma, ActiveCampaign, etc.

• List Building
• Share
• Welcome Mat
• Scroll Box
• Heat Maps
• Google Analytics
• Welcome Bar
• And many more

Let’s explore each of these cool features in-depth so you understand the complete power of the Welcome Mat.

Universal Features

1. Customizable Design

No matter what tools you’re using you’ll have complete and customizable control over your popup.

For example, if you’re growing your list then you have templates you can install with the click of a mouse.

You can then customize the templates further until you have a landing page which is designed EXACTLY the way you want.

You can control the: text, font, color, and even background.

2. Mobile Optimized

We know many people are now accessing the web through their mobile phones.

Welcome Mat is 100% mobile optimized so your mobile visitors are just as valuable as your web visitors, don’t treat them differently.

3. Background Customization

With the Welcome Mat, you’ll have complete customization of every aspect that you can use images for backgrounds. Images can be in .GIF, JPG, or you can even add videos.

4. A/B Testing

This is one of the coolest features because we all know the importance of testing until you get optimal conversion rates.

With welcome mat you’ll be able to test different ad copies, templates, and buttons until you find what works.

You’ll have complete analytics to see how one performs over the other then can optimize going forward.

5. Localization

With Welcome Mat you have the ability to choose where it will show which is great for optimization.

Unlike other plugins which give you limited control of placements, with Welcome Mat you’ll have complete control which will help increase your conversion rate.

Above we discussed some of the cool features, and things you can do with Welcome Mat.

Let’s go over some of them in a little more detail.

Selective Features

• List Building – Easily build lists using Welcome Mat, and by integrating the most popular ESP providers with the tool.
  You can customize pop-up boxes and more.
• Share Content – The Welcome Mat plugin makes it very easy to share your popular content on mobile or web.
• Welcome Mat – A full screen display of when people land on your website. Great for analytics.
• Heat Maps – Amazing because this feature will show you where people go when they are on your site.
  You can use this data to put opt-in forms or even advertisements to increase CTR.
• Scroll Box – Scroll Box is an email collection box triggered by how far your reader makes it down the screen.
• Smart Bar – This is a bar which displays at the top or bottom of your web page.
  You can encourage people to opt-in or take any other pre-configured action.
• Google Analytics – Very easy to view Google Analytics data from within Welcome Mat panel.
• Image Share – Welcome Mat makes it very easy to share your images.
  This is perfect if you want to share your images on sites where images display optimized.

These are just some of the popular features included with the Welcome Mat plugin.

It’s important to mention many of the applications are FREE however you do have some premium choices available.

Let’s go through the Setup and Installation.

Setup and Installation

Log into your WordPress backend then head over to Plugins > Add New.

After you can search for “Welcome Mat” then click install and activate.

At this point you’ll be asked to setup a SumoMe account which you can do by clicking on the plug-in then register.

After you have registered, you can head into the SumoMe store which will pop-up after registration, and start integrating applications like List Building, Sharing and Analytics.

In this example, we’ll be utilizing the “List Building”.

You’ll notice some are FREE applications while others do require a small fee.

Once you’ve installed your application you’ll see it under settings section here…

A window will popup where you’ll see the application you just installed.

Once you enter the main settings of the applications you just installed, you’ll be able to configure it the way you want.

You’ll see options like:

• Designs
• Fields
• A/B Tests
• Services (ESP Integration)
• Tracking Pixels
• And more

Displaying Welcome Mat

Each application which you install from the SumoMe store will have a “Display Rules” section.

This section will give you complete control over how and where the application will be displayed.

You can assign the following:

• EXACT or PARTIAL match
• Pages
• URL’s
• Cookie Settings
• Visitor URL’s
• User agents
• And much more

You’ll have complete control where NOT to show the application.

This comes useful when you want to show the form or application in all places except very few.

Once you have installed the applications and assigned the display rules, you can install a “Tracking” or “Analytics” plugin to keep an eye on conversions.

Tracking Applications

I think it’s very important to track all your progress.

You can use Welcome Mat to track your campaigns later optimizing for full potential.

You have 3-4 options when selecting the right tracking application, and in this example we’ll be using Content Analytics.

