Blogger + AdSense = In Line Ads

AdSense and Blogger have added an new in line ad feature for Blogger users.

This feature allows Blogger users to include ads between posts with out having to edit the template.  After doing that with limited success I for one am happy to see this point and click way of adding inline ads.  Check out the Inside AdSense: Get inline for all the great screen shots on how to set this up on your blog.

Happy blogging.

Google Webmaster Tools and Blogger

As I continue to set up this Blog I realized I needed to submit my site map, but how?

I didn't find any immediate resources, just pieces here and there.  In the end I submitted the ATOM.xml document which seemed to work.  This was done by adding http://eyeongoogle.blogspot.com/atom.xml as the site map verification. 

In my humble opinion blogger should produce as robots.txt file with the new sitemap autodiscovery syntax.  Add that to the feature list.

Also, I had to add the verify-v1 Meta tag directly in to the HTML template as well.  Again should be a feature of Blogger. 

Blogger tweaks

So I spent a little time tweaking my Blogger template today.  I did three things.

I changed the Template, a little lighter in color easier of the eyes, so I think.

I added my del.icio.us links, with the Google label. If you are Google Junkie and want to add me to your del.icio.us Network, feel free. A lot going on with Google, the more eyes watching the better.

I changed how AdSense is included in the the template.  I did the ad set ups in my AdSense account and added channels.  I then used the HTML/Javascript element to include it in the side bar.  For the top and bottom of the template I had to edit the HTML.  Not to bad pretty straight forward template so the right place to paste was easy to find.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Analytics being slow?

I created the Blog on the 5/30/07.  At that time I added my Analytics tracking code.  I still have nothing in my reports. 

Analytics did verify the and stated it was waiting for data for the next 2 days.  I now says data is being collected, so hopefully we will have reports soon.  Then I will know if I am blog for my own entertainment, or if someone else is at least found it.

Take care

First exposure to Blogger

Putting this blog on Blogger was intentional. If I am writing about Google then I should use Google to do so. As Google has said they eat their own dog food . So shall I, so far tasting pretty good.

Well, back to setting up Blogger. Overall, very quick and easy. The longest part of the process was choosing a name that wasn’t already in use. With that obstacle behind me on to the template. Again very easy, though I want to tweak it;. why, because I can. Blogging for another day on that one.

For today I had three goals.

• Setup blog, done, easy
• Setup AdSense, done. Fairly easy. I had an AdSense account already and want to use that account. The option was there and it all seemed to work fine. The only issue was that an email was sent by AdSense for me verify the access. I didn’t expect that and went on a little troubleshooting adventure. Then I checked my email and found the missing link. I didn’t see any indication that I should be looking for the email. Not a big deal just would easier if I had know to check my email.
• Setup Analytics, done, easy. I have used Analytics on quite a few sites, so setting up a new website profile and inserting the tracking code was old hat. I was surprised Blogger didn’t have a point and click way to add the tracking code. Like they do for AdSense.

Over all and B+ for Blogger and my first impressions.

Thanks for reading