Spice Up Your Blog

Avoid Getting Banned From AdSense - Report Invalid Clicks

2010-07-14T16:00:00.009+01:00

One of the main reasons for people having their AdSense account closed and loosing all earnings is invalid clicks.Clicking ads on your own blog on purpose is just plain dumb, you will be caught and could lose the chance to ever use AdSense again.Their are other scams like getting friends to click your ads or agreeing with other bloggers and webmasters to form a 'Click Group' in which they click each others ads.While you may think you can get away with these scams it wont be long before you receive the dreaded Email from the AdSense team.In this post we will see what activity looks suspicious on your account and how you can report accidental clicks or rough clicks on your account.

You would be surprised at how often people accidentally click there own ads.In the same vein sometimes a friend may think they are doing you a favor by clicking your ads.I recently read a blog post in which the author told how he received an Email from a blogger telling him he had clicked all his ads and asking him to return the favor.Instead of returning the favor he reported the incident to Google, an action that probably saw the 'Happy Clicker' banned.While this may seem harsh the simple fact is you need to cover yourself and keep your account clean.

AdSense track all clicks and any strange activity will stand out.If your account shows a surge in clicks it will be checked out.If your account receives lots of clicks from the same IP address it will be checked out.If your account receives clicks from your IP address....If your account receives clicks from IP address in your region....I have also read that all accounts are checked once they reach the payment threshold.AdSense is Google's main source of income so they will be ruthless when it comes to keeping it clean.

Report Invalid Clicks

The best way to stay onside with AdSense is to report any invalid clicks before they find them.If you have accidentally clicked on your own ads, think a friend was clicking on your ads, or if you have been contacted by someone looking to set up a 'Click Group' you need to take the matter into your own hands.

Were To Go

-To report any of these instances follow this link and you will find the appropriate report form, Scroll to and click the 'Policy violations' link - AdSense Contact Support

-Another Must See Post Is - You Must Have A Privacy Policy How To Get One

-If you have any questions you would like answered regarding AdSense you can post them here - AdSense Help Forum

-We also cover AdSense Tips in the following posts - Help Using AdSense

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post. If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

Comments - Have you any extra tips for the readers on using AdSense ? We would love to here what you have to say !

How To Copy And Use The Favicon From Any Site

2010-07-12T02:27:00.005+01:00

One of the subjects i have not covered on Spice Up Your Blog is Favicons.A Favicon (Favirote Icon) is the small image that appears at the top of the browser and in the address bar when on any website or blog (See Example Image Below).The main reason i haven't posted about Favicons is because there are hundreds of posts already showing how to add Favicons to your blog.However although there are posts showing how to create a favicon for your blog wouldn't it be much easier to just get a cool Favicon someone already created ?.Those of you who have experience with favicons have probably landed on a site and thought 'That Favicon Would Look Cool On My Blog'.

Example - Below you can see the current favicon on Spice Up Your Blog

Note - I have since changed to this favicon :

Having recently created a Guitar Chords Blog i hadn't yet got the chance to create a Favicon for it, then i landed on a guitar site with a cool Favicon that would really suit my new blog....So i took it.Although there are no set rules against you using a Favicon from another site i still think you need to keep a few things in mind.Firstly you don't want to use a Favicon from a very popular site as most people will be familiar with it and it will look very unprofessional.Secondly you don't want to use a favicon from a rival blog, if your blog is about cookery don't copy the Favicon from another similar cookery blog.The Favicon i used was from a Static Website (A website that does not add fresh content).Once you stick to these suggestions you should be fine.

So in this post i will show you how to get the Favicon from any Blog or Website And use it on your site.If you don't yet know how to add a Favicon to your blog don't worry i will also show you how that's done.

How To Get The Favicon Image From Any WebSite Or Blog

So once you have seen a cool favicon here is how to get the image code, remember for a favicon to work the image must be .ico format (If you don't understand what that means don't worry).

1. Copy The URL from the site that has the Favicon, Example : www.spiceupyourblog.com

2. Follow this link to GetFavicon.org

3. Enter the URL of the site in the bar at the top of the GetFavicon website and click Get Favicon.

4. You will now be shown the favicon and the image URL (See Image Below)

5. Right Click on the favicon image URL and copy the link location, you can now add the image URL to your template as i will explain below.(As you can see in the image you are told to save the link but just copy link location)

Adding The Favicon To Your Blog

We now want to add the favicon to your blog, there are a number of ways to do this but i think i have the easiest way.Remember this method will also work for a favicon you create yourself.

1. In your dashboard click 'Layout/Design' > 'Edit Html'

2. Find The following piece of code in your blogs Html
(It's easy to find at the very top just a few lines down)

<head>

3. Paste the following code directly below <head>

<link href='FAVICON IMAGE URL GOES HERE' rel='shortcut icon'/>

4. Add the Favicon Image URL to the code in the position shown in red above.

Example - <link href='http://www.iconj.com/ico/8/m/8m9k6q1dkq.ico' rel='shortcut icon'/>

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post or Click here for other Rss Options. If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

Once you have the code added to your template with your Favicon image URL in place save your template and check out your blogs new look !

What do you think have you seen a cool favicon you want to use on your blog ?

Let us know if you add a favicon to your blog...

How To Make A Professional Facebook Fan Page For Your Blog

2010-06-26T06:00:00.004+01:00

This is the third post in a row on using Facebook to promote your blog.This time we will look at Facebook fan pages, how to create them and how to spice them up.Anyone can create a Facebook fan page and it's absolutely free.All you need is a Facebook account.

Starting Out - Follow this link and go to Facebook Pages.Then click the 'Create A Page' button in the top right corner.Then Choose category Brand, product or organisation, and Sub category 'Website'.Give your page a name and click 'Create Official Page'.That's it your page is live and ready to get spiced.

Create A Landing Page - Creating a landing page is a great option to let people know what you are about instead of sending them directly to the wall.This is a good Video by Pat Flynn showing exactly how it's done..In the video he tells you you need to get the Static Fbml application so here is the link : Static Fbml on Facebook

You can also use static Fbml to create other Html pages for your Fan Page.Here is how the Spice Up Your Blog landing page looks :

You can check out the Spice Up Your Blog Fan Page Here

Auto Post Your Latest Blog Posts In Fan Page - You will want to update your fan page with your latest posts and you can have this done automatically.A great free service you can use is TwitterFeed, as the name suggests TwitterFeed also auto posts to Twitter.You can see how it's done in this post from last October - How To Automatically Share Your Latest Posts On Twitter and Facebook

Import Your Entire Blog Onto Facebook - You can have your entire blog and full posts available on Facebook.You can see how in this post : Import Full Blog Onto Facebook

Update - Create An Easy Url For Your Fan Page

Chelsea FC-True Blue asked in the comments "Can you tell how to create a separate facebook page for a website? Like www.facebook.com/yourwebsite" .

Great question, the answer is yes and heres how it's done.

First you can create more than one fan page (Im not sure exactly how many or if there is any limit).Once you have created your fan page it will have a long URL, the old Spice Up Your Blog fan page url was -

www.facebook.com/pages/Spice-Up-Your-Blog/248465525582

You now have the option to change it to something easier like i did by changing it to -

www.facebook.com/spiceupyourblog

To change the URL of your Facebook Fan Page (You can also change your profile URL) got to this page : http://www.facebook.com/username/
and follow the steps.