Head over to the SumoMe store and install the application which will then be present within the setting.

In the backend, you can setup different campaigns, and select which pages to analyze by going to “Auto Record”

Just like the other settings for List Building and Sharing, you’ll have to set a rule for each of your campaigns.

After, you can view the results by going to individual campaigns.

Just like the other settings for List Building and Sharing, you’ll have to set a rule for each of your campaigns.

After, you can view the results by going to individual campaigns.

Test Welcome Mat on Your Site for Free

The Welcome Mat is a FREE application which can be installed from the backend of your WordPress website.

You can upgrade to the Pro version to gain access to some of the advanced features however many have done well by simply using the FREE version.

Through the FREE version you have access to each tool like: list building, share and tracking.

Play around with each one until you have found one which is easy to use, and provides the insight you are looking for.

With the right insight you’ll be able to optimize your campaign increasing the conversions.

For those of you who are new to using the application, you can do a quick search in Google for “Welcome Mat Resources” and find a combination of tutorials which will walk you through the entire setup, and installation process in detail.

There are several videos available in YouTube.com for you as well.

Setting up an HTML clickable image gives visitors to your blog or website a bit of visual flair while providing a way to link to related pages.

If you wish to create an HTML image link, then we’ll show you the most straightforward methods available to do so.

The Clickable Image HTML Code

If you want to use an image for your clickable HTML, follow the steps in the tutorial below.

Or, watch the overview video of how to create clickable images using HTML code:

1. Select an appropriate image

It’s best to choose an image that reflects the link that you want it to redirect to.

A button link HTML would be best served by an image of a button along with the name of the page it lands on.

An envelope or a message icon would best represent an HTML email link, and so on.

Nothing is stopping you from using whatever image you want, but it’s better to think about the visitors to your site and how you want to direct them.

2. Optimize the image size

If you’re frequently planning to add image HTML files, then it’s best to reduce the size of the image that you use.

Large file sizes will slow down a webpage, and this will begin to add up eventually.

Any good image editor will have an image resizer.

If you don’t have an image editor on hand, you can use free online ones, like PicResize.com or ResizeImage.net to do it for you.

3. Upload the image to an image Hosting Site

In order to use the image as a clickable link, you will need to get its HTML link code.

To do this, you will have to upload the image online.

There are plenty of options to do this, such as Dropbox, Imgur, or even Google Photos.

As long as you can get the image URL, then it’s okay.

Get the URL you want to link

4. Enter the following HTML code

Once you have your image link and the URL of the page you want to be linked, you will need to type in this code:

<a href=”URL of Website You want to Link”>

<image src=”URL of your image” alt=”an image description”>

</a>

This is the insert image HTML code that assigns a URL address to the image itself.

Replace the URLs as indicated in the code above, but be sure to keep the quotation marks.

The alt text is intended for those who aren’t able to view the image to know what the link is supposed to be about.

An Alternative Method

If you’re using WordPress as a content management platform, then a more straightforward method is available to you.

This technique is as follows:

1. Download the image you wish to use on your computer. Be sure to optimize the image size as it does add up over time.
2. Open your WordPress Dashboard.
3. On the Dashboard menu to the left, click on Post.
4. Click on Add New, either on the menu or on the button to the right.
5. Click on the + button below the Add Title text.
6. Click on Image. If you can’t see the Image icon, click on Browse All and scroll down until you find it.
7. Upload the image that you selected. Alternatively, if an image is in your media folder, or you know the URL of your image, you can also use that.
8. Once uploaded, click on the Edit Link icon above the image.
9. Type in the URL of where you want the image to link to.
10. Press Enter to apply. You can press Preview on the upper right corner to see the clickable image as it will appear on your webpage.

Best Used in Moderation

Using an HTML clickable image is a great way to spice up a blog or a webpage.

It draws the visitor’s attention and can direct the flow of your website’s traffic to where you want it to go.

Be sure to use it in moderation, though, as too much of anything is never good.

I want to talk about how to create an image link.

Those who are experienced in HTML need not read any further.

I’m dedicating this one to all of you beautiful newbs… because many years ago I was one of you as well.

