Reasons why you Should not Use Free Custom Blogger Template

"Every hard work definitely pays back", this is the acronym of blogger custom template designers who design blogger templates and place them on sale or sometimes for free. First question why buying when you can get it for free? Yes they will write a brief description on it to make you love the template and get deceived into getting for free. Well my advice. Don't!.. lets take a look at my reasons.

Before we continue, do keep in mind that anyone that placed a pot of soup on the stove has a reason and if he choose to give you for free, there is also a reason.

1. Limitations

If you are new in blogging ( Read: How to become successful in Blogging) you probably won't realize this until you have worked hard and gone in and out of it. Back at my early days of blogging i found it interesting and was busy downloading free custom templates but i didn't know it was actually limiting me until the day i went to my customization panel for the first time after installation.

Then i figured out that i could not even change not a thing. Everything was all clouded all over my head. Could not change the theme colour, neither could i change fonts, i was just stocked in one single routine. Got angry and decided to download a different template hoping that my former was faulting. Well it all turned out to be same.

Advanced bloggers would change most of this settings in the HTML panel. Yes it works nut most of the victims here are not advanced and not just that you can change lot of things but it won't be as flexible as the default templates created by blogger itself.

The above problem of you not being able to change settings in the customization panel can be rectified by using a blogger set mobile template while installing your custom template but what about after settings? you would have to turn off mobile view and get stocked with some template you can never change. (Read: How to choose the best blogging platfrom)

2. Auto Redirecting

Have you tried visiting your blog with a mobile phone? (Try using UC browser) it auto redirects to the template designer's site in other words taking your readers to another website and depriving them from viewing your contents. When downloading such templates it says "Credit links are placed on your site to appreciate the template designer'. Yes they will add the credit link but they will also add JavaScript that will auto redirect all links in your blog.

Who would trade his fans and followers for just a template when you can create a beautiful template for yourself in no time. I was once a victim of this, this is why i understand what custom template cause to us and what it takes from us. Among all the templates i have actually used only one beats all these disadvantages but it is not mobile responsive.

When i was still using my first platform "Ijokos Blog' before it got hacked i used helplogger CustomizeMe (Download CustomizeMe Blogger template) blogger template and it quite acted well for me but since then all what they do is give you a template which they claim to be responsive, SEO packed and fast loading for our readers.

3. Lack of Uniqueness

When you use a blogger custom template you stand to share your uniqueness with other persons that downloaded same template. You might edit the look and colours but you can not edit the frame and functionality. Now imaging over three entertainment websites using the same template?. Readers can hard identify them and that will pull up fading faith in your content.

Now this is why you should design your own blogger template, to get all the credits all to yourself. So your readers will value your content and see you real. Beauty is the first attraction this is why you should not hide behind the make up. Make something for your self and mess around with the template. Blogging is meant to be fun not a copy paste stuff.

4. Easily Usage

Personally designed templates are easier to use than custom template because when you design a template for yourself you will definitely understand all the steps and procedures you took making it possible for you to edit and change anything anytime without worrying about loosing important stuff in your blog.

Free Custom templates prevents you from understanding some things in your blog. I knew this few months back and if you are a regular reader of this blog you would notice me changing from a very beautiful custom blogger template to this my personally designed template. In case you want to know i only made some changes to the blogger default simple template and here i am with this master piece i love so much. You can do same too.

5.  Wrong Script Templates

Have you ever shared a post to your Facebook account or page? (Read: How to add facebook fan page to Blogger) And did you notice it showing the wrong thumbnail image? Well mine once did and recently i noticed a co blogger with same problem. It is caused by wrong script and this happen because some template designers work with time which might lead them into placing the wrong codes. Causing your template to face some problems.

This same wrong script lead your template into malfunctioning, and sometimes take more time to load . Do you also know that a little problem with all these custom templates can lead your blog from being totally removed from Google search? Well that is SEO bomb and you better don't be a victim. Aside these problems you face problem of your H1, H2, H3, H4 tags being miss used so be careful so you don't get into all these above listed problems. (Tired of Blogger? then read: The List of Best blogging platforms)

I advice you to read tutorials on all these blogging sites including my favourite Helpblogger, and others so you can learn how to use all these scripts yourself and make your blog extremely beautiful and functioning. And read future articles to learn how to do all these things yourself. "A Jamaican would say Beg water can not Boil Egg".

I hope this article has opened your eyes to see the secret behind all these free custom blogger templates and the dangers. Share your thoughts and stories below, Am here 24/7 to reply to your comment. Happy blogging

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How to Add Twitter Feed To Blogger blog

Social networking is now in-charge of who comes in and out of your blog, especially new blogs with no fame and SEO tools. Now getting to meet your visitors matters cause they give to you what you give to them now this is were social networking comes into play.

You no longer need to place your blog link over the internet, or wait til you get recognized by google, all you need to do is go on social media and get it rocking. Yes, post daily and disturb your friends for views and in no time your blog will be over flowing with visitors and google will even beg you to post. Its that easy.

Now its what to do after getting the high traffic from the website or social media in the likes of Facebook, twitter and Instagram. Will you just let them come and go without commenting or viewing your posts? no blogger will want that. This calls for the usage of special widgets that will keep your visitors updated on what you are currently doing or posting on your social sites. Now this will definitely hold your visitors back and get them to read more of your articles without falling to comment.

