Writing blog posts can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, depending on your goals for your blog. If you write a blog for fun with no long-term goals for driving traffic or making money from your blog, writing blog posts requires little more than translating the thoughts in your head to your keyboard and then online. However, if you want to grow your blog and monetize it, you need to consider several issues before you write and publish content on your blog. Determine your short- and long-term goals for your blog to identify how to apply the following considerations to your writing.

Using different formats for your blog posts

A blog post can be just a few sentences or many paragraphs. Some blog posts include an image
and no text, whereas others might contain a complete tutorial or an online lesson teaching
readers how to accomplish a task. Think about your audience (or at least the audience you
want to have read your blog content) as you write your blog posts and create content that
would appeal to them. The variety of blog posts in the following list gives you a starting place to
help write your own blog posts.

Current events: Write about something you heard about in the news.

How-to or tutorials: Share your expertise in your blog topic by writing a tutorial or instructions to help your readers accomplish a task or an activity.

Interviews: Contact a prominent person who works in a field related to your blog topic and interview her for a blog post.

Link love: Find interesting blog posts across the blogosphere that are related to your blog topic and publish a post that provides links to those posts to help your readers find new blogs and to help you connect with other bloggers.

Lists: Write your top five tips or suggestions or your top ten must-have products to help your blog readers. Alternatively, write a list of don’ts or a similar list of warnings.

Opinion: Write a post that simply provides your opinion on an issue or event.

Photos: Post a photo related to your blog topic.

Polls: Ask your readers for their opinions by publishing a blog post that includes a poll or
survey.

Reviews: Write a review of a product, an event, a book, or anything else related to
your blog topic.

Coming up with titles

The first thing visitors to your blog will notice about your blog posts are the titles of those posts. With that in mind, you should consider a few issues as you compose the title for each of your posts. Write titles that

Arouse your readers’ curiosity: Just like an advertising headline, your post title should lure readers in and entice them to want to read further.

Are relevant to your readers: Web surfers are busy and have little time to read deeply on any page to find content that matters to them. Write headlines that are easy to understand, and make sure the post delivers the content that the title suggests.

Include searchable keywords: Search engines value blog post titles strongly in terms of prioritizing your content for keyword searches. Be certain to include important keywords in your post titles.

Considering search engine optimization

If you want to grow your blog by attracting new visitors, you should write blog posts with search engine optimization in mind. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! love blogs simply because the content is updated frequently. With each new blog post comes a new entry point and a new way for a search engine to find your content. Take some time to research keywords that are relevant to your blog topic, and then use those keywords in your blog posts and titles. Each blog post you write should be optimized for a specific keyword phrase, and all your keywords should be relevant to your overall blog topic. If you’re serious about growing your blog, invest time and effort into finding out how to write for the Web with an eye toward search engine optimization.

You have to decide whether you want anyone with Internet access to be able to read your blog or to allow only a certain group of people, such as friends and family, to see it. This decision affects how you configure your blog permissions settings on the Settings tab of your Blogger dashboard.

You can select from the following options to configure the privacy settings for your blog:

1. Select the Permissions tab from the Settings navigation bar in your Blogger dashboard.

2. Under the Blog Readers heading, choose your privacy settings by selecting the appropriate radio button to determine who can view this blog:

• Anybody: This setting allows anyone with Internet access to see your blog.
• Only people I choose: Enter e-mail addresses for the specific people you want to invite to read your blog.
• Only blog authors: Only those people who have access to publish content to your blog can view it online.

The decision to make your blog private or public is up to you and should be a direct result of your goals for your blog. If you want to simply share your thoughts, ideas, or photos with just a few people, creating a private blog is a viable choice. However, if you want to grow your blog, increase traffic, and make money from it, set your blog permission to allow anybody to view it.

If you want your readers to be able to access your old posts after the posts are moved off your blog’s home page, you need to make sure that you configure your archive settings before you start publishing content on your blog.

Configure the following settings to set up your blog archives:

1. From the Archive Frequency drop-down menu, select how often you want your blog posts to be archived.

Take a few minutes to decide how you want visitors to be able to access your older blog posts. The setting you choose here affects how your blog archives are displayed in your blog’s sidebar. Do you want visitors to find your old posts by month, week, or day? Choose the setting that
creates the user experience you want on your blog.

2. Select Yes or No from the Enable Post Pages drop-down menu depending on whether you want each of your posts to have its own page online.

Most bloggers select Yes from this drop-down menu. Giving each blog post its own page means that each post also receives its own permalink (permanent link URL). This strategy makes it easy to find and link to older content and gives more entry points for people to find your blog
by using search engines.

3. Select the Save Settings button to save any changes you made on the Archiving page.

One of the most important elements of a successful blog is the community of readers that grows around it. At the heart of that community is a conversation that occurs by way of comments left on your blog posts. With that in mind, it’s essential that you set up the commenting feature on your blog before you publish any content.

The following settings should be configured up front:

1. Select the appropriate radio button to show (or hide, if you prefer) comments on your blog posts.

The most popular blogs allows comments, so take some time to think about your blogging goals before you decide whether you want to allow people to comment on your blog posts.

2. Select a radio button to configure the Who Can Comment option on your blog.

You can allow anyone to comment on your blog: only registered OpenID users, only users with Google accounts, or only members of your blog (people that you give access to read your blog on the permissions Settings tab.

3. Select a Comments Default for Posts setting from the drop-down menu.

Choose whether you want new posts to allow comments by default. You can change this setting in the future for specific posts.

4. Select the appropriate radio button to show (or hide, if you prefer) backlinks within the Comments section of your blog posts.