Once again great question Chelsea Fan i had never thought of creating a URL for my Fan page until now :D

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post. If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

Inspiration - These are just a few easy steps you can take to make a professional Fan Page for your blog.Make sure to invite all your current friends to be members and keep your Fan Page updated.To get some inspiration why not check out the 30 most popular Fan Pages on Facebook, you can see who was most popular here : 30 Biggest Facebook Fan Pages

Have you a fan page for your blog ?

Have you any extra tips for creating a professional Fan Page ?

How To Easily Take Screenshots Of Any Webpage

2010-06-20T17:37:00.003+01:00

I use a lot of screenshots on this blog and without the help of an add on it would be very time consuming.No matter what browser your using you can download an add on or extension to easily take screenshots for use on your blog.

How Screenshot Add Ons Work

Although each screenshot add on will have its own features in general they all work in the same manner.Once downloaded you restart your browser and a new icon will appear in the toolbar.When on any web page click the icon to launch the screenshot capture, you can now capture the entire page or drag a box over the part of the page you want.Once your happy save the image and it's ready to be uploaded to your blog...Easy.

Free Screen Capture Add Ons For Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome

There are a number of screenshot capture add ons available that you could use but i will provide you with options here for the three main browsers.

FireShot Pro For Firefox And Internet Explorer

Developer Quote

"FireShot is a extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer that captures, edits, annotates, organizes, exports and prints screenshots of your web pages.. "

Link : Fireshot Screen Capture (Scroll To The Bottom Of The Page For The Download Links)

Webpage Screenshot For Google Chrome

Developer Quote

"Fast and Simple extension to capture the whole webpage. Even long pages are saved in one image file.This extension lets you save PNG image of any webpage.

Just one click.Designers can choose to resize the window before capturing."

Link : Screenshot Capture Firefox Extension

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post. If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

Have you found better screen capture add ons for your browser ?

Are there other add ons you find useful for Blogging ?

Let us know !

How To Generate A Sitemap And Submit To Yahoo

2010-02-27T21:55:00.004Z

With the popularity of Google many people don't consider the free search traffic available from Yahoo.In this post i will show you how to generate a sitemap and submit it to Yahoo.Yahoo site explorer is very similar to Google webmaster tools. Once signed up you can see detailed information of how Yahoo see your site on the web.

You can generate the same sitemap for Yahoo as for Google, as showed in a previous post i on How to submit 2 site maps to google.To generate and submit a site map to Yahoo you will need to first create a Yahoo account and verify your the owner of your blog, both will only take a few minutes.

Submit a sitemap to Yahoo

Step 1. Go to Yahoo.Com and create an account

Step 2. Once you have your Yahoo account details log into Yahoo Site Explorer

Step 3. You now must verify your ownership of your blog, there are two options for doing this.The easiest way is to copy the meta tag supplied and place it into your template.

The meta code goes directly below the <head> tag in your template.

Step 4. In your Blogger dashboard click 'Layout' > 'Edit Html'

Your will see <head> very near the top of your template Html paste the meta code below it.

Once the meta code is in place save your template and go back to Yahoo site explorer and click “Ready to Authenticate”.

Note : Unlike the Google and Techonrati verification code you must not remove the Yahoo meta code in place.

Step 5. Your blog is now verified click 'Manage Site' in your Yahoo dashboard then click 'Feeds' in the side menu.

Step 6. You will see the option to enter a feed/sitemap for your blog, you can enter the same 2 we entered for google.

You will see a section similar to the image below :

Copy this code and paste it into the area shown with the arrow above the click add feed :

atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

Now repeat the step with this code and click 'Add Feed' :

feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post.
If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

You have just generated a sitemap for Yahoo and it's submitted.It will take a day or so before Yahoo start crawling your sitemap but once they do you should see you blog rank higher and an increase in search traffic from Yahoo.

Do you get much Yahoo traffic to your blog ?

Add The Numbered Next And Previous Page Navigation Gadget Under Your Blog Posts

2010-01-07T23:11:00.002Z

Once again we are trying to make it easy for people to navigate your blog.The easier it is for people to Navigate you blog the more likely it is they will stay and become return visitors.I'm sure you have seen this script used on lots of blogs and thought 'I would like that on my blog'.You probably thought adding it to your blog would be hard but once again i have a nice easy piece of code you can add to achieve the effect.

So what exactly is the page navigation widget.

Basically when someone reaches the end of a post they have the option to go to the next page, previous page or click a number to skip to that post, Its something we see on millions of web pages even the Google search page.

Here is how it looks on my blog :

You can see it starting from the first page with just the next option, in the image at the top of the post you how it looks with next and previous.

You can try it out at the bottom of this post, However the template i am using is a specialized template using a specialized read more function that shows posts in a preview box not only on the home page but on all pages so it will work much better on your blog than mine.On your blog it will skip to the the full page of your next post.

Adding it to your blog

Step 1. Click 'Layout' > 'Add a gadget' for your blog

Step 2. Choose Html/Javascript

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Step 3. Copy the code below and paste it into the Html/Javascript area provided :
(There is a lot of code so be careful to get it all)

<script type="text/javascript">

var home_page_url = location.href;

var pageCount=1;
var displayPageNum=3;
var upPageWord ='Previous';
var downPageWord ='Next';

function showpageCount(json) {
var thisUrl = home_page_url;
var htmlMap = new Array();
var thisNum = 1;
var postNum=1;
var itemCount = 0;
var fFlag = 0;
var eFlag = 0;
var html= '';
var upPageHtml ='';
var downPageHtml ='';

for(var i=0, post; post = json.feed.entry[i]; i++) {

var timestamp1 = post.published.$t.substring(0,19)+post.published.$t.substring(23,29);
timestamp = encodeURIComponent(timestamp1);

var title = post.title.$t;

if(title!=''){
if(itemCount==0 || (itemCount % pageCount ==(pageCount-1))){
if(thisUrl.indexOf(timestamp)!=-1 ){
thisNum = postNum;
}

if(title!='') postNum++;
htmlMap[htmlMap.length] = '/search?updated-max='+timestamp+'&max-results='+pageCount;
}
}
itemCount++;

}

for(var p =0;p< htmlMap.length;p++){
if(p>=(thisNum-displayPageNum-1) && p<(thisNum+displayPageNum)){
if(fFlag ==0 && p == thisNum-2){
if(thisNum==2){
upPageHtml = '<span class="showpage"><a href="/">'+ upPageWord +'</a></span>';
}else{
upPageHtml = '<span class="showpage"><a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ upPageWord +'</a></span>';
}

fFlag++;
}

if(p==(thisNum-1)){
html += '<span class="showpagePoint">'+thisNum+'</span>';
}else{
if(p==0){
html += '<span class="showpageNum"><a href="/">1</a></span>';

