Editing the HTML in the Blogger Template

NOTE: For information on editing and creating your blog using the Blogger in Draft, and the new Template Designer, please see this OTHER (newer) post!

Here we are, on the last step of the basic editing process for your blogger. This option can be found in your Layout section under "Edit HTML", and it looks like this when you get to the page:

The first thing you want to do is backup your template, so click the "Download Full Template" link and save it. If you are using a basic blogger template and haven't made any customized changes to the HTML then you probably don't need to do this, but it's a good habit to get into.

You will also want to backup your blog itself, so go to the Settings Tab and Select Basic. Right at the top is an option to export or import a blog. Select the Export option and save the blog on your hard drive. If anything goes wrong when you edit the html of your template you now have the data in your blog (the blog backup) and the original data from your template (the template backup) so you can restore your blog.

Editing the HTML is really not such a good idea if you don't have any experience at all with coding or html - blog templates contain CSS codes too, and if you aren't familiar with this, making a change in one place of the CSS can horribly affect something else, or can have no affect at all, because something needs changed elsewhere within the template.

Since the instructions I am giving are for total newbies (ie: people with no blogging or website editing experience) covering this sort of html change would take much more than a few simple instructions.

What I will show you is how to add things like the verification code for webmaster tools, or google analytics, or third party statcounters.

It's usually fairly simple since they actually give you the code and instruct you where to place it. The verification code goes in the head section of the template (see the blue text below), and you can also edit your blog description in the meta content (see the orange text), as well as adding additional keywords (see the red text). These are very simple edits, and as long as you keep your additions between the brackets and the quote marks, you should be fine. Note that you can add codes to the html/javascript widgets also and some codes require that they be added at the end of the body section, so be sure to read the instructions for whatever code you are planning to use.

Be careful when adding extra keywords. Keywords should only relate to your blog's content and subject matter. Trying to put keywords here that you think are "highly paying" but have nothing to do with your blog will actually lose you results in the search engine. Keep your keywords to a reasonable number - between 7 and 15 is usually good. Too many and your site could be considered spam, or could be penalized in searches because of keyword stuffing. Sometimes more is not better. The same can be said of the description field - don't make this too long, and make sure it describes your blog and it's contents.


The last thing you'll notice in the code above is one I added for a favicon - that's the little picture that displays beside the url of your blog in your browser's search bar - for standard blogger blogs, it's usually Blogger's white "B" in the orange square, but you can have your own if you want.

The first thing you need to is create the icon file. If you don't do image or graphic stuff at all, you could just do a web search for free icons, and find one you like that matches your blog, but they aren't hard to create. Many free image software programs can create an icon file from a picture. You will need to crop and resize your image file to 32 X 32 pixels, so make sure whatever you choose can actually be seen and recognized at that size. Then you need to save the file with a .ico extension, so make sure your editing software can do that.

You need to upload that file somewhere that you can link to it - photobucket, imagecave, your own web server, or even a picasa album.

Insert the code for the icon file into the html of your template (see the green code). Where the example shows this url reference:

http : //photographyofgrace.com/ favicon2.ico

You need to remove that (unless of course you plan to use my favico) and replace it with the url to your own favicon file. The balance of the code remains the same.

If you look around the internet, you'll find other easy tweaks you add into the head section of your template's html - things that can help with SEO for instance.

If you really want to edit the design portion of your template, the wisest thing to do is download the template and play around with it in an editor (try NVu or AlleyCode - they're both free). Once you have something you like, you can upload it (after backing up everything) using the "Upload a template from a file on your hard drive" option on the Edit Html page.

That's also how you upload any free template you might find on the web.

That pretty much concludes the basic editing for blogs, and getting started with Blogger.


Remember the blog we first started off with? Well, it's had some changes over the course of this little series, and now it's finished and ready for someone to blog their heart out (have a look):

Building a Blog With Blogger

Editing Your Blogger Design & Layout

NOTE: For information on editing and creating your blog using the Blogger in Draft, and the new Template Designer, please see this OTHER (newer) post!

Carrying on with the instructions for personalizing your blogger design, this post will explain the functions in the Layout tab.

Under the main layout tab you'll find a series of other pages: Page Elements, Fonts and Colours, Edit HTML and Pick New Template.

Page Elements

The page elements tab is where you'll find things like gadgets (other blogging platforms like wordpress call these add-ons "widgets", blogger calls them gadgets). Depending on the Blogger template you are using you will either have a "sidebar" on the left hand or right hand side, or in some cases you may have one both sides, with the post template in the middle. These instructions are for use with templates available directly through the "pick template" function in Blogger. If you've uploaded a custom template, these instructions may work the same.