Probably one of the most basic things you can learn when you dive into the world of HTML is how to create image links.

That is, adding a link to an image or photo.

Or in other words, an image that (when clicked) sends you to a specific URL.

My goal is to have you memorize this, not just copy and paste a code.

You will never learn anything by copying and pasting!

I’ll do my best to explain what each part of the code does so that you actually know how it functions as well.

Here is a standard image link code:

<a href="http://www.yoururl.com"><img src="http://www.yoururl.com/image.jpg"></a>

Let’s break it down.

The first part (blue) of your code is your link code. HTML links are always wrapped in an <a href> element.

Always, whether it be a text or image link.

Make a mental note right now that <a href> means “link”.

With a lot of HTML, you will have your element, followed by the action. In this case, the element is a link (<a href>) and the action is the destination (your URL).

The second part (green) of that element is just telling the <a href> (link) where you want it to go to.

Since <a href> simply won’t work on its own, we need to set its destination. Basically, the link = (equals) “your URL”.

Got it?

Links should always start with http:// as that is their true URL.

If you forget this part and just start it with “www“, you’ll quickly realize that your link does not direct to your URL but rather tries to open that URL within the page you are on by adding it to the end of your current URL.

The third part of the code is your image code.

You should have your image ready and uploaded somewhere, like Photobucket or through your own blog if that is an option.

<img src> means “image source“.

In other words, the source of your image.

Easy, right?

Just like the link element, your code is simply asking you where your image is located.

Enter the URL of your image in the fourth part of the code, in between quotation marks as shown.

So now, your image destination = your image URL.

Finally, the last part of the code is your closing element.

The </a> closes the link, plain and simple. It’s calling upon the “a” from “a href” and telling it to stop.

It means that after your image, nothing else should be linked.

If you leave this open, all other elements on your page following this code would be linked as well.

The thing to remember in HTML is to always close your code.

Practice this on your blogs or websites.

Try writing it out instead of copying and pasting.

How to open the link in a new window

One other quick example I wanted to show was how to open your link in a new window/tab.

Sometimes you want to keep visitors on your website instead of directing them completely away from your content.

Here is what that code looks like:

<a href="http://www.yoururl.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.yoururl.com/image.jpg"></a>

All I added here was a simple link target within the same link code.

Target means just that, where you would like to target your link to. See how the quotations separate each action?

They are still contained within the image link (<a href>) but now you’re telling it to do something extra.

“_blank” is standard HTML talk for opening in a blank (aka NEW) window.

The ALT Attribute

Finally, let’s talk about the ALT attribute.

The Alt attribute should be added to the ending of your image code to specify alternate text in case the image cannot be displayed.

It also helps your images appear in search engine image search results.

Here is how you add the Alt attribute below:

<a href="http://www.yoururl.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.yoururl.com/image.jpg" alt="Description of Image"></a>

Your Alt text can be whatever you like, but should describe the image.

Things kinda make sense now, don’t they?

It’s all about how you associate what you may consider a crazy computer language with normal terms.

When you think about it like that, it starts to click.

If you have any questions or want to let me know what else you would like to see me cover, ask in the comments below!

I haven’t yet created any tutorials for this sort of thing because I really want to walk you through the basics before you go searching for a code to copy and paste into your site.

Copying and pasting a code is a quick and easy way to *hopefully* get an effect you want, but if you don’t fully understand what’s going on in the code, more often than not you will end up implementing it wrong and causing other issues.

Somebody else’s code has usually been tailored for their own website and won’t necessarily work properly for you.

So, before I dive into topics such as “how to create social media buttons that stay in place as you scroll” (or, in web developer terms: a fixed element), there are some things you need to learn beforehand.

Hand in hand with HTML

CSS and HTML work together like a team.

Before you can create any CSS styles, you need to have an HTML page created.

Once an HTML page is created, you can go in and apply your styles to whatever pieces of the code you wish.

The DIV Element

The <div> tag is one that is used often when creating HTML pages.

<div> means a division of a page, or in other words a section or block of something.

Think of it as a container that holds a certain selection of other elements. 

