On the Blogger homepage, click the "Create Your Blog Now" button. On the following page you'll be prompted to create a Google Account. You can use your Google Account on other Google services. If you already have a Google Account perhaps from Gmail, Google Groups, or Orkut, please sign in first. After you've signed in, you'll need to enter a display name and accept Blogger's Terms of Service. Once you're done with this, you'll be prompted to create a blog and get started!
2. How do I create a Blogger blog?
Before you can create a free blog on Blog*Spot, Blogger's hosting service, you need to have already created an account on blogger.com. Once you've logged into blogger.com, click the "Create a Blog" link. On Step 2, enter a title and address (URL). You'll also need to type in the verification word displayed on this page. When you're done, click "continue." On Step 3, you can choose a template for your blog; this is how it will appear when you publish it. Next, Blogger will create your new blog and reserve your spot on BlogSpot. As soon as you make your first post, your page will appear at the address you chose.
3. How do I post to my blog?
On your Dashboard, click the "New Post" link next to the blog to which you'd like to post. Next, you'll see the Create New Post page. Start by giving your post a title (optional), and then enter the post itself. When you're done, click the "Preview" link to make sure it's ready to go. Once you're satisfied with your post, click the "Publish" button. This will publish your new post.
4. How do I post pictures?
You can upload photos using the image icon in the post editor's toolbar. When you click this icon, you'll get a window that allows you to select an image or multiple images from your computer. Just click the "Browse" button to locate the ones you want. Alternatively, you can enter the URL of an image that is already online to insert it into your post. If you click on the link for choosing a layout, you can customize the way your images will appear in your post. The left, center and right options will determine how the text of your post flows around the pictures. This size option lets you scale the pictures to different sizes within this posting area.
5. I can't log in. What should I do?
If you have forgotten your Google Account information, you can recover your Google Account login information by clicking on the "?" next to "Password" on the Blogger login page or you can use the Google Accounts Password Assistance page.
Remember that your Google account username is the full email address you used to create your account (e.g. yourname@example.com).
If you can log in to your account but don't see the appropriate blog(s) on your Dashboard, it's likely that you're logged in to the wrong account. In this case, try logging in with all of your email addresses, using the Password Assistance form if necessary. Please try this even if you think you only have one account. We see many cases where people have accidentally created an extra account without realizing it, so checking this on your own is usually the fastest way to get your blog back.
6. How do I delete a blog?
To delete your entire blog, just go to the Settings | Basic tab. At this point, make absolutely sure that you are on the right blog and that you want to permanently remove it from your account. Then click "Delete This Blog." If your blog is on your own server, its files will not be deleted. You can delete them manually by connecting to your server via an FTP client.
7. How do I cancel my account?
To delete your Google Account, including your blogs, please log in on the Google Accounts homepage. Once you log in, click the "Edit" link next to the "My Services" list, and you'll get to a page that allows you delete your account. Please note that deleting an account will delete all the Google services associated with that account, such as your orkut profile, your iGoogle page, and your Blogger blogs.
8. Can I have a blog to which more than one person posts?
Yes, these are called "team blogs." Basically, one person initially creates the blog, then invites others to join it. Team members can either be administrators or regular posters. Administrators can edit all posts (not just their own), add and remove team members (and grant admin access), and modify blog settings. Non-admins can only post to the blog.
To invite people to joing a blog, first go to the Settings | Permissions tab and click "Add Authors." Next, type the email addresses of the people you're inviting to the blog; they'll receive an invitation email soon. Note that they must have Google Accounts, and if they don't already, they'll be prompted to create one. When you're ready to send the invitations, click "Invite." You'll receive an email when the new team member has successfully joined the blog.
9. How do I add my photo to my profile?
First, click the "Edit Profile" link on your dashboard. From there, enter the profile image URL in the form, and click "Save" at the bottom of the page. If you don't have a photo hosted somewhere already, you can first post a picture to your blog. Once you've done that, switch the post editor into Edit HTML mode if it isn't there already. Now copy the photo's URL and paste this URL into the "Photo URL" field in your Profile. Then click "Save" at the bottom of the page, and you're done. Please note that the image must be 50k or smaller in size.
10. How do I setup an FTP (or SFTP) connection to my external web host?
Go to Settings | Publishing and select a connection method. Then, enter your settings. When you're done, save your server details via the "Save Settings" button at the bottom, and republish your blog. Please note that the default port numbers will be used (:21 for FTP and :22 for SFTP); specifying an alternate port will not work. Also, do not include
http:// or ftp:// in the server address or the path setting.11. How do I use a custom domain on my blog?
