Save, Back Up And Restore A Blogger Template Using The New Blogger Dashboard

Last week i was busy making some video screen casts with tutorials for the new Blogger design.In the next few posts i will be sharing the videos with you here on Spice Up Your Blog.Whether you like the new Interface or not we do need to familiarize ourselves with it.I'm sure as with all new Google products or updates the Blogger team will continue to make improvements.I'm certainly not over impressed with the new design and did leave feedback with 8 changes or additions I would like to see.

The first video covers Making a back up of your Template, as we know when you edit your template it's vital to make a back up in case of mistakes.

How To Make A Back Up Of Your Blogger Template Video Tutorial

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How to Choose Your Blog Niche

Guest Post By Sally Shaws.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

You’re dying to blog. You’re an avid reader of other blogs and you’re aware of just how much money bloggers can make working from home, in their pyjamas; or even in the buff, if the weather is warm enough.

Or so they say. The truth of professional blogging is that it’s just like any other job; hard work. It requires dedication, some guts – you’re going it alone – and savvy about how to make a success of blogging.

The first task facing any would-be professional blogger is to choose the niche he or she is going to pursue. This comes long before you commission a web designer, or start thinking about themes for your blog. Themes are just wallpaper, after all. What you’re choosing will be the guts of your operation and you want to be sure they are healthy and long lasting, not keeling over within six months.

There are two parts to choosing your niche: the What and the How .
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How to draw a fine line between plagiarism and inspiration

Guest Post By Michael Evans.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

"Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal” – definitely an inspirational quote for all those artists out there who are struggling to give their creativity wings. So, to be a great artist, you need to master the art of stealing right? Well, in the blogosphere, stealing is a dirty little word abhorred or seems to be abhorred by artists from all walks of life. So, everyone around hates “Stealing’ right? An emphatic Yes is likely to follow but what about the latest trends of blatantly copying the concepts of others and then passing it off as another great case of drawing sustenance in the form of ‘Inspiration’. Be it movie, music or our very own blogosphere, stealing in the name of inspiration has become a common practice and of late, it has become a disturbing trend. Now, the million dollar question is how we are supposed to differentiate between simple inspiration and plagiarism.

A tough nut to crack but let’s give it a try.
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Blogger SEO - Add A Meta Description To Your Full Blog And Each Post (Video Tutorial)

Last month Blogger added some great new search options to help your blog be indexed and rank higher in search results on Google and other search engines.Two of the main options added are Meta descriptions, a full blog description and individual posts descriptions.In the video below we show you how to set up and add meta descriptions to your blog and posts.

Blog Meta Description - This is a description of your entire blog.You use this to describe your entire blog to search engines.

Posts Meta Description - This is a description added to every individual post on your blog.You use this to tell search engines what each post is about.

Blog Meta Description An Post Meta Description Video Tutorial

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7 Ways To Get More People To Share Your Blog Posts

Guest Post By Diana Maria.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

As an active member of various social media platforms, you would be searching effective ways to get consistent and referral traffic for your posts. Viral marketing is the way to go if you want to measure the success of your posts. But getting people to share your posts can often become a cumbersome task. One needs to get rocking on the engagement strategies amongst the followers and fan group. To gain more insight and to learn tricks of the trade, continue to read below.
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Make Money On Blogger With Google Affiliate Ads

Blogger have introduced a new way to make money with your blog.Google Affiliate Ads can be easily added to your posts to display links and image ads connected to your content.The ads run through your AdSense account, payments will be added to your AdSense account so of course you will need an AdSense account to run the Affiliate ads.The ads can be easily added via the post settings in your Blogger Post Editor.Importantly Google Affiliate ads are only available to Bloggers in the USA.The Blogger team put together the video below to explain how it works.
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Vintage Style Rss Subscribe And Social Follow Icons Gadget For Blogger And Wordpress

I recently came across a set of icons i thought would be perfect for a Subscribe and Follow section on blogs.The icons have a vintage design and we have icons that will link to your Rss Feed, Email Rss Feed, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.Just for a little extra style i added a very simple opacity effect on hover.You can download the full set of Vintage Social Icons if you would like to add more profiles.

For Blogger i have a Easy One Click add to blog link and Wordpress users can simply add the code to a text widget on their sidebar.Take a look at the demo below.
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Five Bookmark Folders Essential for Successful Bloggers

Guest Post By Grace Pamer.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Bloggers who want to be taken seriously need to know where to find reliable information online. Linking to these sources is, after all, how your writing will be checked and trusted by your readers. Bloggers also need to know how and where they will share and crowdsource information online both in the creation of a blog and after it's completion. Other needs include SEO resources that can help with improving your online reputation, as well as social media and CMS troubleshooting sites. Here are the five specific types of web sources you absolutely have to have bookmark folders for:
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Add Cool Css Speech Bubbles To The New Blogger Threaded Comments

Blogger introduced Threaded comment replies to all blogger blogs early in January 2012.The option to reply directly to comments on Blogger was one of the most popular requests by Blogger users.So a great update but the style of the default blogger comments is still quiet bland.In this post we have a tutorial to add some style to Blogger comments.The Css styles we are adding places the comments in a rounded speech bubble with an arrow to the authors avatar, the reply link is also highlighted.Take a look at the demo below, scroll to the comments..



