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!
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