Guide to blogging on gurgle
Confused about blogging? Read our FAQs for some tips...
What is a blog?
People often use blogs as online diaries, but they can also be used to report news or add commentary and analysis on a particular subject. Blog entries are usually based primarily around text but they often include images, video clips and links to other websites too. Most blogs also allow readers to comment, making blogs more like a conversation or debate than a traditional magazine or newspaper article.
Who can write a gurgle blog?
Anyone can start a blog on gurgle as long as they have a registered account. gurgle blogs are about sharing experiences, information and ideas, not winning literary prizes, so you don’t need to be the world’s greatest writer to write a gurgle blog.
To register a gurgle account click here. It’s quick, easy and completely free!
How do I start a blog?
Click on Blogs on the navigation bar at the top of the site, then click on the Create Your Own Blog link in the blue box. You then need to give your blog a name and summary. This is the overall name of your blog. Your are now ready to create your first blog entry!
What can I write about?
For help and advice on what to write about and how to make your blog a success,
read our top tips for successful blogging here.
How do I write a blog entry?
Click on Blogs on the navigation bar at the top of the site, then click on Create a blog Post in the blue box. Each blog post requires a title and some text in the main box. The text can be formatted in the same way as the text in a Word document can be (bold, italics, underlining etc). You can also add videos, images and links to your post (see below). Before publishing your post you’ll also need to select the stage of pregnancy/parenting that it’s about, select a category to put it in and add a keyword that ia relevant to the post (see below for more info about keywords).
How do I include video in my post?
To add video, click on either the You Tube in the tool bar at the top of the text box, or click the Add Video button underneath the text box. To add a You Tube video, copy the embed code - which should be in a box to the right of the video on You Tube - and paste it in to the yellow box at the top of the window that pops up when you click on the You Tube button. N.B. On some You Tube videos the owner may have disabled embedding. If this is the case, instead of having code in the embed box it will say ‘Embedding disabled by request’. To add a video that’s stored on your computer, click the Add Video button, browse to where the video is saved and then click Add Video again.
How do I include images in my post?
To add an image that’s stored on your computer, click the Add Images icon on the tool bar, then click on the upload button in the bottom right part of the window that pops up. Browse to where the image is saved and upload. If the image looks OK in the preview area in the top right, click Insert. You can move your image around and place it where you want by clicking on it and dragging it. To add an image from a URL is exactly the same, except you paste the link in to the URL field instead of clicking Upload.
What images and video can I include in my blog posts?
Please only use images and video that you own the copyright to. This means that unless you took the picture/video yourself or have explicit permission from the person who did, you cannot use it in your blog. For an explanation on what You Tube videos you can use, see the
How do I add video to my blog post? question above.
How do I include links in my post?
If you want to add a link to some text in your blog post,
like this, you'll need to edit the HTML. To do this click on the HTML button at the bottom of the text box. Then find the text you want to link and add this code before the word or phrase you want to link:
<a href=INSERT YOUR LINK HERE>
Make sure you replace INSERT YOUR LINK HERE with the actual link and then add this code at the end of the text:
</a>
So the whole thing would look like this in the HTML:
<a href=http://gurgle.co.uk>
This is a link to the gurgle home page</a>
What are stages, categories and keywords?
Before you publish your blog post you'll need to select a stage, category and keyword to help other users find your blog. Please select one for each these. The keywords (also known as tags on some websites), allow you to organise your blog posts in to specific topics, so for example if you want to read blogs just about breastfeeding, you can click on breastfeeding on the blogs home page (under Read More Blogs About) and you'll find all the blogs that have been given that keyword. Adding keywords to.
What does sharing my blog mean?
Before publishing your blog post you have three options for sharing it with your friends, family and connections on other social networks. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account you can add your blog post to your profile so all your friends and followers can see it. You can also send your blog post to friends via email. These three options will all be presented to you after you click on Publish.
What if I want to edit my blog entry after it’s been published?
To edit a blog post that you’ve already published, click on Your Blog on the right-hand side and then click in to the blog post you want to edit. In the bottom left underneath your blog post is an Edit button. Click on this, make your changes and then remember to save them by clicking on the Publish button.
How can I get more people to read my blog and comment on it?
For help and advice on how to make your blog a success,
read our top tips for blogging here.
What should I do if there is a nasty comment on my blog?
Try not to react to any nasty comments as it is just likely to provoke more. Instead, stay calm, rise above it and maintain the moral high ground. Then click on the report button and one of our moderators will remove any comments that break our rules.
Can I change the overall title of my blog?
Yes. If you were writing a blog about being pregnant and have now had
your baby, it's natural that you will want to change the name of your
blog to something more relevant. To do this, click on Create New Blog
Post in the blue box, then click on Step 1: Edit your blog profile, in
the three boxes at the top of that page.
Can I delete a blog post?
To delete a blog post, log in to your account and navigate to the post you want to delete. Below the post you should see two buttons: one to edit the post and one to delete it completely.
How do I subscribe and unsubscribe from blogs?
You can save your favourite gurgle blogs to the Subscribed Blogs box on the right-hand side. Subscribing to your favourite blogs means you can find them much more easily and quickly. To add a blog simply click on the Subscribe button next to your favourite blog. The three blogs that have been updated most recently will be displayed in the box. If you want to see the rest of your subscribed blogs simply click on See All at the top of the subscriptions box. If, at a later date, you want to remove a blog from your subscriptions, just click on the Unsubscribe button. N.B. You can't subscribe to your own blog so you won't see the Subscribe button on your blog, but don't worry, it will be visible for others people to click on.
What are the thumbs up?
The blogs with the most thumbs up will be displayed in the Highest Rated tab on the Blogs home page. To give a blog your seal of approval click on the thumb image. N.B. You can only vote once on any given blog. If the thumbs up symbol is dark pink it means you haven't voted for it yet, if it's light pink it means you have voted for it.
How can I stay safe when blogging?
As with any form of interaction on the internet, it’s important to exercise some caution before telling the whole world every intimate detail of your life. The information and experiences you’re sharing are more important than the exact details of the people and places involved, so if you’d prefer to change the names of your children when you’re writing about them or use the name of a different town, that’s fine. We’d also advise against giving out your address, email or telephone number on any of the community areas on gurgle.
Have we missed anything? If you can't find what you're looking for amongst these FAQs, email community@gurgle.com and we'll add your query to this page.Pic: Iragerich, some rights reserved
Last Modified: 22/07/2009