May 8 2013

BLOGGY HOW TO: Add a Pinterest Mouseover Button to Blog Images

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin

I’ve been meaning to write something bloggy for a while now. I’m by no means a technical genius but I’m constantly looking for easy ways to make my blog that little bit better - you have to move with the times and all that. Well I’ve stumbled upon a neat little trick I thought I’d share with you.

You might have noticed that if you hover over any of my blog post images, a Pin It button appears. It’s discreet, easy to do, and probably completely useless but I like it. I’m constantly reading about crafty ideas to do with Dexter when he’s a little bit older, or seeing gorgeous photos that I’d like to recall at some point - this is an easy way of gathering them all in one place.

Want one? Well here’s how get it!

If you’ve got a self-hosted WordPress blog, you can use the Pinterest Pin It Button For Images plugin.

Simply download the zip file, head to your WordPress Dashboard, click Plugins > Add New > Upload and upload the zip file!
Activate the plugin, then from your WordPress Dashboard, go to Settings > Pinterest Pin It.
Under the heading Show “Pin It” button on following pages, click All Pages. Click Save.

That’s it! Just like mine, every time you hover over one of your images, the little icon appears. Clicking on it will automatically bring up the ‘create a pin’ box so you can upload to your Pinterest profile.

Want to know more? Well here’s a rundown of some of the key features:

It autofills the description of the pin using your blog post title

Utter genius! Furthermore, when you actually pin the image to a board it automatically adds your post URL to the pin. This means if you pin your own content frequently, there’s a greater chance of people clicking through to read the associated post.

You can customise it!

I’m currently displaying the default button so you can see what the hell I’m going on about! Customising it is relatively easy however and there’s a whole host of pretty buttons to choose from.

Not only that, you can play with the size of the button and specify where exactly you’d like for it to appear when you hover over the image. This is slightly more tricky but the best tutorial I’ve come across is here.

You can opt out for certain photos

If you’re posting a less than flattering image of yourself, something a little bit sensitive (hopefully NOT uncensored pics of your children in the bath) or sharing an image you don’t have permission to Pin, you can opt out.

To do so, simply head to your WordPress Dashboard, click Settings > Pinterest Pin It > Tick the Opt Out on Single Pages Box

The box you’ll need to tick to exempt a post or page from being pinned is located from WordPress editing screen.

From WordPress Dashboard, click Posts > find the relevant post and click edit > You’ll find your opt out box on the bottom righthand side of your screen

It doesn’t interfere with badge code

We often include badges on our blogs. In a recent post regarding Matilda Mae’s Memorial Auction I included a badge that links to another blog with further information. Similarly, for most blogger comps I’ll add a badge and link it directly back to the host site. This plugin doesn’t affect this in any way - you can only pin the image if you click on the actual Pinterest button in the corner of the image. Clicking anywhere else on the image will take you through to the link you’ve specified.

I’m reliably informed this works for Blogspot and Typepad too

Here’s a tutorial for Blogspot

And another for Typepad

(I’ll admit my head is a little blown by these tutorials as I have no idea what the back-end of these platforms look like)

You don’t even need a blog!

If you’re a Pinterest addict, don’t blog yourself, but enjoy reading other people’s… then there’s additional plugin’s that will allow you to simply right click on people’s images even if they don’t have this feature installed on their blog.

Yep - in Firefox you can add the Pinterest Right-Click Plugin in seconds. This means that every time you see a piccie you like it’s a simply case of right clicking on the image.

If you use Chrome, there’s also QuickPin which looks more or less the same.

So there you have it - this might be considerably out-of-date (it appears to have been doing the rounds in the New Year) but I’ve spotted a couple of blogs I regularly read without the feature. Indeed this might be because they’ve trialled it and hated it! I think I’ll keep mine though. It’s a handy little gizmo!

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Apr 26 2013

An Epidemic of Nudey Pics

Posted on April 26, 2013 by admin

bath-time-thumb15409949

Recently I’ve noticed a pretty disturbing trend on my social media accounts. I’ve seen some pictures of naked babies and small children. These aren’t scandalous or perverted pictures, they’re the ‘in the bath’ shots that every parent cherishes and later pulls out to embarrass their teenagers. They’re innocent and sometimes very cute - but have no place in the public domain.

A Mummy Too recently wrote a really interesting post about image theft, and how her pictures have ended up on other sites. The reality is that any image you believe you’re innocently sharing is searchable, and could very easily get into the grubby hands of someone ‘untoward’. Of course there’s all sorts of things you can do to limit the sphere of who can see your content, but the simplest way to avoid it happening is to not do it at all.

If you simply have to share a picture, at least strategically place bubbles or a toy over your child’s bits and bobs, or crop the picture before sending it live. I’d be mortified if someone at Dexter’s playgroup had a nudey picture of me, a photograph of your child could be passed around the playground in a similar way (and this is the least scary prospect).

By the same token, I’d avoid video reviews of bath time products in case your little ones get too excited. I recently stumbled across a case in point where a little boy and girl were excitedly showing everyone their new bath toys in the tub. No attempt was made to censor their bodies at all. It’s too late to simply remove it from Youtube now - someone could have already copied the video.

It really is sad that we live in an age where something so innocent can be so grossly mistreated. I have no doubt whatsoever that the people sharing such pictures and videos are loving parents who have simply acted naively. A quick google search bought up several blogs I regularly read or would like to read - their regular mummy’s like me and have lovely reviews and thoughtful content. I’m very tempted to email them and warn them but don’t want to frighten them or criticise. For obvious reasons I won’t be naming them.

Other parenting blogs will use pseudonyms or nicknames for their children to protect their identities. I’ve not gone down this route but may consider it as Dex gets older. I wouldn’t want him to be teased in the playground and it seems, unfortunately, that some bloggers have been bit on the bum in this way. One mum (who is ordinarily very careful) recently criticised her child’s school and named a teacher - she was admonished by the Headteacher the very next day. It seems we all forget that ourselves sometimes!

So please do think carefully before showing us your gorgeous little people in the buff - save them for their future boyfriends and girlfriends. Better to be safe than sorry.

Mar 20 2013

Business Cards - My Posh Blog!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by admin

There are plenty of things I miss about work - socialising with adults, dressing up in the morning, after-work drinks… but I wouldn’t change my current situation for the world. With the recent miscarriage I’ve been far too emotional to focus on work and it’s made me even more determined to enjoy every precious second with Dexter.

My blog has now become my job - making a detailed scrapbook for Dexter, reviewing & reporting on baby-related products and meeting other blogger’s. So when I recently won some business cards thanks to Clare from Emmy’s Mummy, I decided to get some made up for my site. As the plan is to attend more events this year, it makes sense to have some made up to pass onto PR’s, fellow bloggers, and brands (I can never remember my phone number anyway!).

The business cards I won are from Instantprint and I’m really pleased with them. I wouldn’t ever pretend to be a graphic designer so I opted for one of the templates and personalised it with my blog header. They’ve come out really well - colourful and eye-catching. I’m also impressed with the quality - they feel nice and tough and both sides are clean and crisp. What’s more they arrived well packaged and quickly. I’d definitely recommend InstantPrint if you’re thinking of getting some made up for yourself.

So what do you think?

DISCLAIMER: I won these business cards and was so happy with them I thought I’d share them. I have received no compensation for this post.