How to Add a Photo to Your Blog's Sidebar

I've held a number of blog giveaways, and one of the requirements to enter is often to post a giveaway photo on your own blog's sidebar. I've had quite a few people ask me about how to do this, so here's a little tutorial for you. These instructions are for posting a photo or other image on the sidebar of a Blogger blog using the "Add a Gadget" feature.

I'll use my own current blog giveaway as an example. First thing, go to my blog post and copy the small giveaway photo at the bottom of my post, then save it somewhere easy to find. Here's my blog post: http://www.plushpussycat.com/2012/01/new-giveaway.html Go there. Find that last smaller photo in the article and right-click on it. Choose the option that says, "Save as" or "Save image." Save the photo where you can find it later, like your desktop, or a place where you always save files or images. Good.

Now open a second window on your computer. Go to your own blog. Now go to the very top of your blog and click "Design," then click "Layout." You'll see the layout of your blog. At the top of the right sidebar in the layout, click "Add a Gadget." Now scroll down a list of choices until you find "Picture." Click the plus sign next to it. Now a "Configure Image" window opens.

In the spot that says "Title," you can type "Plushpussycat's Giveaway," or something like that. In the spot that says "Link," copy this into it: http://www.plushpussycat.com/2012/01/new-giveaway.html Just highlight the text of the web site url in the first window (my blog in this example), and hold down the "Ctrl" key and the "c" key at the same time. Then go to the "Configure Image" window and hold down the "Ctrl" key and the "v" key at the same time. Or you can type the url/web address in by hand. :-)

One more thing to go! You just need to click the "Choose File" button in the "Configure Image" window. From there, find where you stored the photo on your computer, and click the photo. You'll see the photo in the "Configure Image" window now. Now hit the "Save" button in the "Configure Image" window. Now all you see is the "Layout" page. In the right-hand column, just under the words "Add a Gadget," it says "Plushpussycat's Giveaway," or whatever you typed before. Hit the "Save" button at the top of the "Layout" page, and then hit the "View Blog" button to see your work.

You did it--yay! Congratulations on learning a new skill! It's time to pat yourself on the back! I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer