Welcome! At Blogspot Blogger Guide we show you the easy way to customize your Blogger Blog and offer tips, tricks and fixes to take the technical headache out of blogging.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Easy Way to Put Banner Ads on a Blogger Blog

Beginner bloggers who want to make money from their blog often ask me how to put affiliate banners on a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). In this Blogspot tutorial I outline the steps to help you put banners on Blogger the easy way in three different positions: the sidebar, the footer and above blog posts. Follow these instructions and you will have your affiliate banners up and running in no time and start earning money from your blog.

Easy Way to Put Affiliate Banners on a Blogger Blog in 3 Different Positions -sidebar, footer, above posts - Blogspot Tutorial with Step-by-Step Guide

Sign Up for Some Affiliate Marketing Programs


In order to make money online and place affiliate banners on Blogger you first need to sign up as an affiliate with at least one referral program. What affiliate market program you choose will be dictated by your blog topic and your niche within the topic.

If the world of affiliate marketing is all completely new to you I suggest you start with becoming an affiliate to services you might already belong to like Amazon and Ebay.

Another good place to dip your toe in the water of affiliate marketing is Clickbank which boasts a huge range of advertisers. If you make a search you are bound to find a product on there that would integrate well into your blog.

Add Affiliate Marketing Banners to Blogger Blog as an easy way to make money from blogging in addition to Google Adsense - Google Blogger Tutorial giving step-by-step instructions about how to put banners on your a Blogspot blog

Steps to Put Affiliate Banners on Blogger the Easy Way


Once you have signed up with an affiliate program which fits with your blog topic and niche and will pay you referral fees you can start earning money by placing an affiliate banner on your Blogger blog.

Placment of an Affiliate Banner

Before you start the process of putting a banner on Blogger you will need to decide where you want to place your banner on your blog for best effect.

Here are 3 very easy options:

1. Place Banner in Blogger Sidebar


Adding an affiliate banner to the Blogger sidebar is an easy placement option and likely to afford the best benefit. Follow these steps to put a banner in the side bar on your Blogspot blog:

  1. Login to Blogger

  2. From the Dashboard choose Layout from the left-side menu

  3. In Layout scroll until you find the sidebar


  4. Click on Add a Gadget in the Blogger sidebar

  5. Choose the HTML/Javascript gadget from the list

  6. Choose a name for your banner if you wish and type it into the title box (optional)

  7. Paste the affiliate banner code provided by the affiliate service into the content box of the pop up window

  8. Click on the Save button

  9. Move your banner around in sidebar using drag and drop until it is positioned where you want it

  10. Check that your banner is displaying and in the correct position by clicking on the Preview (eye icon) in the lower right corner

  11. Click the Save icon (next to the eye lower right corner) to confirm the new layout of the sidebar.

If you want to center the banner enclose it in a center HTML tag like this:
<center>YOUR AFFILIATE CODE</center>



2. Place Banner in Blogger Footer


Adding an affiliate banner to the Blogger footer can be effective especially if you have other gadgets like random posts and recent posts there. For third-party and some default Blogger themes there may be three columns in the footer so you will need to check the bottom of your template and decide in which column to put your banner.

Follow these steps for easy placement of a banner in the footer of your blog:

  1. Login to Blogger

  2. From the Dashboard choose Layout from the left-side menu

  3. Click on Add a Gadget in the column of a footer where you want to put your banner if your Blogger theme has more than one footer

  4. Choose the HTML/Javascript gadget from the drop down list of options

  5. When the pop up window appears paste the affiliate banner code as supplied by the affiliate marketing service into the content box

  6. Choose a name to give your banner a title. A title is optional

  7. Click on the Save button

  8. Place the banner in the optimal position in the footer by using Blogger's drag and drop feature

  9. When satisfied check that your banner is displaying correctly by clicking on the Preview (eye icon) in the lower right corner

  10. Click the Save icon (next to the eye lower right corner) to confirm the changes to the Blogger footer.

If you want to center the banner enclose it in a center HTML tag like this:
<center>YOUR AFFILIATE CODE</center>



3. Place an Affiliate Banner Above the Blogger Posts

Another excellent place for a banner is to position it so that it appears in the very central position above the blog posts. To add a banner to the main section or page body area of Blogger involves putting the code in an HTML/Javascript gadget and placing it above the blog posts gadget.

