tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43275733176814876492024-03-19T05:23:12.885-04:00Blogmama SusanSusanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-3094112566613431672012-12-04T06:00:00.000-05:002012-12-04T06:00:04.104-05:00Commenting: Verification or Moderation, but not both!
Comments
We all want them but we want good comments, not spam or obscenities or links to porn sites. Blogger has two good ways of helping us make sure the bad stuff doesn't get through.
Comment Moderation
You get to this option by clicking Layout, then Settings, then Posts and Comments.
Comment Moderation has 3 options:
Always - the blog owner must approve every comment before it Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-2163772841001488122012-11-06T06:00:00.002-05:002012-11-06T06:00:05.212-05:00How To Be a GREAT Guest BloggerGuest blogging is one of the best ways to boost your online presence and increase your community. Whether you've invited someone to post or you're the guest, there are some basic guidelines that will help both of you.
Send A Finished, Formatted Post
I can't tell you the number of hours I've spent formatting posts. I've had people send their text in a variety of ways, all of which left me Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-12176126789884491352012-10-02T06:00:00.000-04:002012-10-02T06:00:08.522-04:00A More Interesting Blog Post in 4 Easy StepsI read a LOT of blogs. I have lots of blogger buddies, I participate in several link-ups each week, and I visit everyone who comments on my posts. I'm amazed at the great content, but discouraged by the lack of format.
And that's too bad. Poor formatting can drive traffic from your site. But with a little thought and planning, you can transform your post from flat to fabulous!
4 Easy Steps Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-51108192239699019202012-09-04T06:00:00.000-04:002012-09-04T13:33:48.650-04:00Add "Click To Tweet" to Your PostsHave you noticed how many people are adding "Click to Tweet" in their posts? Pretty jazzy, huh? It's also pretty easy when you know what you're doing. It's a great way to increase your visibility on Twitter and can also drive traffic to your site!
Adding "Click To Tweet"
You need to open 3 tabs (or windows).
1. Sign on to Twitter, and leave that window open while you work.This will let you Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-63304466665627026152012-08-07T06:00:00.000-04:002012-08-07T06:00:10.358-04:00Encourage Community -- Respond to CommentsGood bloggers always focus on creating good content, but many ignore an equally important aspect of blogging: creating a community.
Comment Etiquette
Treat your commenters as guests, because they ARE.
You'd never invite someone into your home and then leave them standing alone in the foyer. Don't do that with your commenters, either. Take a fresh look at your site:
Is your Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-36087979332258143322012-07-03T06:00:00.000-04:002012-07-03T06:00:08.064-04:00Increase Blog Traffic with Link Ups
Want to increase traffic to your blog? Many sites host a "blog carnival," also called a "link up." It's a great way to share your post and meet other bloggers.
Link Up Basics
The Host
Somebody "hosts" the link up by adding a special "link generator code" (also called a "linky"). It's basically a list of links with images. The linky allows their readers to post a thumbnail photo (Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-51462940197027015992012-06-05T06:00:00.000-04:002013-12-05T16:59:33.138-05:00MUST-HAVES For Your Blog~ Please permit me a mini-rant this month. ~
First of all let me say that I LOVE blogging and I LOVE reading blogs and encouraging other writers/bloggers. I'm serious y'all - I LOVE IT. But I'm growing increasingly frustrated because so many people lack of a couple of critical blog elements.
Your NAME
I'm constantly amazed at how many bloggers DON'T have their name anywhere on their homeSusanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-59469147320583896952012-05-01T05:30:00.000-04:002013-05-09T11:27:08.808-04:00Tips on using Google Reader -- Oops, now suggesting Feedly!
Google discontinued Reader, so I now recommend Feedly! This post still has good general information, so please scan it. If you've used Reader in the past, Feedly has a quick and easy carry-over utility. You won't miss a beat, and I predict you'll like it better than Reader!
Do you have a hard time keeping up with your blog-reading? Do you ever forget to check a friend's site to see if they'veSusanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-68050641812643106062012-04-03T05:30:00.000-04:002012-04-03T05:30:01.745-04:00Design Tips - Photo BackgroundsWould you like to use a photo as a background for your blog? It's simple once you learn a couple of things.
Blogger has a bunch of different images you can use as a background. From your Blogger interface, click Template to see what's "Live" on your blog, then click Customize.
To see what images are available, click Background in the left sidebar, then click on the background image that Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-17763107435268085692012-03-13T05:00:00.000-04:002012-03-13T05:00:09.696-04:00Share This - adding social networking buttonsHave you noticed the buttons at the end of my posts?
They are easy to add with this cool utility, Share This.
Decide the kind of buttons you'd like to add, then click the green button, Get the Code.
Choose your platform (Blogger), then click Step 2.
Choose the style of button you'd like, click Step 3.
Choose the buttons you want to include, then click the green 'Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-63610220233659217672012-03-06T05:30:00.000-05:002012-03-06T05:30:04.095-05:00Feedburner and your subscribersSince I posted last week on the Blogger Statistics and you're already in that mindset, I thought I'd continue this week with a post on Feedburner.
If you don't have any subscribers, this post won't make any sense. But you NEED subscribers, so hurry up and add the "Follow By Email" gadget! If you'd like a step-by-step how-to, check out my post Let Your Friends Subscribe.
Let me just say Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-50055526415177189492012-02-28T05:30:00.000-05:002012-02-28T05:30:00.211-05:00Who are you reaching?Ever wonder who is reading your blog? And how they're finding you? Blogger has some statistical information available, so let's take a look!
