Blog Tutorial, Free blogger Templates and SEO Learning

How to change the template

At this opportunity, I will discuss about how to change template in blogger.com. First matter to be in considering in changing template is you have to make a backing up your old template, this good for if you feeling not match with your newly template. if you not yet known the way to back up template, please read at the post how to backup template, and also don't forget to back up your widgets (this is very important). For back up your widgets, please read at the post how to backup your widgets.

To change the template, of course you must had a new template to uploaded. If still not yet had, you can download for free template at Bloger templates or at other sites. Have ready for changing your old template with newly template? Please follow the steps below :

Login to blogger with your ID
After entering the dasboard page , click Layout.
Then click edit HTML tab
Click the Download full template link. Save your template:
Click browse... button. Choose your new template. and then click Upload button.

Usually go out commemoration that your data in your widgets will be delete forever (so don't forget to backup your widgets).

Click at Convirm & Save button.
Finish. Please look he result.

Now you have had the new face. However of course your template is still empty, So next step is inserting your widgets manually through page element menu.

Enjoy your new blog face.

How to backup your "Widgets"

Be like my promise at my previous post that is i will posting how to backup the data in the widget / page element.

If emerging question do we require to back up the data in page element? the answer is very require to. Because if you change your old template with new template, hence the data in page element will follow to be vanished, and you'd lose all data be like : guest book, blog accessory, blog tool, and also all which have been attached in your blog forever.

Many the way to back up the data in Widgets / page element, but i'm limitation of time to comment it in detail, hence I will try explain just two way, that is backing up directly from Page element and also backup from template source code.

Back up widgets From Page Element

Back up widgets in this way be in fact very disturbing, however than we lose various accessory and also tool which have been attached, wiser likely to do so.

Please follow the steps below :

Login to blogger with your ID
Click Layout.
Click menu Page Elemet, you will see the page be like this ( just example):

At representative of above seen the article edit which I give red circle, You must click at Edit in each the page element, hence will emerge popup window figuring in the code have in input to that. Pay attention the picture below :

Copy the code inside there, and paste to Notepad.
Repeat the step above at all the elements.
Finish.

There is the step how to back the data inside page element. This is the other way to backup your widgets.

Back up widget through Template Source Code

I think this way is more quickly and efisian, you need a few time to do this. This is the steps :

Visit your blog address.
After you at your self blog, click the menu View at the bar menu. See the picture below :

this is the example for see the template source code

After click the menu View, will be out the sub menu, then click Source.
if your browser is Internet Explorer, so there is automatically will out the notepad with your template source code. If your browser is Mozilla Firefox or Opera, so there is out the new page with your template source code For example, see the picture below :

the example for source code at the notpad

Save your template source code.
Finish.

If your question, where is the widgets code? there is always begin with :
<div class='widget-content'>

And in terminating with code :
</div>

For example, in my template source code. there are code be like this :

<h2 class='title'>Buku Tamu</h2> 

<div class='widget-content'> 

<iframe scrolling="auto" width="170" frameborder="0" src="http://www.shoutmix.com/?jaya" height="500" title="jaya">
<a href="http://www.shoutmix.com/?jaya">View shoutbox</a>
</iframe>
<br/><a href="http://www.shoutmix.com" title="Get your own free shoutbox at ShoutMix!"></a><br/>

</div>

So, my widget code is like this :

 <iframe scrolling="auto" width="170" frameborder="0" src="http://www.shoutmix.com/?jaya" height="500" title="jaya"> <a href="http://www.shoutmix.com/?jaya">View shoutbox</a> </iframe> <br/><a href="http://www.shoutmix.com" title="Get your own free shoutbox at ShoutMix!"></a><br/> 

I hope with this post you become know how to backup your widget template. So, if you want change your template with a new template. Please don't forget to backup your template and your widgets too.

In my next post, i will discuss about How to change the template/theme.

See you in my next post.

How to backup the template

If you were interested to replace new template or want to redesign your template, It is best to backup your template before you changing any code. this step was as prevented to reduce the fatal risk if the mistake happening in redesign or changing your template. For you that did not yet know how to backup your template, please followed steps below :

Login to blogger with your ID
After entering the dasboard page , click Layout. Please saw the picture :

Then click edit HTML tab. Please saw the picture :

Click the Download full template link. Please saw the picture :

After you click Download full template link, then will emerge new window just to download. Click the Save button. Saw the picture :

You could choose this data would in kept where and with what file name what, Afterwards ended with click of the Save button. Please saw the picture :

Finish.

