Add an Affiliate Banner to Blogger Sidebar

A lot of people want to make money from their blog and for this reason want to learn how to insert affiliate banners into their Blogger Blogspot blog. In this Blogger tutorial which is the first of a series I will show you how to place a banner in the sidebar of your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog).

Even if you are new to Blogger and have very little technical knowledge this tutorial is still suitable for you as I will guide you through every step in the process of adding a banner ad to the sidebar of your Blogger blog.


How to Add an Affiliate Banner To the Sidebar of Your Blog
It is relatively easy to add an affiliate banner to the sidebar of your blog.

1. Sign up with an affiliate marketing program like Commission Junction and select your merchant

2. Decide on the size of the merchant banner or banners you wish to display in your sidebar making sure that whatever you choose will fit into the sidebar space otherwise your banner ad may not display properly on your blog. Typical sizes suitable for sidebars are:

• small rectangular banners 125x90 or 125x125
  
  
• square banners 200x200 (if space allows)
  
  
• short vertical banners 120x200
  
  
• long column style skyscraper bnnners 120x600 or 160x600

3. Choose your banner and you will be presented with the merchant code to display the banner. Right click to select all and right click again to copy the code to the clipboard of your computer

4. In a new window login to Blogger and navigate to Design > Page Elements

5. Click on Add a Gadget in the sidebar. If you are using a customized template you may have 2 different sidebars so decide which you want the banner ad to display in.

6. Select HTML/Javascript widget from the Add a Gadget menu

7. Place your mouse in the content box of the Configure HTML/Javascript widget and right click. Choose paste to insert the merchant code of your banner ad into the content box

8. In the title box add a Title like Sponsored Ads if you wish otherwise leave it blank


9. Click on Save

10. Using Blogger's drag and drop feature to pick up your new HTML/Javascript widget and position it where you want your banner ad to show up in your sidebar.

11. Save your layout

12. Click on View Blog to see you new banner ad in action.


Add Space Between Your Banner Ads
If you want more space between your banner ad and the previous widget you can add <p> before the code your inserted in the HTML/Javascript widget. If you need even more add another <p>

To Center Your Advertising Banner
If you want to center your banner ad insert <center> before the merchant code and </center> after it.

Add More Than One Banner
If you want to add more than one banner ad to the same widget you can just by pasting the code for the second banner ad below the first lot of code. If you want some white space between the banners ads insert <p> between each lot of code.

Troubleshooting

Your Banner Does Not Display
Your banner ad should appear right away. If your banner ad doesn't display at all then there is a problem with the widget you have just created. Retrace your steps making sure you have got all the code.

Only Placeholder for the Banner Displays
If you see a placeholder but no ad displays then the affiliate website may be off line or there is a problem with the code in some way. Go back and make sure you copied all of the code correctly



In this Blogger tutorial you have learned how to add an affiliate marketing advertisement banner to the sidebar of your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog) and about some common problems that you may encounter. In my next tutorials on banner advertising I will show you how to place a banner in a variety of other spots on your blog including the footer, above the first post and in the header. Why not bookmark this site so you can return easily?

Related Articles
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Add Feedjit Live Traffic Feed to Blogger

Would you like to know more about the traffic visiting your Blogger blog (Blogspot Blog)? Feedjit is a free tracking tool that tracks visitors to a blog in real time and identifies what pages are visited. In this Blogger tutorial you will learn how to add a Feedjit widget to your blog which will track where visitors originate from and what pages they viewed. Adding a Feedjit widget to your Blogger blog is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. This tutorial is suitable for all Blogger bloggers (Blogspot beginners). Updated 10 October 2009.

Feedjit monitors traffic to your site and ranks it based on popularity and relevance against the traffic received by other Feedjit users in your local area. There is a choice of 4 different widgets: Live Traffic Feed, Live Traffic Map, Recommended Reading, and Page Popularity. Each of these widgets has different functions.

Feedjit Live Traffic Feed Widget for Blogger
Places a widget on your Blogger blog of the last 10 visitors. By clicking on the real time link you can actually view the last 50 or so visitors along with the keyword search phrase used to find your site. The Feedjit's Live Traffic Feed shows statistics in real-time about:

The city and country your visitors are in

The website they arrived from, if any

The page they visited on your website

Which external link they clicked to leave your site, if any

Feedjit Traffic Map
The Traffic Map widget places visitors to your site on a world map according to their physical location

Feedjit Recommended Reading
The Recommended Reading widget makes suggestions to visitors about what other blog posts they might be interested in based on general page popularity

Feedjit Page Popularity
The Page Popularity widget lists the 10 most popular pages that have been accessed by visitors on that day.