Follow these steps to add your banner code above the posts on the home page and every other post page:

  1. Login to your blog on Blogspot

  2. From the menu on the left-hand side of the Dashboard select Layout

  3. Scroll down until you find the Section labelled either Main Section or Page Body Section. Look for the blog Posts gadget to confirm you are in the right section

  4. Click on Add a Gadget (if you find there is no Add a Gadget link you will need to open up the section. Take a look at my step-by-step post about how to add a gadget above blog posts including detailed instructions about how to unlock the Main Section / Page Body Section of Blogger to add more widgets.

  5. Assuming you can the Add a Gadget link in the main blog post section / page body section click on it.

  6. Add a Gadget link in the main blog post section or page body section and choose HTML Javascript gadget to place an affiliate marketing banner above posts in a Blogger blog

  7. Choose the HTML/Javascript gadget from the menu of gadgets that appears

  8. A pop up window will open. Paste your banner code into the content box and add a title if you wish (optional)

  9. Select Save to save the changes

  10. Make sure the new gadget is the first widget in the section and is above blog posts. If not use the drag and drop feature to position the gadget in first position.

  11. Click on the Preview button (eye icon) found in the bottom right corner. Check that the banner is displaying how you would like it displayed.

  12. Click the Save button to apply your changes

If you want to center the banner enclose it in a center HTML tag like this:
<center>YOUR AFFILIATE CODE</center>





Today I have shown you the easy way to add affiliate marketing banners to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) in three different positions: in the sidebar, in the footer and above the blog posts. Affiliate marketing banners can generate extra money but do need to be placed strategically. Remember affiliate programs are free to join so it costs you nothing to experiment with positioning your banner to find the best spot.





Related Articles
Make Money from Affiliate Program Banners and Links with Blogger
How to Add a Gadget or Widget to Blogger Above Blog Posts



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Sunday, March 22, 2009

How to Resize Images in a Blogspot Blog Post to Custom Dimensions

In this Blogger tutorial about resizing images you will learn how to increase or decrease the displayed size of images in your Blogspot posts by changing the height and width of the picture to your own user defined dimensions. Making changes to images in your blog posts is a very easy trick requiring no change to your Blogger template. This Blogger tutorial is suitable for any blogger level from beginner to advanced users. (Updated 17 March 2022)
How to Resize Images in Blogger Posts to Custom Dimensions to Change Height and Width of Image by Overriding Blogspot Default Image Sizes

Blogger Default Image Sizes

By default Blogger has five image settings: small, medium, large and extra large and original size. When you upload an image to a Blogger post the image by default is displayed at medium (320 px width) unless you change it to another size from the popup window that appears at upload. For instance if you choose large Blogger will automatically make the image bigger by scaling it to fit 400 pixels in width by 300 pixels in height and display it at the next size up.

Here are the different width sizes for uploaded images that Blogger offers:

  • Small = 200px width
  • Medium = 320px width
  • Large = 400px width
  • Extra Large = 640 width
By giving bloggers on Blogspot the choice of four preset images sizes or the original image size Blogger takes the headache out of bloggers knowing what size to set an image at. It also means that despite the varying original sizes of uploaded images Blogger is able to display them all uniformly.
Set your own custom dimensions for images in Blogger blog posts

Resize Blogger Images Prior to Upload and Then Change to Original Size

There are, however, times when you might want to change the image size to your own user defined specifications rather than sticking with the Blogger defaults. One way to override the preset image sizes in Blogger is to change the settings to display the image at the original size. This works well if you have resized the image prior to upload and you want the image to display at the width and height you have already preselected. To get help resizing an image prior to upload you could try a free online image resizing service like resizeimage.net.

