How to add a favicon to your url bar

Recently, I added my little cow as a flavicon. Are you now asking yourself what in the world a a favicon is?

The grey arrow is pointed to my favicon. 

Second question is how do I get my own nifty favicon. 

First, visit the settings part of your Blogger blog. 

Once you arrive at this page click edit on the Favicon box. 

Next it is as simple as uploading your own image. Maybe you are fashion blogger and you want a high heel or you want your companies logo. Just be sure to keep in mind that the image is going to be really small so a lot of detail isn't going to come through, silhouettes work the best. The image will take a little bit to show up. On my blog it was about 12 hours.  

If you are needing more how to's for your blog check out the How to Blog Guide tab or if you have a other questions let me know. 

How to start your #agblog - Part 3

Another installment. 

By the end of the week I will have been blogging for three years! Where does the time go by?

Photo by the Boy.

I have wrote two other How to Start Your #Agblog posts, and after a few questions I figured it was time to start a third one. One of the reasons I use Blogger for blogging is that I loves that it is part of the Google Family. So that means that my Gmail, YouTube and Google Analytics all ties together nicely.

However, I have a tip. If you are going to start you blog I would open a brand new email account for it. This way it will allow you to keep those personal emails you send out to family and friends separate from your blog emails. And trust me if you have your comments going to your inbox, requests from readers, giveaway information those emails can quickly add up.

Also, this allows you to have a nicely branded email that you can post under your contact page. Remember that some people might have a question or thought, but may not want to post it as a comment. Having an email address to find under at Contact page/tab allows people to get in touch with you. Click here to learn how to add pages to you blog.

Be sure to also list your Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and any other social media platforms that people can connect with you at on that Connect page.

Optimizing your blog for smartphones

Another blogging tutorial.

Blogger has now come out with the option for you to optimize your blog for smartphones in just a couple steps. I converted my blog, and I hope many of my other blogger friends will consider doing theirs as well. Why? Well on my poor ole Blackberry, I can't bring up a lot of your blogs. Which therefore limits my on the road blog reading. So what do you need to do to optimize your blog for smartphones?

Step 1. Go to your dashboard

Click on Settings. Look at my impressive use of the pencil tool in photoshop!

Step 2. Select Email & Mobile

Step 3. Change your settings

Click on the yes option so a mobile version of your blog with appear when people are surfing the web via their phone. I was really impressed with how fast the photos loaded, and how easy it was to read my own blog. 

I hope this tutorial was useful. Even if you are a just a blog reader encourage your friends and bloggers to consider switching to the mobile template so we all can get a little more reading done. And don't forget to check out my other tutorial and advice on starting your own blog under the How to Blog Guide tab. 

How to get responses to your blog comments

Another How to Tutorial to improve your Blog. 

I love responding to all your comments that you leave on my blog, but do you ever wonder why sometimes you don't get any response? One of the most frustrating things is when you don't have an email address attached to your profile because this means I have no way to respond to you other than leaving a comment on your blog (that's if you have one.)

Today, I am here to help you out with these simple steps.

1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard

Once you are here click on Edit Profile. 

2. Scroll down to Identity

Fill in the email address that you would like the blog author to respond to. It doesn't have to match your username like mine does. 

3. You're done!

That's all it takes. Now a note to blog authors if the people leaving comments have done this when their responses show up in your email inbox hit reply and the commentor's email address will appear in the To: field. Feel free to link to this tutorial so your readers and learn how to add their email addresses as well.

I hope my friends will take a minute to do this because I love hearing from you, and I am sure you would love a response! And don't forget to check out the other How to Blog tutorials.

How to Add Pages to Your Blog

Another how to blog post for my #agnerd and blogging friends

A lot of friends have recently asked me how to add tabs or pages to your blog. You can also create a mini website for your company or farm by using pages. So here is a adding pages tutorial for Blogger blogs, and don't forget to check out my How to Blog Guide for more Tutorials.

Step 1. Go to your Dashboard, find you blog and click on Pages. 

You will find this list on the left hand side. 

Step 2. Creating the page. 

You are going to likely want to create a blank page. 

You create your page just like you would create a post. Things to keep in mind.

1. keep the name of your tab short
2. the About Me tab/page is one of the most important pages to a blog.

Once you create the page, you will hit publish, just like you publish your blog post. 

Step 3. Make your tab/page go live

Once you have created all the pages you would like you need to hit save arrangement (the orange box in the upper right hand column). 

By holding your mouse over the vertical blue line into from of each tab name you can click and drag the pages into the order you desire. Remember to again click save arrangement after you make your change. 

Step 6. Ideas and creating a website 

My Crystal.Cattle Pages

Page ideas you might have for your blog:

About Me –  This one gets a lot of hits. I also have my complete contact information under here

Recipes – if you post recipes regularly you might want to include them under here

Photos – show off your photography skills

Other Blogs – if you don’t want to list all the blogs that you like in a blog roll on your homepage you can include them here, or other websites you enjoy

For those cattlemen that are using their blog as a website, you may want to set up tabs like For Sale, Sires, Show String, Contact Us, etc.

 ZNT Cattle have used the Blogger format to create a website for their family's cattle farm. 