}else{
html += '<span class="showpageNum"><a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ (p+1) +'</a></span>';
}
}

if(eFlag ==0 && p == thisNum){
downPageHtml = '<span class="showpage"> <a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ downPageWord +'</a></span>';
eFlag++;
}
}
}

if(thisNum>1){
html = ''+upPageHtml+' '+html +' ';
}

html = '<div class="showpageArea"><span class="showpageOf"> Pages ('+(postNum-1)+')</span>'+html;

if(thisNum<(postNum-1)){
html += downPageHtml;
}

if(postNum==1) postNum++;
html += '</div>';

var pageArea = document.getElementsByName("pageArea");
var blogPager = document.getElementById("blog-pager");

if(postNum <= 2){
html ='';
}

for(var p =0;p< pageArea.length;p++){
pageArea[p].innerHTML = html;
}

if(pageArea&&pageArea.length>0){
html ='';
}

if(blogPager){
blogPager.innerHTML = html;
}

}

function showpageCount2(json) {

var thisUrl = home_page_url;
var htmlMap = new Array();
var isLablePage = thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")!=-1;
var thisLable = isLablePage ? thisUrl.substr(thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")+14,thisUrl.length) : "";
thisLable = thisLable.indexOf("?")!=-1 ? thisLable.substr(0,thisLable.indexOf("?")) : thisLable;
var thisNum = 1;
var postNum=1;
var itemCount = 0;
var fFlag = 0;
var eFlag = 0;
var html= '';
var upPageHtml ='';
var downPageHtml ='';

var labelHtml = '<span class="showpageNum"><a href="/search/label/'+thisLable+'?&max-results='+pageCount+'">';
var thisUrl = home_page_url;

for(var i=0, post; post = json.feed.entry[i]; i++) {

var timestamp1 = post.published.$t.substring(0,19)+post.published.$t.substring(23,29);
timestamp = encodeURIComponent(timestamp1);

var title = post.title.$t;

if(title!=''){
if(itemCount==0 || (itemCount % pageCount ==(pageCount-1))){
if(thisUrl.indexOf(timestamp)!=-1 ){
thisNum = postNum;
}

if(title!='') postNum++;
htmlMap[htmlMap.length] = '/search/label/'+thisLable+'?updated-max='+timestamp+'&max-results='+pageCount;

}
}
itemCount++;
}

for(var p =0;p< htmlMap.length;p++){
if(p>=(thisNum-displayPageNum-1) && p<(thisNum+displayPageNum)){
if(fFlag ==0 && p == thisNum-2){
if(thisNum==2){
upPageHtml = labelHtml + upPageWord +'</a></span>';
}else{
upPageHtml = '<span class="showpage"><a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ upPageWord +'</a></span>';
}

fFlag++;
}

if(p==(thisNum-1)){
html += '<span class="showpagePoint">'+thisNum+'</span>';
}else{
if(p==0){
html = labelHtml+'1</a></span>';
}else{
html += '<span class="showpageNum"><a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ (p+1) +'</a></span>';
}
}

if(eFlag ==0 && p == thisNum){
downPageHtml = '<span class="showpage"> <a href="'+htmlMap[p]+'">'+ downPageWord +'</a></span>';
eFlag++;
}
}
}

if(thisNum>1){
if(!isLablePage){
html = ''+upPageHtml+' '+html +' ';
}else{
html = ''+upPageHtml+' '+html +' ';
}
}

html = '<div class="showpageArea"><span class="showpageOf"> Pages ('+(postNum-1)+')</span>'+html;

if(thisNum<(postNum-1)){
html += downPageHtml;
}

if(postNum==1) postNum++;
html += '</div>';

var pageArea = document.getElementsByName("pageArea");
var blogPager = document.getElementById("blog-pager");

if(postNum <= 2){
html ='';
}

for(var p =0;p< pageArea.length;p++){
pageArea[p].innerHTML = html;
}

if(pageArea&&pageArea.length>0){
html ='';
}

if(blogPager){
blogPager.innerHTML = html;
}

}

</script>
<script type="text/javascript">

var thisUrl = home_page_url;
if (thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")!=-1){
if (thisUrl.indexOf("?updated-max")!=-1){
var lblname1 = thisUrl.substring(thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")+14,thisUrl.indexOf("?updated-max"));
}else{
var lblname1 = thisUrl.substring(thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")+14,thisUrl.indexOf("?&max"));
}
}

var home_page = "/";
if (thisUrl.indexOf("?q=")==-1){
if (thisUrl.indexOf("/search/label/")==-1){
document.write('<script src="'+home_page+'feeds/posts/summary?alt=json-in-script&callback=showpageCount&max-results=99999"><\/script>')
}else{document.write('<script src="'+home_page+'feeds/posts/full/-/'+lblname1+'?alt=json-in-script&callback=showpageCount2&max-results=99999"><\/script>')
}
}
</script>

Once you paste in the code click save.

Putting the gadget in place.

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.This is a Do-Follow blog.

You will now want to place the gadget under your posts.
Click on the gadgat and 'Drag and Drop it' below the post area as shown below :

Once you have the gadget under your posts click the save button in the top Right of the layout page.

If you want there are some changes you can make to the appearance of the gadget.I wont add them here as it will only confuse people.If you have some knowledge of code and script you can edit the code yourself or you can drop a comment and i will try help you out.

I think this is a great gadget and a 'Must Have' gadget what do you think ?

Add A Handwriting Font To Your Blogger In Two Minutes

2010-01-06T22:47:00.007Z

Using stylish fonts on your blog is nothing short of a pain in the behind.It is not that they cant be added it's just the process of adding them, especially if your a newbie.For that reason i have been looking to find an easy tip to help you to use different fonts on your blog.

The solution i have came up with is easy and i have some great fonts lined up.To make the change you only have to add a small piece of code to your blog and your finished, the font will be used for all the headings in your blog : Blog title, Post title, Post date, Sidebar titles.

I wanted to show you how to use this handwriting font and see what the reaction is, if you like it let me know and i will add lots more fonts for your blog in future posts.

Who can use it.

There is one restriction, the font color is black and this can not be changed.If you use a black background or theme unfortunately it wont work, if your header background is black you can maby use an image for your header you can find lots of header imgaes for blogger.

The font we are adding is called aircut light

Before we go on take a look at a demo / sample of the font on my demo's blog : Click Here

I have just added the Ferrari Style font Ferro Rosso to see that font Click Here

Lets add it to your blog

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your Email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Step 1. Click 'Layout' ► 'Edit Html' for your blog.

Step 2. Find the following code in your blogs html :
(You wont need to search It's at the very top)

<head>

Step 3. Copy the code below and paste it Directly Below <head> :

<link href='http://www.fontburner.com/css/fontburner.css' media='screen' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/> <link href='http://www.fontburner.com/css/fontburner_print.css' media='print' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/> <script src='http://www.fontburner.com/fontburner.js' type='text/javascript'/> <script src='http://www.fontburner.com/js/black/aircut_light.php' type='text/javascript'/>

Once the code has been added save your template and the aircut light font has been added to your blog.

What do you think, does it suit your blog ?

Adsense Can Ban You For Not Having A Privacy Policy-How To Get One In 2 Clicks

2010-01-05T21:35:00.012Z

Did you know that AdSense require you to have a privacy policy on your Blog or website if you display their ads? Failure to have a privacy policy could see you account being closed and all earnings forfeited.

To be honest i didn't know this until recently and have just added a privacy policy to my own blogs.Here is a quote from the AdSense T.O.S. :

"We've also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers' use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future."

As ever this was something i knew my readers needed to be informed of and as most people wouldn't know were to start when writing a privacy policy i looked for and easy form you could copy and add to your blog.I actually found something much better.

While browsing around i found a 'Privacy Policy Generator' all you need to do is add your blog address and your email one click and you privacy policy is ready to be added to your blog or website.

I will show you how to generate a privacy policy and how to add it to your blog.I will also show you how to Back-Date the post so it wont be on your home page or in your recent posts.

Generate your privacy policy.

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Click Here you can see the Privacy Policy Generated for me.

