Using the Media Library

The Media Library allows you to take a look at all of the media (pictures, movies, and music) that has been uploaded into your IDX Blogger site.  This includes any picture that was inserted into a blog post or page.  You can also use this page to delete media, though it is important to note that if you delete the media here it will also disappear from the blog post or page that it was inserted into.

Adding a Blog Post Calendar widget

A blog post calendar widget is available in your IDX Blogger system.  The blog post calendar shows a small text based calendar on the side bar of your site.  Each day of the month that a blog post was published will appear as a link instead of just as text.  This provides your visitors with the ability to take a look at your blog posts based on the day they were created.  For instructions on adding the Blog Post Calendar widget to your site click here.

When added, your blog the following calendar will appear.  Click the blue links (where they are available), and you will be taken to a list of any blog post published on the selected day.

Using Photo Albums

A photo Album is a grouping of photo galleries in your IDX Blogger website.  An Album is created using existing photo galleries.  Click here to see how to create a photo gallery.

Step 1: Create an Album to be included in posts and pages.  From the “Manage” menu, click “Album”.

Step 2: Enter a name for your Album, and click “Add”.  Once the Album is added, select it from the drop down list on the left to add galleries to this Album.

Step 3: Drag and drop photo galleries from the right hand side onto the space on the left hand side.  The galleries added to the left are the ones that will be included with this Album.  Remember to click the “Update” button above to save your changes.

Step 4: From the WordPress page editor, click the “Add NextGEN Gallery” button.

Step 5: Select the “Album” tab.  Then choose your Album from the drop down list.  Click the “Insert” button to add it to the editor.  Please note that you will only see some special text in the post editor, and it will not appear as an album until you save and view the post.

Your Album is now viewable on post/page once it has been saved.

Add a navigation menu widget to your IDX Blogger site

IDX Blogger has an available widget called “Pages”.  The Pages widget will display all of the pages that are published in your IDX Blogger site.  This can be useful if you would like to add a set of navigation links to your sidebar (the same set of links that makes up your upper navigational links).  Click here to see more information on adding and removing widgets from your IDX Blogger system.

Your pages widget will appear similar to the one displayed below:

Archives widget

An archive widget is available in your IDX Blogger system to display a list of months on your right hand toolbar.  These months are links to your blog archives for the month listed.  This is a quick and easy way for your website visitors to browse your blog posts from the past.  Follow the instructions below to add the Archives widget to your site.

Step 1: From the “Design” menu, select “Widgets”.

Step 2:  Click the “Add” link next to the “Archives” widget.  There are a few options available for this widget including the ability to have it display as a drop down list rather than a series of links.  Click here to see more information on adding and removing widgets.

The Archives widget now appears on the right hand side of your IDX Blogger site.

2009 RMLS Tech Fair

Thanks to everyone who visited us at the RMLS Tech Fair this year, we had a great time talking with people and answering questions.  Follow @garrons and join our Facebook group HomeQuest University and stay tuned to find out who won our iPhone drawing.

 

 

Using the “Blog Posts” page

By default a “Blog Posts” page was created along with your IDX Blogger site.  This page is a special map that only displays your recent blog posts that have been geocoded.  Any blog post without a location is not geocoded, and therefore will not appear on this page.  For a page that lists both geocoded and non-geocoded blog posts, you will want to use the “Recent Posts” page, or the “Archives” page.  You may hide this page if you do not want it on your site.  This page is useful if you would like to show your geocoded posts on a map by themselves (without listings showing as well, for the map with listings use the “Search Listings” page).

Adding and Viewing Tags

Adding Tags to a Blog Post: When creating a blog post, you can add tag words associated with the post.  These tag words will appear near the title of the post, and are links to search for blog posts on similar topics from your archives.  For example, if I write a blog post on “Short Sales and Bank owned homes” and a previous post from last month on a short sale home that I was featuring, I could add a tag to both of those posts for “short sale”.  When visitors are viewing the posts, the “short sale” tag would be visible at the top of the article and is a clickable link to the list of each post tagged as “short sale”.  Follow the instructions below to add tags to a blog post.

Using Tags: All of the tags that are used throughout your entire blog and all of the posts are listed in the “Manage > Tags” area of your site.

Viewing your Tags on a post: The tags on a post will be listed near the categories.  This section is in a small font between the title of a post and the main body text.

Listing your blog categories in a widget

The categories that you have defined in your IDX Blogger system for your blog posts can be listed as links in a widget down the side column.  This widget shows each category that has blog posts associated with it.  When the category link is clicked, the visitor is taken to a page which lists all of the blog posts in that category with the most recent posts first.  Click here to see how to add or remove a widget from your IDX Blogger site.

RMLS Tech Fair today!

HomeQuest is going to be showing off IDX Blogger and more at the RMLS Tech Fair today at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OR. 

Come visit and drop your business card into the drawing for a free iPhone.  The iPhone winner will be announced on Twitter (follow @garrons) or in the HomeQuest University group on Facebook.

*iPhone or equivalent cash value

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