How to Add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed Widget (Gadget) to Blogger

1. Visit Feedjit
   
   
2. Select Live Traffic Feed.
   
   
3. Click on the Customize It link under Live Traffic Feed. This will allow you to enter colors to match the theme of your blog. If you are in doubt I have found that the easiest method to get the custom colors of a site is to go to the Layout > Page Elements screen in Blogger and click on Add a Gadget and then Adsense. From the configuration screen that pops up you can get the colors of the background, border, title (heading in Feedjit), URL, text. If you use these same colors in your Feedjit widget it will blend in with the rest of your site. You can preview your widget to make sure it looks as you would like it before adding it to your blog.
   
   
4. To automatically add the widget to Blogger select the Click to Add to Blogger Link and follow the instructions. Or to manually add it which I myself prefer right click the code in the box under the heading Live Traffic Feed and select copy.
   
   
5. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements in your blog if that page is not already open
   
   
6. Select Add a Gadget in the Sidebar and then HTML/Javascript
   
   
7. Paste the code by placing the mouse in the box and right clicking and selecting paste
   
   
8. Save the widget and then using the drag and drop feature of Blogger move it to your desired location. Note HTML/Javascript widgets are best placed after your other widgets for faster loading.
   
   
9. Save Template
   
   
10. Click on View Blog to view your newly created Feedjit widget
    
    
11. Click on Options in the Feedjit widget and then Ignore My Browser otherwise the widget will record your visit each time you view your blog. The option on the widget will now change to Stop Ignoring Me which you can reverse by clicking on the link again.If you use more than one browser you will need to tell Feedjit to ignore you for each browser.

This Blogger tutorial has discussed how to add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed widget, gadget or button to Blogger to track where visitors are being directed from and what posts they are most interested in. A Feedjit Live Traffic Feed will help you learn about the visitors to your blog and what search phrase they used to arrive. To add a Feedjit Live Traffic Feed widget to Blogger is simple and takes less than 5 minutes to install.

Related Articles
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Avoid 6 Common Blogger Mistakes

If you want your Blogger blog to sizzle and really take off there are some pretty important blogging pitfalls that you need to avoid. In today's article I will be talking about 6 of the most common mistakes new bloggers make on their Blogger Blogspot blog and how to avoid them.

1. Avoid Poor Content
I can't emphasize enough that the standard of your content will make or break your blog. Poor content = few return visitors. Good content on the other hand will attract visitors and keep them coming back to check out what's new.

Successful bloggers write clearly, know their subject and develop their own unique voice. A conversational style is often recommended but I suggest just write naturally and that naturalness will shine through.

Post quality well researched content that is interesting and topical. To do this you need to know your audience. Who are your readers? Do you know? If you don't know your target audience it will be hard to put yourself in their shoes which is exactly what you need to be able to do when you sit down to write a post. Ask yourself what are my readers looking for that would make them visit my site and read my post. Are they looking to be entertained, informed or a bit of both? Sign up for visitor tracking such as Google Analytics if you aren't already so you can get an idea of your visitor base. For help with implementing Google Analytics please read my post on adding Google Analytics to your Blogger blog.

2. Avoid Hopeless Headlines
I've seen some pretty hopeless headlines that don't give me enough of a clue about what a post is about to entice me into reading the article. If you want to attract readers to your site you need to grab them. That means putting some thought into crafting headlines that have punch. Remember your headline needs to reel your visitors in so make sure it is well thought out and punchy. Your headlines have to stand out to be noticed as so many people read headlines in RSS feeds.

Another important consideration when deciding on a headline is SEO. Consider what your readers might search under to find your post. "Blogging pitfalls" and "common blogging mistakes" are more likely keyword search phrases than "bad blogging practices." So knowing your keywords will help you craft headlines that are keyword rich.

3. Avoid Posting Too Infrequently
Once a visitor has found your site you want them to keep coming back. One way to ensure repeat traffic is to post frquently. Many new bloggers start a blog but find it hard to maintain a posting routine that is frequent enough to retain traffic.

Just the other day I had someone comment that one of the reasons why they liked my blog was the frequency at which I post. I try to post a new article every second or third day if possible. I usually am working on lots of other articles in the background so that I might have two nearly finished and half a dozen or so at various stages of completion. Using this system I have some flexibility and a cushion if anything comes up to interrupt my posting schedule.

Whatever you do don't make the mistake of posting just for the sake of posting otherwise your readers will see through this and you will lose readership.

4. Lack of Overall Focus - Trying to Paint the Whole Wall
So many new bloggers start their site without a clear focus. What kind of focus you may ask? Well making money is not enough of a focus. I am talking about identifying your niche and sticking to it. If you try and paint the whole wall your visitors will be confused about what your blog is about and you will very likely lose traffic rather than gain it.

Having a focus is important. On Blog Know How for instance, I concentrate on helping webmasters of Blogger blogs get the most out of their blog. I particularly aim my site at the new blogger and provide detailed step by step walkthroughs with them in mind. At the same time, however, I cater for all Blogger webmasters who access my blog. What I don't do though is go outside the theme of Blogger by writing about blogging in general. Instead I write articles that may be general in nature but are tailored to Blogger webmasters.

Yes I could get more traffic perhaps if I widened the scope of my articles to include Wordpress or blogging in general put what would then make my blog stand out from a whole heap of other blogs giving advice on blogging? Having a niche earns me traffic that is focused. Site visitors come with the goal of becoming more informed about using Blogger. If they go away having learnt more than when they arrived my site will have done its job and I may have just found myself a repeat visitor.

5. Avoid Too Much Advertising on Your Blog
New blogs need to build traffic and too much advertising can be a big deterrent in
achieving this goal. When your site is very new it doesn't pay to have too much advertising at all. Err on the side of less advertising rather than more. Bear in mind of course that Rome wasn't built in a day and your site won't be either. Have faith that your traffic will build and you can gradually introduce more advertising like Google Adsense as visitor numbers increase.

6. Avoid Too Many Social Bookmarking Buttons
Too many social bookmarking buttons can clutter up your blog and slow it down. Many people still don't know too much about social bookmarking so avoid the temptation to overuse these icons. Rather than use a whole bunch of popular icons like Digg and Technorati which can lead to a cluttered look and feel I use a single consolidated button like Add This. Share This is another popular button for sharing your posts.

To install a social bookmarking button on your Blogger blog follow the step by step instructions contained in my article on Add This

This article has discussed 6 common mistakes new bloggers make when developing a new Blogger Blogspot blog and given suggestions on how to avoid them.as visitor numbers increase.

Hide Remove Navbar from a Blogger Blog

The more professional you want your site to look the more you are likely to want to remove the navbar from showing above the header of your Blogger Blogspot blog. Removing or actually hiding the navbar is very easy to do as it only requires a small tweak to your template. This tutorial is suitable for bloggers at all levels but is written with new bloggers and the beginner blogger in mind and provides step by step instructions to guide you through the process of hiding the navbar from your Blogger blog.

How Useful is the Navbar of a Blogger Blog?
Blogger provides the facility to search your blog by entering keywords or a search phrase into the Search Blog box. This is a useful feature and if you remove the Blogger navbar you will lose the search facility from your blog. If you are using a custom template with a search box already built in this won't be a problem but if you are using one of the Blogger templates deleting the navbar will leave your blog without a search function. Another useful feature of the navbar is the follow button which encourages bloggers to start following your blog.

The random blog feature is not particularly useful unless you have a lot of time on your hands and just feel like a browse. For most serious bloggers looking to create a professional look and feel to their blog the navbar can be a distraction. And let's face it you've worked hard enough getting the traffic to your site right? without encouraging them to leave it too quickly.


The other main feature of the navbar is the ability to navigate back to your layout menu or posts quickly no matter where you are in your blog when signed in. Personally I like this feature and use it a lot. Its particularly good if you are on a page other than your homepage and want to quickly go to another of your blogs as you can get there in 2 clicks. The same goes if you want to visit some other area of your Google account such as Google Analytics or Google Webmaster Tools. You can get there in 2 clicks too when the navbar is enabled.

UPDATE October 10, 2009: Blogger have now created another reason to think twice before you remove the Blogger Navbar as they have recently added a Share button so that readers can quickly add your blog to their Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader accounts. The facility to Email your posts is also available when using the Blogger Share button from an individual post page.

To navigate with the navbar disabled you simply have to double click the back button in your browser to navigate away from the home page of your blog. If you are in another part of your blog then it can be annoying not to have the navbar functionality. The way I have gotten around it is to usually disable the navbar and click on blogger.com in the google search box on the toolbar of my browser. Provided I am signed in to Blogger this will take me straight to the dashboard.

Overall my view is that what you lose on convenience you gain on professionalism. Losing the navbar is a sacrifice but it is a small price to pay for a much improved look to your blog.


