Blog Hops using Linky Tools.

So if you ever wanted to know how to create a Blog Hop using LinkyTools - here's a quick post to explain it to you.

1. Create an account at LinkyTools
2. Then open the drop down menu on the right and choose thumbnail. Click go. 

3.  Choose your title so you know which blog hop it is. I've called this one Week 1.
4. I chose the size of my thumbnail pictures to be 80px so I changed the length of user entry to 30.

5. I am ignoring the column count and not making it a gallery. That's a tick in the first box and no tick in the second box.
6. My blog hop is going to last for a week so I changed the start and finish dates to match the dates I want.
7. You can have people 'like' blogs and do all sorts of things but for a basic blog hop I've checked the ones that you'll need to get you started.

Note : Requiring an email address and a name helps stop spammers from linking up their random blogs. If you find that you are getting people linking that have nothing to do with your blog hop then next time make sure you have a tick in the Require Approval option.

8. You don't need to be in the directory or have backlinks.
9. Click and get your code.
10. You'll be taken back to your Dashboard. And you should see your blog hop there. Make sure that you have the correct blog type checked. I am using a Blogger platform so I have Blogger or Other checked.
11. Click on the orange button that says Get Code.

12. Highlight and copy your code that opens up in the box.
13. Open your blog post that you are going to link the blog hop to.
14. If you have already written your post, open it up to edit it and you will need to click on the HTML option so you can paste your linky code at the bottom of your post.

15. It will look something like this.....

16. Scroll down to the bottom and paste the code from your linky. 

17. Go back to Compose if you like and preview your blog to see if it worked. If it did, go ahead and publish!

You can see mine - empty of blog entries - at the bottom of this post. ;)

Don't forget that only the person who is hosting the blog hop needs to do this. If you are participating all you have to do is click on the link and enter your details. 

Hope you find this useful :)