Blogger's Most Useful Gadgets

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Blogger has steadily developed several featured gadgets, fun gadgets,  gadgets to increase page views  and gadgets that monetize your blog. Hundreds of gadgets are available merely by clicking on buttons from your blog's design page. Some are quite random and others downright impractical, but  I've found the following the most useful of all.



To access any of the gadgets, just go to your dashboard, click on design, then add a gadget. After you've added them, just drag and drop them where you'd like them to be. Remember to save the new changes when finished or they won't show up when you click on 'view blog'.



A few of these have appeared in a previous post called, Gadgets to Monetize Your Blog.



Get Answers

This is becoming a very popular gadget on blogs large and small. It not only encourages your visitors to hang around for a while (increasing your bounce rate) but it also persuades them to ask and answer questions of your other readers. This gadget allows your fans to browse questions, submit answers, and vote on answers they think are the best. Soon you could have a regular community on your blog! 

Recent Posts (advanced)

Use this to show your Blog's Recent Posts. You can opt to show, thumbnails, summaries and other information like date, number of comments etc. This gadget can be edited to suit your needs. If you’re stuck for space you can merely show clickable links to the names of your posts. Also show as many or as few posts as you like. In addition, you can choose to display your recent posts as a drop down menu if space is a problem. I have both of these on this blog. 

Share This

This makes it easy for your readers to share your posts to their favourite social networking sites. I recently found out that my ‘Share this’ icons don’t work. They can be pretty temperamental. However, this Blogger gadget keeps on doing the job. It may not be as attractive as the popular ones on bigger sites, but it gets the job done. It’s also very useful for new bloggers who’ve got limited html knowledge. Just click and add. I'm going to replace the ones I have now with this.

Popular Posts

I've just added this gadget to this blog. I've always wanted to have it, but it was only previously available through a complicated set of html editing. Now you can get it with one click from your Blogger gadgets' page. People like to be a part of a crowd, so if you have popular posts displayed on your page, readers want to see 'what all the fuss is about'. They usually click on it, making your popular posts stay popular. You can choose to display a thumbnail, summary, and other information about the popular posts, or opt for a simply link to the headlines. Make sure your popular posts are all fully monetized. Remember that your regular visitors have already read and commented on them so you don't have to worry about offending them with ads. 

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Free Gadgets To Increase Page Views

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Blogger has always provided a variety of fun, interesting gadgets for your Blogger blog, and all for free! Today I want to emphasise some of Blogger's many useful gadgets to implement on your site. Just click on the  links and they will take you to the page from where you can easily add these on your blog. I've chosen these gadgets specifically because they help to convert all those passing viewers to actual readers who stay around to sample more than just your front page. One gadget, in one tiny space on your blog's homepage, can be wisely used to pique the interest of viewers who have no intention of staying for very long. Use your magic of enticement with the following!





Blogger Play Gadget

This gadget is useful for bloggers who have uploaded lots of pictures on their sites. It offers your reader a fabulous chance to see your images in a slide show to rival a professional film. There are 'previous', 'pause' and 'next' buttons for easy manoeuvrability. The best thing of all, is that clicking on any image will take your readers to the post in which it originally appeared, resulting in more page views for your blog.



Recent Post Gadget (with thumbnails)

I use this on all my blogs. It helps your readers to readily find your recent posts and enables search engines and passing traffic to easily decide what your blog is about. This gadget is completely customizable with several interesting options to choose from. At a glance you can display a thumbnail, date of post, number of comments and  more. You decide how many words of each summary you want to be included. You can opt for a larger or smaller box (or more or fewer words) in each section. This is also a crafty way to make fly-by traffic like those from Twitter, Blog Explosion or StumbleUpon take note of your other pages. Quickly convert these one-page viewers by enticing them with your other juicy 'products'.



'You May Also Like' Gadget

This one is pretty straight forward. It sits at the bottom of every post and suggests to your readers, other random (similar) articles on your blog that may be of interest to them. It requires some html knowledge, but you can find all directions to implement this gadget on the link provided above.



Link List



Finally, make use of your link list. This one is not linked because it's less complicated to find from your own Blogger blog. Go to your Dashboard. Select 'design' (formally 'layout') of the blog you want to edit. Choose 'add a gadget' from any of the side panels. Scroll down until you find 'link list' in the basic group of gadgets. Add 'link list' then drag and drop it to where you want it to appear. Use this gadget to showcase any important or popular post (s) that have appeared on your blog. All you need to do is to go to the page in question, copy the url of the post and paste it in the appropriate panel. Don't forget to give it an eye-catching title. Either use its original title or create a new one for optimum effect. If you need any more information or clarification, please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.



What other gadgets have you implemented to make full use of your previous posts? How do you ensure your hard work on past articles do not go to waste?

5 Fun Blogger Gadgets For Your Blog

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Gadgets can be quite handy and useful when you manage a number of blogs. However, sometimes we can do with some fun in our lives. I've picked these 5 out of the thousands available, not because they have any particular usefulness,  but because they can add charm, beauty and imagination to your blog. You can easily access these gadgets by going to your blog's layout. Click on 'add a gadget', then go through 'more gadgets' to find these and others like them available.

If you're pressed for time, just use the 'link' I've provided after each of these below to get to your chosen page. Remember to use the panels provided to properly customise each gadget to suit your individual needs.



Event

This gadget helps you and your readers to keep abreast of special events happening in the near future. Do you have a book launch, a special blog tour, a contest? 'My events' is splendid as a temporary way to add social interaction to your blog. Link Or go to your Layout - Add a Gadget - Featured Gadgets (click on blue print at the top left hand corner of the 'add gadgets' page) - and My Event is the 5th one on the list.



Flikr Photostream

I have this one on my new Shakespeare scenes blog. It showcases your most recent pictures uploaded on flickr and adds interest to a new blog when you're still not too sure of what gadgets you want included. It adds colour, a bit of fun, and something extra for your new readers to look at while you build your blog. Link Or go to your Layout - Add a Gadget - Featured Gadgets - and Flickr Photostream is the 7th one on the list.



The Daily Puppy

This one may appeal to people who like dogs. Even if we don't, we have to keep in mind that sites which feature animals (especially the cute, baby variety) do pretty well when it comes to traffic. This gadget displays a different picture of a cute puppy each day. This one can be customised for size and the number of puppies you show. Link Or go to your Layout - Add a Gadget - More Gadgets - and Daily Puppy is in the middle of the first page.



Twitter 'Follow Me' Buttons

Just go to the page, click on a number and 'update.' You'll be spoilt for choice with the number of interesting/funny/cute 'follow me' buttons on offer. link Or go to Layout - Add a Gadget - More Gadgets - and Twitter 'Follow Me' buttons are in the middle of the second page of gadgets.

Pictures of Baby exotic animals

A beautiful, large selection of exotic baby animals to soften the look of your blog. Of course you can choose the height of this gadget, but I suspect you would want it a medium size to properly showcase this lovely selection. Again, this is not a feature of any particular use. It just sits there looking pretty. I can do with some 'pretty', can't you? Link Or go to your Layout - Add a Gadget - More Gadgets - and Pictures of exotic baby animals' gadget is towards the bottom of page 3.

Stay tuned for more hand-picked blogger gadgets.