how to start blogging with Google

1. Basic Blog Guide
Kathleen Cragun
© September 2012

2. APPROXIMATE BLOGGING INDEX
CREATE YOUR BLOG…………………………..3,4,5
BLOG SETTINGS…………………………………5,6
BEGIN POSTING………………………………...7,8
POST SETTINGS………………………………….9,10
PUBLISH…………………………………………..11
CHOOSING A TEMPLATE……………………..12,13
ADDING A PICTURE…………………………...14
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3. GENEALOGY BLOGGING 101 with blogspot.com
CREATE YOUR BLOG September 2012
To get started: It is necessary to have a Google account to use blogspot/
blogger. If you don’t have a Google account-go set one up at: https://
www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount (You already have an account if
you have gmail.)
Then go to blogger.com—this page will come up—Sign in with the email and
password you used to create your account. Then………….
…..Click on New Blog
You are on your way 3

4. What do you want your title to be? Put it in.
You can change your Title at any time. The next line down……..Address
combined with blogspot.com will be your URL. When you put it in it will auto-
matically tell you if it is available or not. If it is not, choose another one until it
says it is available. Accept. Remember this URL, write it down in a safe
place. Also write down the email and its password associated with this
account. If you don’t you may never be able to get into this blog again!
You can continue and select a Template here if you want but we suggest
you first write a post, then you will be able to better tell what your blog will
look like when you try out different templates. You can change the template
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anytime too. You cannot change your URL unless you start a different blog.

5. Your blog has been created!
Before you begin posting
there is an important
decision you need to
make. Is your Blog going to
be PUBLIC or PRIVATE????
Click on the little down arrow we have
Pointed to – this list will come up with 9 options. At the
bottom of this list is Settings. This setting is for your whole
blog. Click on this and you can select the options you
want. You can change these anytime. See next page.
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6. After you Click on Settings,
This will come up—then Click
on Edit. If you want it Public
you don’t have to do any-
thing. Change if needed.
The two items
shown here will
allow you to
keep the search
engines from
finding your blog
if you don’t want
them to.
Just Click No &
Save Changes
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7. Click on the words Start Posting. You could click on Dismiss if you
chicken out, but we hope you don’t. At first it is like climbing a
mountain, it gets easier and begins to be fun.
What should you write? Who are you trying to reach?
You could write some interesting stories of your ancestors. Then invite
other family members to your blog. If you tag (label) your articles with
keywords that might attract a relative you haven’t met yet, you may
get a comment and a connection with that person that may bring you
even more information about family members. That has happened to
Larry Cragun.
You might ask a question. What are some of the mysteries you have yet
to solve? When was great-great grandma Sally Mae Perkins born? And
Where?
There just might be someone out there that has the answer. These rea-
sons would require your blog to be public and found on Google.
Maybe you just want it to be a private blog for your research or just for
certain people you want to share with, not the whole world. All are
possible. Keeping your blog out of Google is just a matter of a click (in
the right place).
We showed you that on the previous page.
After you get your blog going, if you want it to be found in Google you
won’t want to delete posts. You can make major changes, but don’t
delete. The URL of the post will go to a dead end. Not good for ratings. 7

8. Put in your title
Every Post Will Have It’s Own Title-
It becomes it’s own URL!
Here is where you will write your
blog post…..A post is the same as
an article.
Relax . Just typing here will start
your blogging juices flowing.
It will soon become natural.
After a while it won’t seem hard.
If you want someone to come to a specific post, on the published page of
the post click on the title, highlight it in the address bar, hit Control C, then in
an email to them, hit Control V and it will paste the link so they can go right
to that post. It’s a good way to start sharing your blog and getting them
interested. They may even start to read it regularly.
Notice at the top, there is a button you can push to PUBLISH. Don’t do it
yet! Notice there are other buttons as well, like Save and Preview. BlogSpot
does save automatically but I don’t take any chances. If you are going to
put up a lengthy article it is a good idea to save occasionally even if you
are not done. Bad things can happen and it is bad if you put a lot of time
into an article and you lose it. Happened to me!
Preview lets you see what your post looks like before you post it. Other 8
items let you change the text, bold, underline, etc. like Word. There is more.

9. Post Settings—Choose Before You Publish Your Post
On the right under Post Settings are things
you need to do before you Publish: Click
Labels (same as tags). Putting these in helps
Google and readers search for the infor-
mation in the labels. Separate different
ones by commas and Click Done.
Your readers will thank you that
they don’t have to search
through your whole blog to try to
find info about the Sweeney fam-
ily or your article on family dogs.
Next after Labels Click on
Schedule. Continue to the next
page for the diagram.
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10. Post Settings—Continued……………………………….
Next Click on SCHEDULE Here you
can set your post to be published the
minute you hit Publish
OR
You can Click Set Date and Time and
choose what day and hour you want
a post to go live. You can have it set
for 4:00 am Monday morning no
matter when you write it. Everyone
will think you are up and at it very
early in the morning! You can also
write 5 posts and schedule them to
go live at separate times or days
while you are on vacation laying on
the beach eating Bon Bons.
Don’t forget to Click Done
PERMALINK is next. The default is Auto-
matic and we suggest leaving it this
way. This is what allows each post to
have its own URL.
Click Done.
We are almost done with post settings.
We know you are eager to get your
post published!
The last item in Post Settings is OPTIONS You can Click on it but we suggest
leaving the Options here as they are. If you don’t want to Allow comments
you can check Don’t Allow. Your sister might be really mad though?!
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11. Take a Deep Breath and Click—PUBLISH
Below is what your blog will look like without a
Template. Kind of boring, but not for long. Now
you can experiment with different Templates.
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12. Changing Templates
To see what your post looks like? Click View Blog
Remember we suggested you wait until you get a post up to choose a
Template. Now we can try out templates. Since you have a post up, it will
show you how things will really look on your blog. You can change
templates and even customize them.
The kind of blog you are going to do will help determine which one you
choose. If you are doing a research blog and it will be mostly for you and
your research, you will probably want something simple. If it is public,
maybe more elaborate. You be the judge. Continue to learn about
Templates…………………………………………………………………………..
From the same
place you got
into Settings (pg
4) Click on
Template.
This will bring up
many choices .
Remember you
can try out many
to see how you
like them with a
click of your
mouse.
When you find
one you like,
Click Apply to
Blog. You can
still change it
after you do that!
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13. Changing Templates……...continued
You can select Templates from these three categories shown above.
Dynamic Views are a little complicated to start out with. Each category
has a number of different templates to choose from.
Click on any of the tabs upper left to customize your template after you
select and apply one. It is often necessary to change widths of different
sections to accommodate Photos, etc.
A Template can completely change the character of your blog. And
how your readers will view it. Remember to Click Apply to Blog.
Have fun experimenting. Next we will show you how to add photo to
your posts.
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14. Adding Photos to Your Blog
To add a picture to your blog post
click on the photo icon, that will pull
up the Browse button. This is very
much like adding an attachment to
an email. From your computer you
can select the picture you want,
click on it to select and Open to add
the picture, it will appear then
click Add Selected. Done. There are many ways
to get photos into your
blog from other
sources as well.
Add selected
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15. Do your grandchildren think of you like this?
Maybe your blog will change their mind!
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16. This Users Guide does not cover everything but is intended to get
you started without too much frustration. After you grasp these
basics we think other things will be easy to grasp and then you can
concentrate on how you can use your blog to further your Family
History. We sincerely hope you have many bright ideas.
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