It does just hold your visitors back or keep them interactive, it also beautify your blog. Who want to spend time on some ugly or unorganized blog? Nobody, with the help of the twitter feed gadget you can beautify your blog and change its design to suit all your visitors and readers.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a great social networking site that over the years has grown and inhabited millions of visitors or users. Twitter deals on tweeting, re-posting and also support link placement which stirs up a great way to advertise your blog for free!!. But it won't be that functioning if visitors can not post to your twitter account straight from your blog. This is why twitter feed is important for bloggers.

How to Add Twitter feed to Blogger.

 

Before you can add a twitter feed to your blogger blog, first you need to open a twitter account. Continue reading if you already have a twitter account.

After that the next thing you need to do is to visit the Twitter Widget page. If you are already signed in to your account, then it will show you the exact preview of the widget on your profile. There are lots of options for customization you can adjust or change the size, shape, color and theme and also link colour of the widget. By default, the widget automatically takes shape and adjusts its widget, so you are always in the safe hands. Once everything is done press ‘Create Widget” button and move to the next step.

To add the User timeline Feeds widget to Blogger code the widget code and go to Blogger.com >> Layout >> Add a Gadget >> Add HTML/JavaScript. Now paste the code inside the HTML/JavaScript Box. Once everything is done, press “Save” button to round up.

 

The perks of using Twitter recent tweets widget is not limited to just displaying the latest tweets. It also displays a follow button that allows your visitors to follow your account with just a single click. Additionally, it also allows your visitors to mention you in a tweet directly from your site.

How to Add POWr Twitter Feed

Aside from the above step to add twitter feeds, you can also add specially designed twitter plugin by POWr which doesn't use HTML codes. Its just a simple clink and edit gadget.

To start with go to your blogger dashboard and clink on layouts in the dashboard menu. A new window will come up, showing the skeletal design of your blog (Sidebar, Footer and header). Choose which side you want your twitter feed to appear and clink on add gadget.

A pop up window will appear, clink on more gadgets. After it opens locate search and type in POWr now press enter. It will show results for the search with lot of plugins you can add to your blog. Scroll down and locate twitter feeds, clink on the + button beside  it. Make little or no changes in the next window to appear. Press save.

Now you have successfully add twitter feed to your blog, all you need to do now is edit it and make it look unique. Visit your blog eg www.ohenscrib.blogspot.com. When it opens locate i=the area where you placed the feed, you will see twitter feeds from another account, locate a gear icon at the top of it. (When you place your mouse on it, it says "whats this?").

Now clink on the Icon. A new window will show, now take it away from where the twitter feed is showing so as you can see the changes while editing. Clink on ad feed and add your twitter name or any hashtag you want to use e.g @jokosohen. Clink on content to edit the way the content to edit the number of post to be shown. After editing clink on design and also edit everything there. You don't need to pay but should in case you want many more amazing features you can subscribe to one of the packages.

Now hit save. A pop up window will show informing you to sign up or sign in. If your already have a POWr account sign in but if you are New Sign Up.

We hope this small but usefully widget would help you in attaining some sorts of social exposure. If you have any question or query related to Twitter then, do not hesitate to leave a comment below we will try to guide you through your problems.

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Best Mobile Photo Apps For the New Year

Social media and photography recently is taking a drift into human nature, by being one of the few things done spontaneously daily. But who want to go on Instagram and share some fricking photos with no effects or crazy designs?, Even Miley won't do that. So i thought of sharing some great mobile apps that are awesome when it calls for special photo effects, designs and also text input.

Some among the enlisted apps also allow you create short videos from photos. I remember doing that ones with Photo grid and it was amazing. Saving sizes and formats are also part of the unique features you get to use by downloading these apps. Easy to use apps they are. In no time, sharing on social media sites in the likes of Facebook, Instagram, twitter, badoo and lot more will not just thrill you but will get you lot of fans/followers/likers.

Why don't you get it going this Christmas, Flood the internet with your photos, places you spent your holiday and weekends, times with friends and crazy animals, food of the day oh that could be silly though, Kisses from Bae wow. Would love to do that *Smiles*. Now lets take a loooook...

Photo Grid

With the 1001 new ways to collage a picture for use on twitter, Facebook or Instagram, this app is
cool because when you don’t like a collage combination, Instead of going back to a different collage template and starting over (time wasting), you shake the camera and it gives you a different option for your collage. It’s quick, fun and it presents your images in a variety of ways that makes for interesting layouts.

Download Photo Grid

Studio Design

 So, think about Studio Design as Photoshop for the clueless who has an Android. You can add depth to your images using icons, words, odd shapes and produce a final image that makes you feel you just

designed your very own campaign. In a social media world where image really is an anchor, what better way than to attract an audience than to make your words look and pop like images.

Download Studio Design

Pic Play Post

 I remember the first time I saw this app in action. I was fascinated. Before then, all most people did on instagram/facebook was post single images or collages of images, but being able to post a video(s) with images simultaneously and you can add some music as a soundtrack? Talk about being in the know. Now, you too can be in on this. Look for it on your iPhone or android

Download Pic Play Post

Word Swag

 WORD SWAG is a typography application that can help you create amazing looking word or type info graphics, creative quotes and text place on your image. I LOVE IT. So if you ever wondered how
people who post quotes crank it out so quickly. It’s probably WORD SWAG Magic. It’s quick easy and absolutely worth the $3.99. People have grown their fan list by tens of thousands because of the way they use wordswag. You can create your own branded background and add text to it. They also have a gallery of royalty free stock images that can make your feed look awesome. It’s quick and easy to learn and I warn you, you might get hooked and go quote crazy.

