Is Affiliate Marketing Allowed, In Blogger?

Anxious blog owners ask the question periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Is affiliate marketing allowed, in Blogger?

And the truth is that there is no prohibition against affiliate marketing, by name.

If the blog content is legal, you can do anything. The question is, can you make a Blogger blog, and use affiliate marketing, and not run afoul of Spam and TOS guidelines?

A description of "affiliate marketing" - or maybe the problems involved - would be a good place to start.

Affiliate marketing networks consist of blogs and websites, linked through ads. The reader, who clicks on an ad in a blog, is redirected to another affiliate blog - randomly selected by the redirector.

Blogger blogs need informative and interesting content, to attract traffic.

A blog, to successfully host ads, needs its own unique content, that both

• Is interesting or informative, to your readers - and to the search engines.
• Is relevant to the nature of the products advertised.

Too many blogs that involve affiliate marketing depend upon the affiliate relationship to both provide traffic to, and reward for ads hosted on, the blog. That's where the problem starts.

Ads need to be relevant to subject of the posts - and to the readers.

When you have a network of affiliate blogs and websites, where the only thing common between the blogs and websites is the affiliate relationship, the problem becomes worse.

Blogs that host ads, that are not relevant to the content of the blog, or to the interests of the readers, are considered spam hosts.

As an example, AdSense is a contextual service. AdSense ads are chosen according to content of the posts.

Non contextual ads still need to be relevant to the post content - and this may not be the case, with affiliate ads.

Ads that link blogs with illegal content can also use affiliate techniques.

Some blogs with illegal content can also link to similar blogs. In this case, all blogs are detected, and deleted.

Bookmakers setup blogs which focus on various gambling activities, like sports betting.



Bookmaking is a popular blog topic - and bookmakers have been known to setup affiliate networks - which can be deleted when detected.

Network membership does not provide content - it links to content.

Affiliate marketing network membership, by itself, does not provide content - and blog readers are not cattle, to be shifted from blog to blog, randomly.

If a reader clicks on a link, he expects to be taken to another blog with relevant or similar content, with complementary information - not just complementary ads. Ads are not content - they are, at best, decorations.

Both Blogger Content - and Google Terms Of Service contain details.

If you publish a blog and intend to include affiliate networking, stay well within the limits, described in Content and TOS. If you cross the line, you may not get a warning, in time to save your blog.

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Some #Blogger blog owners join affiliate marketing networks, to both gain traffic and get paid for providing traffic. They do not care that their readers, clicking on an affiliate ad, may wind up on another blog or website with completely different content - but the same ads.

The affiliate network both compensates for the clicks by the readers, and transports the readers randomly, from blog to blog. To an affiliate redirector, one blog is as good as another - and this makes the affiliate links spam.

The Followers Gadget, And Internet Identification

How many of you have used your favourite Internet application recently - and received a convenience login suggestion?

To continue, please tell us who you are!

Login with your FaceBook, Google, or Twitter account.

Many small business Internet services, instead of making you setup one more unknown account, are letting you login, and use their product, based on your FaceBook, Google, or Twitter account.

This is not a magical concept. It requires a lot of work, to make this happen.

The major Internet services, such as FaceBook, Google, and Twitter, act as identification sources for many smaller services.

Letting FaceBook, Google, and Twitter identify us is good, for everybody.

With FaceBook, Google, and Twitter providing identification services, we see a win - win - win situation.

1. FaceBook, Google, and Twitter get to set the standards for identification - and make the Internet safer for everybody.
2. The lesser known services can concentrate on their product - and not worry about identification.
3. The users of the lesser known services have one less account / password to maintain.

I login to AddThis, using my Google account. That's one less account, for me to maintain.



This is called Open Protocol Authorisation - or OAuth. I use OAuth to login to AddThis - and to other services, at various times.

Followers used to use OpenID Authentication - and complicated code.

For many years, Blogger used a similar concept - OpenID authentication - with the Followers gadget. People could Follow our blogs, using a Twitter, Yahoo, AIM, Netlog, or OpenID account - and they could identify their activities (similar to our Blogger / Google+ profiles) using a profile hosted by Orkut, Netlog, Plaxo, or Twitter.

This use of a third party service, for account and / or profile hosting, is not magical. OAuth / OpenID standards or not, each different service has its own peculiarities. Coding, to allow for these peculiarities, makes the Followers gadget more complicated than it should be.

Complicated code is not good. Blogger has to maintain duplicated code to allow for different browsers, operating systems, world wide government bureaucrats, and more. More time spent fixing problems == less time spent improving features.

Followers has shown problems to different people, at various times.

The Followers gadget, for many years, has well known problems.

"Were sorry ...

This gadget is configured incorrectly."

Everyone who uses Followers, on their blogs, has surely seen this notice.



The gadget, on this blog, has shown that error, more than once. Many would be Followers have told me so.

Many of us have tried to surf the Followers gadget, on their favourite blog, and seen this display too.



A lot of people saw the latter, in 2015, when using the gadget on this blog.

Now, Blogger is simplifying Following - and dropping some Followers.

This year, Blogger Engineers are removing excess code in the Followers gadget, to make it more reliable. This requires removal of code which supports OpenID accounts in Twitter, Yahoo, AIM, and Netlog - and profiles hosted in Orkut, Netlog, Plaxo, and Twitter.

Now, Following supports only Blogger / Google / Google+ accounts and profiles. Note that Blogger / Google / Google+ accounts do not have to be GMail.

