Blogger Template and Blogger Background for Dummies

As if you are not having trouble enough thinking what to blog about then here comes the trouble of choosing a blog design. I know newbies like me like to browse the web for that perfect blog to get inspiration from.Then trouble begins. "Oh, I love this blog's design!" " Oh, I love this one, too and this and this..."

Open Google search. Enter "free templates". Click download. Go to your blog's html editor then edit html. Voala! A new design! Not! You preview your blog and some of your widgets disappear. What's worse is that you don't even like the design after all. Well, cry no more. For newbie bloggers who can't get enough of blog designs but do not know how to edit html, here's a fairy for you.

The Background Fairy offers free, yes, free backgrounds for your blog without you changing your blogger template. The problem sometimes with changing blogger templates is that a lot of the codes get lost and deleted. Also, new  buttons  or page elements are created which you don't know how to edit. Even if you know how to edit html, sometimes the task is too difficult especially for dummies like me. It's hard to trade those precious buttons and widgets you made for your blog for a blog template that you may or (God forbid) may not like. The solution is quite simple. You just leave the blogger template alone and just change the background.

I have tried this in Blogger, just go to your Blogger dashboard, click "Layout" then click "Add a Gadget" and choose "Html/Java". Copy the code that the fairy will provide and place it in the "Content Box" of this html gadget. Click "Save", sit back and enjoy your new blogger background.

Blogging my Way Out of Limbo

I'm back! I'm sorry to have been gone so long. It's partly because I don't know what to blog about and partly because I don't really know how to blog. So, I have been reading a lot about blogging and I have never been overwhelmed in my life on such a topic! There is blogging for fun, blogging for a cause and to my surprise- blogging for money. I want to learn how to blog in this time where I am neither here nor there. I recently resigned from my job. I am looking for a better job now and in the meantime I decided to make blogging my new hobby.

So, what is blogging and how far has this trend gone? I have been reading this article by Mark Penn and I think blogging has opened up a window for people to uncover the hidden writer within themselves. It's true that not everybody can write, but at least everybody can try. It's also true that not all bloggers out there make money online but whether or not blogging has financial benefits to the blogger, the effort that one makes in blogging refines writing as an art as well as the individual. That in itself defines culture and that makes blogging an important tool in establishing civility.

Although, we cannot discredit the fact that some bloggers only care how to make money even if it means posting low quality blogs or even employing things to cheat the system for them to earn money, still there are those who take time to create blogs with unique, engaging and memorable contents. I take my hat off to these group.I agree that this group needs to be recognized and yes, to have more laws made for their protection and benefit.

Writing a blog takes so much  time. From choosing a topic to researching, one needs not only to be resourceful but also creative to get your point across. Even if you are not blogging to make money, what every blogger has  in mind is how to get traffic- how to get people to hear (or read) what you have to say every time. Whether you are a big corporation blogging about your products or a simple lady letting everyone in on the secret ingredient to your best recipe, it's important to know how to present your ideas effectively.

As for me, blogging has proven that being in limbo is not such a bad thing. With all the pros (polishing my writing skills, social interaction with a wider audience, and hopefully make money online, etc.) and the cons ("no enforced ethics code" according to Mark Penn, no stability for those trying to  make blogging a living, and unclear legal protection for free speech, etc.), blogging is a platform for one to continue educating himself or herself.

Be informed. Don't stop being curious. Preserve credibility. Become a better person. Blog your way up to a way of life. That is blogging for me.