ProBlogger: March 2009

How To Submit blogger sitemap to yahoo to index your web pages

Submitting your site to yahoo is easy and give your web pages more exposure.
All you need is a YAHOO ACCOUNT(ID).However,you don't need an yahoo ID to know the information like how many pages are indexed,etc.But,if your blog is a new one or no pages in your blog are indexed(type your blog url in yahoo search and see to check whether your web pages are indexed or not), then you want Yahoo id to submit your sites,feeds,etc.
Let't see how to make yahoo index your webpages by submitting your blog sitemap.

1.Go to Yahoo Site Explorer

2.Click on the 'Sign in' link which is at the top of the page (If you don't have a Yahoo id, you can get one here) to sign into your account.

3.Type your blog url in the box provided and click on the 'Add My Site'

4.After adding your site,you need to Authenticate(Verify your ownership).

Now click on the site name which submitted you and then click 'Authenticate' in the next page.

There are two ways to verify your ownership.One is to upload a file to the root directory of your site which can't be possible in blogger.

Another one is to 'adding a metatag' which is possible and the only way to verify ownership for bloggers.First,copy the metatag..

Next,sign in to your blogger account>Edit html and paste the metatag below the head tag and SAVE THE CHANGES.

When you return to Yahoo! Site Explorer, click the button that says “Ready to Authenticate”

Next,you will get a message saying that 'Your site is pending authentication'

Note:Don't remove the metatag,they will revalidate your ownership by checking your ownership regularly.

5.Next,go back to the 'Site explorer home', and check the box next to your blog url and click on the Manage button.

6.Type rss.xml or atom.xml in the box provided.It helps yahoo to discover more of your site content via your rss or atom feeds and to index your blog pages quickly whenever your blog is updated.Next,click on the add feed button.

That's it.Now,you have sucessfully submitted your blog sitemap to yahoo.Check your account after a couple of days and you will see your blog indexed in yahoo search engine.

Meanwhile,if you didn't submitted your blog sitemap to google,please read this about How to Submit your blog sitemap to Google

How To Add "Email Me" html/javascript code for your blogs,web pages

Adding the "Email me" link to your blog/webpage is very helpful for the visitors who want to contact you.It increases the interactivity between the visitors and your site and make them come regularly.

There are plenty of problems if you show your email address directly on your site as SPAMMERS find your email address easily via search engines,and other sources.
So,by adding this type of links will hide your email address and If your visitors want to contact you,they will click on it.If the visior want to sent to you via another source like yahoo,google,etc they will simply copy the email address(in the outlook express) and email you.
On clicking the links,WINDOWS OUTLOOK EXPRESS will be open by default.
So,how to add the "Email me" link?

There are two types of ways to do it.One is text link and another one is image link.

Text Link:

Suppose,your email id is 123@gmail.com ,here is the code you have to add

<a href="mailto:123@gmail.com">Email me </a>

Don't forget to change the email address in the above code to your's.If you want another anchor text(not "Email me"),you can change it.

Image link:

Suppose,if you want the visitors to email you by clicking on an image,First you have to upload your picture to some image hosting services.They will give a direct link for the uploaded image.Take a note of it.

In this example, the direct link for the uploaded image is http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt346/wam8387/bloggertipemail1.png and your email address is some 123@gmail.com ,the code you have to add is

<a href="mailto:123@gmail.com"><img src="http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt346/wam8387/bloggertipemail1.png" alt="Email me" width="120" height="57" border="0" /></a>

Where to paste this code in your blogger(blogspot) blog?

Sign into your blogger dashboard>layout>add a page element>html/javascript and Paste the code and save the changes.

How To Embed YOUTUBE video,movie in your blog

So,you want to embed a video(movie) onto your blog.The process is very simple,even a dummie can do it.If you want to embed your original video,then first sign up for an account in youtube and upload your video and get the embed code.

Otherwise,you can easily embed any public youtube video in your blog.Go to youtube.com and search for the video.For example,if you want to embed a Barack Obhama video,search it and copy the embed code on to a windows notepad or anything else.
The following process is explained below with pictures for easy understanding.

1.Go to youtube.com and search for your required video

2.Copy the embeded code(ctrl+c) and paste(ctrl+v) it in windows notepad.

3.Sign in in to your blogger acoount and click the New Post button and next,select the option 'Edit html' as shown below and paste the html code as shown below.

4.Publish the post.That's it, as you can see now,the youtube video is embeded in your post properly.

NOTE:You can change the width and height of the video by replacing the values to your desirable ones.

How To Move Newer, Home and Older Posts Links to top of Post.

The Newer, Home and Older Posts links are available at the bottom of each post on the post pages. These navigation links are only available in the Layout Template. If you have a Classic template you have to upgrade by going to Template---->Customize Design--->Upgrade to get them.

At the bottom of the post these links are situated along with the Label links and the Subscribe to Posts Atom feed link making a lot of clutter. You can reduce the clutter by switching them to the top of the post above the post title. This style is seen in many Wordpress blogs.

To switch then to the top login at Blogger.com and click on Layout link on Dashboard. Then click on Edit Html subtab of Template tab. Put a check in Expand widgets template checkbox at the top of the template code box. Scroll down to this line of code in the blog posts footer widget :


<b:include name='nextprev'/>

If you want to have them only at the top you can do and Edit---->Cut to remove these lines to the Windows Clipboard. If you want them both at the top and the bottom then do an Edit----->Copy. Scroll up to find this code :

<b:includable id='main' var='top'>

<div class='blog-posts'>

Paste the navigation code below the last line of the above code. Save Template. Clear Cache and view Blog.

You can see them at the top above the post title on the post pages of this blog. If you want to customize them further you can change this code in the CSS part of your template :

#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: left;
}

#blog-pager-older-link {
float: right;
}

#blog-pager {
text-align: center;
margin-top:20px;
}

Use Preview to check the effect before saving changes.

Useful Widgets,Add-Ons & Tools for Your Blog,Website

Adding Widgets, Add-Ons & tools to your blog You can improve performance of your website.

Here's a collection of best and most useful blog widgets or add-ons that can be easily integrated with any website/blog. All these below add-ons are 100% Free.

Outbrain Star Ratings Widget: