*PLEASE NOTE: I do not create the pages or labels for your linkbar tabs to link to (unless you commission me to do so at $30/hour, 1/2 hour minimum), they must be done before I install the linkbar on your blog. This tutorial will explain your options for links and how to create them.
A linkbar consists of up to 7 tabs that can link to pretty much anywhere you want, but I’ll need to know EXACTLY where that is before I can set it up on your blog.
The first step is to decide on titles for each tab. Some popular examples are “Home,” “About Me,” and “Contact.” But, your titles are entirely up to you and will depend on what your blog is about and what will help your readers navigate through your blog. However, as space is limited, the shorter your titles the better.
Once you’ve selected titles for your tabs, you’ll need to decide where you want each tab to link to. Options include:
*UPDATE: Blogger now offers “pages” which are the best way to link to a specific stand alone section on your blog. You can find more information on how to set them up HERE.
1. A post that you’ve already written
2. A new post that you’ll need to write
3. Blogger’s Labels (more on this below)
4. Another site
5. Your e-mail address
1. If you just want to link to an existing post, find that post on your blog, click on the title of that post, this will bring it up on it’s own page. Then copy the URL from the top of the page and include it, along with the name of the tab you’d like to link to it, when you place your order.
2. If you want to create a new post for one of your linkbar tabs to link to but don’t want it to show up at the top of your blog, create it as usual by clicking on the “New Post” link in the top right hand corner of your blog. But, before you publish it, click on the “Post Options” link at the bottom of the post box.
This will open a window that will allow you to change the date of that post to an earlier one so that it won’t show up as the top post on your blog. I recommend changing the date to just before you started posting on your blog. Once you’ve done that, publish your post as usual, then find it on your blog and proceed as in Step 1.
3. If you’d like to have several related posts come up on the same page when your readers click on a certain linkbar tab, you’ll need to use Blogger’s Labels. If you aren’t familiar with labels, please read THIS brief explanation. You’ll need to edit your existing posts to include the label(s) you’d like them to come up under. You can do that by clicking on each post from the “Edit Posts” page or by clicking on that post’s edit tools ( ) on your blog, then typing the label(s) in the label section.
I recommend using the titles of your linkbar tabs as your labels, just to keep things simple 😉 If you’d like a post to come up under more than one label (and more than one tab), type the name of each label separated by a comma.
Once you’ve labeled your posts, the labels should show up under each post when you view your blog.
Click on one of the labels, this will bring up a page with all of your posts containing that label. This is the page your linkbar tab will link to. Copy the URL and continue as in Step 1.
4. If you’d like your linkbar tabs to link to another site, just copy the URL of the page you want to link to and continue as in Step 1.
5. If you’d like a “Contact” tab to open your reader’s e-mail box with your address in the “To” section, send me the e-mail address you’d like to use in place of a URL for that tab.
Once you’ve decided on a name for each of your linkbar tabs, and where you’d like each one to link to, please complete the Horizontal Linkbar section of my Order Questionnaire and e-mail it to me.
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