Change Blogger Image Defaults to User Defined Dimensions

If you don't want to go for the hassle of resizing all your images before uploading and you only have a few images that you want to display at different sizes then the method described below is likely to work best. One thing to keep in mind though is that you want to make sure that when you put in your own dimensions that you do not distort the image. To get help to keep the same image proportions you could try a free online image resize calculator like red-route.org which will calculate the dimensions to enter.

Steps to Make Uploaded Images Larger/Smaller in Blogger


1. Log in to Blogger if not already logged in.

2. Go to Posts >> New Post or if you want to edit an image already posted go to Posts >> Edit Post

3. Upload your chosen image or if you are editing your post identify the image you want to change

4. Switch from the Compose View to Edit HTML View which will allow you to see the HTML code of your post

5. Find the code block for the image you wish to change. Look for the code that begins <img style> For example for the following image:

img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vLeiVavkV_M/SjMKOjXnmYI/XXXXXXXXX/Ra0BizPIDsc/s400/twitter123.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346628427747662210" />

This code will display the image in a Blogger post at the large size - 400x300.
Increase image size in a Blogger Blogspot blog
6. To change the 400x300 dimensions it is simply a matter of changing the values to whatever you wish. Make sure you keep the proportions of the image otherwise it will not display correctly (stretched and distorted). For example to increase the image size displayed by 25% you would change the dimensions to 500x375:

img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vLeiVavkV_M/SjMKOjXnmYI/XXXXXXXXX/Ra0BizPIDsc/s400/twitter123.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346628427747662210" />


This code will display the image in a Blogger post to the custom dimensions of 500x375.


7. Click the Preview button and you will be able to check your image before publishing

8. Once you are satisfied click on the Publish post button

9. Click View Blog to see your image displayed with your user defined proportions


Summary

At sometime you may want to display an image in your Blogger post that is different from the Blogspot default image size presets of small, medium, large, extra large. It is possible to make an image smaller or larger than these presets by overridging the Blogspot default image sizes and entering your own custom dimensions. This tutorial has shown you how to change the height and width values of an image in order to make it bigger or smaller depending on need.


Related Articles

How to Add a Welcome Message to a Blogger  Homepage
How to Change the Color of the Blogger Nav Bar
How to Put a Twitter Follow Icon on Blogger Next to Post Title
How to Change Image Sizes in Blogger Posts
How to Schedule Blog Posts in Blogger in 2022
How to Add an Atom Sitemap to Google Search Console from a Blogger Blog in 2022

Sunday, March 15, 2009

How to Get More Adsense Clicks on a Blogger Blogspot Blog

Today I am going to talk about how to get more Google Adsense clicks on your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). These are simple and straightforward Blogger tips and Google Adsense tips that will increase your Adsense CTR and thereby help you make extra money from your blog. I will show you how you can make money from Google Adsense just by streamlining your Adsense ads and increasing your Adsense clicks.

If you are just starting out with your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) you may be under the impression that all you need do is stick a bunch of Google Adsense ads on your blog and you will instantly make money from Google Adsense clicks. Unfortunately there is much more to making money from Adsense. First of all you need traffic and secondly for best results you will need to optimize your Google Adsense ad units on your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). By optimizing your blog's ads you will increase the Adsense click through rate or Adsense CTR as it is called. And more Adsense clicks means you will earn extra money from Blogger.

How to Get More Adsense Clicks on a Blogger Blogspot Blog - Optimize Ad Units

Tips to Increase Your Google Adsense CTR on a Blogger Blogspot Blog

Rather than using the Blogger Google Adsense default widgets or Google Auto Ads to place Google Adsense on your blog I would recommend that you create you own Google Adsense ad unit at Google Adsense. That way you can track the success of each individual Google Adsense ad unit you place on your blog by using channels. This will help you pinpoint the Adsense ads that earn money and those that don't.

1. Use the wider Google Adsense ads such as 336x280, 300x250 or 250x250 as these are known to be the best performing ads and will consistency earn money

2. For the highest possible CTR select Google Adsense ad units that display both image and text in the one ad unit.

3. Adjust the Google Adsense ad units fonts to blend with your blog so that the ad unit is integrated rather than looking like an ad. Google Adsense allows the choice of 3 different fonts - Arial, Times Roman and Verdana, or you can go with the standard Adsense font family setting. If you are not sure what font family your blog is using you can check this in the top section of your Blogger template.