Removal of the excess code requires removal of the OpenID accounts and profiles. And, we have been seeing our Followers counts drop, since mid December 2015.

It's important to note that anybody "Following" our blogs, using OpenID, can continue to use any email or third party newsfeed subscription - neither of which are affected by the account / profile cleanup. They were not using Reading List to read our blogs, since Reading List requires a Blogger account. And with the Followers gadget broken, no new readers were surfing to our blogs.

I don't like the drop in numbers, any more than the next blog owner. But I also don't like being unable to surf, using the Followers gadget.

So, I'll endure what looks like a 20% drop in Followers count - and be able to use the Followers gadget. And hope that having a working gadget, with less Followers, will still lead to more traffic - more so than having a broken gadget with more Followers. And, move forward.

And, my deepest apologies to those of you who were Following - but are not now - and wanted to find out why you were dropped.

Just use a Blogger / Google account, and Follow again, using a working Followers gadget, or using the Reading List wizard, please. And we'll put this sad story behind us.

Follow By Email, And Read More Solutions

Some blog owners use email, to distribute blog content - and like the post summarisation technique, Jump Break.

We see occasional hopeful questions, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, about Jump Break, in emailed post content.

How do I use Jump Break, in my posts email subscriptions?

This is one need that probably won't be solved, precisely as requested.

Jump Break is simple enough, to add to the blog - one post at a time. To work, from an index page, it needs 2 components.

• A summarised post segment, with the "Jump Break" token, <!--more-->, in the index page display.
• A post, with the "more" anchor embedded.

The "Read More" target URL is easy enough to pass, and to use, in email.

Here's the "Read more" URL, from a previous post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/01/dear-followers-of-this-blog.html#more

The Jump Break token isn't easily interpreted, outside the Blogger environment.

The "Read more" URL is easy to pass, in email distributed blog feed. The "Jump Break" token, unfortunately, is not properly interpreted. Email displays can't handle control strings, such as

<!--more-->

or

<a·name='more'></a>

But you can use an alternate "Read More" feature.

If the blog can use FeedBurner Email Distribution, however, you can get FeedBurner to format a post summary. A post summary uses a truncated "teaser" post, truncated before the post is distributed - instead of Jump Break, interpreted when the post is viewed.

There are 2 possible ways to use "Read More", instead of "Jump Break".

You have 2 possible solutions here.

1. Setup a FeedBurner feed, based on the feed summary.
2. Setup a FeedBurner feed, based on the full feed - and use the Summary Burner option.

I setup 2 test feeds, from this blog.

1. The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 1.
2. The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 2.

You may click on either or both - and examine / compare the results. The first is based on the summary posts newsfeed, as coming from this blog, and simply redistributed by FeedBurner - and the second is based on the full posts newsfeed, as coming from this blog, and summarised then redistributed by FeedBurner.

You may subscribe to either, or both, feeds - and see what you get, in your Inbox.

1. Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 1 by Email.
2. Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 2 by Email.

Both "Read More" solutions are easy enough to setup, using FeedBurner.

Setting both feeds up was rather simple.

1. The "Feed Summary" solution is simply a standard FeedBurner Email Distribution, sourced from "/feeds/posts/summary".
2. The "Summary Burner" option is simply a standard FeedBurner Email Distribution, sourced from "/feeds/posts/full" - and "Summary Burner" activated, with a "teaser" of 400 characters.

Activate Summary Burner from the Optimize tab.



You activate the "Summary Burner" service, from the dashboard Optimize tab. If necessary, setup a second FeedBurner feed.

Option 2 (Summary Burner) lets you adjust the "teaser", and the caption. That's the only choices - and the only challenge.



If you compare the two options, you'll notice that Option 1 is simply a fixed "teaser" of 400 characters - and that Option 2 gives you an adjustable "teaser", plus a caption of your choice. With both options, the link to the full post is in the post title.

So, it's a toss up. I'd probably go with option 2, which is more adjustable - but it's your choice, for your blog. It takes less than a minute, to change from one to the other.

True Online Anonymity Begins With A New Identity

We see occasional queries, from blog owners who require separation of their blog ownership from their real lives, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

I want to have myself anonymous, so that people do not know who I am when I blog. i think it will contribute to a more exciting blog!

An air of mystery is OK, as long as it's not being used to mask criminal activity.

Taking a public account and blog, and removing all personal details, can be an exercise in futility - or at least, ingenuity.

Blogger / Google code contains details, which may reveal too much.

We know that Blogger permits us - and will support us - to publish a blog, anonymously - with our blogging and real life identities kept separate. They don't provide details, though - possibly because each person may have their own ideas how separate they want everything to be.

Both Blogger accounts and blogs contain obscure details, which might be exploited by someone who is experienced in identity tracing.

One detail, which is frequently used in blog ownership analysis, is the "me" tag, in the blog header. The "me" tag is not documented - it's just there, in the blog source code.

I like to cook.

Who knows if the "me" tag in my "Recipe" blog, leading to my Google+ profile, could one day lead the wrong person to my door?



Who knows what other details may be present, in a Blogger / Google profile, or blog internal code?

For true anonymity, start with a clean account and blogs.

If you want true anonymity, start with a new Blogger account which contains no personally identifying content. And if possible, delete your current Blogger account.

Then setup a new Blogger blog - and again, add no personally identifying content. And do not link between anything in your clean, new Blogger account, and anything in any other accounts.