How to Change Your Blog Widths in Blogger

#Agnerds and fellow bloggers unite

I have been working with some of the Summer Synergy participants on their agvocacy blogs, and one thing I have noticed is that by changing the widths of the columns within their blog, they could quickly improve the eye appeal of their blog.

So how do you change the width of your blog in Blogger?

Step 1. Click on the Design tab on the Dashboard Page

Step 2. Next click on the Template Designer

This is the same place you click to change the color and font of your blog.

Step 3. Look in the upper left hand corner and click on Adjust widths

Click on Adjust widths

Step 4. You will now find these bars in front of you.

These are the widths of my blog, but remember you can choose to set up your however you like. 

By dragging the bottom two bars back and forth you will change the width of the outside sidebars to your blog. The smaller the left and right sidebars are the bigger your middle section will be. You also may choose to only have a two column blog, leaving one of the sidebars bars at 0 px.

The maximum entire width of your blog on Blogger can by 1000 px, but remember if you make you blog this big the entire blog might not fit on everyone's computer screens and they will have to scroll over.

This how to tutorial improves you blog! If you have any questions or would like to know how to improve other aspects of you blog let me know. Don't forget my How to Blog Guide that the top of my Blog as well.

How to write an #agblog - agriculture blog Part 2

Telling our story

In the past 60 days numerous other agriculture blogs have popped up, which is great for two reasons. 1. Farmers and rancher are becoming better advocates, and I think are realizing that it is important to tell our agriculture story. 2. For consumers you are going to get a better look at where you food comes from, and the people raising it without even leaving your kitchen table.

Last time I had a few tips on starting an #agblog (really these tips can be applied to any blog) and now I am excited about another resource you can use to help you get that blog off the ground. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Young Producer Council (YPC) have put together a series of social media guide including a "How to Guide for Beef Bloggers." I was fortuante enough to be able to work on this project lead by Cari Rinicker, with contributions also made by Chelsea Good, Sharon Briener and Erica Beck.

A subject that I touched on is a questions I get quite often - are people really reading my blog? There are a couple things to remember.

1. First off I think it is best when you are blogging for yourself. You will get much enjoyment out of your blog if you aren't writing for the comments.

2. However, it is nice to get a little encouragement once in awhile. Be sure to add Google Analytics to your blog. Only about one percent of blogger comment. Adding Google Analytics will allow you to know how many people are reading your blog and where the are finding (from link on your facebook page, twitter, a chat board etc.)

3. Make it easy to comment. About six months ago I allowed anonymous comments to be posted to my blog. Some people are going to want to interact with you, but not create an account to comment. Ninety percent of my anonymous commenters have left their name anyways. Also, I have removed the security word that you have to type in after leaving a comment. The security word is to protect against spam, however I have only had one spam comment and I was able to delete it easily. You want your readers to be able to comment as quickly and easily as possible.

4. Interact with your readers. Make sure you respond to their comments and say thank-you. Blogging is about a community, interacting and networking with others.

These are just a couple tips. I you have other tips or questions I would love to hear them! And for more advice visit the How to Blog Tab at the top of my Blog.

How to start your #agblog - agricultural blog

It's easier than you think

Lately, I have had lots of people ask me about my blog and how they can start one of their own. TrioAngus are some good friends of mine is Australia that just got their #agblog started.

Blogs are a great way to communicate about the importance of agriculture, and allow people to gain insight into the lives of farmers and ranchers like the Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch blog by Debbie Lyons. Or they can be an extremely inexpensive way to market your livestock like my parents are doing with the High Country Cattle blog, and the Boy has his JJB Cattle Co. blog.

1. Choose whether you will use Blogger or Wordpress
As you start to look through other #agblogs you'll notice that these are the two most popular formats. I personally prefer Blogger blogs. I find the format extremely simple to use, and it is easy for my readers to comment. Also, Blogger is owned by Google, so it ties in nicely with YouTube, Gmail and Google Analytics.

2. Start writing 
If you are going to start a blog, you need to make a commitment to write or post. When I have free time I will write a group of posts and then schedule them to be strung out during my busy time. This way my readers will have fresh content to look at.

3. Share content
If you can't think of anything to say, post a picture or video. You might even want to link to other #agblogs of interest. Social media is about community and sharing.

4. Tell people about it 
Start spreading the message. Send out an email blast to friends, family and customers letting them know about your new blog, and to bookmark your site. Also, twitter and facebook are a great way to let people know you are posting. Also, be sure that your blog is included in blog rolls like Michele Payn-Knoper's Agrifood Resources. She lists tons of Farm and Ranch Blogs and Agvocate Blogs. Cattle.com is also a good resource for cattle blogs.

5. Find out if people are reading
I believe that if you decide to start to blog you need to do because you love sharing your message. However, knowing someone out there is reading can help you stay on track. One of the biggest things I hear from other blog friends is that they think no one is readings, because of the lack of comments they are receiving. Trust me people are reading, although I find though the agriculture community doesn't post a huge volume of comments. My solution is to add Google Analytics to your blog. This will help you track how many people are coming to your blog, what they are reading and where they are coming from. This is a nice tutorial to help you install Google Analytics.

I would love to hear some your advice as well. And if you have any questions please ask away. I am sure someone is wondering the exact same thing too! And don't forget to read Part 2 of this post here and check out the How to Blog Tab at the top of my blog for blogging tutorials.