How to get your Privacy Policy.

Click Here to go to the Serprank Generator Page.

You will be asked to provide 3 sections of information as shown in the image below :

Part 1 : Self explanatory add your Email and URL

Part 2 use of cookies : I clicked yes for this because although this blog does not collect cookies directly gadgets like hit counters and stat analyzers do.This shouldn't count but to be honest it makes no difference if you click yes or no.If you say you don't collect cookie info but you actually do it could spell trouble, If you say you do but you don't it means nothing.

Part 3 Advertiser Information : Just tick the boxes of the advertisers you use.If your reading this post i will presume you use AdSense.I added Amazon because i use them somtimes and i also use Clickbank.I also clicked Chitika, although i don't use their ads at the moment i intend to in the near future.So click the ones you use you can always go back if you sign up to another one.

Once this is filled up we click 'Create My Privacy Policy' and you will get your complete policy, copy the whole lot and you are ready to add it to your blog.

Adding it to your blog.

Create a new post for your blog and paste in the copied policy, title the post 'Privacy Policy'.

Back-Date the post.

You don't want the post showing up on your home page or in your recent posts so you can back-date the post.

To do this you click 'Post Options' under the post editor as seen below, here you can change the date.

You can set the date back a few months (I checked the date of my first ever post and set it to the day before so its the first post on the blog).

In the image you can see the date is 1/5/10 you could just change it to 1/5/09.

Once you have changed the date publish the post and your privacy policy is in place.

Please spread the word of this as i don't think many people know it's required an visitors to your blog will thank you for the information.

You can Re-tweet this post to your twitter with the button at the top of the post or share it on Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupn and others with the buttons below the post.

Here is a link you can copy and add to your blog it leads directly back to this post :

<a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2010/01/google-adsense-can-ban-you-for-not.html" target="_blank">Get A Privacy Policy Page</a>

If you want to copy this Entire post and publish it on your blog you have my permission.
(Please link back here.)

That's it i would like to know if you were aware of this AdSense requirement let me know in the comments.If you need more help you can also leave a comment i'm always glad to help.

The Top Ten Blogger Tips And Tricks Of 2009

2010-01-01T19:20:00.002Z

As we have entered 2010 it's time to reflect back to 2009 and some of the best and most beneficial tips and tricks for your blog.
It has been a great year for blogging for Blogger and personally for me and Spice up your blog.

So here's a list of the tips that got the most interest the most hits and some of my personal favorites.

Navbar

The blogger navbar has been the topic of much conversation over the last few years, we knew we were able to remove it but were we allowed by Blogger to remove it ?
The answer came in 2009 when a blogger employee said 'There is nothing in the blogger T.O.S. against removing the navbar'.
With that in mind we looked at two tricks for the blogger navbar :

How to remove the navbar

Change The Blogger Navbar To Hover Effect / Peek A Boo Effect

Search Engine Optimisation.

Improving our blogs search engine rank has always been in our thoughts.In 2009 i covered a few tips on making your blog 'search engine friendly' :

How to improve Your Blogs Google rank.Change how search engines see you Blog.

How To Improve Your Blogs Google Rank With Meta Tags & Description

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking was a big hit in 2009.Getting people to share and bookmark your blog could bring floods of traffic to your blog.
To go with the originals like Delicious digg Technorati and Stumble upon, Twitter tweeting and re-tweeting your blog and sharing on Facebook could prove vital in the quest to build a following.
So to make it easy for people to share your blog we looked at some Social Bookmarking widgets to add to your blog, these were the most popular :

How to add the Sharing is sexy social bookmark buttons to your blog

How To Easily Add 3D Social Bookmark Buttons To Your Blog Posts

Free Blogger Templates

The amount of custom templates for blogger went sky high in 2009.We saw more and more websites and blogs popping up offering you some amazing template styles.Not to be left behind i posted my favorite templates :

My Top Ten Elegant Artistic Style Free Blogger Templates

My Top Ten Magazine Style Free Blogger Templates

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Adsense

Some of my most popular posts this of 2009 were on working with Adsense and how to get your adsense ads into the prime areas of your blog.These were two of the most popular Adsense tips :

How To Place Adsense Ads Inside Your Blogger Header Section

How To Put Adsense Ads Inside Your Blog Posts

Believe me making a top ten was hard as there was so many tips to choose from so much so that the two tips that got the most hits were not in the list !

Popular By Hits

So i will cheat a bit and tell you the two tutorials that got the most hits and amazingly the first tip was only posted on 26th of November but almost 80% of the hits i got from search engines was for this tip :

How To Add A Snow Falling Effect To Your Blog

The second post with the most hits was a post we can learn from.I looked to add some space between posts on another blog so i got an image divider and placed it between the posts.Looked good so i added a tutorial on how to do it not thinking it get so many hits.But that's the thing with blogging you never know what will be a hit or a miss !

How to add an image divider between your blog posts

So that was the year that was i have really enjoyed the challenge of running Spice Up Your Blog and have learned a lot.Now I'm genuinely looking forward to 2010 and bringing you fresh and helpful tutorials tips and tricks for your blog.

Do you have a favorite tip or trick that helped your blog in 2009 ?

Thanks for your time and help, Have a save prosperous 2010.

Add A Fixed Floating Happy New Year Image To Your Blog

2009-12-26T18:10:00.005Z

As we close in on the new year we will look at an easy trick to add a fixed new year banner to your blog.Once the tip is added the image will be situated in the very top corner of your blog as a Great New Year greeting to your visitors.I have included four different images to try accommodate different templates and adding the image to your blog is quick and easy.

Here's a preview of the images you can choose from:

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Image 4:

You can see a live demo of the float image working click here..

You could also find your own image and use that.

Lets add it to your blog :

1.Click Layout-->Edit html for your blog
(Tick the 'Expand widget templates' box)

2.Find the following piece of code in the html:
(Click 'CTRL & F' for a search box to find the code)

]]></b:skin>

3.Now Add the following piece of code Directly Above ]]></b:skin>

#float_corner { position:fixed;_position:absolute;top:3px;left:3px;clip: inherit;_top:expression(document.documentElement.scrollTop+document.documentElement.clientHeight-this.clientHeight);_left:expression(document.documentElement.scrollLeft + document.documentElement.clientWidth - offsetWidth);}

You can change the following attributes : top :left
Change them to make the image appear were you like :

top left
top right
bottom left
bottom right

(left is usually the best way to go)
4.Now find this code in your html :

</body>

5.And place this code Directly Above </body>:

For Image 1 Add This Code :

<div id="float_corner"> <a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/"> <img style="167px; height: 161px;" src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/nyc0110.gif" alt="Happy New Year" border="0" /></a> </div>

For Image 2 Add This Code :

<div id="float_corner"> <a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com"> <img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/764570s1ywfpdanr.gif" alt="Happy New Year" border="0" /></a> </div>

For Image 3 Add This Code :

<div id="float_corner"> <a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com"> <img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/newyearsmall.gif" alt="Happy New Year" border="0" /></a> </div>

For Image 4 Add This Code :

<div id="float_corner"> <a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com"> <img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/Animated-Happy-New-Year-2010-Dancin.gif" alt="Happy New Year" border="0" /></a> </div>

Sponser:A unique auction site where brand new products, such as Nintendo Wiis, iPods,laptops, digital cameras and LCD TVs sell for prices that can only be described as totally mad.Click below to visit:

To add a second floating image just repeat the steps making sure to add the image to a different corner,to use your own image replace the image URL with your own image URL.

