Ask Suntaragali

Add a Contact Form to your blog

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 12:35:00 +0000

Its been a long time since my last post and I am here today with a come back article. :)
This time I would like to write about a new widget i.e. Contact Form which blogger has recently introduced.

This Contact Form is easy to add and the only drawback is that you don't have much options to customize this as of now, unless you are good in CSS. Whenever someone sends a message through this Contact Form widget, the senders message will reach your inbox of the email which is linked with Blogger.

Steps to Add Contact FormWidget:

Login to your Blogger Dashboard --> Layout --> Add Widget
Click on More Gadgets.
Now click on Contact Form.
Save the widget and then save the Template

Below is the snapshot of Contact Form :

Below is the snapshot of the email received from Contact Form:

Hope this article was helpful and please don't forget to drop me a line in the comment box if this was useful. :)

Display Post Title before Blog Title

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:38:00 +0000

Is you blog not driving much attention in Search Engine Results? Do you want to make your blog more visible & reachable? Then read on...

Wait a minute, let me do a quick Google search for my post How to Setup A Blog on Bloggers.

As seen in the above result, by default Blog Title is displayed before Post Title in search engines, this will be less reachable. Wondering why? Let me illustrate with an example...
You search for an article on. Now when you search for a post in Google, you should be able to see many results based on your keyword search. Your post looses attraction as the Post Title doesn't appear first but your Blog Title which appears first doesn't tell anything about the post. So chances are very less for a visitor to click on your link. Its a normal human tendency to click on the links that has more appropriate keywords or on the links which appears at first.
From a better SEO perspective its always good to display Post Title First followed by Blog Title.

Now to display Post Title First before your Blog Title, follow the simple steps below and get a better visibility of your blog posts in search engines.

Login to Blogger.com and go to your Blog Dashboard.
Click on Templates, followed by Edit HTML.
Now in the Edit HTML window, Press CTRL+F and find the below code

<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

Replace the above code with the the below code

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<title><data:blog.pageName/> | <data:blog.title/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
</b:if>

That's all... you are done..!! In order to actually reflect in the search result it takes some time as Google needs some time to crawl to your page. However when you navigate to your Post URL you should be able to see the changes in Browser Tab as shown in the mouse pointer tool tip below.

Recently I searched for my post i.e How to Setup A Blog on Bloggers in Google, to my surprise the above solution worked for me that too in a short span of time.!! Checkout the proof below.

As you can see in the above picture, My Blog title appeared first followed by Blog Title.
Don't forget to drop by and let me know if this solution worked for you. :)

Technorati Tags: Replace Blog Title: Post Title with PostTitle:Blog Title,Display Post Title Before Blog Title,Free Blogger Tips,SEO Tips,Blogger,Templates, NB6YFG9P73FA

Add a Signature to your Blog or Web Page

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:41:00 +0000

Today I would like to write about adding a personalized signature to your Blog/Web Sites. I will be mentioning about two approaches for adding a personalized signature, whichever is easier go for it. :)

Before looking out how to add signature into the blog, first let us see how to create a it. The simplest way of creating a signature is by visiting MyLiveSignature.com

Go to MyLiveSignature.com and click on Start Now link.
Click on Using the signature creation wizard

Provide your Name and click on Next Button

Select an appropriate Font and click on Next Button

Select your Signature Size and click on Next Button.

Select the Color of your signature

Make sure to change the background color for your signature to the one that would best fit to your Blog.
Not sure on the Blog Background Color??, Don’t worry.. Trust me and check the Transparent Check Box. Choosing this option will provide the liberty to your signature to best fit into your blog without having any border around it.

Set an appropriate slope for your signature.

Your Signature is ready by now, Now to get your Signature click on “Want to use this Signature?” link. Before that just Right Click on your Signature and then select Save Image as.. to save a copy of your signature locally to your PC.

Now get your Signature Code by clicking on ‘Generate HTML Code’ link. Select all and copy paste to any Text Editor ex: Notepad.

Tip: Either you can use the signature as it is by using the above code but the twist here is your signature will be hosted on mylivesignature.com, wanna confirm? Check tag in the above generated HTML code. Well.. if it seems to be okay to have it there then skip the below step and proceed reading further.
If not upload your Signature to Picassa Web Album or any other image hosting websites, and get the URL for your Signature image and replace in of your generated HTML code and keep the rest of the code as it is.

Edit HTML Approach (Reflects in Present, Past & Future Posts):

Click on Edit HTML from your Dashboard - Templates.
Before editing make sure to take a backup of your current template.
Click on Check box to Expand Widget Templates.
Find the code
by pressing CTRL+F and then paste your HTML signature code just below this code.
Click on Preview to see if your signature is visible and then click Save Template.

Post Template Approach:
The other way of adding your personalized signature is by setting up a Post Template.

From your Blogger Dashboard, click on Settings then click on Posts and Comments.
Look out for Post Template. Add your HTML Signature code here in the text field.

Click on “Save Settings” at the top of the screen.

This approach will automatically add your Signature while creating a New Post.To check if it is working, click on “New Post”. Now you should be able to see your signature.

Before ending up my post for today, I would like to thank MySignatureLive.com for there tremendous job in helping people like us to have our own personalized signature in BLOGS & Web Sites. Also would like to thank the author of BestShopBoy for sharing info on MyLiveSignature and on adding signature using Edit HTML approach.

