Installing the ChipIn widget into your blog

This article is about setting up and installing a ChipIn widget.  It is targeted at Blogger users, but much of the information applies to any website.

Overview

Previously, I've described the ChipIn service - a collection tool to support fund-raising on blogs and other websites.

To use it, you need to establish an ChipIn event, finalise your ChipIn widget and install it onto your blog.  The following notes describe the process.

There are four steps:

1. Setting up the details of the specific "chipIn"
2. Associating the new "ChipIn" with an existing ChipIn account, or registering a new one if you don't have one already.
3. Customising the widget to be used for the ChipIn
4. Placing the widget into your blog or website.

Note:  ChipIn lets you use a page on their system  to promote your event.  This could be handy if you don't have a blog, or want to do something good that's outside your usual niche.  This facility isn't covered here, as I'm assuming that people who are reading this article want to integrate ChipIn with Blogger.

Setting up the ChipIn event:

Go to http://www.chipin.com/

Enter the details for the event:

• Its name
• The target amount
• How long it should run for (ie what date it should end on)
• The PayPal account being used to collect the funds

Click Start your Event

Linking the ChipIn event to an account:

Either log in to ChipIn (if you already have an account) or Sign-up.  To sign up for ChipIn you need to: 

• Enter a valid email address (which doesn't need to the the same as the PayPal account that's collecting the funds)
• Receive a validation email
• Click on a validation link in the email
• Enter your full name, and (optionally) the organisation name that you'd like contributors to see
• Set a password (the usual security precautions apply - I wouldn't be using the same password on this as I used on PayPal, given that I just told them my PayPal account name).
• Do a simple text captcha test

Clicking Get Started implies that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy:  you should review them.

Click Get Started.

Create your widget:

Click Get a Widget,

Select which of your ChipIn's to use (you can have several of them going at the same time)

Configure the widget:

• Enter a title (which shows at the top of the widget)
• Enter some background info (which shows inside the widget body)
• Choose a size (many of the usual sizes for advertising items are available)
• Choose a colour scheme (five options:  Blue, green, brown, red or grey.  You can't choose the colour of individual items within this)

Select where you want to put the widget:

• If you click Blogger, you need to scroll down to see the code. 
  The on-screen instructions say how to put the gadget into a post.   But you can equally well put it into a gadget - it's just like adding other third party HTML to your blog.

• Select Other if you just want the HTML code so you can place it into any website that you control

• Note:  currently, if you select Wordpress, the system just says "Note that the widget will not work on hosted WordPress blogs (blogs at yourname.wordpress.com), as widgets are not allowed there." - this suggests that no one has developed an add-on for it yet.  But you may want to check with Wordpress support to see if anyone has done one.

Copy the code that is provided, and intstall it into your blog. It might look something like this:




Notice that the gadget doesn't say that payments are done using PayPal:  I strongly suggest mentioning PayPal in the text near the gadget, so that you are giving readers assurance this is is something they can trust.

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Related Articles:

ChipIn - a fundraising tool for your blog

Adding third-party HTML to your blog

Putting email links into your blog

Transferring ownership of your blog

Showing a gadget on the home page only

Removing the attributing gadget from your designer-template blog.