Download Wordswag

Insta PicFX

lnsta PicFX is like a collage app on cloud 9. It spices up your images with really cool colorful overlays. And once an image is visually stimulating, you get people to respond even if they intended to or not. That is the power of strong and engaging imagery, sometimes, we can’t help ourselves, we just like or share.

Download PicFX

Text Gram

Plug in a quote on social media that people find interesting and you will more than likely get people sharing it, or affirming that they agree with you (engagement). Textgram can turn your inspiring quotes into works of art. They have many layout options, color choices and various fonts. A combination of these can get you tapping into your audience attention and engagement in no time.

Download Text Gram

With all these tools or mobile apps, keep in mind people love stories. So be intentional about the story you want to share with your fans/followers/audience. And endeavor to tell stories with your content as often as you can. People connect to people; help your fans and followers connect to you.

Art by Studio Design

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Attend blogging training and get your own blog for free..!

Most of us use facebook, twitter, BBM, WhatsApp, SMS, Badoo, Instagram, LinkedIn, just to mention a few, and we start our days and end same on social media. Some have lost their relationships to social media; others have lost their jobs, too. A lot of students have also been ruined by social media.

We spend money we do not even have, paying heavily for data bundles and buying expensive mobile devices, just to stay connected to our social media accounts.

If you fall into the category of people described above, you are already addicted to social media, and may not even be aware!

Instead of urging you to stay away from social media, I will rather encourage you to find a way of earning a living out of your addition to the internet, just like I have made over 100 million Naira through the internet this year alone.

Nigeria’s e-commerce industry has experienced a massive surge in the last three years and now worth $550 million (about N109.4billion), with Jumia and Konga selling to over 1 million customers regularly

Good news is that you really don't need to spend plenty money building and designing your own eCommerce website before you take advantage of the new trend which is fast rendering physical shops and trading inactive.

You can start with a blogging career, by attending my one-day blogging training, where your own professional blog will be developed for you - free!

When it comes to a lifestyle-friendly business, blogging appears to have it all. You get to work from home, focus on a topic of interest and share your creative talents. No company registration, corporate accounts, office space, office equipment or staff needed to take off. All you need is a mindset, ability to learn and a laptop computer (My company sells laptops from N45,000).

But what is a blog?

A blog is a frequently updated online personal web page. It is a place to express yourself to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions.

How do you make money from blogging?

There are multiple ways of making money from blogging:
Google Adsense: Google places relevant adverts on your blog, and pays you as people click on the adverts.

Affiliate Marketing: There are many companies that offer affiliate programs that enable you to earn money through your blog. Jumia, Konga, Kaymu, Efritin are a few of them, and I will teach you how, at the training.

Network Marketing: Network marketing is one of the hardest businesses to venture into, especially in Nigeria; but with easy and reliable networks like Club080.com/philip you can earn N1,000 - N40,000 daily through your blog

Sell your own Ad space: You can sell your own ad space directly to advertisers and charge between N200,000 - N2,500,000 per month from each advertiser.

Publish Posts and Reviews for Pay: You can write blog posts on your own blog in exchange for pay, and they are always companies and individuals who want their products and services reviewed or discussed online, and the average charge per post is about N50,000

You can also sell your own products/services on your blog, or blog for others and charge a professional fee!

    I will create a professional blog for you - for free - once you you enroll into Club080 Bloggers University Lagos, and teach you everything you need to know on how to make money with a blog, plus expose you to the following:
    1. How to attract politicians & successful businessmen to patronize you and your bog.
   
    2. Tools you need to launch your blogging business and succeed in a short while.
   
    3. How to create blogs for others and earn BIG.
   
    4. How to monetize your blog.
   
    5. How to automatically advertise your blog posts (stories) on all your friends' facebook and twitter accounts
   
    6. How to use and leverage Twitter as the most powerful social media platform for bloggers
   
    7. How to get people visiting your blog - which is the 'koko'.
   
    8. How to use blog as website to promote and sell your products and services, even if you don't want to be a full time blogger.

I will also teach you 10 ways to start making money from your blog. All of these 10 are very effective. You will discover that every popular blog blogs in different niches using one or combination of these models.

I’ve decided to pull back the curtain and share some of my best kept secrets with you this Saturday.  If you’re sitting on the fence, what you'll learn this Saturday will open your eyes to the value and potentials in choosing blogging as a career; how to make Money Blogging – A One Day Journey To Online Riches!

Enroll into Club080 Bloggers' University for a one-day intensive training on blogging
Venue: Club080 Bloggers' University  #20 Adeniran Ogunsanya Surulere Lagos
Date/Time: 10am Saturday December 12
Admission/Tuition Fee: N10,000

Fee covers tuition, internet (wifi) access, creation of your blog, lunch, 10,000 Nigerian email addresses + 10,000 GSM phone numbers you'll need to send text messages and emails to follow your new blog to jump start your career.

Pay to Potech Integrated Services Ltd. Diamond Bank Account #0028652769 or click here ( bitly.com/pay4blogging ) to pay online and text your payment details to 08027196002. Only 20 seats available for this training on first come first served basis, which might be the last for the year. Interested participants must pay the participation fee to reserve a seat before the training day. Participants are strongly advised to come along with laptops for practical training. We also sell laptops from N45,000.

I shall personally be on ground to facilitate the training. See you at the Bloggers' University!

