Blogger Buster

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Looking for copyright free images for your blog?
2007-06-16 21:09:00
Here's two great sites that I use regularly for free, copyright-free/creative commons images:StockXchange: features some great quality stock photos by professional/semi-pro photographers. You need to sign up to use this site, and may occasionally need to ask permission from the author to use their photo. But for the scope and quality of what's on offer here, it's really worth it! Creative Commons search engine: I came across this excellent search engine through Blog ger: you can use Google to search only images and video which are published under a creative commons licence. Loads of great photos and images available; authors are usually amateur/semi-pro, but there are some real gems to be found. And you don't need to sign up to use the site!Technorati Tags: copyright+free images creative+commons free+images free+photos stock+photography
More About: Images , Free , Copyright , Copy

Should you have a custom domain for your blog?
2007-06-16 13:53:00
If you only blog for family and friends, have no intention of generating a wide readership, or simply can't be bothered at working with your blog, then the answer is no, and you can ignore the rest of this post. I won't hold it against you! However, if you have any intention on becoming a serious blogger, then my answer to this is "YES DEFINITELY!".Although this particular blog is relatively new (at the time of writing this post), I have been blogging in various places for over three years now. From what I've seen, read and personally experienced, having a custom domain name for your blog is a very good way to show your readers that you are a serious blogger who cares about what they write. It can also have many other benefits too, which I'll explain about shortly.Having a free hosted blog address such as yourblog.wordpress.com or myblog.blogspot.com is perfectly fine when you're first starting out, but can become the blogging equivalent of having an AOL or Yahoo address, and m...
More About: Domain , Blog , Custom

Manipulate your blog feed to generate more traffic
2007-06-16 11:11:00
If you want more traffic to your blog, your blog feed can be one of the most useful tools at your disposal. In an earlier post, I explained what a blog feed is, and why you need one. This post will deal with ways you can use your blog feed to help attract more readers and ensure they come back for more.Make sure your blog feed is available and visible on your blog. Many blogging platforms have the option to make your feed visible or not. Make sure that you have chosen to make your RSS/Atom feed visible, and that there is a link to it somewhere on your blog. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, for example, you'll see a simple text link for the Blog ger Buster Atom feed, the default visibility for the Blogger platform. However, I've also made the feed visible in other places, which I'll explain more about later.Decide how much of your posts you want available through the feed. This is a personal choice, and depends on whether you want readers to visit your blog, or simply...
More About: Traffic , Feed , Gene , Late

Now live at BloggerBuster.com!
2007-06-15 15:09:00
As of today, Blogg er Buster has a new address: http://www.bloggerbuster.com/!I have set up my Blogger account to use a custom domain provided by GoDaddy, a process which I will explain in full in a later post (or alternatively you can look at this post on my other blog).Nothing else has changed, so if you were previously reading this blog at the old address: blogger-buster.blogspot.com, you will have automatically been redirected here.Now I can finally start updating things and promoting my blog to the bloggosphere, a process I was unwilling to attempt before the change of address. Trust me, it's far better to set up your custom domain early on in your blogging career, then you'll have so fewer problems later on.More on this subject later...Technorati Tags: custom+domain godaddy blogger blogspot blogger+buster
More About: Live , Logger , Gerb

How to create an animated blog headlines box for your RSS feeds
2007-06-14 17:41:00
Would you like to create an animated headlines box for your blog headlines like the one below? It's easy and free to do this using a great tool I found at widgetbox.com. In this mini tutorial, I'll show you how to create one and include it in the sidebar of your blog.Get great free widgets at Widgetbox!First, you need to find the address for your blog feed. In most blogging platforms, this is usually displayed as a link somewhere in your blog's template (in Blog ger templates for example, you'll find this at the bottom of your page). Alternatively you may be able to find the blog feed address in your settings or control panel. Right click the link and copy the shortcut if necessary. Next, head over to the RSS Scroller page at Widgetbox.com. There are other RSS widgets available, but I've found this particular one to be the best free one available. You need to enter the site feed address (XML or RSS) in the box and will be presented with a preview of your ticker on the right. You...
More About: Animated , Line , Headlines , Lines

Contact Me
2007-06-13 23:41:00
If you have a specific question you'd like answered, or simply want to get in touch, please send your emails to amanda at bloggerbuster dot com. Alternatively, you can leave your comments on any blog post, and I will do my best to answer them.Thanks,Amanda
More About: Contact