If you don't care to have
blogspot.com in your blog's address, you can get a domain of your own. We'll continue to host all your content as before, but it will be displayed at your new address. There are three components to setting this up:Your Domain
The first thing you'll need to do is to choose a domain name, like
mysite.com and register it. You can register domain names from any of a number of different registrars. DNS Settings
Next, you need to create a CNAME record for your domain with the DNS, associating your domain with
ghs.google.com. The exact procedure for doing this varies depending on your domain registrar, so please contact your registrar directly and they'll be able to help you out. Please be aware that the new DNS record may not take effect right away. Blogger Settings
At this point, the DNS servers know to direct people to Google when they want to see your blog, so we have to make sure Google associates the right blog with your domain. You'll do this on the Settings | Publishing tab for your blog in Blogger. If you're publishing on Blog*Spot, you'll see a link near the top offering to switch you to a custom domain. Go ahead and click that link. The Blog*Spot Address setting now changes to Your Domain. Fill in the domain you registered at the beginning of this process, then save your settings.
Notes:
- If your new domain isn't taking you to your blog, wait another day or two, to make sure all the DNS servers have been updated. If it still isn't working, contact your registrar to make sure you entered the DNS settings correctly.
- Your original Blog*Spot address will automatically forward to your new domain. That way, any existing links or bookmarks to your site will still work.
- You can use this feature with domains (e.g.
mysite.com) or subdomains (e.g.name.mysite.com). However, you cannot specify subdirectories (e.g.mysite.com/blog/) or wildcards (e.g.*.mysite.com).
12. How does Blogger Mobile work?
To start a mobile blog, just send a message (which can be a photo, some text, or both) to go@blogger.com and we'll start a blog for you! After sending the message, you will receive a reply with your mobile blog's URL and a token with which you can claim your new blog. To claim your blog, simply enter the token into http://go.blogger.com. Claiming your mobile blog will give you full access to Blogger.com settings and features, allow you to associate your blog with a Google Account, and let you to merge your mobile blog with an existing blog.
13. How do I label my posts?
When you're writing a post, you'll have a space at the bottom of the form marked "Labels for this post." Enter whatever labels you like, separating them with commas. You can also click the "show all" link to display a list of labels you've used previously. Then just click on the labels to add them. When you publish your post, the labels will be listed with it. Clicking any of the labels will take you to a page containing only posts with that label. You can also add a list of all your labels in the sidebar of your blog, sorted alphabetically or by frequency of use.
14. How do I put AdSense in my blog?
To place AdSense on your blog, click on the Template or Layouts tab for your blog. In a Layouts-enabled blog, add a new page element and select the AdSense option. If you're using a classic template, just select the "AdSense" link on the Template tab. You'll be able to choose a size for your ads and then customize how they'll look on your blog.
15. How can I enable a site feed for my blog?
First, go to the Settings | Site Feed tab. Here, you'll have one simple option, where you can select how much of your content you want to syndicate. "Full" will put the entire content of each post in your site feed, while "Short" only includes an excerpt from the beginning of each post. The "None" option turns your site feed off entirely.
16. What is the "Flag" button?
This feature is called "Flag As Objectionable" and it's accessible via the Blogger Navbar. The "Flag?" button allows the blogging community to easily note questionable content, which in turn helps us take action when needed. When a person visiting a blog clicks the "Flag?" button in the Blogger Navbar, it means they believe the content of the blog may be potentially offensive or illegal. We track the number of times a blog has been flagged as objectionable and use this information to determine what action is needed. Note that users may click this button a second time to retract their flag.
17. How do I moderate comments on my blog?
You can find the comment moderation setting on the Settings | Comments tab. It's just a simple yes/no option. Choosing "yes" for this option gives you a space to enter your email address. This lets you moderate comments via email without affecting your regular comment notification setting. It's optional, since you can always moderate comments through the Blogger interface. So set the option to "yes," enter a notification address if desired, save the settings, and wait for your next comment.
All incoming comments will now go to a special "Moderate Comments" page, which you can find under the Posting tab. On this page, you will see a list of all the comments that have been created but have not yet been approved or rejected. (This list excludes any comments made by admin members of the blog.) Each line in the list displays the beginning of the comment, the author's name, and the time it was created. Clicking the triangle to the left will expand the row to show the full text of the comment, along with "Publish" and "Reject" links, which you can use to approve or disapprove the comment.
This entire process can also be done via email. If you entered an email address for moderation, you will get a message for each comment which will contain "Publish" and "Reject" links, as well as a link to the main moderation page for the blog.