Philip Obin,
MD/CEO, Potech Ltd.
Founder/President, Club080.com
Founder/CEO, 9icefaces.com
Curator, FullyReported.com
08027196002 | 08069718569 | @PhilipObin | fb.com/philipobin
ceo@potechng.com | www.potechng.com | www.potechSMS.com
WhatsApp/SMS: 08027196002

Philip Obin is a product of the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Pan Atlantic University, a social media and business strategist with proven ability to deliver; a success instructor who has trained over 45,000 persons on various businesses.


Notice: This is Information was published on Linda Ikeji's Blog. Visit site for clarification so as not to get scammed. We love our readers and present to them real news to avoid them getting scammed by internet fraudsters.

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How to Upload/Install a Blogger Template

A well designed blog attracts more visitors than a fairly designed blog due to it's side attractions, gadgets and colour usage but can we design such a template with the blogger template customization section?. Yes but it is quite difficult and will consume time and energy. This is the reason why most bloggers tend to buy or download one of the free templates available online. The problem doesn't stop here as installing such template might lead to some complications which might completely destroy the xml file of your blog.

If you still have not found a template of your choice that suit the style of your blog try searching for designs under various names but do include the name blogger to avoid downloading a WordPress or Joomla theme. The popular searches which should give you a good result includes; Blogger templates, SEO Blogger templates, Responsive blogger templates, Premium blogger templates, Free blogger templates and customizable blogger templates.

Any of the above searches should give you the template that will make your bog look like a website and professional. Be careful when deciding on which to pick as many templates were being created by non-experts therefore opening a room for customization errors. One of the most common of them is the template giving an undefined error report, or showing a wrong thumbnail image while sharing your post to other sites like facebook etc.

After finding the template of your choice clink on download, depending on the site where you download from. Most sites offer free download while others offer premium download, but of all make sure you download the template either in xml file or in zip file to enable easy installation.

How to Install Blogger Template.

Step by step Guide

Step One: Log into your blogger account (Dashboard) and locate the template option in he sidebar. This is basically where everything about the look of your blog is decided, it's colours, style and design is sharpened here.

Step Two: Locate the mobile view button and turn on mobile template (as shown in the picture above) by clicking on any of the shown mobile version which includes simple, dynamic, watermark etc. This is necessary in other to make the about to install template customizable. This is official blogger bug and many template sellers include this warning in the documentation of blogger templates found in the zip file.

Step Three: Open the downloaded file which should probably be located in "downloads" in your computer. Open file or unzip file if it is a zip file and locate the xml file which should be written in form of templatename.xml. Also locate the documentation to know more about the template and publisher's installation guide. Some template sellers do sell files in xml type if found like this please do not unzip or zip.

Step Four: Go back to your browser and locate Backup/Restore in your template section, Immediately a pop up window will appear, First backup your existing template by clinking on download full template. After downloading the template, it is time for you to upload the template you bought or got free from the web.

Step Five: Upload a new template by clinking on Browse.. This should take you to your computer storage, now search for the new template you want to install and select the xml file only. After doing that, it should return to your blogger dashboard showing a message "upload" Just clink on it and wait for it to load. A message will be shown "changes successful".

You have successfully installed your new template. Clink on view blog to see the changes live on your blog.

How to Customize Installed Template

Customizing an installed template is easier than creating one from blogger's official templates. Just clink on customize in the template section. Change things according to what you want. A preview will be shown below so i advice you preview before saving. More options on this should be shown in the documentation of your purchased or free blogger template.

How to Install Gadgets in a Custom Template

Gadget options are usually directed by the template publisher with various codes you need to make your custom gadgets live included. All these changes are made in the layout option in the blogger dashboard. A complete bloggers guide is limited to designers code so check documentation.

This is a complete bloggers guide on how to install a blogger template and with it being well detailed and explained for your understanding to avoid making errors, questions and experiences can be posted to me via the comment box and quick responds will be duly passed to you. If having other difficulties refer to bloggers guide for well detailed explanation on various blogging expect from the beginners to the pro-bloggers. Have fun Blogging with an amazing template

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How to Add Facebook Fan Box to Blogger Blog

Blogging is mainly about writing articles and reaching them out  to lot of people on the web and getting them to become your readers. To achieve this, a Facebook Fan Page would be helpful since it connects your blog to your Facebook page. And also this gadget lets your blog visitors see, visit and like your Page in Just a few clinks. This article will be of help to both pro-bloggers and newbies due to the adjustment made by Facebook which we have discovered and created help for.

Demo at the right sidebar

Facebook

Facebook is one of the world most popular social networking service that connect friends and family together and enable lots of sharing either within its contents or external sites. Facebook as of today has millions of users which makes it the target point for websites owners and business persons.

Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his Harvard College roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The founders had initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University.

It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to high-school students. Since 2006, anyone who is at least 13 years old was allowed to become a registered user of the website, though the age requirement may be higher depending on applicable local laws.

If you are not on Facebook just log on to www.facebook.com and clink on create account to get yourself and business active on the global advertiser "Mr FB".

What is a Facebook Fan Page

A fan page is the only way for entities like businesses, organizations, celebrities, and political figures to represent themselves on Facebook.

Unlike a personal Facebook profile, fan pages are visible to everybody on the Internet. Anyone on Facebook can connect to and receive updates from a page by becoming a fan (i.e. ‘Liking’ the page).
Like a friend’s profile, Facebook pages enable public figures, authors, speakers, restaurants, hotels, bands, retail stores, photographers, realtors, community organizations and other entities to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook.