4. Match the colors of your Google Adsense ad unit to blend with the pages of your blog. The effect of matching your blogs color scheme will be that the ad units are integrated into your blog and this may encourage readers to click on the links contained in the ads.

How to Get More Adsense Clicks on a Blogger Blogspot Blog - Coordinate Color Scheme


If you are concerned about ad blindness you can choose contrasting colors to make your ad stand out. Readers are used to ads and may not even see them at all so presenting ad units in complimentary colors may help your click through rate. Some experimentation on your part will be needed to get the right look and the money earning results for your blog.

5. Rotate your Google Adsense ads regularly as this will reduce the effect of ad blindness or banner blindness as it is sometimes called and help you make cash

6. Know what your blog's keywords are and use them in your content. For instance make money, earn money, making money, making money online are examples of important keywords and phrases for this article. Check out keywords relevant to your Blogger blog by using one of many free keyword generators like Ahrefs or Ubersuggest. Also check out Google Trends for keywords that are currently trending.

Research Keywords for your Blogspot Blog for better SEO and Adsense results


7. Ensure your Blogger posts are keyword rich so that Adsense has a good basis of Google keywords to draw from. Use this free tool to check your keyword density ratio.

8. The more visible your ad unit the better. By placing your Google Adsense ad unit above the fold, that is the part of your blog that the visitor sees without having to scroll down, the more likely your ad unit will be to make an impact.

9. Placing a Google ads at the bottom of your Blogger posts is a good money making idea I have found. After reading your post your visitor will be wondering where to next so displaying a Google Adsense ad in this location will encourage Adsense clicks by them.

10. A Google Adsense linked ad unit such as a 728x15 can be an effective way to make money from Google Adsense when placed near a navigation menu especially when your ad unit is very closely related to your content.


Summary
In this Adsense tutorial I have explored 10 ways to increase the Adsense CTR (click through rate) of Google Adsense ads that you place on your Blogger blog. If you follow these Adsense tips you are likely to increase the number of Adsense clicks and in turn earn higher Adsense revenue from your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). If you have time please let me know about your increases in Adsense revenue and Adsense clicks with these simple Adsense tips.


Related Links
Making Money From Banners with Blogger
Easy Way to Add Affiliate Banners to a Blogger Blog
Blogger Guide to Google Adsense Placement


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Make Money from Affiliate Program Banners and Links with a Blogger Blog

One of the very nice aspects of blogging with Google Blogger is that you can monetize and generate income by adding affiliate links and banners to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) alongside Google Adsense. Clickable affiliate links can also be placed in blog posts that earn you money if a visitor clicks through and then purchases a product or service that you mention. Placing a few affiliate banners on your blog will also help you make money passively as your blog grows and traffic increases.
Making Money from Affiliate Links and Banners with a Blogger Blog - Tips and Advice to Start Earning on Blogspot

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work with a Blogspot Blog?

Generally speaking when a visitor clicks on an affiliate banner or link on your blog and signs up to a service or buys a product you will make money from that click. Different services have different rules about what the referer has to achieve in order to earn an affiliate fee or commission but most work on a percentage of the sale.

Put simply the process of making money from affiliate marketing is as follows:
  • Start a Blog on Google Blogger

  • Decide on a product or service to promote that fits with your blog topic and niche and which you are happy to endorse.

  • Sign up to become an affiliate to promote the product or service. Pay particular attention to: amounts paid, frequency of payouts, threshold for payouts, legal obligations and restrictions.

  • Write some blog posts and add links to your article promoting the product or service eg Product reviews are good blog posts for placing advertising links and banners.

  • Promote the product on your Blogger blog with affiliate links and banners in other places like the sidebar.

  • Build traffic by posting quality content. The more visitors you get to your Blogger blog the more likely that someone will click on your affiliate link or banner.

