Engage with your readers through threaded commenting

You may have noticed that we’ve rolled out a number of improvements to Blogger recently. The folks over at Technorati referred to it as a “rampage”. Call it what you like, we’re definitely having fun giving Blogger the makeover it’s long deserved, and we appreciate all the positive feedback we received at the recent BlogWorld expo.

If you follow us on our Buzz blog, you’re aware that we publish surveys from time to time. They are one of several methods that we use to collect your feedback about what we can do to make your blogging experience better. A top request on the wishlist is improving Blogger’s commenting system, so we’re happy to announce that we’ve done just that.

Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread.

What do you have to do to enable this on your blog? Nothing! If you have Blogger’s commenting feature enabled, “Blog Feed” set to “Full”, and are using “Embedded” comments, then you’re ready to start a discussion with your readers. To check, or change your feed settings, select: “Settings > Other >, and then “Full” from the “Allow Blog Feed” dropdown:

To check your current form setting, select: “Settings > Posts and Comments, and select “Embedded” from the “Comment Location” dropdown:

Visit the Blogger Help Center for additional information.

Happy blogging!

 

copying from blogger buzz

Blogger’s Brand New Google+ Page

  Earlier this week, the Google+ team launched Pages, a new way for you to keep up-to-date with your interests and build relationships with the people who share them. Today, the Blogger team is launching our own Google+ Page, and we’d like to invite you to add us to one of your circles.

By adding Blogger's Page in one of your circles, you'll start seeing updates from the Blogger team in your Google+ stream. You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with other bloggers by writing comments on the posts. Here's a quick list of what to expect:

• Product news and announcements
• Video Hangouts with the Blogger team
• Spotlights on Blogger users and their blogs
• Pro tips from the Blogger team and other users

Lastly, be sure to mention +Blogger when you share your own tips -- if we come across something particularly helpful, we may reshare it. See you on Google+! Posted by Lisa Ding, Community Manager

(Cross posted from the Blogger Buzz Blog)

Get a pulse for the posts your readers like most with the +1 counter

As we mentioned in our Connect to Google+ post a few weeks ago, we’ve been hard at work to bring you new ways to grow your blog and engage with your readers using Google+.

Today we’re happy to introduce the +1 counter, which allows you to quickly scan your dashboard to see which posts are most popular on your blog. Each time a reader clicks the +1 button on a post, a +1 gets added to that post's counter and their profile photo and name will appear.

The +1 button is available on all Dynamic Views posts by default, and can be enabled on most other template types by clicking on the Layout tab in your dashboard, clicking Edit in the Blog posts section, and checking the Show Share Buttons box.

If you don't have a Google+ account yet, don't fret. It's easy to join Google+ here.

Happy blogging!

copying from Blogger Buzz

Engage with your readers through threaded commenting

You may have noticed that we’ve rolled out a number of improvements to Blogger recently. The folks over at Technorati referred to it as a “rampage”. Call it what you like, we’re definitely having fun giving Blogger the makeover it’s long deserved, and we appreciate all the positive feedback we received at the recent BlogWorld expo.

If you follow us on our Buzz blog, you’re aware that we publish surveys from time to time. They are one of several methods that we use to collect your feedback about what we can do to make your blogging experience better. A top request on the wishlist is improving Blogger’s commenting system, so we’re happy to announce that we’ve done just that.

Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread.

What do you have to do to enable this on your blog? Nothing! If you have Blogger’s commenting feature enabled, “Blog Feed” set to “Full”, and are using “Embedded” comments, then you’re ready to start a discussion with your readers. To check, or change your feed settings, select: “Settings > Other >, and then “Full” from the “Allow Blog Feed” dropdown:

To check your current form setting, select: “Settings > Posts and Comments, and select “Embedded” from the “Comment Location” dropdown:

Visit the Blogger Help Center for additional information.

Happy blogging!

Posted by Pat Coleman, Software Engineer

From Blogger Buzz

how google adsense work

Google AdSense is fully integrated with Blogger:

You can easily sign up and create ad units within Blogger itself by clicking on the "Earnings" tab in your dashboard. Once you have signed up you designate where you want us to show the ads and we'll deliver them once your application has been approved.

 

AdSense serves relevant ads on your blogs:

AdSense works by matching text and image ads to your blog, based on your content and visitors. Ads are created and paid for by advertisers who want to promote their products.

 

Continue creating good content:

Spending time on improving your blog content can ensure that you get the most from AdSense. Sign up for AdSense so you can get the latest news, tips and advice.

features of google adsense

Custom Channels

Custom channels can be used to help you track which ad colors, formats, and placements are most effective on your site, or to provide answers to questions like:

• Which ad units are the highest earners on my home page?
  (e.g. Leaderboard at the top of the page, rectangle in the middle of an article etc)
• Do my ads perform better with or without a border?
  (Tip: ads generally perform better without borders)

To get the most out of custom channels, it's best to track every ad unit. This way you'll have a core set of reports that you can use to aggregate data from all of your ad units, or to combine in different variations to gain deeper insight into your site's AdSense performance and to answer the kinds of questions listed at the top of this section. To learn how to set up custom channels please click here.

 

Ad Filtering

Within Google AdSense, you have the ability to block ads from specific ad categories by using the category filtering feature. This feature is currently available for ads in a limited set of languages, regardless of the language of the site. You can also use ‘Category filtering’ to block ads in certain sensitive categories from appearing on your site. We’ve listed a couple examples of categories you can block out but for the full list click here. Categories that can be blocked include:

• Cosmetic procedures and surgery
• Dating
• Drugs and supplements
• Get rich quick
• Politics
• Religion
• Weight loss

Performance Reports

Detailed reports can help you identify opportunities and Google AdSense allows you to view reports for a specific day or date range, on an aggregate level or broken down into your defined channels. In your AdSense account, on the Performance reports tab, the “Columns” button allows you to customize your report to view earnings by page views, ad requests, matched requests and individual ad impressions. Selecting one of these options will change the columns and data shown in the table and graph.

Connect to Google+

 by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager

Back in October we made it possible for Blogger in Draft users to use their Google+ profile on their blog. This option is now available to all Blogger users, and as a result, we're starting to roll out the first of many Google+ features.

Starting today, if you have linked your blog to your Google+ account you will be presented with a prefilled Google+ share box immediately after publishing a post. The share box will contain a +snippet of your post that you can share with your circles on Google+.

Of course, you can disable this sharing prompt at any time on the "Settings - Posts and Comments" page. And you can always share individual posts on Google+ by selecting "share" underneath the entry in your post list.

You can start using the new Share to Google+ immediately if you’ve already chosen to use your Google+ profile on your blog. If you haven’t yet made the switch, click here to get started.

If you don’t have a Google+ account you can create one here, and then log in to Blogger and follow the above instructions.

To learn more, check out our FAQs or visit our Help Forum.

Want to chat about sharing to Google+ and other Blogger features with someone from the team? Join me on the Blogger +page for a live video Hangout at 3PM PST.

Happy blogging!