This article was co-authored by Anar Kazimov and by wikiHow staff writer, Luke Smith, MFA. Anar Kazimov is a Digital Marketing Expert based in Vancouver, Canada. He is the Owner and Marketing Director of Pixel Prodigies, a company created to help business owners achieve more sales by revamping their digital portfolio. He has helped the NIH, IBM, Canadian film studios, Rolex dealerships, and many other firms in their marketing campaigns. He previously had a career in the IT industry and worked at Freelancer.com. He received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Victoria.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 49,887 times.
A little while back, Blogspot rebranded to Blogger. It’s still one of the best places on the internet to run a blog, and doing so is simple and free. You can even make a little money with blog ads! We’ll show you everything you need to get started, including making a new blog, customizing it, making posts and pages, and exploring other useful settings.
Quick Steps
- Navigate to www.blogger.com.
- Click CREATE YOUR BLOG.
- Sign up or sign in using a Google account.
- Enter a blog title.
- Enter a blog address.
- Enter a display name.
- Click Finish.
Steps
Making a New Blog
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Open Blogger in your browser and select CREATE YOUR BLOG. In your browser, navigate to https://www.blogger.com. Type it into the address bar and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return on your keyboard.
- Note that “Blogspot” is now “Blogger.”
- Blogger currently supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
- You can also complete this process on your mobile browser from a phone or tablet.
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Sign in with your Google account. You will need to use your Google account to sign in and use Blogger.
- If you don't have a Google account, click the Create account at the bottom.
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Enter a blog title. Click the text box next to "Title" in the pop-up window, and type a name for your new blog here.
- This name is always displayed at the top of your blog, so choose something you feel represents your blog and its purpose.
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Enter a blog address in the "Address" field. Click the text box next to "Address" in the pop-up, and start typing a URL address to use with your blog.
- Your URL is the web address users will put into their browser to access your blog.
- Available URLs will show up on a drop-down list as you type. The text beneath the box will indicate whether or not your desired URL is available.
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Enter a display name and click Finish. If you've never used Blogger before, you'll be prompted to enter a display name for your profile. Then, you'll be taken to your Blogger dashboard.
Making a New Post
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Select Posts in the left sidebar. This displays a list of all your published and in-progress posts.
- On this menu, select Manage to manage existing posts. Check the boxes beside existing posts and use the top toolbar to do things like publish them, hide them, add labels, or discard them.
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Select NEW POST. Find this button in the top left of your blog’s dashboard. You’ll then be taken to the post editor.
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Type your post’s title and body in the text fields. On this page, you’ll find a small text field for the post’s title and a large, blank text field for the body. Click on these and begin typing to craft the title and body of your blog post. This post will appear on the main page of your blog.
- Use the text formatting toolbar to change the style of the text, including its font, size, bolding, italics, indentation, etc.
- Click the Edit icon (pencil) to swap to HTML view if you’re more comfortable composing in HTML or want more fine-tuned control.
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Insert links with the toolbar. In the top toolbar, click on the Link icon, or the small chain image. Then, enter the text that will display for the link and the URL of the link itself. Check the “Open this link in a new window” box if you want the link to take users to a new tab rather than navigating away from your blog.
- Check the “Add 'rel=nofollow' attribute” box if you don’t want your blog associated with the linked page in Google search results.
- Note that these options may be hidden behind the 3 dots icon (•••), depending on your browser window’s size.
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Insert images or videos with the top toolbar. In the top toolbar, click the Photo icon to add an image to the post, or the Video icon to add a video. You may upload these from your computer or by URL. You may also add photos from your Google Photos or Blogger accounts.
- Note that these options may be hidden behind the 3 dots icon (•••), depending on your browser window’s size.
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Use the “Post settings” toolbar to edit your post’s metadata. Here you’ll find a series of dropdown menus that let you edit the technical aspects of the post:
- Use Labels to add tags to the post to organize it in your blog. For example, if the post is about food, you might label it “food” or “recipes.” Separate each tag with a comma.
- Use Published on… to either schedule to post in advance, or retroactively post it on a prior date and time.
- Use Permalink to customize the post’s URL.
- Use Location to add a geographical location from which the post was written and published.
- Use Options to customize who can comment on the post.
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Select Publish to publish the post. Find this button in the top right, with an arrow or paper airplane symbol. Or, select Preview to see what the post will look like on your blog before you publish it.