  • Set up email marketing as a way to promote your blog. You can insert affiliate links and banners in emails.


Start referring visitors from your Blogspot Blog to affiliate programs using links and banners in your posts and on your blog to earn cash in addition to Google Adsense

How Much Does it Cost to Put Affiliate Banners on a Blogger Blog?

There is no cost involved in adding banners to Blogger - it is 100% FREE.


Can I Add Affiliate Banners and Links with Only a Blogspot Subdomain?

Yes. Blogger allows you complete freedom to monetize your blog by promoting whatever service or product you like provided you stay within their guidelines around acceptable content regardless of whether you are using a subdomain (blogspot) or your own domain (.com).
Affiliate Banners and Links can be added to Blogger Blog with either a Blogspot Subdomain or a Custom Domain

Some affiliate programs require a custom domain and a minimum level or traffic while others readily accept the blogspot subdomain URL.


How Do I Add Affiliate Banners to Blogger?

It is pretty simple to add affiliate banners to Blogger. Anyone who knows how to copy and paste can add a few banners in no time. Banners can placed in the sidebar, above and below posts and above, below or in the header.

For help on where to place banners and how to add banners to Blogger please refer to my Blogger tutorial entitled Easy Way to Put Banners on Blogger (Blogspot) Blog


How Do I Start a Blog to Earn Money from Affiliate Marketing

You can start a free blog at Google Blogger and add a few banners to your blog to earn affiliate income while you sleep. If you are yet to create a free Blogger account please refer to my related Blogger Tutorials to get your started:


These articles will have you up and running with Blogger in no time.



What are the Best Affiliate Marketing Programs to Promote with a Blogger Blog

There are thousands of affiliate marketing services and so thousands of opportunities to find a good fit with your blog. If you are looking for some top high-paying affiliate programs that are considered to be some of the very best in 2022 you could try these top picks:

  • Fiverr - affiliate program and promoter of the world’s biggest marketplace for online services

  • Blue Host, Hostinger or HostGator - web hosting services that offer very low cost monthly plansto customers and good returns on referrals

  • Pure VPN, SurfsharkVPN, NordVPN and ExpressVPN - internet connection services with good affiliate programs

  • Wix and Shopify - best website and ecommerce affiliate programs

  • ShareaSale, CJ (Formerly Commission Junction) and Rakuten - best affiliate networks

  • Aweber and ConvertKit - email marketing services affiliate programs

  • Tripadvisor and Expedia - good affiliate programs if your blog is in the travel niche

  • H&M and Nordstrom - fashion affiliate programs if your blog has a fashion theme

  • Madison Reed and Avon - beauty and makeup affiliate programs

  • Amazon Associates - affiliate program with massive range of possible goods to promote




How Do I Get Started with Affiliate Marketing on Blogger


  • Create a free Blogger account

  • Set up your Blogger Blogspot blog and configure the settings

  • Identify a product or service to promote and sign up to a referral program in your niche

  • Add affiliate links and banners to blog posts

  • Add affiliate links and banners to your blog either around the header or in the sidebar.


In this article I have explored how you might start making money with affiliate marketing and a Google Blogger blog. You could earn money by signing up for affiliate programs and then placing affiliate links and banners on your blog and in your blog posts in addition to earning revenue from Google Adsense. What are you waiting for get a free Google Blogger account today, monetize it and start making a side income from blogging.


Related Articles
Create a free Blogger account
Set up your Blogger Blogspot blog
Easy Way to Put Banners on Blogger (Blogspot) Blog


Thursday, February 12, 2009

How to Set up Blogger and Configure All Settings for a New Blogspot Blog in 2022

Before you launch into publishing the first post of your new Blogspot blog at Blogger.com it pays to properly set up and configure your free blog. There are a number of key settings that need correct set up to improve functionality and to avoid problems down the track. This Blogger tutorial shows you how to set up a new blog step-by-step and covers all the main settings you will need to consider to customize the set up of your blog.
How to Set up Blogger and Configure All Settings for a New Free Blogspot Blog in 2022

For bloggers hoping to attract visitors and perhaps make money from advertising and affiliate links it is a good idea to ensure that you have configured your blog correctly particularly the way blog posts are displayed and comments are handled.
How to Set up a New Free Blog at Blogger to make money

If you have not yet got a blog at Blogger.com please see my Blogger tutorial about how to start a Blogspot Blog: Get a Free Blogspot Blog at Blogger.com. If you are still considering your blog topic and niche you will find plenty of tips on how to choose a good topic for your blog.


