bindass-links.blogspot.com: 2010

Friday, December 24, 2010

Blogger Newsletter

December, 2010

Hello Blogger user!

We know it’s been a little while since you’ve heard directly from us, so here we are again to spread the latest product news and updates from the Blogger Team.

Things have been very busy over here recently, as we’ve been working really hard to develop a number of new features while also building out new teams in global offices. Over the last few months we’ve put a lot of energy towards turning your suggestions into improvements to Blogger, and just in case you missed something along the way, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite updates for you to check out.

And while you’re busy reading through this list, we’ll be putting the final touches on the next round of exciting stuff. Make sure to stay tuned for 2011; we have big plans in store.

Features

Comment Filtering

Hopefully you’ve noticed the new Comments tab in your dashboard, which we added over the summer as part of our upgrade to the comment system. This Comment Inbox is a centralized place where you can manage all of your comment-related tasks, like delete published comments, manage comments that have been flagged as spam, and moderate awaiting comments (if you’ve enabled Comment Moderation).

We’ve also started analyzing all posted comments in our system, and are automatically classifying the ones we believe to be spam. Similar to Gmail’s spam filtering, you can help us improve our classifiers by telling us whether the comments we’ve caught are actually spam.

Stats

The Stats tab is another recent addition to the dashboard, and is the hub for all your blog’s realtime traffic data. Pageviews, reader location, browser types, popular posts, and referral sources are just a few of the pieces of information we’re constantly collecting for each blog.

If you want to show off your blog’s traffic data to your readers, we’ve also built Blog Stats and Popular Posts gadgets which you can add to your template. These can be added from the Gadget Directory at any time, and have a variety of configurable options to change the display and data layout.

Background Image Upload

Earlier in the summer we released our Template Designer to all users, and asked for your feedback about what other features we could add to make it even better. By far the top request was the ability to upload your own background image, and we’re happy to say that this feature is now live within the Template Designer.

To upload your own background image to your blog, simply click on the Background section within the Template Designer.

Mobile BlogSpot

We realize that more and more users are accessing the web on smartphones, and we want to make sure that blogs still look nice when viewed on these smaller screens. We’ve put a lot of work into creating a mobile version of BlogSpot, which will automatically detect if a blog is accessed on a smartphone and then display a mobile-optimized version.

Mobile BlogSpot is live now on Blogger in Draft, and can be enabled from the Settings | Email & Mobile tab. From there you can also check out a mobile preview version of your blog to see what it will look like.

Web Fonts

The Google Web Fonts team has made great progress on expanding font options across the web, especially for non-Latin alphabets like Cyrillic and Greek. We’ve taken advantage of their work and now offer 40 new Web Fonts in the Template Designer on Blogger in Draft. For the full list, check out our Help Center article.

From Our Friends

Other helpful services recommended the Blogger Team

$100 Coupon for AdWords!

With Google AdWords you can attract new Blogger readers at the exact moment they’re searching for you. Google AdWords is the online advertising program that shows 3-line ads next to Google Search results. Just choose the search terms your potential readers are likely to use, write your ad, and decide how much you’re willing to pay per click and per day.

To kick off the holiday season we're giving new advertisers a $100* coupon to promote your blog and boost your reader numbers. Redeem your $100 coupon code now to try AdWords: CB7G-9XZ9-UTBV-F6D4-MFG

Offer expires January 31, 2011.

*Full coupon Terms and Conditions found here. Promotion is only valid for new advertisers

OpenSky

The folks at OpenSky have built a great service which connects you with small e-tailers to write about their products on your personal blog. You can search for the products and services which interest you, and then pass those recommendations to your readers while splitting all profits 50/50.

The best part is that OpenSky takes care of all of the order processing, fulfillment, and customer service. It’s one of the best affiliate programs we’ve come across, and it’s a great chance to help your readers discover interesting and relevant products.

Your Feedback is always welcome

As always, our ears are open to your feedback. Many of the features and developments covered in this newsletter are the result of comments, surveys, tweets, and other feedback that you’ve passed along. So please keep it coming!

And finally, we have a quick 30-second survey about our monetization features for those interested in passing along your feedback.

More Blogger Hubs

Blogger Buzz: Our official product blog
Blogger in Draft blog: News from our testing ground
Blogger Developer’s Network: The latest news for our developer community
The Coffee Shop: Chat with other Bloggers in our community forum
Blogger on Twitter: Follow us for the latest news and announcements from the team
Blogger on Facebook: Become a fan and interact with other Bloggers from around the world

Thanks again for using Blogger!

- The Blogger Team

2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043 Unsubscribe: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive Blogger feature announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails of this nature in the future, please visit your account’s Notification Preferences Page (http://www.blogger.com/edit-notification.g - Google Accounts login required). Remove the check beside ‘Feature announcements,’ and click ‘Save.’

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Blogger Newsletter - July 2010


	July, 2010

Hello Blogger user!

It’s been a busy and exciting last few months for all of us here on the Blogger Team. We’ve been working hard from around the globe to put the finishing touches on a handful of recently-released features, as well as looking to the future with big ideas which will make Blogger even better. So as we say goodbye to the first half of 2010, we wanted to say a big thanks to all of you who have made working on Blogger so fun and rewarding—we really do appreciate it!