Having a fan page is one of the greatest way of running you blog on fb. Its easy to use because you can easily connect your fan page to you website and share every update from your online store to you friends, likers and followers on fb.

What is a Facebook Fan Box

A Facebook fan box is a great plugin that allows blog visitors to subscribe to your blog updates via Facebook account without leaving your blog. After subscribing by clinking on the like button) , visitors will receive your recent updates on your Facebook page which links to their account.

This plugin also show faces of the 'liker' on your blog. The plugin show recent post on your Facebook page that is if you want to show it. But before adding this plugin you need to create a Facebook fan page.

Importance of a Facebook fan page Plugin

Adding a Facebook fan page to your blog is of range-less importance especially if your blog is live (always updated) and full of great contents which visitors will like. Its a traffic booster for your blog. Most bloggers have this plugin on their blog and don't worry it won't affect your blog design or layout because its unique appearance adds an amazing look to your blog which ever place you add it to (sidebar or Footer).

1. Helps to collect subscribers to you blog
2. Beautify your blog 
3. Greatest way to make you fan page live on your blog
4. Tells your visitors how popular/trending you are on facebook by showing number of likes
5. Helps your blog readers message you on fb.

How to Add Facebook fan Box to your blog

 Recently Facebook made an adjustment on their developers page. Perhaps made it easier to add it to  your blog but most users still haven’t figured it out so do not worry you just clinked on the right website. Before we go to the developers page we will need to know our Page URL.

If you just created you Fb page you should find this easy but if it's been you created yours, i will still show you how to get your URL without much stress.While creating your page a field is shown to you where you are asked to input your page URL copy that URL in a notepad or notebook But if you forgot this URL just visit your fan page and copy the URL in the Address bar.

Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Visit Facebook Developers Page

In adding the plugin to your blog, Visit the facebook developers page. Now the little adjustment, a page will come up showing about a little development on the plugin. Just continue by clinking on the Page Plugin text in the page

Step 2: Customizing your Facebook Plugin

This is one great feature for you especially if you are the fancy type. It's recent development makes designing the box easier. Here you will be required to fill a few fields before clinking on get code.

• In the first field you are required to fill in your Facebook URL which we taught you how to get early. To make it easier it always go with your page name. Example if your page name is "Lifestyle And Magazines" then the URL should be www.facebook.com/livestyleandmagazines except you made some changes while creating your page.
• The second and third field requires you to fill the width and height of your box. Note: if you want the box to fit in to your sidebar or footer space then do not make any changes here.
• The others fields are much easier. just clink on any of the features you want in the box. But if you don't understand this feature look below for a preview of which ever feature you clinked on.

Step 3: Get Code

When you are through with the customization just look below and clink on get code. A pop up window will show. showing two fields namely

•  Include the JavaScript SDK on your page once, ideally right after the opening tag. and
•  Place the code for your plugin wherever you want the plugin to appear on your page.

Copy the code in the first field (JavaScript SDK).

Step 4: Adding it to your Blog

After a successful customization the next step is to add it to your blog. Now to do that, log on to your blogger account dashboard and clink on ‘Layout’, When the window appears clink on add a gadget in the sidebar or anywhere you want to place the Fan Page. Now a new popup window will open then just clink on Add HTML/JavaScript a space will be shown. Do not fill the title field (leave it empty). Paste the code copied in step 4 into the field. Now clink on save.

After doing that the Facebook Fan page won't show yet on your blog. To show it, go back to layout and clink on add a gadget at the exact place where you want the fan box to show. Clink on add HTML/JavaScript. Now go back to Facebook developer page and copy the second script shown in the box. Paste it in the HTML/JavaScript field and Fill the Title box with any name you wish. Most bloggers use Follow us on Facebook, Its your choice.


Step 5: Rounding Up

Now you are done. Just clink on save gadget and also clink on save arrangement. View your blog to see the amazing box.

Join/like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lifestyleandmagazines

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Topic: How to Add Facebook Fan Box to Blogger Blog

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Blogger.com Free Blogging Platform

Am happy to have opportunity to share to you lucky beginner who has just thought of choosing blogger as the brain power behind your amazing blog yet to be established. I have been writing lots of articles on this very wide series "Bloggers Guide" which i intend to publish as an e-book as soon as this year's episode comes to an end.

Blogger

What is Bloggers Guide all about

 Bloggers guide is a series of interesting, educative, creative and blog enhancing posts which have been well edited by various bloggers in the Tech World. Blogging though free needs some technical know how to get the best out of it. I once experienced this at my early days of blogging. This is one of the reasons am taking my time to start a blog for you, build it, develop it, help you write, give you SEO and a chance to do free guest posting.

Why Did i start this Series

I started this series not to make money or become famous but as a way of appreciating those few bloggers out there with their technology blogs who helped me during my early days in this blogging market. Everybody has an intention to choosing blogging. And i choose it as a way of sharing my experience and Lifestyle.

So i started it for your sake and i will continue my great work which i pray to help many bloggers in the World either from Nigeria, any country. I just gave you the reason why you should always comment and share all my articles so that many beginners like you won't be lost in the blogging Crib.

Blogging Platforms

Previously on my posts How to choose a Blogging Platform and Best Blogging Platforms  in the series bloggers guide i careful explained everything about blogging platforms leaving no trace of doubts. I won't start all over again if you missed it just try and read them. Both know this a blogging platform is "the rock where your weblog stand".

