In this Blog I am going to discuss about "making a new blogger blog". I am not a professional blogger but I do have some experience with blogger blogging platform. Professional bloggers prefers a self hosted WordPress blog with a premium Custom domain. For a beginner blogger this is not recommended as you have to pay monthly for hosting, and annually for domains. A domain does not cost much because it requires only a small amount of money annually. But hosting does costs a lot because you have to pay monthly. 
This Blog is specially for beginner bloggers.So I will recommend a new blogger to start with blogger.com free blogging platform. You can also open a free blog at Wordpress.com but you can not use adsense for a free wordpress blog. You can use adsense in self hosted wordpress blog (wordpress.org). That means wordpress.org is for professional blogger and wordpress.com is for amateur blogger. So if you have any intention to make money, You have to choose between a free blogger blog or a self hosted Wordpress blog. Obviously for a beginner Blogger free blog will be comfortable.
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Steps to Make a decent Blogger Blog:
To open a free blog just go to Blogger.com and sign up within a second. Now you have to choose a good layout. Layout is very important because it helps in getting good impression. The blogger templates are good but does not look so professional. So I will recommend to Download Custom template. You can choose custom template from anywhere else. Try to choose a template which does not takes time to Load and you can focus on your contents.
All the important step to make your blog professional are described below. Don't forget to Sign up first to open a blog in blogger.com
Step 1) install a Custom professional Template: Login to your blogger account. Click "Design" then click "Edit Html" . This is the place where you can edit your blog templates or upload a new template. To upload: just Choose the "template file" you downloaded , then upload it. After uploading it click "View blog" to see the look of your blog. If you like the template keep it or if you don't like then upload a new one. You will need to do additional custom work to make it looks like your blog.
Step 2) Configure Header: Your Blog Title and the header image is the first thing which will attract the visitors. So give a suitable Blog title and Upload an Image. Try to edit the Image before uploading so that it can be fit exactly. If you want you can also write a description.
Step 3) Meta Tag : Meta Tag is very important for optimizing your blog in search engines. It helps the search engine to find your Blog description , Titles and keywords. To add meta tag to your Blog Log In to your account --> Design--> Edit HTML-->
Now in the HTML code find this code (use CTRL+F5 to find code) - <head> . Then right after it paste the followinbg Meta tags.
<meta name="title" content="YOUR BLOG TITLE HERE" />
<meta name="description" content="YOUR BLOG DESCRIPTION HERE" />
<meta name="keywords" content="YOUR BLOG KEYWORDS HERE" />
<meta name="author" content="NAME OF AUTHOR HERE" />
(In the "Your blog Title" give your desired blog Title , same in the description put the description of your blog etc)
4) Buy a custom domain: It is better to buy a custom domain from the beginning. What you are using currently is a blogger sub domain. Buying a premium domain will attract visitors because the domain name will be shorter which visitors can memorize easily. Moreover many affiliate program & premium advertising site prefers a blog with Custom domain. It will also help you to rank well in search engine.
To buy a Custom domain Log In to your account -->Setting-->Publishing-->Switch to Custom domain.
Find a suitable short domain name for your site. Make sure the name is unique and it matches with your Blog niche. Check the availability and buy .com domain. You can also buy .net or .org etc. Don't worry about the Price. You can buy a .com domain with only 10 dollars. If you buy it from blogger.com you will also get Google's apps for free as a gift. If you want you can buy Domain from Godaddy.com as well.
5) Add a Custom Favicon: What is a Favicon? Favicon is the unique Icon by which user can easily identify the site without the title or description. For example , you can see the favicon of my Blog at the top of your Web browser tab (The letter M ). When you will sign up with blogger , your Favicon will be default Blogger favicon. So, you will need to set up a custom Favicon to make your blog completely unique and nobody will understand that you are using a blogger blog (except the professional bloggers/webmasters).
* How to setup your custom favicon to your blog:
I am going to tell you the most easiest and the best way to add a custom favicon. Just go to this link ICONJ and upload the image (which will be your Favicon) . You can see the up loader at the top right corner of the site. The site is really awesome because it will do 2 things for you at the same time. It will convert your Image to .Ico extension and also upload the image to their site (free hosting). After uploading the picture copy the link as you can see in the picture.
After copying the picture then Log In to your account --> Design--> Edit HTML-->Click expand html.
Now find the "<body>" tag by using CTRL+F5 from your blog HTML codes. Then just below the <Body> Tag paste the link you have Copied from ICONj. Save the changes and look your blog.
This is the easiest way to change Favicon you will find in internet.
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I guess this is enough for a beginner level Blogger. Now you can include different types of gadget for making your blogger more beautiful. But do not use unnecessary widget which will make your blog peculiar. Now you have your own custom domain name, Your own custom Layout , Custom Favicon for your blog, Meta tag etc etc.Thanks for visiting this Blog. Cheers!!
Website Consultant
ReplyDeleteGood work…unique site and interesting too… keep it up…looking forward for more updates.