Blogger Newsletter - July 2010

July, 2010 Hello Blogger user! It’s been a busy and exciting last few months for all of us here on the Blogger Team. We’ve been working hard from around the globe to put the finishing touches on a handful of recently-released features, as well as looking to the future with big ideas which will make Blogger even better. So as we say goodbye to the first half of 2010, we wanted to say a big thanks to all of you who have made working on Blogger so fun and rewarding—we really do appreciate it! We thought it’d be helpful to summarize some of the latest Blogger news and developments that our team is especially proud of. From new features to worldwide Blogger meetups, there is much to be excited about. So without further ado, here is the 411: Features, Fresh Out of the Oven Template Designer If you haven’t had a chance to check out our brand-new Template Designer, you’re really missing out. We laid out the full laundry list of new design features in a recent Buzz post, but we think the best way to find out what’s possible is to get your hands dirty and play around right now. So go ahead and freshen up your template; your blog will thank you. Blogger Stats We’re very excited about the most recent creation from Blogger in Draft, Blogger Stats. Blogger stats makes it easier than ever to get all sorts of real-time traffic data for your blog, right from the comfort of your Blogger dashboard. Accurate Post Preview We understand how important it is for your blog posts to display exactly as you expect when published, so we’ve put a lot of time into improving our current preview page. The end result is an entirely revamped post preview, which now displays your drafts exactly as they will appear when published live on your blog. New Sharing Buttons We’re always thinking about ways to help you better promote and share your blog content with the world, and the new sharing buttons we’ve just released are great tools to help you get the word out. The buttons—which support sharing via email, Blogger, Google Buzz, Twitter, and Facebook—can be placed under each blog post where your readers will easily see them. You can turn on the new sharing buttons right now by editing the Blog Posts widget and enabling Show Share Buttons in the Design | Page Elements tab. Zemanta Post Gadget Zemanta has been a partner with Blogger for over a year now, providing a browser plugin service that helps you easily add related content to your blog posts. We’ve seen so much positive feedback about the service that we recently released a gadget version of the service that easily integrates directly in your post editor. Want more info? Check out Zemanta’s own video overview and tutorials! Google Affiliate Network With Google Affiliate Network you can access affiliate ads for top retailers. If the ad or text link you post on your blog results in a sale, you earn a commission. Google Affiliate Network is featured in the Monetization tab in your Blogger account. You’ll need an AdSense ID to join, and once you have access to Google Affiliate Network you can apply to advertiser programs, promote ads, search for links to specific products, sign up to access product feeds, and utilize Link Subscriptions that deliver the latest links and promotions directly to you each day. Sign up for Google Affiliate Network! You’ll find help getting started in the Google Affiliate Network Help Center. More Fun Stuff Worldwide Meetup The Blogger Team has long wanted to help organize a worldwide meetup for Blogger enthusiasts all over the world, and we’re happy to announce that we’re in the final planning stages of actually making this happen! We’ll be sure to share the details on Blogger Buzz as soon as we sort everything out, but are looking now at dates in late August/early September. Blogger on Facebook & Twitter Yes, Blogger has its own brand-new fan page on Facebook. Drop in to say hello to the Blogger Team, network with other like-minded bloggers, and share cool blogs. Our Twitter page is another great resource for the latest Blogger info, announcements, launches, and service updates. As always, we’ve been listening closely to your feedback and will continue to do so with anything that we’re working on. If you have specific feedback about features we’ve released, you can always let us know via our Help Forum. Our ears are always open, and often it is your voice that ultimately drives our development process. So if you have something to pass along, please speak up. Thanks again for using Blogger! - The Blogger Team 2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043 Unsubscribe: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive Blogger feature announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails of this nature in the future, please visit your account’s Notification Preferences Page (http://www.blogger.com/edit-notification.g - Google Accounts login required). Remove the check beside ‘Feature announcements,’ and click ‘Save.’

Announcing Blogger and Amazon.com Integration

Do you link to Amazon.com in your blog posts? If so, a recent Blogger integration may be just the thing for you. Blogger now integrates directly with Amazon Associates, giving you the ability to search the entire Amazon.com product catalog without ever leaving the Blogger post editor. Writing a review of Avatar and want to point your readers to the DVD that just came out? Not only can you link to the DVD, you can also include the cover art and buy it now info from Amazon so your readers know how much it costs without ever leaving your site. You might even make some money in the process! Amazon pays an advertising fee to a Blogger user who is a participant in Amazon's Associates Program* and whose visitors buy products linked from their blog. Sign up is simple - just click on the Monetize tab in Blogger, then click on Amazon Associates to get started. Once enabled, you will see a new Amazon gadget next to the familiar Blogger post editor: Whether you want to make some extra money, or you just want to add some pizzazz to your blog posts, the Amazon Associates integration is a great way to add color to any blog post about books, movies, electronics, music or any other product sold at Amazon.com. More details at Blogger Buzz, or just click Monetize in your blog's dashboard to get started. Thanks for using Blogger! Regards, The Blogger Team 2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043 *Some Blogger users may be ineligible to participate in Amazon's Associates Program. See the Associates Program Operating Agreement for more information. Unsubscribe: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive Blogger feature announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails of this nature in the future, please visit your account's Notification Preferences Page (http://www.blogger.com/edit-notification.g - Google Accounts login required). Remove the check beside 'Feature announcements,' and click 'Save.'

Express yourself with the Blogger Template Designer

We’re excited to announce that the Blogger Template Designer is now available on Blogger in draft, Blogger’s experimental playground. The Blogger Template Designer makes it easy to customize the look and feel of your blog without knowing any HTML or CSS. Here are a few of the new features available in the Blogger Template Designer: Beautiful new templates to start from Custom blog layouts with one, two and three columns Hundreds of background images Customizable colors, fonts, and more... What are you waiting for? Express yourself in style with the Blogger Template Designer. Learn more at www.blogger.com/templates. The Blogger Team 2010 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View CA 94043 Unsubscribe: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive Blogger feature announcements. If you do not wish to receive emails of this nature in the future, please visit your account's Notification Preferences Page (http://www.blogger.com/edit-notification.g - Google Accounts login required). Remove the check beside 'Feature announcements,' and click 'Save.'