Backlinks appear as comments on Blogger posts and provide a “tap on the shoulder” from another Blogger blog to you, showing that Blogger blog linked to you in a published post. Backlinks are a helpful way to develop relationships with other bloggers and find like-minded bloggers. With that promotional opportunity in mind, most bloggers choose to
allow backlinks.

5. Select a Backlinks Default for Posts setting from the drop-down menu.

You can determine whether you want all new posts to allow backlinks within the Comments section by default by configuring this setting. You can change this setting in the future for specific posts.

6. From the Comments Timestamp Format drop-down menu, select the way you want the time that comments are published on your posts to display on your blog.

Each comment left on one of your blog posts is published along with the time it was originally entered. Changing the timestamp format alters how that time appears on your blog.

7. Enter a message to precede the Comment area in your blog posts in the Comment Form Message box.

This message appears above the comment form on all your blog posts. It can be used to invite people to comment on blog posts.

8. Click the Always, Only on Posts Older than 14 Days, or Never radio button to enable Comment Moderation.

Comment moderation is a helpful way to reduce spam comments on your blog. As new comments are left on your blog posts, they appear on your dashboard for you to review and approve before they’re published for others to see. This technique gives you the opportunity to delete spam or offensive comments.

9. Click the Yes or No radio button to indicate your preference for the Show Word Verification for Comments option.

Word verification is an excellent way to block comment spam. Each person who leaves a comment on one of your blog posts is given a word to enter into the comment form in order to be able to submit that comment.

10. Select whether you want to show profile images on comments by clicking the Yes or No radio button.

If you want other Blogger users’ profile pictures to be displayed with their comments on your blog posts, select Yes. Otherwise, choose No.

11. Enter an e-mail address in the Comment Notification Email text box.

If you want to be notified by e-mail whenever a new comment is awaiting moderation, simply enter your e-mail address in the Comment Notification Email box, and an e-mail is sent to you automatically when each new comment is submitted. You can enter as many as ten e-mail
addresses (separated by commas) in this field.

12. Click the Save Settings button to save any changes you made on the Comments page.

You should set several formatting configurations before you start writing and publishing blog posts, such as time, date, and language options. Select the Formatting tab from the Settings navigation bar to display the Formatting page.

Then follow these steps to configure how your blog posts are displayed to visitors:

1. Select the number of posts you want to display on your blog’s home page by choosing these options:

• From the Show drop-down menu, select Posts or Days to display a designated number of posts on your blog’s main page or a designated number of days’ worth of posts on your blog’s main page.

• In the Show box, enter the number of posts or days’ worth of posts you want to display on your blog’s main page based on the setting you selected from the Show drop-down menu.

The number of posts you show on your blog’s home page is entirely up to you, but remember that people don’t like to scroll too much. Displaying 5 to 10 posts (depending on post length) on your home page is a common target to keep your blog readable.

2. From the Date Header Format drop-down menu, select in which format you want the dates to appear on your blog.

This date appears at the top of your blog, above your posts, to remind visitors what day it is.

3. From the Archive Index Date Format drop-down menu, select the format of the dates used in the Archive Links page element on your blog’s sidebar.

Older posts are automatically archived so they’re easily accessible from the Archive Links page element in your blog’s sidebar. It’s up to you to decide how you want your archived posts to display in your sidebar. Choose the date format that you prefer by configuring the Archive Index
Date Format setting.

4. From the Timestamp Format drop-down menu, select the format you want to use for the publication date for your blog posts.

A timestamp appears at the bottom of each blog post that tells readers when each post was published. Changing the Timestamp Format alters how that date appears on each blog post.

5. Select your time zone from the Time Zone drop-down menu.

Selecting the correct time zone ensures that your date header and timestamps synchronize correctly to your location.

6. Select your language from the Language drop-down menu.

Blogger is available in a variety of languages. Make sure that you select the correct language for your blog.

One reason that Blogger is so easy to use is that users can customize their blogs by visiting just a few pages from the Blogger dashboard and then picking and choosing options and saving those choices. To start, just select Settings from your Blogger dashboard. This action takes you to the Basic settings configuration page.

Publishing, configuring privacy, editing, and composing

The Basic settings page is a page you shouldn’t skip when you start your new Blogger blog. On this page, you can make your blog public or private, add a blog description, change your blog title, and set up editing options. Take some time to review each option and configure them as described in the following steps.

1. Enter a title for your blog in the Title text box.

If you want to change the title of your blog, this box is the place to do it. The title you enter here appears in the header area of your blog.

2. Enter a description for your blog in the Description box.

You can enter a description of as many as 500 characters in the Description text box. Note that whatever you type in the Description box appears beneath your blog title in the blog header area, so take some time to write a useful description that not only describes what your blog
is about but also entices visitors to read more.

3. Select Yes or No from the Add Your Blog to Our Listings drop-down box.

When you select Yes, your blog is displayed occasionally on the Bloggerhome page, on Blogger Play (a slide show of photos published on Blogger blogs) and Next Blog (the navigation bar that appears at the top of all Blogger blogs).

If you select No to the question Add Your Blog to Our Listings? within your blog’s Basic Settings page, your blog is still available on the Internet; however, Blogger rotates blogs in the Blogger listings and displays links to those blogs on the Blogger home page, on Blogger Play, and on Next Blog. If you want to attract additional potential traffic from these Blogger listings, select Yes from the Add Your Blog to Our Listings? drop-down menu.

4. Select Yes or No from the Let Search Engines Find Your Blog dropdown
menu.

A helpful Blogger feature is automatic pinging at Weblogs.com (http://weblogs.com) and automatic inclusion in the Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com) results if you select Yes from the Let Search Engines Find Your Blog drop-down menu. Pinging is a behind-the-scenes function that automatically notifies sites such as Google and Technorati whenever a blog is updated. By selecting Yes, every time you update your blog you ensure that Google Blog Search and search engines linked to Weblogs.com are notified that you published new content, and that content is added to those search listings. This strategy provides more traffic and more ways for people to find your blog.

