Showing posts with label Increasing Site Traffic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Increasing Site Traffic. Show all posts

Monday, 11 August 2014

How to Add a Subtitle to Blogger Posts







This Blogger tutorial shows you how to easily and quickly add a subtitle to your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) so that both search engines and readers will have more information about your post. I also discuss the benefits of adding subtitles to Blogger articles. This is an easy tweak to your Blogger blog that anyone can carry out in a couple of minutes.

blogger Blog with Subtitle Under Post for Emphasis and Search Engine Friendliness

Benefits of Using Subtitles in Posts
Adding a subtitle which appears below the title of your post can be both eye catching and informative. For instance a titling schema for this post could be:
Title: Add a Subtitle to a Blogger Blog

Subtitle: Make Your Posts More Search Engine Friendly and User Friendly

If you craft your titles and subtitles carefully you will encourage more targeted readers of your blog as they will be able to see at a glance what your post is about rather than reading the whole article. Your traffic therefore might be slightly less but they will be far more targeted to the content of your site resulting in a lower bounce rate. 

If the subtitle you choose for your Blogger post is keyword rich then you are also improving your chances of gaining a higher position in search engine result pages because search engines give added weight to headings and to text early on in an article. By adding a subtitle to a Blogger post you have a SEO tool which if used effectively could result in more visitors finding your site because of higher keyword density. 

You can of course add a subtitle manually to each post and format it everytime. The advantage of this method over doing it manually though is that all the formatting is in the stylesheet section of your template so you only have to change the colour scheme and font variables in one location and Blogger will look after the rest. Any change will be reflected in each and every post that has the subtitle <div> tags. 


How to Add a Subtitle to Blogger Posts 
This tutorial guides you through the steps to take to add a subtitle to your Blogger blog. The trick requires only takes a few short minutes and requires only a small snippet of code to be added to your template. Provided the instructions are followed anyone can do this including beginners and new bloggers. Interestingly it is not widely known or written about in technical blogs that a subtitle can be added to your Blogger Blogspot blog posts yet the advantages are considerable. 

1. Log in to Blogger and navigate to Design > Edit HTML

2. Find the </b:skin> tag in your template. If you are have difficulty finding it use CTRL + F to bring up the Blogger toolbar at the bottom of your blog and enter the tag </b:skin> into the search box on the toolbar

3. Copy and paste the code below into your template making sure that it appears before the </b:skin> closing tag
.subtitle{
font-family:Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;
font-size:15px;
color: #ca1717;
line-height:20px;
}

Add a Subtitle to a Blogger post - edit template and customise if desired
Update November 14, 2010. This code inserts a subtitle in red. You will need to change this color to match your template. See later in this post for information on how to add styling or change the color of the subtitle. If you wish to use a known variable as shown in the above image you can. color: $dateheadercolor; could be used for example provided this variable had already been declared in the variables section of the template.

4. Save Template

5. Go to the post you wish to add a subtitle to by clicking on thePosting tab and then the Edit Posts link.

6. Copy and paste the following code into your post ahead of any other text.
<div class="subtitle">Subtitle Text. Please Substitute for your own text</div>

Add a Subtitle to a Blogger Post

7. Substitute your own text between the <div> tags

8. Navigate to Settings > Formatting and under the last option Post Template enter the following into the box:
<div class="subtitle"></div>

This will mean that every time you create a post you will have the tags appear automatically. All you need do is place the text of your subtitle between the tags. If you don't want to use a subtitle for a particular post just delete the tags.