We Are Nearly Finished - First A Quick Reminder:
If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.
This is a Do-Follow Blog so leaving a comment will also help Your blogs Google rank.

Of course after the new year you could change the image to a differant welcome image.Leave a comment here if you wish i will send you the code to add a welcome image.

And that's it save your template and check out your new image...

Another Christmas time trick for your blog is adding the snow fall effect Click Here to see how.

Have you added an image to your blog? Let us know what image you liked..

Get More Traffic To Your Blog By Submitting 2 Sitemaps To Google In 5 Minutes

2009-12-26T01:40:00.007Z

If you want to get more hits to your Blog making your blog 'search engine friendly' is an absolute must.Sitemaps basically show Google search bots you recent activity quicker and without the bells and wistles than can cause crawl errors (Dirthy words to a blogger).

Im always trying to provide better tips and improve the tutorials when possable and this post has been updated from the original to include a second sitemap.Why? The first sitemap only contains your 26 most recent posts ! If you have more than 26 posts they are not indexed.You should still add both sitemaps, the more the better.

In earlier posts i posted tips on changing the default title tags of your blog and adding a meta title and description both great tricks in their own right.

There is a number of ways to generate a sitemap for blogs and websites, here on blogger generating a sitemap and submitting it to Google can be done in 5 minutes and can be achieved by even the least experienced Blogger.

What Is A Site map ?

"Site maps can improve search engine optimization of a site by making sure that all the pages can be found. This is especially important if a site uses a dynamic access to content such as Adobe Flash or JavaScript menus that do not include HTML links.

They also act as a navigation aid by providing an overview of a site's content at a single glance.

Most search engines will only follow a finite number of links from a page, so if the number of links is very large, the site map may be required so that search engines and visitors can access all content on the site"
(source :Wikipedia)

We have 3 sections to complete this tip

Getting your sitemap address

Submitting your blog to Google webmaster tools

Submitting your Sitemap to Google webmaster tools

So lets see how its done :

Sitemap 1.
I will show you how this is done for future referance.

Getting the sitemap address

Step 1.
Go to your blog and look at your blogs address in the browser at the top of the page it will be :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/
or if you have a custom domain :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.com/
Mine is http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/

Step 2.
Add the following to the end of your blogs URL :
robots.txt
So now you have :
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/robots.txt
http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.com/robots.txt
Mine is http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/robots.txt
Click enter or go to go to the address

Step 3.
Now once you go to this page it will look like this :

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /search

Sitemap: http://www.YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

Mine looks like this :

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /search

Sitemap: http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

Above as i have highlighted in red is your site map address - that's it as far as getting the site map.
Keep this you will need it later.

Sitemap 2.
I will just give you the default 'atom 500' address :

atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

Now you can Submit your site map to Google.

Submitting your blog to Google webmaster tools

Step 1.
If you do not already have a webmaster tools account to do this you go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ you can log in to webmaster tools with your Google account the same details you log into blogger with.

Webmaster tools is a Great source of information to see exactly how Google sees your blog but that's another days work..

Step 2.
On the homepage if you have not already submitted your site to webmaster tools click 'Submit A Site' .
You can submit your blog URL.Note: just submit your URL here http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com we enter the site map address later.

You will have to verify that you own the blog this is straight forward follow the steps provided by Google.

For mor help adding your site click here

Once you are verified as the owner of the blog we can carry on.

You are now ready to submit your sitemap.

Step 1.

Submitting your Sitemap to Google webmaster tools

Click on your blog address in your webmasters dashboard you will arrive on this page.In the left sidebar click 'site configuration' as shown below ::

Now in the drop down click 'sitemaps' as below :

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below. This is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank.

Click 'Submit Sitemap' as circled in red below and enter the site map you generated earlier:

feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

As you can see circled in blue below your URL is already there so just type or paste in : feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

Click submit.

Now enter the second sitemap :

atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

Click submit.

Your sitemaps have been added and the Google bots are heading your way.Why not now Submit A Sitemap To Yahoo.

This is one of the many ways we can help our blogs get ranked higher in search results to see some of the other posts on this S.E.O. Blog Tips.

Dont worry if you struggle first time just take your time and let me know how you get on or if you have some trouble.

How well does your blog rank in Google? Have you any tips that you found successful?

My Top Ten Magazine Style Free Blogger Templates

2009-12-23T23:01:00.006Z

In this post i will share my top 10 Magazine Blogger Templates.Magazine templates are the most common amongst the top bloggers.They have a professional look and set up nicely for displaying ads or Adsense ready.I have Full size previews below and all the widgets, gadgets and extras you see in the previews and live demos are built in to the template.The template i am currently using is a Magazine template called Bemagazine and is in the list below.

Note - We Now Have A Sister Blog With New Blogger Templates Added Daily ! You Can Check It Out Here : The Spice Up Your Blog Template Gallery

Most of these templates have cool built in extras like :

*Social bookmark buttons *Re-tweet buttons * Email subscriptions *Search bars *Read more functions *Featured content sliders *Menu bars and more..

Some of these extras will need to be edited you will see instructions on the download page.

Here is the list

1.Silverline Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

2.White Clean Magazine.

Live Demo

Download And Details

3.Dark Orange Magazine.

Live Demo

Download And Details

4.Woodmag Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

5.Mahusay Magazine Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

6.BeMagazine Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

7.Rebel Magazine Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

8.Zinmag Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

9.Revolution church Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

10.Brownline Template.

Live Demo

Download And Details

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.
To help you this is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank.

So that's the list to be honest i could have added 50 more cool magazine templates.

Thanks go to Btemplates and Ipietoon.

Please remember to back up your old template before changing just in case you want to change back.

I will add more Great templates for you in the future.

Which one is your favorite or have i left out your favorite magazine template?
Also if you do use one of these let us know so we can have a look !

Add the YouTube Ipod Style Music Player To Your Blog

2009-12-14T17:19:00.018Z

In this post i will help you add some music to your blog.I have chosen this music player for its great look and it pulls the songs from YouTube so you have the video for the song playing on your Blog Ipod you also have the option to just have the music with no video.

In fact there are 23 different styles you can use and lots of options,You can also set the style and size of the player to fit your sidebars and choose to have it auto play or only play when clicked.
Add the YouTube Ipod Style Music Player On Your Blog
Here's a simple one i just made just added three songs you can add lots more:
(I have the auto play turned off so click play to try it out):

Here's the steps to get yours

1. Go to MixPod.Com and sign up it will only take a minute.

2.Click on 'My playlists' > 'New Play list'

3.Choose the style of your playlist here are some samples :

4.Now the fun part adding songs to your play list there are two ways to do this :

Simply use the search bar to find a song type in the song title and click play to test the song is OK if your happy click + to add the song to your play list.

Add the URL of a song.

5.Once you have chosen your songs click 'customise' to set the 'colors' or have a background image and 'settings' to turn on or off auto play-shuffle-loop.....

6.You now must give your play list a title and have the options to add a description tags,genres and categories.Happy ! Then click 'Save and Get Code'

7.You are now on the code page and the cool thing here is they have their own tutorial on adding the code to Blogger.
Choose blogger in the side menu as shown below to get the and see how to add it:

We Are Nearly Finished - First A Quick Reminder:
If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.It also really helps me to get feedback.
This is a Do-Follow Blog so leaving a comment will also help Your blogs Google rank.
OK Back to business....

