DISCOVERING BLOGGER
Blogger is a free blogging application that you can use via the internet to write and publish content in your own space on the web – your blog. Blogger uses a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor that makes writing and publishing content on your blog as easy as it is to type a document using your preferred word-processing software (such as Microsoft Word).
Blogger also provides gadgets that make adding enhanced functionality and features to your blog as easy as pointing and clicking your mouse. Although Blogger started out as a fairly limited blogging application, recent enhancements make it easy for bloggers to accomplish common blogging tasks such as scheduling posts for the future, adding videos to your blog, and more.
One of the primary benefits to using Blogger as your blogging application is that it allows you to monetize your blog. Not only can you add multiple revenue streams such as direct ads, sponsored reviews, text ads, and more to your blog, but also Blogger makes it extremely easy to integrate one of the most popular monetization opportunities for bloggers: Google AdSense.
CREATING A BLOG WITH BLOGGER
Before you begin, make sure that you have either a Gmail account or a basic Google account see (www.google.com/accounts). You need one of these accounts in order to use Blogger:
1. Go to www.blogger.com. The Blogger Home page provides basic information on blogging and tells you how to get started.
2. Click the New Blogger link and sign in using your Gmail or Google account.
3. Enter basic name and email address details in the form that appears. Click Continue. Be sure to select the I Accept the Terms of Service check
box before continuing.
After you click the Continue link, the Dashboard page opens for managing your blogs. Consider the Dashboard your home base inside Blogger.
You’ll come back to edit your profile later, but for now, continue with your blog.
4. Click the Create a Blog link in the Manage Your Blogs section to begin creating your blog.
The Name Your Blog page is displayed.
5. Enter a title for your blog. Some people opt for descriptive titles and others creative ones.
6. Enter the desired blog address in the space provided. By default, Blogger hosts your blog for you. Freeing you from dealing with another web service
provider. As a result, the name you enter here is the start of the web address for your blog, followed by the .blogspot.com suffix.
You often want to use a portion of all of your blog title. However, because each blog address must be unique, click the Check Availability link to see whether anyone has previously taken your pick.
Alternatively, if you already have a web hosting provider, you can click the Advanced Setup link. This link takes you to a new page in which you can provide the server address and other details. The advantage to this route is that you can specify your own, unique domain name. Additionally, hosting your blog enables you to remove the Blogger navbar at the top of the page.
Click the Continue button to move on, the Choose a Template page is displayed.
1. Select a template that matches the style you want your blog to look like. This initial list is only a sampling of all available templates. If you don’t see any
that thrill you, don’t worry. Just pick one of them now and you can change the look later.
If you want to see a sample site of a template, click the Preview Template link.
After you click the Continue button, a page is displayed that lets you know that your blog has been created.
2. Click the Start Posting button to continue. Blogger takes you to the Create Post page for typing your first entry.
Before starting to type a new post, take a moment to look around at the web page. You’ll find access to all the common tasks you do as you work on your blog.
3. Enter the title of your blog entry in the Title box.
4. Type your blog entry in the text box.
The WYSIWYG editor acts as a mini-word processor, allowing you to use the toolbar to format your text the way you want.
Not all browsers support the WYSIWYG editor. If your browser doesn’t provide support, a plain – text – only version displayed.
5. If you want to make a link in your entry, select the text and click the Link button.
If you don’t have a link to make, skip to step 12.
A dialog box appears for you to enter the URL of the link.
6. Enter your URL in the dialog box and click Ok. The link is added to your entry.
7. If you want to insert an image, position your text cursor at the insertion point you want and then click the Image button.
If you don’t have an image to add now, move on to step 14.
The Add an Image box is displayed.
8. To add an image from your computer, click the Browse button and locate the file on your drive.
You can also add an image posted on Flickr or elsewhere on the web by entering its URL on the right.
If you have multiple images, you can click the Add Another Image link to upload each of these images at the same time.
9. Select the position in which you want the image to occur, relative to the text around it.
10. Choose the image size (small, medium, large).
11. Select the I Accept the Terms of Service check box and click Upload Image.
After the upload is complete, a confirmation box is displayed. Click the Done button in the box to return to the Blogger Editor.
12. Click the Post Options link to display additional options.
13. Enter one or more labels for this post, and separate each entry with commas.
Labels are posted with each blog entry (usually at the bottom). Readers of your blog can then click a label to display a page that lists each blog entry which contains that label.
Labels are optional, and especially useful if you blog on a wide variety of topics. You’re ready to publish your blog.
14. Click the Publish button. Blogger publishes your blog to the URL you previously defined and informs you when the process is complete.
15. Click the View Blog link. Blogger displays your blog in a new browser window.
SETTING UP A NEW BLOG WITH BLOGGER
Google is everywhere. It even has a slice of the blog pie, with Blogger. If the idea of creating a blog on your own web domain doesn’t strike your fancy, you can still get the word out with a blog from the free service Blogger (www.blogger.com).
