Make Sitemap Page in Blogger.

This post is NOT about adding your blog sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. It is about creating a sitemap page in Blogger which contains the links of all the post titles in your blog.


Such a sitemap page is commonly seen in other blogs and prominently linked to from the Main Page. Blogger does not have such a sitemap page. Instead it has the Blog Archives in the sidebar. To save space these show just the latest month posts and the rest can be accessed through drop down arrows. This hides most of your posts from the noobie viewer. Creating a sitemap page is then the only option to show all posts in one page................

CREATE A PAGE IN BLOGGER

In Blogger there are no specifically designed 'pages'. Instead each post is put on it's own page by default. You should have Post Pages turned on in Settings------->Archiving. The Layouts template has this turned on by default. To create a page in Blogger :

1. Login at Blogger.com.

2. Click New Post button on Dashboard under blog title.

3. Post Editor will open.

4. Put title as "Blog Sitemap.".

5. In the post editor type in a few introductory words like I have done in my sitemap post.

6. Publish post.

7. Click Edit Post link to open post again for editing.

8. Click Post Options link in bottom frame of Post editor.

9. Change the date to any date in the recent past.

10. Publish Post.

11. The Post will not appear on Main Page since it has been backdated. This is the only way to change the post order in Blogger.

CREATE THE SITEMAP GADGET

To create the sitemap gadget see How to create a Table of Contents with Post Preview for Blogger. Follow the instructions under this heading : "TOC for ONE BLOG".


This will place the Contents table gadget in your blog. Use Click and drag on Page Elements subtab to drag the gadget below the posts column.


The gadget is now seen on ALL blog pages. The next step is to place it only on the Sitemap page. To do this first we need to get the permalink of the sitemap page we created in our blog. Look in the Blog Archives gadget and expand all the arrows to see the "Blog Sitemap" title we gave to the post. Click on the ttle to open the post page. Copy the permalink from the address bar of the browser.

PUT GADGET ON SITEMAP PAGE

To put the gadget on the sitemap page we use conditional tags. To do this :

1. Login at Blogger.com.

2. Click Layouts link under blog title on Dashboard.

3. Click Edit Html subtab of Layouts tab.

4. Click Expand Widgets Template checkbox on top of the Template Code box.

5. Wait for the page to refresh.

6. Scroll down to locate the code for the Table of Contents gadget.

7. Modify the code as shown below (Put in the red lines of code) :

<b:widget id='HTML1' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "BLOG_PAGE_URL"'>


WIDGET CODE

</b:if>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Replace the CAPS : BLOG_PAGE_URL with the permalink of your blog sitemap post.

8. Save Template.

LINKING TO SITEMAP PAGE

To link to the sitemap page from Main Page first you will need to create CSS navigational menu in your header. Then get the permalink of the Blog Sitemap post and put it in the code for the navigation menu tabs.

Increase Traffic with External Content.

This is the second post in my series on How to Attract Traffic. In the first post we saw how to attract traffic using attractive content. Today we will see how to use online content outside our blog to attract traffic...........

CREATING EXTERNAL ONLINE CONTENT TO INCREASE TRAFFIC

1. Launch your site/blog with a press release. A Press release generates market awareness by distributing news across internet news channels. There are many sites where you can submit such a press release. Just Google for "press release".




2. Submit articles to various article submission sites. Make sure to include the link to your blog at the bottom of the article. Out of ideas on what article to write? Go through your blog and rework your posts into an article.




3. Become a member of a Google Group or forum related to your blog topic. Try and solve member's problems in the forum. Most forums allow for a signature line. In the signature line paste the link to your blog. Other forums allow a small banner. You can use Feedburner's Headline Animator in such situations. Do not spam the forums. Offer genuine help. Otherwise you will lose credibility.




4. Distribute Monthly Email Newsletters to your visitors. Include educational and informative content in the newsletters.




5. Start your own Google Group or Yahoo Group. Add members to it and start a mailing list. You can send your posts by email to all Group members.




6. Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn Answers are two sites where you can answer people's queries and include your site URL in the signature line.




