Add Amazon Product Links to Blogger Posts

In this tutorial you will learn how to deep link a specific Amazon product directly into your Blogger posts so that the link will appear either on every post page or alternatively only on a selected post page. By deep linking a targeted Amazon product directly to your Blogger blog you can expect to increase your Amazon sales and to make extra money from Blogger. If you wish to learn more about adding Amazon widgets to your blog please refer to my earlier tutorial Make Money Add an Amazon Widget to Blogger


This tutorial provides you with a complete walk through of the process of adding Amazon product links to Blogger. I have rated the tutorial as moderate as it involves setting up the Amazon product link, converting the code and adding a block of code to your Blogger template. All these steps are within the capabilities of the average Blogger user provided you follow the step by step instructions below.

How to Deep Link an Amazon Product to Blogger Posts
This tutorial will show you how to add an Amazon Product Link at the foot of every post in your Blogger blog. If you want your link to appear only on a specific individual post page see Tips and Troubleshooting below for instructions.

Difficulty Level: Moderate

1. Sign in to your Amazon Associates account. If you are not a member sign up is free to both Amazon.com and Endless.com
   
2. Click on the Links and Banners tab
   
3. Under the Product Links heading choose the Add Product Links Now link
   
   
4. From the Product Links page choose your Product Category from the drop down list and enter your search keyword phrase to identify the product you wish to link to. Hit the Go button.
   
   
5. From the search results choose the individual product you will linking to by clicking on the Get Link button on the right hand side of the product
   
   
   
6. You will now be taken to the Customize and Get HTML code page.
   
   
   • Select Link Type
     By default both the product image and text link will display but you can customize it to display the image only or the text only by checking the box alongside these options
     
   • Customize Link
     Choose the appearance of your product. With or without a border. Choose color options to suit your blog. I suggest you keep the default setting for the link opening in a new window. Amazon lets you see a live preview of your product on the right so that you can make any adjustments before embedding the code into your blog.
   
   
7. Once you are satisfied with the product's appearance click on the highlight code button at the foot of the page and copy the HTML code for the Amazon Product Link.
   
8. Open a Javascript to HTML converter such as Centricle. Paste your code into the content window and press the Encode button
   
9. Highlight and copy the code that has been converted
   
10. Login to Blogger if not already logged in
    
11. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML
    
12. Back up your Blogger template as a precaution
    
13. Check Expand Widget Templates box
    
14. There are several places you may wish your product link to appear. I have assumed for the purposes of this tutorial that you want it at the bottom of your post. Therefore find the following code in your template:
    
    

    <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>

15. Directly below this line paste the converted Amazon HTML code
    
16. Click on Save Template
    
17. Click on View Blog to view your link at the foot of every Blogger post including the home page view.

Tips and Troubleshooting
If you are writing about a lot of different products on your blog you may need to place targeted Amazon product links on your Blogger individual post pages. To have the Amazon Product Link only appear on a specific post page follow these steps.

How To Add an Amazon Product Link to an Individual Blogger Post
Before you get started you will need to know the full URL address of your Blogger post. To get this navigate in a new window to the specific post page of your Blogger blog and copy the address from the address bar at the top of your browser

1. Follow steps 1 to 13 as per adding an Amazon Product Link to the foot of every Blogger post.
   
2. Find the following code:
   
   

   <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>

3. Directly below this line paste the following code:
   
   

   <b:if cond='data:blog.url == "your blog post URL including http://"'>
   Paste your Amazon code here
   </b:if>

4. Replace "your blog post URL including http://" with the URL address of your blog post
   
5. Paste over "Paste your Amazon code here" with your converted Amazon HTML code
   
6. Click on Save Template
   
7. Click View Blog and navigate to the individual post page to see your Amazon Product Link at the foot of your Blogger post (Blogspot post)

In this tutorial you have learned how to add an Amazon Product Link to your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts). I have also shown you how to embed an Amazon Product Link directly into a specific Blogger post. By adding targeted Amazon product links to your Blogger blog you can expect to make extra money from your blog. I would love to hear from anyone about their experiences of adding Amazon widgets or product links to their Blogger blog so if you have the time please let me know how you get on.

Make Money With Adsense Keywords and Blogger

If you are new to blogging with Blogger (Blogspot) and wondering how to make money with Adsense this article is for you. If you have Google Adsense on your blog but are disappointed with the revenue generated so far then read on. Even if Google Adsense is performing well for you I am going to give you some tips that will mean you will earn extra money from Google Adsense.

Why Are Keywords So Important for Bloggers?
In order to make money from blogging with Blogger it is important first to understand the significance of keywords and keyword phrases. Via Google Adwords, the sister of Google Adsense, advertisers bid for keywords and keyword phrases. The more frequently these keyword terms are searched for the higher their value. That is why keyword phrases like make money or make money online which receive a huge number of monthly searches are top paying keywords and are worth so much to advertisers.


To make money with Google Adsense all you need do once your blog is receiving traffic is sign up with Google Adsense, receive a unique code and then place Google Adsense ads on your Blogger blog. These ad units are targeted automatically based on the keywords and keyword phrases which appear in the content of your posts. You get paid for every click on one of your Google Adsense ads. The amount you get paid is determined by the value of the keyword or keyword phrases used.

As a webpublisher it is important to be mindful when crafting your content that you use Google keywords and keyword phrases relevant to your blog's content. This does not mean that you stuff your posts with Google keywords to generate higher Google Adsense payments. In fact having too many keywords is known as keyword stuffing and could mean your blog is penalized by Google. A good rule of thumb is to have 3-5% of your content made up of your blog's keywords. A keyword density over 7% is too high and risks penalty.



Find The Best Google Keywords for Your Blog
These days many bloggers wanting to make money with Adsense build their blogs based on Google keywords. Their plan is to achieve first page positions on Google search pages for each of these keywords and keyword phrases. However, adopting this strategy from the outset would not be the case for most bloggers. Most of us start a blog about something we are interested in and then decide that we would like to make money with Google Adsense.

