Ever since Google purchased Blogger, Blogger has seen the addition of all kinds of interesting gadgets that create additional functionality and personality for your blog. Gadgets are essentially widgets, but by Google’s standard. You can show off your favorite quotes from movies, insert flash games, and show off the weather in your region or a number of other interesting things. Not all of these gadgets are ideal for a corporate blog, however, so which are? Here is a look at some of the best Google gadgets for blogging using the Blogger platform.

1 – Followers, which is found in Basics.

Followers is essentially what you get when you combine Twitter with RSS. You can follow people, people can follow you, and people can subscribe to your blog anonymously if they do not want to be followed. This is one of the easiest possible ways for you to attract more traffic to your blog. You can follow other people and they will more than likely begin to follow you in return, bringing new faces to your blog rather regularly.

2 – HTML / Javascript, which is also found in Basics.

This gives you the ability to add your own code to your blog page, which will significantly and exponentially enhance its functionality. You can add your own opt-in box for example, in order to begin your own mailing list. You can also easily add links and images to your other pages, making your blog work for you better than before.

3 – Feed, another gadget found in Basics.

This feature will allow you to add a feed from another blog, a Squidoo lens or even your author page on EzineArticles.com if you are an author there. Basically, it allows you to link your pages together, letting your readers find other content of yours such as your Twitter or Squidoo pages.

4 – Countdown, which is found in Featured.

This allows you to add a count down feature to your blog. You can count down to anything you like, such as a birthday, the launch of a new product, Christmas, or anything else that you like.

5 – AdSense, another gadget found in Basics.

This is a great way to make some extra money from your blog. You need to make an account with Ad Sense first, so put a few blog entries together before you apply for an account. Then you can create your Ad Sense account and add your special code to the gadget in order to begin earning money through advertising.

Adding gadgets to your blog through Blogger is simple. You just need to log in to your Dashboard, clicking on Layout and then Page Elements. Then click on the “Add a Gadget” link in the area where you would like to install the gadget and you are good to go.

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Originally posted 2009-02-20 05:31:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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When you find a tool that makes life easier, there is nothing more exciting. The need for corporations to simplify and systematize their processes has to do with working smart and taking advantage of things that allow workers to reach their goals without having to work quite as hard. One really cool tool that comes in handy during corporate blogging is Windows Live Writer. Some of you may already know what this is, while others may be avoiding it simply because it is the product of Microsoft, and there are a lot of people out there who avoid Microsoft gadgets by nature. Not only are we in love with the Windows Live Writer gadget from Microsoft, but we are quite obviously infatuated with it because not only does it make blogging infinitely easier, but also website updating and article writing as well.

This is one, single solitary tool that makes it possible to create a blog post completely offline and then publish it directly onto the blog. This one tool works very well with most of the major blog services, meaning that you do not have to go through a bunch of worthless steps to get everything set up. It allows you to easily and effectively insert hyperlinks, maps, pictures, tags and videos into your blog entries, meaning that you can get the most out of your blog from the use of one single solitary tool. Not all blog formats may be supported, but if your blogging format is supported then this unique tool will be truly invaluable for you. If you use an embedded website blog or an ActiveRain blog, you may be out of luck, but hopefully not for long.

If you cannot auto update your blog because your blogging software is not supported, don’t fret. You can still write your blog entries in the Windows Live Writer software and then copy and paste it into your blog software accordingly. The Windows Live Writer offers four different views, including a web layout, a preview layout, a normal basic Word format layout and an HTML layout. You can write your post or article and then publish it to Blogger, TypePad, Wordpress or whatever blog software you use, and then convert it into the HTML view for your website, or for a random blog platform that isn’t supported, such as ActiveRain, Trulia, etc. You can also switch into the normal view and copy and paste the results to submit to article distribution sites. In other words, any format that you need, the Windows Live Writer can create it for you.

There is only one real downside to the Windows Live Writer right now, and that is the insert video plug-in. It is only currently capable of letting you insert web based videos, rather than videos that are stored on your computer hard drive. This means you can put videos in your blog that you found online, but not videos that you found on your own computer which is something of a pain. Still, the software is excellent for most blogging purposes.

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Originally posted 2008-10-23 05:29:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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