The Difference Between Pages and Posts

This article is about the difference between Posts and Pages in Blogger, and suggests an alternative way to back up your page contents that are not included in regular backups.

In Feb 2010, Blogger introduced the Pages feature: this gives you a way to make some of your "postings" special, and to have a link to them from either a menu bar in the header or a link-list in the sidebar (using a gadget that is provided for this, and integrated with the Pages editor).

Some people call them "Static Pages", because one use for them is to contain reference information that doesn't change often and which shouldn't ever be on the top of your blog  (unlike regular posts which are "dynamic" and regularly have now content added to them.).

Google's explanation of Pages is here.

What's special about pages:

Initially, I thought Pages were just special cases of Posts, without a publication date.  That's true, but they have some more features, some of which I didn't expect.   Here is everything I've noticed so far:

1 You edit them through a separate option on the Blogger dashboard

When you go into the Pages option, the list of Pages, isn't quite the same as the list of Posts.

Pages that are already published have a blue background, and a View link in the Edit Pages tab.
Pages that are draft have a grey background and the word "draft" underneath them, and no View link

You can have more than one Page with the same title (even though this looks silly on your blog).
 

2 Pages don't have a date associated with them.

• They aren't listed in your Archive gadget,
• They cannot be accessed using the New Post / Older Post links.
• They aren't included in any RSS feeds from your blog

This means that you need to use either the Blogger-supplied Pages gadget, or another gadget (HTML, link-list, etc) that you set up to include links to your pages.   If you don't, then there is no way that readers will be able to get to your Pages.

3 Only one Page is shown at a time

Because of this, the jump-break feature isn't implemented in the Pages editor, and any jump-break that you manually put into a Page (using the <!-- more --> HTML code) is ignored when the Page is displayed.

4 Pages don't have labels

So they won't be included if you use the Labels gadget

5 Pages aren't included when you export your blog

On the Settings tab, there is a tool for exporting and importing blog contents.   Pages are not included in the file created by the export option.

If you want to take a back-up copy of your pages, you need to move the code for each one individually.

(I think that this was probably an oversight or defect, it wouldn't surprise me if Google quietly fix it sometime soon.
UPDATE:  I've heard a rumour that this has been changed and that pages are now exported, but aren't automatically published when you import from that file.  still to confirm if it's true or not.)

6 Pages cannot be set as your home page

By default, your "home page" shows the Post with the latest Post-date.  There are various ways around this.  And now the best one (see the top of that article) lets you use a Page as your home-page.

7  Pages are not included in RSS feeds

So they are one way to sharing information that you want to stop notifications to your subscribers about.

8 The Amazon product-finder isn't shown on the page-editor.

This was one of my initial observations back in 2010 - since then, the end of Blogger / Amazon integration has removed the product editor from the post-editor totally.

9 The Pages editor is the "new editor" only: you do not have the option to use the old editor for them.

This was another observation back in 2010 - it's since become obsolete because the old editor isn't available any more in the "new" Blogger software (first piloted Sept 2011, became compulsory for all users in Sept 2012).

10   Other missing options.

You cannot set a perma-link, or enclose links in the title of Pages.

11    Pages don't even have to be "post-like"

Initially, "pages" had to be like mini-posts.   But now they can simply be a menu-bar entry link, pointing to some other web-address - and so this gives you access to a clever way of putting posts into pages.

---

Related Articles:

Putting Posts into your Pages

The Pages gadget - a menu bar for your blog

Converting Posts into Pages

Displaying a gadget on static pages only

Finding the URLs for your Pages

Blogs, Blogger and bloggers, Posts, Pages and screens:  introducing Blogger

Finding the URL of a Page

You can easily find the URL of the Pages in your Blog, even if you haven't used the Pages gadget supplied by Blogger.

Navigating Pages in Blogger

Previously I've described the so-called "static" pages feature that Blogger introduced. This lets you create up to 10 stand-alone pages.

Blogger intended your visitors to access these pages using the Pages-gadget, which contains a link to the Pages you choose to show in it.

But many people would prefer to make their own navigation gadget / menu-bar, which has inks to a number of different pages, posts and labels in the one gadget.   And to do this, they need to find out the URL of each Page (etc) that they want to include.

Finding the URL of a Page

From the Blogger Dashboard, choose the Posting > Edit Pages tab.

For each Page that is listed, either:

• Right-click on the View button for the page, 
• Choose Copy-link-location (or similar the specific command - depends on your browser)

OR

• Click on the View button, to open the page:  
• Copy the URL from your browser's address bar.

---

Related Articles: 



The Difference Between Pages and Posts

Static pages in Blogger

Blogger's static pages are more trouble than they're worth

Putting posts into your pages in Blogger

Finding the URL of a picture in Picasa-web-albums

Copying a post from one blog to another

Adding the Amazon Associates search tool switches on Blogger's new editor

This article explains the effects of using Blogger's Amazon Associates integration on your Blogger editor, and how this can be undone. 

---

Sept 2011 Update:  

It now appears that the integration between Blogger and Amazon is history.  

I've left this article here to avoid broken links, but it's no longer relevant.  See building your own Amazon advertisements for update information about putting Amazon ads into your blog.

---

What is the issue?

In Dec 2009, Blogger added an Amazon Associates option to the Monetize tab.  I've written about this previously in Amazon Integration is with Amazon.Com.


An issue for some Bloggers is that turning on Amazon Associates Product finder automatically switches them over to the updated editor.

 

New Blogger Editor (compose mode) with the Amazon Product Finder


Some people (like me!) don't have a problem with this and barely noticed the change.