The best chance for anonymity starts with 100% isolation of the new Blogger account.

Conduct frequent personal identity audits, and educate yourself.

As you publish your blog, look at each opinion and story, and ask yourself how this could be used against you.

Spend some time on the Internet, and read about identity verification, pursuit of fugitives, and similar detective work. Spend some time reading stories about the US Witness Security (WitSec) Program, and similar programs in other countries - and how they protect their clients.

Their stories could become your learning opportunities.

True anonymity will have disadvantages.

If you truly make yourself anonymous, there will be no backdoor authentication details. You will not be able to recover control of the blog if you ever forget the account name or password.

If you remember account / password, you may not need backdoor authentication.

Neither Blogger: Forgot your username or password? - or Google: Having trouble signing in or viewing your blog? - will have any details which can be used to recover access, if you become truly anonymous. If there are any such details which could be used by you, to recover access or control, those details might be your downfall, when an experienced detective is put on your trail.

You will need protection from Google Hacking Detection, eventually.

If your account gets locked from "suspicious" / "unusual" activity, or when you change computers or travel, you will need anonymous backup authentication. You will need one or more components of Google 2-Step Verification. Just recording account name / password in a password storage vault won't help, if Google Hacking detection becomes involved.

You're going to have to have some backup authentication - just choose what you use selectively, keep it up to date, religiously - and never lose it.

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Some #Blogger blog owners want to separate their blogging and personal lives - and want their blogs to not lead anybody to their real life existence. This can conflict with effective blog publishing - as a blog, by design, is an online extension of ones real life.

Given enough forethought, and research, it may be possible to separate our online life from real life - but it won't be a one time activity. Personal online anonymity will require constant self examination, and preparation.

Dear Followers Of This Blog ...

If you did not use a Blogger / Google account when you Followed this blog, years ago, you are probably not Following now.

During the past month or so, this blog has gone from 5,300 to 4,800 Followers. Owners of other blogs have reported similar reductions.

Look at the Reading List, in the Blogger dashboard - if you use Blogger. Is this blog listed? If so, you are Following this blog, using a Blogger account. If not, you may want to add this blog to your Reading List.

As part of a project to make Blogger Followers (aka "Google Friend Connect") more reliable and stable, Blogger Engineers are rewriting Followers to only work with Blogger / Google accounts.

Originally, Blogger Followers was part of a web of community building features.

In the past, Blogger Followers was part of a web based community composed of half a dozen account hosts - and another half a dozen profile hosts - and the login and profile hosts complements were not the same.

The Followers gadget, for many years, had well known problems.

"Were sorry ...

This gadget is configured incorrectly."

Everyone who uses Followers, on their blogs, has surely seen this notice.



This blog showed the above message, during most of 2015, for many would be Followers. Other blog owners had similar complaints, during the past several years.

One of the odder peccadilloes of Following started with someone who would, for one reason or another, decide to Follow a blog using an OpenID account or profile, then later login to Blogger and look in their Reading List for the new newsfeed subscription. Surprise! No subscription!!

Unfortunately, people Following using the web were shortchanged. One of the downsides of Following (seldom discussed) was that only Followers using Blogger / Google accounts would have a newsfeed subscription added to their Reading List.

People Following without Google accounts did not get newsfeed subscriptions.

Followers using OpenID only got their photo icon in the Followers facepile. How would OpenID Followers get a Reading List subscription? Reading List subscriptions require Blogger / Google accounts.

Followers is being rewritten - and non Google accounts are not supported.

Starting last month, Blogger Engineers have been eliminating Followers who use OpenID accounts, and / or who use OpenID hosted profiles.

January 27 - 4,860 Followers.

December 18 - 5,343 Followers.



This causes a drop in Follower count, on a lot of blogs - and yes, it's painful to watch the numbers drop. But what they are removing is people who only get their photo icon on the blog (temporarily) - the ones being removed don't read the newsfeed in Reading List, because they don't use Reading List.

Blogger is doing this for a practical reason - Followers code needs to be simplified, so it can be made more reliable. It's similar to support policy for every brand and version of browser. Blogger can't support every version of every browser, nor can they support every type of login to Followers, reliably.

If we are going to use the Followers gadget, it needs to be reliable.

The Followers gadget, on this blog, was broken - for many months, last year. If we're going to use Followers, it needs to be reliable.

If you look in your Reading List and find this blog listed, you are Following this blog using a Blogger account - since the Reading List subscription is one benefit of Following. If you don't find this blog listed, you may subscribe, using Reading List - or Follow, using "Follow Me". Just use a Blogger / Google account, when you Follow.

I welcome you, either way. Now that this blog is The ONLY Blogger Status, I plan to continue bringing you the best discussions of Blogger features and problems.

If you are Following my Google+ stream, this may not affect you.

Keeping all of this in proper perspective, some of you may be Following this blog in your Google+ stream, using Google Followers. You will be using a Google account (you cannot use Google+ without a Google account) - and you will not have a Reading List entry (Google+ does not use Reading List).

Others may be Following my Google+ Collection, RBS. Google+ Collections are more similar to blogs.

Blogger Followers ("Follow Me"), above Google+ Followers ("+Follow Me").



Blogger Followers, and Google+ Followers, are simply two different products - and both are displayed on this blog. And both help different people to find your blog.

And that's why we add the gadgets, to our blogs. And now, why we add notices, to our blogs.