How to Get Rid of the Navbar on your Blogger Blog

1. Login to Blogger and navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

2. Find the Template Credit Section

3. Insert the following code directly below the template credit section. Select the code and right click to copy to the clipboard of your computer. Right click to paste into your template:

#navbar {
height: 0px;
visibility: hidden;
display: none;
}

4. Click on the Save Template button

5. Click on View Blog to view you blog without the navbar



Troubleshooting
If you later decide that you are not happy with the missing navbar all you need do to reinstate it is to remove the code you inserted. This works as the code you inserted actually only masks the navbar rather than deletes it.

In this tutorial you have learned about some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Blogger navbar and how to hide, disable, remove or delete the navbar in order to promote a more professional looking blog.

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Better Placement of Google Adsense in Blogger

To increase the performance of Google Adsense on your Blogger Blogspot blog you can extend the choice of placement options of your Google ads with some simple tweaks. This involves making a few minor adjustments to your Blogger template to increase where widgets can be created and how many widgets can be placed in your template.

In this second tutorial of the series on placement of Google Adsense in a Blogger Blog you will learn how to place Google Adsense between the header and the first post. This will allow for a variety of Google Adsense ads to be added of which the 728x90 leaderboard is probably the most suitable. This tutorial assumes no particular technical knowledge of Blogger and is suitable for bloggers of all technical abilities as it gives step by step instructions to implement the changes.


How to Add Google Adsense Between the Header and First Post
If you want to increase your earnings from your blog you may decide you would like to have a full length advertising banner between the header and the first post. For instance it can be very effective to have a 728x90 leaderboard in this prime position. To add a Google Adsense unit to this position take the following steps:

1. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

2. Back up Template as a Precaution

3. Check Expand Widget Templates box

4. Find the following code:

<div id='crosscol-wrapper' style='text-align:center'>
<b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='no'/>
</div>

5. Replace

showaddelement='no'

with

showaddelement='yes'

6, Save Template

7. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements

8. Click on new Add a Gadget option that will now have appeared between Blog Posts and the Header.



9. Choose Google Adsense and Add Leaderboard 728x90. Save



9. View new Google Adsense Unit appearing between header and first post

Here is an example of a 728x90 Leaderboard between the header and the first post and the top of the sidebar.



In this tutorial which is part of a series on placement of Google Adsense in Blogger Blogspot blogs you have learnt how to add Google Adsense between the header and the first post section. As this is a prime position for a 728x90 leaderboard ad unit I have concentrated on showing you how to add this Google Adsense ad unit to your blog. For more tutorials on Google Adsense please refer to the related posts as the bottom of this article.

Related Posts
Google Adsense Tips for Blogger Blogs
Blogger Guide to Google Adsense Placement

Google Adsense Tips for a Blogger Blog

As the Blogger platform is owned by Google it is not surprising that Blogger makes it very easy to add Google Adsense to your Blogger Blogspot blog. In this tutorial you will learn about different ways to add Google Adsense to your blog. Along the way I will be offerring a few tips about best placement of Google Adsense units. I have aimed this Blogger tutorial at new bloggers and beginners and assumes no prior knowledge of Google Adsense. Bear in mind that before you can start to add Google Adsense to your Blogger blog you will need to have created an Adsense account.

3 Ways to Add Google Adsense to Blogger
There are two main ways to add Google Adsense to Blogger: one is to use a Google Adsense widget and the other is to use a HTML/Javascript widget. There is also a third way, which is outside the scope of this article, which is to hard code the Adsense code directly into the template.

Adding a Google Adsense Widget to Blogger
An Adsense widget is a container for the Google Adsense code. Once created it is easy with Blogger's powerful interface to drag and drop widgets into different positions within your template. Google Adsense widgets can be added to the header, sidebar, footer, or body of your blog. A Google Adsense widget is created when you click on an Add a Gadget button in the Layout > Page Elements menu and then select Adsense.

How to Add a Google Adsense Widget to the Sidebar
The simplest way to add Google Adsense is to select Adsense from the range of gadgets offered in the Layout > Page Elements page. Assuming you are using one of Blogger's standard templates you will more than likely be adding a skyscraper unit 160x600 or similar to the sidebar.

Google will work out the color scheme of the ad unit for you according to your template. You can override these settings if need be and configure the colors manually but stick with the default unless you have good reason not to. Another decision you will need to make is about the format of the ad unit. You can choose between text only and text and image. Personally I prefer text units for sidebars as you get more bites of the cherry than with an image unit. Images only advertise one thing while text units may provide up to 5 different links. However if you need a particular look you might still need to go for the image unit which is why Google offer this flexibility in the first place. Bear in mind that the combined text and image units are considered to be the highest earners.



