How to Create a Free Blog on Blogger

Having a blog is a great thing because you can **share whatever you want (…and if you’re smart about it, you can also make **a decent income from your blog ).

I've written about many blogging platforms that you can use to start a blog for yourself. I generally recommend starting a blog using your own domain name and hosting , and starting a blog with WordPress(.org).

We have discussed a lot about self-hosted WordPress blogs in our previous posts and there is no doubt that it is a better blogging platform compared to free blogging platforms like Blogger.com and WordPress.com.

See also:

• How to Make Money Blogging (Earn Up to $40,000 a Month)

However, many newbies who want to start a blog don’t want to invest money in starting a blog. And that’s completely reasonable .

There are many blogging platforms that offer users **free blog creation features. ** If you are looking for a simple free blog, my suggestion is to start a blog with WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

Once you have some blogging experience, you can progress and become more professional with a self-hosted WordPress blog.

Blogger allows you to create a free blog, but it does have limitations.

But, as I mentioned above, for beginners, it is a great way to learn how to create a blog and start the blog writing process.

Pros and Cons of Using Blogger

We don’t want to change your mind just yet, but Blogger has some pros and cons that you should be aware of before you start blogging with this platform.

advantage:

1. It is completely free;
2. Free SSL certificate;
3. Easier to use than other blogging platforms like WordPress;
4. Faster indexing – Blogger sites appear in Google search results within 24 hours of publishing;
5. Safe and reliable;
6. Easy integration with other Google products;
7. Allows you to earn additional revenue by showing ads.

shortcoming:

1. Limited themes and templates;
2. Lack of customization options;
3. It lacks e-commerce features or plugins;
4. Google has full control over your blog;
5. Poor customer support (especially with the latest updates).

How to Sign Up for a Free Blogger Account (Step-by-Step Guide)

Here are 5 easy steps to set up your own blog on BlogSpot.

Step 1: Register on Blogger.com using your Gmail

To get started, all you need to do is visit Blogger.com and click on the “ Create Your Blog” button on the homepage to get started.

Just sign up using your Gmail account. If you don't have a Gmail account, create one first.

Step 2: Set up your domain

Once you sign up, you will have to set up a custom domain name for your blog.

This can be anything that is relevant or specific to the area you want to discuss in your blog post.

For example, here I’ve chosen a custom domain for my pet-related blog.

Remember, you have to come up with a unique name for your blog. If the name you choose is already taken, you will see a yellow box.

After all, this will be the URL of your blog. Once you’re done, click Next.

Quick Tip: When you create a free BlogSpot account, your URL will end with "blogspot.com" (e.g. PetAdventuresBlog.blogspot.com). While this works, it may not look professional for a blogger. My advice is to purchase a domain from a third-party web host like Hostinger and connect it to Blogger. This will give your blog a more polished, professional URL.

Now you have to choose a display name, which is your author bio name. Enter the name that will appear on your posts. Click Done when you are done.

Step 3: Choose a design template for your blog

You will now be on your blog homepage. The next step is to set up a design for your blog that suits your niche.

To do this, go to the Templates section in the sidebar menu.

There are many themes on BlogSpot that you can customize to your needs.

You can choose the one that suits your blog and customize it as per your choice. My suggestion is to make it more user-friendly for your readers.

Step 4: Start with your first blog post

Now that you are all set up, you can start publishing your first blog post.

To do this, all you have to do is click on “Create New Post” on the right sidebar menu.

Now, on your dashboard, just enter the content that will attract your audience. You can also add high-quality images and videos to make it more impressive. This can also help you attract more visitors to your blog posts.

After creating the post, you just need to set the URL of your blog post. Now, BlogSpot will automatically create a permalink suitable for your post. But you can also set an SEO optimized URL, which will help you get better rankings.

That’s it! You are all set. Finally, click on the Publish button and your blog will be published.

Check if your blog is visible to search engines

Here's how to check if your blog is visible:

Privacy Settings

1. Go to Settings;
2. Scroll down to the Privacy section;
3. Make sure the search engine visibility feature is enabled .

How do I add a favicon?

A favicon is a small image that appears in your browser tab when you open a website. Follow these steps to change the default favicon on Blogger.

• Go to Layout- > Edit Icons ;
• Upload a square image smaller than 100KB;
• Click Save.