8.Even though they tell you how to add it to your blog heres a reminder :

Click >'Layout' >'Add a Gadget'>selech 'Html/Javascript' >

Paste the code in the area provided and save.

Your play list is now on your blog you can go back and add or remove songs from your play list and it will automatically change on your blog.

Which style did you pick? .. Let us know how it looks..

Replace The Blogger Read More Link With An Image

2009-12-13T02:57:00.017Z

In this post we will look at the blogger 'Read More' feature and a trick to edit it's apperance on your blog by using a stylish image instead of the standerd text.The image will be clickable and will lead to the full post as the Read More text used to.If your thinking "Whats he talking about" dont worry i will explane fully and i have a link to the official blogger post on the subject.

I will provide you with 20 differant images to choose from and help you how to add them to your blog.This tip will really help the appearance of your blog.

The read more is basically an option to show just the post title and the first few lines of your post on the home page, then viewer has the option to click Read More to see the full post,im sure you have seen it on a lot of blogs.

Untill recently if you wanted to add the read more funtion to your blog you had to do a lot of code changes but now blogger have made it easy by having the feature built into all blogs.

More Info.

For more information on what it is and how it works see the offical Blogger Buzz post on the subject.

Using the read more funtion on your blog allows you to have more posts on your home page without slowing down the loading time and helps you blogs Google search rank as your blog is reciving more clicks.

So now you know what it is and how it works, heres how to spice it up with an image and also below the images i will show you how to use both an image and the text.

How to add it to your blog

The read more could be built into your template in a few ways lets find it.

1.Click 'Layout' > 'Edit html' for your blog.
(Tick the 'Expand widget templates' box)

2.We will try to find it this way first :

In your blogs html find the following text :
(Click 'CTRL and F' for a search bar to help find the code)

Read More

(If you have previously changed 'read more' to different text look for that text)

If you dont find 'Read More' text in your template look for this code :

<data:post.jumpText/>

3.Now just choose the image you want to use below and Replace 'Read More' or ' <data:post.jumpText/> ' with the code provided for the image.

Images you can use for your read more.

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/more_thumb1.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/28-large-allblogtools.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/ClicktoReadMore.jpg" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/continuereading.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/readmorebiru.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/readmore-3.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/Readmore-2.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/cooltext433616975.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/grey.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/button-read-more.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/readmore.jpg" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/light-blue.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/Read-More-s.jpg" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/Read-more-roza.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/readmore-1.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/read-more-1.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/9-large-allblogtools.jpg" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/read_more.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/read-more.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

Image Preview :

Image Code:

<img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/readmore-1-1.gif" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" />

More help?
Look at the samples below ...

With the 'Read More' text your code looks like this :

<span id='showlink'> <a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read more...</a> </span>

Once you add the image it should look like this :

<span id='showlink'> <a expr:href='data:post.url'><img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/more_thumb1.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" /></a> </span>

OK that's it as far as adding the image is concerned if your happy with that click save and your done.

However if you want to use text and an image as i done on my home page here's how :

We Are Nearly Finished If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.

Simply change the text 'Read More' to the text you want to show.
(I used 'Click here to view full post')

Now add <br> and then add the image see the sample below :

<span id='showlink'> <a expr:href='data:post.url'>Click Here To View Full Post<br><img src="http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/more_thumb1.png" border="0" alt="Read Full Post" /></a> </span>

Now save and check out your new style homepage.

Do you use the read more feature ? Let us know if you added an image..

How To Put Google Custom Search Box In Your Blogs Header Section

2009-12-04T18:49:00.017Z

In this post I'm going to show you an easy trick to add a Google Custom Search Box to your Blogger header area.I'm sure you have seen plenty of blogs (Including this one) with search boxes and other content in the header section.I think it makes good use of the free space in your header area and gives your blog a more professional look.If you dont have a Google Custom Search Box To Use,In a previous post i showed you how to get a Google Custom Search box for your blog Click Here for that post.

The search box will be positioned differently than it is in my header.To see a Demonstration of how it will look Click Here.

Adding the search box is easy here's how its done :

1.Click 'layout'-> 'Edit html' for your blog.
(Tick The 'Expand Widget Templates' Box)

2.Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'Ctrl F' for a search box to find the code)

<p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p>

3.Paste the code for your search box directly Below the code above.

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.
To help you this is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank.
OK Back to business ....

Example:

<div class='descriptionwrapper'> <p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p> <-----YOUR SEARCH BOX CODE GOES HERE-----> </div> </b:includable>

Thats it !

Once you have added the code click save and your done.

Has it worked well on your blog?

How To Put Adsense Ads Inside Your Blog Posts

2009-12-01T17:00:00.010Z

In this post i will show you an AdSense trick which will allow you to place AdSense ads inside your blog posts not only that but in any part of your posts.Once Added you can place the ads anywhere in the post like after the first line of text, before the last line, in the middle..... and you can have the ads in different areas in every post.

Using AdSense inside blog posts can have a very positive effect on your earnings but try to make the ad units blend in with the rest of the content when your picking the colors.I have more posts on how to add your Adsense Directly Below the Title of your posts as well as placing AdSense in your header section, i will have a link to those posts at the bottom of this one.

There is a bit of extra work in this tutorial but if you follow step by step you should have no problems also make sure to Back up your template.

Here's the steps - lets go :

First you must get the code for the AdSense ad

1. Go to your AdSense account and Choose what type of ad you want inside your blog posts.

2. Follow the steps and Grab the code for the AdSense unit.

3. The AdSense code must be place in your blog templates html to do this we must use an adsense praser.

4. I just added a Html Praser to my blog so you don't have to leave this blog to prase the code.
Click here to prase your adsense code.

Paste the code in the box provided click 'prase it' and copy the new parsed code.

Your AdSense code is now ready.

Now we will add the code to your template

1.Click 'layout'--> 'Edit HTML' for your blog
(Tick The 'Expand widget templates' box)

2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'CTRL F' on your keyboard for a search box to find the code)

<data:post.body/>

3. Now REPLACE <data:post.body/> with the code below :

<div expr:id='"aim1" + data:post.id'></div> <div style="clear:both; margin:10px 0"> PUT YOUR PARSED ADSENSE CODE HERE </div> <div expr:id='"aim2" + data:post.id'> <data:post.body/> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var obj0=document.getElementById("aim1<data:post.id/>"); var obj1=document.getElementById("aim2<data:post.id/>"); var s=obj1.innerHTML; var r=s.search(/\x3C!-- adsense --\x3E/igm); if(r>0) {obj0.innerHTML=s.substr(0,r);obj1.innerHTML=s.substr(r+16);} </script>

4. Now include your Adsense code above were you see:
PUT YOUR PARSED ADSENSE CODE HERE

5. Save your template - Were not finished....

Now as promised you can make the Adsense Ad appear in any part of your blog post :

When you writing your post - Simply place the following piece of code in your post in the exact place you want the Ad to appear:

So if you place the  tag at the top of your post the ad will appear there ...half way down ...near the bottom ...at the bottom...werever you want it !

Tip:Add the  code to your 'post template'
Click 'settings' -->'Formatting' -->Scroll to bottom of page for this option.
(Google help-Whats post template?)

For more AdSense tips and tutorials for adding Adsense to your blog Header section And under the posts title Click Here.

I know this was a bit harder than most tutorials but just take you time I'm sure you will get it right if you need more help just leave a comment below i will be glad to help.