About Blogger Buster
2007-06-13 23:31:00
Blogger Buster is a resource blog for bloggers, offering hints, hacks, tips and tricks to help enhance your blogging experience. Use the label cloud and search box in the right hand sidebar of you're looking for specific information, or simply browse through my posts instead.Since I was asked so many questions about the customisations on my other blog, I decided to create a blog which focuses on these sorts of questions. As I learn more about blogging, I'll share my knowledge here, and post instructions which are easy to understand.If there are any specific questions you would like to be answered here, please leave your comments or contact me directly. Your comments and opinions are always appreciated!
More About: Blogger , Logger , Blogg

What is a "Blog Feed" and why do I need it?
2007-06-13 21:01:00
Your blog feed is the Internet equivalent of reading a daily newspaper: readers can subscribe to your feed as they could a newspaper or magazine; they are presented with headlines they can skim in order to get an idea about what they'd like to read, and then link to the post it describes.Blog feeds are typically in RSS or XML (atom) format, and can be read by "feed readers" or "aggregators", online or offline. Feed s are also used in personalised home pages such as My Yahoo and My Google, offering readers a variety of headlines to browse through each day. Recently, mobile aggregators have been created, so people can also view blog headlines on their mobile phones (I know I do, every day!)Believe me when I say that you do need to use your blog feed if you have any intention of attracting a readership for your blog. Most blogging software makes your blog feed available for subscription somewhere on the page; you may need to activate this in your blog settings and can also customise th...

How to include Technorati tags at the bottom of every post
2007-06-13 17:24:00
A quick and easy way to include Technorati tags at the end of each post is to use Oddiophile's Rather Fab Technorati Bookmarklet. This bookmarklet is kept in your "Favorites" or internet bookmarkets and brings up a script box into which you can add your tags and generate the code which you'd then paste into your blog post.To get the bookmarklet, visit this page and right click the link which says "Oddiophile's rather fab Technorati Bookmarklet". Then click "add to favorites" or simply drag to your bookmark list. When using the bookmarklet, don't leave spaces between the words in phrases: instead you should link them with a "+" sign. You can also modify the bookmarklet to suit your blog's needs, as is demonstrated on Lorelle's blog. This is a great tool for both Blogger and Wordpress users who have no alternative method to tag their posts. It's also rather useful for helping build traffic using Technorati, as your blog will then be associated with the tags you have used, and w...
More About: Post , Tags , Bottom

How to put a cool real-time clock in your blog
2007-06-13 15:18:00
You can quickly and easily have a real-time clock like those above, in your blog, either in the sidebar or within an actual post. Here's how to do it:First, head over to Clock Link.com and choose the design you like best. There are loads to choose from in a variety of colours and styles, so you're sure to find something that will match your overall colour scheme!Click on the "Get Html" button beneath the image and choose your time zone (plus colour scheme, if applicable). Then highlight the "Embed" code (the second set of code) as the "script" code doesn't always work, especially with Blog ger templates! To insert your clock into a blog post, ensure you are editing the HTML code (ie: you are not using the wysiwyg editor) and insert the code where you want the clock to be displayed. To insert into the sidebar, you can either open your template and insert into the HTML whewre you would like to display your clock, or add this to an HTML/Javascript widget (eg: for Blogger and Wordpress...
More About: Time , Cool , Real

Creating a label cloud for Blogger templates
2007-06-13 13:26:00
As you can see in my sidebar, I have my labels arranged in a "cloud" formation rather than a simplistic list. I used a tutorial from Phydeaux's excellent blog to do this. Here's a link to the tutorial, which includes code you can simply copy and paste into your blog template:Phydeaux's tutorial for creating a Blogger Label Cloud The label cloud shows the relative number of posts linked to a label by displaying them in larger, brighter colours. So in the default template, labels with more posts will be big and blue, while labels with less posts will be small and black.After installing the label cloud, you may well want to fiddle around with the font sizes and colour schemes. To change the font sizes, look for the following sections just before the closing section of your template:var maxFontSize = 20;var maxColor = [0,0,255];var minFontSize = 10;var minColor = [0,0,0];If you want to alter the size of labels with more posts, you should change the "var maxFontSize" to a number greate...
More About: Templates , Creating