Blogger Launch 5 New Dynamic Views Templates

Blogger today launched 5 new templates that can totally transform how people view your blog.

"...These new views use the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to deliver a host of benefits to you and your readers : Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page, New layouts: different views suited to different types of blogs, Speed: download images as you view them, not all at once in advance, Interactivity: there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content..."

Blogger Dynamic Templates Video

View Your Blog With Dynamic Templates

You can see how your blog looks with these dynamic templates by simply adding /view to the end of your URL.So to view Spice Up Your Blog using these templates this would be the URL (Click the link to check it out in a new window):

www.spiceupyourblog.com/view

Helpful Links

Blogger are still working on these amazing designs and you can give your opinion - Dynamic Templates Feedback

Check out the Blogger post on these templates - Blogger Buzz

You can also get more help - Help Center Article


The Blogger team promised 2011 would be a big year and they are starting to deliver, these templates while still in infacy are simply Awesome !

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

Simple Print Friendly And PDF Buttons For Your Blog Posts

In this post i have an Exciting New, Extremely Easy and Professional way for you to make your blog posts available to print and download in PDF (Portable Document Format).We will add from a choice of neat buttons to your posts that readers can click to view a Print And PDF friendly version of your blog.

What Is Print and PDF friendly ?

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How to Create a Top Blogging Community

When we blog, we must try to create a thriving blogging community. In other words, it's important that we can access a network of like-minded bloggers who can help us if we need help and vice versa. In this case, blogging then becomes more than simply writing and publishing on our own blogs; instead, it becomes an activity that allows you and other bloggers to join together into a community of voices. Once this happens, you can really see how powerful blogging truly is.

But how do you create this thriving community? Follow these tips to see if you get any ideas.
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Beautiful Animated Hover Effect Captions For Images On Blogger

In this post we have not only an amazing effect you can add to the images you use in your blog posts but it's amazingly simple and amazingly fast so wont slow down you page load time.The effect is similar to what you will see on many Featured Posts Gadgets, when you hover your cursor over the image a caption scrolls up from the bottom with your selected text.

So, you can have the title of the image, a description, date taken, credit or anything you like.The code we will use has No Javascript this ensures it will load fast and as i said not slow down your blog.The code is all Css3 (Don't Worry I Will Keep It Simple) so you have a flowing and transparent effect with the caption.There is also a stylish Shadow edge around the image On-Hover.

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BuySellAds.Com Review And Interview With Founder Todd Garland

In this post we will look at BuySellAds.Com (BSA), a site that makes selling direct advertising on your blog quick and easy while leaving you in control.I also have a short interview with Founder and CEO Todd Garland, Todd took the time to answer a few questions i thought would relate directly to Spice Up Your Blog readers.

BSA was created with the intention of taking the pain out of buying and selling ads, a process that otherwise is time consuming and frustrating.They also display your blog to potential advertisers you otherwise would not be able to attract, advertisers can find your blog in the BSA directory when searching for suitable publishers.

So lets first take a run through the process.

Quick Overview Of BuySellAds.Com

1. Submit your blog - BSA review all blogs before they can join the programme.Your blog must be established, have unique content and a healthy number of monthly impressions.

2. Create Your Ad Zones - Once accepted you can log in and create some zones for ads, Popular zones are the header and sidebar.The main script must be added first then you are provided with code for the actual area the ads appear - Create An Ad Zone Tutorial.

3. Advertise Here - Once you have the ad code in the zones the grey "Advertise Here" banner will appear.Visitors to your blog can click on the banner to view your directory page and purchase ads.

4. Ad Sold - As soon as an advertiser buys an ad the Advertise Here banner will automatically be replaced with their ad.

5. Cash Out - You can request a cash out via Paypal, Cheque or wire transfer once you have $50 Now $20 in your account.

6. Our Fancy Colorful Effects On Banners - You may have noticed the cool effect we use on the BuySellAds banners.Find out how to create it on your blog here : Buysellads.com banner ad effect tutorial.

Remember you are in control of the ad spots you make available, the price you charge and you can change your settings so you have to pre-approve any ads before they are displayed.You can get a full list of help articles from installing the ad zones to getting paid here - BuySellAds Help

Interview With BSA Founder Todd Garland

I asked the BSA Founder and CEO a few questions, here is what he had to say.

Spice Up Your Blog - I notice most of the sites selling ads on BuySellAds are in the Technology And Web Design Niche.First, do you accept sites from all niches and have you advertisers looking to advertise on other niches ?

Todd Garland - Yes, we accept sites form all niches, from cupcakes, to weddings, to motorcycle blogs and more. We are much stronger in the tech than other verticals, but we’re always working to increase activity for both advertisers and publishers across many verticals outside of tech.

SUYB - As most of my readers are Blogger users have you a policy when it comes to accepting blogs using the Blogger Sub Domain (Blogspot) ? I hear blogs using the sub domain are less likely to be accepted.