But for people who were using the old editor, it may appear that the Amazon integration has changed or removed a number of functions, including the Post Preview option.   And because the editor-selection is for your Google account, not for individual blogs, the functions are removed from all your blogs, not just one.


What to do about it:

Firstly note that one of the effects of activiating the Amazon Product Finder is turning on the new editor for your entire Google account.

Even if you don't turn on the Amazon Product Finder, you can still use the Monetize / Amazon Associates function to link your blog with Amazon.     You will have to build your links manually (as explained in Changing the Look of Amazon advertisements) - and this may be a good idea anyway, as it gives you more control over how they look, and is essential if you're readers aren't mainly from countries serviced by Amazon.com.

Secondly, if you have already turned on the Amazon Product Finder and want to remove it all its side effects:

1. Under Monetize / Amazon Associates, remove the tick beside " Enable the Amazon Product Finder for the Blogger Editor "
2. Under Settings / Basic, choose the Old Editor
   
   
   
   Settings / Basic option for choosing which Blogger editor to use
   

---

Related Articles:



Amazon Integration is with Amazon.Com

Changing the Look of Amazon advertisements

Integration between Blogger and Amazon is history

Setting up AdSense on your Blog

This article is about the issues involved with using AdSense ads on Blogger blogs.  It discusses some things you should do (using the AdSense application), even though Blogger doesn't currently enforce them.

Blogger have made it very easy for you to put AdSense ads onto your Blog: you simply go into the Earnings tab, and go through an apparently simple sign-up process.

But there are a few things that you should be aware of, and they're not all obvious from the information that you are given initially.

There's a two-step sign-up process - and if you are successful, there are things that you a really should to to protect yourself from people who might do things to damage your account.

Read on for more details.

Getting Started

Go into Blogger's Earning's tab, and say where you want the ads to appear

(Initially, just accept the recommended option:  you can choose the ad positions again later, and when you do, you will be able to customise various ad-features, eg colors, as well.)

Either choose an existing account, or apply for a new one by filling out the form they give you.

Each person is only allowed one AdSense account so you must  always use an existing account if you have one.

If you don't already have an AdSense account, think carefully about what Google account it should be associated with.   (I made a mistake initially, and almost set mine up on an account that I want to give away one day - luckily I got help from Google to sort it out, but it could have been a major mistake.

At the bottom of the form, you agree to some terms and conditions, including the AdSense program policies and a summarised list, which currently says that you

• won't click Google ads on your own pages.
• won't put ads on sites that have incentives to click on ads.
• won't put ads on sites involved in distribution of copyrighted materials.
• won't put ads on sites that include pornographic content.
• don't already have an approved AdSense account.

and

• have read the AdSense Program Policies.
• can get cheques made out to the name you've given.

From the Blogger side you may think that this is all that is needed.   But that's not quite true:  Bloggers who apply to AdSense needs to go through the same application and approval process as anyone else, they just have a simpler way than most of providing the necessary information to Google.   And completing that form is just the first step.

Approval Process

Update @ January 2013:

If your blog uses a .blogspot domain, there is now an updated one-step approval process for hosted-publishers.

But if you use a custom domain, the following information about the two-step process still applies.

And I suspect - but have not yet confirmed - that if you switch your blog from blogspot to a custom domain after you have signed up via the one-step process, then you will have to go through the two-step process on the new domain.


Original information:

Google do a two step process, beginning with preliminary checks on the site and the submitted details.   If the application passes through this first stage, Google

• Notify you by email, 
• Give you "account access", and 
• Give you some ad code to place on the submitted site. 

You must put the ad code on your site, as the review process can’t be completed until the ad code is implemented.

Real advertisements don't appear once the initial ad-code is put onto the site.   Instead, temporary "blank ads" are placed that blend in with the background.    And if you log in to your AdSense account at this stage, you'll see a note saying that you are still under review.

After you've placed the review code, Google look at your site again, and decide whether or not to accept you as a publisher.    Then they send you an email, telling you the decision.


Note:  that is what Google say for all AdSense signups (ref:   New Publisher Application Process).   It's possible that it is automated for prospective AdSense publishers who sign up via Blogger.   (And I cannot check it out myself, because I now have an account!)

All going well, your application will be approved and you get an email notifying you of your publisher ID,  and this ID is saved to your Blog as well.

However sometimes it's not quite so straightforward.   Advice from the AdSense help forums is that what is required to get approved varies between countries and even applications:  as time has gone on the requirements have become tougher, because so many people think they can get rich from Adsense by setting up a blog with a single post that they copied from somewhere.  It's always a good idea to have 10+ pages of original content on your blog before applying for an AdSense account - and be aware that for people from some countries, the blog needs to have been running for at least six months.

References:

[1]	Is my site eligible to participate in AdSense? - AdSense Help(Help Articles) www.google.com Query used: eligible

[2]	How can I help make sure my application will be approved ...(Help Articles) www.google.com Query used: make sure approved

You need to have a Privacy Policy

One of the Terms and Conditions that you agree to is that any site where you display AdSense Ads will have a privacy policy.

You didn't need this in place when I applied to AdSense, although I've heard of cases when prospective publishers were to do one before their account is approved.

But you do need to have it when you start having AdSense ads on your blog.

As an example, see the privacy policy for this site, which is found at the very bottom left corner of the page.   You might like to make your policy similar - but you must not just copy it:   you need to think about the privacy issues that apply to your site, and also about the laws that apply in your country (since you may be storing some off-line information too).

