Blogging Tips | Joining Picket Fence Blogs

Back in March I joined the group Picket Fence Blogs, read that post here. I happen to really like it even though it's really not much more than a rating system for blogs that have been voted on by readers. I joined it because I was curious as to what all the little PFB buttons were on so many of my favorite blogs. Now I know!

This was from March 19, 2013.

And this was a screen shot taken on July 22, 2013!

I think that in terms of a few votes your rating can change QUITE a bit! Tip for searching for your blog in the lists: search for your blog on the top right hand bar. When you find it see how many votes you have and then go back to your blog's main category & click through the pages until you come to the one that has numbers in your area. Like for this July shot I looked for anything between 60-80 so I could find what number my blog was on the Lifestyle/Other list.

Of course here on Blue Eyed Beauty Blog I have a custom button which matches the rest of my design, but it's still pretty clear...only without the recognizable logo shown above. That's on my blog too though! It's down along the bottom under the "Groups" section. Here's what my custom vote button looks like:

Try it out and vote for my blog today!

If you're not sure how to get started with Picket Fence Blogs...
Let me help you out!

Join Picket Fence Blogs here, if you haven't already done so.

When you get your email, go log in! Here is what my logged on screen looks like.

Notice the options on the right of the screen. You can add a blog, add a giveaway, and edit your profile. I've never added a giveaway so I won't be going over that on this post, but keep reading to see thee "Add A Blog" details.

Here's part of the form you will fill out to add your blog to Picket Fence Blogs. URL you should already know, Name is the NAME OF THE BLOG, Add your RSS Feed (and if you don't know how to find it, read this other post I wrote previously to help you out), the Button URL is tricky so check step 5 for that, and then describe your blog. Don't take a lot of space on here! Keep it simple & to the point. Next select two categories your blog falls into. For example on mine for this blog I selected "Food" and "Lifestyle/Other".

How to get your button URL. If you already have a button with grab box for your blog then this will be super easy. See how I've highlighted the image URL in the grab box from my Grab A Button page? That's all you need! Copy that and paste it into the "Button URL" box on the form and you should be good to go. If you were to paste this into a blank internet window it would just show a button. That's how your button is added to your PFB Profile.

If you do end up selecting two categories for your blog you'll have to pick which one is the main category your blog falls under. As you can see on mine I chose Lifestyle/Other.

When you get the form filled out click the "Add Blog" button. You're almost done!

Time to add a button to your blog! For the sake of simplicity I'm just going to show you how to add their button. If you want to make your own custom button like I did copy the "Vote URL" (I have it highlighted in the image just above) and use that to create the button. I do have a tutorial on how to make your own Custom Clickable Buttons if you need that. If you're not making your own button just click the "buttons" link under your blogs image and it will take you to this:

Now all you have to do is select the style button you want, grab the HTML code and insert it wherever you want on your blog!

I'd suggest writing a post on your blog letting your readers know what Picket Fence Blogs is and that you've joined the group so that your readers will know what that button is and might actually click on it to vote for you!

Hopefully I got everything covered! I know tutorials can be tricky, but this really isn't too hard to figure out. I think the hares thing was remembering how to get the Button URL for the form. At least that was my hardest part! Good luck! And may the votes be in your favor!