We thought it’d be helpful to summarize some of the latest Blogger news and developments that our team is especially proud of. From new features to worldwide Blogger meetups, there is much to be excited about. So without further ado, here is the 411:

Features, Fresh Out of the Oven

Template Designer

If you haven’t had a chance to check out our brand-new Template Designer, you’re really missing out. We laid out the full laundry list of new design features in a recent Buzz post, but we think the best way to find out what’s possible is to get your hands dirty and play around right now.

So go ahead and freshen up your template; your blog will thank you.

Blogger Stats

We’re very excited about the most recent creation from Blogger in Draft, Blogger Stats. Blogger stats makes it easier than ever to get all sorts of real-time traffic data for your blog, right from the comfort of your Blogger dashboard.

Accurate Post Preview

We understand how important it is for your blog posts to display exactly as you expect when published, so we’ve put a lot of time into improving our current preview page. The end result is an entirely revamped post preview, which now displays your drafts exactly as they will appear when published live on your blog.

New Sharing Buttons

We’re always thinking about ways to help you better promote and share your blog content with the world, and the new sharing buttons we’ve just released are great tools to help you get the word out. The buttons—which support sharing via email, Blogger, Google Buzz, Twitter, and Facebook—can be placed under each blog post where your readers will easily see them.

You can turn on the new sharing buttons right now by editing the Blog Posts widget and enabling Show Share Buttons in the Design | Page Elements tab.

Zemanta Post Gadget

Zemanta has been a partner with Blogger for over a year now, providing a browser plugin service that helps you easily add related content to your blog posts. We’ve seen so much positive feedback about the service that we recently released a gadget version of the service that easily integrates directly in your post editor.

Want more info? Check out Zemanta’s own video overview and tutorials!

Google Affiliate Network

With Google Affiliate Network you can access affiliate ads for top retailers. If the ad or text link you post on your blog results in a sale, you earn a commission.

Google Affiliate Network is featured in the Monetization tab in your Blogger account. You’ll need an AdSense ID to join, and once you have access to Google Affiliate Network you can apply to advertiser programs, promote ads, search for links to specific products, sign up to access product feeds, and utilize Link Subscriptions that deliver the latest links and promotions directly to you each day.

Sign up for Google Affiliate Network!
You’ll find help getting started in the Google Affiliate Network Help Center.

More Fun Stuff

Worldwide Meetup

The Blogger Team has long wanted to help organize a worldwide meetup for Blogger enthusiasts all over the world, and we’re happy to announce that we’re in the final planning stages of actually making this happen! We’ll be sure to share the details on Blogger Buzz as soon as we sort everything out, but are looking now at dates in late August/early September.

Blogger on Facebook & Twitter

Yes, Blogger has its own brand-new fan page on Facebook. Drop in to say hello to the Blogger Team, network with other like-minded bloggers, and share cool blogs.

Our Twitter page is another great resource for the latest Blogger info, announcements, launches, and service updates.

As always, we’ve been listening closely to your feedback and will continue to do so with anything that we’re working on. If you have specific feedback about features we’ve released, you can always let us know via our Help Forum. Our ears are always open, and often it is your voice that ultimately drives our development process. So if you have something to pass along, please speak up.

Thanks again for using Blogger!

- The Blogger Team

Friday, June 4, 2010

Announcing Blogger and Amazon.com Integration

Do you link to Amazon.com in your blog posts? If so, a recent Blogger integration may be just the thing for you. Blogger now integrates directly with Amazon Associates, giving you the ability to search the entire Amazon.com product catalog without ever leaving the Blogger post editor. Writing a review of Avatar and want to point your readers to the DVD that just came out? Not only can you link to the DVD, you can also include the cover art and buy it now info from Amazon so your readers know how much it costs without ever leaving your site.

You might even make some money in the process! Amazon pays an advertising fee to a Blogger user who is a participant in Amazon's Associates Program* and whose visitors buy products linked from their blog. Sign up is simple - just click on the Monetize tab in Blogger, then click on Amazon Associates to get started. Once enabled, you will see a new Amazon gadget next to the familiar Blogger post editor:

Whether you want to make some extra money, or you just want to add some pizzazz to your blog posts, the Amazon Associates integration is a great way to add color to any blog post about books, movies, electronics, music or any other product sold at Amazon.com.

More details at Blogger Buzz, or just click Monetize in your blog's dashboard to get started.

Thanks for using Blogger!

Regards,

The Blogger Team

2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043

*Some Blogger users may be ineligible to participate in Amazon's Associates Program. See the Associates Program Operating Agreement for more information.

Unsubscribe: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive Blogger feature announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails of this nature in the future, please visit your account's Notification Preferences Page (http://www.blogger.com/edit-notification.g - Google Accounts login required). Remove the check beside 'Feature announcements,' and click 'Save.'

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Express yourself with the Blogger Template Designer

We’re excited to announce that the Blogger Template Designer is now available on Blogger in draft, Blogger’s experimental playground.

The Blogger Template Designer makes it easy to customize the look and feel of your blog without knowing any HTML or CSS. Here are a few of the new features available in the Blogger Template Designer:

Beautiful new templates to start from
Custom blog layouts with one, two and three columns
Hundreds of background images
Customizable colors, fonts, and more...

What are you waiting for? Express yourself in style with the Blogger Template Designer. Learn more at www.blogger.com/templates.

The Blogger Team

2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043

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