There can be kind of a steep learning curve using WordPress. I know that when I first started blogging, I would spend a long time trying to get things to work, going back, and trying other things. So, I’m putting this out there in case anyone has an issue with posting images to the sidebar of their blog. I’ve included step-by-step pictures.

Step 1: 

First of all, the image you want to use has to be in your WordPress Media Library.

So, go to your Dashboard and click on Media, and then Add New.

Step 2:

Click Select Files and choose the picture file you want to use from your computer.

Step 3:

Once the file is uploaded, it will appear as a thumbnail and a description on the bottom of the screen. I chose a picture of a Basset hound pup and a baby rabbit. Click on the Edit button next to it.

Step 4:

This will bring up the picture and its information on the right-hand side of the screen. Copy the entire File URL, making sure it ends with .jpg/.png/.gif or some file extension like that.

Step 5:

On the left side of the screen, hover over Appearance, and then click on Widgets.

Step 6:

Under the Widgets tab is a long list of various types of things you can put in the sidebar. The right-hand side of the screen shows what is already in your sidebar, in order. Find Image, down near the bottom of the list, and drag it to the place you’d like it on your sidebar. For this demonstration, I put mine last, underneath Blogs I like to read.

Once it is in place, a box will open up. First of all, paste the File URL we copied in Step 4 into the box marked Image URL.

Step 7:

From here, you can fill in a Widget title and picture caption , if you’d like. At the bottom in the section marked Link URL. Many people use this to go to Amazon.com or some other bookseller, if they put up a picture of their book cover (like I did with my short story Giselle). For my demonstration, I put in the URL to a Chinese comic site I like to read.

After this, click Save, then Close and everything is done. Now you can see the cute picture on the right side of my screen and click on it to go read some Chinese comics.