Blogger + Google Adsense Integration

Spent time writing post for long time without thinking about ads. Then it is time to realize that your blog going to pay you. Google was so nice with Blogger users that it integrated Google Adsense with its popular Blogging platform. Monetizing your blog is just a click away! You will check out about earning & campaigns post which provided with clear introduction for beginners. But most of us know more about Google Adsense. History of ad network will not begin or end without Google Adsense. It is most popular ad network among any other Pay Per Click advertising. In short, it is considered as king of ad network.

Sign Up for Adsense

For anyone who has dilemma when to monetize your Blogger blog, then just follow the instructions in the earning menu of the Blogger dashboard. The 'sign up for Adsense' will be enable when six months elapse after creating your blog. You may own any number of Blogger blog, yet each blog has its own incubation period and need approval to display ads.

Signing up for Google Adsense:

1. Once the button gets enabled in your Blogger account, then just follow the on screen instructions to sign up for Google Adsense.
2. To sign up, you will be provided with two options, to use existing Google Account or create new account. It would be wise to use your Google Account which you use for the signing in into Blogger as you will find it convenient at later stages.
3.  Once you sign up, it takes some time for Google Adsense Team to approve your blog. During the waiting period, empty ad box will be displayed.
4. Once you sign up you are free to select the Ads that are to be displayed in your blog. Google Adsense will provide recommended Ad unit that adapts to responsive design.
5. Once you select your ad unit, you will be provided with the code of that ad box which you could place in your Blogger layout. 
6. To place your ad, login to your Blogger account, select the blog which was recently approved by Google Adsense-> select 'layout'-> select 'Add a Gadget' -> select 'HTML/Javascript' gadget. Now paste the code provided by Google Adsense. Your ad will start displaying.

Note: No images have been provided in this blog considering privacy of Google Adsense account. If you find any difficulty setting up Adsense to your Blogger blog then leave comment about the problem. Possible solutions will be provided at the earliest!

Most of the Bloggers will find difficulty getting approval of Google Adsense Team. It is true, that Adsense Team is serious about Blogger blogs that display ads from Google Adsense network. If you find difficulty getting Adsense team approval for your blog, mention them in comments, most of the problem which prohibit your blog from getting qualified for Adsense program would be silly. So you will find easy way to get approval for Adsense team in no time once you fix them up.

WordPress Blogging Platform

WordPress.org

For beginner, it is good to start with Blogger platform. At some point, if you realize that having a self hosted blog is important, then it is time to move on. Most popular blogging platform is WordPress. It is an open source blogging platform which you could customize to your needs and necessities. But you need a hosting account or dedicate a computer machine. Either of the choice, you are going to use WordPress Content Management  System (CMS) for your blog. Well, if you have to start with WordPress, then visit wordpress.org not wordpress.com. Both of them are different!

Difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com:

Making it Black and White

It would be obvious to observe similarity between the two web address. Yet, both of them are different. Wordpress.org is Open Source project website where you could download the source code of the CMS, while wordpress.com is a website which implemented wordpress open source project act like Blogger service. In wordpress.com, you can create your own blog as we do in Blogger.com. So, if you wish to create your self hosted web blog, then start from wordpress.org.

To make it simple, wordpress.org has provided preferred hosting service who will provide one click install for WordPress. Bluehost, Dreamhost, Laughing Squids are the recommended WordPress hosting service.

WordPress.com is no less, it provide premium service for a cost. You can own your own domain name for your blog in wordpress.com. So, it is your choice when it comes to selecting the right platform. But it is highly recommended to own a self hosted web blog than wordpress.com. Practically, wordpress.com premium account will charge you little bit more than hosting service. Yet, you will find no hassle of blog management with wordpress.com. All you have to worry about is just writing good quality content for your web blog. The truth is each way has its own merits and demerits.

My personal opinion is it would cost less to own a self hosted blog than purchasing premium package from wordpress.com.

What if you don't find one click install?