5. Select Yes or No from the Show Quick Editing on Your Blog dropdown menu.

By selecting Yes, you enable one-click blog post editing. When you’re signed into Blogger and viewing your blog online, you can select a link directly from each blog post, which automatically opens a page where you can edit that post.

6. Select Yes or No from the Show Email Post Links drop-down menu.

Selecting Yes places an Email Post link on each of your blog posts so that readers can e-mail your posts to other people with one simple click of the mouse.

7. Select Yes or No from the Adult Content drop-down menu.

If your blog contains content that might be considered inappropriate for minors, select Yes from the Adult Content drop-down menu. When people visit a blog that contains adult content, a warning message appears, asking visitors to confirm that they want to proceed before the
blog content loads.

8. Select Yes or No from the Show Compose Mode for All Your Blogs drop-down menu.

Unless you know how to use HTML, you should select Yes in the Show Compose Mode for All Your Blogs drop-down menu. Doing so gives you the option to write your blog posts using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor that acts more like a traditional word processing
program than a Web design program.

Your blog’s home page is a critical element of your blog. It’s your online welcome page and needs to be set up to make visitors feel comfortable as well as give them quick and easy access to the various parts of your blog that they’re most interested in and that you want to make sure they see. Before you publish your first blog post, take a few minutes to look at your blog’s layout to ensure that all the elements you want visitors to see are easy to find.

Avoid cluttering your home page with too much information and too many elements. Be sure that your design allows your readers to find the most valuable information and links. Follow these steps to pick and choose the page elements you want to display on the home page of your blog:

1. From the Blogger dashboard, click the Layout link for your blog.

2. Select the Pick New Template tab from the top navigation bar and choose the template you like from the Templates page. Make sure to click the Save Template button if you want to switch to a different theme.

This step opens a page where you can view and select a Blogger template for your blog.

3. Select the Page Elements tab from the top navigation bar to customize your blog’s home page.

After your template is chosen, you can return to the Page Elements page to select the elements and gadgets you want visitors to see on your blog.

4. Click and drag page element boxes to move them around your page.

Moving elements on your screen moves them to new locations on your blog.

5. Click Edit on any of the page element boxes to modify the appearance of each individual page element.

For example, you can choose to revise your profile (the About Me page element) directly from the Page Elements page by selecting Edit in the About Me box and choosing the appropriate changes.

6. Select Add a Gadget to choose from a list of gadgets you can add to your blog.

A new window opens where you can choose from a variety of gadgets to further customize the appearance of your blog’s home page.

7. Click the Preview button to see how your changes will look, and choose the Save button to save your changes when you’re happy with the layout of your blog’s homepage.

Don’t be afraid to test different gadgets. Use the Preview button to see what you like and don’t like. Everything can be customized, and nothing can be viewed by visitors until you click the Save button.

Before you dive into the blogosphere headfirst by writing your first blog post, it’s a good idea to take some time to prepare your blog to make a successful splash right from the start. If you want people to return to your blog after they find it, you need to write interesting blog posts, of course, but you also need to create a comfortable environment for your visitors. You can accomplish this by writing a great profile that helps visitors understand who you are and why you’re writing your blog. Additionally, designing a home page that provides easy access to useful tools and information is equally important.

Blogger is loaded with options and settings that you can customize to make your blog perform just the way you want. In this chapter, you’ll find out about the many settings and options you should configure before you start writing and publishing blog posts. Taking the time to set up your blog now makes it easier for people to find your blog, and it makes those people more
likely to return.

Creating Your Profile

With millions of blogs online and more popping up every day, you have to make sure that your readers know who you are and why you’re blogging. Start a relationship with them immediately by sharing your story in your profile, or your About page. Your profile can highlight information about you, the purpose of your blog, your target audience, and anything else you want visitors
to know about you and your place on the Web.

Be sure to include the following three pieces of information in your blog profile:

Your experience: Tell readers why you’re qualified to write about your blog topic.

Your contact information: Build a relationship with your readers by making sure that they can contact you easily.

Links to your other blogs or Web sites: Let readers understand who you are not just on your blog but also as part of the blogosphere and online community overall.

Your profile is your opportunity to sell who you are and what your blog is about. Let your passion for your blog topic shine through in your profile. Include information, links, and other elements to help visitors understand not just who you are and why you’re writing your blog but also why your blog is the place to visit online to find information about your blog topic.


Adding information to your profile

To create your profile, sign in to Blogger, which opens your Blogger account dashboard. You can edit your profile at any time, but you benefit greatly if you take the time to complete as much of your profile as possible up front. Click the Edit Profile link on the left side of your screen, which will take you directly to the Edit User Profile page.

You don’t have to complete every field in the Edit User Profile page. Select the areas that give your blog visitors enough information about you to make your blog have meaning to them and position you as the right person to be writing your blog. Your profile should be a virtual introduction and handshake. You don’t have to give your résumé or life story, but you should share enough to spark a relationship with your visitors. In other words, take the time to review
each section of the Edit User Profile page and make conscious decisions about which sections you need to complete in order to provide a useful profile of you to your readers.

Your profile appears not only on your blog’s Profile page but a snippet of the first few sentences of your profile also appears in your blog’s sidebar. Put the most compelling information at the beginning of your profile so it’s visible in the sidebar. You should also understand that your profile can help your search engine optimization efforts. Search engines crawl (review and index for future user searches) your profile text, which can draw more traffic to your blog.