DIVs are used to create website layouts and position most elements of a page.

To create a single DIV without styling, all you need to do is this:

<div>your block of content</div>

That just told your website to take your block of content and place it into one nice container.

It looks like this (I made the background grey so you can see the container properly):your block of content

ID Selectors

In the Introduction to CSS for Beginners, I went through the different types of selectors.

If you haven’t read that post yet, do that now.

An ID selector is basically a name you give to a certain HTML element that you can call upon in your stylesheet.

As you learned in the Introduction, an ID selector should be applied to a single, unique element.

So, say we wanted to style that DIV code above. Let’s change the width of the container.

First, we need to apply an ID selector to the code, so we can call it from inside of our stylesheet:

<div id=”content”>your block of content</div>

All we are doing here is adding a selector called “content”.

Now, if we create an external stylesheet and add this new ID selector to it and apply a custom width, the inside of our .css file should include this:

#content {
width:200px;
}

The # sign is always used to call a specific ID selector, so we called upon “content” with “#content” and followed the basics I outlined in the introduction.

Now our DIV looks like this with a width of 200px:your block of content

.
We can also change the height:

#content {
width: 200px;
height:100px;
}your block of content

.
and add some padding around the inside borders so that the text doesn’t touch the edges, and a 2px border around the whole thing:

#content {
width: 200px;
height:100px;
padding: 10px;
border: 2px solid;
}your block of content

.
You can see that just by adding new properties to the selector in the CSS file, we can tell that DIV to do whatever we want.

For a complete list of other CSS properties you can use, check out this CSS Properties List.

Now that you know how to create a DIV element with specific styles applied to it, you should have a basic understanding of what it is and what it does.

We use DIVs in many, many applications so a basic understanding of this is essential if you want to move onto controlling other features and creating those fixed navigation links/social network buttons.

In the next CSS tutorial I will explain how to do this.

I hope this tutorial gave you a bit of insight into what goes on behind the scenes of your blog/website and that you will try creating some simple div elements yourself!

Feedback is always welcome below!

In this tutorial, I’m going to teach you all about <div> positioning which will help with creating certain website elements, like a floating menu bar.

Static Positioning

Example:

#nav {position: static;}

Where #nav is your ID selector.

Static positioning simply means that the <div> section remains in its place…

It remains “static”.

There is no special positioning applied to the element.

Relative Positioning

Example:

#nav {position: relative;}

Where #nav is your ID selector.

Relative positioning is basically saying that the element is static (in its place), but allows you to add some additional properties to move it around, relative to where it was positioned.

Example:

#nav {
position: relative;
top: 30px;
left:30px;
}this box is 30 px from the top of its container, and 30 px from the left

The above code tells the element to move 30px from the top of where it is positioned, and 30px to the left of where it is positioned.

You can also style this some more:

#nav {
position: relative;
top: 30px;
left:30px;
background-color: #000000;
color:#ffffff;
}

Now, the element will have a black background and white text.

Remember: relative positioned elements can “shift” from their static position within the code.

Fixed Positioning

Example:

#nav {position: fixed;}

Where #nav is your ID selector.

Fixed positioning means that the element will stay in the exact same place on your screen, even when you scroll down.

See that black box in the top left of the screen?

That’s an example of a fixed element.

The same properties are used to position it as in the relative positioning (top, left, bottom, right).

This is the positioning you want to use if you want a fixed menu bar or area of content to stay visible as you scroll down the page.

Unlike a relative positioned element, a fixed element is removed from the flow of the web page, which means that it ignores any elements it might be contained within and instead uses the viewport (or screen) as a base for its positioning, NOT any element it may be contained within.

This means that it can overlap other parts of your web page depending on where you position it.

Example:

#nav {
position:fixed;
top: 0px;
left:0px;
width:200px;
}

In the code above, we are telling the #nav element to be fixed to the very top of the screen, and the very left of the screen.fixed element example

Absolute Positioning

Example:

#nav {position: absolute;}

Where #nav is your ID selector.

This one is a little tougher to grasp, but once you do you can really create some cool things with it.