Add an Adsense Widget to the Footer
Another not so widely used place for a Google Adsense unit is in the footer of your blog. If your template has a footer (eg Blogger standard templates like Minima and Rounders both have footer sections) you can add a Google ad unit to this area too. Footers are becoming increasingly popular places to add information like Archives and Follower widgets so visitors are getting used to the idea of scrolling down to the bottom of the page to check out the footer.

A linked 728x15 ad is a good choice for a footer position especially if you have a Followers widget enabled in the footer. I place this linked ad unit directly above the Followers widget. I suggest you make use of linked units if you can - you are allowed up to 3 linked units per page. Linked ad units can earn revenue if strategically placed on your blog. Do keep in mind though that Google Adsense units nearer the top and middle of the page are more visible and are likely to be your top performers.



HTML/Javascript Widget
The second way to add Google Adsense to your blog is to use a HTML/Javascript widget. Make use of these if you want to have more control over your advertising and track your Google ad units. To get the code in the first place you will need to login to Google Adsense and create each ad unit in the size of your choice from the Ads for Content menu. This will allow you to set up a unique channel for each ad unit you create so that you can identify which are your top performing units. For every new ad unit generated Google Adsense provides the code which you will need to copy and paste into a HTML/Javascript widget positioned in either the sidebar or the footer position.

How to Add Google Adsense Between Posts
Blogger is such a powerful Blogging platform with so many great features. One of these features is the facility to set Adsense to appear between blog posts. All that is needed is to navigate to Layout > Page Elements. Click on the edit Blog Posts link and check Show Ads Between Posts (last in the list)from the Select Items menu. I usually select 336x280 ad unit size as this gives a good ratio of links for the size. I also prefer text units for this position too as again you are more likely to have a visitor click on a link if they are presented with quite a few. Save and view your blog. Blogger automatically places one of three Google Adsense ads directly below each of the first three posts. If you want to space the ads further apart you can do so though in my experience there really is no advantage in doing this.

Remember that you can have up to three ad units and up to three linked ad units displayed at any one time. If you have ads in another part of your blog for instance Blogger will automatically recognise this and only display 2 other ad units. Sometimes I notice there is a bit of a glitch with Blogger and it may not display sidebar ads in favour of 3 ads in between posts so you might have to play around with this a little to get the positioning you want.



Note: To Center the Google Adsense Ad Unit

1. Go to Layout > Edit HTML
   
2. Check the Expand Widget Templates box
   
3. Make sure you back up your template before proceeding
   
4. Find the code block beginning with this line:
   
   

   <data:defaultAdStart/>

   
   
5. Scroll down until you find these lines:
   
   

   <div class='inline-ad'>
   <data:adCode/>

   
   
6. Change these lines to the following:
   

   <div class='inline-ad'>
   <P ALIGN='center'><data:adCode/></P>

   
   
7. Save template

In my next couple of articles about Google Adsense I will be discussing how to add Google Adsense to other parts of your Blogger template including in the header, before the first post, after the last post, and in the middle of posts. This article has covered the basics of placement of Google Adsense for Blogger and offerred some suggestions about best placement of Google Adsense ad units.



Related Articles
Better Placement of Google Adsense in Blogger Blogs
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Solution to Missing Add a Gadget Feature in Blogger

If you are experiencing problems with the Add a Gadget feature not showing up in the Layout Screen of your Blogger Blogspot blog then read on as I have found the solution to this annoying problem.

The other day I discovered to my horror I had lost the option to Add a Gadget in the layout screen of all my blogs in Blogger. Typically it couldn't have happened at a worse time as I had just planned to sit down to write some new posts. I looked in the Blogger help section for the solution but could find no reference to the problem. I eventually found the answer, after about 15 minutes, buried in the Blogger Help Group section. I thought I would therefore post a short tip for anyone out there looking for a quick answer to the loss of the Add a Gadget function from the Layout Screen.

Clear Your Browser's Cache
When the Add a Gadget feature is missing from you Layout screen and you have tried refreshing it probably means you need to clear the cache of your browser. In Internet Explorer 6 you would go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options from the drop down menu. In the dialog box that appears select the General tab and then click on the Delete Files from the Temporary Internet Files Section (middle). Once done close the dialog box and refresh the Layout Screen in Blogger. With any luck you will now be able to see the Add a Gadget option once again. For other browsers follow the directions in the browser's help section on clearing the cache or check out Bloggers Help Article about clearing cache.

Thanks to the Blog Doctor for this solution. You really saved the day!

A short tip on how to fix the problem of add a gadget missing from the layout screen in Blogger.