Customizing your Ads

Once your AdSense account is approved, you can change to the ad-position options using the Earnings tab.

OR

you can go to the Layout tab, and to add AdSense gadgets to the sidebar, header or footer (depending on what your template allows). 

Also, you control whether ads are shown between posts from the Layout > Blog Posts (edit) tab:  if you do this, you need to be aware of the limits on the number of ads per page.


OR you may want to put ads right into your blog posts, rather than having them on the sidebar etc where many readers will miss them.

All that said, my own preference is to get the ad-code from AdSense, and install it like I would install any other 3rd party HTML code:   this lets me access the latest ad-sizes and have better control over colour-schemes and showing image-only ads.

Next steps:

Blogger makes this whole process very easy, and you don't have to log in to the AdSense application at all. 

However there there are some reasons why Blogger users should get to know the AdSense application, and do some things in it.  These include:

• Securing your AdSense account against malicious use - very important if you have a successful blog
• Using the Ad Review Centre to filter the categories of ads that you show - or you could find that AdSense is causing you to break Blogger's rules about only showing adult content if it's flagged
• Showing image-only AdSense ads
• Setting up color palatte(s) that match or compliment your blog's colour scheme - or else you have very little control over the colours, or waste time choosing colours each time you set up an ad.  

Also, at the moment you need to use it to monitor your income because there are some problems with the data in the Monetize tab.

And once you have an AdSense account, you may like to consider setting up a custom-search-engine for your blog, instead of the standard search-widget, so that you can display your ads instead of Google's ads on the search-results page.

If you need to troubleshoot why your ads are not showing properly, use this Google-provided tool:   https://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1208336

---

Related Articles:

Securing your AdSense account against malicious use

Fiiltering the categories of ads that you show

Showing image-only AdSense ads

Putt AdSense ads into your blog posts

How many AdSense ads to show on each screen.

Putting HTML from a 3rd party into your blog

Transferring a blog from one Google account to another

Giving your blog a search-widget

Setting up AdSense on your Blog

Showing image-only AdSense ads in your Blog

Putting Chitika ads onto your Blog

This article is about putting Chitika ads into your site.   It covers the features currently on Chitkia's AdSetup control panel, and how to take the code that is provided and put it into your own blog on blogspot.

Getting started

Before you do anything else, check that you've  considered the issues involved with advertising on your blog, and signed-up with Chitika.

Log on and choose setup:

To get the HTML/Javascript code for an ad-unit from Chitika, log on to the advertisers programme, and choose AdSetup / Chitika Premium from the tabs:

Unlike AdSense, Chitika does not currently store the ads you have generated before, so each time you want the ad-code you need to go through the steps and generate it.

You could just copy the ad-code that you used previously, however it may be best to get it from the official site each time:  if you just keep re-using old format code, you'll never get the advantage of any new features they introduce, and eventually your old code may become unsupported.


Start the generation process:


Press Get Code

Choose the size from the drop down box, and wait a moment for the system to show you a sample ad in that size.

To help you choose, there is also a link which opens a new window showing you the sizes.
Chitika has a very wide range of available sizes (although you may be asked to use a different size in the next step if you want to use the Backfill option - keep reading for more info on this.)

Do remember that your readers will have many different screen sizes and resolutions, and default font sizes:  don't assume that they will all see your blog the same way you do - ie, don't try to be too clever about choosing an ad-size that perfectly matches a block of text, because your readers won't necessarily see if that way.   I'm going to write a longer article about this one day.

Click Continue to Next Step

Choose a Fallback option:
This is what is shown to readers who don't get Chitika ads.

The Chitika screen suggests that it's possible to show AdSense ads as an alternative, by putting the HTML for the alternative into a text file.  I'm currently searching for a way to host text files that can hold the code for and AdSense ad that could be used in this way; so far, Google Docs and Scribd don't work for this purpose, because when the "text file" is opened it shows their pretty header first.   I'm also sceptical about whether the Javascript that's inside an AdSense ad unit counts as "plain HTML" which is what is supposed to be in the text file.   I will update this article if I find a way to make this work, as it could be a very nice feature to have.
Currently, I'm generally using "collapse" for the fallback option (ie users who don't see Chitika ads don't see anything, and no space is used), or occasionally Chitika Backfill (non-targetted ads) when I want readers to be aware of the ad.  (For example, underneath the article summary in my Chitika overview article.)
If you choose Fallback, you will get a warning screen, making extra sure that you understand the consequences - you need to tick the "I understand ..." box before you can continue from this.

Customise the colours and enter a channel:

This step is optional:  an example of the type of ad you get if you don't choose any colour values is shown to the right of this paragraph. I don't know if Chitika chooses colours based on your layout, or (more likely) if it just uses default colours. You can either enter the hex-code, or choose a shade from their colour picker.
If you want your ad colours to blend with your blog colors: Open a new window (or tab), Go to Blogger's Layouts / Fonts and colours tab. Choose the item that you want to match (on the left of the Blogger window), See (on the right of the Blogger window) what the hex code for that item is. Copy and paste the hex code from the Blogger window to the Chitika window

If you want to monitor your ads progress with a channel, you need to enter the channel name here:  the system doesn't show you a list of existing channel names, so you have to remember what values to use (or not use, if you want a separate channel for each ad).

Click Continue to Next.

Put the code into your blog, the same way you would add any other 3rd party code.

---

Related Articles: 



Advertising on your Blog - things to consider

Putting HTML from other websites into your blog

Chitika Overview - background information about the Chitika advertising programme.

Extra customisation of Chitika ads

Extra customization of Chitika ads

This article looks at extra customisation you can do to  Chitika advertsements, including making changes to the title colour, border colour, and whether or not a new window opens when a reader clicks on a Chitika ad.

Chitika and ad-code

Previously I explained how to get Chitika ad code and how to put the code into your blog.

Chitika + AdSense: Ad Placement Guide is an e-book from Chitika about placing AdSense and Chitika ads in the same page in complementary ways.

It also has some tips about customisation - including some features that are not currently available from Chitika's control panel.   Although changing ad features is not allowed by Chitika's Terms and Conditions, I am assuming that since Chitika are promoting these features, they are happy that using them doesn't violate the T&Cs.  Therefore I'm explaining them in this article.

You need to consider this issue yourself, and only follow the advice here if you agree, or are willing to take any risks involved.   No liability is accepted etc ....

Changing the code

This is how Chitika ad-code looks (with some explanations in CAPITAL LETTERS, and line-breaks to make it easier to read:):

<!-- TEXT ABOUT HOW TO SEE EXAMPLE ADS -->
<script type="text/javascript"><!--

ch_client = "YOUR ID";

ch_type = "mpu";

ch_width = 550;
ch_height = 250;
ch_color_title = "800040";
ch_color_site_link = "215670";
ch_color_text = "000000";
ch_non_contextual = 4;
ch_vertical ="premium";
ch_font_title = "Verdana";
ch_backfill =1;ch_sid = "THE CHANNEL NAME YOU USED";

SOME MATHS STUFF FOR CALCULATING ....

}
//--></script>
<script  A SCRIPT NAME ...</script>

You can add some extra lines to this, to put a background colour behind your ad, or to put a border around it:

ch_color_bg = "HEX CODE FOR YOUR BACKGROUND COLOUR";

ch_color_border = "HEX CODE FOR YOUR BORDER";

Adding this line says that clicking the ad should open it in a new browser window or tab (depending on the reader's browser settings.

 ch_target = "new";

Any of these lines that you want to add can go in the same section with the "ch_" statements - the order doesn't matter.

---

Related Articles:

Advertising on your Blog - things to consider

Chitika Overview - background information about the Chitika advertising programme.

Putting Chitika ads into your Blog

Putting 3rd party HTML into your blog

Setting up your custom domain

This article is about domain administration.  It's one of a series about steps you need to take after you've bought a custom domain from Google.

Bloggers and domain-administration:

Purchasing a custom domain from Blogger is pretty easy.

But doing so means that you need to take a little more responsibility for the way your blog relates to the rest of the internet - and this is especially important if you may want to use the URL for something other than your blog in the future.

This isn't hard, and there is lots of support available on the Blogger-Help-Forums if you get stuck - just remember to tell the helpers there what has happened, and the web-address of your blog and your custom-domain.

Your domain-administration invitation:

After you have purchased a custom domain (eg www.YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.com) through Google (who use either the GoDaddy or eNom domain registrars), the Google account that did the purchase receives two emails.   One has an invoice, the other has some vital details, including:

• How to get in to the Domain Manager, and 
• How to get your you Google Apps domain.

Even if you feel nervous about managing our own domain, it is very important to set up at least one administrator account, and make sure that you will receive any emails that are sent to that account in future.


What's the minimum you need to do:

If you have purchased a custom domain for your blog through Blogger, you need to do three things:

1. Keep the email(s) telling you how to access the Domain Manager very carefully.  You may need this information in the future, if you change the way you want to use the domain, or for troubleshooting.
   
2. Go into the Google Apps domain tool (the email in step 1 has a ink to use), and set up at least one account with administrator rights,  and make sure that you remember the password for it.   (This isn't an account that you'll be using very often).
3. Go to Domain Settings > General and specify a secondary email for the administrator account  (just in case you ever do forget the password).
4. Unless you plan to use Google Apps email for the domain-administrator account often, then log in to Google-apps-mail for the admin account and set the forwarding address to an address that you do check regularly.   This is necessary because Google and the registrar (GoDaddy or eNom) may send important technical messages to the administrator account.
   
   Note:  Google Apps email looks a bit like Gmail, but it's not the same thing (today, anyway ;-)    You need to go to www.google.com/apps (for business), and then sign-in by entering your domain name (the one your purchased) and choosing "go to email".

During the domain set-up process, you may be asked if you want to activate in Google Sites.   Unless you want to manage the domain in Google Sites (unlikely, since you're reading this article about Blogger), the answer is NO.


What else can you do:

As well as the domain-management essentials, there are a number of optional features that you may want to use - either when you first set up your custom domain, or perhaps a lot later when you want to use it in a more sophisitcated way.   The following notes are a very general taste of what's available - see Google Apps itself for the full range of options.

User accounts and services:
If you have purchased a custom domain for your blog through Blogger, you can create up to 10 email addresses for free (more if you're using a paid version of Google Apps).

You can choose which other Google-apps services are available for these accounts (choose from Gmail, Google Calendar,  Docs, Sites, Talk - and many many others).  By default, these are all ON, but you may have reasons for wanting to disable them.

Groups
These are collections of  users, which you can set up here.  Each group has its own email address.

Auto-renewal
You are given the option to automatically renew your URL every year while you were creating the account:  if you've changed your main, you can change the option selected in the Domain Administration too.

Look and feel
Under Domain Settings > Appearance, you can set Google Apps to use your logo when your domain-users are accessing other services (Gmail, Calendar, Sites etc) on your domain.   I don't do this if a domain is just for my own use, but it can be helpful to remind people exactly which gmail (etc) they're using.

Security
Under Advanced tools > Authentication, you can require verification (via a code sent to the user's mobile phone) when someone logs in from a new or unrecognised computer.


... and many more:
There are an ever-growing list of options under the domain manager.   Some of them won't be relevant to people who are using a custom domain just for a one-person blog, but some of them could be handy.

---

Related Articles: 



Automatically renewing your Custom Domain

Linking Blogs and Websites.

Using a custom domain for something other than your blogger blog

Using a "foreign" custom domain for your blog

Advertising Programmes

This article introduces some of the different advertising programmes that are available to "publishers" - which includes people who write blogs.

Advertising and Affiliate Marketing:

Google's AdSense is the best-known, but actually there are number of advertising programmes that you could use on your blog.  There are also a number of affiliate marketing programmes - these are similar (you are advertising the programme), but also different in that you are actively trying to generate sales for them.

Every programme has different terms and conditions.  You need to know about them in detail, to make sure you're not at risk of getting barred from the program:  for most, once you're banned, you're out for life  (so far anyway:  it will be interesting to see if the same rules still apply in 20 years time).

Some Advertising Programmes:

This list is a work-in-progress of programmes that I know about so far.   It has brief notes about what I know about them, and where to find more info.

Google AdSense	Every Blogger user's first option - and rightly so, because Google gives us great software to use. A help-forum article about putting AdSense and other ads on the same page. And a couple articles from me, about things that Google / AdSense forget to tell people who sign up through Blogger.: Putting AdSense ads inside Blogger posts Troubleshooting AdSense ads  Getting Image-only AdSense ads in Blogger
Google Affiliate Network	This lets you select ads from specific advertisers (ie affiliates), rather than get served ads based on your sites context.  Payment is "Cost-per-action" (eg commission on sales) rather than per click or per view, and it appears in your AdSense account about a month after the action happens. You need to sign up and be approved (though I'm 99.9% certain that you should use the same Google account that you use for AdSense to do this).   The official criteria for joining are that you: Manage a site that attracts a desirable audience. Can test advertising offers and nurture the most productive relationships. Are an expert in driving and converting visitor traffic. Adhere strictly to Google Affiliate Network quality standards and advertiser policies. I'm not yet sure what that really means.  Who exactly manages a site that attracts undesirabes?
Doubleclick for Publishers (DFP) - Small Business	Another part of the google family - targetted at small businesses who've started receiving enquiries about direct advertising on their sites.     Home page.
Amazon Associates through Amazon.com	Recently integrated with Blogger, to make things easier for publishers (at least publishers in the amazon.com zone!) Some articles about using Amazon Associates on Blogger
Amazon Associates through amazon.co.uk	Most of the articles are relevant for this programme too - just remember to log in to the right Amazon.
Chitika	Initially this was only good for blogs that got search-traffic from US/Canada.   However they've gone international, and added a new programme that puts ads on pages for some non-search traffic, too.    They've also started to appear stricter about who they'll accept (eg taking 2-3 weeks to review your site to see if they'll accept you for their programme.)   And they're putting a lot of effort into mobile advertising. See Chitika overview for more details
Text-link-ads	Only just found out about them ... need to explore some more
Vibrant Media	Dynamic text-ads, don't know anything more about them, except that there's sound on the home page of their website (don't look at it in the office! - unless your blogging-desk is your office of course.)
Nuffnang	Describes itself as Asia Pacific's first Blog advertising network. Better if you're based in the right part of Asia (payment is in RM).
Commission Junction	Text / Bannner ads - not contextual.
Pubmatic	Two versions:  PubMatic Premier for publishers with more than 100 million ad impressions a month PubMatic Self-Service Platform for publishers with less than 100 million impressions per month .  This is not an advertising network itself, just a different way to work with advertising networks.   You need to have an account (existing or new) with each network you work with thru PubMatic.
eBay Partner Network	This is an affiliate-marketing programme, a bit like Amazon Associates except you're promoting eBay as a place to buy and sell, rather than specific product that they sell. Here is an article about eBPN
Viglink	Another network programme: Viglink aggregates across lots of other affiliate programmes, meaning that you don't have to sign up with each of them.   They say that if you already have affiliated links on your site, no problem they'll leave them alone.  But for all links that aren't coded with affiliate code, they'll see if an affiliate programme applies and if so, ensure it's used.
BuySellAdds.com	An on-line ad exchange, supports bloggers from May 2012
BlogAds	Specialises in letting bloggers sell advertising slots on their blog. Has been in existence since 2002, looks like a good option for blogs that get enough traffic (at least 30,000 impressions per month for niche blogs - certain niches only). Payment monthly through PayPal, $75 threshold applies. Some other options, too.
Lijit	Another ad-slot selling company

Deal Direct:

You can also sell advertisements directly, not through a programme.

This can be a lot more work (writing terms-and-conditions, advertising your offer, chasing sales leads, negotiating contracts, preparing invoices, generating monthly reports, following up queries).

But it may be a good approach for niche blogs, for example ones with a geographical niche ad and therefore a  limited readership who are likely to be highly drawn to local ads.  You might even offer some advertisements for free - eg the way it's done here.


Related Articles: 



Things to consider about putting advertising on your Blogspot / Blogger blog.

Putting AdSense ads inside Blogger posts

Troubleshooting AdSense ads

Getting Image-only AdSense ads in Blogger

An introduction to advertising on Chitika

Putting Chitika ads into your blog

Amazon Associates and Blogger

Advertising & Blogger: things to consider

This article discusses some things to keep in mind when you are putting advertising on your blog.


Overview:

If you are considering putting advertising onto your blog, there are some basic things that you need to think about.  These include broader philosophical questions, right down to nuts-and-bolts technical concerns.

This article is not a definitive guide - see somewhere like ProBlogger for that.   Rather it's a collections of thoughts about the issues specifically related to Google's Blogger and its relationship with advertisers.   And it may include some thoughts about philosophical and policy issues, if I do any deep research or thinkng about these in the future.

Terms and Conditions:

There are lots and lots of possible advertising and affiliate marketing programmes.

Staying within the programme of terms and conditions (often called T&C's) for every programme that you participate in is important.   Every advertising programme has terms and conditions.   You need to find the ones that apply to the programme(s) you are considering.  Read them.  Remember them.  Follow them.   Keep up-to-date.

Also, keep an eye on Blogger's T&C's and content policy too, in case they have any impact on what advertising you are allowed to carry.


Advert Co-location:

Not every type of advertising can be shown on the same web-page as every other type of advertising.  See the point about about terms-and-conditions.   And besides - you need some space on your blog for content, which is what keeps advertisement-viewers coming to you in the first place!

Blogger doesn't have any automatic support for conditionally showing advertising.  If any programme you have has constraints like this, then you may need to do some programming in order to use that programme.


Placing ads:

If you want to use advertising that isn't integrated with Blogger through the Monetize tab, then you're going to have to place blocks of HTML code into gadgets or into pages.

You don't have to write the code (the advertising network does that), or change it.  You just have to copy and paste it, and put the HTML into your blog, wherever you want the advertising to do.   (Note:  HTML and Javascript are the only types of code you can use.   No SQL.   No php.)

If you're not comfortable-enough doing this with the Blogger template that you have, then stick to the Blogger-endorsed programmes that can be added through the Monetize tab.




Experiment, and Track Progress:

Marketing is an art and science.   So can use scientific techniques for data gathering.   Experiment with altrnative ad-placement.   Maybe even create a 2nd non-public blog where you can test how things look when you set up ads (and other gadgets, for that matter).  Only put them into your real blog when you're happy with how they work.   Once your ad is live, track your progress.

To effectively track progress, you need to keep a list of the date when you made changes to your site, and then do regular data-analysis to see what effect these changes have on your number of visitors, and their behaviour.    This is tedious - but if you really want to know what works and what doesn't, it needs to be done.

Watch your ad-contents:

Make sure you know what types of things the programme you have chosen is advertising.  With Blogger, you (we!) are getting web-hosting for "free" (we have to watch their ads), and domain registration very cheaply.   Make sure that the advertising you use doesn't cause you to violate Blogger's terms and conditions.  I'm thinking especially about Adult/Pornographic content here, but I guess it could apply to other things too.

If you are using AdSense, it's pretty much essential to manage the categories of ads that AdSense displays.

---

Related Articles:



Managing the categories of ads that AdSense displays.

Putting HTML from advertisers into your blog

A short list of advertising and affiliate marketing programmes

Converting Posts into Pages

This article looks at how to make an existing Post into a Page, using the Pages feature introduced in Feb 2010.  It is is part of a series about the Pages feature in Blogger.

Overview:

There is no automatic way to convert one of your existing Posts into a Page:  you simply need to do each one individually - if you really want to use pages at all.

In short, you need to copy the title contents into the "Page Title" field, and go into Post Options and check that the comments option is correct.

The best way to ensure that the Page looks exactly the same as the Post did is to copy and paste the HTML for the page contents.  The steps to follow to do this are listed here.

Note that this is quite different from (making it look like you have) displayed posts inside your pages.  And that there are some important differences between pages and posts.

How to convert a Post into a Page

1. Go into the Posting / Edit Posts tab, and edit the post that you want to convert.
2. When the post-editor opens, choose Edit HTML mode (currently in the top right hand corner)
3. Check the Post Options values:  set Edit HTML Line Breaks to "Use <br /> tags"
4. Select all the contents of the of the editor window (click in it and press Ctrl/A), and Copy them.
5. Choose the Posting / Edit Pages tab
   (Press Ok if the system asks if you want to leave the page without saving)
6. Click New Page., or select a page that you've already created.
7. When the page-editor opens, enter a title.
   This is what shows up on the Pages menu, and in the Title field inside the blog if you're showing it.
8. Check the Post Options values:  comments and backlinking if you want them, interpreting vs just showing HTLM, and also set Edit HTML Line Breaks to "Use <br /> tags"
9. In the editor, choose Edit HTML mode (top right hand corner)
10. Paste the contents that you copied earlier
    Usually done with Ctrl/V, or Edit/Paste from the browser menu:  this puts the contents from Step 3 into the Page.
11. Choose Publish Page
12. Choose an option for how you want the Pages Gadget to appear
13. Press Save and Publish.
14. View your blog, and make sure that you are happy with the new page.
15. Optional:   Go back to Edit Posts, and Delete the post that you have converted.  (If you don't delete it, remember that you now have the contents in two separate places:  the original Post, and the new Page).

Related Articles:



Making it look like you have displayed posts inside your pages

Blogs, Bloggers and Blogger; Post, Pages and Navigation - some basic concepts

Blogger's "Static Pages" are more trouble than they're worth

The difference between Post and Pages.

Showing a gadget only on static pages

Series overview:  Pages in Blogger  

Making sub-pages

This article is about making so-called sub-pages in Blogger.

Blogger and Pages




Since Blogger introduced Page, people have been asking "how do I put my posts into pages" and "how do I make sub-pages.