Follow these steps to setup your blog on Blogger:
1. Launch your favorite web browser and navigate to www.blogger.com.
The Blogger home page appears, and you can find information about the service and other delights.
2. Click the Create a Blog button. The Create a Google Account page appears. You must have a Google Account in order to use this service. A
Google Account is free, so fill in the blanks if you want to blog. If you already have a Google Account, click the Sign In link.
3. Create a Google Account or sign in. The Name Your Blog page appears.
4. Enter a name for your blog. Choose the name wisely because you won’t be able to change it later. The name you choose appears as a header in your
blog, on your profile, and on your blog dashboard.
5. Enter a URL (or blog address) for your blog. When you create a blog with Blogger, you’re creating a subdomain. If you were to enter the URL myblog,
the final URL for your site would be myblog.blogspot.com.
6. Enter the word verification and then click Continue. The Name Blog page appears.
7. Enter a name and URL for your blog, and then click the Check Availability link. Blogger checks to see whether the URL is available. If it isn’t, you see
an error message. Try another name in the URL field.
The Choose a Template page appears.
8. Choose a template for your blog and click Continue. The Your Blog Has Been Created page appears.
9. Click Start Blogging. You’re transported to the dashboard of your blog.
CREATING A BLOG POST WITH BLOGGER
After you create a Blogger blog, it’s your job to create posts, and create them often. Creating a post is relatively easy. To create a blog post with Blogger, follow these steps:
1. Launch your favorite web browser and navigate to the URL of your blog. Your blog appears in live and living color.
2. Click the Sign In link. The Blogger page appears.
3. Enter your Google Account username and password, and then click Sign In. You’re transported to the dashboard of your blog. The dashboard is
Mission Control for your blog. That’s where you create posts, edit posts, and handle comments. Notice that you have quite a few options.
4. Click New Post. The New Post appears. By default, the page appears with the Compose tab selected. Notice that you have options here also. You can
edit posts and pages and moderate comments.
5. Enter a title for your new post. The title of any post is important. Use words that prospective clients may use to find your type of content at a search engine.
6. Enter the content of your post. Use words that prospective clients will use to find content such as yours on the web. When you’re entering content,
you can stylize the text using the buttons in the upper left corner of the dialog box in which you’re composing the post.
7. Perform other options as needed. You can stylize the text, change the font, add bulleted and numbered lists, change the text color, and spell-check
the document.
8. Click Post Options. A menu appears, giving you the option to allow comments on the post, you can also delay the day and time the post is published.
9. (Optional) Enter labels for the post. Search engines recognize labels. Enter labels applicable to the content of the post.
10. Click Preview. This option displays the post as it will be published. Even though you performed a spell check, you should check your grammar and make
sure that the post is easy to understand.
11. Click Publish Post. If you’re including video in the post, and the video is still being processed your only alternative is to save the post.
Your blog has a profile. Use it to tell visitors a bit about yourself. You can also update an attractive photo or your company logo. When people associate blog posts with a smiling face, it makes the connection more personal. Your blog profile can be a valuable asset in your social media marketing company. Make sure your blog profile is similar to other profiles you’ve used throughout the web. You can edit your profile in the Blogger dashboard.
USING YOUR OWN DOMAIN
Many bloggers don’t like having the .blogspot.com extension appended to their blog’s domain names. Instead, they want to brand their blog with a personal domain name, and they’re willing to invest some money to do so. If you want to purchase your own domain and associate it with your blog, you can, and blogger makes it easy to do so right from your blogger dashboard, as follows:
1. Click the Settings link on your main blogger dashboard. The Basic Settings page opens.
2. Click the Publishing link on the navigation bar near the top of the page. The Publishing Settings page opens.
3. Select the Custom Domain link. The Publish on a Custom Domain page opens.
4. Enter the domain name you want in the text box and click the Check Availability button. Don’t be surprised if it takes many tries to find a domain name
that’s available.
5. After you find an available domain, follow the payment instructions and enter the Word Verification text into the provided text box to purchase your
new domain. Your .blogspot.com domain will automatically redirect to your newly purchased domain name.
If you purchase your domain through a third party, you can associate that domain to your blogger blog by selecting the Switch to Advanced Settings link from the Publish a Custom Domain page and following the instructions provided.
GETTING HELP AND FINDING RESOURCES
You can take advantage of many resources to find out more about using blogger. Some of the most popular follow below:
. Blogger help : (http://help.blogger.com) the official blogger help sites offers information to help create a blog.
. Blogger Buzz : (http://buzz.blogger.com) the official blogger blog provides updates about new blogger features, problems, and more.
. Blogger help group : (http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help) the official Google group is dedicated to providing blogger help. You can join
the group and then ask and answer questions.
. Blogger help channel on YouTube : (www.youtube.com/BloggerHelp) the official blogger help channel on YouTube offers several helpful videos that show you
how to use a number of blogger features, including setting up a custom domain.
. Blogger buster : (www.bloggerbuster.com) Amanda Fazani writes the blogger buster blog and includes many step-by-step tutorials and help on just
about every blogger function and feature you can think of.