Creating Your Blog
Activity One: Create Your Blog!
- Go to Blogger
- Create an Account (if needed)
- Create a New Blog
- Blog Title: the title of your blog and its description determine how your blog will be viewed by others. The title is what your blog will be known as on Blogger, as well as on your page. Try to enter something meaningful (e.g., not "my blog").
- Blog Address/URL (Short, Unique, Easy to Remember): a URL is the location of a file on the web. Some examples of URLs include http://www.blogger.com/, or http://myblog.blogspot.com/. The URL you select will be used by visitors, or yourself, to access your blog. During the blog creation process you will be asked to select a URL for your blog. Since there are already a large number of blogspot blogs, you'll need to get creative and possibly try a few different ones before you find one that's available. One thing to note when selecting your blog's URL is that hyphens (aka dashes - ) are the only non-alphanumeric characters allowed. Spaces aren't permitted, nor are underscores (_) or any other special characters. Note: Write Down Your Blog URL. It will be {blogname}.blogspot.com
- Choose a Template (you can change it later)
- Congratulations! You've created your blog.
Activity Two: Write your First Post
- Click on "Start Blogging" Arrow
- Write a Title for Your Post (e.g. My First Blog Post)
- Write the text for your post. Be sure to tell readers that you are a student blogging for a class. Also be sure to include academic integrity pledge “On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own”
- Click on "Publish This Post"
- Click on "View Blog (in a New Window)"
- Congratulations! You've written your first post.
Activity Three: Format a Blog Post
- Click "Create a New Post" in the Blogger Window
- Create another post using formatting. You'll delete this post afterwards, so you can write whatever you want.
- Note the formatting buttons. These include 'b' for bold and 'i' for italics. The 'lock' symbol allows you to enter a URL to include a link to another website in your post. The " is used to put in a block quote which looks great when you are quoting from an article you've read for class. 'abc' is for spell check. You can add an image that you upload from your computer or from a URL on the internet. Finally, you can add a video. (You can only add a video that is saved on your computer. You'll learn how to include a youtube video in a future class.)
- Click on "Preview" to see how these different features look.
- Click on "Publish This Post"
- (Optional) Click on "View Blog (in a New Window)"
- Click on "Edit Posts"
- Delete the Post you just created
Activity Four: Customize Blog Settings
- Click on "Settings"
- Click on the "Formatting" Tab
Change Timezone to Eastern
Save Settings
- Click on "Comments" Tab
Change "Who can comment?" to "Anyone"
Change to "Show Backlinks"
(Optional) Enter your email address in the "Comment Notification" field
Save Settings
Activity Five: Add Your Blog Circle to Your Blog
- Click on "Customize"
- Move "About Me" by drag & drop. Make it the top right (or top left) "block" on your blog
- Click "Add a Gadget"
- Find "Blog List" and Click "+"
Enter "Blog Circle" as Title
Check the box that says "Snippet of most recent item"
Click "Add a Blog to Your List"
Enter one of the URLs for your Blog Circle
Click "Add"
Continue until all Blogs are Added
- Move new "Blog Circle" by drag & drop. Make it the second block below "About Me"
- Click on "Preview"
- Click on "Save"
Activity Six: Prepare to Write Your Next Blog Post