If Google keywords for your blog is not something that you have paid much attention to up to now then you may be surprised at what a difference it will make to your Google Adsense earnings and SERPs (search engine results page). Just by figuring out your keywords and emphasizing them in your blog posts you can expect to earn extra money with Google Adsense and Blogger. I did an exercise recently where I edited one of my earlier posts and added about 10 more keywords to the content. Not only did I move my article from about 60 in Google searches to 10 the revenue earned from Adsense for this article increased markedly too.

To determine what your keywords are for your blog you will need to conduct some research. Go to Google Adwords Keyword Tool and type in the topic of your blog. For instance if your blog is about making money online you would type in this phrase to receive other keywords that are related to your blog topic.

Try to identify about 10 to 15 Google keywords and keyword phrases that fit with your blog content. Print out this list and keep it handy so you can refer to it often when writing content for your blog.

Write an article around each of these Google keywords or keyword phrases. These 10 to 15 articles will become the backbone content of your blog. Research these articles by performing Google searches and reading what other bloggers who make it to the first couple of pages in the search engine results are writing about. Notice their keywords and keyword phrases, and the tags they have used. This research will help you identify two things:

• Any gaps not so well covered by fellow bloggers but relating well to your keywords. That will give you a nice opportunity to write a series of articles on the topic
  
• How other bloggers in your niche are tailoring their content for success and which keywords are performing well for them

Always write original content. Never copy another bloggers material. Despite being unethical to plagarize duplicated material is easy to identify and can mean that you get penalized by search engines like Google and run the risk of being banned from Google Adsense. My take on what is known as blog scraping is that if you need to copy what some else has written clearly you don't understand your blog topic well enough and you are probably better to write about something you do know something about. Your readers will see through you very quickly if you don't fully understand the depths of your blog topic.

Google Adsense Tips for Blogspot Bloggers (Blogger Bloggers)

• Add Your Main Keyword to Your Title Tag
  Make sure that your main keyword for each of your 10-15 articles forms part of your title tag as this is important if your article is to rank highly in search engine results. If you can use two keywords or keyword phrases all the better. You will note that I have added three keywords in my title: make money, Google Adsense and Blogger.
  
• Use the Main Keyword in the Body of Your Posts
  Make sure you use the main keyword throughout the body of your article. Ensure that your main keyword appears in the first and last paragraph of your post. There are keyword density tools available to help you check the ratio of keywords used.
  
• Make Sure You Tag Your Main Keyword
  Tagging your main keyword and other keywords and keyword phrases is also important if readers are to find your article. Your posts will do better in search engine results if they are appropriately tagged. And of course the better your blog is search engine optimized the more traffic your blog will receive and the greater the potential for Google Adsense revenue.
  
• Make Sure Your Blog is Search Engine Optimized
  Optimize your Blogger blog by adjusting your title tags and adding meta tags for better SEO. SEO is important as it generates search engine traffic and building traffic is paramount for high earnings from Google Adsense.
  
• Develop Backlinks for Your Blog
  Some of the factors that determine how high your articles will appear in search engine results are backlinks and the age of your blog. If you have some good backlinks to highly ranked websites your blog articles are likely to be promoted in search engine results. Use blog directories, forums, and comment on other blogs in your niche to build a good range of backlinks. Submit your best articles to article directories to generate traffic and links. Also submitting your article to social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon can provide backlinks and boost traffic at the same time
  
• Give Your Old Blogger Posts a Keyword Makeover
  Go back through your previous blog posts and identify posts that are not receiving a lot of traffic. Read through them and look for opportunities to rewrite small portions of the content to insert keywords and keyword phrases. Check the tags too and add any keywords and keyword phrases that may help to boost traffic. Identify any posts that need to be rewritten from a slightly different angle and with more scope for the addition of keywords
  
• Publish Posts at Least 250-300 Words Long
  Check the number of your articles Google has indexed. Shorter articles can often be missed out particularly if your blog is only recently created. Plus shorter articles do not give enough scope for Google Adsense to necessarily know what keywords to target when serving ads.
  
• Optimize Google Adsense Placement, Size and Appearance
  Some locations for Google Adsense work better than others. Make sure you read up on Google Adsense placement as this will ensure you make the most money from your Adsense ads.
  
  Some Adsense ad unit sizes are better performers than others. My personal favorite is 336x280 ad unit which I use successfully on most of my blogs.
  
  Consider the appearance of your Adsense ad unit. Blend it in or make it stand out the choice is yours.

In today's article I have discussed how to make money with Google Adsense and Blogger. I have paid close attention to the use of keywords and keyword phrases in your content as these are the basis for the ads served up by Google. Included in this article are tips on how to locate and identify your keywords, increase your keyword density and use keywords effectively along with other Adsense tips.

Make Money Add an Amazon Widget to Blogger

In today's tutorial you will learn how to place an Amazon widget on your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to enable you to add a further income stream to your existing Blogger earnings.

Adding an Amazon widget to Blogger is not difficult. No change or very little change to your Blogger template is required. There is some time involved in setting up the widget itself and choosing the products to link to and customizing the look to match your blog however. This tutorial will walk you through the steps involved but first a few need to know facts about Amazon's affiliate program.


Important Details For Bloggers About Amazon's Affiliate Program

• Amazon have 2 referral structures: Classic Plan and Performance Plan
  
  
  • For the Classic Plan - A flat rate commission of 4% is paid
    
  • For the Performance Plan - A sliding scale between 4% and 8.5% commission is paid on general product items shipped. Consumer electronics is paid at a flat rate of 4%. Kindle, MP3,video on demand and game downloads are at the rate of 10%. View fee structure for Performance Plan
• Sell 7 items in a month and you will receive 6% commission on sales. Sell in excess of 30 items and receive referral fees at the rate of 6.5%
  
• Affiliates earn commission on the total of items shipped not just the first product bought
  
• Payment options are direct credit, check or Amazon Gift Certificate. There is a $15 charge for the issue of a check.
  