Blogger.com as a Blogging Platform

Blogger.com also previously explained in one of my previous articles, is one of the all time best website to power you little internet home. I would love to go detail so do read carefully a little reference i made to Wikipedia.

"Blogger is a weblog-publishing provider that lets in multi-consumer blogs with time-stamped entries. It turned into advanced through Pyra Labs, which was bought via Google in 2003. normally, the blogs are hosted by means of Google at a sub-domain of blogspot.com. Blogs can also be hosted inside the registered custom area of the blogger (like www.example.com). So blogspot.com area publishing could be redirected to the custom domain. A user could have as much as one hundred blogs in keeping with account.

Up till may additionally 1, 2010, Blogger allowed customers to post blogs on other hosts, through FTP. All such blogs had (or nevertheless have) to be moved to Google's own servers, with domains other than blogspot.com allowed through custom URLs. not like WordPress.com, Blogger lets in its users to apply their personal area free of rate, whilst WordPress.com prices round $eleven to use a custom domain. Blogger can not be hooked up on an internet server. One has to apply DNS facilities to redirect a custom URL to a blogspot domain."

 Source: wikipedia.com

After getting a brief on the meaning of blogger.com, i would love to take you through more advanced tips on blogger which no one expects dictionaries to look into.

Advantage And Disadvantage of Using Blogger.com

Everything we humans always want is perfection when we ourselves are not perfect but that doesn't stop us from getting what we want. It will be encouraging enough for every beginner to know the pros and cons of what he is intending to do. Now a quick review

Why you should not Choose Blogger.com

Lets kick of with the important specific reasons why you should run from blogger. But do put in mind while reading this the features you would love to find in a platform so that evaluating would be much more easy to use

Rumors of It not Being Reliable:

This happens to be the first problem you have to consider. I don't imaging you wanting to own a blog in a Crib that is not reliable. During my early days of blogging this was my greatest fear. Still don't know how true this is but somethings should be put into consideration.

During my designs and template customization, i had to search online for pro-bloggers who could help me out since i knew nothing then. That was when i encountered this issue, it was being discussed by lot of bloggers using this platform and many of them tend to support.

With lot of evidence derived from various services offered for free by Google which they later shutdown for reasons still unknown. This became the mitochondrion of bloggers leaving the service for other good platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Tumblr and many others. Reference* read my previous article for list of blogging platforms.

Limitation of Mobile Friendly Templates:

 At the beginning of blogging with Google service, this might not be a real problem for you but when you start getting visitors and impressions there would be a need for a change in the work scheme. What do i mean by this? Blogger offers mobile friendly templates for free and you can customize them all you want.

But does this really make my site look professional? Its a NO from me. As a pro-blogger would say, Making money with your blog starts from your design. I use blogger as a platform here at Ohen's Crib but take a look at my template and compare with other bloggers in the Likes of Nigerian Linda Ikeji. Now am not saying her blog is not Beautiful but every blogger user can easily customize his template to that exact one

Is that what you want too with you blog? Some other blogs have advanced in templates and having to stick to bloggers basic templates is really boring and stocking.

Reasons why you should Use Blogger.com as your Service host

The reasons why you should choose blogger is your host is quite unlimited depending on what you want from blogging.

When i opened my blog with a unique name Ohen's Crib, do you know i got recognized by google in just two days?. that's an amazing function of blogger automatically summit your blog to google immediately without you paying a damn.

Blogger also features a lot of uniqueness by giving you a special admin control panel to let you rule your world without paying any web developer to help you.

Its a whole new home with its writing dashboard where you can so edit to the extent of making everything turn into a photo book or even a video a post. Use colours, Use headings and enjoy blogging.

View and edit you post from one place, Use SEO practices, Add extensions like windows live writers, firebug and many others.

Make your blog look entire like a website by buying custom templates, design your own templates and also use free available templates.

Features Of Blogger.com

Your entire blog apart from your content, entire depend on your host. Everything need for the design, functioning, friendless and also SEO depend on you service host. This is a major case of concern as the above listed options define of blog and make it suitable for our readers and subscribers.

Blogger in this aspect offers us a lot of services, Gadget, templates and many other flexible features which can make us have a great blogging experience, free from limitations.

1. Admin Control Panel

Blogging style turns into fashion and trends with bloggers easy to use control panel which just comprises of a lot of tools summed up into few tools to let you navigate through you blog at ease. Control which includes the following listing

• A front page which navigate you to the blogs you follow and important news from blogger buzz and also give you a listing of your blogs on that account with the actually all time number of page views. With an easy option to either post directly from there, View all your posts, View you blog just the way visitors see it and finally add a new blog for free within 5 seconds.
•  To also make navigation easier for you blogger offers a sub menu which showcase to you the basic things in your blog panel: An Overview Page; showing total views in a scale, news from blogger buzz, general updates and many other options. Post Page, Pages, Comments, Google+, Stats, Earnings, Campaigns, Layout, Templates and settings. All the words are self explanatory.
• Add many other options to spice up your experience.

2. Writing Dashboard

Writing Dashboard

The writing dashboard is a great combination of tools that can make your writing simple, beautiful and styled. It is a similar to the Microsoft word dashboard with the basic tools for writing available.