This tutorial comes courtesy of the great Noct blog, make sure to check them out.Lets add some style to your blogs comments.

Add Css Styles To Blogger Threaded Comments

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How To Write Posts Effectively When Covering A Boring Topic

Guest Post By Grace Pamer.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

When writing a post, a good rule of thumb is "if it is boring and dull to you, it will be the same for your reader." The obvious reason is because the topic is, most likely, just plain uninspiring to write about. But another reason your readers are at risk of losing interest is because your disinterest will show through in your writing.

If you've been writing wonderful, engaging posts about redecorating your home on a budget and giving it a complete makeover, but your readers also need information on how to clean all of the windows in the home, you need to still keep them inspired. But cleaning glass is one of the least inspiring topics to write about - so what do you do?

Don't despair because these 5 tips will help you through the most boring of topics, keeping your loyal fans coming back for more:
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How to write about a technical subject in plain English

Guest Post By Mike Sorensen.Want to get involved ? See how you can become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

One of the many challenges that blog writers face is the question of how to write about technical issues for an audience that includes non-technical folks. As a blogger, you want to appeal to everyone who might read your blog, not only to those who are aficionados in a particular area. For example, I write about soundproofing technology on my blog. I need each posted article to have broad appeal, so that everyone understands it, no one is talked down to, and yet the interested knowledgeable reader isn't turned off by too simple an approach. I have readers who are seasoned audiophiles and know all about soundproofing, and readers who have never handled a piece of acoustic foam. My writing has to be attractive and interesting to both of them - I have to reach out to a wide spectrum of people. How to do this is the question, so here a a few tips.
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Mashable Like Subscribe And Follow Sidebar Gadget For Blogger

There was a time if you wanted to follow updates from your favorite blogs the only options you had were to bookmark or remember the URL and keep checking back or use the basic web feed if available.Now as a blogger it's expected to give subscription options such as Rss Feed, Email Feed and Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google +.Its been proven the most effective position for your subscription options is at the top of your blogs sidebar, this is above the fold and instantly visible to readers.

So in this post we have a subscription gadget with all the most popular subscribe and follow options you can easily place in your Blogger sidebar.The gadget is in the same style as popular tech blog Mashable and includes options for Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Rss and Email Rss.You also have the option to add bookmarking options for 16 of the top social bookmarking websites.Take a look at the demo below then see the instructions to add it to your blog.
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DIY Earned Media - How To Get Free Publicity For Your Blog

Guest Post By Jennifer James

Last year, the Nielsen Company reported 156 million blogs on the Worldwide Web, and Technorati, the blog search reported that bloggers were updating their sites more frequently than in previous years.Blogging is now mainstream, making it more difficult than ever to gain success in this medium.The following are real-world examples of how I garnered favorable publicity for my blog on sites like the Washington Post and MSNBC, and how I even landed a weekly radio commentary on public radio.

In my profession, which is public relations, this is often referred to as earned media.It's earned because unlike advertising you don't pay for it, at least not with cash.You earn it through time, relationships, reciprocity, quality products, ingenuity and creativity.
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New Google +1 Button And Google+ Badge For Blogger

Blogger today added two new options to the gadget gallery, the gadget gallery is a collection of gadgets you can add to your blog via the "Add A Gadget" option on your blog layout page.The two new options are for the new Google +, Firstly a Google +1 button for readers to recommend your blog, and secondly a Google + badge for readers to follow your Google+ updates.

Imagine being able to share your blog with like-minded people across the web. Today we’ve made doing that easier with the introduction of two Google+ gadgets, the +1 button and Google+ Badge.Unlike the +1 button that can appear below a post, this gadget is specific to your blog. Displaying it on your blog will allow visitors to endorse your blog and share it with their friends.

As stated above you can add these new gadgets to your blogs sidebar, footer or anywhere that accepts gadget.Simply go to your blog layout page, click Add A Gadget and choose the gadget you want.For the +1 button you have options for the style while to add the Google Plus badge you will need your profile or page ID (A link to instructions is provided).

Have you added Spice Up Your Blog to your circles, also check out the official Blogger post here.

Drop your comments and questions below.

Cool Fixed Position Slide Open Egg Social Bookmarking Gadget For Blogger

A few weeks ago i published "Add An Awesome Fixed Position Slide Open Heart Bookmarking Gadget To Blogger".In this post we have the same social bookmarking gadget but this time it will not be shaped as a heart but instead an ovel egg shape.The share egg sits in the bottom corner of your blog and remains fixed as the reader scrolls the page.On hover the egg slides open to reveal bookmarking buttons for your readers to share posts on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Blogger, LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Email and the Share This Icon Offers hundreds more bookmarking choices.This is a great gadget to get the attention of your readers and have them bookmarking your posts.I have the tutorial to add the gadget to your Blogger blog below but first check out the screenshot and live demo.

Add The Share This Egg To Your Blog

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