• Payment of referral fees is made once your account reaches $10 provided you have opted for the direct credit or Amazon Gift Certificate option. Otherwise it is $100 for a check (cheque)
  
• Amazon offer a choice of 17 different widgets
  
• Amazon also offer links and banners and an astore option

Earning Money from Amazon Widgets
Linking to Amazon products on your blog can generate significant income depending on your blog topic and the type of links you choose. I personally find that my sales are not always related to blogging despite the Amazon widget on this blog linking to books about blogging. However I would strongly suggest that you try to match the products offerred to the general content of your blog so that your links are targeted to your blog's audience. Another option is to add a generic Amazon widget such as the Deals Widget to snag those bargain hunters and impulse buyers from your readership.

Placing Amazon Widgets on Blogger
There are 17 different Amazon widgets to choose from. The decision about which widget is best will partly be determined by the type of blog you have and where you want to place the widget.

I have had some success with the Carousel Widget that I have on Blogspot Blogger Guide - another of my blogs. I have found under the header to be a prime location for this gadget and as it is displayed on every page the widget is getting maximum exposure. I have also had moderate success with a sidebar location using the I Recommend widget. I think it is true to say that you will need to experiment a bit to find the best type of widget for your blog.

How to Add an Amazon Widget to a Blogger Blogspot Blog

Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate

1. Join Amazon's Referral Program and create an affiliate account at Amazon. You will need to supply your direct deposit details as Amazon charges to issue affiliate checks (cheques)
   
2. Once your affiliate registration is confirmed (this is a fast process) you will then be ready to start to create an Amazon widget for your blog. So go ahead and login to your affiliate account at Amazon and click on the widgets tab
   
3. Now comes the fun part - choosing a widget. Amazon currently have 17 different widgets to choose from. The Amazon help section is good and I suspect will answer most of your questions if you get stuck.
   
4. Choose your widget. For the purposes of this demonstration let's choose a Recommended Product Links widget. Click on the Add to Your Webpage button
   
5. From the drop down select a product line eg Cameras and Photo. Select a subcategory eg General Bestsellers. Click the Continue button.
   
   
6. Select the size of widget according to the location where it will be placed on your blog eg 160x600 in the sidebar of Blogger. Click on the Select This Size button at the right of the example widget
   
   
7. Now you will need to customize your widget. Click on Customize Link Appearance and enter link and text colors to suit your blog. Ensure that the widget opens in a new window unless you are quite happy for your readers to leave your blog. Leave this window open in the meantime as we will be returning
   
   
8. In a new window login to Blogger if not already logged in
   
9. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements
   
10. Click on Add Gadget in the sidebar and choose HTML/Javascript from the list of available gadgets
    
11. Copy the widget code which contains Amazon's tracking code and paste it into the content area of the gadget. Add a title if you wish. Click the Save button
    
12. Use the drag and drop feature to reposition your widgets in the sidebar in the order that you want them to appear. Save any changes
    
13. Click on View Blog and admire your new widget in the sidebar of your blog

Tips and Troubleshooting
Some placements of Amazon widgets will require tweaks to your Blogger template. For instance the Carousel widget which I mentioned earlier I inserted under the header in my blog. To place an Amazon widget or for that matter any widget below the header and above the first post in Blogger do the following:

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in
   
2. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML
   
3. Find the following line of code
   
   

   <b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='no'/>

4. Replace the no with yes and click the Save button
   
5. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements
   
6. You will see that you can now add a gadget below the header

In this tutorial you have learnt about adding Amazon widgets to a Blogger Blogspot blog in order to earn cash from referral fees. Most bloggers earn around 4 to 6.5% in commission for items shipped from Amazon. While not the best affiliate scheme Amazon referral fees can add up to tidy sum at the end of the month. I would recommend giving it a try. You will need to experiment to get the best fit of location and widget. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Add Affiliate Banner Below Post in Blogger

In today's Blogger tutorial you will learn just how easy it is to place an affiliate banner at the end of each post of a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). This is a relatively easy task but does require adding a short snippet of code to your Blogger template. For those new to Blogger or without much technical knowledge don't worry as I have broken down the steps so that anyone can follow them even virtual beginners.


How to Add an Affiliate Banner Below a Blogger Post
The instructions below will place an affiliate banner below each post in your blog. The banner will appear on all pages including the home page. If you want faster loading times and the banner to appear only on individual post pages see tips and troubleshooting below for instructions on how to restrict the banner display to post pages only.

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Design > Edit HTML

3. Back up your Blogger template as a precaution by downloading to your computer

4. Check the Expand Widgets Template box

5. Find the following lines in your Blogger template with CTRL + F to bring up the search box

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>
</div>

6. Paste your affiliate banner code between these two lines

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>
Place the affiliate banner code here
</div>

Once you have finished your code should like something like the following which places a horizontal banner (468x60) in the post footer but any size banner can be inserted below each post provided your template is wide enough to accommodate it:

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>
<a href='https://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=XXXXXX' style='text-decoration: none;' title='Get Chitika | Premium'><img alt='Get Chitika | Premium' border='0' src='http://scripts.chitika.net/eminimalls/logos/468x60.png' title='Get Chitika | Premium'/></a>
</div>

7. Save Template

8. Click on View Blog to see your new affiliate banner in action


Tips and Troubleshooting

• If your template does not have these lines it may only have two post footer lines in which case you can do one of two things
  
  
  1. Add these lines to your template:
     
     

     <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>
     Place the affiliate banner code here
     </div>

  2. Or place the affiliate banner code between the following lines:
     
     

     <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'/>
     Place the affiliate banner code here
     </div>

• If you would like the banner to appear below your post only on the post page and not the home page then you will need to add an if statement to the code as follows:
  
  

  <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>
  <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
  Paste affiliate banner code here
  </b:if>
  </div>

• If you are having problems adding the affiliate banner code to the template make sure that only single quotes are used. The Blogger template code is sensitive to this and usually doesn't accept double quotes

In today's Blogger tutorial you have learned how to place an affiliate banner at the bottom of a post in a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). This banner will be the same for each post and only displays on the individual post page. If you would like to know more about adding banners to Blogger please consult the list of tutorials below.

Add Simple Image Slider to Blogger

Today's tutorial will teach you how to add a very simple image slider to the sidebar or content area of your Blogger Blogspot blog. The image slider will enable you to show off your images to readers and makes a nice addition to a personal blog. Each scrolled image is linked to the related post so that readers can find the posts they are interested in very easily. When the reader hovers over the image the slider stops and resumes again when the mouse is removed. See a for a working demo of this image slider in the content area or for a working demo of this image slider in the sidebar area.