It is fine to have other hosting services, but WordPress.org will not guarantee you with one click install. Unlike bluehost service, in which you could setup web blog in 20 minutes, other hosting services need you to upload the WordPress source code to the root of the web host.

Plugins:

The thing which made WordPress a buzz is plugins. For WordPress, you will find wide array of plugins that you might find it difficult select from the choices. Large number of web developers develop WordPress plugins. WordPress developer is most sought after job for any freelancer. 

For almost anything you will find plugin to get your job done in WordPress.

Moreover, you will have find more by yourself with your WordPress blog. To try blogging experience in WordPress it is good to start with wordpress.com.

Self Hosted Web Blog

Do you have a minute? If yes, it is good enough to confess that you need at least 5 minutes to know about hosted web blog. When it comes to hosted web blog, anyone might think that I am doing WordPress marketing. Since, it is been top Content Management System (CMS) in internet web blog history, anyone who wish to start a blog will be tempted to own a WordPress hosting! Now, the question is what is hosted web blog? Time to find out.

What is Self Hosted Web Blog?

Self Hosted web blogs are either self-hosted from home or hosted through a service provider. Unlike, Blogger where you depend on Google for the service, hosted web blogs are self-dependent. It means you own your blog completely and have control over all the aspects of your web blog. You are at the liberty to decide your own policy and terms. Especially, plugins! Most blogging platform fall short when it comes to plugins. In a hosted blog, you can control the level of plugins and could install & manage your own hand coded extensions. In simple words, it is like you own your house for good unlike renting it.

Owning a Blog is not having WordPress

So now, owning a self hosted web blog is not all about WordPress. WordPress is one among the CMS in Internet history. You will be provided with lot of other CMS to manage your blog. But WordPress gained popularity as it was open source and let developers to create and install own plugins. The repository of plugins made WordPress popular to stand of the crowd. Yet, if you wish to use some other CMS, then you are good to go. The point is WordPress blogging platform is not a must have if plan for a hosted web blog!

If you are planning to setup own blog, then it is good to check with other CMS such as joomla, Drupal and so on. A simple web search going to bring a lot of information than any book could do. Most of the CMS installations are just a click away. So it worth to give it a shot.

Advantages of Owning a Web Blog:

Well, it most advantageous to own a web blog for yourself rather than using using third party service if wish to exercise full control over your blog. The following are the few advantages of self-hosted web blogs:

• Full control over the blog functions
• Personalized blog experience
• Getting trust from visitors about your seriousness in blogging
• unrestricted plugins. If you could, you can create your own
• No more black outs for policy violations

Though the above list is short, self hosted web blogs are way better than depending on third party services. Some blogging platform provide services as like to make it appear as self-hosted blog, still those services would not let you the above activities.

I am not advocating here to own a self hosted blog. But none can deny reality! Self-hosted blogs are far better than free or hosted blogging services.

Drawback of self hosted web blog:

Everything comes with a price! None could deny the fact that every best thing will have its own pitfalls. Similarly, you might encounter few problems when own a self hosted web blog!

• Hacking attempts! You have to take Guardianship of your blog. You must protect it from attacker trying to gain access to your blog machine. Pulling it down might wipe out entire blog forever.
• You need to be good webmaster. Though, every blogging platform promises one click installation, yet you will need some technical knowledge to understand the working and customization of your blog. 
• Spams! Well internet history wouldn't be complete if we miss out spams from the index. As self hosted blogger you have to take care of spammer who will otherwise push links forever in your comment area. A blog with spam comment links is not good for business.

Though, the list mentioned here is short, most of the pitfalls could be sorted out with less effort but with a premium price. Most hosting service providers offer package for safety and security of your blog. Either you can purchase the package as a whole or take care for yourself. As always, it is a self hosted web blog, you have the control to what to be done.

Blogger Settings - Managing the Blog

Is anyone interested in a car without engine? Almost everyone of us wish to have best possible engine for the car. Similarly, every blog needs settings to manage the blog's overall functions and abilities. So do the Blogger dashboard provide settings for each blog hosted on Blogger service.