Absolute positioning is almost like fixed positioning, except instead of positioning the element relative to the screen, it is positioned relative to the nearest positioned ancestor, or rather, the first element that has a position other than “static”.

If there isn’t a positioned element to be found, it will position it relative to the <html> block, or document body.

In this case, it is also removed from the flow just like the fixed element and can be positioned anywhere on the screen instead of within an existing element.

It can overlap existing elements.

#navholder {
position:relative;
top:0px;
left:0px;
width:300px;
}

#nav {
position:absolute;
top: 40px;
left:200px;
width:200px;
}

This is the #navholder elementThis is the #nav element, absolutely positioned within the #navholder element.

Test Time!

Try adding each of these elements to your website to see what they do.

It’s usually easier to grasp these concepts when you can actually get your hands dirty and see what happens when you change properties of each one.

You don’t just have to position <div> elements, you can position any type of element you like!

Pop on over to W3Schools and try some examples.

You can view a list of positioning properties there, too!

It helps to make things a little easier for your readers if you include an easy way to jump all the way back to the top of the page.

Adding a Back To Top button can easily solve scrolling issues and is really simple to implement!

I’ve included a really easy Back To Top button here for you that you can add to any website or blog.

All you need to edit are the theme’s CSS file and the main HTML template file.

Add a Back To Top button to your site:

To get started, add this to the CSS section of your site. In Blogger, this would be under Template > Customize > Advanced > CSS.

In WordPress this is your theme’s style.css file.

.back-to-top {
    display:none;
    position: fixed;
    bottom: 2em;
    right: 0px;
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #000000;
    background-color: rgba(235, 235, 235, 0.80);
    font-size: 12px;
    padding: 1em;
   
}
.back-to-top:hover {    
    background-color: rgba(135, 135, 135, 0.50);
    text-decoration:none;
    color:#ffffff;
}

Then, make sure your site is loading jQuery. Add this code in the <head> section of your template’s main HTML file:

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.0/jquery.min.js"></script>

If you already have a similar jquery script in there, you don’t need to add this one.

One jQuery script is enough! Next, add the following code directly before the </body> code in your template’s main HTML file.

In Blogger, go to Template > Edit HTML and search for </body> and add this above it:

<a href="#" class="back-to-top">Back to Top</a>
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
var offset = 220;
var duration = 500;
jQuery(window).scroll(function() {
if (jQuery(this).scrollTop() > offset) {
jQuery('.back-to-top').fadeIn(duration);
} else {
jQuery('.back-to-top').fadeOut(duration);
}
});
jQuery('.back-to-top').click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
jQuery('html, body').animate({scrollTop: 0}, duration);
return false;
})
});
</script>

Save your template and you should see the Back to Top link appear as you scroll down the page!

Recently, Twitter added GIF support to their site, allowing anyone to upload an animated image and play it like a video.

These visually attractive photos can be used to increase visibility of your status updates and make for great marketing tools!

GIFs are created by composing a series of images into one single file.

They play on a loop, sort of like a mini-video.

You can create slideshows, and even little stop animation graphics, like Pizza Hut did.

These fun little images help increase user interactivity and help you to stand out from other posts of a similar nature (or your competitors!).

If you still don’t know what a GIF is, let me show you:

Using GIFs in your blog posts can also add interest to your articles.

By condensing the steps of a tutorial into one single image, or showcasing products in a fun way, you’re offering a little something extra to the reader’s experience!

How To Create A GIF

Luckily, creating an animated GIF does not have to be complicated.

The more experienced user can use Photoshop’s “Animation” window to create a sequence of images, but if you’re not too handy with Photoshop you can try my brand new web tool, Giffysnap! 

I created Giffysnap because I wanted to make it easy for anyone to create an animated image.

By simply uploading a sequence of images and rearranging them however you like, you can create your own GIF quickly and easily.

Giffysnap lets you save the final image to your computer for social sharing, or grab an embed code to paste onto your website.

You can adjust the size of the image and the speed of the animation.

A lot of bloggers utilize this feature, but sometimes the default Blogger text can blend in a little too much with your post. It’s important to make that link stand out so visitors know that they are supposed to click to continue reading the remainder of a post.