This slider is so simple you will be able to have it up and running in about 5 minutes. No change to the template is required making it a breeze to install. Even if you are very new to Blogger and a beginner I will show you just how easy it is to add an image slider to your Blogger blog.

How To Add a Very Simple Image Slider to a Blogger Sidebar
(note this code will scroll the image from bottom to top)

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements

3. Click on Add a Gadget in Blogger sidebar

4. Select the HTML/Javascript widget from the list of available gadgets

5. Paste the following code into the content box of the gadget

<br /><!-- HTML codes by blogknowhow.blogspot.com --><br /><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="up" scrollamount="5" onmouseover="this.stop();" onmouseout="this.start();"><a href="url of blog"><img alt="description of image" width="160" src="url of image" height="110" /></a><p> Image title</p> <a href="url of blog"><img alt="description of image" width="160" src="url of image" height="110" /></a><p> Image title</p> <a href="url of blog"><img alt="description of image" width="160" src="url of image" height="110" /></a><p> Image title</p> <a href="url of blog"><img alt="description of image" width="160" src="url of image" height="110" /></a><p> Image title</p> <br /></marquee><br />

6. Add a title to the widget if you wish

7. Substitute the url of your blog posts, the description of your image, the url of the image, and the title of the image for each image you wish to display. For example:

<br /><!-- HTML codes by blogknowhow.blogspot.com --><br /><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="up" scrollamount="5" onmouseover="this.stop();" onmouseout="this.start();"><a href="http://best-free-blogger-blogspot-"><img alt="Blue Magz - Best Free Blogger Blogspot Templates" width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCzojM6hHkr_scINPHM_K8hw61QXGKeR8bonR3Ow4NBhlZHSYrlnA9T6BEIMRZEaDFcF66n9u9eSG5IW7tSKGmQ7dJn9OL8002_SkVf8oRM0UmvXBOE9OEWbCJx_LQdROVs7vDno57no/s320/blue-magz_blogger-template.jpg" height="110" /></a><p> Blue Magz</p> </marquee>
This code results in:

Sample text under image

To find the URL of your blog post go to the individual post page and copy the url from the address bar in your browser.

To find the URL of the your image. Upload your image to a blogger post and copy the address enclosed in src=" " tags.

8. Save the gadget

9. Use the drag and drop feature to position the new widget in the sidebar

10. Click on save to save your changes

11. View your new widget in the sidebar of your blog

Tips and Troubleshooting

• To change direction of the slider
  Please note that this code will scroll the image from bottom to top. If you would like it to scroll in the reverse direction all you need do is change the direction in the code from "up" to "down". Or alternatively you can scroll from left to right by setting "right" and right to left by setting "left"
  
• To increase the size of the images
  To increase or decrease the size of the image displayed simply adjust the width and height parameters to suit your needs
  
• To add more images
  To add more images to the slider add the following to the code before </marquee>
  
  <br /><!-- HTML codes by blogknowhow.blogspot.com --><br /><a href="http://"><img height="110" alt="description of image" src="" width="160" /></a> <p> Image title</p>
  
• To adjust scroll speed
  Scroll speed is set to 5 by default but any number can be set between 1 and 20 with "1" being the slowest and "20" being very fast indeed.
  

In today's tutorial I have shown you how to add a very simple image slider to your Blogger Blogspot blog to show off the images on your blog. There are a number of other image and content sliders and image slide carousels that can be added to Blogger and I will be writing about some of these in my upcoming posts.

Add Chitika Ads to Blogger Blogspot

this tutorial you will learn how to add a Chitika ad unit to a Blogger Blogspot blog. To put a Chitika ad unit on a Blogger blog you will need to add the Chitika ad code directly into your Blogger template. Full instructions are set out below so that even beginner bloggers and Blogger newbies can follow these to install Chitika advertising program on their blog. If you are not already signed up for Chitika read about some of the advantages of advertising with Chitika at Blogspot Blogger Guide.


Chitika and Google Adsense - A Winning Combination
One of the main questions that bloggers ask about Chitika is can it be used with Google Adsense. The answer is most definitely yes. Chitika and Google Adsense can be used in conjunction as there is absolutely no conflict because Chitika ads unlike Google Adsense are non-contextual.

By adding Chitika to your blog you will increase your revenue from pay per click advertising. The CPMs are reputed to be higher than Google Adsense making it possible depending on your blog theme to make potentially higher earnings than with Google Adsense. For those looking for the highest possible earnings the new 550x250 mega units from Chitika are a particularly good choice if you have the space to display them. Best of all the earnings payout threshold for Chitika is only $10.00 making it a very achievable target for even the most modest blogger.

How to Add Chitika Advertisements to Blogger Blogspot Blog
Following these instructions will put a Chitika ad unit at the end of your blog posts but before the post footer details.

1. Sign up with Chitika Advertising Program and set up your ad unit following the online instructions

2. Highlight and copy the premium ad code. It needs to be parsed before entering it into the Blogger template so go ahead and paste it into the code window at Centricle.com and click on the encode button


3. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

4. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

5. Back up your template as a precaution by downloading it to your computer

6. Check the Expand Widgets Template box

7. Find the following line of code by entering it into the search tool (Use CTRL + F)

<p><data:post.body/></p>
or
<data:post.body/>

8. Copy the parsed Chitika code from Centricle.com and paste it into your Blogger template immediately after the above line

9. Click Save Template

10. Click on the View Blog link to view your ad unit. You will need to add the following to the end of the URL address in your browser to see your ad unit as ads are only served to North American visitors.

#chitikatest=yourkeyword

for instance I would enter

http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com#chitikatest=blog

to see how my ad unit would display ads for this keyword. Don't forget to refresh your page using CTRL + R

Summary
In this tutorial you have learned how to add a Chitika ad unit to your Blogger Blogspot blog. If you would like to start taking advantage of the Chitika advertising program on your blog and earn some extra money you can sign up to Chitika by following this link.

