Tips for Advanced Blogging

Importing and Labeling on Your Blog

I've discovered some valuable Blogger features that you may want to try out on your own blog, so periodically, I'm posting a few blog tutorials. I'm showcasing two easy features this week. First, I found out how easy it is to import older posts from other blogs. Let's say you started a free Blogger blog but later you changed the name and layout and you started a brand new blog. You can easily export the old blog to your computer and then import that same file. Options are flexible as you can publish all old entries at once, or choose one at a time for publishing. I've now merged an older blog with Faith, Creativity, Life and I can delete the old one. Here's how I did it:

1. Log into the dashboard of your old blog.
   
2. Click "settings" and then click on "export blog"
3. Click on "download blog" and save it to a location on your computer.
4. Now, log into the dashboard of your new blog.
5. Click "settings" and then click on "import blog"
6. Click on "browse" and then locate the file that you saved on your computer.
   
7. If you'd like all the posts automatically posted right away. Otherwise leave that box unchecked and click "import blog".
   
8. Once the blog is imported, you can select which posts you'd like to publish if you didn't do them all automatically upon importing.
   

You've now merged 2 blogs.

The second feature I discovered is labeling of posts. At the bottom of each new entry, you can enter labels for a post. Why is this helpful? Let's imagine you want your readers to find your posts based on topic, not on date or month. By choosing a consistent system of labeling each post and by adding a labeling gadget to your layout, your readers will quickly navigate through your topics. Here's a quick labeling tutorial:

1. Log into your Blogger dashboard.
   
2. Click on "layout"
3. Click on "add a gadget" and then scroll down to the "labels" gadget.
4. Click the plus sign next to the gadget.
   
5. Now you can edit the gadget before you add it. It will say "labels" by default in the title, but you can name it anything you'd like. Try "Topical Index" or "Browse by Subject" or another name you prefer.
6. Now, save the gadget and the program takes you back to the layout part of the dashboard. You can drag elements or gadgets around on the layout to reorder and put them wherever you'd like. By default, it adds the newest one to the top.
   

That's all there is to it! Next time you post an entry, you can add a label, or even add a couple of labels to the post to increase cross-referencing on your blog. For an example of how the labeling works, see my brand new www.TrashToTreasureDecorating.com site. I'm also going back and adding some labels to old posts on Faith Creativity Life very soon!

Happy blogging!