FeedBurner, And Blogs Unwisely Deleted Or Renamed

Some blog owners delete or rename a blog, without proper planning - and later regret their action.

Some spammers track blog name availability - particularly with blog names that contain "English" (and some non English) language words. If a spammer discovers that a given blog name has recently become available, he will publish a stub blog to that name - and later, add spammy content.

Why is a spammer interested in recently available names?

A previously unavailable name, now available, has residual value - because it previously had content, and presumably, readers.

If a valuable blog name is made available by the owner, a spammer will take it.

If a blog owner just abandoned a valuable blog name, by deleting or renaming the blog, a spammer is going to make good use of it.

The unwary blog owner will soon get complaints, from former subscribers.

Shortly, the unwary blog owner will see that his blog, recently deleted or renamed, has been re published and is now full of spam. His former readers are now asking why he is filling up their blog feeds with spam. And he has lost control of the blog, that once was his.

Unfortunately, by the time the republished blog name is discovered, the spammer has taken legal control - and is now the rightful owner. And, short of deleting the blog as a TOS violation, Blogger will recognise the spammers right to own a blog that was legally obtained, using a spammer version of "Create blog".

If the unwary blog owner is you, you may be able to correct your mistake.

If a deleted or renamed blog used FeedBurner to distribute a blog feed, it's possible that the remaining readers are subscribed to the FeedBurner feed. This is where you - the formerly unwary blog owner - can correct your mistake.

A hacker / spammer, who now (legally) has control of an abandoned blog, may not have control of the FeedBurner feed, that is feeding from the blog. If you can regain control of the FeedBurner feed, you can redirect it to a different blog.

1. Setup a stub blog, with one or more posts explaining your mistake.
2. Edit the FeedBurner feed, to point to the feed from the stub blog.
3. Publish a post or two, as an apology to your former subscribers.

Setup a stub blog, with one or more posts explaining your mistake.

You cannot do what you should have done originally - publish a stub blog to the abandoned blog name. You can, however, publish a stub blog to any other available and suitable name.

Then add a post, explaining what you did - and why the people reading the new blog (your new stub blog) are (or just previously were) seeing spam, in their bloglists and Reading List.

Edit the FeedBurner feed, to point to the feed from the stub blog.

With a new blog publishing an active feed, edit the FeedBurner feed that is currently re publishing the feed from the spammer owned blog. Change the FeedBurner feed, using "Edit Feed Details", to re publish the feed from your new stub blog.

The current FeedBurner feed, for
The Real Blogger Status, is
http://feeds.feedburner.com /Nitecruzr-Blogging



To change the feed source URL, simply edit the "Original Feed" setting - then click "Save Feed Details".

Publish a post or two, as an apology to your former subscribers.

With your FeedBurner feed now re publishing your new stub blog, publish a post or two explaining what you did. Hopefully, given a couple posts from your (reclaimed) feed that do not contain spam, your former readers may read one of your new posts, and be enlightened.

And the spammer will be none the wiser - until the people who are paying him report that his former spam channel has stopped producing traffic to their website.

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FeedBurner Feeds, After Deletion / Renaming Of Blogs
FeedBurner Feeds, After Unwise Blog Delete / Rename
FeedBurner, After Blog Unwisely Deleted / Renamed

If you unwisely delete or rename a #Blogger blog, the name that was once yours will have some value to a spammer. If a spammer takes the abandoned blog name, publishes his own spammy content, and distributes it to you former readers, you will be powerless to do anything.

If you are using a FeedBurner feed to distribute the blog feed, however, you can edit the FeedBurner feed, and cancel the spammers channel.

Hosted AdSense Accounts, And Custom Domains

We periodically see the query, from confused blog owners, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners, or maybe in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Why does my blog not show ads, any more? It worked fine, until I changed my blog to my private domain!

The blog owner does not know about the rules of Hosted AdSense accounts, vs AdSense for Content.

If you start a Blogger blog, you will probably get an AdSense account by using the Blogger dashboard Earnings page, and qualifying the blog.

An AdSense account setup under Blogger can only be used with "blogspot.com".

An AdSense account setup under Blogger (or other content services) is called a Hosted account. A Hosted AdSense account can only be used with the service under which it was setup.

A Blogger Hosted account can be used only with Blogger blogs published to "blogspot.com". If you want to use a custom domain published Blogger blog with AdSense, you need AdSense For Content - a full AdSense account.

You can have only one AdSense account. You have to upgrade your Blogger Hosted account, to AdSense for Content, to show ads anywhere other than "blogspot.com".

You can only use blogs published to "blogspot.com", with a Blogger Hosted account.



To use AdSense outside "blogspot.com", you need Full AdSense For Content.

To upgrade to Full AdSense, you need a full domain - ie, a blog published to a custom domain - or a non Google hosted top level domain website. Blogs published to sub domains of a third party service, such as "blogspot.com", do not qualify for AdSense For Content.

If you already have your own top level domain website, hosting AdSense for Content ads, then you never setup a Blogger blog using a Hosted account - and you are probably not reading here.

Remember:

1. You can have only one AdSense account.
2. You can only use blogs published to "blogspot.com", with a Blogger Hosted account.
3. You need a top level domain website, or a Blogger custom domain published blog, to qualify for AdSense For Content.

If you are upgrading your Blogger blog to a custom domain, you need to go through the Hosted to Full upgrade process. This will cause your AdSense ads to stop, for 2 to 4 weeks.

