Category Archives: Blogger Buzz

The Buzz from Blogger

Expanding your audience with Google+: Kelly Saks’ story

From time to time, we like to highlight bloggers who successfully use Blogger and other Google products. Today we're featuring how Kelly Saks from Kelly's Kloset reached a wider audience with Blogger and Google+.
All about Kelly: 
Kelly Saks, the blogger behind Kelly’s Kloset, is a fashion and beauty expert based in Miami, Florida. Kelly posts daily musings on outfits, beauty tips, and local happenings. She has successfully transformed blogging from hobby to career, landing styling gigs with brands like Bloomingdales, Swarovski, and Macy’s.

How she did it: 
Kelly always shares her blog posts from her personal Google+ profile and the Miami Fashion Bloggers Google+ page, a page she contributes to with almost 400,000 followers. “The option to share on Google+ helps keep my fans up-to-date whenever I post something new,” says Kelly.

Kelly has broadened her audience and built a strong online community using Google+. Google+ has also helped her connect with other bloggers, fans, and even celebrities by live streaming the events she hosts using Hangouts On Air: “I can easily interact with fans even if they can’t come to events in person”.

If you’re also looking to grow your audience, Kelly uses several Google+ plugins that are easy to add:
    • The Google+ badge on Kelly’s Kloset shows her presence on Google+
    • The +1 button lets fans share her blog 
    • The Google+ followers gadget displays her growing follower count and allows fans to easily add her to circles 
Kelly notes that “these tools are really easy to use and make interacting with my audience a seamless experience”. You can explore these features by visiting the ‘Layout’ tab in the Blogger dashboard and clicking ‘Add a Gadget’.

Click here to learn more about Google+ and Blogger.

Posted by Diana Golduber, Google+ Marketing

Source: Blogger Buzz


Celebrating 10 years of shared success

Ten years ago we launched AdSense to help publishers earn money by placing relevant ads on their websites. I can still remember the excitement and anticipation as AdSense went live that first day.
Our small team huddled together in a cramped conference room, and right away we saw that publishers were as excited about AdSense as we were.
Fast-forward 10 years, and AdSense has become a core part of Google’s advertising business. The AdSense community has grown to include more than 2 million publishers, and last year alone, publishers earned more than $7 billion from AdSense. AdSense is a community that thrives because of all the content creators we are so fortunate to partner with. Their stories inspire us to do our part to make AdSense great.

On this occasion, it’s especially inspiring to hear the stories of partners who have been with us since the very beginning—like a retiree in New Zealand who was able to pursue her dream of writing about her garden, a tech support expert in Colorado who can spend more time with his kids, and a theme park reviewer who now sends employees around the world to test and review rides—all thanks to money earned from AdSense.

As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, we hope you’ll tune into our live Hangout on Air today at 10 a.m. PDT (5 p.m. GMT) on the AdSense Google+ page. I look forward to joining several of our partners to share stories from the early days of AdSense, talk about how we’ve all grown since then, and discuss the future for publishers and online advertising. And if you want even more 10th anniversary celebration, just visit our AdSense 10th anniversary page at any time.

Posted by Susan Wojcicki, SVP, Ads and Commerce

Source: Blogger Buzz


Bringing Google+ Comments to Blogger

Cross-posted from the Google Official blog

Posted by +Yonatan Zunger, Principal Engineer


Reading and responding to comments can be one of the most rewarding aspects of blogging. Not only do they help you connect with your readers, they can also inspire later blog entries. The challenge, oftentimes, is following all the conversations around your content—on Google+, for instance, as well as on your website. So we're making things a lot simpler.


Starting today, you can bring Google+ Comments to your Blogger blog. Once you've enabled the feature through your Blogger Dashboard, you'll enjoy a number of important benefits:


View your blog and Google+ comments, all in one place

Now when you're browsing your blog's comment threads, you'll see activity from direct visitors, and from people talking about your content on Google+. For example, if there's a public Google+ discussion about one of your blog entries, those comments and replies will also appear on your Blogger blog. This way you can engage with more of your readers, all in one place.


Help readers comment and connect with their circles

Your blog readers will now have the option to comment publicly, or privately to their circles on Google+. And when they're browsing blog comments, they can view all of them, just the top ones, or only those from the people in their circles.

In all cases, you and your readers will only see the comments you have permission to see. Giving people these kinds of controls not only encourages more meaningful sharing—it can lead to more blog traffic.

To get started with Google+ Comments, just visit the Google+ tab of your Blogger Dashboard, and check “Use Google+ Comments.” (Older comments will continue to appear in the new widget.)

