Let’s find out how we can start building our blog with Blogger, learn step-by-step tutorials to understand how we can set up our blog with free tools.
Table of Contents
What is a Blogger?
Blogger is generally a free platform that allows users to create and host their blog. It’s owned by Google which publishers use to create professional blogs and it's one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world currently.
In addition, there are several other popular blogging platforms available. Some of these platforms are free and premium for users to build their website, including;
WordPress.com
Wix.com
Squarespace.com
Medium.com
Ghost.org
Why Use Blogger?
There are many reasons we use Blogger to build or create websites, including;
- It is free for everyone to use.
- It is easy to use, even for beginners.
- It is a reliable platform with a long history.
- It is owned by Google, which gives access to a wide range of features and resources for interested users.
Getting Started With Blogger
Let's find out the steps to get started with Blogger, so here we need to get our Google account first that you will use to connect with the Blogger platform.I hope everyone knows how to create a Google account or an existing account.
Once you have a Google account, you can go to the Blogger website and sign up for a free account. Once you have signed up for a Blogger account, you can create your first blog. (Remember this is not something difficult, it's simple steps you should follow).
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| Blogger Account Signup |
Creating Your First Blog
Here, every information you provide will be displayed on search engines when someone searches for anything related to your website.- Choose a name for your blog: Choose a name that you prefer on your blog. The name should be unique to the content you will create.
- Choose a URL for your blog: Enter your link address name. (example.blogspot.com).
Once you have chosen a title and a URL for your blog, you can click on the “create blog” button. You can also add a new blog if you want to start another blog.
Customizing Your Blog
Once you have created your blog, you can start customizing it to suit your liking. You can change the design of your blog, add widgets, and also create new pages.So here we going to take it each Blogger features and know how we can customize our blog.
- Post
- Stats
- Comments
- Earnings
- Pages
- Layout
- Themes
- Settings
- Reading list
- View blog
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| logger Account Dashboard |
Post
The post contains the main tools users to create their articles which also allow them to edit the content they have already written. If you a beginner you must get familiar with these tools. Lets get started to know what you should add in your article.- The article should be align with Heading and Subheading.
- After writing the article, add 2 or 3 images before publishing it, depending on the article's length. This make the article user-friendly and more visual for readers.
- Make sure to add ALT text to the image. ALT text should be a keyword from the article you are writing.
- Select some text and add link to it. The link should be either an internal or external, the external link is normally called Back-linking. The text you select should a keyword to your article.
- If possible add bullet point, tables, quote, colour to the article to be unique.
The pencil icon, clicking the pencil will give you the option to switch to HTML view (This is for those who know how to code). If you want to add any code text to the article, this is the way you can do it.
Stats
The stats have information for you to check the performance of your website. You can view the number visitor on your blog. Its displays the follows you have, post and comment.Comment
Blog authors can manage comment received from their website. Its allow you to manage the comment in many option such reply, delete or hide it as spam.Earnings
The notification received from Google and ad partner will appear. Your data earnings from your ad partner will show to know how you can manage the blog ad.Pages
Pages are important when building or creating a website. We have: About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Disclaimer, DMCA and Sitemap. Though there are many out there that you can add to your website. When you are using Google AdSense as your Ads partner, make sure to add these because it important; About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions.| Pages | About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Disclaimer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What To Know | Should be writing by yourself | Should be writing by yourself | Can use online generator tools like Termly | Can use online generator tools like Termly | Should be writing by yourself |
Layout Customization
In all, the layout is the only door you can customize your theme in professional way. It contain all the theme features as normally called widget. This help users to customize some features to suit the way they want their website to be.
Every theme has different way it widget have been arranged. Some have many widget and others too have fewer. Remember to get familiar to these themes widget, its important.
- Every theme has features that will allow you to customize your website.
- The widget are very important and you must be careful making any changes in it.
- The layout is where you can add your advertisement code. You can do this by adding a new HTML widget.
- A lot of theme already have ads placement, for you to put the ads code in it.
Theme
The theme contains a lot of important thing you should know.
- You can customize the design of the theme.
- You can upload Blogger theme or template want you want.
- You can edit the site HTML.
- You can do site backup and many more.
The default theme at the down there doesn't contain a lot of features. Applying it to blog will lack a lot of features and readers won’t be interested for visiting your blog.
Clicking the “customize” button can help you design your website. The down arrow show there contains backup, restore, edit HTML and mobile settings.
Backup: The function of the Backup is to store your theme data in case of any errors occur when making changes. So you need to backup every setting you make only if you want to.
Restore: When you are using default theme and want to change, the restore will help you upload any kind of theme or template in XML format.
Switch to first generation Classic theme: This option for you to switch back your theme to default one only if you want to.
Edit HTML: This one is the most important thing if you want to add some code text such as HTML, CSS, or any SCRIPT. It will help you customize your theme the best way you want. (For only those who knows little or advanced in coding).
Mobile setting: This is how you can customize theme to appear in mobile view and it help the theme to be mobile-friendly for site performance.
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| Blogger Dashboard Settings |
Settings
The setting is the main root of the Blogger Website Builder Platform. Its contains the underground sections that you have to edit for your website to be approve by any Advertisement Network such as Google Adsense, Adsterra, Inforlinks, Propounder, Ezoic and may more. However, its has features for third parties analytic track your blog performances when enabled.
Lets find out how each works;
Title: This must contain the name that must appear on search engine when someone search the website or anything related to your website, it called Title. It should be 3 or 4 words.
Description: Its the backbone of the website to rank on search engine to improve site performance. The description should be 2 or 3 sentence due to limit of the space provided. When the website is search, the sentence in the description will appear under the title.
Adult content: This is caution for publishers to turn ON if everything in your website contains any adult content or explicit things, enabling it will show visitors a warning sign when entering your website.
Google Analytic Measurement ID: This one is very important for google track your website performance to analyze your earnings. The space there should be filled with some ID called Analytic Measurement ID. You will get this ID from Google Analytic. You must register account to get this ID.
Favicon: The favicon is the picture will should put it on your website and it should be a square form. Though it not compulsory to set favicon but it part of website designing.
Privacy: By turning off the privacy, you website will not appear on Google when someone search it. (Remember everyone has a privacy).
Publishing (blog address / custom domain): If you are a beginner and you don’t have TLD (Top Level Domain) yet, you can use the Subdomain (example.blogspot.com) for some time. Later you can set the custom domain (example.com) that is the Top Level Domain.
Redirect domain: Turn ON the redirect domain.
Manage Blog: This is a way you can import your content, and backup content. You can also remove your website from Blogger.
You can edit your profile by clicking the Edit Profile. This should contain information about you (Author of the Website).
To conclude, Blogger is one of the best website builder platform which is free for every publishers to host and create blog free. As we normally knows Blogger is owned by Google for publishers to use free tools to setup their blog. Blogger gives free subdomain (.blogspot.com) for every publisher who joined Blogger as a second blog. Blogger support theme or template which is in XML format either free or premium.
There are pros and cons in using Blogger as a your website builder. We already talked about the pros , as for cons, Blogger doesn't give you full features to build your website like WordPress or other premium website builders. However, using Blogger is fascinating due to it simple tools for easing website creating.
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