It's not always clear what the second question means.  



In some cases, it's about making sub-menus.  This isn't something that Blogger supports, although there are work-around.   I haven't  explored  them yet, but check the Blogger-Helpers-Search, there are lots of people who've described ways to do it.



In other cases, it's simply want other posts or pages being pointed to from the first page, and this is simple enough: just edit he Page, and use the Page-editor to make a link to anywhere you want.  



If the place that you're linking to needs to be a Post (because you are only allowed 10 Pages, and there is no way around this limit), then you may want to give it a post-date that is in the past (set the date under Post Options).

---

Related Articles:







Putting Posts into your Pages in Blogger



The difference between Pages and Posts



Changing the date of a  Post



Static pages are more trouble than they're worth

AdSense Troubleshooting: Javascript

This article explains the relationship between Adsense advertisement display and Javascript

Adsense ads need Javascript

You, and your readers, will only see ads if Javascript is enabled in the web-browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc) that you are using.

You can turn Javascript on for your own web-browser using whatever tools it uses (normally under Tools / Options or somesuch - refer to your system's help-files if you need to see how to turn it on.

But you can't control whether it's enabled for your users:  even if you explicitly tell them to turn Javascript on, some won't do so, for reasons best known to themselves..

So you should be aware that some readers will not see your AdSense ads.  If having people see ads is important to you, you might need consider some alternative advertising programmes.

(And this isn't the only reason:  some won't see your ads because they use ad-blockers:  there is nothing you can do about these either.)

---

Related Articles:

AdSense Troublehooting hints-and-tips

Stop people from stealing your AdSense id

Setting up AdSense on your blog

Alternative advertising programmes

AdSense Layouts: using tables, not too many Divs

This article has details about laying out AdSense ads side-by-side with the text in your Blogger postings.

Previously I've explained how to put an AdSense ad-unit "in-line"  in your blog post.   Using this approach,  the advertisement is put in a block of its own, and your content starts again underneath it.

However you can use DIV statements to allow your text to flow around the ad.  I've described how do use this approach for putting text and pictures side by side in your blog, and it could easily be used for ad-unit code instead.

That said, in Jan 2010, AdSense's blog gave advice to:

"avoid embedding the ad code in excessive div tags or nested frames".   

They didn't say what counts as excessive - but just in case, it may be a good idea to use a separate div for the ad rather than embedding <div> statements.

If you do want to put an ad and your content side-by-side, it may be better to use a table to lay them out.  To achieve this, you need to edit the HTML behind the post.  To get to this click on the HTML button in the top right of the editor (post Sept-2011 Blogger) or the Edit HTML tab in the top right of the editor (pre-Sept 2011 Blogger).

Use a piece of HTML code like this:

<br />
<table border="0" style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>PUT THE POST TEXT IN HERE </td>
<td>PUT THE AD-TEXT IN HERE </td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>

---

Related Posts:



AdSense Troublehooting hints-and-tips overview

Puutting text and pictures side by side in your blog

How to put an AdSense ad-unit "in-line"  in your blog post

Using a table to display data in your blog

AdSense Troubleshooting: How many ads per page

This article has details about AdSense ads not being displayed because there are too many ads per page, including particular issues with sidebars in Blogger.

Advertising Programme limits

With some advertising programmes, including AdSense, you are only allowed to show a certain number of adsense units per screen.

Always check the terms and conditions of a programme like AdSense, and keep an eye on updates in case the policies are changed in future.

At the time of writing, for AdSense the limit is3 ad-units and 3 link-units.

Enforcing the limits

Because Google, Blogger and AdSense are intgrated, Blogger kindly enforces the number of ad-units limits for us - we don't have to manually check them in your templates.

Blogger will let you put any number of AdSense gadgets into your blog and into your posts.   But when your blog is shown to readers, Google chooses which ads to show (up to the limits), and either leaves a blank space or moves solid colour, or shows other content that you specify in the advert code setup screen.

Where do the "best" ads go

The best available advertisement will go into the first ad-unit found, continuing in a similar way as the rest of the blog-screen is drawn.

Within Blogger itself  the header gets first priority for being drawn, then in the body of your blog, and then in the sidebars.

If you have selected ads at the bottom of posts (an option in the Monetize tab), and you have three or more posts per page , then all three ads will have been "used up" when your sidebar is displayed, so there won't be any ads there.   If you really want ads in your sidebar (which is far more visible to many readers), then you can either:

• turn off the option for ads beneath your posts, or
• set the number of posts per page to less than 3, so that there are some advertising slots available when your blog-screen is generated.

---

Related Articles:

Setting up AdSense on your blog

Some other advertising programmes

AdSense:  how long until code changes are applied?

How long does it taken until AdSense ads are displayed on your blog

This article has details about the time-delays between Adsense ads being added to your Blogger site (in header, footer, sidebar, or inside your posts), and the ads being visible to your readers.

Ten minutes ...

After you have signed up for AdSense and started putting ads onto your blog, you may find that you want to get the ad-code from AdSense instead of using the gadgets that Blogger has.

When you get advertisement-code from AdSense (eg to make an image-only ad) or because you want to put an ad right inside a post), there is a message saying that it will take at least 10 minutes until the ad display's properly.  Personally, I've found that it can take 20+ minutes Google is having a bad-hair-day.

So go and have a coffee, then come back and test that you've got it right after that.

Or 2 days!

The specific ads show are based on the page content.   Google's web-crawler needs to visit the page and index it before they can choose ads for your page.  And it can take up to 48 hours for this to happen.