18. How do I use Blogger's Layout feature?
First, find the name of your blog on your dashboard, and click the "Template" link next to it. If this link says "Layout" instead, then you're already using the Layout feature and you can skip these first steps. On the Template page, look in the navigation links for the tab that says "Customize Your Design" and click on it. You'll get a message explaining that Blogger will make a backup of your current template. (The backup will be made available indefinitely if you'd like to revert back to it later.) Click on the "Upgrade Your Template" button to continue. Then, choose one of our default template designs, click "Save Template," and you're all set.
Once your template is upgraded, you can arrange the elements in your template the way you want them displayed. Simply click on the element you would like to move and drag and drop the element where you want it to be. (Note: in most templates you can move all elements except your Navbar, blog posts and header.) You can add several page elements to your blog page or sidebar by clicking on "Add a Page Element". This will open a pop-up window that will allow you to add elements to your blog by clicking "Add to Blog" in the desired element section.
19. Why do I have word verification on my posting form?
Word verification on the posting form is meant to be a spam reduction mechanism for BlogSpot in general. There are two potential causes:
Potential Spam
In this case, word verification is applied to certain potential spam blogs by an automated system. Because this is automated there will necessarily be some false positives, though we're continually working on improving our algorithms to avoid these. Having the word verification on your posting form does not prevent you from publishing and does not mean that your blog will be deleted or otherwise punished if it is not actually in violation of our policies. To avoid further inconveniences when publishing, click the "?" (question mark) icon next to the word verification on your posting form. That will take you to a page where you can request a review for your blog. We'll have someone look at it, verify that it isn't spam, and then whitelist your blog so it no longer has the word verification requirement.
High Posting Rate
If you make a large number of posts in a single day, you will be required to complete a word verification for each one, independent of whether or not your blog has been cleared as a potential spam. If this happens to you, simply complete the word verification for each post, or wait 24 hours, at which point it will be removed automatically. This restriction is in place as much to control the load on our servers as to prevent explicit spam. Therefore, there is not a whitelisting review process to exempt individual blogs.
20. Why is my blog disabled?
Disabling is a result of our automated classification system marking a blog as spam. If your blog is not a spam blog, then it was falsely classified by our automated system and we apologize. If your blog is disabled, it will be listed on your Dashboard, but you will not be able to click on it to access it. If this is the case, there will be a grace period during which you can request that it be reviewed and recovered.
21. Can I use keyboard shortcuts while posting?
Blogger has several keyboard shortcuts for use while editing posts. They definitely work in Internet Explorer 5.5+/Windows and the Mozilla family (1.6+ and Firefox 0.9+), and might work in other browsers. Here they are:
- control + b = Bold
- control + i = Italic
- control + l = Blockquote (when in HTML-mode only)
- control + z = Undo
- control + y = Redo
- control + shift + a = Link
- control + shift + p = Preview
- control + d = Save as Draft
- control + s = Publish Post
- control + g = Hindi transliteration
22. How do I use the transliteration feature?
Blogger offers an automatic transliteration option for converting Roman characters to the Devanāgarī characters used in Hindi. This lets you type Hindi words phonetically in English script and still have them appear in their correct alphabet. To enable this feature, go to the Settings | Basics page and select "Yes" for the transliteration option. This setting will affect all blogs on your account, similar to the Compose Mode setting.
23. How do I use Blogger's post editor?
Blogger's post editor has three modes:
- Compose: a WYSIWYG mode where you manipulate text with formatting buttons.
- Edit HTML: a raw mode where you edit the html manually.
- Preview: renders a full-body preview of the post, including its Title, links and images.
To switch between these modes, simply click the appropriate link. The formatting buttons are only available in certain browsers.
Features, from left-to-right:
- Font
- Font size
- Bold
- Italic
- Font color
- Link
- Left-justify
- Center
- Right-justify
- Full-justify
- Ordered (numbered) list
- Unordered (bullet) list
- Blockquote
- Spell check
- Upload image
- Remove formatting from selection
24. Where can I buy a custom domain name for my blog?
There are many companies from whom you can buy domain names, usually for very reasonable yearly prices. A Google search for domain registrar will turn up numerous options. You can also shop around through this list:
25. How do I change the format of the dates displayed in my blog?
You can change the date format for both posts and archive links by editing your blog settings. On the Settings | Formatting page, there are fields for "Date Header Format" and "Archive Index Date Format." Both fields include drop-down menus that list the format options for displaying dates. (Date Headers usually go above your posts and the Archive Index is usually the list of archive links in your sidebar.) Click "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page when you're done.
26. What is a post template?
Post templates help users save time by pre-formatting the post editor. Some users like their posts to be formatted in a certain way. For example, someone might want to link to an article on the first line, then quote it below. In this case, the link and blockquote tags can all be entered in the post template and they'll appear, ready to be filled in, on every new post.