9. Save Changes to Post and click on View Blog to admire your new subtitle.

blogger Blog with Subtitle Under Post for Emphasis and Search Engine Friendliness

Customizing the CSS Styling of a Blogger Subtitle
It is easy to customize your subtitle for a different font type, color and size. Just change the code you added before the </b:skin> tag. If you want a specific color for instance you could change the color I have chosen for another color, increase the font size, and change the font face to Times Roman for instance. Thus your code would become something like this:

.subtitle{

font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size:16px;
color:#ff6600;
line-height:20px;


This Blogger tutorial has shown you how to add a subtitle to your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) quickly and easily. I have discussed the benefits of inserting a subtitle feature on a Blogger blog including how this might assist search engines to correctly index your blog articles. I have also shown you how to customize your subtitle to your own individual requirements using CSS styling


Related Posts
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs


Add Feedjit Live Traffic Feed to Blogger







Would you like to know more about the traffic visiting your Blogger blog (Blogspot Blog)? Feedjit is a free tracking tool that tracks visitors to a blog in real time and identifies what pages are visited. In this Blogger tutorial you will learn how to add a Feedjit widget to your blog which will track where visitors originate from and what pages they viewed. Adding a Feedjit widget to your Blogger blog is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. This tutorial is suitable for all Blogger bloggers (Blogspot beginners). Updated 10 October 2009.

Feedjit monitors traffic to your site and ranks it based on popularity and relevance against the traffic received by other Feedjit users in your local area. There is a choice of 4 different widgets: Live Traffic Feed, Live Traffic Map, Recommended Reading, and Page Popularity. Each of these widgets has different functions.

Feedjit Live Traffic Feed Widget for Blogger
Places a widget on your Blogger blog of the last 10 visitors. By clicking on the real time link you can actually view the last 50 or so visitors along with the keyword search phrase used to find your site. The Feedjit's Live Traffic Feed shows statistics in real-time about:
The city and country your visitors are in

The website they arrived from, if any

The page they visited on your website

Which external link they clicked to leave your site, if any

Feedjit Traffic Map
The Traffic Map widget places visitors to your site on a world map according to their physical location

Feedjit Recommended Reading
The Recommended Reading widget makes suggestions to visitors about what other blog posts they might be interested in based on general page popularity

Feedjit Page Popularity 
The Page Popularity widget lists the 10 most popular pages that have been accessed by visitors on that day.


How to Add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed Widget (Gadget) to Blogger
  1. Visit Feedjit
  2. Select Live Traffic Feed.
  3. Click on the Customize It link under Live Traffic Feed. This will allow you to enter colors to match the theme of your blog. If you are in doubt I have found that the easiest method to get the custom colors of a site is to go to the Layout > Page Elements screen in Blogger and click on Add a Gadget and then Adsense. From the configuration screen that pops up you can get the colors of the background, border, title (heading in Feedjit), URL, text. If you use these same colors in your Feedjit widget it will blend in with the rest of your site. You can preview your widget to make sure it looks as you would like it before adding it to your blog.
  4. To automatically add the widget to Blogger select the Click to Add to Blogger Link and follow the instructions. Or to manually add it which I myself prefer right click the code in the box under the heading Live Traffic Feed and select copy.
  5. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements in your blog if that page is not already open
  6. Select Add a Gadget in the Sidebar and then HTML/Javascript
  7. Paste the code by placing the mouse in the box and right clicking and selecting paste
  8. Save the widget and then using the drag and drop feature of Blogger move it to your desired location. Note HTML/Javascript widgets are best placed after your other widgets for faster loading.
  9. Save Template
  10. Click on View Blog to view your newly created Feedjit widget
  11. Click on Options in the Feedjit widget and then Ignore My Browser otherwise the widget will record your visit each time you view your blog. The option on the widget will now change to Stop Ignoring Me which you can reverse by clicking on the link again.If you use more than one browser you will need to tell Feedjit to ignore you for each browser.

This Blogger tutorial has discussed how to add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed widget, gadget or button to Blogger to track where visitors are being directed from and what posts they are most interested in. A Feedjit Live Traffic Feed will help you learn about the visitors to your blog and what search phrase they used to arrive. To add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed widget to Blogger is simple and takes less than 5 minutes to install.