How to Configure Basic Settings in Blogger

Prior to writing your first post configure Blogger by clicking on Settings in the menu on the left-hand side of the Dashboard.

Set or Change the Blog Language of Your Blogger Blog

In English speaking countries the language of your blog will automatically be set to US English. For bloggers from other English speaking countries outside the US you may prefer to change the language settings to UK English.
How to Set up Blogger - How to Change or Set the Blog Language. Non US may want to change the language to UK English

If you would like to change the language you can do so under the Settings > Blog Language option. From there it is just a question of checking the radio button according to the language you want to choose and then clicking save.

Add a Blog Description

Enter a short tagline, phrase or short sentence as your Blog Description in the page header of your blog. As you are limited to 500 characters your blog description needs to be concise. Make sure it describes the purpose of your site and gives some indication of what kind of content a visitor might expect. The blog description will appear on your blog just under the blog name in the header section. It can be changed at a later date if needed.

For tips on adding a blog description to a Blogspot Blog check out my earlier Blogger tutorial.

Make Your Blog Visible to Search Engines

If you are wishing to keep your blog completely private of for just friends and family rather than the whole world ensure that the visible to search engines setting slider under Privacy in the Settings menu is set to the off position.

If you want search engines like Google to index your blog for the purposes of attracting visitors the visibility to search engines setting will need to be on otherwise your blog will not get much in the way of traffic. To check the visible to search engines setting ensure the slider is green (the on position) in Settings under the Privacy heading.

You will need some patience initially as it does take search engines like Google time to crawl your site and index your blog posts. To improve your chances of your blog being indexed thorough I suggest you consider adding a sitemap at some point. To learn more take a look at my Blogger tutorial on how to add a simple atom sitemap to the Google Search Console.

Check HTTPS Redirect is Turned On to Secure your Blog.

By default this setting should be turned on but it is worth checking the slider is in the green on position. Older blogs and those using third party templates may find the HTTPS setting is turned off. The advantage of having this setting turned on is that all blog posts and pages are delivered encrypted regardless of whether the blog address is http or https.

Set Permissions for Reader Access of Your Blogger Blog


Under Reader Access in the Permissions Setting set the privacy setting to your preferred setting.
  • Custom Readers if you want to keep your blog private with only selected readers.
  • Private to Authors: If you want to invite other blog authors and have them read posts then set the permission to private with other blog authors.
  • Public: If you want your blog to have the widest readership then set the permission to public which means anyone and everyone can read it.


How to Configure Blog Posts in Blogger


Maximum Number of Blog Posts Setting

Under the Posts heading set the number of posts to show on the main page. By default the number of blog posts is set to 7 but you can have more or less than this number. To change the maximum number of posts click on the number of posts and then using the up and down arrows select the number of posts to display.
How to Set up Blogger and Configure All Settings - Set Maximum Number of Blog Posts from 5-10 to display on the home page in most cases

I would advise against showing too many posts on the home page as it may lengthen loading times which is a big factor in visitor retention. One way to get around this issue so you can display more posts is by using jump breaks so visitors are only shown a shortened version of the post on the main page and the full post when they click on read more. You may need to experiment with this feature before you find the best balance for your blog.

Archiving


In the past it was possible to set the frequency of the archiving of your blog to other than monthly. This feature is turned off currently.
Configure your Blogger Blog settings from the Settings Menu interface circa 2009

Configuring Commenting on Your Blogger Blog


Who Can Comment

In the Comments section under Settings you can control who is allowed to comment on your blog.You can set three different options to handle comments:
  • Anyone (including anonymous)
  • Users with Google Accounts
  • Only members of this blog
Unless you have a private blog then in most cases who can comment is likely to be set to anyone. You may find spam commenting becomes an issue so I suggest that you set up moderate comments at the same time so that you can filter genuine comments from the spam ones.


