Thumbtack-purpleI'm excited to share this series with you, called "101 Blogging Tips". In the series there will be 101 blogging tips that you can begin applying to your blog today! Don't wait, get started now!

Tip #52: Add a Search Box

Having a search box allows your readers to quickly find what they are looking for!  This is in addition to other tips we've discussed like using a Nav Bar, Dropdown Menu, Categories, and setting up pages.  This is a "Search Box" that allows them to enter a term or phrase, and it search your site! This is a must-have feature, especially since it's available (and free) on the popular blogging platforms.

Today, Blogger, TypePad and WordPress themes have a search box! 

  • Blogger, go to Layout and Add a Gadget and choose Search Box.
  • TypePad, go to Design, Content, in the middle find the Search and Add This Module.
  • WordPress it is normally by default added when a theme is installed (that includes a search box), but you may also look at Appearance, Widgets and drag the Search widget (if available) to one of your sidebars.

However, before Blogger had it's Search Box and maybe even before TypePad did, back when I started blogging, I found and modified this code for the Google Search Box. It allows my readers to use Google to search my site or search the Web. I still have this search box on my site today.

Here is what it looks like (where you would be using your domain):


Google




WWW
www.blogsbyheather.com



 

Here is the code (below) but you can also open and copy the text here:

 <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search">

  <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" /> 

  <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="UTF-8" /> 

  <div style="background-color:white;">

   <a href="http://www.google.com/"><img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_40wht.gif" border="0" alt="Google" /></a>

   </div>

   <input type="text" name="q" size="18" maxlength="255" value="" /><br />

   <small>

    <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.blogsbyheather.com" />

    <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> WWW <br />

    <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.blogsbyheather.com" checked="checked" /> www.blogsbyheather.com

   <br /></small>

    <input type="submit" name="btnG" value=" Google Search " /> 

 </form>

 <!– SiteSearch Google –>

To Install Google Search Box

  • Open and copy the text here or code above, and replace all instances of "www.BlogsByHeather.com" with your domain.
  • Then select and copy the code.
    • Blogger, go to Layout, add a Gadget and paste the code into a HTML/JavaScript gadget. Save changes.
    • TypePad, go to Design, Content, find Embed Your Own Code in the middle, click Add This Module on the right. Then paste in the code. Save changes. Remember to save again, bottom left to save the Design. 
    • WordPress, go to Appearance, Widgets, drag a Text widget to a sidebar and paste in the code. Save. Close.

Use Lijit

Another popular widget is Lijit! And I do highly recommend this as well. 

It's just a little more to setup but has some great features in addition to just providing a search box. It can help you learn more about your readers!  Tutorial to come on this one!

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