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Guide to Blogger Frequently Asked Questions



Submit Blogger Blog to Blog Directories










This article discusses the benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories and provides a comprehensive list of some of the best blog directories on the internet. This is an introductory article aimed at the new Blogspot blogger but is suitable for any blogger who wishes to build site traffic quickly.

Benefits of Submitting to Blog Directories
By adding your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories you are likely to increase your site traffic expotentially. If your site has been languishing in the doldrums and not getting the kind of traffic you were expecting it could be that you haven't generated enough inbound links to your site. Signing up to some top performing blog directories will create quality backlinks and expose your site to many potential visitors.

I have signed up for each blog directory in the recommended list below and in all cases have found that they have generated at least some site traffic. A few have boosted traffic considerably and have helped me establish new blogs quickly by generating an audience. One or two blog directories have more than exceeded my expectations.TopBlogList and Blog Catalog fall into this category attracting 10 or so unique visitors within a day of sign up.

How do Blog Directories Work?
Most blog directories require that you place their button somewhere on your blog. In some cases the button's function is to track visitors from your site to the directory. Some buttons may reflect the ranking of your blog in relationship to other blogs in your chosen category within the directory. If you see a number appear on the button it denotes your blog's position.

Get Organized Before You Begin Submitting to Blog Directories
To add your blog to a blog directory you first need to register. The sign up process will run more smoothly if you get a little organized before you begin. I suggest that you take the following steps first:
Craft a description for your blog of around 400 words

Check your feed details as you may be asked to provide the URL of your feed. This is especially important if you have burned your feed at a feedburning service like Feedburner

Make sure you know the exact URL address of your site. If in doubt navigate to your home page and check the the URL in the address bar

Decide which email address to use. Blog directories tend to create a lot of mail so unless you want to have your mailbox clogged up consider carefully which email address would be best. You may decide to start a new email address specifically to handle this kind of mail.

Decide on a username and password and stick to it throughout as it will make life a lot easier than trying to remember twenty different usernames and passwords

Determine your top six keywords and keyword phrases as most blog directories ask you to provide these tags

With such a big choice of blog directories to submit to I have found it pays to be systematic. Keeping a list of where you've signed up in Notepad or similar will help guard against double ups.

How to Add a Blog Directory Button to Your Blogger Blog
Most blog directories send out an email on sign up. Once you click on the link you membership will be confirmed. In most cases you will then be directed to a menu where you can begin adding your blog or blogs to the directory. Once you have entered the details of your blog the directory will generate the button code which can be copied and pasted into a HTML/Javascript widget. It is a good idea to place all buttons together in one widget for convenience and to reduce loading time. If you are uncertain how to add this widget to your Blogger blog please refer to my earlier post about Adding third party HTML/Javascript code to a sidebar widget. 


List of Recommended Blog Directories to Get Started
All of the blog directories listed below I have personally signed up for as mentioned above. The blog directories are in no particular order except that I have put Blog Catalog and Top Blog List first because I have found them good.


Blog CatalogMy BlogCatalog BlogRank
Blog Catalog ReadersBlogCatalog is a social community for bloggers and one of the largest blog directories on the internet. It is a good option to begin promoting your own blog and to connect with other bloggers. BlogCatalog offers lots of linking options. You can add a button, a link to your blogroll or verify your site using a meta tag and dispense with a visible site link altogether. In addition you can add aBlog Catalog Readers widget to your blog like the one you see here.

Top Blogging Bloggers Guide to Customising Blogspot Blog
Easy sign up. Only one keyword phrase permitted so make it a goodie. Ranking is based on unique visitors

TopBlogArea Top Blog Area
This blog directory tracks unique visitors. No option for visitors to vote. Every month statistics are reset to zero to give everyone a chance of being highly rated

TopBlogLists
Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog brings in to Top Blog Lists

Blog Top Sites
A nice control panel for site management. Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog receives in a month. 

Top of Blogs Top of Blogs
Ranks blogs according to the number of visits a blog receives in a certain amount of time (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). 