Now you had back up the template, if next time you needed him, you could use this came back. But must be known, backing up the template like steps above could not back up the data inside widget. How to back up the data widget? This would in discussed in next post.

How to do blog settings in blogger

The first important thing you should do to make your blog in blogger have the best performance is to do some Settings. As your inspirations on how to do blog settings in blogger, the following, Blogspot Tutorial writes how to setup blog in blogger:

* Please login to blogger with your ID

* Click Setting

* You will see the menu tabs containing things to setup:

Basic

Some settings in Basic menu:

Blog Tools: Import blog → this is the facility to import data from your computer (this is usually done when transferring blog). Don’t click it, let it be as it is. Export blog > this is the facility to export blog from blogger server to your computer. This facility is also called as Backup blog facility. You are suggested to create blog backup at least once a week. The backup data will be useful and helpful when sometime you want to transfer blogs in blogger, or you also can use it when you want to do a blog migration from blogger to another blog machine such as Wordpress, etc. Delete blog > this facility is to delete your blog. Don’t ever click it if you don’t want to delete your blog.
Title: Fill out with the title of your blog, e.g. My personal blog
Description: Fill out with your blog description, e.g. Notes of My Unique Life.
Add your blog to our listing?: You’re suggested to choose Yes option.
Let search engines find your blog?: Choose Yes, so your blog will be indexed by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Show quick editing on your blog?: You may choose Yes or No.
Show email post links?: It will be an icon of email with which your visitors can easily email your posts to their friends. Choose Yes, if you want, or No if you don’t want this facility to appear on yourblog.
Adult contents?: If your blog then will contain anything about adults including in the forms of writing, images, or videos of such as sexy girls, etc, you can choose Yes. However, if your blog then will contain anything to be accessed safely by kids and all ages, you should choose No. NB: If you choose Yes, there will be an adult content warning when yourblog is accessed.
Select Post Editor: This is to select post editor in your blog. Updated Editor → This is the latest post editor that Blogger has with new features included such as the More button to cut off your articles, and more. Old Editor → This is the old post editor that Blogger has, but you can still use it if you feel more comfortable with this old editor, because there are some features at this old editor that are not included in the Updated Post Editor. Hide Compose Mode → This is an option for those who are familiar with HTML because this option will hide the compose mode in your post editor. Don’t use this option if you are not familiar with the HTML coding.
Enable transliteration?: Select Enable if you want your post editor allow you to translate to Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, or Telugu. Select disable if you want your post editor not to allow you the transliteration.
End settings on Basic menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS.

Publishing

This is to change the domain name of your blog in blogger with your own domain name, e.g. http://yourblogname.blogspot.com into http://yourblogname.com.

For temporary, don’t do anything at this Publishing menu! Tutorial about custom domain in blogger can be read at How to use Custom Domain in Blogger.

Formatting

Some settings in the Formatting menu:

Show at most: type the number of posts you want to display on your blog homepage, e.g. 5. Next to number of posts option, there is dropdown menu allow you to choose Posts or Days. Just choose posts, which means your blog homepage will show 5 posts.
Date Header Format: Choose how the date format you would like to display above your posts.
Archive Index Date Format: Choose the date format for your archive index.
Timestamp Format: Choose the time format you would like to display. This is the time when a post is published on your blog.
Time Zone: Just choose the time zone where you are.
Language: Choose the language you want to use in your blog.
Convert line breaks: this is the facility of automated line breaks when you hit enter during typing an article in the post editor. This facility is used when you think you will not post or write the codes such as HTML codes, etc in the future. But if you think you will post about HTML codes and include the codes in your posts, you should choose No, for instance, if yourblog talks about the tutorials about HTML, PHP, etc.
Show Title Field: You may choose Yes or No.
Show link fields: You may choose Yes or No.
Enable Float alignment: Choose Yes, so you can arrange the position of your post both images and texts. But if you think this option will disturb the display of your blog, just choose No.
Post Template: This is the facility to create any text or code to appear each time you write a new post. It is usually used to create blog signature that will always appear in every post you create without having to type manually each time you create a new post.
End the settings on Formatting menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS

Comments

Some settings in the Comments menu:

Comments: Choose Show if you want your posts commented by your visitors, or choose Hide if you don’t want your posts commented by your visitors.
Who can comment? : Anyone – includes anonymous users → choose this option if you want everyone can comment on your blog including the Anonymous users or those without identity. Registered users –includes OpenID → Only users that are registered who can comment on your blog, i.e. those who have accounts in Google, Live Journal, Wordpress, Type pad, AIM, and or OpenID. Users with Google accounts → Those who can comment on your blog are those who have Google accounts. Only members of this blog → Only members of your blog who can comment. A certain community usually chooses this option such as educational community, etc.
Comment form placement: Full page → the page of your blog will switch to the comment form page if you choose this option. Pop-up window → your comment box will appear as pop-up window, so your blog is still displayed. Embedded below post → your comment box will directly be displayed under post, so your visitors can comment directly without clicking a Post Comment link. Bloggers like most the comment box is embedded below post.
Comments Default for posts: Choose New posts Have Comments if you want your articles have the comment box, but you can disable this when you create a post. Choose New Posts Do not have comments if you want your posts don’t have comment box, but you can add it when you create a post.
Backlinks: Choose Show if you want to display links to the websites that link to your articles.
Backlinks Default for Posts: choose New posts have backlinks if you want your articles have backlinks, and choose new posts do not have backlinks if you want your articles do not have backlinks.
Comment Timestamp Format: choose the date format you want to display.
Comment Form Message: type your massages to be displayed above the comment box, e.g. please comment freely but keep it polite by not doing spam.
Comment Moderation: choose Always if you want to display any comment after moderation. Only on posts older than …days. Choose this option if you want to display any comment on your selected posts based on the age you have determined, e.g. 15 days, etc. Choose Never if you want to display any comment without a moderation. Don’t forget to type your email address in the available field to get notifications when someone of non-member comments on your posts. Or leave blank if you don’t need the notifications.
Show word verification for comments?: choose Yes if you want to display word verification that will require commentators to enter before publishing their comments. It is to avoid a spam comment such as the robot spam script that can comment on your automatically and frequently. Anyway, visitors usually don’t like the word verification for inconvenience reason. Choose No when you don’t want the word verification displayed, although this option allows spasm like robot spam scripts to place their comments.
Show profile images on comments?: Choose Yes if you want the profile images of commentators to be displayed, and choose No if otherwise.
Comment Notification Email: Enter the email addresses up to ten emails that you want to send comment notifications.
End settings on Comment menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS.

Archiving

Some settings on Archiving menu:

Archive frequency: choose how your blog archives will be displayed on your blog whether you want the archives arranged No Archive, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. You had better choose Monthly.
Enable Post Pages?: Choose Yes or No.
End settings on Archiving menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS.

Site Feed

Some settings on Site Feed menu:

Allow Blog Feeds: Choose either None, Short, or Full. You had better Full at this option.
Post Feed Redirect URL: If you have burned your post feed, you can type the URL of your feed here, for instance, you can burned post feed at Feedburner, etc. Leave it blank if you don’t have. We will specifically discuss about Feed burner at next post.
Post Feed Footer: You can fill any code here that will be displayed in the footer of your post feed such as advertisements, etc. Leave it blank if you don’t understand.
End settings on Site Feed menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS.

Email & Mobile

In order to be able to post an article on your blog, not only do you use the post editor, but you also have other ways, e.g. through email and mobile.

Some setting on Email & Mobile menu:

BlogSend Address: Type email addresses up to ten emails separated by comma (,) to which you want to send notification when posting an article.

Email Posting Address: Create a blogger email address (known as Mail2Blogger) from which you can post articles directly to your blog when you send an email to this blogger email address, e.g. if you have an email address at example@gmail.com, then you can create blogger email address at example.post@blogger.com or example.blog@blogger.com, or anything else you think very good, but you should remember that it’s a secret to avoid other people can post through it.

To activate this feature, you should choose Publish emails immediately, meaning that each time you send emails to your blogger email address, the content of your email will be posted as blog post on your blog. If you choose Save emails as draft posts, the emails will not be published automatically but will be stored in the draft posts.