- In the preview dropdown menu, you may also save the post without publishing to work on it later.
Customizing Your Blog
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Click Theme to choose a custom look for your blog. On this tab, browse the list of available themes. Click on one to enlarge it. Select Preview to see what it looks like in action. Select Apply to set it as your blog’s theme.
- Or, select Customize to be taken to a new page where you can edit things like the background image, theme color, and font.
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Click Layout to customize your blog’s structure. On this page, you’ll see a page of blog elements as they appear on your blog, like the sidebar, search bar, and header. Click the Edit button (the pencil icon) next to an element to customize its text, or to enable or disable it on your blog.
- Select Add a Gadget in the sidebar spaces to add additional functionality to your blog, like a blog archive, list of followers, or a directory of blog pages.
- When you’re done, click the Save button in the bottom right corner, represented by a floppy disk icon.
Adding New Blog Pages
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Select Pages in the left sidebar.
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Click NEW PAGE. Find this button in the top left of the dashboard. You’ll be taken to the page editor.
- Pages are static, top-level webpages on your blog. Use them for things like personal contact information, biographical statements, or other important information that you want readily available.
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Edit the page’s title and body. Use the topmost text field to enter the page’s title, and the large blank text field to enter the page’s body text.
- Use the text formatting toolbar to change the style of the text, including its font, size, bolding, italics, etc.
- Click the Edit icon (pencil) to swap to HTML view if you’re more comfortable composing in HTML or want more fine-tuned control.
-
Insert links with the toolbar. In the top toolbar, click on the Link icon, or the small chain image. Then, enter the text that will display for the link and the URL of the link itself. Check the “Open this link in a new window” box if you want the link to take users to a new tab rather than navigating away from your blog.
- Check the “Add 'rel=nofollow' attribute” box if you don’t want your blog associated with the linked page in Google search results.
- Note that these options may be hidden behind the 3 dots icon (•••), depending on your browser window’s size.
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Insert images or videos with the top toolbar. In the top toolbar, click the Photo icon to add an image to the page, or the Video icon to add a video. You may upload these from your computer or by URL. You may also add photos from your Google Photos or Blogger accounts.
- Note that these options may be hidden behind the 3 dots icon (•••), depending on your browser window’s size.
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Use the right-hand sidebar to edit your post’s settings. Click Options to see a drop-down menu that lets you control who can comment on the page.
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Select Publish to publish the page. Find this button in the top right, with an arrow or paper airplane symbol. Or, select Preview to see what the page will look like on your blog before you publish it.
- In the preview dropdown menu, you may also save the page without publishing, in order to work on it later.
Comments, Monetization, & Other Settings
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Select Comments to moderate user comments. If comments are enabled on a post or page, other users may leave comments. Select the Comments tab on the left sidebar to view these. Select Manage to edit or delete unwanted comments.
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Select Earnings to manage monetization. Here, you can sign up for an AdSense account to let Google post advertisements to your blog. Once you’ve signed up and agreed to the terms, you can track and review your ad earnings on this page.
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Select Stats to view your blog’s traffic. This page displays how many followers you have, your number of posts and comments, how many people have viewed your blog, and other historical stats and helpful numbers.
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Change to custom domain by clicking Settings. On this page, scroll down to the “Publishing” section, then click Custom domain and enter the custom domain you wish to use. Note that you’ll have to purchase one through Google or another domain hosting provider.
Community Q&A
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QuestionHow do I access a blogspot I created myself some time ago?Namrata MouryaCommunity AnswerJust go to google type blogger then click on sign in and use the email which you were used to create you blogger account, put your password or if you forgot the password you can try forgot password then when you reset your password you will be able to logon to you blogger account.
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QuestionCan I use an existing domain acquired from GoDaddy?Namrata MouryaCommunity AnswerYes, you can use an existing domain acquired from GoDaddy, you can use any domain.
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Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about digital marketing, check out our in-depth interview with Anar Kazimov.
About This Article
1. Open Blogger.
2. Click CREATE YOUR BLOG and sign in.
3. Enter a display name.
4. Click Continue to Blogger.
5. Click CREATE NEW BLOG.
6. Enter a blog title.
7. Enter a URL address.
8. Select a Blogspot URL from the drop-down.
9. Select a theme.
10. Click Create blog.