BlogTopList Blog Top List 
Requires two buttons to be placed on your blog. One is the tracking button which tracks number of visitors and displays the rank of your site. The other button is the voting button. If a visitor votes for you it is equal to 100 unique visits .

BlogPulse
Tracks thousands of blogs. Submit yours. Try doing a check first though as you may be surprised to find your blog has already been located automatically.

BlogFlux
Over 140,000 blogs in the Blog Flux directory. Nice Control Panel interface.
Sign up is immediate although all blogs added are manually checked so there is a time delay before your blog will be included. 

Blogorama 
Top 100 most popular section. Score increases depending on variables like users ratings, incoming traffic and outgoing traffic.

My Blog Directory My Blog Directory
Blog of the day feature chosen on the basis of the number of unique visitors directed by the blog to the directory per day. The blog of the day gets the whole of the site traffic fof that day. Blogs are listed randomly so that every blog gets equal exposure. 


Other Blog Directories You May Be Interested In
I have not necessarily submitted a blog to these blog directories but I am providing a link if you want to follow it up. Not sure about overall chances of an increase in traffic with these ones though. 

Bloggernity
Free Blog Directory
Blog Rankings


Lists of Blog Directories
For a longer list of blog directories try: 
Great Blog Directories for a list of free directories

In this article I have discussed some benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories. I have suggested ways to get organized to make the process less daunting and I have recommended some blog directories which I have personally signed up for to get you started. Adding your Blogger blog to these blog directories should result in an increase in site traffic. Good luck!


Related Articles
How to add a HTML/Javascript widget to the Sidebar of Blogger


Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO









In this Blogger tutorial I will show you the best way to add meta tags to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to improve the SEO of your blog and work around the limitations of the Blogger platform.

I have observed that there are many Blogger help blogs out there telling you to just add meta tags however this will very likely achieve the opposite result from the one you are after. Whether you are yet to add meta tags or you have added meta tags already make sure you read and follow the methods contained in this article to get the best results.

What are Meta Tags?
Meta tags are HTML tags that provide additional information about your blog that is unseen by visitors but available to search engines. The meta description tag, for example, provides a short summary of the page content. The keyword meta tags show the keywords and keyword phrases a visitor might use to find your blog. Because of abuse of meta tags search engines have become smarter and most no longer place emphasis on keywords to establish page ranking however keyword meta tags are still used by some search engines so it is a good idea to include them.

Limitations of Blogger and SEO
One of the disappointing aspects of Blogger is that it is not properly optimized for SEO. Meta descriptions and keywords are not supported by blogger.com by default. Title tags are also not optimized. This means that you will miss valuable opportunities to attract visitors to your blog. 

However meta tags and meta descriptions can be inserted into your Blogger template (Blogspot template) to good effect. Fortunately these work arounds will go a long way to improving the placement of your blog in search engine results. Please refer to adjust Blogger title tags for improved SEO for help with title tags.

Simply placing a meta tag description in your Blogger template is problematic because Blogger will use the same meta tags for all pages in your blog. This means that every entry that Google has for your site will show in search results with the same description. This solution would result in reduced traffic rather than increased traffic. However there is a way to add meta tags to the home page of your blog only which will not affect post pages in your blog. In this way visitors will find the home page of your blog in search engines by the use of appropriate keywords and a site description.