7. Put a link to your site in your ebay profile. Put your Feedburner Headline animator in your Email signature file. This shows your post titles by rotating them and can induce viewer interest. See it in action in the Header for this blog.




8. Banner exchange sites are where you can get more traffic. Make a banner for your site. Just Google for "online Banner Generator".




9. Post comments on other blogs. Many blogs have opened up their comments for Google spiders to follow. You can make intelligent comments on such blogs and leave your blog link there. It counts as a backlink to your blog.




10. Author a book and use your blog to sell the book and your book to attract viewers to your blog. It works both ways.





11. Review books at Amazon.com and link it to your blog.





12. Author an E-Book and give it away free or part of it to your subscribers. Write a free E-Zine and submit it to free Ezine directories.





13. Create free sites at places like Squidoo.com, Hubpages.com, wordpress.com, Googlepages.com, Tumblr.com etc... Write about your subject and put in links to your blog. These are sites for free backlinks to your blog.





14. Become a member of sites like Digg.com and Blog-buzz.com. Participate in digging quality articles and build up a network who will help to digg your articles when you submit them. An article on the Digg top list can divert substantial traffic to your blog.




15. GuestBlog on your friends' blogs. Include a link to your blog at the end of the post.





16. Allow others to distribute your ebook/pdf for free or bundled with their products. This is viral marketing in action.





17. Tag Blog photographs at Social Bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and also at Flickr.





18. Offer help and comment on other blogs in your niche. Establish a relationship with the blog authors and then politely ask for a link back to your blog. A backlink from a site with a higher page rank is invaluable.





19. Some blogs are willing to post a review of your blog, authored by you, on their blogs, provided you give them a link.





20. Put a link to your other blogs on your blog if you have multiple blogs. Do not overdo this as Google frowns on link spamming.

Attract Traffic with Attractive Content.

You have a blog but no traffic! Here are some tips on how to present your content attractively enough so that it acts as a traffic-magnet. This is the first in my How to Attract Traffic series focusing on Blog Content. It has truly been said that Content is King and to attract viewers it has to be presented in a royal fashion........

Here are my tips on how best to present or dress up your blog content :





1. Talk to your Niche : There are millions of sites/blogs out there and it doesn't make sense to compete with all of them. There is enough traffic in all the segments so create your own niche and talk to it. Instead of having a Technology Blog write about Wireless Technology instead and you will rise to the top of your pile.





2. Be an expert in your niche and provide expert advice. You can do this by starting a blog about your profession in which you are already an expert. Then you can provide authoritative advice on the subject. If you want to start blogging about something else research extensively into the subject before you start blogging so that your content is detailed and convincingly complete.





3. Your language should be simple and with no grammatical or spelling errors. As for the content Follow the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) Rule. Spellcheck your posts before publishing.





4. Use strong headlines in post titles and blog titles. Use Keywords in your headlines. For more information on keywords see Keywords Tips and Tricks for Bloggers. Use Headlines like "Top 10 Tips for.....". Such headlines are encouraged by Digg. See Digg for Bloggers.





5. Create short posts consisting of short paragraphs. Each paragraph should be made up of 2 to 3 lines only. Use bulleted or numbered lists. Viewers don't like reading long content on their monitors.





6. Create uptodate content. You can see the latest topics on Technorati and write about them. You can also see trends on Google to see what is hot and what is not. Post frequently. You should post at least once or twice a week if not per day. Search engines like new content.





7. Appeal to their emotions. For all his rationality man is still an emotional animal. If you can touch and tap the emotional vein running through humanity it will yield high dividends in terms of traffic. More people will be induced to comment on your blog if emotionally aroused.






8. Update your content. After posting the latest you have to keep it current as time flies. If you have a blog reporting entertainment news then you have to post the latest news on your blog and renew old content. You cannot have your site reporting that a celebrity couple is married when they have actually separated. Your will lose your readers.






9. Offer links to other sites with resources in your niche. If you have a site on painting you have to have a sidebar column with links pointing to other sites supplying painting material.