1. Learn the rules - and examine blog content, before you start.
2. Upgrade your Blogger blog, to a properly setup custom domain.
3. Get the custom domain working.
4. Apply for the AdSense account upgrade.
5. Get preliminary approval.
6. Install AdSense for Content ads.
7. Wait for full approval.

Learn the rules - and examine blog content, before you start.

You'll want to start the AdSense Upgrade with some expectation of success. AdSense for Content standards are significantly more selective, than Hosted AdSense.

Do not start this project, until the blog has an established Hosted Account.

Become intimately familiar with eligibility to participate, with program policies, and with prohibited content - before you start.

Then, go over the blog - and improve or remove what does not belong.

Upgrade your Blogger blog, to a properly setup custom domain.

If AdSense is to qualify your blog, under your new domain URL, the domain URL has to work. This requires righteous DNS addresses.

Get the custom domain working.

Given a properly setup domain, publish the blog to the proper domain URL. Then, redirect the domain root to the published URL.

Finally wait, as Blogger completes the domain migration.

Apply for the AdSense account upgrade.

Once you have a working Blogger blog, successfully using your new non "blogspot.com" URL, start the AdSense upgrade.

Get preliminary approval.

You will get email from AdSense, instructing you to upgrade your ad content.

Install AdSense for Content ads.

From the AdSense dashboard, generate the AdSense For Content ads, and install them on the blog.

You won't be using the Blogger "AdSense" gadget - that is for Hosted AdSense. You have to get the code for the ads from the AdSense dashboard wizard.

When you install the ads, load the code into new "HTML" gadgets - don't edit into the template.

Wait for full approval.

Inform AdSense that your new ads are in place. Then wait, as your blog is thoroughly examined. Again, allow 2 to 4 weeks for review.

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Some #Blogger blog owners publish blogs, with AdSense providing ads in the blogs. Then, they decide to upgrade a blog, to use a custom domain URL.

Not everybody knows, before the ads stop appearing, that AdSense for custom domain published blogs is not the same as AdSense for native Blogger blogs.

McAfee WebAdvisor Blocks Blogger / Google Scripts

We have several blog owners, trying to use Blogger - and seeing warnings from McAfee WebAdvisor.

When I try to log out, I am getting a risky connection warning.

Whoa! Are you sure you want to go there?

I cannot log out of blogger.

The blog owner needs to log out from her current account.

"! Warning: Trouble ahead"

"Whoa! Are you sure you want to go there?"

This looks scary - but keep it in perspective.



If you're going to use Blogger / Google, you have to trust Blogger / Google.

Look carefully at the URL, in the advice. Is it a genuine Blogger / Google URL?

If you want to use Blogger - such as logging out so you can use a different account - you have to use the Blogger pages and scripts. You may have to instruct McAfee that you trust that URL.

You, and other McAfee customers, have to help train McAfee.

If you trust Blogger code - and as a Blogger blog publisher, you should - you need to train McAfee to not block Blogger code.

Start by clicking on "Accept the Risk", and follow instructions. Hopefully, that will send feedback to McAfee, informing them that they are reporting a false positive detection.

If you read the McAfee WebAdvisor instructions (wherever they may be), you may also find a site whitelist or similar filter setting - and you may need to add "blogger.com" and "google.com" to your whitelist. This, too, may provide feedback to McAfee.

This is one more episode in the Internet security process.

This is simply one more case of overly aggressive security. And that, like most general paranoia, is not necessarily bad - if you can keep it in proper perspective.

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McAfee Webadvisor is currently advising blog owners, who try to logout from Blogger, that the logout webpage at "accounts.blogger.com" may be "risky". Since we know that Blogger Engineering is not going to intentionally cause risk for their customers, the McAfee warning is most likely a false positive - but the message, in the McAfee warning, will not leave people in a relaxed state of mind.

Blog owners may have to use the "Accept the Risk" button, and inform McAfee that they are displaying a false positive alert.

How To Create A New Post (Or Page), In Your Blog

One of the most basic - and yet obscure - tasks in publishing a blog, for some blog owners, is adding posts (and sometimes, pages).

Some blog owners may be confused, about blogs, pages, and posts. And the Blogger anti-spam efforts, aka the "broken robot", also confuse people. And, not all components (and links) are visible, on all blogs.

Creating a post (or page) is not difficult - when you know where to click. Sometimes, though, you need very good eyesight.

There are 4 buttons / links for creating new posts - and 1 button for creating new pages.

• The "Create new post" button, in the dashboard "My blogs" display.
• The "New post" button, in the dashboard "Posts" page.
• The "New Post" link, in the navbar (if the blog uses a navbar).
• The "pencil" icon, in the dynamic template navbar (if the blog uses a dynamic template).
• The "New page" button, in the dashboard "Pages" page.

Look at the dashboard "My blogs" display.

There is a button - not labeled but it's there.

Here's my "My blogs"list. See the left most of the 3 buttons, for each blog in the list?

Hover the mouse over the white "pencil" on orange. That's "Create new post".


Look at the dashboard "Posts" page.

You can't miss this button.

Here's my dashboard "Posts" page.

See "New post"? Also, another "pencil" icon at the top, and slightly to the right of "New post"?



Look at the navbar.

There is a link - when the navbar is there. Most - not all - blogs will display the navbar.

Here's my blog, with the navbar.

See the "New Post" link?



Look at a dynamic template blog navbar.

If a blog uses a dynamic template, it won't have a normal navbar - but there is a menu bar on dynamic templates, called the "navbar", by some.