Editing privacy and identity settings

At the top of the Edit User Profile page, you have the option to edit your privacy and identity settings as shown in these steps:

1. Select the Share My Profile check box to make your profile page public.

It’s entirely up to you whether you want other users to be able to view your profile. Unless your blog is private, which is described later in this chapter, make your profile public by selecting the Share My Profile check box.

Be truthful, but not overly modest. Remember that your profile is basically a marketing tool to show readers why you’re qualified to write your blog and why they should be interested in reading what you have to say.

2. Select the Show My Real Name check box to display your real name on your profile page.

If you want your real name to be displayed in your profile for visitors to see, select the Show My Real Name check box. Consider the purpose of your blog as well as your audience to help you determine whether it’s in your best interest to display your real name in your profile. Using
your real name can give your blog more credibility and helps to create a stronger relationship between you and your readers. However, some people prefer to omit their personal information from their blog profiles.

3. Select the Show My Email Address check box to display your e-mail address on your profile page.

If you want other users to be able to see your e-mail address on your profile, select the Show My Email Address check box.

4. Follow the Select Blogs to Display link after Show My Blogs to choose which of your Blogger blogs you want to display on your profile page.

If you have other blogs attached to your Blogger account, you have the option to display links to those other blogs on your profile by clicking the Select Blogs to Display link and choosing which of your blogs you want to show on your profile.

5. Enter in the Email Address box the e-mail address you want to display on your profile page.

The e-mail address you enter to display on your profile page is the address you want visitors to use to contact you. The address doesn’t need to be the same as the e-mail address you use to sign into your Blogger account.

When you display your e-mail address as part of your profile, you publicize it to everyone online, which means that e-mail spammers have access to it. You might want to consider setting up a separate e-mail account to display in your blog profile if you’re concerned about receiving
spam through your primary e-mail account.

6. Enter your name in the Display Name box.

The name you enter here is the same as the name you use as the author of your blog posts.

7. Enter your first name in the First Name box.

If you selected the Show My Real Name check box, the first name you enter in the First Name box is the first name displayed on your profile as part of your real name.

8. Enter your last name in the Last Name box.

If you selected the Show My Real Name check box, the last name you enter in the Last Name box is the last name displayed on your profile as part of your real name.

Uploading a photo or an audio clip to your profile

Scroll down the Edit User Profile page to find space where you can upload a photo or an audio clip to display with your profile and to configure more personal information display settings.

1. Choose one of the following options in the Photo URL area to upload a photo to display on your profile page:

Click the From Your Computer radio button to upload a photo from your local computer hard drive. Use the Browse button to search for the photo you want to use.

Select From the Web if you want to use a photo that is stored online in an account from a service such as Picasa or Flickr or that has already been uploaded to the Web and has an existing URL.
The photo you upload to your blog profile can be any image you want. Many bloggers upload their own portrait but others prefer to use a wide variety of images from logos to landscapes and everything in between.

2. In the Audio Clip URL box, enter the URL of an audio clip that you have already uploaded and want to play when your profile page loads.

Many users don’t like blogs or Web sites that use sound and quickly navigate away from blogs that startle them with loud or offensive music. You might want to avoid adding an audio clip entirely. If you choose to use one, consider your audience when you choose the sound for your
audio clip.

Creating interest by adding personal information

The next part of the Edit User Profile page gives you various options to add personal information to your profile, such as your location.

1. Click the appropriate radio button to display your gender on your profile page.

You can choose the Not Specified radio button to keep your gender private.

2. Enter your birth date in the Birthday fields.

You can display your birthday with or without the year, if you choose.

3. Select the Show Astrological Signs check box if you want your astrological sign and Chinese zodiac sign displayed on your profile page.

This option works only if you enter your birth date, including your birth year, in the Birthday fields.

4. Enter your Web site address in the Homepage URL box.

If you have another blog or Web site that you want visitors to have easy access to, enter that URL in this box. It’s displayed prominently as My Web Page with an active link on your profile page.

Follow these steps to change your location and other settings:

1. If you have a Google Shopping List, you can enter the URL in the Wishlist URL box.

Google Shopping Lists are used to show other people products and items you want or enjoy.

2. Enter your instant messenger ID in the IM Username text box and click the drop-down box to pick the instant messenger service associated with that username.

If you want visitors to be able to send you instant messages, you can enter your instant messaging username and service here. If you display your instant messenger username in your blog profile, you’re publicizing it to everyone with Internet access. That means spammers also have access to it. Keep that in mind when you set up your profile.

3. Enter your hometown in the City/Town text box.

If you want visitors to know which city or town you live in, you can enter it in this box to display on your profile.

4. Enter the area where you live in the Region/State text box.

If you want visitors to know which region of the world or country you live in (or your state), you can enter it here, and it’s displayed on your profile.

5. From the Country drop-down box, select the country where you live.

If you want visitors to know which country you live in, select it here, and it appears on your profile.

6. From the Industry drop-down box, select the industry you work in.

If you want visitors to know which industry you work in, select it here, and it appears on your profile.

7. Enter your job in the Occupation text box.

Some bloggers like to share their occupation with visitors. If this is something you want your readers to know about you, enter your job information, and it’s displayed as part of your profile.

8. Enter your interests in the Interests text box, separating each one with a comma.

You may want to share some of your personal or business interests with your readers. If so, take some time to create a list to display as part of your profile.

9. Enter information in the About Me text box to describe who you are to your readers.

You can enter up to 1,200 characters in the About Me box to tell your readers more about you and why you’re qualified to write your blog. This is your chance to shine!

The About Me box is the area of your profile where you can sell yourself and your blog. Take the time to write something interesting in your About Me box.

Sharing a few of your favorite things

The final section of the Edit User Profile page, allows you to enter more personal information to share with readers.

