lovethemedownload

Adding Google Maps integration to your web projects can offer visitors a more interactive experience of your website and assist the understanding of where events or business takes place. In a recent project, I decided to utilize Blogger to create a website for a local business, and found that including Google Maps was of great benefit for visitors to understand where the business is located. However, of the many tutorials on the web which explain how to add Google Map functionality to our websites, I was unable to find clear instructions for how maps can be added to a Blogger powered blog. Luckily I discovered two simple and highly useful techniques for adding Google Maps to blog posts with no editing of the template required. In this post, I'll explain just how easy it is to add interactive Google Maps to your blog posts, which can offer your readers further insight into events, business or other local information which are relative to your site or blog posts. An Overv...

Some time ago, I was able to preview Susan Gunelius' new book, Google Blogger for Dummies , which is now available to buy from your local bookstore. After receiving my own copy, I've spent the past few weeks reading intently in order to provide you all with my full review of this "Dummies" guide. Blogger for Dummies ? The "For Dummies" series of reference books published by Wiley are complete guides on a range of subjects which present information in plain English. "Dummies" books are offered as complete guides on the given subject, where the information presented makes the subject easy to understand even for a complete beginner. In Google Blogger for Dummies , Susan Gunelius offers a simple and comprehensive approach for understanding and making the most of the Google Blogger platform. Chapters range from "Setting up your blog" right through to "Making Money With Blogger" and "Boosting your Search Engine Ranking"....

Displaying links to "related posts" beneath individual entries on our blogs is a tried and trusted method of providing useful and interesting reading material for our readers. I've written about several different methods which Blogger users can choose to display related posts - all of which perform their function well enough. But after seeing several of my favourite sites displaying links to related items with thumbnails using LinkWithin's free service, I was intrigued to discover how well this may be adapted for use with Blogger. About LinkWithin LinkWithin is a free service offered by a small team based in New York. This free service enables us to display related posts with thumbnails below our blog posts (the thumbnail is taken from an image within the post it links to). We retrieve and index all stories from your blog archive, not just recent stories, making them accessible to new or casual readers of your blog who would not otherwise encounter them. The pos...

Since it's launch back in 2006, Twitter has become a leading pioneer in the world of social media. Bloggers in particular find this service an invaluable tool for syndication, news stories and community conversation. For this post, I have rounded up 16 of the most useful tools, tips and free resources to help you get the most out of Twitter through your Blogger powered blog. Display your Latest Tweets Visitors to your blog may also enjoy reading your Tweets, particularly if they are of relevance to your blog's niche subject. Here is a selection of the best tools for displaying Twitter updates in your Blogger layout: The Official Twitter Badges Twitter provides an animated "Profile" badge which you can use to display your latest updates as a widget in your blog layout: You can configure the size, colours and number of updates for your badge in the settings, then grab the code which can be pasted in an HTML/JavaScript widget in your Blogger layout page. Ano...

As many readers have reported, the links to download my eBooks had become corrupted during my extended hiatus. Today I have uploaded both The Blogger Template Book and The Cheats' Guide to Customizing Blogger templates to Google Documents, a relocation I hope will prove far more reliable than my previous hosting solution! I've updated the download links for these eBooks and hope everyone can now read and download these resources without any problems. It's been a long time since these eBooks were released, so here's a quick overview of both offerings for new readers and those who may have missed the documentation upon their initial releases: The Blogger Template Book Choosing and using a new template for your Blogger powered blog can be quite a daunting task. What is the best method for installation? How can you choose the design and layout most suitable for your blog? The Blogger Template Book is a free complete guide to Blogger templates, from choos...

Keyboard shortcuts are a feature I find incredibly useful. Most of our favourite applications offers shortcuts to perform tasks, such as the generic CTRL+S to save or CTRL+B to generate bold text in word processing programs (the "Command"/CMD button for Mac users). Blogger offers us a range of keyboard shortcuts we can use when creating and editing our blog posts to perform some most-used tasks without having to scroll around to find their appropriate buttons. The following shortcuts have been tested to work in Internet Explorer 6+, although at present not all of these work in Firefox, Chrome and Opera*: Shortcut Function Global browser compatibility? CTRL+B Bold Text Yes CTRL+I Italic text Yes CTRL+U Underline text Yes CTRL+L Blockquote (when in Edit HTML mode only) No CTRL+Z Undo last operation Yes CTRL+Y Redo last operation Yes CTRL+SHIFT+A Insert Hyperlink No CTRL+SHIFT+P Preview Post No CTRL+D Save as Draft No ...