Luckily, this link is really easy to stylize and edit to your liking.

You can change the “Read More” text to something of your own choice, add an image instead of text, and totally stylize the look of the “Read More” text link.

I’ll show you exactly what you need to do below! HOW TO EDIT THE BLOGGER “READ MORE” LINK 

1. In your Blogger dashboard, go to Template > Edit HTML

2. Click inside of the editor text box and press CTRL+F (or CMD+F on Mac) to open the Find box in the top right corner.

Inside the box, enter:

<div class='jump-link'>

and hit Enter to search for this line. 3. The code that is found should display as this:

<div class='jump-link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url + &quot;#more&quot;' expr:title='data:post.title'><data:post.jumpText/></a>
</div>

TO CHANGE THE “READ MORE” TEXT

<div class='jump-link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url + &quot;#more&quot;' expr:title='data:post.title'><data:post.jumpText/></a>
</div>

Edit the text in red above with your new link text, such as:

<div class='jump-link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url + &quot;#more&quot;' expr:title='data:post.title'>Continue Reading...</a>
</div>

TO USE AN IMAGE INSTEAD OF TEXT

<div class='jump-link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url + &quot;#more&quot;' expr:title='data:post.title'><img src="http://urltoyourimage.com/yourimage.jpg"></a>
</div>

Replace the original code with an image code as shown above.

The URL of the image will of course be the URL to your actual uploaded image.

You can use Photobucket to upload and host your image, and grab the HTML URL to use here.

TO STYLIZE THE TEXT LINK To add your own style to the text link, you can do so by adding CSS to the .jump-link element.

Press CTRL+F to open the search box again and this time find:

]]></b:skin>

Directly before that, enter your CSS.

An example could be:

.jump-link {
text-align:center;
}
.jump-link a {
font-size:15px;
padding:10px;
border: 1px solid #000;
background-color:#ccc;
color:#000;
font-weight:bold;
}

.jump-link will style the DIV that the text is sitting in, while .jump-link a will style the actual link text.

Just something to keep in mind. The above code will render your read more link as this:

You can modify the colours and whatever else you like if you are familiar with CSS.

I hope this helps you come up with a unique Read More link for your Blogger blog!

Get a little creative with it and see if you can make it match your layout and stand out!

This can be super handy and add to your user experience since the visitor won’t have to scroll all the way back up to the top of the page to see your menu links.

Method 1: Menu at Top of Content

The first and easiest way to do this is to simply position your navigation menu at the very top of the page and allow it to stay in a fixed (floating) position as the user scrolls down.

Keeping your menu at the very top of your page will avoid having to add any JavaScript, so if you aren’t comfortable with editing your blog’s code, then this is the method for you!

Here is an example:

Make sure you have added the Blogger “Pages” widget to one of the header areas in your Layout page (either the Cross-Column or Cross-Column2 widget spaces).

Then, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate over to the Template > Customize page.

2. Select Advanced from the side menu then Add CSS

3. If you’ve already inserted custom CSS in this box, scroll down to the very bottom of your code

4. Add the following CSS code to the box:

/* Blogger floating menu by icanbuildablog.com*/
#navbar {display:none}
#PageList1 ul {
position:fixed;
top:0px;
z-index:1000;
background-color:#ffffff;
width:100%;
max-width:1100px;
}
.content-inner {
margin-top:30px;
}

5. Change the “max-width” variable to the overall width of your own blog content area.

You can find the width of your blog by going over to the “Adjust Widths” section and viewing the number in the “Entire Blog” area.

6. The “margin-top” variable should be the height of your navigation menu.

You can leave it as is if you haven’t modified your Blogger Pages menu. 

7.  You can also change the background-color variable to a hex color code of your choice.

Right now it is set to white.

Method 2: Menu Below Header

The second method is for menus that are positioned below the header image or not positioned directly at the top of the screen (LIKE THIS). 

For blogs designed this way, you’ll want the menu to stay in its desired position at first, and then float in place as the visitor scrolls past where it’s settled.

