BBBB, Creating a Post Signature

Welcome back to another episode of Building a Better Beauty Blog, Creating a Post Signature, which is a collaboration between myself and Laurie from the The Makeup Squid. She has been writing some amazing tips about writing and planning posts. I write more technical how to posts for blogger. Sadly, I don't know anything about Wordpress. Together we think it's a winning combination to help new and experienced bloggers perfect their own beauty blog so that the content shines through loud and clear. Feel free to post your comments, suggestions, or recommendations for future topics you'd like to see covered in this series.

I don't want to bore you with the fine print at the top of every BBBB post. Therefore you can find the fine print at the very bottom of this post. 

Today I will show you how to create a post signature which is a way to sign the bottom of each post the way you would sign the bottom of a letter. 

The first step in creating a post signature is to determine what wording you would like to use for your signature. For me I choose to use my moniker, nickname, rather than my real name as it is easier to find any of my social media by searching "Shalunya" rather than my real name which is Michelle Renee. The other portion of my signature is my blog motto. 

You are going to need a photo editor. I use Photoshop which can be intimidating. If you have never done any photo editing try using Fotor.  I use Fotor quite a bit as it's quick, easy and free. It also has some great edits and filters. Pixlr, FotoFlexer, Lunapic, Picnik and plenty more are also great online photo editors. You should become comfortable with one and use it regularly in order to become familiar with it. For demonstration purposes I am going to utilize Fotor since it the one online photo editor with which I am most familiar. 

Most post signatures are no larger than 150x600 for simplicity sake I have created two blank signature blocks for you to download free and utilize in the creation of your signature. One of which is transparent and the other of which is white. One thing you need to remember is that you cannot save a transparent background as a .jpg. You must save it as either a .png or .gif. If you try to save it as a .jpg the background will change to white rather than remaining transparent. 

Transparent Blank Signature Block

White Blank Signature Block

The easiest way to create a signature block is to start with either of the templates above and then add text.  Simply right click on one of the images and save it to a location where you can easily find it. For me, I have a blog folder inside of my pictures folder so that all of my blog photos are easily accessible in one place. Once you have it saved open Fotor.

Then open the Blank Signature Block within Fotor by clicking ADD PHOTOS, then COMPUTER. 

Click the 'T' icon on the left side. Select your desired FONT. Then click INSERT TEXT.

Once you have decided on the design of your signature save the image directly to Flickr or Picasa. 

I usually use Flickr as I've used it for years. Normally, I also save the image to my computer because I prefer to have a copy of the image on my computer. Once you have uploaded the photo in Flickr, click the image you'd like to use as your signature. Then click the share symbol in the bottom right corner. Make sure you are using the Grab the HTML/BBCode. Copy the entire code; however you are only going to need a the red portion of this code. 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/78727929@N06/8508350627/" title="ShalunyaSignature by shalunyya721, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8245/8508350627_aef58d5d33_o.jpg" width="600" height="150" alt="ShalunyaSignature"></a>

Once you have the code saved you will go back to Blogger and click on SETTINGS. Then click POSTS AND COMMENTS. 

In the POST TEMPLATE box add the following coding. However, you will insert the red code from your Flickr image into the code below.

<img class="left" alt="post signature" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8245/8508350627_aef58d5d33_o.jpg">

After clicking Save Settings your new signature will show up at the bottom of every post you publish. This will center the signature at the left side of every post.

If you would like to place it in the center of your blog rather than having it on the left side you would use the following code.

<center><img class="left" alt="post signature" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8245/8508350627_aef58d5d33_o.jpg"></center>

This one is a really easy one to add to any blog. The hard part is the design. Personally, I believe that signatures shouldn't be too busy. Your name is the most important part that should be emphasized. 

If you make would love to see the signatures you make so please leave a link to your blog below so that I may go give it a little look see. As always you can find all of the posts in the BBBB series in the tab at the top of my blog. I hope today finds you feeling happy and looking beautiful! Go conquer your corner of the world! 

FINE PRINT: Beauty bloggers come from all walks of life and have varying degrees of computer knowledge. There is no way to write a single post for all of the different levels of knowledge. In order to provide everyone with the most detailed explanation possible, this post is written as if I am instructing a brand new blogger about this element of blog design. After all, if a blogger is seeking information this post would be of no benefit to them if I left them with more questions than answers. If you have some knowledge of blog design feel free to skim this post and use it as pictorial instructions as it is possible that I could cover an aspect of design that you had not considered before. If you are extremely familiar with this topic please feel free to leave me a comment so that I may learn from your experience.