27. What are backlinks and how do I use them?
Backlinks enable you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts. If your friend links to one of your posts, for example, the post will automatically show that someone else has linked to it, and it will provide a short snippet of your friend's text and a link to your friend's post. The backlinks setting can be found under the Settings | Comments tab, and consists of a single, simple option to turn it on or off. If it's enabled, you'll see a link marked "Links to this post" next to the comment link for each post.
28. What is the word verification option?
The "word verification" option can be found on the Settings | Comments tab for your blog. If you choose "yes" for this setting, then people leaving comments on your blog will be required to complete a word verification step, similar to the one presented when you create a blog. What this does is to prevent automated systems from adding comments to your blog, since it takes a human being to read the word and pass this step. If you've ever received a comment that looked like an advertisement or a random link to an unrelated site, then you've encountered comment spam. A lot of this is done automatically by software which can't pass the word verification, so enabling this option is a good way to prevent many such unwanted comments.
29. Can I edit the HTML of my blog's layout?
Sure, just go to the Template | Edit HTML tab. The first thing on this page is an option to download a copy of your template to a text file on your hard drive. We highly recommend doing this so you can revert easily by uploading the same file again. Next comes the actual code for your template. You'll notice it looks somewhat like regular HTML and CSS, but also includes lots of custom tags that make it compatible with our drag-and-drop layout editor, and with the font and color picker.
30. Where does my blog's title appear?
Your blog's title, as set in the Settings | Basic tab in Blogger, can appear in multiple places: your published blog, on your Dashboard, in your profile and on the "Recently Updated" list on the Dashboard (if your blog is listed). So make sure it's creative!
31. What is a URL?
A URL is the location of a file on the web. Some examples of URLs
include
include
http://www.blogger.com/, or http://myblog.blogspot.com/. The URL you select will be used by you and yourvisitors to access your blog.During the blog creation process you will be asked to select a URL for your blog if you want it hosted on Blog*Spot. Since there are already a large number of Blog*Spot blogs, you'll need to get creative and possibly try a few different ones before you find one that's available. One thing to note when selecting your blog's URL is that hyphens (also known as dashes, - ) are the only non-alphanumeric characters allowed. Spaces aren't permitted, nor are underscores (_) or any other special characters.
32. What does the "listing" setting do?
The "Add your blog to our listings?" setting determines whether or not your blog will appear on blogger.com — more specifically, for the blog list on your profile page and the recently updated blogs shown on the Blogger homepage. You can find this setting on the Settings | Basic page. Note: If your blog template is using the BlogMetaData tag, turning this off also means that your blog won't be crawled by search engines.
33. What does the encoding setting do?
The encoding setting tells a web browser how to display your blog. This isn't so important for English-language blogs, but is fundamental for non-English blogs to display properly. UTF-8 is selected by default, as it supports all languages. But in some cases, you'll need to try another encoding. And if an encoding you need isn't listed, let us know and we'll add it asap.
34. What is an FTP server?
An FTP server is a computer that uses FTP to accept uploaded files from users. The address of your FTP server usually looks something like this:
ftp.example.comWhen you purchase a hosting service, you should be provided with the address of the FTP server to use. If you do not have this information or you are unsure about it, please contact your hosting provider.
Notes:
- The default port numbers will be used (:21 for FTP and :22 for SFTP). Specifying an alternate port will not work.
- Do not include
http://orftp://in the server address.
35. What is the FTP path?
FTP path tells Blogger where to place your blog files on your server. It should be of this format:
directory/directory/ (be sure to include the trailing slash)If you're familiar with FTP, your path is your web-accessible directory. For example, it might be 'htdocs' or 'www' or 'public_html,' or, if you want to put your blog in a subdirectory, 'htdocs/blog/' etc.
If all this sounds a bit complicated, try contacting your hosting provider for help. They can tell you how things should be set up for your specific server.
Notes:
- Do NOT use
http://,ftp://or your server's address in the path. - The directory you specify must already exist on your FTP Server.
- This must not be an absolute path - it should be relative to your ftp root location on the server.
36. What's the difference between republishing the index vs. the entire blog?
If you have an FTP blog, you will still need to republish your blog in order to reflect updates. Republish Index Only means that only the index page (and site feed, if enabled) will be republished.
Republish Entire Blog will republish the entire blog- the index page, feed, archive & post pages. This will apply your latest template changes to all your blog's pages. This could take a while if you've got a lot of posts.
37. Where can I report a legal issue?
Please contact us if you would like to report an legal issue.