• It features the HTML and Compose mode which allows you write articles directly in HTML format of compose an article with simple text just like in Microsoft word.
• Writing features the use of Headings, Sub headings, Minor headings and normal text. Also allows you to make text either coloured, italic, bold or underlined.
•  Medias including photos and videos can be inserted directly from a lot of services, your computer, blog, a URL , Picasa and lot of other services.
• Writing dashboard features a right sidebar that allows you add labels, schedule your post, add a permalink, add a location, and other options like allow comments and use of line breaks.
• Lastly a top bar which allows you Publish post, Save post, Preview post and  Close post 

3. Layout Option

The layout option helps arrange your gadgets in a drag and drop style to make it suit your taste. This is where you get to add gadgets to your sidebar, footer, header and allow you arrange how your post body will look. A little hitch among all the available gadgets my favourite is HTML/Javascript because with it you can add lots of spicing to you blog.

To me this is one of the options why WordPress was not a deal for me. Sharing options, social networks, polls, About gadget, Popular post gadget among a countless list of others are available and rated free for all bloggers.

Template Section

The template section is the brain behind your customization, it's look, colours and every other outlook option except gadgets involves this section. This section also give an amazing sub division.

• Customize and 
• Edit HTML

 The above listed options are two terms which work hand in hand. This is the same section where you can backup your existing template by downloading the raw file and also Uploading a new template which you must have bought or downloaded free from free online template selling websites.

The customize options lets you design your blog, set you layout (sidebars, footer), choose your theme colours, background image, header customization, body customization and many other options as listed in the page which you should understand easily.

Edit HTML is an advance option for pro bloggers, It allows you edit the frame work of your blog in HTML codes, CSS and many other coding. A bad work on it can destroy you entire blog but that doesn't mean you should not play around. You can play with it as you wish but a little advice, always backup your template by saving an xml file of it before messing with your HTML. Use the preview option whenever you change or add a coding to avoid errors.

Settings Tab

This is the last option i will brief you on. As the name implies. it enable you change a few things in your blog. Your blog description, Title, Privacy Option, Publishing options, HTTPS Settings, Permissions which include adding authors to you blog (multi author blogging), setting who should read you blog, your search preference (Custom robot tag, Meta tag, custom redirects and other options), Language and Formatting, Post and comments, mobile and email, and other options.

Layout

How to Start A Free Blogger Blog

Opening a blogger blog is a simple task which might look complicated if you are not properly guided. Before making the decision to run your weblog on blogger, you must put into consideration, all its pros and cons to avoid making a mistake or even loosing your blogging career.

Lets go on with the step by step guide on opening a blogger blog in just  few a clinks.

Note: Before getting to this step you must have chosen a unique domain for your blog which will be your blog URL immediately it has been published to the web. I advice you make it personal with special word to avoid the "Already exist message from blogger".

Step One

Create a gmail account, if you already have one just note down your email password and name as this will be the main control for your blog. If you don't have an account, establishing one will only take about 20 minutes and you can use it immediately after creating. I recommend gmail because blogs on google services offers all google packages (Drive, Google Plus, Adsence ) making blogging easy, exciting and money making.

Step Two

Log on to Blogger.com  and fill in your email details. Please take note of every word, every Capital letter, small letter, Signs because it is case sensitive. If you forget your password, use the recovery option.

Step Three

Fill in your details in the pop up window,  Your blog title; which is the name of your amazing weblog, Address; Which is the URL of the homepage of your blog, which all links in your blog will direct to. (Note: when filling in your address do not add www. or https. rather just write the address and the blogger sub-domain will add itself).

Take a look at my blog, it's title is Ohen's Crib while its Address is www.ohenscrib.blogspot.com. Yours should look similar when you are through.

Select any template of your choice. These are just simple templates,  which can be edited, changed and upgraded later as you continue blogging.

Starting Pop up

Step Four

Now you have a blog on the net which should be seen on search engines as from the third day (depending on your weblog name and address) this won't work if you do not post on your blog. This doesn't mean your blog is not live. It is live, it only means that you can only view your blog through your URL.

Other forms to be filled by you are all bonus setup and when it comes to Author profile selection, i recommend you to select Google plus Author profile but you can also use the other option and write about yourself. Both are great.

Step Five

Understanding the control panel; Just refer back to top to read everything i already wrote about the control panel which for now should look a bit unfamiliar but with time and usage it will become flexible for you.

If you want to use a custom domain for your blog, It is also easy and can be done in just a few clicks. But i won't be dealing on it, because am based on free blogger.com in this post. Refer to two of my Friendly tech blogs for that Helplogger.blogspot.com and Ogbonge blog.

Writing Your First Post

After all the read and click click, now its time to write your first post. Write it as a message article and do use the post to tell all your visitors what your blog is all about. Do read post from other bloggers on ways to compose your first post.

This is where i will stop in this teaching post which took me over two weeks to write, edit and preview. The purpose for this well detailed article is to enable young bloggers understand the blogger interface and start a blog without having to call or pay a web developer.

Article: Blogger.com Free Blogging Platform

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Best Blogging Platforms For Beginners | Bloggers Guide

If you have been keeping up with my posts on bloggers guide then you should understand the term "Blogging Platform' but if you didn't start with us then read my previous article on How to choose the best blogging platform. Just visit my Episode one (How to become successful in blogging) on bloggers guide to get a good knowledge on starting a successful blog.

All blogging platforms are basically free except you want more uniqueness in your domain e.g from www.ohenscrib.blogspot.com to www.ohenscrib.com.  Platforms vary in different quality especially when it comes to the look (template/ theme for pro bloggers) customization and other imitating characteristics. But they are quite similar when it comes to post writing dashboard.

