Add Social Bookmark Buttons to your Posts

An easy way for readers of your blog to bookmark pages is to add social bookmark buttons to the end of every post. My posts feature "Add-This" buttons at the end of each post, which readers can use to bookmark the post page using their favorite social bookmarking service (eg: Del.icio.us, Google Bookmarks, Technorati). Give it a try, it opens up a new window so you can easily get back to this page and read how to include this feature in your posts.

Here's how to add social bookmark buttons to the end of each post:

Visit the Add-This widget building page. Select the "Bookmarking widget". Choose the style of button you prefer, and that you want the widget to appear on a Blogger blog (the code is slightly different depending on the type of website it features on).

If you want stats of bookmarks made with your button, you'll need to create an account. This isn't nescessary to create and use the buttons, so it's up to you. You'll be presented with the code to paste into your blog template.

If you're using New Blogger (layouts), you'll need to do the following:

1. Go to Template>Edit HTML (check the "expand widget templates" option is ticked). You should make a backup of your template before modifying the HTML by clicking on the "Download full template" link at the top of the page first.
2. Find the line <div class='post-footer'> . You can paste the code right under this line if you prefer. I have chosen to include this in the final line of the post footer instead, beneath everything else, as you can see in the following section of code:
3. <p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'><br/> <div align='left'><a expr:href='"http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=4QVQQ2TM5XDPAYVN&amp;url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank' title='Bookmark using any bookmark manager!'><img alt='AddThis Social Bookmark Button' height='16' src='http://s5.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif' style='border: 0px; padding: 0px' width='125'/></a></div> <!-- AddThis Bookmark Post Button END --></p>
   
4. Preview your blog to make sure the bookmark button appears as you want at the end of the posts. Then save your template.

For Bloggers who use Classic Templates, use this method instead:

1. Go to Template>Edit HTML. You may want to back up your template before modifying the code.
2. Find the <$BlogItemBody$> section and paste your AddThis code right after it.
3. Save your template and enjoy your new bookmarking feature.

There are other social bookmarking widgets available for Bloggers, such as TopRanking's social bookmarks button. Personally, I prefer the Add-This option as it streamlines the image required and gives readers the option to use any bookmarking service they want.

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