Julie Carobini here from coastal California talking about gadgets for Blogger users. You can check out my own blog here: www.juliecarobini.blogspot.com
I've been blogging for nearly 3 years, ever since a super funny blogger from Texas sent me an email suggesting I do so. What a thrilling ride!
While I've kept up with postings, I'm not always on top of the latest sidebar features. If you're on blogspot too, are you up to date on all the gadgets available to you? Here are a few of the most recent features you'll want to consider for your blog:
First you'll want to log into your blogger account and click on the Layout tab. Once there, look for the "Add a Gadget" feature on the sidebar (There's one for your posting page as well, but let's skip that for now.)
Next, check out all the features listed. Some are just updates of past features, while others are more recent additions. Any of them are easy to add to your sidebar, depending on what you'd like to achieve with them.
Here are a few I've begun using and why:
Followers This feature is on a trial run with me--just began using it this week. Over the years I've happily advertised other peoples' blogs under the heading GROOVY BLOGS, but with the Followers feature, just about anyone can link their blog to mine. It reminds TWITTER, a popular application, and it gives my blog more of a community feel, which I like. Of course, I'm on the watch for spammers, and will delete accordingly.
Picture Adding a picture WITH a link and WITH a caption use to mystify me. Ugh, tough stuff for a non-techy to figure out. But no more--yay! With this gadget, you can download a picture from your computer (blogger shrinks it to fit--you've got to love that). You can then add a title, a caption, and woo-hoo, a link--without having to call your web desiger. You can find examples of this on my blog.
Slideshow Okay, I haven't started using this feature yet, but when I pull together a batch of worthy photos, I will. Here's an easy way to add a slideshow (kind of an archaic term, but you get the picture. Lol...sorry for the pun) to your sidebar. Attend a conference lately and want to show off all your pics? Here's your chance.
Subscription Links I used to have separate gadgets for each of my subscription offers, but this feature rolls many of the more popular into one. In other words, with this one gadget, your readers can subscribe to your blog via Google or Bloglines or Netvibes and others. Easy-easy!
Blogger is constantly tinkering, often adding new features, so I'm trying to make a habit of checking out what's new. This is not meant as an advertisement for Blogger, rather, it's a reminder that the techy world is ever changing and becoming more user friendly. As writers with a passion for spreading the good news, best take advantage of all that's available, am I right?
Sweet grace my friends, Julie Carobini
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