Okay - so it took me such a long, long time to figure out what a badge is. I saw them and wanted one but didn't know the first thing about them. You know what I am talking about - those cute pieces of art that tells your readers that someone thinks you have "the best blog post of the day" or you are a "kewel blogger".

Well, my friends - you can make and present badges too. It is easy, breezy and beautiful.

Seriously, if I can do this, your three year old can too!

Jump on over to www.hyplet.com. Don't be afraid because it says "Your online ID and flyers" - it's just another term for BADGE! Yes, www.hyplet.com can help you take a picture, add some text to it, add a link to it (like a blog post url) and you got yourself a BADGE my friend!

A badge is a piece of "art" that has been uploaded onto the web in a place where the art is available to everyone (usually a url address) and that art is linked to a website, blog address or other web address.

FYI, as long as you play by the terms of use (which means you can't sell with it or create a logo with it) I love the free clipart that you can find at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

Find a background or some art you like, upload it and link away! By the way, Microsoft uses .wmf files for a lot of the free clip art on their clipart site - and www.Hyplet.com is cool with that!

For other software, .wmf files don't work. If you have a .wmf picture that you want to use but need to convert it, if you have Microsoft Office loaded on your computer, use the Microsoft program Microsoft Office Picture Manager to convert .wmf files to .jpg or .gig or .png files.

You can see an example on my profile page. My Happy Valentine's Day badge on my profile page was made with www.hyplet.com and if you click on the picture, it will take you to my blog. It's so easy, you should make one too!!!

Come back and comment on your new badge and where we can find it!

Hope this helps-

EE