Blogger Settings

As usual, settings manage all the basic functions of the blog. Lets us see one by one to what Blogger has provided with us. 

Basic Settings

Basic: These are the very basic settings! Most of them are editable. Title is the Blog title which you have provided at the time of creating the blog. If you wish to add description, you could add few lines of text which will be appended after the blog title. 

Privacy, the very setting decide how you intent to use the blog. The default is 'listed on Blogger. Visible to search engine'. You blog will be indexed by Google and will be provided in the organic search results. 

Blog address! Yes, it is the address through which people identify your blog in internet. As a user of Blogger platform, you will be entitled to create unique sub-domain which would act as blog address. Further, you can setup custom domain name for blogger blog!

Permissions deal with adding, removing blog admins and authors. Click on the '+ Add authors' link and enter email address of the person whom you wish to add as an author in the blog.

Next, of course, your blog readership! Whom do you wish to read your blog post? Public is the best choice if you wish to include more readers. 

Post and comments: Do you mind if I say it has been already discussed in this blog! Managing Blogger comments has all the information about managing comments.

Managing Posts

You can made choice about how many blog post could be display in your home page? How images showcased in your blog! 

Post using Mobile and Email

Mobile and email: Interested in posting on the go! Then Mobile and email is the best method to post blog from various devices. For those who wish to post using SMS/MMS, you could add mobile devices from which you could post.

Next most useful option for any blogger is posting using email. Just fill up the 'secretwords' text box and you will start posting your blog post from your email. The format would be ksguruprasadh.<secretwords>@blogger.com. Send email to this address, you blog will be posted. The subject of your email will be placed as Blog Post title. To effective blog using email, check out How to post Blogger post from email?

Note: Be sure about 'secretwords' usage! Never share your secretwords with others. Anyone with 'secretwords' could post into your blog. It is your obligation to keep it secret! Blogger will not take any responsibility if someone post a blog with your secretwords. Better follow above link on how to post Blogger post from email.

Comment Notification Email: It is optional! If you wish to receive any comment notification email when someone leaves any comment in your blog post, then enter email to which you wish to receive such comment notification email.

Language and Formatting

Language and Formatting: Setup the language of your blog and transliteration. Transliteration could be of any language specific to any country. Of course, it is personal choice. Setting up a language will not make any change to search results.

Formatting will help to setup Time Zone, Date & Timestamp format along with comment timestamps. Though they are not functionally important, it helps providing customized personal experience.

Search Preferences

Search Preferences: If you are planning for SEO Blogger blog post, then each settings in search preferences play vital role. It helps setting up Meta tags, redirects, error messages. And you could set custom robot.txt file. 

Note: If you are not in SEO business, never touch these options. Any mistake in robot.txt file, your blog will be ignored by Google. So if you wish to add custom robot.txt to Blogger, follow the link.
These are the essential Blogger settings every new blogger must get acquainted with to start blogging! Make sure you have the right settings for your web blog before making it public.

Blogger Template Introduction

Editing a Blogger Layout is simply different from applying a Template. Template is non functional unlike Layout which carry functional Gadgets/widgets. To the Blogger beginners, template is an .xml file contains HTML, Javascript and xml code in one document. Blogger has some default stock templates which you can either apply them as such or customize them to your liking.

Blogger Template customization

Good news! With new updates to Google mobile friendly algorithm, Blogger supports responsive web design. So no added cost towards to web design. Each Blogger template has its own respective equivalent mobile friendly template which load for mobile users. With Smartphone penetration, mobile friendliness increases your presence in search engine. But customizing mobile layout is a different story. If you are interested in editing mobile layout, check on how to edit Blogger template for mobile view.

Blogger Template Customization

Let's responsive web design be aside, you are free to customize your blogger template. You can edit Background, width, layout in the customization menu. You will be provided with preview of customized template. Like with the layout, Template is your creativity. Play with it to explore new possibilities.