1. Enter the names of movies you like in the Favorite Movies text box.

If you want to share some of your favorite movies with your readers, you can enter the names of those movies in this box, and separate each title with a comma.

2. Enter the names of bands or songs you like in the Favorite Music text box.

If you want to share information about music you enjoy with your readers, you can enter names of bands, CDs, artists, songs, and more in this box, separating each one with a comma.

3. Enter the names of your favorite books in the Favorite Books text box.

If you want to share the names of some of your favorite books with your readers, you can enter book titles in this box, separating each one with a comma.

4. Enter your response to the Blogger randomly generated question in the Random Question text box.

Just for fun, Blogger gives you a question that you can answer to share a random piece of information with your readers, such as “What’s the most amount of sand you’ve ever had in your swimming trunks?” or “You’re trapped in a well with a goat and a slinky. Describe how you will escape.” To get a new question, select the Give Me a New Question check box and save your profile.

The information entered in the Interests, Favorite Movies, Favorite Music, and Favorite Books text boxes becomes part of a searchable database within Blogger. You can click on each unique entry in a Blogger user’s profile to find other users who included the same entry in their profiles. It’s a helpful way to find other bloggers with similar interests!

As with any new software you want to use, you need to take some time to understand what all the links, buttons, icons, and tools that are offered on your screen can do for you. Most of the features provided by Blogger can be accessed directly from the Blogger dashboard — it’s the first page that opens when you sign in to your Blogger account.


Signing in to Blogger

You can access your blog’s dashboard at any time after you log into Blogger.

1. Visit the Blogger home page.
To get there, enter the URL www.blogger.com into your browser.

2. Enter your username and password in the text boxes in the upperright
corner of the page.
Use the e-mail address and password you provided when you registered for your Google account and started your Blogger blog.

3. Click the Sign In button.
Your Blogger dashboard automatically opens.

If you forget your username or password, you can click the question mark link above the login fields on the Blogger home page or type the URL www.blogger.com/forgot.g into your Web browser. This action opens the Forgot Your Username or Password page where you can enter the requested
information to recover your username or password.


Introducing the Blogger dashboard

From your Blogger dashboard, you can access all the controls for your blog, just like the tools to drive your car are located on your car’s dashboard. The primary elements of the main Blogger dashboard are described in this list:

Manage Your Blogs: This section lists your existing blogs with links to each one, where you can write new posts, change the blog’s settings, revise the blog’s layout, or even view the blog live online. Each of these options is discussed in detail later in this chapter. You can also click the
Create a Blog link to start another blog that is then added to the Manage Your Blogs section of the dashboard.

Blogs of Note: The latest entries from Blogger blogs that you sign up to follow (select the Add button to add blogs you like), the Blogger Buzz blog, and blogs of note according to Blogger appear in the Reading List section of your dashboard so that you can easily see the latest updates
and news of interest to you.

View Profile, Edit Profile, and Edit Photo: These links open your About page, where you can review and revise your bio that appears on your blog.

My Account: This link opens your personal account page, where you can modify your account information, such as your e-mail address and password.

Mobile Devices: Follow the link in this area to begin mobile blogging.

Tools and Resources: You can access your Google AdSense and Google Reader accounts directly from the Blogger dashboard.

Help Resources: The online Help function for Blogger is quite useful. Google Groups dedicated to providing help to Blogger users also exist, which you can access by clicking the links in the Help Resources section of the Blogger dashboard. You can also access help by clicking the link in the Manage Your Blogs section or the link in the upper-right corner of any Blogger account page. You can also access the controls available from the Blogger dashboard from tabs displayed as a navigation bar along the top of any Blogger page.


Entering and publishing posts

When you click the New Post link from the Blogger dashboard, a page automatically opens where you can enter and publish a new post to your blog.

Create: Write new posts to publish on your blog.
Edit Posts: Modify posts that you already published on your blog.
Moderate Comments: Manage the comments that readers leave on your blog.


Changing Blogger settings

The Settings tab gives you quick access to a variety of tools that allow you to customize your blog to meet your needs. From decisions about the way your posts are displayed to the way your posts are archived, you can make the modifications you want on the Settings tab and subtabs:

Basic: Change your blog’s title, add a description to display in your blog’s header, make your blog public, show quick editing and e-mail links, identify adult content, and more.

Publishing: Modify your publishing settings if you want to switch from Blogspot hosting to a third-party host. Read more about third-party

Formatting: Configure date-and-time formats on your blog, time zone, language, and more.

Comments: Choose whether you want to show or hide comments on your blogs, determine who can leave comments on your posts, and decide whether you want to display backlinks, enable comment moderation and verification, and more.

Archiving: Select how often you want your posts archived and configure post page settings.

Site Feed: Set up your blog feed.

Email: Set up Blog Send and Mail-to-Blogger addresses.

OpenID: Configure OpenID settings for your blog. See the nearby sidebar “What is OpenID?” to find out more about it.

Permissions: Add authors and define who can read your blog.


Customizing your blog

One of the best upgrades to Blogger in recent years has been to the Layout tab.

Many tasks that used to require you to insert HTML code can now be completed by using the simple tools provided on the Layout tab, as described in this list:

Page Elements: Add, delete, or move the various elements of your page — such as posts, archives, your profile, ads, and more — by using a simple drag-and-drop system.

Fonts and Colors: Make your blog your own by selecting the colors and fonts you want to use for each element of your blog.

Edit HTML: Back up your existing template, upload a custom template from your hard drive, or restore an old template.

Pick New Template: Select a new template from the free templates provided by Blogger.


Signing out of Blogger

When you’re ready to leave Blogger and complete your blogging session, all it takes is a click of a button. Just click the Sign Out link and you’re automatically logged off the Blogger site, and the Blogger home page opens.

