Creating Another Blog

Now that you have one blog up and going, many people are interested and ready to start a second blog, whether it be for their own personal inquiry as a place to gather evidence and information, or if it is to be a blog for a club that you are leading.

Go to your google account and click on the square of 9 dots.  

Click on 'More' and go to 'Blogger'.  

Click on 'New Blog' 

 

Choose a name for your new blog and a web address. If this is to be your private Professional Development blog, you may even like to use your full name.  As it will only be viewable by the select people you choose, no one will be able to access it unless you give them permission.  After you have created your new blog with your new URL, it is time to change the settings.  

To change the privacy go to Blogger Dashboard > Settings > Basic > Permissions > Blog Readers - Edit

There are three options for who your blog readers can be.  Decide which setting you'd like.  For it to be completely private, except for those you invite, choose the bottom setting: 'Private - Only these readers'.  This is where you will add the email addresses of those you want to allow permission to view.  You may need to go back here at a later date to allow others access.

Don't forget to change your other settings:  time zone, sharing on google+.  Click on the phrase to link to a previous post for instructions.

Adding Pages to Your Blog

To add pages to your blog go to your dashboard and click on Pages in the left column.  Then click on 'New Page'.

Give your new page a title and 'Publish'.  Repeat this process until you have all the pages that you want.

Next go to Layout.  Choose 'Add Gadget' and then select 'Pages' 

Once you've added this gadget you can arrange and rearrange the order of your pages as you see fit.

You can also choose to have the list down the side of your blog or across the top to display as tabs by going back to layout and dragging the gadget up to a long horizontal 'add gadget' area or to a small, side 'add gadget' area.

These would be the basic steps that would be unique to setting up a second blog, a private blog, and adding pages.  The other parts of blogging would be the same - posting, photos, links, template.

Have fun!

Disabling the Automatic sharing on Google+

When you set up your blog it is defaulted to automatically share your blog posts with your Google+ contacts via email notifications.  To disable this do the following:

Go to your blogger dashboard

On the left side of the dashboard click on the Google+ tab  

Choose which box you'd like to use.  You can click to disable the boxes by clicking on the ticked one.  If you want to automatically share all of your posts leave the top one ticked.  If you want to be asked before sharing, select the middle box.  Don't choose the last box.  :D

You don't need to 'save' anywhere on this screen.  What you choose will be saved for your blog.  Hope that helps.

Blog Tips

This has been an exciting time for our school staff!   We currently have 13 new class blogs up and running!  People are trying out the smartphone blog app and seeing how incredibly easy it is to blog using it.  Others are looking into the deeper functions of blogging and looking at adding gadgets and other features.

GADGETS:
If you have a blog and you would like to add a gadget or two, this is how it is done.

Go to your blogger dashboard.
Click on 'layout'

Click on 'Add a Gadget' - a selection will come up for you to choose from.

 A couple of good ones are 'Link List' and 'Follow by Email'.  Link list allows you to make a 'blog roll' down the side of your blog.  You can add the other blogs from our school like I've done on my class blog.  See here:  

Follow by Email allows parents to receive an email when you update your blog.

You can arrange the gadgets however best suits the layout of your blog.  Just click and drag them where you want them.

COMMENTS:

Make sure that your comments are enabled for anyone to leave a comment.  Go to your dashboard > Settings > Posts and comments.  Make sure you've clicked 'anyone' beside 'Who can comment?'

DATE and TIME
Make sure your blog is set to the correct time zone.  Go to your dashboard > Settings > Language and formatting.  Find appropriate time zone.

Make sure to save every time you make changes within your dashboard.