How to Add Meta Tags to a Blogger Blogspot Blog Home Page
1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Design > Edit HTML

3. Back up your template as a precaution by downloading full template to your computer.

4. Check the Expand Widget Templates box

5. Find these lines which will be near the top of your template:
<head>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

6. Paste the following code immediately below <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<meta content='Place your blog description here' name='description'/>
<meta content='Place your blog keywords here(separated by commas)'
name='keywords'/>
</b:if>

7. Enter your blog description between the single quote marks under description. Maximum 150 characters

8. Enter the keywords of your blog between the single quote marks under keywords. Ensure you separate each keyword or keyword phrase by a comma. Make sure your keywords do not exceed 200 characters

By way of example here are the meta tags I use for the home page of Blog Know How:
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<meta content='Find tips,tricks,tutorials,walkthroughs to customize your Blogger Blogspot blog.SEO,Banners,Adsense,gadgets,fixes,feeds,rss,help for beginner bloggers' name='description'/>
<meta content='blog,blogger,blogger.com,blogspot.com,blogspot,blogging,tutorials,tips,blogger help,customize blogger,SEO,make money,gadgets,Google Adsense,banners, feeds,analytics,solutions'
name='keywords'/>
</b:if>

Best Way to Add Meta Tags to Blogger Blogspot Blog
9. Click on the Save Template button

10. To see your description in action you can either navigate to your blog's home page and click on view source in your browser. In Internet Explorer you will find this option in the view menu. A text document will appear which you can scroll through. You will see your description near the top of the document. Alternatively you can check your description in a free Meta Tag Analyzer tool such as Submit Expressor SEO Centro


How to Add Meta Tags to a Blogger Blogspot Blog Individual Post
1. Follow steps 1 to 4 as for adding meta tags to the Home Page

2. Add the following in the <head> section of your Blogger template. Enter this code below the Home Page code above you have just entered:
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://url of your post"'>
<meta content='keywords pertaining to your post' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='crafted description of your post' name='description'/>
</b:if>

Here is an example of optimized meta tags for this post:

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/05/add-meta-tags-to-blogger-for-better-seo.html"'>
<meta content='meta tags,optimize blogger,blogger SEO,search engine optimization, blogspot,blogger,blogspot.com,blogger.com,blogging,blog' name='keywords'/>
<meta content='Improve SEO by adding meta tags to your Blogger Blogspot blog. Step by step tutorial shows you how to add meta tags to the home page and a single post' name='description'/>
</b:if>

Add Meta Tags to Blogger on a Single Post
3. Add your post URL, keywords and description. To find the URL of your post navigate to the post's page and copy the link showing in the address bar of your browser including the http:// prefix 

4. Click on the Save Template button

5. To check your description you can use the view source in your browser once you have navigated to the post page or a meta tag analyzer

Note: This method is suitable if you have a few key posts that you want to ensure you get maximum traffic on. If you have a lot of posts this manual method would be very tedious. I don't know of any automated method or script to add meta tags at this point but I am investigating it and will keep you posted.


Analyze Your Blogspot Blogger Meta Tags
Once you have added meta tags to your blog you can use tools to analyze them to ensure their relevance. Aim for meta tag relevancy to page content of above 90%. To check this you can use a free meta tag analyzer tool such as Submit Express or SEO Centro


Troubleshooting and Tips
  • Observe Character Limits
    To avoid problems ensure that you keep within the maximum character limits:
    Title Tag - Maximum Characters is 60
    Site Description - Maximum Characters is 150
    Keywords - Maximum Characters is 200

  • Title Tag Tweak
    If you have inserted the title tag tweak and it is highly recommended that you do so then you will need to add the code above after the title tag adjustment in the <head> section of your template. Read more about adjusting title tags
  • Keywords
    Although some search engines no longer place too much emphasis on keywords some still do so it is worth adding keywords. Avoid using the same keyword more than 3 times. The maximum number of keywords recommended to be robot friendly is around 20.
  • Problems Reading the Code
    Some readers have reported problems with their browser reading this code. Try this document form of the article if this happens to you

In this Blogger meta tag tutorial I have discussed the best way to add meta tags to a Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) to improve search engine results given the limitations of the Blogger platform. In this article you have learned to add both meta tags for keywords and descriptions to the home page. You have also learned how to add meta tags to an individual post. To optimize your meta tags I have included links to free meta tag analyzer tools.


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Adjust Blogger Title Tags for Improved SEO
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