Always remember to sign out of Blogger when you’re done updating your blog, to ensure that your blog and your account stay secure.

Welcome to the world of the social Web. After you’re an official member of the blogosphere and you want to publish your first post, all you have to do is click the Start Blogging button. The Create a Post page appears. From this page, you can begin blogging. It’s that easy!

Don’t go too fast. Before you write your first post, click the Dashboard link in the upper-right corner of your screen and take some time to understand how Blogger works and see what it offers.

Blogger provides a variety of free templates to its users. When you reach the Choose a Template page during the blog creation process, you’re presented with a number of themes to choose from. To select a basic Blogger template, follow these steps:

1. On the Choose a Template page, use the scroll bar to view the available Blogger templates.
You can preview each template in a larger format by clicking the Preview Template link beneath each template option.

2. Select the radio button beneath your chosen template. This step tells Blogger which template you want to use for your new blog.

3. Click the Continue button. The Your Blog Has Been Created page appears. You’re now an official member of the blogosphere.

Don’t worry too much about choosing just the right template when you’re first creating your blog. You can easily change your template later to another free Blogger template or to a third-party template.

Free blogs created by using Blogger software are hosted by Blogger’s Blogspot hosting service. Therefore, the domain name you select for your blog is followed by the .blogspot.com extension to create the complete URL of your blog. When you reach the Name Your Blog page, you need to select a title for your blog as well as a domain name to precede the .blogspot.com extension. It can be hard to find an available domain name that you like because so many are already taken. Take some time to put words and phrases together that help readers understand what your blog is about and that are easy to remember. Check out the nearby sidebar, “Choosing a domain name.”

1. Enter the title of your blog in the Blog Title text box. Your blog title appears at the top of your blog and gives visitors an idea of what your blog is about. You can change your blog title at any time.

2. Enter the domain name that you want to precede the .blogspot.com segment in the Blog Address (URL) text box, and then click the Check Availability link. Blogger has approximately 14 million blogs, which means that your first blog address choice is likely not to be available. If necessary, try different names until you find one that is available. Your blog name and domain name don’t need to match.

3. Click the Continue button. Bypass the Advanced Setup section of the Name Your Blog page for now, unless you plan to host your blog through a Web host other than Blogspot. The Choose a Template page opens.

Before you can start a blog with Blogger, you need to create a Google account to access the Blogger software. To create your Google account (and Blogger blog), follow these simple steps:

1. Visit the Blogger home page. Enter the URL www.blogger.com in your browser.

2. On the Blogger home page, click the Create Your Blog Now button.

3. In the Email Address text box, type your e-mail address and then retype it in the Retype Email Address text box. The e-mail address you use doesn’t have to be for a Google Gmail account. You can use any e-mail address to create a Google account to access Blogger. The e-mail address you enter is the one you use to log in to Blogger, and it’s the one to which Blogger sends your username and password if you forget them.

4. Enter a password in the Enter a Password text box, and then reenter it in the Retype Password text box. You can change your password later, if you want. Google shows you, just beneath the Enter a Password box, how strong your password is after you enter it. Make sure to use a strong password — one that includes letters and numbers or special characters. Also, get into the habit of changing your password periodically.

5. Enter your display name in the Display Name text box. Your display name is shown at the bottom of each of your blog posts, indicating that you’re the author of the post.

6. Type the letters displayed in the Word Verification box. This security procedure ensures that new Google accounts are created by human beings rather than by automated spam systems.

7. Select the check box in the Acceptance of Terms section to indicate that you accept Blogger’s terms of service. You can click the Terms of Service link on your screen to read the complete document.

8. Click the Continue button.

Many blogs include a subscription section that says “Subscribe to my feed” (or similar wording) with a link to a page where visitors can sign up to read your blog’s feed in a feed reader or receive it by e-mail. Blog feeds are syndicated by Atom or RSS (Really Simple Syndication). A blog feed is simply a syndicated version of your blog’s content, similar to a news feed or stock ticker scrolling on the bottom of a television news screen.

Readers can save time by subscribing to feeds of blogs they enjoy. Rather than visit each blog to find and read new content, a subscriber can simply log in to her preferred feed reader, such as Google Reader, and see — in one place — the most recent posts for all blogs she subscribes to. Alternatively, she can receive the most recent posts by e-mail for each blog she subscribes to.

People who subscribe to your feed are usually extremely loyal visitors.

Blogger refers to blogrolls as links. Many bloggers include blogrolls in their blog sidebars, which display a list of links to other blogs that they like. Blogrolls are a helpful way to build relationships with other bloggers because the blogrolls are typically reciprocal: If you add a blog to your blogroll, that blog’s author is likely to add your blog to his blogroll. The more blogrolls your blog is listed on, the more possible ways visitors can find your blog, which leads to more traffic.

Keep your blogroll current. Check the links every few months to ensure that they still work. A blogroll filled with outdated links isn’t useful to your readers or to your blog promotion efforts.

Archiving is an automatic feature that’s inherent to blogs. Each post youwrite is automatically archived (saved) by date by the Blogger software. Archives help to make a blog easier to navigate. The most current content can be read on the home page or by clicking through to the first several pages of content, whereas the archive links can appear in the blog’s sidebar for quick access to older content.

Archives are useful for search engine optimization as well. Because all content published on your blog lives forever (or until you delete it), that equates to many, many possible entry points for people to find your blog on search engines.

Imagine how many entry points some of the most prolific bloggers have. Think of it this way: If you publish one post per day for an entire year, that’s 365 entry points for your blog. Multiply that number by five years, and your blog has 1,825 entry points. What if you published a post three times per day for five years? That gives you 5,475 entry points!