Here's one of my blogs, which uses a dynamic template. See the "pencil" at the far right end of the dynamic template "navbar"?

Would you be able to spot the "pencil" without this screen print?



Look at the dashboard "Pages" page.

In some cases, you need to create a page, instead of a post. It may help to understand the differences between pages and posts.

Here's my dashboard "Pages" page.

And the "New page" button (the only such button).



There's several ways to access Post Editor - but there's only one way to access Page Editor.

So know when you exceed the daily creation limit - which apparently includes both pages and posts, counted together. And understand that you may not have to trip the limit, by your efforts alone.

Then, learn the difference between creating a blog, and creating a post (and not everybody does know this). And, understand how to create a new blog.

Make A New Blog, To Upgrade A Classic Template

Some blogs can't be easily upgraded, from a Classic to Layouts / Designer template.

The Classic to Layouts / Designer upgrade can't process all classic templates. Some HTML tweaks, made by the blog owners, just can't be easily translated into CSS / HTML / XML, in the Layout / Designer templates.

Remember that before Layouts templates, all accessories and decorations were installed by editing the template. It's likely that some people created some tricky code, to provide interesting features - and some of the tweaks, that are known by the owners, may cause the delay in upgrading.

If the template upgrade script won't process your template - or if you get a bX code after upgrading - you may have to upgrade the template, by hand.

If you cannot upgrade your Classic template, make a new blog with a Designer / Layout template.

1. Create a new blog, with an up to date Designer / Layout template.
2. Export comments and posts, from the old blog.
3. Import comments and posts, to the new blog.
4. Swap URLs between the old and new blogs.
5. Setup a custom "404" page, to handle URL changes.
6. Copy accessories and tweaks, from the old blog to the new blog.
7. Publish the new blog, and maintain reader activity.

Create a new blog, with an up to date Designer / Layout template.

Use "Create a blog" and make a new blog. I would suggest that you start simply, using the "Simple" template - but it's your blog.

I suggest that you start, with the "Simple" template - but there are a few other choices. This is a portion of the choices available, on the dashboard Template page.

If you've waited this long, to move forward, you're going to find a lot of new possibilities - no matter which template you choose.



Be selective, here. If you have a private blog, don't choose a dynamic template.

Export comments and posts, from the old blog.

Use the "Export blog" wizard on the dashboard Settings - Other page. Save the exported content, to your computer.

Import comments and posts, to the new blog.

Use the "Import blog" wizard on the dashboard Settings - Other page, and the file just created. Avoid use of the "Automatically publish" option, when importing.

When content is successfully imported, publish a few posts, and check out the template. If you're reasonably satisfied, publish the remaining posts, slowly but steadily.

Beware the daily post publishing limit.

Swap URLs between the old and new blogs.

When the posts from the old blog are published in the new blog, swap the URLs - and bring the new blog online using the known URL.

Plan the URL swap, so you can do this step as one task (just 5 minutes, and you're done!) - and protect yourself against a URL hijack.

Setup a custom "404" page, to handle URL changes.

Given the lack of dynamic indexing accessories in classic templates, some owners have created their own links between the posts. With the posts being re published (in a new blog), it's possible that there will be various URL differences.

Your readers may appreciate an accessory or two that help smooth the transition between the blogs - such as a custom 404 page.

Copy accessories and tweaks, from the old blog to the new blog.

Manually transfer accessories and tweaks, from the old blog (with the HTML template), to the new blog (with the XML template). Copy accessories and tweaks, selectively - remember why you are doing this, manually.

Test each new accessory and tweak, carefully - and backup the template, regularly.

Publish the new blog, and maintain reader activity.

As you add accessories and tweaks, remember why you publish the blog. Add content frequently - and maintain reader interest.

The end result.

This will give you a new blog, with a new template, published to the current URL. And, you'll have a copy of the blog, as it used to be, published to a different URL - that only you know about.

And, you'll have your original reader population, encouraging you to improve.

Diagnosing Blogs Not In Dashboard "My blogs"

Blog owners periodically report seeing "their" blog online - but not being able to access Blogger, to control it.

It's my blog - but when I login, I'm forced to an older blog, that I don't care about!

The person reporting this discrepancy may or may not own the blog in question - and we need to diagnose the reason for the discrepancy.

Similar to spam review, we employ a diagnostic technique known as triage. Triage starts with standard diagnoses.

There are several diagnoses, for a discrepancy between "My blogs" and "reality" (The latter being relative to the person reporting the problem).

1. The blog is owned under the account being used - but can't be seen.
2. The blog is owned under another account, which the person reporting does own.
3. The blog is owned under another account, which the person reporting does not own.

We need to start, by determining which case is affecting the current, would be owner. And, if at all possible, verify the URL with a screen print, and a text copy, of the Blogger dashboard Publishing wizard, at Settings - Basic - or at least, the browser address window.

The blog is owned under the account being used - but can't be seen.

Similar to the peccadillo shown by the dashboard Reading List, the dashboard "My blogs" display is most effective when the blog "owner" can be identified. Errant cookie filters are a problem, in so many Blogger features - including "My blogs".

Another obscure scenario is the blog in question may be listed behind the "View more" link, in "My blogs". We can only see 5 blogs, at a time - and if the "owner" just created a new blog (accidentally or intentionally), the "missing" blog may have been forced into the Blog Archive.