In the following image you'll notice a couple of errors on the page - it doesn't say "error" but I know it is one. In the right hand column there is no "ad gadget" link at the top of the column, and there should be. If you follow the sidebar column to the bottom, you'll notice that it is cut off, with no access to any of the gadgets beneath the last HTML/Javascript gadget.


I have no idea why this occurs, but it has ocurred in my blogger account for a long time now. The way I get it to correct is to click the "view blog" link in the menu at the top of the page.


This loads the blog into the browser. In the navbar there is an option to customize your blog. If you click that, it takes you back to the layout page, but shows the correct editing functions now. This may not be necessary for everyone - many blogs seem to work properly, but if you find yours giving the same errors, try the fix I've posted.


To add different things to your sidebars, or above or below the main posting template you click the "add gadget" link for the area where you want to add that item. There are numerous gadgets available - a text box for just adding text, a link gadget for adding lists of links (in the sidebar of this blog you are reading, the menu was created using a links gadget), a picture gadget for adding pictures, an HTML/Javascript for adding things like codes (and javascripts, like adsense or others), there's even an adsense gadget.


When you click the add gadget link, a box opens with a bunch of gadgets in a list that you can scroll through and select the gadget you want to add. When you select a gadget to add, if it has parameters for you to set (like links to add, or a picture to add, colors, etc.) the gadget opens to allow you to make these entries, and when you click save, the new gadget appears in your sidebar.

Adding gadgets to your footer, below your header or at the end of the posts template works in the same way.

To make changes to your header, like replacing it with a picture or changing the title that displays, select the edit button on the header (right below the navbar). If your template allows images to display instead of (or behind) the text for your header the option will be here to upload an image, and to decide if you want it to be instead of the title, or behind the title. If you have a header image that you've already added text to, then you would want choose "instead of", but if you just have a picture and still want to see the title of your blog, then you would select "behind".

You can make changes to the colour of your navbar so that it more closely matches the colours selected for your blog, or so that it contrasts. Click the edit button on the navbar and select the choice you want for your navbar color.


Fonts and Colors

To go beyond just adding gadgets, you can set the fonts and colours in your blog by choosing the fonts and colours tab. The opens an editing box above your blog. On the left you'll see a list of the items you can change the colours for in your blog. Different template choices allow different options - some allow changing the background colours, while some don't. As you make the colour changes the results will display in your blog below. Once you are satisfied, click save.


Edit HTML

This one I'll leave til the next post.

Pick New Template

This option allows you to browse and select the standard blogger templates to preview how your blog would look before opting to change it. When you click the Pick New Template link, the templates page opens. To preview a different template, click the radio button in the one you want to see and then select the preview link below it. It will show you how your blog will look using that template.

The Wrong Way to Get Adsense

There are a lot of wrong ways to get an AdSense account - any time you are asked to pay for anything related to an AdSense account approval, think twice before you do.

Why? Because AdSense is free to those whose websites fall within the appropriate guidelines. If you try to buy your way into AdSense, then in the end, you will find your account disabled because your website wasn't compliant with AdSense policies. Buying yourself an adsense account will do nothing except part you from your money, and you probably won't have the account long enough to collect any earnings from it.

Sites like this one will do you no good at all, and simply cost you money. ADSENSE DOES NOT HAVE ANY AUTHORIZED "resellers or redistributors" for AdSense. So if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. I'll say it again 'ADSENSE IS FREE TO THOSE WHO QUALIFY' and useless if you can't maintain a website that qualifies, so buying an account is not going to help at all.

Recently on the AdSense forums we've seen a number of complaints from publisher's about low earnings from clicks. In many cases earnings are based on so many factors that's it is difficult for us to know why - sometimes the advertisers are paying less, sometimes the person's site is in a niche that just doesn't pay high click rates, sometimes the quality of the site is lacking or has a lot of copied content, and sometimes the visitor rates are so low that a low CTR and ePCM might have a hand it in. There's a lot of factors for low click rates. NOBODY likes getting paid 1 cent for a click, but there isn't always an easy way to change that.

Beware of people asking for money in order to help you. If you decide to contact a reputable online company for help with SEO to get your websites in better shape, that's up to you. If someone approaches you first with an email that reads something like the one below - think twice, and maybe three times before you part with your very hard earned money. Promising a specific number of clicks per day just smacks of fraud - such as those found in "click-rings" (adsense bans accounts involved in click-rings or paid for clicks), and nobody can guarantee you a specific amount of earnings in a day. Not with adsense.

Nobody can guarantee you approval at adsense either - only AdSense has the right to issue AdSense accounts, so here's a big warning - DO NOT PAY FOR ANY.