How To Add A Snow Falling Effect To Your Blog

2009-11-26T23:35:00.012Z

In this post i will show you how to add an a snow-fall effect to your blog.Once you add the code it will look like snow is gently falling down your blog pages.This will really spice up your blogs appearance over the Christmas.

Note: I have add an effect for 3 types of flowers falling on your blog Click Here to see that post.

Obviously the darker the background of your blog the better the effect will look but even if just parts of your blog like the header use dark colors it will look great.

To see a working sample / demonstration of the snow effect click here

Add Snow Fall Effect To Your Blog

Adding the effect is easy and can be done in a few quick steps:

1.In your dashboard Click 'Layout'

2.Click 'Add a gadget'

3.Select 'html/javascript'

4.Paste the code below into the area provided :

<script src="http://snow-effect.googlecode.com/files/snow.js" type="text/javascript"> /*********************************************** * Snow Effect without images-by Kurt Grigg at http://www.btinternet.com/~kurt.grigg/javascript * Script featured & available at Dynamic Drive at http://www.dynamicdrive.com/ * Please keep this notice intact ***********************************************/ </script><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2009/11/how-to-add-snow-falling-effect-to-your.html" target="_blank"><font size="1">Get snow effect</font></a>

(You dont need to give the gadget a title just leave title area blank)

5.Click save.

Another great christmas tip for your blog is: How To Add A Fixed Floating 'Merry Christmas' Banner To Your BlogClick Here to see how.

Thats it ! Easy...Your Snow Effect Has Been Added...Now lets hope for some Real snow this Christmas !

How To Use A Background Image For Your Blog

2009-11-24T16:31:00.011Z

In this post i will show you how to have an image as the background of your blog.Adding the image is easy and can be completed in a few steps.

This is part 1 of 3 on adding background images to your blog recently i posted:

1.How To Add A Background Image To Your Blogger Sidebars

2.How To Add A Background Image Behind Your Blogger Posts

First you must find the image you want as your background you can find images on image hosting sites like Photobucket of do a Google image search.

You can find/create an image big enough to cover the entire background of your blog.

Most people will just find a small image that will repeat across the background i have set the code to accommodate both.

Once you have your image here's how to add it :

1.Click 'Layout' -->'Edit Html' for your blog

2.Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'ctrl F' for a search box to find the code)

body {

You will see 'body {' followed by code similar to this:

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
text-align: center;
color: $textColor;
font-family: arial,verdana,helvetica,tahoma,Sans-serif;
font-size: 100%;
width: 100%;
}

3.Add the following piece of code Directly Below body {

background:url(PUT IMAGE URL HERE) repeat top right;
/* background-attachment: fixed; */

4.Replace the text 'PUT IMAGE URL HERE' above with the URL of your image

We Are Nearly Finished - : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.This is a Do-Follow Blog.

Example:

body {
background:url(http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/bloggerbackground.jpg) repeat top right;
/* background-attachment: fixed; */
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
text-align: center;
color: $textColor;
font-family: arial,verdana,helvetica,tahoma,Sans-serif;
font-size: 100%;
width: 100%;
}

5.Click Save and you have your background image added.

Have you added a background image to your blog ?

How To Improve Your Blogs Google Rank With Meta Tags & Description

2009-11-12T08:26:00.006Z

In this post i will show you how to add Meta Tags And Meta Description to your blog.Improving your search engine rank is key to the success of your blog.This is known as S.E.O. (Search Engine Optimization).
Large companies spend a fortune on S.E.O. ,That's great if you have a fortune to spend ! Search engines use automated spiders and crawlers, to collect information from your blog.They collect URL'S ,Titles,etc...
They also collect keywords from the early parts of your blog posts.

However you don't know which words are taken as keywords connected to your blog, It's likely the keywords been taken are not relevent to your blog at all. In this case your blog won't be indexed properly in search engines.

Theres also a chance your highly relevant keywords might not even be used to index your blog.This will result in your blog being ranked behind Thousands of others in searches !

But you can take control !

You can add Meta Tags and Description to your blog.

Now YOUR telling the search engine spiders and crawlers the key words and description YOU want your blog to be indexed under.

So lets do it !

First you must copy the code below and add a meta description and meta keywords (as shown in bold) as follows:

<meta content='text/html; charset=utf-8' http-equiv='Content-Type'/> <meta content='PUT BLOG DISCRIPTION HERE.' name='description'/> <meta content='PUT, KEYWORDS, HERE, SEPERATED, BY, COMMA,' name='keywords'/>

Heres an example of how the code might look for this blog:
(Just a quick example not my actual meta content)

<meta content='text/html; charset=utf-8' http-equiv='Content-Type'/> <meta content='SPICE UP YOUR BLOG BLOG TIPS TRICKS' name='description'/> <meta content='blog, tips, tricks,' name='keywords'/>

Notes on Description:'PUT BLOG DISCRIPTION HERE'.-TRY KEEP IT LESS THAN 150 CHARACTERS

This explains its self,Keeping it under 150 characters is search engine friendly,you don't have to use 150 characters it can be as short or long as you wish once its relevant to your blog.

Notes on Keywords :'PUT, KEYWORDS, HERE, SEPERATED, BY, COMMA,'-YOU CAN ADD AS MANY AS YOU LIKE - SEPARATE BY COMMAS - DON'T USE THE SAME WORD MORE THAN 5 TIMES

Think which words or phrases best describe your blog.Repeating a word more than 5 times can be seen as spam by search engines.

Adding The Code To Your Blog :

We Are Nearly FinishedIf you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.It also really helps me to get feedback..

1.Click 'Layout'-->'Edit Html' For your blog.

2.Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Its very close to the top)

<head>

3.Add the meta content code Directly Below <head>

4.Click save and your finished.

In a previous blog i covered Improving S.E.O. by Changing the way Google sees your blog this is also important: Click Here To See That Post

For a list of S.E.O. tips on this blog Click Here

How to add the Sharing is sexy social bookmark buttons to your blog

2009-11-03T19:06:00.011Z

The most eye catching set of social bookmarking buttons i have seen are the 'Sharing Is Sexy' buttons.These buttons are embedded below your posts and have an animated effect when a user hovers their mouse over a button it pops up ready for your content to be shared.

Social bookmarking is a vital too in promoting your blog as i covered in a previous postThis tutorial is a bit harder with plenty of code to be added so make sure to back up your template to see how use the link at the top of the post.

Heres how the buttons look as you see they appear just above Author and Labels

Preview.

New : I have just added the same bookmarking buttons with the message 'Sharing is caring' in place of Sharing is sexy you can see a preview below, to get that set Click Here.

The buttons contained in the set for your readers to share your posts are for the most popular bookmarking websites :

►Delicious►Digg►Technorati►Reddit►Stumbleupon►Designflost►Facebook►Twitter►Furl

The also contain a Rss feed link and an Email link.

