How To NOT Go Live With Your Blogger Blog......Yet

So I suggested toying around your Blogger blog prior to 'going live' here in my first post. I hope that it was helpful. The reason is common to beginning anything... look before you leap!  You want your product to be completely thought out and well oiled.  So this post is over some basic settings.

On your Blogger Dashboard you'll see 'Settings' toward the bottom left pane of your screen.  Click it and there will be another list of options. In the 'Basic' selection you can give your blog its title, insert a description that will appear in your Blogs Header among others things that are easily understandable so we won't worry with these.

I want to focus here on the 'Permissions' settings.

'Blog Authors' setting:  If you'd like to invite additional authors you can add them as administrators to enable them to access & post on your blog.
  

      Guest posts are a great way to increase your site's visibility because in doing so you are 

networking using your guest's contacts, as you can be certain that

they will communicate their cameo to their regulars.  

While this is a GREAT way to gain traffic, I would be careful about this one and only add people I trust not to trash anything. Obviously adding random people you meet online could jeopardize all you've worked so hard for. You could even add them only for a time period & remove them once they have posted their work. I would ultimately suggest simply having them forward their work to you via word or email then you could enter it into your blog personally. No worries this way.

 'Blog Readers'setting is the main one for our topic today.  By clicking 'Edit' you can do several things here.  You can:

1.   Make it 'PUBLIC' meaning anyone who searches for it can find and view it. However, don't think this will make your site 'searchable' there are other things you must do to acheive this, we'll talk about those later.

2.  Make it 'PRIVATE FOR BLOG AUTHORS ONLY' meaning only blog authors on blogger can view your posts.  This may be helpful if your wanting feedback layout/content from experienced bloggers. You could ask for that input if you feel lead.

3.   Make it 'PRIVATE FOR "THESE" READERS ONLY' meaning you can grant access to only a select audience of people that you choose.  This is also where you will go to not go live. It's here that you can utilize the test it tip from my first post. If you're still in the prep stage you can opt to make your blog 'PRIVATE'. No one but you can view it which gives you the ability to get your layout just the way you want it.

Additional tips on using the these settings:

To test layouts/design you simply 'Preview your blog'.
    You can do this by going to layout & clicking 'preview' in the top right corner.

To test links such as subscriptions, internal or external links, etc. you will need to make the blog public first.
    So you'll have to click to make it public,
    view your blog and examine the changes/additions you made and
    then go back and make it private these readers only.

Now you're ready to continue your design phase in secret. And you're well on your way to creating the most user friendly, well designed site you could imagine.

Hope this helps!

Have you found any useful settings? Pass it on!

Remember, my mistakes, your gain!

Before You Go 'Live' With Your Blogger Blog...... 5 Tips You Need

So, you're probably a lot smarter than me but I thought I would post these suggestions about things to do before you go public with your Blogger blog. If you do these things you will minimize your visitors frustration.

  I myself am a beginner & definitely am not a tech pro so, what I learn I will share here.  Hopefully it will help you.

Here are my suggestions:

1.  Set up a 'Test Blog'. That's what this one started as. Then I decided to document what I'm learning in hopes that it could help others(: You won't have to worry about what other people are seeing until you are good & ready.

2. Prepare as many posts as you can before you launch. Staying ahead of your posting schedule is just good practice. This way you won't let your subscribers down when they expect new material and find none. This can also help keep your content as thorough as possible as you won't be rushing just to meet a deadline. I would further suggest staying about 2 weeks ahead. If you post daily that means have 14 posts ready to 'throw down' as promised.(we'll look at post scheduling in the future)

3. Set up your blog and play around with ALL of your settings before going live!(we'll look at some key settings in future posts) This is a BIGGIE! What happened to me was that I launched using the most basic template & settings not really knowing how to use blogger just so I could start sharing quicker.  As a result I had to change & change & change my layout which was probably aggravating to my visitors. Sorry guys):

4.  Spend time developing your about page & any other pages you add.(we'll cover this later too) Your visitors will want to know about you, why you're writing & what you have to offer them.  It should be easy for them to access & understand.

5.  Test. Test. Test. Every gadget, every link, everything. Test it yourself first! Don't let your readers comment that something isn't working as you promised. Test it before you publish.

 I know you're eager to get your information out there, but planning is key to a successful launch.  You don't want to rush in only to disapoint readers from the beginning.  Develop your site. Let your readers see the effort you've put into their experience and they'll come back.

I hope this helps you and good luck on your blog.  You can share a link here once you get it set up!

Remember, my mistakes, your gain