Tell your friends to avoid suspect behaviour like the ones seen in the email below. You'll be doing yourself and your friends a favour by keeping your account in good standing and avoiding any sign of suspicious or fraudulent activity.

Hi friend,

I am (XXXX) from (XXXX), an online marketing and revenue generation professional
working on development and marketing to a lot of websites and blogs.

as you see today in the adsense forum there are too many questions like
"why my earnings are getting reduced suddenly"
"the number of visits and the clicks are same but revenue is very less, why?"
"the e CPM of my page was around 0.80, but now it has gone below 0.20, why?"
"i am literally seeing clicks and pagevisits, but no revenue generated? why?"
etc.etc.

people are finding it very difficult to understand the reasons and a few blame
google for their loss in revenue generation. But if you are able to concentrate
a bit and do certain things that are very well acceptable by google's policies,
and follow certain important instructions, you can ofcourse increase your
traffic and ofcourse i can guarantee you of clicks and revenue not less than
a eCPM of 0.90 per click and atleast a revenue of $40 to50 per day.

I assure you of the following
1. 75 to 100 clicks per day

2. Increasing the eCPM to 0.90 (i shall give you a small training on what to do
to increase the click though rates, that is the revenue you generate per click
will be 0.80 to 0.90 cents instead of just 0.02 or 0.03 per click)

3. Assured earnings of $45 to $50 per day.

Apart from the above package, you can also write to me for any customised
needs and requests and i am ready to help you out.

I do take a minimum charge for the above service. You can also contact me
to get a new adsense account approval also. This can be done within a week
and all the services are 100% safe as per google adsense policies and rules.

thanks

Editing Your Blogger Settings

NOTE: For information on editing and creating your blog using the Blogger in Draft, and the new Template Designer, please see this OTHER (newer) post!

Well, as it turns out this is rather late, and most of you will already have figured out where to go and how to change your templates after you got set up.

For those that haven't - following is some simple changes to help you personalize your blog.


SETTINGS TAB

When you select the settings tab, you are first presented with the Basic changes page. Along the top of the menu bar, just below the settings tab you will see a series of other links, like Basic (the page you will be on first), Publishing, Formatting, Comments, Archiving, Site Feed, Email & Mobile, Open ID, and Permissions.


Basic

When you login to your dashboard, select the settings tab to make changes to your blog's title and description, and whether or not your blog is displayed in blog listings, or if your blog can be found by search engines, whether or not your blog is family rated or contains adult materials, and you can also select which blog editor you wish to use - the "old" one or the updated one.

You can also enable trasliterations for your blog as well - the languages covered are Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.

And finally, if you decide you want to delete your blog, you can do it here on this page as well. Another helpful option here is the ability to import another blogger blog into the one you are working in. In order to do that, you would first need to export the other blog using the export function, and then selecting the exported file to import into this blog.

Publishing

The publishing page allows you to select some options for the publishing of your blog by giving you an option to point your own custom domain name (which you would need to purchase) at your blog, changing it's URL from a blogspot address to a .com, .net, .org address instead, depending on what type of domain address you purchase.

WARNING: for those of you using adsense on your blogs, this DOES NOT mean that you will need to change your ad set up to AdSense for Domains. AdSense for Domains is ONLY for domains with no website or blog - it is for an empty domain. If you change the domain settings following AdSense for Domains instructions, then your blog will disappear. Simply leave your current AdSense for Content ads on your blog.

Formatting

This page allows you to set the number of posts that will display at one time on a page. I believe the default setting is 7, which is usually too many. Most readers will not want to be confronted with that much at one time. I generally set my own to 1, but an average display runs between 3 and 5.

If you are using adsense between your posts, a good number is 2 or 3 - any more than that can affect whether or not ads will display in your sidebar since AdSense only allows 3 ad units on a page. If you set your blog to display 5 posts on a page, you may get 3 ad units between the posts, and none on the sidebar, unless some of your ads are set to link units.

On this plage you can also set the formatting for your date and time, your time zone, your blog's language, whether or not you want the title fields displayed.

Lastly, at the bottom of this page is a box that will allow you to post a line or paragraph of text or code that you want to have displayed in every single post you make. See the little "add this" bookmarking button at the top of the posts in this blog? Well the code for that is what I entered into the post template. Now, whenever I create a new post, that little bookmarking button is already at the top of each post. (by the way, you can get that great little social bookmarking button from AddThis.com, free)

Comments

This section allows you choose whether or not comments are allowed or displayed, whether you want to moderate comments or not, and whether or not you want the back links to show.

Archiving

This page allows you to set your archiving options - monthly, daily, weekly or no archive. It also allows you to set post pages. Setting post pages allows each post your make to have it's own unique webpage, so it's a good idea to do this. Whether or not you are allowed to set post pages will depend on the way you have chosen to set your comments, so you may have to move back and forth between the post page and the comments page until they are set correctly.