Comment Moderation

In the Comments Moderation section it is possible to control comments before they go live. In the past spam has been quite a problem with Blogger blogs and remains so today depending on the niche topic and the popularity of your blog. I would suggest you apply some comment moderation and your best bet is to set it to always to comletely filter out spam.

There are three different levels of Comment Moderation that can be applied to a Blogger blog:
  • Always
  • Sometimes
  • Never

How to Set up Blogger and Configure All Settings for a New Blogspot Blog - Set Comment Moderation to Always if blog is public

Email Notification of Comments It may worth setting up email notification of new comments if you set comment moderation to always otherwise you may forget to check the comments section periodically. You can add your email address under the Settings >> Comments >> Email moderation requests to: section.

Reader Comment Captcha
It is possible to control spam from spam bots to some degree with captcha. I suggest you make sure that the green slider is set to on prevent unwelcome messages especially from spambots.


Comment Moderation

How to Set Up Time Zone Format and Date Header in Blogger


Set Up Time Zone

The Time Zone is set to (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time – Los Angeles by default so you will need to set up the Time Zone depending on your geographical location. To select the Time Zone click on the Time Zone heading and then select the correct Time Zone by clicking on the radio button next to the appropriate Time Zone and then selecting save.

Set Up Date Format

Blogger offers multiple options for displaying the date. To make changes click on the Date Header Format heading and then choosing your desired format by selecting the radio button from the dropdown menu. You will need to save changes for the different date format to take effect. To see the change in effect, preview a blog post or click on View Blog.

Set Up Timestamp Format

There are 11 different Timestamp options provided by Blogger which allow you to customize how the time will appear on a post. You can change the Timestamp to suit your preferences by navigating to Settings >> Timestamp Format. Select the option from the the options that appear in the popup window and click save to apply the changes.

Set Up Comment Timestamp Format

You can also customize the appearance of the timestamp on comments. Set up is the same as for setting up the timestamp.

Configure Other Settings in Blogger


Declare Adult Content

Make sure that adult content is set to no unless your blog does have adult content of course.

Google Analytics ID

If you have a Google Analytics ID already enter it in the space provided to track blog performance.  If you have just started your blog make a point of coming later once you have your Google Analytics ID and entering it here.

Congfigure Site Feed

Post Feed
There are 5 options for the Post Feed: full, until jump break, short, custom and none.

For a new blog not using a feed service your feed in most cases should be set to short or to jump break. If you are not sure you can leave it at full for now and come back to it later.

Often a full feed is used where blogs posts are being desseminated by a RSS service eg Feedburner. These days social media platforms do much of that job so there is a debate about whether RSS feeds are still worth it especially as there is a higher risk of content theft and readers are not visiting your blog to read your content. Conversely blog feeds are needed for some functionality to work eg the recent posts gadget works off the feed.

Post Feed Footer
In the Post Feed Footer enter a copyright notice about your material which will appear in the bottom of your feed after every post. This will act as a deterrent to content lifting and blog scraping.


Configure Your Blogger User Profile

If you want your readers to know a bit about you consider configuring your user profile with information about yourself. Do you want your readers to be able to email you for example? You can enter as much or as little information as you like.

To make changes to your user profile scroll right to the bottom of Settings and click on the user profile link. Check the options if you want to share your profile and email address. You can also select what name gets displayed on your blog posts on your user profile page. You can add a photo, your geographical location and any other information you might wish to.

Congratulations! With these settings in place it's time to go ahead and make your first post.

While any of the settings discussed in this Blogger tutorial are able to be altered at any time it is a good idea to put them in place prior to writing a first post so that you don't forget to set something important once the business of writing blog posts takes over. This Blogger tutorial provides instructions on how to configure and set some of the basic settings and features for Blogspot blogs at Blogger.com.



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