Last week on my newby blog tips I demonstrated how to make a blog header with PicMonkey. This week my lovely friend Kate from the fantastic blog, What Katie Said is going to show you how to make an ‘about me’ side bar widget. Thanks Kate for this fab post.
How to make an Amazing ‘About Me’ Widget
When thinking about the design of your blog, one thing that you should make sure you have is an ‘About Me’ photo in your sidebar. People like to see the face behind the blog and so as well as having an ‘About Me’ page you should make sure your face features in your sidebar!
Now you could just upload a photo but it is a good idea to add some text so that they can see at a glance what your name is and what you’re about! I know I always look to see a friendly face as I read a post, it helps me to connect with the blogger.
So how do you make a great about me widget?
First of all you need to find a great photo. If you don’t have a photo then get someone to take one! It is important to be smiling, it doesn’t have to be an advert for Colgate but nobody wants to see a frown do they?
Once you have a photo it is time to customise it! My favourite program for editing photos has to be Picmonkey- it is free which is great and you can do so many things. I use it for absolutely everything!
Get some inspiration
What sort of design are you looking to create? Have a look at other blogs to see whether you would like a long and thin design or whether you would prefer a square design. Either way, picmonkey will do the job!
Option 1- A text based design with photo overlays
This is what I have had for the past few months…
First of all go to ‘design’ in Picmonkey. Once you have a blank square you need to resize it to the dimensions you want. As a guide I would make it 300 x 500.
Next you want to add some text: tell them who you are, what you write about and anything else you want to include- I included the names I have given for my girls and my husband; Little G, Baby L and Mr F.
Once the text is in place you want to add some overlays (the butterfly icon). You need to choose ‘Your Own’ and upload your photos one by one. You may want to use a single shot of yourself or include some family shots.
Once you are done you can upload to your sidebar! I will talk about that more at the end!
Option 2- Photo with text overlay
I have now opted for this option as I wanted to have bigger photos to match the square boxes on my new theme.
First you need to go to Picmonkey and choose ‘Edit’. It will ask you to choose a photo from your computer. Remember to choose a nice smiley photo!
Once it is uploaded you can crop it- at the moment don’t worry about the dimensions as long as it is the shape you want.
Now it is time to add the text. You can either add the text directly onto the photo or you can add a shaped overlay. I have chosen a circle and will then place the text over the top of that.
Doing it this way will mean I can’t include as much information. I could have made it a long thin rectangle and had a text box underneath the photo but I am happy with the way I have done it for now. I may change it at a later date!
Once you have it how you want it is time to resize it! The width should be 300px (as a guide) and it is up to you what height you choose, I have gone with 300×300.
How do I add them to my sidebar?
Once you have your design you need to save it to your computer. You can then upload it to your sidebar using a widget.
If you are on Blogger then you can use the image gadget, nice and simple!
If you are on WordPress then I suggest downloading the Image widget plugin. You can use the widget already included with your theme but quite often they want you to upload a url for the image and that means messing about with PhotoBucket. The image plugin allows you to add the photo from your media files as normal.
So there we have it! 2 ways to create a great ‘about me’ widget for your sidebar. Which do you prefer?