If you're like me, when it's time to post something, you sign on and go immediately to your New Post screen. You might see this info, but it's more annoying than anything else, so you breeze past it on your way to the really important stuff: What You Have Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-25284798515476779582012-02-21T06:00:00.000-05:002012-02-25T10:45:20.055-05:00Jump BreaksHave you ever pulled up somebody's blog and seen snippets or teasers of their posts, followed by Read more?
I understand it can be aggravating. You have to click on Read more... and go to a different page, which takes time. Why would the author do that? Why not just leave the whole post up there? There are a couple of reasons.
Faster Home Page Loading
When you pull up somebody's home Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-81000495286413728212012-02-14T06:00:00.000-05:002012-02-14T06:00:09.599-05:00Posting Options
Let's look at configuring your blog posts.
Go to your Layout page, and click Edit in the lower right corner of the Blog Posts box.
Lots of cool stuff to look at here, so think the look you want and play with some of these options:
First Main Page Options: how many posts do you want to show when your home page comes up? My personal preference is 12. I post 3 times a week, so Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-66416616415544630982012-02-07T06:00:00.001-05:002012-02-16T17:54:36.700-05:00SignatureWould you like to include a signature at the end of your blog? There are several ways to do it, but for the sake of ease I'm going to give you a quick and dirty version.
Well, fairly quick at least. We're going to create text in a word processing program, copy it into a post, copy it's HTML (hyper text markup language - geeky tech stuff that you don' t HAVE to learn and don't really wanna know) Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-76271271808796982962012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:002013-03-08T09:00:04.692-05:00Favorite PostsAfter you've been blogging a while, you'll have some posts that capture your flair. Blogger has a couple of good ways to do that.
One is a gadget called Popular Posts that lets you post links to your posts that had the most visitors. New visitors can get a feel for what your readers enjoy.
Another is Link List, which I've covered briefly in another context. This is where you link to some of Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-27776494438497203032012-01-24T06:00:00.000-05:002013-03-08T08:55:55.536-05:00FaviconsThis week we're creating Favicons.
Favicon is short for "favorite icon" and is the little photo/logo that appears on the tab when your website opens in the browser window. When you pull up Blogmama, you see a little photo of me:
I'm not on an ego trip, but I thought that tiny picture would be better than a "BM" or "BS." Just sayin'
This can be anything you like, it just has to be a photo Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-26726596565477761282012-01-17T07:09:00.000-05:002012-01-17T07:09:12.963-05:00Introducing - the NEW Blogger InterfaceHave you switched to the new Blogger interface yet? If you're using this menu -
you're not. But never fear - the new one is easy once you walk through the features! Just above the Language icon, click Try the updated Blogger interface.
The welcome screen will pop up and look like this:
For now, let's skip Connecting to Google+ and we'll walk through that another day :) so click No Thanks.Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-59399778538068119262012-01-10T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T22:31:26.242-05:00Design Tips - FontsNow that your header is complete, let's consider the overall look of your blog. Particularly FONTS.
Something to keep in mind with this: less is more.
If you've chosen a fancy font for your header, you might consider using that font in a couple of other places on your layout. For example, on this site I'm using Cherry Cream Soda as my Blog Title font, and I also use that as my Gadgets font. Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-26068038026297747582012-01-03T06:30:00.029-05:002013-03-08T09:36:58.118-05:00More Header Design TipsLast week I posted some general tips for changing the basic look of your blog header. We tiptoed into Template Designer and tweaked a couple of things. Do you want to do something jazzier? Like have a photograph with some text?
Something to consider before you start: if you're using a fancy background, such as one from Cutest Blog on the Block, I want you to think about your overall design. If Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-46699619652489041372011-12-27T04:45:00.028-05:002013-03-08T08:40:12.652-05:00Header Design tipsLet's dress up your header!
Go to Layout. If you don't have a header gadget, click Add a Gadget, scroll and add Page Header.
We're not going to upload a custom background in this example. We'll just use place text on the existing template.
Enter the Title of your blog and a Description (optional), then Save.
Next, click Template in your left sidebar.
We're going to be cautious here and Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-85779815318593955872011-12-20T04:45:00.005-05:002013-03-07T10:04:28.820-05:00PlaylistsWould you like music to play on your blog? You can create a list of your favorite songs to play when people visit your site. This can be a very effective feature that adds interest to your blog. You can also have fun with it if you periodically change your background and want to have scene-specific music (like holidays, seasons, etc).
A personal note: If I'm reading, I have a hard time Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-78041428627063141602011-12-13T04:45:00.006-05:002013-03-07T10:13:15.623-05:00Blog List & Link List - share your interests!Hopefully you've made friends with some other bloggers, so here's your chance to create a community!
If people enjoy your blog, they'll probably have some of the same interests and want to know some of the blogs you follow and some of the sites you like.
Let's look at Blog List
Go to Layout and click Add a Gadget.
Scroll down and click Blog List
You can change the title to whatever Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-32526640474263958272011-12-06T04:45:00.000-05:002013-03-07T10:03:01.135-05:00Embedding VideosYou may want to have a video in your post, and it's an easy thing to do!
There are a couple of ways to do that. You can upload the file by clicking the icon on the posting task bar. That can take some time, and Blogger has certain size limitations. But there is a better way: you can embed a video from another site such as Youtube.
I have a YouTube account and upload everything there. Videos Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4327573317681487649.post-39227697397940039462011-11-29T16:43:00.000-05:002013-03-07T09:58:05.673-05:00Sending your blog posts to FacebookNetworked Blogs is the application that lets Blogger talk to Facebook. There are several steps to connect everything, but once it's set up you won't have to bother with it again.
Sign in to Facebook.
Search for Networked Blogs, then click on that page.
"Like" it, and if there's a "Go to App" button, click that.
If there isn't a button, click here: www.networkedblogs.com
Click "Register a Blog"Susanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823919278259760743noreply@blogger.com2