A blog footer typically includes copyright information, a link to the blogger’s e-mail address, contact information, and sometimes a link to the blog designer’s e-mail or Web site. The footer is located at the bottom of the blog page. Many bloggers use their blog footers as places to add extra advertising or links to monetize their blogs or provide quick links to posts and Web sites for their readers. You decide which elements you want to add to your blog’s footer.

Blogger uses labels to categorize blog posts. Your visitors can click on a label of interest to find more posts categorized by using that label. You can also add a list of labels to your blog’s sidebar sorted by frequency of use or alphabetically, which is a quick and easy way for visitors to find posts about subjects of interest to them.

Take time to label your posts strategically to help readers find your older blog posts. Think like you’re one of your readers. How would you search for a specific blog post? Use intuitive labels so your readers can easily locate related posts.

A backlink is a virtual tap on the shoulder from another Blogger blog, letting you know that someone else wrote about your blog post and included a link to drive traffic your way. A backlink can be published beneath a blog post when another blog links to that post. Blogger doesn’t automatically allow backlinks to display on blog posts, but including them is an important way to help you develop relationships with other bloggers and to find out how visitors are finding your blog.

Don’t forget to turn on backlinks for your blog!

Comments are the lifeline of a blog. Because blogging, at its core, is meant to be a social medium, the conversation that happens on a blog shouldn’t be one-sided. Comments bring to life the interactivity and relationships that blogging is all about.

People like to feel involved. Allowing comments on your blog posts invites visitors to join the conversation and makes them feel like you value their opinions. It also makes them feel like they’re part of a larger community of people who enjoy reading your blog and sharing ideas.

Don’t ignore your visitors. Take the time to interact with them by responding to their comments.

As your blog grows, visitor comments will increase, as will the conversation and community around it. With reader interaction, though, often comes problems. Remember that it’s your blog and that you have the right to moderate comments as you feel it’s appropriate.

Each entry that you write and publish on your blog is a post. Posts are arranged in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent post at the top of your blog’s home page. Older posts are archived (typically by date), so they’re easily accessible by readers.

Your posts are the lifeblood of your blog. They not only take up the majority of the space on your blog but also help visitors find your blog. They’re also the reason people return to your blog. If you continually update your blog with fresh posts, readers always have something new to see and read.

If your visitors like what you have to say, enjoy your writing style, and feel welcome (for example, they feel comfortable leaving comments, which you respond to in a timely and respectful manner), they return frequently. They’re also likely to tell other people about your blog and link to it from their own blog (if they have one), leading to more traffic for you.

Blog posts are made up of these six basic elements:

Title: The titles of your blog posts serve two purposes. They entice visitors to read the full post, and well-written post titles help people find your blog from keyword searches on search engines such as Google.

Post date: The date you publish your post to the Internet appears as part of your blog post entry. The date is important to visitors who like to see that a blog is updated frequently. It can also help when someone stumbles on one of your old posts by showing them when the post was
originally published.

Author byline: The author byline is particularly helpful for blogs written by multiple people. The author byline can link to your About page or profile to provide one-click access to your bio for readers.

Images or videos: Images and videos provide visual appeal, as well as interactivity, to a blog. They can further demonstrate a point you make in a post and when named well, can help with search engine optimization.

Backlinks: Backlinks provide a virtual shoulder tap to other blogs and Web sites that you link to in your blog posts. They also provide a way for readers to find more information about a topic discussed in your blog post.

Comments: Comments are the pulse of a blog. When readers leave comments on your blog posts, conversations start that can be especially powerful. Highly interactive blogs are typically quite successful.

Depending on your blog template’s layout, you might have two or three sidebars flanking or to the right or left of your main blog post column. You can easily fall into the trap of cluttering your sidebars with ads, links, and other elements. Although your sidebar is a useful place to put ads and links to other blogs and Web sites you like, it doesn’t add much value to your readers
if they can’t find anything between the clutter.

Consider what your goals are for the space in your sidebar. If you want to maximize your revenue-generating potential through that space, place just a few ads at a time and then analyze their performance to see which ones deliver the results you require. Publish the best-performing ads and substitute poor performers with new ones until you find the best mix. Use the remaining space on your sidebar to provide useful links and information for your readers.

Don’t be afraid to leave much of your sidebar empty. White space provides welcome visual relief on text-heavy blog pages.

Following are seven of the most common sidebar elements:

- A link to your About page or a short bio
- Your picture
- Your contact information
- A list of links to other blogs (also called a blogroll)
- Labels
- Links to your blog archives
- Ads

A blog’s home page is similar to the home page of a Web site — it’s the main landing page, or starting point, of the blog. In other words, it’s the welcome page for your online presence.

Your home page is the main page of your blog, where your most recent content is usually found. Entries appear on the home page in reverse chronological order — typically, in the largest column of the blog template. On the home page, visitors can easily find links to your blog’s other elements, such as your author profile, blog archives, and blog ads. A cluttered or poorly designed home page can have a negative effect on your blog and can even drive away visitors. Take some time to create an inviting home page that is easy to navigate and includes elements and features that help your readers.

When you visit a blog, one of the first things you probably notice is the layout of that blog. The colors, fonts, and design elements of a blog are preconfigured in a template (also called a theme). Blogger users can choose from a variety of free templates offered directly by Blogger software, or they can upload templates from a third party. A multitude of Web sites and Web designers provide free and paid custom templates to Blogger users, to help make their blogs look distinct and function in a specified way.

Each template is laid out using one, two, or three columns as well as a header and footer. The header typically includes the title of the blog and a top navigation bar for visitors to access different pages or links. The footer usually displays the template designer’s name and any copyright information. The columns are used to hold blog posts, links, ads, and more. Depending on which template you use, you can customize your blog’s appearance to meet your needs and goals.