Tips and Troubleshooting
If you want to place your Chitika ad unit in another location other than below the post it is possible to add the code directly into a gadget in which case there is no need to parse it.

Add a Twitter Followers Counter to Blogger

In this tutorial you will learn how to place a Twitter Follower Counter on your Blogger Blogspot blog to display the number of followers you have on Twitter. A Twitter count button will encourage readers to follow you on Twitter much in the same way as putting a Feedburner subscriber counter on your blog will encourage new subscribers.

How To Place a Twitter Followers Counter on Blogger

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements

3. Click on the link to Add a Gadget to the sidebar or footer

4. Select HTML/Javascript from the list of gadgets

5. Paste the following script into the widget content box depending on the button your prefer:

Standard Button

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=yourTwitterusername"></script>

Black Button

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=yourTwitterusername&style=black"></script>

Big Bird Button

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://twittercounter.com/embed/?username=yourTwitterusername&style=bird"></script>

If you would like to view more Twitter Counter badges you will find them at http://twittercounter.com/pages/buttons/

6. Replace the username with your own Twitter username. For example my username is blogwizz so I would enter username=blogwizz. If you are not already a member of Twitter sign up is a breeze

7. Enter a title for the widget if you wish

8. Click Save

9. Move your new widget into position on your sidebar by using Blogger's drag and drop feature

10. Click the View Blog link to admire your new Twitter Followers Counter



In this tutorial you have learned how to put a Twitter Followers Counter on your Blogger Blogspot blog so that you can display an accurate count of your Twitter followers. This will encourage other readers to begin following you on Twitter.

Add Banner Adsense Above Blogger Header

One of my readers asked me how to add a Google Adsense ad unit above the header of a Blogger Blogspot blog. Rather than post a long reply I decided to write an article about it so that others looking for help to place an affiliate banner or Google Adsense banner at the top of their blog will find the solution more easily.

To set up Blogger so that ad units can be placed above the header requires the addition of a snippet of code to your Blogger Template. I have aimed this tutorial at beginners and newbies to Blogger. The tweak can be performed in less than 5 minutes.


How to Add a Google Adsense Ad Unit or an Affiliate Banner Above the Blogger Header

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

3. As a precaution back up your template by downloading the full template to your computer

4. Tick the Expand Widget Templates box

5. Using CTRL + F to bring up the search box find this line which in most templates will be directly after <body> tag

<div id='outer-wrapper'>

6. Paste this block of code after this line to create a new section

<div id='topads-wrapper'>
<b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
</div>

7. Next we need to add some CSS styling to the new section. Please note that the banner will be centered by default. If you want to change the alignment for some reason you just need to change the CSS styling.

Place the following code in the head section of your template before these lines:

]]></b:skin>
</head>

/* Top Ads
----------------------------------------------- */
#topads-wrapper {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
width: 100%;
}

#topads {margin: 0; padding: 0;}

#topads .widget {margin: 0; padding: 5px 0;}

8. Click the Save Template button

9. Go to Layout > Page Elements

10. You will now see that you can add a gadget to a new section above your header and directly below the navbar.

11. To Add a Google Adsense Ad Unit
Click on Add a Gadget and choose your desired Google Adsense ad unit.
To Add an Affiliate Banner
Or if you want to add an affiliate banner then you would click on Add a Gadget and choose a HTML/Javascript widget from the list of gadgets available in the menu. You would then paste the affiliate banner code into the content box in the popup window and save your changes. Click on View Blog and you will see your new banner displayed above your blog's header.
Tips and Troubleshooting

• If you wish to add more than one widget to the section you will need to change the template code:
  
  from
  

  <b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>

  
  to:
  

  <b:section class='topads' id='topads' maxwidgets='3'>

  
  This change to the template will allow you to add up to 3 widgets above the Blogger header.



• If you wish to display your Google Adsense ad unit only on the post page and not the home page then you need to add an if statement. For instance go to Layout > Edit HTML after you have created your ad unit and you will see that the code you inserted is now different. That is because the Adsense widget code has been added. You are likely to have something that looks like this:
  
  

  <b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
<b:widget id='AdSense7' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:adCode/>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

  
  By inserting the code within an if statement we can control where it appears. To have the Google Adsense ad unit only display on the post page add these lines of code:
  
  

  <b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
<b:widget id='AdSense7' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<data:adCode/>
</b:if>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

In today's tutorial you have learned how to create a new section above the Blogger Blogspot header and how to add a Google Adsense ad unit to that spot or an affiliate banner. You have also learned how to place that Google Adsense unit or banner only on the post page rather than on every page on your blog. Any questions please ask.

Add Email Subscription Form and Links to Blogger Blogspot

In this tutorial you will learn how to add an email subscription form to your Blogger Blogspot blog so that your visitors will have easy access to your latest updates via email. Adding an email subscription form to your blog is very easy to do and is one way to stimulate repeat visits to your blog.

Below is a step by step walkthrough of how to add an email subscription form to a Blogger blog. I have broken down the steps so that even beginners and newbies can easily follow the steps.

Why Offer the Option to Receive Updates Via Email?
If you are keen to have your visitors return to your blog then as a webmaster you can facilitate this by giving them options about how they would like to receive your updates. Receiving updates by email is just one of several options that you can offer your visitors to turn them from a one time visitor into a regular follower. Other common choices are to follow you in a reader such as Google Reader or alternatively follow you on Twitter. I have recently set up my feed to feed directly into Twitter using the Twitterfeed service so that my readers can follow me on Twitter.

How to Set Up an Email Subscription Form at Feedburner
In order to set up an email subscription link or form at Feedburner you first need to have your feed burned by Feedburner. If you are not sure how to do this please read my step by step article on burning a Blogger RSS Feed at Feedburner or follow these brief instructions

1. If you are using your Google Account click on the My Account link and choose Feedburner from the list. Alternatively go to Feedburner and sign in. If you aren't registered you can quickly create a free account using your Google Account.

2. After logging in you will be taken to the My Feeds Page. If you already have your feed burned skip to Step 3 otherwise follow these instructions to burn your feed.

If you need to burn your feed first enter the URL of your Blogger blog into the Burn a Feed Right This Instant box and click Next.