I own some blogs - I am an invited author on others. And this is just 5 of the many in my portfolio.

There are more - many more - hidden behind the "View more" link, in the Blog Archive.



The blog is owned under another account, which the person reporting does own.

Blog owners have been creating additional / duplicate accounts for years - both accidentally and intentionally.

The example, cited far above, may refer to a problem with logging in to Blogger, compounded by a duplicate account.

The blog is owned under another account, which the person reporting does not own.

Both blatant blog theft - and naive blog giveaway - are well known issues. Neither, unfortunately, can be resolved by Blogger Support.

The blog "owner" has to take the lead here. Given the right details, we can generally provide guidance - but that is the limit.

The bottom line.

We will help, as best possible - but please, don't demand miracles. Blog ownership is an issue which can only be guaranteed by the owner.

And if the blog is not online, there will be other issues to consider.

Blog Owners Using Safari Cannot Access Dashboard

We're seeing a number of problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, from blog owners unable to use the dashboard.

I can't write a new post, view my Stats, or posts on the Blogger dashboard. Whenever I open these pages, it keeps loading like forever - and now I've been unable to update my blog or view my Stats.

The Blogger dashboard is simply not loading, for these blog owners.

Almost all such reports mention the Safari browser, as the browser being used.

"Whenever I open these pages, it keeps loading like forever..."



The current solution seems to be to use a different browser. We recommend Chrome or Firefox.

As an alternative, it may be possible to access various dashboard utilities directly, avoiding the dashboard menu.

The problem has been referred to Blogger Engineers.

"Error 500 Internal Server Error" Is A Corrupt Template

We've seen a few reports, recently, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners - and in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, that refer to a mysterious error condition.

Error 500 "Internal Server Error".

Blogger Support has been diagnosing this problem, for a while, using a series of bX codes - and the codes thrown by this condition seem to change, from day to day.

The last time Blogger Support provided any description of the problem - or guidance how to solve the problem, they made general mention of "corrupt templates".

If you are unable to access the dashboard of your blog, and you see the mysterious "Error 500" - or if your readers report mysterious bX codes, when trying to load your blog - this may be part of your problem.

Changing the template is the most immediate way to resolve the problem at hand.

If you report in the forum, providing the URL of the blog, and we diagnose a corrupt template - the quickest way to get your blog back, online and maintainable, is to change the template.

Since the dashboard cannot be accessed, the best solution is to access the Template page directly, and bypass the menu.

1. Logout, then login as the owner of the blog.
2. Find the BlogID of the blog.
3. Build the Template page access URL.
4. Load the Template page, using the Template page access URL.
5. Choose a new template - and get the blog online.

Logout, then login as the owner of the blog.

If you were using Draft Blogger, return to Live Blogger.

Next, logout from Blogger / Google, then clear cache, cookies and sessions, and restart the browser. Finally, log in to Blogger, using your administrator account.

Find the BlogID of the blog.

This is the simplest step, in the process.

If you are logged in to Blogger, as a blog administrator, in some cases, the "Design" link in the navbar will link directly to the Template page. If it does, continue with Step 5.

If you're lucky, you can just click on "Design" - and you will be at the Template page.



If your blog does not support "Design", the "New Post" link in the navbar will contain the BlogID.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=24069595#editor

That's from this blog.

blogID=24069595

or

24069595

Build the Template page access URL.

The Template page, for this blog, is accessed as

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=24069595#template

Substitute the BlogID for your blog, for "24069595".

Load the Template page, using the Template page access URL.

Click on the link (containing your BlogID).

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=24069595#template

Choose a new template - and get the blog online.

This part you're probably done, a couple times. Choose a template, from the selections on the Template page. I suggest that you start first with "Simple", just to get the blog online - and work forward, later.

Pick a new template. I suggest that you start with "Simple", just to get the blog online.

You can always pick another template, later.



After you pick a new blog template, reset the post template, then logout from Blogger / Google.

Finally, clear cache, cookies and sessions, and restart the browser. Then log in to Blogger again, and begin anew.

The bottom line.

Hopefully, you have a backup copy of the template, taken recently. You can use that in a separate test blog, and copy key recent tweaks. Or not. That's your choice. But the important task - getting the blog back online - is behind you.

And maybe for the next series of template tweaks, you might want to test more carefully, maybe using a test blog?

---

(Update 2016/02): It appears that Blogger Engineers are now diagnosing this problem, using a series of bX codes.

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Password Guessing May Cause Locked Accounts

One of the more mysterious causes of blog loss involves deleted blogs, with the owner being forced to recover account access because of "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity.

In general, with the report made in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, we may dismiss the owner as a "hacking victim". We may suspect just one more botnet in operation, stealing peoples accounts and blogs - and the victim unwisely revealed his email address.

Sometimes, the story is more bizarre.

When a blog owner forgets or loses login details, we'll try to research owner profile information, by examining blog source code.

With blogs using dynamic templates, and with deleted / private blogs, owner profile information can't be easily found. There are still more reasons why online diagnosis cannot help everybody.

If we can't help a frustrated blog owner recover access, he may try other solutions.

When we can't provide useful hints - or research blog owner profiles - a frustrated blog owner may resort to alternate techniques to recover account access.

Generally this will involve making a list of all email addresses used around the time the blog was started - then trying to login to Blogger, using all possible passwords for each email account, one by one.

Brute force blind recovery, with luck, may be successful.

With enough determination or luck, this may produce success - and control will be recovered. Sometimes, recovery comes - at a price.