10. You can write in any language but offer language translation facilities for your viewers who may be from different regions. You can add language translation widgets to your blog with only two clicks from the top of the right column of this blog. No coding experience required. Just click the Install button below the +Add to Blogger graphics.





11. Podcast your posts. Record your podcast and include them in your posts. You can also submit them to podcast directories.





12. Invite bloggers in your niche to post in your blog. They will get a link back to their blog in return. You will get varied content which will serve to attract traffic.





13. Take part in Blog Carnivals. This is a type of magazine dedicated to a certain topic in which many bloggers submit articles in their blogs. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks to other blog articles on the particular topic. The carnival travels appearing on a different blog each time.





14. Write on controversial topics depending on your audience. Sometimes this may have a backlash effect turning visitors away.





15. Attach a survey to a post. This invites interaction from the readers and you get to know the pulse of your reader. The results of these surveys gives you and your reader invaluable feedback.





16. Review other blogs/posts/consumer items/software. You can review for links or cash. Payperpost and others pay you to post reviews in your blogs. Review other blogs to get backlinks from them.





17. Increase traffic with the Z-List. This is a list of blogs at the bottom of the rankings which you publish in a post. These links are reflected in the standings of those blogs on Technorati and you can get valuable attention at the start of your blogging career.





18. Post a Trackback. Install Trackbacks in your blog. Now when you write about another post in your blog an excerpt will be added below that post automatically and that blog owner will read your post and if sufficiently interested will come over to your blog. This applies to his readers as well, thus increasing traffic to your blog.





19. Only keep relevant pictures on your blog as search engines ignore them except for their alt tags. If they are in BMP format they may increase page loading time.





20. Adapt Viral Strategies and give away Freebies. Give away free articles with your content and blog link below them. One useful strategy is to provide linkware which when put on the other blog will provide a link back to your blog. You can do this by supplying free templates/hacks/graphics/widgets/gadgets.




In the next few days I will be outlining how to attract traffic using other methods.

Add Content with RSS Feeds.

To Add Content to your blog with RSS feeds.........

First find the RSS Feed Icon. On many sites it is shown as "RSS" or "About Feeds". The icons are shown alongside.
Right click any one of these and select 'Copy Link Location'. Now you have to convert the feed into Javascript code. There are many such convertors online which you can find simply by searching Google. One such convertor is located at : http://itde.vccs.edu/rss2js/build.php. Go there and paste your feed url into the text box under 'Enter the web address of the RSS Feed'. Choose among the various options for the feed. Whether you want the title to be displayed etc... Then click 'Preview' to see if the feed is being generated. If the feed url is correct it will show items and content from the web page where you took the feed url from. If you are satisfied click 'Generate Javascript'. Javascript code is generated along with non javascript code which displays the feed on browsers without Javascript. Go back to your beta blog. Login to the Dashboard and click on Layouts under the name of your blog you want to add the feed to. The Page Elements page opens. Click on Add Page Element in the sidebar and choose HTML/Javascript in the popup window which opens. Paste the Javascript code in the content box and Save Changes. You can also add this to a Page Element in the Main Column of postings but then your feed will appear on all your posts. If you add it in the sidebar it will only appear once on the page.

WARNING :
1) Before taking content from other websites be sure to resd their Terms of Use for feeds. 2)You can fill your webpage with feeds but the Adsense bots are not able to read the content generated by them, so it is ineffective with Adsense. 3) You can use the Feed widget already present in the choices in the popup window which opens when you click on 'Add Page Element' in Page Elements page. However it will deliver only a maximum of five posts and titles whereas you can configure the feed in the above process to deliver all the posts.


You can also add a feed of your blog to your sidebar so that it shows all the posts titles. The URL of your beta blog's feed is :

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full

Instead of 'yourblogname' type the name of your blog.

You can also add RECENT COMMENTS to the sidebar by using comment feeds URL which are

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/TYPE

Instead of 'yourblogname' type the name of your blog. Instead of TYPE use summary or full.

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