However, if you don’t want to publish through email, choose Disable. For security reason, many choose this option.

End settings on Email & Mobile menu by clicking SAVE SETTINGS

OpenID

Nothing to do some settings here, but there is notification telling you that your blog address can be used as the address of OpenID. What is OpenID? Maybe we will discuss later.

Permissions

On this menu, you can add Authors by inviting them. Just write the email addresses you want them to be the authors of your blog.

At Who can view this blog?, you can choose who can view your blog. If you choose Anybody, your blog can be viewed by public or anybody. If you choose Only people I choose, only invited people who can view your blog that they should login first to view. If you choose Only blog authors, only your blog authors who can view your blog. If you think your blog is not worth publishing as you conduct maintenance, for instance, you can use this option, so only you that can view the blog.

1. What is Blog?

Blog is short for "Web log", which is a a web application containing note or writing that are usually called "post" and displaying on the web pages. The posts are often displayed orderly based on the age or based on the time when the writing is written and published, so when you view a blog, you will first find the latest posts, top to bottom of the web page and the first to the last page, if the blog has had more than one web page.

For the first time, blog was created as the online private notes, but along with its development and popularity, blog has various types of contents or writings such as tutorial (e.g. this blog), sharing, business, etc. In general, blogs seem not to have the difference with the sites on the Internet.

The blog platform or used to be called blog machine has been created in such a way by blog designers or developers in order to be user friendly, so the knowledge of HTML, PHP, CSS, etc that was a must to create a web application, now with blog, everything is so easy as 1, 2, 3.

2. How to create blog in blogspot

One of the free blog providers that is quite popular today is blogspot or blogger, where you have to register through blogger.com and you get the domain name as sub domain of blogspot, e.g. yourname.blogspot.com.

Why should you create blog in blogger.com, not in other free blog providers? Actually, there is no “should”, but blogger.com has more advantages than other providers do. One of the advantages is the easiness in operating so that blogger.com is good for the beginners. Other advantages are the freedom in editing and replacing the templates to make the best display, custom domain which means that you can replace the domain with your own but with the blogspot hosting, e.g. yourname.blogspot.com can be changed into yourname.com, but still in the same hosting, i.e. the free blogspot hosting.

It should be emphasized from the beginning that the Internet is highly dynamic, so it is very possible that this practical guide to create blog in blogspot will not be relevant anymore as changes occurring, whether to the platform, coding, or anything else that you see right now in blogger.com

To reduce something unneeded to write, below is how to create blog in blogger.com.

Creating Email

One of the conditions required in creating blog is to have an active email address. If you do not have an email, please register at gmail. Since Blogger is one of Google services, when you want to register at Blogger, you had better use Google Email or gmail. If you need a simple guide to create an email, please use Google search engine to search for the best guide.

Sign up for a blog at blogger

Please visit http://www.blogger.com
After registration page open, go to the right bottom of the page where you can change the language to your own to make you easier to understand the instructions, but in this tutorial, I use English for more global targeting. Please login by using your username and password of your gmail (your email account is allowed to use for login to blogger).
Click "CREATE A BLOG" button
Enter your Blog Title in the field next to "Blog Title", and your expected blog address in the field next to “Blog address (URL). Need to remember that when you enter your expected blog address, you have to be sure of it as you cannot replace it in the future, except you use Custom Domain facility. Check for the availability. If your expected blog address is not available, replace with your new one and so on until you get it. Then type the character you see next to "Word verification", below blog address point and click CONTINUE for the next steps.
Choose a starter template, meaning that you can replace this template in the future and then click CONTINUE.
You will see "Your Blog has been created!" meaning that now you have a blog and you are ready to start Blogging, by clicking "START BLOGGING".
You will soon be in the post editor, where you can write anything as you may have thought about before. (it is recommended to directly write for your first post to avoid "Blogger Anti-Spam Robot" that can result in your blog locked. For instance, you can write a very short entry if you have not prepared an entry: "Hello World!", and anything else you want. Click "PREVIEW" button to view how your post will be displayed, then click "PUBLISH POST" if you want your entry to be published.
Click "View Post" to see your blog. Below is the example of the blog display created
Done