How to Add an Instagram Widget & Goodreads Button to Your Blog

Update: The categories WordPress.com Tips and Blogging Tips, as well as the Ask the Geek page have been removed from TGB. All blogging tips are merged together in the Blogging 101 category.

Did you notice I added a new page to TGB? It’s a companion to my WordPress.com Tips and Blogging Tips called Ask the Geek where readers can ask questions having to do with wordpress.com and blogging in general. I’m very excited to kick it off today with a question from Ezi over at  Oh My Shelves.

Ezi writes:

I want to improve my blog. How do I add the Instagram to my blog? Also, on my reviews, how do I get the “add to goodreads” button?

Thank you so much!

Instagram

You can add an Instagram widget to your blog. I’m not familiar with worpress.org, so I’ll link you to the page that describes how to do this. Click here.

For wordpress.com users, do the following:

Click Customize in the lower right corner of your blog. In the Customizer menu, click on Widgets, Sidebar (or Footer), Add Widget, and finally Instagram.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Instagram Widget

As the widget says, you’ll should click Save and Publish, because clicking on Authorize Instagram Access will temporarily take you out of the customizer. Once authorized, you will be able to choose how many images will be displayed (1 – 20) and the number of columns (1 – 3). Click Save and Publish and you’re all set!

Add to Goodreads Button

Right click and select Save image as… to download the button,  and upload the image to your blog. Then all you have to do is insert the image where you want it in your post.

Linking the Image

Clicking on an image will give you the option to change the image alignment—left, center, right, or no alignment. You will also be able to increase or decrease the size of the image, or even add a caption. It’s also the first step in making your image—the ‘add to Goodreads’ button, in this case—into a link.

After you click the image (and changed the alignment, if you wish to do so) the next thing you need to do is click the link button. In that box that opens up, type in the url and check the Open link in a new window/tab box ¹ and finally, click the ‘Add Link’ button. (There is no need to type anything into the Link Text box, because you’re using an image.)

And that’s all you have to do to use any image as a link.

Save

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1. I always check this box in case the person reading my post isn’t ready to leave my blog completely. ↩

Connecting Your Blog to Your Social Media Accounts

Did you know you can connect your wordpress blog to your social media accounts? It’s an easy way to instantly share your blog posts on your favorite social sites. Connecting to your social media profiles is a quick and easy process.

1. Click on in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
2. On the following page, scroll down the menu located on the left hand side, and click on .

On the next page, you will see this:

Select the social media account you want to connect with by clicking the ‘Connect’ button. For the purpose of this post, I’ll use Facebook and Twitter as examples.

Facebook

A dialogue box (like the one shown above) will open that gives you the option of connecting with your personal profile or, if you have one, your Facebook page. Select the option of your choice, click the connect button, and you’re good to go!

Twitter

When you want to connect to Twitter, a new window will open up like the one above. Clicking on ‘Authorize app’ will redirect you back to WordPress, with a dialogue box asking you to confirm the authorization. As before, click ‘Connect’ and you’re done.

Great, I’m connected! Now what do I do?

Once you’ve connected your blog to your social media sites, your posts will automatically be shared on them. That’s it! Easy peasy!

Whoa, wait a minute! What if I don’t want to share a certain post?

If you don’t want to share a post to one of your social media sites, don’t worry! You can prevent it from happening without having to disconnect your blog.

When you’re writing a new post, just look at the menu on your left, and click on ‘Sharing’. It will expand to show all the social media sites your blog is connected to, like so:

Uncheck the box of any site you don’t want to share your post on, and it won’t be shared. I always save the draft of my post immediately afterward, to make sure it sticks.

A word of caution: Don’t publish your post until you’ve double-checked this! Weirdness happens sometimes, so it’s always best to make sure everything is set up the way you want it to be before you hit that ‘Publish’ button.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you!

 

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