Try the above approaches and let me know which one proved to be useful to you or which one you feel to be a better solution. I shall wait for your reply... Till then Happy reading..!! :)

Technorati Tags: Add Personalized Signature to your Blog,Add Signature to Blog,How to add signature to your blog. Blogger Tips,Blogger Tutorials,Blogger Tips & Tricks,Blogger Tricks

How to make your Copyright Information appear in Bold

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:17:00 +0000

Today, Let us try to make the copyright information appear in bold letters. To add copyright information to your blog, checkout my previous post.
Now lets jump into action, go to Template from your blogger dashboard and then click on Edit HTML. Scroll down below or find <div id='footer'>
Add <b> before and </b>after your Copyright information as shown below.

<div id='footer'>

<div class='first-links'><b>Copyright © 2013-2014<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'><data:blog.title/>. </a></b>All rights reserved. | Designed for <a href='http://www.r4-3ds.fr'>r4 3ds</a> - <a href='http://www.r4ifr.fr'>carte r4i</a>, <a href='http://www.ir4isdhc.fr'>r4i sdhc</a>, <a href='http://www.r4igoldds.fr'>r4i gold</a></div>
</div>
Click on Preview button to make sure that your copyright information appears in bold and then click on Save Template.
Have a look on the bottom of my Blog to see it working..!! Let me know if face any issues.

Technorati Tags: Copyright information in bold. Modify copyright information,blogger template,blogger

Add Copyright Information to your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:34:00 +0000

Today I shall write about adding Copy Right information to our Blog. Adding Copy Right Information can be done in two ways.

Simple Way – Using the Default Widget available in the Layouts option (Applicable for most of the default templates and also for any 3rd party templates having Attribution widget).
Hard Way – Using Edit HTML Option, This needs minor manual modification in the Page Source Code.

Lets check out how Copy Right Information can be added in a simple way.

Click on Layout, Scroll down below to find Attribution Gadget at the bottom.
Click on Edit Button.
In the Configure Attribution window, Type the following information to add your Copy Right information at the bottom of your Blog. Copyright © 2013-2014 Owners_Name [ Ex: Copyright © 2013 Suntaragali ]
In the Preview you should be able to see the information being added.

Let us look at the hard way of adding Copy Right information. No need to Panic..!! as you don’t have to be an expert in HTML or in CSS. LOL..!! Before proceeding, remove the default Attribution Widget from the blog if you are using any of the Blogger default templates. If not directly follow the below steps.

Click on Templates and then click on Edit HTML.
Find <div id='footer'> or
Add Copy right information below

For Ex: I have added Copy right information for my blog and below is the excerpt (highlighted in red).
<div id='footer'>

<div class='first-links'>Copyright © 2013-2014 <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'><data:blog.title/>. </a>All rights reserved. |
Designed for <a href='http://www.r4-3ds.fr'>r4 3ds</a> - <a href='http://www.r4ifr.fr'>carte r4i</a>, <a href='http://www.ir4isdhc.fr'>r4i sdhc</a>, <a href='http://www.r4igoldds.fr'>r4i gold</a></div> </div>

Click on Preview button to ensure that the information is correctly added. Then Click on Save Template.

Scroll down to the bottom of this blog to view how the copyright information is added in this blog.

Let me know if you face any issues in following the above steps to add your copy right information. Happy reading..!!

Remove Navigation Bar from your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:57:00 +0000

You might have seen many blogs with no Navigation Bar at the top, If you have started blogging recently and or using a default template you should be able to see a Navigation Bar at the top. Wondering why only its appearing on your Blog and do you wanna get rid of the Navigation Bar from your Blog?

Well... If you really want to remove the navigation bar then follow the below steps.

Click on Templates.
Click on Edit HTML (Make sure to take a backup of your current template by clicking on Backup/Restore option at the top right corner)
Now in the Edit HTML window, press CTRL + F and type NavBar to find the piece of Code as shown below.

<b:section class='navbar' id='navbar' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='Navbar1' locked='true' title='Navbar' type='Navbar'/>
</b:section>

Remove the above piece of code and click on Save Template.

Now you will get a Warning message, click on Delete widgets to confirm deletion of Navigation Bar from your Blog.

Refresh your Blog to see the difference..!!

How to Setup a Blog on Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Suntaragali The Smart Techie) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:38:00 +0000

Have you recently started blogging or Are you all together new to this?
Well even I have started blogging very recently and I do understand the kind of excitement, confusions, doubts one has as a beginner.

To make your life simple from now on wards I shall write in detail about the customization's I have done on my blog and about several other customization's which most of us would like to have it on our blogs.

Having said that, now if you have just started blogging don’t worry on the templates and other customization's part. Lets approach slowly and steadily to make our blog really look attractive and impressive. First of all today I shall start with the very basic, i.e Setting up a Blog on Blogger.

If you want to start writing blogs in Blogger the minimum criteria one should have is to get a Google Account, if you already have it then follow the below steps to setup your very first blog.

Go to http://www.blogger.com
Sign in with your Google Account Credentials
Now click on New Blog
In the Create a New Blog window, provide your Blog Title
Provide a valid Blog Address URL. Always try to keep it simple, meaningful and should indirectly depict what your blog is all about.
Now in the Templates, depending on your need you can select any the available templates. If you are looking for some customization then I would recommend to choose Simple/Water Mark Templates.
Click on Create Blog.

Congrats..!! you have just finished creating your very first BLOG. :) Now Go ahead, write your first Post by clicking on New Post Icon. Once you are done with writing your content, Publish it and let your friends in your network know about it and gradually start building your own stream of audience.