My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog

My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog Contents Pages Before You Begin... 3, 4 Steps to Create a Google Account... 5, 6, 7, 8 Account Verification and Activation... 9, 10 Begin with Blogger... 11 Use Dashboard to Manage Your Blog... 12 Summary of the Current Sample Blog... 13 The Posting Tab - Create a Text Post... 14, 15 The Settings Tab... 16 The Layout Tab - Gadgets... 17, 18, 19 The Layout Tab - Templates... 20 The Monetize Tab... 21 The Posting Tab - Edit Text Post... 22, 23 The Posting Tab - Create an Image Post... 24, 25, 26 Edit the Header... 27, 28 View of the Sample Blog... 29 Copyright 2009, All rights reserved. Pat Van Kirk Wilson Published in USA by Wilson Publishing To download a free copy of this electronic booklet in PDF format, go to: http://www.sketching-tips.blogspot.com or http://www.peninkwatercolorsketching.com/blog/index.htm Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 2

BEFORE YOU BEGIN Choose names for the URL for your new Blog, the Title, and the Display Name and write them down for later reference. The sample below shows where the names will appear on your published blog. Because blogs feature material about the author, many Bloggers put their own names in some of these spaces. The URL is the address users will type in their browser to visit your blog. http://.blogspot.com The Title appears in the header of your blog The Display Name is used to sign your blog posts The URL is used in the address space. The Title will appear in the Header. The Display Name will appear on each post. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 3

To set up your Google account, you will need your existing email address. Google will send you a verification email to activate your account. Your email address @. Create a password to Sign in to your Google Account (8 characters) Your email address identifies your Google Account on the pages where you build your blog. It does not appear on your published Web pages. Then, go to http://www.blogger.com/start. Click CREATE A BLOG. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 4

STEPS TO CREATE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT Step 1 - Create a Google Account Fill in your Email address, Password, and Display name. Complete the form and click CONTINUE. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 5

Step 2 - Name your blog Fill in the Title and the URL address that you chose for your blog. Set up the Advanced options later. Click CONTINUE. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 6

Choose a template Use the scroll bar to see all templates. Select preview template to view alternate color combinations. The template chosen here is outlined and named Rounders 3. Click to select your choice. Your template can be easily changed later. Click CONTINUE. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 7

Your blog has been created. Click START BLOGGING When your account is activated, you will use the Posting Tab to create your first Post. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 8

ACCOUNT VERIFICATION AND ACTIVATION Check your email for Google s verification and click the link to activate your account. If you have not received the verification email, sign in and ask that it be resent. To get this Account Activation notice, sign in with your email address at Google.com. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 9

Go to www.google.com and Sign in In the next window, enter your email address and the password for your Google Account. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 10

BEGIN WITH BLOGGER When you sign in and see your email address, click My Account to begin blogging. When you click My Account, you will go to your Google Account page. If you want to close your account and delete all info, click Edit. Click Blogger to go to your Dashboard and begin building your Blog. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 11

USE DASHBOARD TO MANAGE YOUR BLOG From the Dashboard, you can click and go to View Blog, NEW POST, Edit Posts, Settings, Layout, Monetize. Click on View Blog to see your current blog. View Blog displays the current status of a blog. The summary of the sample blog being created here is shown on the next page. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 12

SUMMARY OF THE CURRENT SAMPLE BLOG The Rounders 3 template The URL address The Title in the Header The activated Google Account The Display name You can easily change the template later. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 13

Begin by entering a Title for your post. THE POSTING TAB - Create a text post. Type a few lines of text in the box as shown. Format the text with the buttons for fonts, bold, italic, etc., just as you would format text in a word processing program. The Edit Html tab is for advanced users only. Use the Compose Tab when you type or edit text. Preview your post. Enter Labels to show the content of the post. Click PUBLISH POST After a post is published, you can edit the post or delete it entirely. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 14

Your blog post published successfully! Click View Blog. View your new post as it appears when published in your template. When you view your current blog, you can click on New Post to go to the Posting Tab. You can click on Customize to go to the Layout Tab. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 15

THE SETTINGS TAB Manage the Basics plus Formatting, Comments, Archiving, and other settings. You can first set your choices on this Basic page and check your settings for Formatting, Comments, and Archiving. Later, you can explore the other categories. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 16

THE LAYOUT TAB - Add and Arrange Elements Add a Gadget - Fonts and Colors - Pick New Template - Edit the Header Your Posts are placed in the wide column. Gadgets are placed in the narrow column. Your latest Post is always placed at the top. The Gadget feature lets you put a variety of items in a column where they can be dragged to a fixed position. You can add text messages, slideshows, a video, ads, and the other Gadgets shown on the next page. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 17

Click Add a Gadget from the Layout Tab and choose from a list of Gadgets. Click View Blog to see changes. Here a text message is chosen, typed, and then dragged to the top in the Gadget column Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 18

The text message is added and dragged to the top of the Gadgets column. The archive of dated posts is positioned just below it. The Layout Tab also lets you easily change your template. Click on Pick New Template to preview alternative templates. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 19

THE LAYOUT TAB - Templates Before a new template was picked, a new post with an image of flowers was added. The new Minima template at lower left was chosen, as shown with the flowers above. Later, the template was changed back to the old Rounders 3 at lower right. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 20

THE POSTING TAB - Edit a post to place an image above the text, To publish an image with text underneath, first publish the text and then post the image above it. Create a new post and publish it just like the first post on page 14. Because the last item you post will always be at the top, the text must be posted first in order to be placed underneath the image. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 22

Go to the Posting Tab, Edit Posts, and select your published text post. Posting Tab Edit Posts. Select the post you wish to edit. Click Edit. Insert your cursor at the beginning of the block of text. Click the Add Image button. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 23

THE POSTING TAB - Create an image post. Google Blogs will accept jpg, gif, bmp, and png images, up to 8 MB maximum size. To upload your image from your computer to the Blog Site, Browse to your image. or Type the URL for the location of your image that is already stored on the web, perhaps in Picasa or Photo Bucket. Choose one of four layouts. Choose one of three sizes. Click the UPLOAD IMAGE button. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 24

EDIT THE HEADER To add an Image to the Header, go to: The Layout Tab The Header Click Edit Type a description or leave this blank. Upload an image from your computer or link to an image that is stored on the Web. Choose the placement for your image. The image will be shrunk to 730 pixels wide. SAVE to upload image Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 27

Configure your Header Add a description to your header or leave this blank. Remove Image. Select the image placement. SAVE Click to view your blog with your new Header. Click to change Fonts and Colors for Title Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 28

VIEW OF THE SAMPLE BLOG The new header and template are samples of ways blogs can be customized. Remember that your latest post will always be at the top of your wide column. The items in the Gadget column are dragged to and remain in fixed positions. This Guide has covered only the basics for getting a blogsite started. Many other tools for building blogsites are available. Copyright 2009, Pat Van Kirk Wilson - My Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Google Blog - page 29

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