Help: How to post stories, links, photos in your personal giving blog

[Cami Walker -- 29Gifts Founder]

Please follow the steps below to share your giving stories in your personal giving blog. Your blog is the best place to publish your stories because you'll be able to access them more easily later. Plus they will be more accessible to other community members. You might want to print this page and have it next to you while you post.

NOTE: If you have specific giving suggestions you want to recommend to the community, you can start a discussion string on the forum for that.

HOW TO POST IN YOUR BLOG:
1. On the Community Tab, sign in using your email address and password. If you forgot your password, just click the forgot password link in the log-in window.

2. On the community page, in the sign in/out box in the top right corner of the screen, click the down arrow in the Quick Add box.

3. Select Blog Post from the drop down menu.

4. Type in your Post Title and your Post into the boxes in the add form.

5. Click the Publish Post button if you don't want to format anything in your post.

6. If you want to format your post using bold text, italics, add links or photos, click on the MORE Options Button and use the formatting bar to do so. Your formatting bar looks like this.

To format text, simply highlight the text where you want the formatting to apply and click the appropriate button on the format bar.
B = Bold
I = Italics
U = Underline
S = Strikethrough
Chain link = hyperlink text to a web page
Image = Add a photo or other graphic

7. Set the post time that you want your post to appear and your privacy settings if you want them to be different than the default settings.

8. Click the Publish Post button.


HOW TO USE KEYWORD TAGS:
ALWAYS TAG YOUR POSTS with keywords so people can search by topic easily. The tag box is RIGHT below the box where you type your post.

USE QUOTE MARKS around words you want to "appear together"
SEPARATE each keyword tag with a COMMA -- Comma goes OUTSIDE your closing quote mark.

Example: Here's how to tag a post about diving the Great Barrier Reef:
"great barrier reef", diving, austrailia


HOW TO ADD A LINK TO YOUR POST:
*Within the post entry, highlight the text you want to show up as a link.

*Click on the little button that looks like a chain link in your formatting bar.

*A little box will pop up where you can enter or paste the url for the website you want to link to. NOTE: make sure you don't enter http:// two times because it automatically comes up once in the prompt.

*Click OK and the code for your link will appear in your post text. Once you hit "publish" you can view your post and test the link to make sure it works.


HOW TO POST AN IMAGE IN YOUR BLOG ENTRY:
You can insert an image into your blog post by clicking the "Add an Image" button in the toolbar. This button looks like a framed picture. A window will pop up prompting you to select a photo from your computer to upload. Once you've found the image you want, click the "Add" button. This will insert the image into your blog post.

NOTE: If you're not into sharing publicly online, stories or art submissions can also be emailed to [e-mail] or mailed to the address here.

[Cami Walker -- 29Gifts Founder]

We've got a lot of new givers on board so these instructions will come in handy. The instructions for posting on your blog have been updated to include how to add links and images.

[the_emster]

Hi, I can't seem to see any 'More Options' button or link in my add new blog page?

[Cami Walker -- 29Gifts Founder]

I just saw this. I just saw your post in our forum that you're having trouble formatting your blog posts. If you're still having problems, you can email your community manager Erin -- [e-mail] and she will get in touch to help you...