Getting the Most Out Of Your Blog Page

Online marketing over the last decade has taken on a whole new direction, and one of the most effective, yet underrated methods available is through weblogs, which is usually shortened to blog. Blogging has been around since Swarthmore College student Justin Hall created the first official blog in 1994 and yet for years online feedback has been somewhat overlooked (http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/). Today, blogs have become an important and successful way to provide company information as well as public feedback that is accessible to everyone.


Over the years the modern blog has evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives, to utilizing formats that cater to a more corporate structure. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. While this was the norm in the early years, blogging has become an extremely productive tool for businesses as well as individuals to gather and organize what smart people figure out daily.

"The first thing you need to decide when you build your blog is what you want to accomplish with it, and what it can do if successful."

Ron Dawson

These days, there are numerous resources available by way of blogging tools, and most of them are free. Here are just a few that are available right here on blogger.com.

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Html Character EnCoder

Right here on blogger.com, the Html Character EnCoder tool can help you to display html codes to your posts and blogs comments with just 3 easy steps.

1. Paste your HTML code in the text area provided.
2. Next, click on the convert button.
3. Now you can copy the generated code and use it in either your blog or comments.

As funny as this may sound, applying html code to your blog can be as easy as 1, 2, 3. In fact, this is the tool that I have chosen to use for this particular blog. I created some of the code in Notepad, then copied and pasted it into the window and the tool basically took care of the rest. It's that simple!

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Blogger Falling Objects Generator

Next there is a tool called the Blogger Falling Objects Generator. This tool will generate a code in just 5 easy steps that can be used in a blogspot to add falling objects.

1. First, you log into blogger and go to your blogger account dashboard.
2. Then navigate to the layout and on your sidebar click Add Gadget and select HTML/javaScript.
3. Leave the title empty, and on the content area, paste your generated code.
4. Next, click "Save," then move the gadget from sidebar top area to bottom area. When everything's done, click "save changes."

While this tool might not be appropriate for many sites, it can create a "fun" element for blog pages with less serious material.

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Blogger Static Twitter Badge Generator

The next blogging tool is the Blogger Static Twitter Badge Generator, which generates a code that you can use in blogspot to add a static twitter badge. This 6-step process is simple and will help spread the word about your blog.

1. Enter your image url.
2. Choose Your Badge Position.
3. Enter Your Twitter ID.
4. Generate your code.
5. Copy your code.
6. Add it to your blogger blog.

Although I'm not much on "Tweeting," this is an extremely powerful tool for a blog since Twitter has become a force within mobile interfaces.

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Blogging tools are important not only to a blog's visual appearance but to user accessibility as well. I have only discussed some of the tools that blogger.com has to offer, but the number of online resources and plug-ins that are available are endless.