Ready to start a blog? It's a snap with Blogger. Head on over to the Blogger website. Log in using your Google username and password because Blogger is powered by Google.  Click on the big orange rectangle that says: Create a Blog  Title your blog. This does not have to be the website address. This is what will appear at the top of the blog page. Choose your actual blog address. Once you fill something into the box, click on "Check Availability" to make sure no one else is using that address. Try not to make your address TOO long or no one will remember it! Type in the word verification. Skip the Advanced Options (unless you have another domain name or are trying to import another blog). If that sounded Greek, just skip it!  Then it gets fun! Time to choose your template (how your blog looks). Don't worry, you CAN change this later.  Congratulations! You officially have a blog!  The next time you log in to the Blogger website you will see your Blogger dashboard. Before you get started blogging, let's fix your settings. Click the blue button that says: Settings Many of these settings are up to you, but here are the ones I think really need. Especially if you are an elementary educator.  The settings section has many tabs across the top.. Go to the Formatting tab and change to the correct time zone for your area. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "save settings." Then click the next tab for the Comments section. This is very important! (First image below) You want to choose to show comments and allow anyone to comment. I like having the pop up window for comments because then you are able to look back at the post while you are writing the comment. (Second image below) For comment moderation select Always, then type in the email address where you want comments emailed for your approval. Select word verification for added safety. DON'T forget to select "save settings" at the bottom of the page before you move on.   If you are a co-teacher or a team teacher you may want to share your blog with another person or even a team of people. If so, you need to go to the Permissions tab. Click on the button that says "Add Authors" and simply type in the emails of those you want to add. They will need to accept the invite they will receive to be a part of this blog.  Now you are ready to blog! If you are already on this screen you can click the "Posting" tab and if you are logging back in to Blogger you will click the "New Post" button.   Make sure you fill in the Title box for your blog post and then in the text area, write your post! If you want to add an image click the image button (green arrow) and if you want to hyperlink to the web, highlight the text that will link to an outside url and then click the link button (yellow arrow) to type or paste in the web address. Click Publish Post when you are ready for it to go on your blog!  |
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