You will need to enter the title of your new feed. I suggest you use your blog title as your title. You will also be asked to choose a feed so choose the RSS Feed. You will then be taken to a success page and a message something like Congrats! Your FeedBurner feed is now live. After clicking Next you will now be prompted to customize your options. Read how to do this in my article about burning a Blogger RSS Feed at Feedburner. Once you have finished customizing your options click Next to proceed to the My Feeds Page.

3. Once you have your feed click on the link to it from the My Feeds Page. This will direct you to the Feedburner dashboard.

4. Now select the Publicize tab.

5. From the left sidebar click Email Subscriptions

6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Activate button. If you are not sure what email address you are using for your account you can check this first.

7. You will now be taken to the Subscription Management Page.


8. Choose your language. The default is English

9. From the dropdown menu Use a Widget in select Blogger. The default is Typepad. The orange Blogger favicon will now show up.

10. To Automatically Insert the Subscribe By Email Widget into Blogger

1. Click on the GO button next to the Blogger Widget.
2. You will be taken to the Blogger Add Page Element Page where you can select your blog from a dropdown menu if you have more than one blog.
   
   
3. Click on the Add Widget button and your subscribe by email widget will be added to your blog.
4. You will now be taken to the Layout > Page Elements page
5. Reposition your widget and save any changes. By default the widget is added to the top of your Blogger sidebar.

Note:If you find that the Page Elements Page does not load properly click on View Blog and you will find that the widget has been inserted. You can then go back and reposition it.


To Manually Insert the Subscribe By Email Widget into Blogger

1. Copy the code and navigate to the Layout > Page Elements screen in Blogger.
2. Select Add a Gadget in the area you wish the subscribe by email widget to appear (in most cases this will be the sidebar).
3. Choose HTML/Javascript widget
4. Paste the widget code into the content box
5. Click on the Save Button
6. Reposition the widget if necessary. A good place is at the top of the right sidebar and Save.
7. Click on View Blog to see your new email form in your blog

Add an Email Subscription Link to Blogger
Note you can also add an email subscription link to your blog. Either copy and paste the link from the Feedburner Subscription Management Page into your blog or you can automatically insert it by following the same steps as with the automatic insertion of the email subscription form. You will find the code for the link in a text box below the code for the form on the Subscription Management Page. Email subscription links are useful both in the sidebar and beneath each post.



Check Your Subscribe By Email Form is Working Correctly
Once your subscribe by email widget is safely installed your form is ready for use. I suggest you test drive it to make sure it is performing correctly. Besides if you sign up you will have at least one subscriber right? Also you may want to regularly check who is subscribing to your blog by email by navigating to the Feedburner > Publicize page for your blog.

1. On the homepage of your blog enter your email address and click on the Subscribe button.
2. You will be take to a Feedburner Email Request screen with a captcha check for spam. Enter the sequence of alphanumeric characters into the text box.


3. Click on the Complete Subscription Request button
4. You will now be informed that your request was successful and that you will need to click on the activation code in an email that has been sent to you.
5. Open your email program and retrieve the email and follow the activation link. You will then receive an Email Subscription Confirmed notice from Feedburner. As the notice points out you will only receive an email if you make a post so you will need to get cracking on writing your next post.



In this tutorial you have learned how to add an email subscription form to a Blogger Blogspot blog so that your readers can enjoy receiving your most recents posts directly to their mailbox. Allowing visitors to sign up for your feed via email will promote your blog and can easily turn a new visitor into a regular follower. An alternative to an email subscription form is to insert a subscription link into your blog. I find a good place for an email subscription link is after each post to encourage visitors to sign up for my feed.

Tips to Add a Digg Button to Blogger Blogspot

Today's article discusses where to place a digg.com button on your Blogspot Blogger blog and shows you how to add an integrated digg button to your blog. The button allows your blog's visitors to digg posts from your blog and submit those articles to Digg.

What is Digg.com?
Digg is a social content site where readers submit stories, videos and images. Depending on interest and popularity articles are commented on by members. You can encourage your readers to digg your stories by adding a Digg button to your Blogger blog. The button will display a real time count of the number of times your post has been dugg.

Why Add a Digg Button to My Blogger Blogspot Blog?
Why would I want to add more buttons to my blog you may be wondering. Well there are a number of reasons why getting on board with Digg will be helpful to you in growing your blog.

• Digg is a ready source of traffic that can drive visitors to your blog and it is too important to overlook. When visitors digg your stories it will encourage new readers to visit your blog.
  
• Posts that have been submitted to Digg appear in search engine results so your blog will receive exposure.
  
• A digg button will encourage visitors to submit your blog's content including images and video to Digg. This will encourage others to comment and write about your post and possibly link to it.

What to Consider When Choosing to Add Digg to Your Blog
When adding a Digg button to your Blogger Blogspot blog there are some important considerations to think of before you get started. You will need to decide about:

• The look of the button to place on your blog as Digg gives you the option of several sizes to choose from. The look and feel of your blog will dictate what button you decide on.
  
• What pages your Digg button will display on. Do you want it on the home page as well as the post pages for instance? I strongly advise that you place any integrated button only on post pages otherwise you will find the loading time of your homepage will be noticeably reduced.
  
• What position to place the button in on your blog. Under the post title, beside the first paragraph, below the post are all common locations for a Digg button. Placing a button near the top of your posts can be a good ideas as visitors will see it as the page loads because the button will be above the fold ie the area that visitors see without having to scroll down. If you have a bunch of social media buttons at the bottom of your posts already you might want to include your Digg button in this sequence.

Can I Digg My Own Blog Content?
Yes. You most certainly can digg your own Blogger posts as this will get you a listing in Digg.


How to Add a Digg Button to Blogger Blogspot Blog
I am going to show you how to manually change your Blogger Blogspot template to include your Digg button. While this is not a difficult tweak you will be changing your template. Make sure you take care not to overwrite any code. My suggestion as always is back up first by downloading your template before beginning the addition of this code.