Here is how to achieve that:

1. Navigate over to the Template > Customize page.

2. Select Advanced from the side menu then Add CSS

3. If you’ve already inserted custom CSS in this box, scroll down to the very bottom of your code

4. Add the following CSS code to the box:

/* Blogger Floating Menu by icanbuildablog.com */
#navbar {display:none}
#PageList1 ul {
height:30px;
background-color:#ffffff;
width:100%;
max-width:1100px;
z-index:1000;
}

5. See steps 5-7 above

6. Save your changes and navigate to the Template > Edit HTML page

7. Right before </head> in the code, paste the following code:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.0/jquery.min.js'/>
<!--Blogger Floating Menu by I Can Build A Blog.com-->
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
$(function() {
        var nav = $('#PageList1 ul');
    var navHomeY = nav.offset().top;
    var isFixed = false;
    var $w = $(window);
    $w.scroll(function() {
        var scrollTop = $w.scrollTop();
        var shouldBeFixed = scrollTop > navHomeY;
        if (shouldBeFixed && !isFixed) {
            nav.css({
                position: 'fixed',
                top: 0,
                   });
            isFixed = true;
        }
        else if (!shouldBeFixed && isFixed)
        {
            nav.css({
                position: 'static'
            });
            isFixed = false;
        }
    });
});
//]]>
</script>

8. Save your changes and view your page!

Note: If you have problems with the menu not doing what it should, it could be a matter of having duplicate jQuery scripts in your blog code.

Try removing the first line of the code (shown again below) and saving:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.0/jquery.min.js'/>

I hope this guide was helpful and that all of your questions were answered about creating a floating Blogger menu!

Text styling of your posts is fairly easy to do, but some things require a little extra knowledge.

I had a question from a reader asking how to make the first letter of the first paragraph larger and styled as they do in magazines, so I thought I’d help out!

Q:Hey, Dana! I was wondering, could you do a blog post about making the first letter of the paragraph in blogger different?

Like it is in magazines, where the first letter is bolder and bigger than the rest.

I couldn’t try any tutorials which work so this would be really helpful! Thank you. – Miglė

The technique or style is called a drop cap.

This can be done with some CSS work and customized however you like.

Drop caps draw attention to the paragraph and have more of an editorial or old storybook feel.

To achieve this look in Blogger, we’ll first create the basic styling that will look a little something like this:

Note: this will not work if you have a photo before the first paragraph of your post.

Your first paragraph needs to consist of text.

Step 1 – Head on over to the Template section of your Blogger dashboard then choose Edit HTML.

Click inside of the text box and press CTRL and F (or CMD and F on a Mac) to open the search box in the top corner. Search for:

<data:post.body/>

and hit enter. It should find the first instance, but that is for mobile view.

Hit enter again to be brought to the second instance.

Step 2 – Right before and after <data:post.body/> add the following in red:

<p class='first'><data:post.body/></p>

Step 3– Right below that second instance of <data:post.body/> your template may include a third instance of it as well.

Add the same code in red to that instance as well and save the template.

Step 4 – Now visit Template > Customize, and enter the CSS section (Advanced > Add CSS). Here is where we will style the letter.

In the CSS textbox, add the following code:

.post-body p.first:first-child:first-letter {
float:left;
padding:5px;
font-size: 50px;
font-family: Georgia;
font-weight:bold;
text-transform:uppercase;
}

You can change the red elements to reflect the font size you would like and the font name.

Tip: try using a Google Web Font for a totally custom look!

You should see the changes appear in the preview section and they should look like the preview above.

Unless you want to add some additional styling, you’re done!

Additional Styling

Let’s try something else.

Let’s make the letter stand out a little more with a background color and rounded corners:

The CSS for this style is:

.post-body p.first:first-child:first-letter {
float:left;
padding:5px;
font-size: 50px;
font-family: Georgia;
font-weight:bold;
text-transform:uppercase;
background-color:#cccccc;
color:#ffffff;
border-radius: 5px;
margin-right:5px;
}

Once again you can update the elements in red.

Color is your font color, and border-radius is the size of the rounded corners (tip: try changing the border-radius to 20px to see what happens!).

Feel free to play around with various CSS styles and ideas to match your own template!