Blogging Guide

Need help with blogging? You have come to right place! This is our guide to easy blogging for Here We Go Again! bloggers.

1. How to make a new blog post?

You can make pictures bigger by clicking them.

Step 1: Click the "New Post" link:

Step 2: Give your blog post a title, for example: "Greetings from Slovenia".

Step 3: Write your blog post. You can just write text but if you want, you can add pictures or videos too.

NOTE: Don't copy-paste your text from some other text editor (e.g. Word). You can write it directly to Blogger. You can save your text as a draft, if you don't have time to wrap it up right now. Just click "Save" button and after that "Close" button.

Step 4: Add labels. Separate them with commas. Write your country (for example: Sweden) and volunteer, if you are one, or EVS team if you are working in the project. After that click "Done" button.

The labels we use:

EVS team
Finland
Ireland
Slovenia
Sweden
volunteer

Step 5: Click "Publish" button and you are done!

 

2. How to add pictures?

Want to add some nice pictures on your blog post? This is how you do it.

You can make pictures bigger by clicking them.

Step 1: Click this icon.

Step 2: Click "Choose files" button.

Step 3: Select the picture you like to add from your computer and click "Open" button. On this exsample picture it says "Avaa" in Finnish but don't let it fool you.

Step 4: Click "Add selected" button.

Step 5: Congratulations! You have successfully add a picture! Now you can click it and choose the size and location of the picture and write a caption.

NOTE: You can also drag pictures with mouse from your computer to Blogger's text editor if you find that easier.

3. How to add links?

Want to link something on your blog post? It's really easy!

You can make pictures bigger by clicking them.

Step 1: Write the text you want to write. Then choose with mouse the part of the text you want to change into a link.

After that click the "Link" button.

Step 2: The chosen text will appear in the "Text to display" (1), next you'll have to write or copy-paste the link to the "Web address" (2). After that click "OK" button (3).

Step 3: Congratulations! You have successfully add a link in the text!

 

4. How to add videos?

Want to add a video to your blog post? This is how you do it.

You can make pictures bigger by clicking them.

Step 1: Click this Icon.

Step 2: If your video is already on YouTube, you can go to step 3. If not, drag your video to blog like this.

And wait while the video uploads.

Step 3: So your video is on YouTube and you want to add it from there. If the video is on your own channel, pick "My YouTube Videos", if it's on someone's else, pick "From YouTube".

If the video is on your channel, continue to step 4.

If the video is on someone's else channel, continue to step 5.

Step 4: If your adding video from your own channel, select the right one from the list (1) and then click "Select" button (2).

Step 5: Write the channel name (1), select the right video (2) and click "Select" button (3).

Step 6: Congratulations! You have successfully add a video! Now you can write couple of sentences to tell us what's on it and why you wanted to share it with everybody.

5. What volunteers should write when they are creating their first blog post?

We hope that you will introduce yourselves on your first blog post. It would be nice, if you could do that while you still are at your homeland.

Here is a list of questions we wish you to answer:

• First name
• Where are you going?
• Age
• What are you expecting for your time in foreign country?
• Is there something that you find exciting?
• What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in?
• What is the most important thing you’re going to take with you to the foreign country?
• What would you like tell about your homeland to people you’ll meet in your destination?
• What you wish for your future? What is your dream?

We also would like you to post a picture of you. Here is couple of examples:

This is okay:

If you don’t want to show your face, this is okay too:

This is NOT okay:

6. What supervisors / coordinators / ect. should write when they are creating their first blog post?

We hope that you introduce yourselves. Tell something about your position in the project and what kind of expectations you have.

7. How many times you should be blogging?

Volunteers: We hope that you will be posting 2-3 times per week. First post you can write before you leave your country and the last when you have gone back there.

Supervisors ect.: At least once before volunteers are coming to your country but it's more than welcome if you want write more regulary.

8. How to make a good blog post? What kind of topics are okay?

Don't know which topics you should write about? Don't worry, here is a list for suitable topics. You can write other topics too, it's allowed to be creative.

Blog posts could be done in following topics:

• Introduction of the apartments in Finland, Slovenia and Ireland
• Volunteers arrival and about the travelling
• First impressions about the country
• Weird things in here! blog post (culture shock)
• Going around events and free time activities
• Presenting the key staff
• Introducing the hosting country (facts etc.)
• Youth work assisting team in Ireland could do a introduction

You can always add pictures and video(s) to your blog post if it easier for you. They tell more than 1000 words but it's good to write couple of sentences about pictures and videos.

9. Take care of our blog and your computer, use virus protection

Sometimes you can get computer viruses or malwares to your PC / tablet by browsing some websites. When that happens, the virus ect. can contaminate the blog too. To prevent this nasty thing for happening, it's important to use computer virus protection.

If you are using your own PC / tablet for blogging, you should take care that your PC / tablet is up to date and you have some kind of antivirus and / or anti malware program in your PC / tablet.

Here are some free ones:

Avast Antivirus
Norton Antivirus

There are other programs too. You can choose your own.

If your organization offers your PC / tablet, you can ask them about the Internet security and computer virus protection.

Need more help? Have questions?

Contact our blogger helper Terhi Törnroos.
Email: firstname.lastname@lahti.fi