How do I add a gadget?

Use widgets to display your profile, show tags in a list, or display your profile on every page.

• Go to Layout in the left menu;
• Click Add Widget in the area you want to change;
• Select the widget in the pop-up window and click Add;
• Click Save in the lower left corner;
• Click Edit to change the settings of the gadget.

How to Create a New Page for Your Blog

You can create static content pages, such as "About" or "Contact" in Blogger. They can appear as tabs at the top of your blog or as sidebar links.

The first step is to display your page.

• Log in to your Blogger account;
• Select your blog from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner;
• Select Layout from the left menu;
• Click "Add Gadget" in the section of the page where you want it to appear;
• Click Add next to Page in the window ;
• Set up your page and click Save;
• Click Save in the lower right corner to save the arrangement.

Tip: Drag a widget to a new location to change where it appears on the page.

Step 2: Add, delete or edit pages.

Important: There is no limit to the number of pages you can have in a single blog.

Create a new page

• Log in to your Blogger account;
• Select your blog from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner;
• Select Pages from the left menu;
• Click New Page in the upper left corner;
• Fill in the page title and other details in the blanks;
• Click Save, Preview Page, or Publish in the upper-right corner.

Create a page that contains a link to another website

• Select a blog from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner.
• Select Layout from the menu on the left.
• Click Edit next to Pages in the Page List (Top) section.
• Click Add external link under "Page to display";
• After entering the page title and URL, save the link and then save.

Select the page to display

• Select Layout from the left menu;
• Click Edit in the Page section;
• After selecting the page you want to display, click Save;
• Click Save in the lower right corner to save the arrangement.

Add tags

You can add tags to your posts. A post's tags are another way of saying its category or tag. These tags are visible on your blog posts. When a reader clicks on a tag, a page appears with all the posts with that tag. You can use the Tags widget in Blogger to add tags to your blog's sidebar. This will make it easier for readers to read all the posts with the same tag.

1. Add tags in the post settings in the sidebar;
2. Select Tags from the drop-down menu. A box will appear where you can enter your tags;
3. Add tags to the post that are relevant to it.

Set the desired permalink structure

1. You can change the permalink of your blog post. Under Post Settings, you will find this option;
2. Select Permalink from the drop-down menu. There are two options: Automatic and Custom Permalink;
3. To keep your blog post URLs short and user-friendly, use the custom permalink option.

Preview and publish

Before publishing your blog post, you can see a preview of it. To do this, go to the top right corner and click on the Preview button.

If the post preview looks perfect, click on the Publish button.

How to publish a page on Blogspot?

On Blogspot, you can create pages and add them to your blog. You can create various types of pages like About Me, Contact Us, Privacy, Disclaimer, etc.

1. From the menu list on the left, select the Page menu item;
2. Then select New Page from the drop-down menu;
3. Enter a title for the page;
4. Add page content;
5. You can choose to turn off reader comments on your page;
6. Please review your page before publishing.

Switch to a custom domain

We see that we selected a free Blogspot domain with the Blogspot keyword as the suffix above; however, if you wish, you can purchase a custom domain and add it in Settings » Basic. Select Add a custom domain and enter the domain you purchased.

Traffic statistics for your website

Go to Stats » Overview and you can see the status of your website traffic in real-time. It will show you the traffic sources, audience, and various other information. You can see which posts/articles/pages are getting the most traffic and which keywords are getting the most traffic.

Edit HTML

Go to Template » Edit HTML to make changes to the existing template. You can also include scripts in the header and footer sections if you wish.

Monetize your blog with Blogspot

There are two ways to monetize your Blogger website or blog:

1. Advertise through Blogspot Theme – Use theme settings when you need the ad unit to appear on every page of your website;
2. Place ads on individual blog post pages – This can be useful if you want to try out a new format or keep certain pages ad-free.

Check out our guide that will show you step by step how to monetize your Blogspot based website or blog using Adsterra ad formats . You can also use these tips to make money through ads wherever your business is, whether you have already established a reputation or are just starting to sow the seeds of trust.

My blogging journey started with Blogspot and later I progressed to WordPress. If you want to go a more professional route from the beginning, you can always refer to my beginner’s guide to WordPress .

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