Heres the steps to add the code to your blog:

1. Click 'Layout'--> 'Edit html' for your blog
(Tick the 'Expand widget templates' box)

2. Find this piece of code in your blogs html:

</head>

3. Now add the code below Directly BEFORE </head>

<style type='text/css'> div.sexy-bookmarks { height:54px; background:url('http://i43.tinypic.com/2ueii3t.png') no-repeat left bottom; position:relative; width:540px; } div.sexy-bookmarks span.sexy-rightside { width:17px; height:54px; background:url('http://i43.tinypic.com/2ueii3t.png') no-repeat right bottom; position:absolute; right:-17px; } div.sexy-bookmarks ul.socials { margin:0 !important; padding:0 !important; position:absolute; bottom:0; left:10px; } div.sexy-bookmarks ul.socials li { display:inline-block !important; float:left !important; list-style-type:none !important; margin:0 !important; height:29px !important; width:48px !important; cursor:pointer !important; padding:0 !important; } div.sexy-bookmarks ul.socials a { display:block !important; width:48px !important; height:29px !important; font-size:0 !important; color:transparent !important; } .sexy-furl, .sexy-furl:hover, .sexy-digg, .sexy-digg:hover, .sexy-reddit, .sexy-reddit:hover, .sexy-stumble, .sexy-stumble:hover, .sexy-delicious, .sexy-delicious:hover, .sexy-yahoo, .sexy-yahoo:hover, .sexy-blinklist, .sexy-blinklist:hover, .sexy-technorati, .sexy-technorati:hover, .sexy-facebook, .sexy-facebook:hover, .sexy-twitter, .sexy-twitter:hover, .sexy-myspace, .sexy-myspace:hover, .sexy-mixx, .sexy-mixx:hover, .sexy-script-style, .sexy-script-style:hover, .sexy-designfloat, .sexy-designfloat:hover, .sexy-syndicate, .sexy-syndicate:hover, .sexy-email, .sexy-email:hover { background:url('http://i44.tinypic.com/1znbj83.png%27') no-repeat !important; } .sexy-furl { background-position:-300px top !important; } .sexy-furl:hover { background-position:-300px bottom !important; } .sexy-digg { background-position:-500px top !important; } .sexy-digg:hover { background-position:-500px bottom !important; } .sexy-reddit { background-position:-100px top !important; } .sexy-reddit:hover { background-position:-100px bottom !important; } .sexy-stumble { background-position:-50px top !important; } .sexy-stumble:hover { background-position:-50px bottom !important; } .sexy-delicious { background-position:left top !important; } .sexy-delicious:hover { background-position:left bottom !important; } .sexy-yahoo { background-position:-650px top !important; } .sexy-yahoo:hover { background-position:-650px bottom !important; } .sexy-blinklist { background-position:-600px top !important; } .sexy-blinklist:hover { background-position:-600px bottom !important; } .sexy-technorati { background-position:-700px top !important; } .sexy-technorati:hover { background-position:-700px bottom !important; } .sexy-myspace { background-position:-200px top !important; } .sexy-myspace:hover { background-position:-200px bottom !important; } .sexy-twitter { background-position:-350px top !important; } .sexy-twitter:hover { background-position:-350px bottom !important; } .sexy-facebook { background-position:-450px top !important; } .sexy-facebook:hover { background-position:-450px bottom !important; } .sexy-mixx { background-position:-250px top !important; } .sexy-mixx:hover { background-position:-250px bottom !important; } .sexy-script-style { background-position:-400px top !important; } .sexy-script-style:hover { background-position:-400px bottom !important; } .sexy-designfloat { background-position:-550px top !important; } .sexy-designfloat:hover { background-position:-550px bottom !important; } .sexy-syndicate { background-position:-150px top !important; } .sexy-syndicate:hover { background-position:-150px bottom !important; } .sexy-email { background-position:-753px top !important; } .sexy-email:hover { background-position:-753px bottom !important; } </style>

4. Now find This piece of code in your blogs html :

<data:post.body/>

5. Add the code below Directly AFTER <data:post.body/>

<div class='sexy-bookmarks'> <ul class='socials'> <li class='sexy-delicious'><a expr:href='"http://del.icio.us/post?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-digg'><a expr:href='" http://digg.com/submit?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-technorati'><a expr:href='" http://technorati.com/faves?add=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-reddit'><a expr:href='" http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-stumble'><a expr:href='" http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-designfloat'><a expr:href='"http://www.designfloat.com/submit.php?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-facebook'><a expr:href='" http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-twitter'><a expr:href='" http://twitthis.com/twit?url=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-furl'><a expr:href='" http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?u=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> <li class='sexy-syndicate'><a href='ADD YOUR FEEDBURNER FEED URL HERE' title='Subscribe to RSS'/></li> <li class='sexy-email'><a expr:href='" mailto:?subject=" + data:post.url + "&title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'/></li> </ul> <span class='sexy-rightside'/></div><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com" target="_blank">Get This</a>

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post.
If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

Now theres just one piece of the code you must change:

Were you see ADD YOUR FEEDBURNER FEED URL HERE

Replace with your feedburner feed

Example : http://feeds.feedburner.com/Spiceupyourblog

Click here if you Dont have a feedburner dont know what it is.

Once you have add your feed url click save and the buttons have been added.

Need help, have an opinion or suggestion ? Thats what the comments are for !

My Top Ten Elegent Artistic Style Free Blogger Templates

2009-10-30T18:55:00.007Z

There are now thousands of blogger templates available.A lot of them are very similar and quite boring so in this post i have my top ten templates that are a bit different.All the template are free to use and have been tested on all browsers.

Note : We Now Have A Sister Blog Created Just For Blogger Templates With New Templates Added Every Day.Check It Out Now Heres The Link - The Spice Up Your Blog Template Gallery

The following templates will get you well on the way to spicing up your blog.

Included are templates with built features like :

►Social bookmark buttons ►Re-tweet buttons
►Email subscriptions ►Search bars
►Read more functions ►Featured content sliders
►Menu bars and more..

Here's the top ten in no specific order:

Another Under Sea World Template
Features

Built in search

Built in Rss feed link

Menu bar

How To Remove The Blogger Navbar Or Top menubar

2009-09-26T00:20:00.011+01:00

The blogger navbar is standard on all blogger templates.

Some don't mind it personally i don't like it.

Removing it is easier than you might think.

In fact i have it down to three easy steps for you.

Remove Blogger Navbar

1.Click 'Layout'->'Edit Html'

2.Copy the code below :

#navbar-iframe { display: none !important;}

3.Place it in your blogs html below the template details (found very close to the top of you html) and just above /* Variable definitions as displayed below:

-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Minima Stretch
Designer: Douglas Bowman / Darren Delaye
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Date: 26 Feb 2004
----------------------------------------------- */

#navbar-iframe { display: none !important;} <---- Just Below Template Details

/* Variable definitions
====================

Click Save template and your done check out your navbar-less blog.

If you dont want to completely remove the navbar you can make it into a 'Hover Effect' so it will only appear when you place your cursor over the navbar area :

Make a hover effect navbar

Victory Theachers Blog - Asked in the comments : "If i hide this tool bar - how do i then access the edit buttons?"

Great question, What i use is a link in the footer to my dashboard.

Once your logged in to your account any link to the Blogger homepage will bring you to your homepage.

So just add this code to your sidebar or footer :

<a href="http://www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Blogger</a>

Now you can click this to get to your dashboard.

You can also adda link to your 'Create a post' page and 'Layout Page'.

In your dashboard click 'New Post' then copy the URL address in the address bar at the top of your screen :

Now put that URL into a link as shown below :

<a href="PUT-URL-HERE">New Post</a>

Replace PUT-URL-HERE with the Url you copied from your new post page.

You can do the same for your layout page, settings page or any page.Don worry about putting links to your pages on your profile only people logged into your account will be able to access them.

Thats it, have you made the change ?