To add a large Digg button to appear next to the first paragraph in your Blogger Blogspot posts:


1. Login to your Blogger blog if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

3. Back up your template by downloading full template as a precaution

4. Check the Expand Widgets Template box

5. Find this line of code using CTRL + F

<p><data:post.body/></p>

6. Paste the Following code above <p><data:post.body/></p>

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

7. Click on the Save Template button

8. Click on View Blog link and navigate to an individual post page. You will see your new digg button is only visible on the post page.


Customizing Your Digg Button Tips and Troubleshooting

To have the Digg button display on all pages not just the individual post pages remove this line:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>

To have the Digg button aligned to the left instead of the right change this line from:

<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>

to:

<div style='float:left; margin-left:10px;'>

To replace the large button with the compact button replace the code in Step 6 with:

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
digg_skin=&quot;compact&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

To change the background color of the button from white to your own desired color add this line:

digg_bgcolor=&quot;#ff9900amp;quot;;

below this line:

digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;

Note: Change the value #ff9900 to whatever hex color you would like.

To move the Digg button to below the post content instead of at the top paste the following code:

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
digg_skin=&quot;compact&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

to the end of the section of code beginning with this line

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>

If you have a third post footer line then place this code after that block of code.






In this tutorial you have learned about what Digg is and the benefits of adding an integrated Digg button to your Blogger Blogspot Blog. You have also learned about different placement options for your Digg button and been given step by step instructions on how to customize the Digg button to suit the needs of your blog.

Add Breadcrumb Navigation to Blogger Blogspot

way you can improve navigation of a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) is to add breadcrumb navigation to your Blogger blog. There is also a SEO benefit of installing a breadcrumb as major search engines like Google treat anchor text links as important. In this Blogger tutorial I will guide you through the steps to add breadcrumb navigation to a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog).


What Will a Breadcrumb Do on My Blog?
Adding a breadcrumb to your blog provides a form of text-based navigation. A breadcrumb displays the visitor's location within a blog. The advantage of a breadcrumb is that it provides shortcuts to enable visitors to quickly get around your blog by jumping from one part of your blog to another.

To illustrate how adding a breadcrumb would work in your blog let's use an example. A breadcrumb for an individual post would follow this format:

Home > Label > Post Title

Using this post as an example a breadcrumb might be Home > Navigation > Add a Breadcrumb to Blogger Blogspot Blog. In cases where there is more than one label this hack uses the last label listed. If a visitor wanted to look at other posts about navigation all they need do is click on the "Navigation" link in the breadcrumb and they will be taken to a page which will show them all the posts with the "Navigation" label.


SEO Benefits of a Breadcrumb
Apart from improving the navigation of your Blogger blog adding a breadcrumb also has SEO benefits. Anchor text such as labels tells search engines about the subject of the linked page. Search engines view a breadcrumb with a text link to relevant keywords in the post as important. Read more about SEO try the following articles:

Blogger Blogspot SEO Tips and Tricks
Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO

How to Add a Breadcrumb Navigation to your Blogger Blog
It is not difficult to add a breadcrumb to your blog but it does involve adding a snippet of code to your template. Below is a step by step walkthrough which I have aimed at beginners so that anyone reading my blog will be able to follow the instructions. Credit to Hoctro for this hack.

1. Login in to Blogger if you are not already logged in

2. Navigate to Design > Edit HTML

3. Back up your blog using Download Full Template as a precaution in case you accidently overwrite some code and are not able to retrieve it.

4. Check the Expand Widget Template box

5. Add the following CSS code above this line ]]></b:skin>

.breadcrumbs {float: left;width: 590px;font-size: 11px;margin: 5px 10px 20px 10px;padding: 0px 0px 3px 0px;border-bottom: double #EAEAEA;}

Once your breadcrumb is working modify this if you need to so that it blends with the look and style of your template.

6. Find this line of code <b:includable id='main' var='top'>

7. Older XML Blogger templates and custom templates replace the entire block of code below. If you are using the new generation of Blogger templates such as Simple look for alternative instructions further down in this Step)

<b:includable id='main' var='top'>
<!-- posts -->
<div class='blog-posts hfeed'>
<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>
<data:adStart/>

with

<b:includable id='main' var='top'>
<!-- posts -->
<div class='blog-posts hfeed'>
<!-- disable default status message
<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>default status message disabled -->
<b:include data='posts' name='breadcrumb'/><data:adStart/>

Update 4 December 2010. Note: if you are using the new generation of Blogger templates eg Simple then do the following instead

Find this code block and add the code in red between <div class='blog-posts hfeed'> and <data:defaultAdStart/>

<b:includable id='main' var='top'>
<b:if cond='data:top.showPlusOne'>
<script expr:src='data:top.plusOneJsUrl'/gt;
</b:if>
<!-- posts -->
<div class='blog-posts hfeed'>
<!--Breadcrumb Hack - disable default status message
<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>default status message disabled -->
<b:include data='posts' name='breadcrumb'/>
<data:defaultAdStart/>

8. Now immediately before <b:includable id='main' var='top'> paste the following large block of code:

<b:includable id='breadcrumb' var='posts'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<!-- No breadcrumb on front page -->
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div class='breadcrumbs'>
Browse » <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl' rel='tag'>Home</a>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast == "true"'> » <a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a> </b:if> </b:loop>
» <span><data:post.title/></span> </b:if> </b:loop> </div>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "archive"'>
<div class='breadcrumbs'>
Browse » <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Archives for <data:blog.pageName/> </div> <b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<div class='breadcrumbs'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageName == ""'>
Browse » <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » All posts <b:else/>
Browse » <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> »
Posts filed under <data:blog.pageName/>
</b:if> </div> </b:if> </b:if> </b:if>
</b:if>
</b:includable>

9. Click on Save Template button

10. Click View Blog and navigate to any post page to see your new breadcrumb in action

Add a Breadcrumb Based on Archives
Follow this hack provided by Purple Moggy if you would like to add a breadcrumb based on year and month. Likely format would be: Home > Year > Month > Blog Title

Tips and Troubleshooting
Some browsers have problems displaying the code above. If experience any issue then use the code in this link Add Breadcrumb Navigation to a Blogger Blog


In this Blogger tutorial you have learned how to add breadcrumb navigation to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to improve SEO and site navigation. Please let me know how you get on. Good luck!