TG - That is correct. In our experience, .blogger sites tend to have lower traffic than is required to sell ads directly to advertisers with a system like BSA. Sure, there are edge cases and this does not apply to all .blogger sites.

SUYB - Are the links in the Ads Do-Follow ?

TG - We don’t specify. The ads are served us using JavaScript and we do not sell them with the intent of the ads passing any SEO value.

SUYB - Apart from Impressions what do you think is a sites main selling point (Alexa Rank, Page Rank, Followers, Fans etc..) ?

TG - I think it’s the quality of content on their site and the number of existing advertisers they have.

SUYB - What tips if any would you give to users to help sell more ads ?

TG - Write the best content you can write, hustle, and grow your community.

Sponsored Tweets

At the time of writing BuySellAds.Com have just launched a new feature called Sponsored Tweets.As the name suggests advertisers can "Buy A Tweet" on your Twitter account.For more information check out the BSA Blog Post On Sponsored Tweets.

You can view the Spice Up Your Blog listing on BuySellAds.Com or Submit Your Blog to BuySellAds.Com and start selling ads today.

Drop Your Comments, Views And Questions Below.

Text Wrapped Twitter And Facebook Buttons At Top Of Posts

Today as i was replying to the Emails from my contact form i got a bit of a surprise.One Email asked "I like to add Facebook share and tweet buttons to my blog post same like your blog (share and tweet buttons at the beginning of the post text). thanks:)".So i went to my list of posts page for Spice Up Your Blog to get the link to the tutorial for this to send back.Then i realised i have never actually covered it in a post.

I have showed how to have a Twitter counter at the top of your posts and even a Ttwitter and Facebook button in a fixed floating position, but not how to have the Twitter and Facebook Counter Buttons at the start of posts wrapped in text.It's actually quiet an easy tutorial..

So lets do it !

The Twitter button i will be using is the Most recent updated Twitter Button that includes a link to your Twitter Profile.You will see if you use the Twitter button on any of the posts in this blog the link you post on Twitter includes a link to my Twitter Profile and once you share the link you are given the option to follow me (If Your Not Already).So the button not only gets people sharing your posts but also gets you more followers.The facebook button is the standard counter button not the Like Button.

I am using these buttons at the time of writing the post but as you know I'm always changing so for future reference i have a live demo below.

Live Demo - Twitter And Facebook Button Demo

Add Twitter And Facebook Buttons To Blogger

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click > Design > Edit Html > Tick The Expand Widget Templates Box.







Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

Step 3. Copy And Paste The Following Code Directly Before / Above

Tweet

Important

The code in red sets how the post summary's are displayed.Remember if a post has an image it will be re sized into a thumbnail to be displayed beside the summery.If the post does not have an image just a text summery will be displayed.

summary_ noimg= 430; --> The length of the summery if the post does not have a thumbnail.
summary_img = 340; --> The length of the summery if there is an image in the post that will be converted into a thumbnail.
null_thumb_height = 120; --> The height in pixels of the thumbnail.
null_thumb_width = 120; --> The width in pixels of the thumbnail.

Step 4. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click CTRL and F for a search bar to help find the code - More Info)

Step 5. Replace With The Code Below

Read more ...

Note - You can change the text in red from Read More to "Continue Reading", "Read Full Post" or anything you like.

Note 1. You should try to have the first image in your posts as close to square as possible so they work well when used as thumbnails on your home page.Images that are for example rectangle in shape will appear distorted when they are re sized.I use a version of this script on this blog and always add an image at the top of the posts that are close to square, then size then wont make a big impact on the appearance.Remember it's the first image in each post that is used as a thumbnail.

Step 6. Save Your Template.

That's it for this Blogger tip, All your posts including all archived posts will now be displayed with a summary and read more on your home page, labels pages and archive pages.Check out more of our Blogger Tips and Blog Gadgets.

Did you know you can use a Jump Break In Your Full Feed ?

Drop Your Comments, Views And Opinions Below.

Blogger Stylish Hover Effect Thumbnails Only Related Posts

Back in December i published a post showing you a great Related Posts with thumbnails gadget.That gadget displayed a selected number of related posts generated using labels, the posts are displayed using a thumbnail with the title of the post below.That post has been one of the most popular on Spice Up Your Blog over the last few months and today i have another Related Posts With Thumbnails Gadget but with a very cool feature.

I found this gadget in a template i published on my Templates Blog BestBloggerTemplates.Net and knew it would be popular.This Related Posts gadget does not display the title of the post below the Thumbnail but rather has a Hover Effect to display the post title.So below your posts will be just the thumbnails but when you hover your cursor over them the thumbnail is replaced by the title.

Hmmm not easy to explain in text so take a look at the screenshots and live demo below.
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