Suppose that you have plenty of patience and time, and now you need to know how bloggers can turn that patience and time into money. Believe it or not, there isn’t a secret recipe for success. Truly, success comes from commitment, time, and possibly a bit of luck. You never know when your blog might get picked up by a major news portal that can attract a lot of attention to it and possibly give your blog a big boost. Sometimes, success is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. However, for most bloggers, success comes with persistence. Here are some tips:

Pick a topic people are interested in. The potential size of your blog’s audience is directly related to the number of people who are interested in the topic you’re writing about. However, you should know that just because you pick a popular topic doesn’t mean that your blog
will receive a flood of visitors. You also have to pick a blog topic that isn’t already covered repeatedly online. If you do pick a topic that has already been overdone, make sure to put a unique spin on your content so that it stands out in the crowded blogosphere.

Pick a topic you’re passionate about. Remember that because successful blogs are updated frequently, you have to write about your blog’s topic continually and for a long time. Make sure that you have the stamina to stick with it.

Be social. This is the biggest key to blogging success. From the tone of your blog posts to your responsiveness to comments posted on your blog and e-mail sent to you based on your blog’s content, you need to be friendly and constantly work to build relationships. Those efforts don’t
stop on your own blog. You also need to visit other blogs and leave relevant comments, visit forums, join user groups, and more to get the word out about your blog and build relationships with other bloggers.

Keep learning. Successful bloggers never stop learning about new blogging tools and concepts, their blog topics, and their audiences. The more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to take your blog to the next level.

Take risks. Don’t be afraid to be creative. Try new blogging features and functions, inject some unique content into your blog posts, or change the layout of your home page. You never know what might work. Just make sure to track the results so that you know what works (and what
doesn’t work) to bring you closer to meeting your goals.

Every blogger has her own definition of blogging success. Before you start your blog, define your success metrics. Do you want to get specific results, such as sales or business contacts? Do you want to attract a certain number of visitors? Do you want to make a certain dollar amount from your blog? Do you want to network and build relationships and create an online presence that leads to other opportunities? Or do you simply want to have fun? Write down your blogging goals and return to them every few months to see whether you’re on track to meeting them, whether you need to make some changes to get there, or whether you want to rewrite them completely. Only then can you find and achieve your own blogging success.

Many people start blogging for one reason — to make money. If you’re one of those bloggers whose ultimate goal is to earn money from your blog, you should know upfront that generating a profit takes time. As your blog traffic grows, the opportunities for you to make money will also grow.

Think of your blog as a business. If customers don’t come through the door, you won’t make any money. The same is true of earning potential on a blog. If visitors don’t come to your blog, no one can click on your existing ads. Furthermore, new advertisers won’t want to pay to advertise on your blog because no one will see their ads.

Start your blog now, but be patient. As you drive traffic to your blog, more revenue-generating opportunities will arise.

When you define your blogging goals, you need to determine how big you want your blog to be. In other words, you need to determine how much time you have to commit to blogging in order to write and promote it in such a way as to meet those goals. Blogging with Blogger requires little to no monetary investment, but it does require a time investment that correlates directly
with how successful your blog will become.

Blogs don’t draw thousands, or even hundreds, of visitors overnight (although that would be nice). If you write compelling content with search engine optimization (using tricks to help people find your post through keyword searches on popular search engines like Google) in mind and promote your blog through social networking and relationship building, your blog will grow.

As you decide on your blog topic and define your blogging goals, you should take some time to start reading a variety of blogs to not only find others that you like to read but also get a better idea of what works. A number of blog search engines can help you find blogs and blog posts about specific topics, including the blog search function offered by Google or IceRocket. However, the biggest blog search site is Technorati.

In the Technorati advanced search page, you can search for blogs and blog posts containing certain words, phrases, or tags. Start researching blogs of interest. Visit those blogs and leave comments to
start building relationships with those bloggers. These efforts will help you not only develop your own blog and its content but also grow your blog.

What you write about on your blog is 100 percent up to you. No one can tell you what to write about (as long as your content follows the Blogger and Google terms of service). You have complete creative control!

The first thing to remember when you choose your blog topic is that you need to write about that topic a lot. If your blogging goals include blogging about your topic for a long time, make sure to pick a topic that you’re passionate about. Successful blogs are updated frequently (often several times a day) with fresh content that keeps readers interested. Again, depending on your blogging goals, you need to make sure that you have enough to say to keep your blog going.

Although it’s important to pick a topic you’re passionate about, it’s equally important to avoid topics that you feel too strongly about. Blogging is all about building a community of readers around your blog who will join in the conversation through comments. If you’re overly sensitive
about your blog’s topic, it’s difficult to allow your readers to comment freely with differing opinions.

Because blogging requires frequent posting, make sure that you choose a topic you enjoy researching. Coming up with new and entertaining content can be challenging for even the most seasoned bloggers. You need to make time to research other blogs, current events, and more in your blog’s subject area to build relationships and find new content when you face blogger’s block.

Before your fingers touch your keyboard to enter the Blogger URL and start your first blog, you need to take some time to decide what you want to do with your blog after you start it. Consider the following questions:

- Why do you want to start a blog?
- How much time do you have to spend updating your blog each week?
- Do you want to make money from your blog?
- Do you want to grow a large audience for your blog?
- Are you prepared to commit to blogging long term?

By answering these questions, you can start your blogging experience on the right foot. For example, if you simply want to start a blog to share news about your family with your friends and extended relatives, you don’t need to consider blog advertising and promotion as you create your blog. However, if your goal is to develop a strong online presence to launch a business, blog
promotion should be a top priority. Defining your goals for your blog early allows you to not only prioritize your development efforts but also work efficiently by eliminating unnecessary steps.