[Dummies Guide to Google Blogger Beta] Email Subscription Box and Buttons.

[vin]

Many bloggers want to know how to have the 'Subscribe to Blog Updates' by Email box and the big orange 'Subscribe to Blog Feed' buttons in their blog. Putting out blog feeds and having a prominent Email subscribe box/buttons are two effective ways to increase traffic to your blog.


Blogger already has a Subscribe to Posts link at the bottom of each post...........

However for best results you should place your feed links in the header, at the top of the sidebars or in the post footer. To put it at the top of the sidebars login to Dashboard of Blogger and click on Layout. In the Page Elements tab which opens click on Add Page Element link in the sidebar. Choose the Html/Javascript option and paste the following code in it :

<a href="FEED LINK"><img src="LINK OF ORANGE FEED ICON"/></a>

Replace FEED LINK with :

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

OR

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Substitute actual blog name in place of yourblogname. If you want to channel feeds through Feedburner put in your Feedburner feed link instead. It will look something like this :

http://feeds.feedburner.com/yourblogname.

Get the actual link from Feedburner. Instead of LINK OF ORANGE FEED ICON put the link of where you have uploaded the orange icon. Feel free to steal the icon at the top of the left column. Right click the icon and select 'Save Image' and save it to a location on your hard drive. Then upload it to a freehost like Googlepages or Photobucket. Use the link of the icon hosted at these sites to copy and paste instead of 'LINK OF ORANGE FEED ICON'. Do not try to use Blogger as an image host as the links are difficult to extract and sometimes do not work.


If after adding the above buttons you want to remove the original Subscribe to Posts link see the third blockquote from the top in What is Subscribe to Posts Atom.


If you have a sufficient subscriber base you can add a chicklet to show the subscriber count .

EMAIL SUBSCRIBE BOX

To put in a Email subscribe box create an account at Feedburner or Feedblitz. You will have to burn your blog feed at Feedburner first. Then click on your feed title. Click on the Publicize tab at the top and then on Email Subscriptions in the sidebar. You can then choose to enter it as a link or as a box and also the language. If you have the new layouts template click the down arrow in the text box 'Use as a widget in' and choose 'Blogger'. In the next screen click Add page element and it is added to your template without any coding. If you have the classic template copy and paste the given code in sidebar section of your template.



In Feedblitz add your blog after logging in. Then on Dashboard click on Solutions and then on Widgets. Under Feedblitz Widgets------>Email Subscription widgets----->Click on New Blogger widgets. In the next page type in your email and the verification code and then click the button 'Install your Email Subscription Widget on Blogger Beta'. In the next page select Add Page element and the box will be installed to your blog without any coding. For the classic template get the code from the syndication management page and copy and paste it in sidebar section of your template.


The email subscription box enables readers to get your blog updates directly in their email. If you want to post updates to only a few members you can do so through a Google Groups Mailing List.



It is useful to subscribe yourself to both your feed and email updates so that you can monitor what the feed looks like and if it is regular. It helps also if you want to modify the feed and add advertisements in it. You can also modify the feed footer in your settings.



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Posted By vin to Dummies Guide to Google Blogger Beta at 6/09/2007 02:44:00 PM