Best Platforms to Run Your Amazing Blog

A normal approach towards this might appear a bit confusing but am sure if you have read other articles on bloggers guide you should find it easy to understand as you will be used to terms written here. I wont rate any platform above another, its just going to be a review and after reading this as a beginner this choice is entirely yours.

Now lets kick on with the review. Read well and carefully and at this moment assume everything thing about blogging was a lie to enable you make the right decision about the best blogging platform.

Blogger.com

Blogger is an amazing blogging platform for you as a beginner. It was developed by Pyra labs but now owned by web search engine "Google' as it was bought by them in 2003. Its a free and flexible platform with its sub-domain as blogspot.com. 

With blogger you can run up to 100 blogs per account and can also change your domain name from www.yourname.blogspot.com to www.yourname.com by just registering your default domain with a custom domain service like Hostgator. Despite all these amazing features, few bloggers led a complain on it not being reliable as it is owned by google which has been seen to shut down platforms without giving any information about it.

Aside the above problem blogger is awesome and can be used to power many types of blogs from fashion blogs, lifestyle blogs and also news or gossip blog. Linda Ikeji a popular News and Celebrity blog in Nigeria, Jide of Ogbonge blog (one of Nigeria's biggest tech blogs) and the Londoner a British lifestyle blog uses blogger to power their blog.

Blogger.com offers many more features like template customization, widgets or gadget and many more. If you are choosing blogger.com platform to power your blog then you probably read my article on blogger.

WordPress.com

WordPress is a popular platform which was established in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. quite the most popular and widely used of recent. Just as blogger wordpress.com is free of charge and easy to run. Most WordPress users claim that its the most simple and easy to understand platform for beginners. Well i still don't agree but lets leave that for you to decide.

But just like blogger, WordPress.com have a problem which Pro bloggers (Professional Bloggers) argue about. This time its not about its ability to shut down anytime (though its still very possible) rather its about its limitations. I don't know much about WordPress but in the past i wanted to start my platform with them but i had a lot of problem with its limitations.

When you run a free blog on WordPress.com with its sub-domain as www.yourname.wordpress.com, your customization is limited to a few available WordPress themes which can either be categorized as free or premium (for sale).

Aside that problem above WordPress.com is easy to use as you don't have to know anything about coding before you can manage it. Its all about WordPress plugins which can be easily installed with just a few clicks.

WordPress.Org

At first i didn't want to share this blogging platform among this category but after thinking of it i decided to add it. all the list are free blogging platform but wordpress.org is quite the opposite. Following the name alone you should know its still owned by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.

So why creating this after having an amazing platform. Well if you read the little problems in wordpress.com (limitations). Then this is the solution for it. Now lets make a review. Wordpress.org in Brief is the paid type of Wordpress.com. Meaning it is more of a website as the process for getting it requires registering or buying a domain with custom domain service like Bluehost.

And installing the WordPress.org in the server. Its not actually tedious but i think it needs some technical know how to gain full knowledge of it. NaijaStories a popular Nigeria story telling blog, BBC America news website, Sony Music and Beyonce owned by popular singer and song writer Beyonce Knowles uses WordPress to power their blog or website.

As i earlier said its a cure to Wordpress.com but that doesn't mean everything come with the domain name. Despite paying for a domain and server, Most themes and Plugins still requires payment as they were not all designed by WordPress but that doesn't mean you can not create you own theme.

I won't fail to mention Wordpress.org is very good in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as it allows you install lots of plugins that should boost your SEO. Plugins like All in One SEO pack and many others which you will soon discover.

Tumblr.com 

Tumblr is another great service which was created by David Karp at a time blogger and WordPress were head to head. But its more of a micro-blogging and social networking platform. It was founded in February 2007 and is now quite know with Yahoo its owner. 

Well it quite got its popularity from its uniqueness from blogger and WordPress which is its multimedia support and short form blogging style. It being owned by Yahoo has a bit made it more of an advertising site. I once opened a blog there which i never really made use of as i  already opened this one Ohens Crib.

Now just like blogger and WordPress lots of bloggers also use Tumblr to power their site. I ran into one today lagosphotos.tumblr.com and also top sites like ghostphotographs.tumblr.com, willitbeard.tumblr.com  uses tumblr.com to power there sites. Among all of the sites i have come across, they are mainly art and socialism blogs, i think that's what tumblr favors more. Though i didn't mention earlier, tumblr is free and has a sub-domain as .tumblr.com.

Joomla.org

Joomla which was founded on August 17th 2005 till today is known as one of the best free platforms due to its inability to shut down unexpectedly. It is quite dependable or as you would say reliable. Joomla is an advanced CMS (Content Management System) used by mainly developers in publishing some of the websites which could also be blogs we see on the web.

Now Joomla which uses extensions in its designs and functionality is to me friendly as it has a lot of its software used for free by its users unlike WordPress that sells it plugins. Many bloggers and website owners use Joomla for a lot of things which i will emphasize on in my article on Joomla.

I have just listed and explained some of the best blogging platforms for beginners and if you still haven't found the platform of your choice, then you should read comments on the comment box below but Bloggers who have other details about free blogging platforms.

As a pro blogger reading this am sure you know placing comments helps in promoting your blog so do use the comment box and share other platforms for beginners to read. Sharing is Caring Friends.

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