We've seen a few reports, recently, about demographic details being requested - with the requirement to list recent Google account activity, or when was the account first used?

When unsuccessful, repeated attempts at logging in to a given Blogger account, using the wrong passwords, can cause "suspicious" / "unusual" activity account lock - and other blogs will go offline. With the would be blog owner logging in blindly, the effects of the repeated attempts may not be observed, directly or immediately.

An account locked for "suspicious" / "unusual" activity can produce offline blogs.



"Suspicious" / "unusual" account activity lock can affect innocent third parties.

The account / blogs affected may be owned by the person trying to recover control - or possibly by an innocent third party.

Long ago, people would receive mysterious email. Now, we have mysterious locked accounts and deleted blogs - involving an account name being "guessed" by another blog owner, and multiple bad password attempts.

Some hacking victims do not cause their own troubles.

All hacking victims are not innocents, who naively disclose their email address.

If your account was locked, for suspicious / unusual activity, you'll have to request Appeal / Review, and follow instructions. And you may have to wait out the locked blog review process too.

This scenario is yet one more reason why you need to use Google 2-Step Verification.

Dynamic View Blogs Have Limited Recovery Potential

We deal with a lot of "lost blog control" complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Lost blog control complaints, that involve blogs published using a dynamic template, are not easily resolved.

There are several types of control / ownership problems, that are not easily resolved, for blogs that use dynamic templates.

• Blogs deleted by Blogger, as malware or spam.
• Blogs with ownership lost, by the owner.
• Blogs locked by Blogger, for suspicious / unusual account activity.

We see this a lot - and this is a real problem, with a blog that used a dynamic template.



Blogs deleted for abusive content can't be triaged as easily.

Triage of blogs deleted by Blogger, whether deletion was righteous or spurious, is most successful with blog content examined.

With a deleted blog, content can be examined only using cached copies. Content, in blogs published to a dynamic view, is not always cached - because it's based on the blog newsfeeds, retrieved as the blog is being viewed.

This is a dynamic template blog, displayed from cache.



If cached feed content can't be found, triage is useless. Abuse review must be submitted blindly, with no examination possible. Successful review depends completely upon observation by Blogger Policy Review, and no suggestions by forum members are possible.

Blogs with ownership lost cannot be researched.

The first step in recovering ownership, for many blogs, requires a look at the owner profile information, in the blog source code - and one or more possibly overlooked Blogger / Google+ profiles. The owner profile ID is not frequently seen in dynamic view source listings, however.

Without any ability to identify the owner profile, ownership recovery is left solely to monolithic options provided by "Forgot?" and "Having trouble?".

Blogs locked for suspicious / unusual activity are more complicated.

If a blog, locked by Blogger under suspicious / unusual account activity lock, cannot have the owner identified, the owning account will remain locked. If the owner cannot identify the account, account review can't be requested.

Without the ability to research ownership, using profile information in the source code, the owning account, and blog(s), will remain locked. The owner must log in, in a blind login attempt - frequently requiring brute force technique. Incautious brute force can lead to more locked accounts.

Suspicious / unusual activity lock may be more likely, with dynamic template use.

The original market for dynamic templates was casual / new blog owners. Casual / new blog owners are more likely to attract brute force hacking attacks, by casually revealing account details.

With brute force hacking more possible, account / blog lock becomes more likely also.

The bottom line.

As with any blog in general - but even more so for blogs using dynamic templates - blog ownership details must be retained by the owner. When ownership information is lost, control of the blog will be lost also - and dynamic templates have less chance of successful recovery.

Owners of blogs using dynamic templates should be more strongly urged to use Google 2-Step Verification.

Create A New Blogger Account

If you've been publishing a Blogger blog for any amount of time, you'll eventually discover the need to use a second (third, ...) Blogger account.

Maybe you want the benefit of publishing blog posts using two different names, or maybe you need to obscure your identity and publish a new blog - the reason is not relevant. The need for a second account is what matters.

And you start new account creation, as any Blogger session, from Google "One account" login.

It's best to use a second browser or computer, and avoid complication from any current Blogger / Google login session.

Start with a standard Blogger login, which gives you the Google "One account" login. Or, logout from your current Blogger session, using the dashboard link, or the "Logout" link in the navbar.

Either way, this is where you start.

For best results, start cleanly.

If you had a Blogger account that you wanted to use, you would now enter the account name (email address), and hit "Next".

Since you want a new Blogger account, click on "Create account".

Maybe, you can't start cleanly.

Maybe, you just logged out from Blogger.

If so, you could login again to the same account.

Or, click "Sign in with a different account".

Now, click "Add account". And, that takes you back to "One account".

Enter the required details.

You can create a new GMail account - or you can use your current non GMail email account as the account name.

Create a GMail, or non GMail, based Blogger account - it's still your choice.

Solve one more CAPTCHA - or use your phone - also your choice.

Now, you are back at the login screen - and you use your new account name and password, and login to Blogger.



When you login to your new account, you get to create a profile - and you get to choose between a "limited" Blogger profile, and an "exciting" Google+ profile. And that's an episode for another day.

You'll get an email message, in your current email Inbox, welcoming you to Blogger (again!). Save that message, in an Important folder. That's your starting point, if you forget the account name / password - or if you need to authenticate after a period of not using Blogger, or maybe when travelling.

Or, you could just remember the account name and password - and setup Google 2-Step Verification.