Blogger App for Android Blogger have released an official Android application, enabling Android users to post quickly and easily from their device: We are excited to announce our first version of the Blogger Android App. Using the app you can easily compose a post, attach a photo that you just took with your phone, and either save it as a local draft for later or immediately publish it to your blog - via Blogger in Draft Android users can download the app for free from the Android Market . As yet, I don't have an Android-based device to test it out for myself (I'm working on it!) but the app looks to be packet with useful features including: Switch between different Google accounts and blogs Choose to publish immediately or save as draft Upload photos directly from your device Share to Blogger from your gallery or browser (an advanced form of BlogThis within your Android device!) Share your (automatically configured) location View previously drafted and pub...

Many blogging services and social networks allow visitors to search for sites and users hosted on their service by keywords or tags. For example, those visiting Tumblr can search for posts tagged "Blogspot" , or visit Wordpress.com to search for posts tagged with Google . Unfortunately, there is no built-in feature to find posts or blogs which are hosted on Blogger. So in this post I'll explain methods you can use to connect with like-minded people and find interesting blogs to read on Blogspot. Using Google Custom Search to find sites on Blogger In my opinion, the most effective way to search for a blog on Blogspot is to search the *blogspot.com subdomain on Google. For example, if I wanted to search for a recipe site on Blogspot, I could enter the following into the Google search bar: recipes site:blogspot.com Which will bring up a page like this: Searching for recipes on Blogspot Another way of achieving the same thing is to use the "Advance...

Contact forms enable visitors to our sites to send us emails without having to expose our email address to potential spammers. I've been using Kontactr to embed a contact form in this site for years now, and still believe it is the most ideal solution for those using the Blogger platform. However, it seems my previous tutorial is now out of date! Recently, Kontactr added CAPTCHA functionality to their forms which makes even more difficult for spammers to abuse the facility. We can also now customize the appearance of the form to match the design of our sites. Here is a comprehensive tutorial to help Blogger users embed a functional, customizable contact form for their blog using Kontactr. Create your free Kontactr account Go to Kontactr and click the " Sign Up Now " button to create your free account: You will need to type your name, choose a username, type your email address and choose a password. When choosing a username, bear in mind that a hoste...

If you are just starting out with Blogger, Alison offers a useful free e-course which you may find useful. The Google Blogger course by Russell Stannard offers video training, an end-of-course assessment and Alison certification: Upon completion of this course you will be able to create your own blog. You will know how to add dates, pictures, links, video and embedded video to your blog. You will understand how to preview and publish your blog. You will gain a good knowledge of the settings that allow you to edit your blog. Once you've passed the module, you can choose to purchase a PDF or parchment certificate, share your achievement with a badge or simply provide a link to verify your certification. Admittedly this is a basic course in using Blogger, though it would be very useful for those just starting out or as a refresher course for those who have not used Blogger in some time (the video tutorials provide insight into the new interface and template designer)...

Since we can completely customize the appearance of our blogs and use custom domains, it is not always easy to tell if a website is powered by Blogger. Having looked at hundreds of websites while researching for the Blogspot Top 100 list, I've discovered a few methods to discover if a website is built on the Blogger platform. For those who would like to know if their favourite blogs operate using Blogger, here are some tips to help you find out. Does the URL of the site include *.blogspot.com? This is an immediate giveaway! Even if the Blogger navbar is hidden, sites whose URL is a subdomain of blogspot.com are definitely powered by Blogger!  Many content publishers choose to use a custom domain for their sites, so for these sites we need to look at other methods of deduction. Is the Blogger nav-bar present? The navbar at the top of the page is is the most obvious sign that a website is powered by Blogger! Used as a means to search and share the blog,...

New to Blogger? Need to know the basics of Google's blogging platform to start your first blog? Blogger for Beginners is a free guide for those new to the Blogger publishing platform. From creating your very first blog through to customising the appearance of your site and publishing feeds, this ebook covers all the basic knowledge you need  with detailed instructions and full colour screenshots. Download Blogger for Beginners (PDF) This free guide is divided into 10 main chapters and covers all the basics to get you up and running with Blogger: Getting started Writing your first blog posts Permissions and privacy Customise your blog Gadgets and the Blogger layout Comments and backlinks Publish and archive Share your blog How do I...? Where to find out more about using Blogger Preview the ebook below or download to read later in PDF format: Download the ebook Direct Download  (PDF) View/Download on Google Docs To open this eboo...