You can also visit any post on the Official Google Blog (like this one), or on Blogger Buzz (like this one), to see Google+ Comments in action.


Happy commenting!

Source: Blogger Buzz


Improvements to the Blogger template HTML editor

Posted by: +Samantha Schaffer and +Renee Kwang, Software Engineer Interns.

Whether you’re a web developer who builds blog templates for a living, or a web-savvy blog owner who prefers to make changes to your template using HTML, CSS or JavaScript, you may be interested in some enhancements that we made to Blogger’s Template HTML Editor.

Your blog’s HTML template is the source code that controls the appearance of your blog. This template can be customized to appear however you’d like. The improved HTML template editor now supports line numbering, syntax highlighting, auto-indentation and code folding to make editing your template much easier.

Suppose we wanted to move the date of a blog post underneath the post title, similar to the Blogger Buzz blog. To do this, follow these steps:
Click the “Template” tab on the Blogger dashboard, then the “Edit HTML” button, to see the new template HTML editor:
Locate the “Blog1” widget quickly using the new “Jump to widget” drop down:
This widget controls how your blog posts are displayed. The code inside the widget is folded by default. Clicking the new fold markers ‘►’ next to the line numbers expands the widget and reveals a set of “includable” tags:
Inside the “main” includable is the block of code that renders the post date:
Cut the post date code section and move it to where we want it, in this case, under the post title in the “post” includable:
To check our changes, click the new “Preview template” button to see the updates:
The post date is exactly where we want it, so tab back to “Edit template”, hit “Save template” and we’re done!

Finally, we’ve added a “Format template” button that automatically cleans up the indentation of the template, and made it possible to search for text by pressing “Ctrl+F” once you’ve clicked into the editor. To find and replace text occurrences one by one, use “Ctrl+Shift+F” or to find and replace all occurrences at once, use “Ctrl+Shift+R”.
 
We worked on this project as part of Google Australia’s BOLD Diversity Internship Program. We hope you enjoy the changes we’ve made!

(Cross-posted from the Blogger Developers Network)

Source: Blogger Buzz


Mention people in your posts with Google+

Posted by +Malte Ubl, Software Engineer

Blogs are a great way to spark a conversation, and today we’re giving you a new way to grab someone’s attention: Google+ mentions in Blogger.  Now you can add a link to a Google+ profile or page when you want to mention someone in a post. If you then share your post from Blogger to Google+, we make it easier to notify your mentions by including them in the sharebox.

To mention someone, just type “+” before their name while you’re using the Blogger post editor.


The profile or page will show up as a link in your published post.  Hovering over will show a card with more info and an ‘Add to circles’ button. Clicking the link takes you straight to the Google+ profile or page.

So, whether you want to credit a co-author (thanks +Gregory Fair!), ask a question, or just kick off a dialogue, connect your blog to Google+ and try mentioning someone in your next post!

Source: Blogger Buzz


Grow your audience with the Google+ followers gadget

Connecting your blog to Google+ is a great way to attract new readers, as well as build lasting relationships with your followers. For example, you can easily share your posts in the Google+ stream, as well as enable blog visitors to recommend your stuff in a single click. Today we're excited to offer another Google+ perk: the followers gadget.

The Google+ followers gadget highlights your total Google+ audience (both its size and some friendly faces), and offers visitors the chance to follow you on Google+. As a result, you can grow your readership across the web, and reach them either in the Google+ stream, or through your blog.
To get started, just connect your blog to Google+, visit the "Layout" tab of the Blogger dashboard, and select "Add a Gadget." You can also read a bit more about today's update in our Help Center.

Happy blogging!

p.s. Those of you with the Google Friend Connect followers gadget can keep using it, if you like. We retired most of Friend Connect earlier this year, but we'll keep it running on Blogger for the foreseeable future.

Source: Blogger Buzz


New and improved Blogger mobile apps

Inspiration for a new post can happen at any place and time: on the couch, while shopping, at a game, or in the kitchen. Fortunately, mobile devices enable you to stay connected wherever you are.

With that in mind, we just launched updated apps for both Android and iOS. The updated apps include a visual facelift and other features which make it easier for you to create and share -- wherever your imagination runs wild. Some of the more notable improvements include:

  • Landscape support for composing posts
  • Sharing to Google+
  • Ability to view a scheduled post time
  • International support in 30+ languages
  • iPad support

We hope you enjoy these improvements, and keep writing great blog content on the go. 

Get Blogger in the Play store to get the latest on your Android phone or the App Store for iOS devices.

