THE 411 ON LABELS…

Labeling posts is an option that could make your blog more user-friendly by providing, for new visitors, quick access points to viable information they might be looking for, or by affording regular community members a way to find a post that perhaps they'd visited in the past, and wish to resurface.

I. The first step to creating labels is to use the window at the bottom of the posting screen, appropriately titled "labels for this post."  It is at the bottom right of the space you are given in which to post your message.  Here you can type in whatever word or words you wish to use as a label for the post.  You may choose more than one label by separating them with a comma.  Once you have an established list of labels you can click the ‘show all’ button to choose the appropriate ones from the list.  You can also go to the 'edit post' screen to add or remove labels on previous posts.

II. The next step is to add a label gadget under the layout tab.  Click ‘add gadget’ and scroll down to ‘labels’ and choose it.  Once you've added the gadget a complete list of labels with live links will post to your blog page where you have chosen.

When choosing labels you should consider the theme and voice of your blog.  You could opt for very specific labels such as individual movie titles for film review blogs, or political names and issues for political blogs.  You could also choose broad terms like "green living," "green eating," and "green shopping" for eco-minded blogs or "video," "board," and "card" for a gaming blog.  I chose less specific labels for my Sinatra blog, with clever little twists: "The Way I See It," "Frank Facts," and "Picture That" for opinion posts, factoid posts, and images respectively. 

 It is definitely important to consider the audience and their needs for access points when determining what labels will be used.  Do they need specific key terms to guide their browsing or will they be entertained by a more esoteric label, and catch on easily enough?