Blog spot or Blogger is Google’s free platform for bloggers. Although WordPress is responsible for a whole lot of websites on the internet. Google Blogspot platform is the only way to earn through on Adsense for free.
With a google account, you can become a proud owner of your Blogspot website and get on the blogger’s journey.
Pros of Google Blogspot or Blogger
- It is a totally free platform although with the blogspot.com extension.
- Simple user interface.
- Get the pleasure of being hosted by Google.
- Potential to generate massive income.
- You can get Adsense on a free Blogspot.
Cons of Blogspot or Blogger
- Too many limitations
- No third party themes allowed and limited customization.
- Your might seem substandard with the blogspot.com extension.
Step by Step Tutorial Guide On How To Create a Free Blog
As discussed initially, you must have a google account to create a Blogspot.
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Visit www.blogger.com to get started.
Click create an account (if you don’t have a google account) or click sign in. Fill in your google account details and hit the next button.
On the next screen, enter a display name (blog profile name). Then click continue.
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Select a domain name and theme
The next screen is the beginning of the blog creation process. Click on create a new blog. On the appearing popup, Enter the Blogspot title and address.
The address is the URL of your site. Enter a proposed name in the filed provided. Google will verify if it has been used or not Just as when you are buying a custom domain name.
Here is what your URL will look like “example.blogspot.com”.
Now you can proceed to choose a theme for your website from the displayed themes. Preview the theme in other to see how it really look.
Then you click “create a blog” at the very bottom to progress.
You are now a proud owner of a Google Blogspot blog.
You will be prompted to create a custom domain name. Click “No thanks” to continue for free
Setting up Your Blogspot
This where a bit of work begins. just some typing and clicking.
- Basic Blogspot Settings
You will be redirected to the dashboard of your Blog.
On the top right corner, you are the title of your blog will be displayed. To the left are a whole lot of tabs such as Post, Stats, Comments, Earnings, Pages, Layout, Theme, Settings.
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- Setting Basic
Frist on the Setting is Add blog Description. On the description, field Click “edit” and enter A Short comment that describes your Blog. The description usually appears under the Blog title.
Scroll down to assess the privacy setting. These setting enable your website to be listed on search engines. Simple Check the yes radio buttons to add your blog to google crawler listings and enable search engines to find your blog.
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- Settings>Search Preference
There is one important setting I won’t let you ignore. On search preference, tick the add description checkbox and click on save. This enables a preview of your post to appear when it appears on the search result. It enables people to know what your blog is all about.
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- Settings>Pages
Add pages to give out information about your blog. Ensure to add an about page and contact us page.
Click on Add New page or create a new page. A screen with a field will appear where you can enter page content. There are text editing features that enable you to customize text font as well as add media. After entering page content, click either publish to make the page accessible to visitors. Ensure to preview the page before publishing.
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Customize Theme and Layout
Customizing brings out the life in a website. Ensure your changes only makes your web pages cleaner and more appealing to the eyes.
Click on “theme”, Click the “customize” button beneath the current theme appearance. You can upload code, or write code in the space provided to have a custom appearance or upload a theme.
Once this is done, its time to customize the layout of the blog. To make these changes, Navigate to the Layout tab of the left. Here changes like adding, removing and rearranging of the gadget can be done.
Google has made this process very simple and easy to execute for people with very little technical knowledge. With just one click you can add and remove gadgets and increase the functionality of your blog.
To add a Gadget, Click Add a Gadget and a popup will appear where you can find the list of available gadgets. By clicking the + sign you can add it to the blog.
While we are updating the layout, it is important not to forget about adding the logo and the favicon. Logo and Favicon are 2 vital components of any online brand.
You may be thinking what is a favicon?
Favicon is generally the small icon that distinguishes your website from others when several tabs are open in a browser. This is what a Favicon looks like.
You can see the logo of GeekyPlug right next to Home, that is the Favicon.
To change the Favicon, in the layout click edit on the section where it says Favicon. A popup will appear where you can upload the Favicon from your computer. After uploading click Save.
After completing this step, its time to add the logo. To add a logo go to the header section in the layout and click the edit icon. Again a popup will appear and you will see the option where it says Image.
Upload the logo and select the placement of the logo from the 3 available options.
- Behind the title and description
- Instead of Title and description
- Have the description placed after the image
Select the option that fits your requirement and saves the settings.
After making all the layout changes don’t forget to click the Save arrangement button.
Once this is done let’s discuss how can you monetize your free Blogger blog?
But before we start with this part it is important to keep in mind you cannot monetize your blog using this method as soon as you have your blog up and running.
6. Monetizing your zlog
After you have completed the blog set up and have published a few posts and are getting regular traffic to your blog. Then you are ready to monetize your blog and start making money online.
To monetize your blog using Google Adsense, click the Earnings tab and it will take you to a new screen. Here is a screenshot.
Now click on How to qualify for Adsense and it will redirect to a new page which is Google Adsense support. This page contains all the information you require to qualify for the Adsense program.
Once you have the Adsense approval, you will be able to place ads and earn online
Recommendation- Do not apply for this program until you have decent traffic and some posts published. You may get rejected.
Once the blog is set up its time to use basic SEO tips for blogger platform and optimize your blog to generate traffic from search engines
Final Thoughts
Blogger is a platform for beginners which you can use to gain experience. If the blogger seems too basic for you and you want to take a more professional approach you can always use WordPress. Here’s the article How to Start a WordPress blog
I hope you find this guide helpful to start a free Blogspot blog. If you have any queries regarding this feel free to contact us via social media or the comment section.