Site Feed

Here you can set your preferences for your site feed, and if you use another method for burning feeds, then you set the redirect url here as well. If you have a message you want to place for each post feed, there is a message box at the bottom of this page that allows you to place codes for advertising or other messages.



Email & Mobile

If you want to post to your blog via your email, or by mobile you can set up those functions on this page.

Permissions

Allows you to set permissions for your blog - who can see it, who can post it, etc. Here you can invite other authors to participate in making posts to your blog.

How to Start a Blog Using Blogger

Since I've had a number of requests for help getting started with blogger, I'm going to do a "step-by-step" with pictures and text for those who have never ever even looked at or know what a blog is.

Before you start a blog, you need to decide what your subject will be - what you are going write about and put in your blog. What it shouldn't be is something you have no clue about: if you aren't doctor or nurse or paramedic, don't write about medical stuff. If you've never earned a penny doing something online, then don't write about earning money online. Select a subject you have some knowledge about, or something you enjoy. If you have a hobby, like diecast toys or antiques, then write about that. If you are simply a mom whose kids have given her tons of hilarious things to write about (like Erma Bombeck), then write about that. Whatever it is you choose, you have to be able to write from knowledge and experience. Don't think you can start a blog and copy stuff from all over the internet. That just won't fly for AdSense.

So, now that you've picked a subject you have to decide on a name for your blog. Think of a couple that match your subject matter, mainly because someone else may already have a blog with the name you pick, so you want to be ready with a second choice. Or, you can simply use your name, like "Gracey's" or "What Gracey Thinks".

To begin you have to sign up so you type www.blogger.com into your search bar and find the home/sign up page. Then, you sign up for a free account, and when your registration is complete you'll be presented with a "blogger dashboard" (click the images to see a larger view).

On the dashboard, you can select your language, and click the "create a blog link".



Next you'll be presented with a page where you name your blog, and select the URL (blog address or web address) that you'll use for your new blog. When you type in the blog name and URL (the url can be the same as your blog name if nobody is using it) click the link to check if it's available. If so, you can continue and fill in the captcha letters. If someone else is using it, you have to pick a new one and try again.

Once you click the "continue" button you'll be presented with a page where you can pick a blog template - this is the design or the way the blog will look.



Select a design by clicking the button under it. It doesn't really matter much what you choose to get started with - changing the template later is easy, and takes nothing more than clicking a button. Customized template designs are something for those with a litle experience, so we're starting with the basics offered in blogger.

Click continue and you'll get a page like this:


So now the basic layout and setup has been finished and your blog is ready for you to start typing in. Click the start blogging button and it takes you to a page where you can enter your first post.


This is the "blog editor" or "wysiwyg editor". It's what you'll use to enter information and images, even videos into your posts.

Across the top of the editor are options like "font" (in a drop down box) where you pick the type of lettering you want, next is a large and small T with an arrow - when you click that you make your text bigger or smaller.

The "b" lets you make bold text (highlight the text by clicking, holding down your mouse button and dragging across all the text you want to make bold, then click on the "b"); the little i gives you italic text (done the same way as you get bold).

The T with the coloured box changes your text colour; the small globe with the chain link across the top helps you make links.

The next series with all those little lines let you decide whether your text starts at the left (left justified), or is centered, or is right justified, or is justified across the entire page.

The small lines with numbers next to them lets you make a numbered list, the ones with little squares lets you make a bulleted list.

The quotation lets you make a block quote, and the ABC with the check mark is a spell-checker. Next to that is a tiny picture - click that to insert an image from your computer or an address on the internet. The next little picture lets you add a video, and the last icon - is an eraser that removes formatting from a specific selection of text.

Okay, so now you know it all. Well, not exactly, but you should have an idea of how to get started.

To write your first post, you simply start typing in the editor's text box. It works like most text boxes.

When you are finished entering your article, or story or text, you can add labels for your post. This helps search engines and readers find your content - labels work a little bit like keywords do. Then, you click "publish post" and you can click the "view blog" link at the top to see your blog with it's first post.


There are a lot of things not covered here because this post is already very long. The next one will cover the settings in your blog, and how to change the header to use an image, how to change the colour of the the navbar (that bar at the top), how to add gadgets to your sidebar and other fine-tuning details of setting up a blog that not only has good and interesting articles, but that looks good too.

Until then, make some posts and explore your blogger options. Oh - one thing - don't mess with the templates html unless you know what you are doing, and DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT try to monetize your blog at this point. Leave that until you've got some content worthy of having advertising on it.