Blogger Blogspot SEO Tips and Tricks

Want to improve SEO on a Blogspot Blogger blog? This tutorial discusses how bloggers can optimize their blog using SEO techniques to improve indexing of their Blogger Blogspot blog and achieve a better ranking in search engine results.

In this article I will be discussing the following Blogger help tips for SEO:

• Adding Your Blogger Blog to Major Search Engines
• Optimizing Blogger Post Titles
• Utilising Meta Keywords and a Meta Description
• Using Keywords in Alt Tags and Image Titles
• Using Target Keywords in Your Post Content
• Optimizing Blogger Title Tags
• Optimizing Your Blogger Permalinks
• Making Use of HTML Heading Tags Within Posts and Post Titles
• Adding Breadcrumb Navigation to your Blogger Blog

Get Your Blog Listed by Major Search Engines
Getting listed in the major search engines is a must if you want to get traffic from search engines. I have written several in depth articles about how to add a sitemap to major search engines and how to add your blog to Google, Yahoo and MSN so I will not repeat myself. Follow these articles for step by step walkthroughs

Optimize Your Blogger Post Titles
Major search engines lend a lot of weight to titles so it is important that you craft your post titles carefully. To optimize your post titles make them keyword rich and ensure the title clearly explains what the blog post is about. Try to put your keywords at the beginning of your title for best results and avoid repeating your keywords within the title. Avoid long titles as Google only displays about 65 characters in the search results anyway.

Title tags are important if your Blogger blog is to attract traffic and rank in search engine results. On your blog home page the blog title appears between the title tags while on each individual post page it is the name of the article itself. While the title tags themselves are unseen by the visitor to your blog they are read when search engines crawl your blog.

Search engines use title tags to display your post title as a headline in search engine results. Search engines also display a description of the article either by extracting it from the post content usually by picking up the first 150 characters of your post or by reading the meta description of the post if one exists.

Meta descriptions can be crafted for individual posts in Blogger to good effect. Make descriptions unique for each post and ensure they contain your target keywords and keyword phrases to encourage search engines to extract snippets from them. To find out more about adding a meta description to an individual post please see my article Adding Meta Tags to Blogger Blogspot Blog for Better SEO


Add Meta Tags and Blog Description to Blogger
Adding meta keywords and a blog description to your Blogger Blogspot blog can boost your rankings by helping visitors locate your blog using keyword and keyword phrases. To find out the best method of inserting these into your Blogger blog please refer to my article about Adding Meta Tags to Blogger Blogspot Blog for Better SEO


Use Keywords in Alt Tags and Image Titles
Optimize the images used on your blog by making use of the alt tags and image titles. For some tips on SEO and images please refer to 10 Tips to Build Site Traffic for a Blogspot Blog


Use Target Keywords in Your Post Content
Make sure you know your targeted keywords and use them within your post content. One of the factors in determining rankings is the relevance of the targeted keywords in relationship to the text that appears in the post content.


Change the Order of Post Title and Blog Title for Better SEO
One key change you can make to Blogger that will markedly improve the SEO of your blog is to adjust the title tags.

By default Blogger title tags are not optimized for search engines. The name of the blog appears before the name of the article which is not search engine friendly. Since search engines read left to right and give preference to what appears first having your blog name display before your post title is significant. To improve SEO it pays to adjust the order of title tags so that the your post title appears first:

Blog Title | Post Title

to

Post Title | Blog Title

To find out how to adjust the title tags of a Blogger Blogspot blog please refer to my article Adjust Blogger Title Tags to Improve SEO


Optimize Your Blogger Permalinks
Hand in hand with a title tag is the permanent permalink that is created when a post is published. If the title of the post is more than about 35 characters long you will strike problems with Blogger because it will shorten the title to a 35-40 character permalink. Some very ugly results happen because of this factor. For instance imagine a permalink such as:

http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-create-improved-permalinks-for.html

A totally useless permalink results because the blogger keyword has been left off. Learn more about crafting titles and working around the limitations of Blogger permalinks in my article How to Create Search Engine Friendly Permalinks



Improve SEO by Making Use of Headings for Post Titles
Heading tags are important for optimal SEO. Most Blogger.com templates use html header tags sized <h2> or <h3> for the post title. In the past major search engines like Google gave precedence to tags with <h1> ahead of anything else but how important <h1> tags are today is less certain. You could tweak the heading size of your post title if you wish however take care to ensure the look of your template isn't compromised. A bigger font will result and this may mean other parts of your blog will need to be adjusted to compensate. To find out what size your blog title is look for the following lines in your template.

<b:if cond='data:post.title'>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<b:if cond='data:post.link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.link'>&t/a>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:post.url'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url'></a>
<b:else/>
<data:post.title/>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</h3>
</b:if>


As can be seen this template blog title is in <h3>. To change the size of the tags just substitute the appropriate header tag where <h3> appears


Improve SEO By Making Use of Heading Tags Within Posts
Heading tags can be used to good effect in your posts. Make sure you have only one <h1> heading per page if you have one at all and reserve this for your post title. Make use of <h2> and <h3> headings throughout your post to emphasize key points and targeted keywords. Major search engines do take notice of <h2> and <h3> headings when crawling your blog. To add emphasis to a heading within your blog simply enclose the heading in <h3> tags.


Add Breadcrumb Navigation to your Blogger Blog
There is a hack that can be used to add breadcrumb navigation to a Blogger Blogspot blog. Adding breadcrumb navigation can boost your SEO of your blog as well as improving how readers get around.


A breadcrumb provides text-based navigation by displaying the visitor's location within a blog. A breadcrumb provides shortcuts to enable visitors to quickly get around your blog and jump from one part of your blog to another. For example a breadcrumb for a post about meta tags would be Home > Meta Tags >Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO. An anchor text such as 'meta tags' tells search engines about the subject of the linked page. Search engines view a breadcrumb with a text link to relevant keywords in the post as important.




This article has focused on providing you with solid Blogger SEO advice, tips and tricks for the Blogspot Blogger. It will help you achieve good SEO results for your blog. Good luck. If you have time let me know about your experiences.