So depending on the settings you used for what do do when no ads are available, readers may see a public-service ad, or may see nothing at all, for up to 48 hours after your ad is created.

---

Related Articles:

Showing image-only AdSense ads in Blogger

Putting AdSense ads inside blog posts

AdSense Troublehooting hints-and-tips

Setting up AdSense on your Blog

Other advertising programmes

AdSense Troubleshooting: Extra line breaks

This article is about fixing problems with AdSense advertisements that are caused by having extra line-breaks in the ad-code.

Putting AdSense ads into your posts - what can go wrong

Previously I've explained how to set up AdSense for your blog, and how to put AdSense advertisements
right inside a post rather than in the header, footer or sidebar.

However AdSense ad code won't work if it has any extra line breaks added to it.  This is why, to put it  you need to paste the code into the editor in Edit HTML mode, not Compose mode.   And to be certain, I also recommend that you make sure the "use <br /> tags" option (previously called "Ignore new lines") is chosen as well.

If you don't do this, ie if you put the code into the Post Editor while you are in Compose mode, Blogger seems to insert extra <br /> tags (ie new lines) in places.  And this causes the ad to not be displayed.

Fixing the problem


If you encounter this problem while putting ad-code into a post in this way, it's best to go in to Edit HTML mode and:

• remove the whole piece of Ad code
• in a separate window, log into AdSense (www.google.com/adsense), choose the Ad you want from  from Adsense Setup / Manage Ads
• copy the ad code
• swtich back to your blogger window and paste the ad-unit in again

Removing the line-break characters by hand is tedious to do, and I've found it's very hard to get right.

---

Related Articles:



AdSense Troublehooting hints-and-tips

Putting AdSense ads inside blog posts

The Post Editor's  <br /> tags vs new-line option.

Making a website that you can update easily

This article explains the issues that community groups and non-profit organisations can face with managing their websites, and explains how Blogger can be used to address them.

Community groups and website maintenance 

Many community groups and non-profit organisations set up projects to build a website.   Often, an enthusiastic volunteer offers their time and expertise to build it.   Or a third-level student does it as a course project.

The new website is launched, often with a party.   It looks great, and the content is fresh and exciting.  Things are great.

But a while later, something needs to be changed.   If they're lucky, the enthusiastic volunteer or the student is still around, and happy to do the change.   But more and more changes are wanted.  Over time, the enthusiasm wanes.  The student graduates and moves away.   The volunteer starts to resent the amount of  time needed,  Eventually, the student is nowhere to be found or the volunteer is no longer unavailable.

In the "lucky" scenario, the next step is often that the group finds money to negotiate a support contract with the former volunteer's company.  Hopefully, the company charges them a fair rate for the work.   It may not feel fair to the group, though, because they don't know what the market rate for this sort of work is, or how long things really take.   In the "unlucky" scenario, the group has incorrect information on the internet that cannot be changed because no one knows how.

Does Blogger offer an alternative to this scenario?   I think so, and this article explains some of the advantages, and issues, involved.

What is Blogger?   How can it help?

Blogger is Google's tool for building "blogs" - essentially diaries kept on the internet.  See Blogs, bloggers and Blogger  for a full explanation of these sometimes confusing terms.

But Blogger is now a lot more sophisticated, and can be used for other things too.

If a website is built using Blogger:

1. The software used to build and update it is free
2. The hosting is free (if the address is www.WHATEVER.blogspot.com), or very cheap (if the address is www.WHATEVER.com).  And address ike www.WHATEVER.COM is called a custom domain, and is easy to set up - you can buy the address through Blogger, or use an address that you already own.
3. It's simple to make updates, after the initial set-up is done   
4. It can even be set up to update itself when someone emails a certain address (which you only tell to people who you want to be able to do updates!)
   
5. Whoever updates it doesn't need any special software:  just a computer with internet access.
6. It willl work in all the different web-browsers (with some with very rare exceptions).
7. By default, it's structured like a diary:  most recent info first, older info further down.   Which makes it a good fit for "newsletter" style things, which is often an objective for community groups.
8. But it doesn't have to look like a diary - you can give it a "home page" in a variety of ways. 

Issues, Risks and Disadvantages:

There are risks with using Blogger:  Google could change their minds about any aspect of it (though I doubt that they will do anything drastic or expensive).   There are limits to what it can do.   It may be perceived by some people as "lower quality".   You don't control the hosting:  you aren't paying for it, so you don't have any rights as a customer.

These risks are all real, and in some cases they will be so serious that you decide another approach is better.  But for some groups, the advantages will outweigh the risks.


A final thought:

No matter what tool you use, building a website is "easy": lots of people can do it, and they'll all be happy to tell you what a bad job the last guy did.

The hard bits are:

• Defining the audience
• Setting the aims & objectives, knowing how you'll measure them, and doing the measurement
• Defining the policies
  (what content?  who decides what to show, and what not to?  who is responsible for doing updates ?)
• Simple, cost-effective, ways to keep the content up-to-date
• Doing training materials, so that when the current person doing updates leaves, their replacement can learn to do them too.
• Designing and implementing the search-optimisation approach (SEO) and communications plan 
  (There's no point in building a website if no one reads it!)

If anyone ofters to build you a website, make sure that their plan covers all these issues, so that you aren't left with an embarrassing white-elephant on the web, with your name on it.

---

Related Articles:



Blogs, bloggers and Blogger - an introduction

Getting started with Blogger

Using an URL you already own for a Blogger blog

Setting up your custom domain

Updating your blog by email - using mail2Post

Giving your blog a home page