Source: Blogger Buzz


Getting Help on Blogger

As a Blogger user you’re likely aware of the nearly infinite number of ways to express yourself online. Whether you’re a photographer showing off your portfolio, a foodie sharing your newest tasty creation, or a business promoting your latest deals, Blogger has the tools to help your content shine and reach readers from all over the world. All of us on the Blogger team are passionate about our users’ success, and have a global team dedicated to making sure you are getting the most out of the product.

So if you’ve been thinking about making the upgrade to a custom domain, want to give your blog a fresh new look but aren’t sure where to start, or are having trouble building readership on your blog, we want to let you know that our Support team is here to help! We’ve developed a handful of helpful resources where you can learn more about the latest features, report a problem with Blogger, and even post your questions where our Blogger Support Team and Top Contributors can help you track down answers. Here’s the quick run-down of how and where to find help:

Blogger Help Center: For reading up on the latest features, understanding all the bells and whistles of your dashboard, getting quick troubleshooting tips for common problems, and much more. You can also get to the Help Center by clicking the gear icon on the Blogger dashboard.

Google Feedback: If you’d like to report a problem, new feature idea, or have other general suggestions and comments, we’ve got an easy way to do that right from the Blogger dashboard. Click the gear icon in the dashboard and then the Send us feedback link which will open up the feedback form.

Blogger Product Forum: Our active community of users, Blogger Support staff, and Top Contributors (our expert Blogger users and forum helpers) are here to answer your questions and listen to your feedback. Drop us a line and we’ll do our best to make sure it gets addressed promptly.

Abuse Reporting Form: If you need to report abusive content we have a special form to help you do so. You may also want to check out Google’s Terms of Service and/or Content Policy.

Finally, while the above channels are the quickest way to get help, we’ve also put together a list of our Support team’s pages on Google+ should you want to get in touch with us, connect, or just share a funny cat video.

Miles
Bruce
Giovanni
Jessica
Lisa
Inci
Javier
Brett

Source: Blogger Buzz


Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger now in the UK!

(Cross-posted from the Google Affiliate Network blog)

Earlier this year, we launched Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger in the US and added new enhancements in June. The positive results and feedback we’ve received are very promising, and we’re excited to announce that this gadget is now available to Blogger users in the UK!

To refresh your memory, Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger is a gadget that makes it easy for Blogger users to insert an affiliate ad into a blog post and earn a commission when someone clicks the link and makes a purchase on the advertiser’s site.

Watch the video below for a quick refresher:

Here’s how to get started:
  1. If you’re a Blogger user in the UK (or the US), go to the Earnings tab in Blogger and sign up for AdSense if you don’t already have an account.
  2. Once you have an AdSense account, you may see the Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger gadget when you write a new blog post.*
  3. Write a new post and select a relevant affiliate ad from the 'Advertise Products' gadget.
  4. Publish your post, and voilà! You may earn a commission when someone clicks your affiliate ad and makes a purchase.
Participating UK advertisers:
Advertisers including Bestbathrooms.com, Cheapsuites.co.uk, Crooked Tongues, Diamond Manufacturers, eFlorist, Hudsonreed.com, Perfume Click and The Snugg have already come on board, and more are joining every day.

If you’re an advertiser interested in participating in Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger, please reach out to your Google Affiliate Network account team or contact us if you’re not already working with us.

Source: Blogger Buzz


A more dynamic mobile reading experience

Last year we introduced mobile templates on Blogger, and Dynamic Views for the desktop. Since then, over 2 million blogs have started using Dynamic Views on desktop, and users have asked us for more mobile features. So today, we’re bringing the speed and advanced reading experience of Dynamic Views to mobile.  Configuring your blog to use a Dynamic View on mobile will result in a reading experience that mirrors the desktop, but is optimized for mobile.

To configure a Dynamic View for mobile on your blog, select the "Template" tab, and then click on the settings cog under the “Mobile” preview.  

If you’re currently using Dynamic Views on the desktop and have the “Default” mobile template selected, you don’t need to do anything -- your blog will automatically start using the mobile optimized view when viewed from a compatible mobile browser. For more information, see Blogger Help.


Currently, only the “Classic” view, which is best suited for small screens, will be shown on mobile. Tablets with large screens will get the full desktop experience. As with the older mobile templates, supported browsers are WebKit-based browsers (such as Android Browser, Chrome for Android and iOS, and Mobile Safari).  

We hope your readers enjoy the modern, compelling experience that this mobile update provides.

Source: Blogger Buzz