WEB GURU

How to Build a Free Website (3) Building with Blogger 1. If you already have a Gmail or Googlemail address or you already have an account with Google In this case, you can sign in directly and then move on to the process of creating your free blog. On the right hand side of the page as shown below, you’ll see a section that says “Sign in with your Google Account”. Enter your user name and password as indicated and then click on “Sign In”. If you are browsing from a cybercafé or with a computer that is not yours then do not click the box that says “Stay signed in”. If you do then you will not be logged out even after you close the browser.

When you have thus successfully signed in, you will see a new page which is known as the dashboard. It is from the dashboard that you can create new blogs, manage existing ones and view other information and statistics regarding your blog website and other Blogger websites. With this your one account, you can actually create as many blogs as you like. Click on “Create your blog now”

OK. Next we shall look at a situation where you do not already have a Google account. If you have already logged in with your Google email according to Section 1 above, Please skip section 2 below and go directly to the section after it which is “Verify your Identity”. 2. If you don’t already have a Google account (or Gmail) If you do not already have a Google account and you’ve not used any other Google related service where you had to create a Google account before, then this is the process that you should follow: When you go to www.blogspot.com click on “Get Started” We suggest that you create a new email address which you can be using for all your online business dealings. Something more like your corporate email address because you are in business now. This is the email that you will use to register for your Google account. It can be something like onlinebiz@hotmail.com or chuksconsult@yahoo.com Next you will be asked to create a Google account. You will be shown a form which you are expected to fill. I will now explain how to fill this form.

Email address: Enter the email address you want to use to register. This is the email address that you will be using to sign into your website. After filling the form, an email verification message will be sent to this email address. We shall look at the verification email shortly but for now just make sure that the email address you use is active. Type the email address again under “Retype email address” Password: This is the password that you will be using to log in after you have created your blog. It must be more than eight letters long. Make sure that it is something you can remember and write it down in case you forget it. You can use the same password that you use for your email, but we suggest that you use something different. As you type, a line will show under “Password strength”. This line shows you how strong your password is. Make sure that this line shows either blue or green. Blue means that the password is good, while green means that it’s very good. Sometimes you may not see a line at all. If there’s no line then don’t worry, just type the password, make sure it’s more than eight letters and retype it below where it says “Retype password” then move on to the next question Email notifications: You can skip this question, it doesn’t really matter. But if you’ll like to be getting announcements and other tips from Google then you can tick the small box beside the question by clicking on it. Birthday: You can also jump this question because it is not mandatory. But we advise that you enter your real date of birth because in the event that you forget your password, Google can use it to help you get another one. Note that the date you enter must be in the American format of Month/Day/Year e.g. if you were born on September 11, 1983, write it as 9/11/83. You may get errors if you don’t use the correct format to write the date. Word Verification: The word verification can be very tricky so you must look at the words in the picture very carefully and write them down in the box. The letters are not case sensitive. This means that it doesn’t matter whether you write them as small or capital letters. All that matters is that you get the letters correctly. If the letters you type are not correct, you will get an error message and be presented with a new word. Acceptance of Terms: After entering the word verification, tick the small box beside “I accept the Terms of Service” to show that you accept Google’s terms and conditions, and then click on “Continue” Verify Your Identity The next step is to verify your identity. You can do this via SMS text message where a code will be sent to your phone or through Voice call where an automated call will be made to your phone. Click on “Select a country” and select your country e.g Nigeria. Then enter your phone number in the box below it. The phone number should be in international format. To get the international format of your Nigerian number, remove the starting zero in your number and replace it with +234 like so (+234 is the country phone code for Nigeria): Concerning the network to use, we have found out that an MTN number receives the verification codes instantly while Glo may delay. We’ve not yet tried etisalat and airtel. Note that Starcomms, Multilinks and other CDMA numbers may not always work so my advice is that you use an MTN line for fastest results. It’s not a must that it has to be your own number because this is just for verification purposes only. But if you don’t have access to an MTN line then you can try any of the other networks. After entering your number in the correct format, click on “Send verification code to my mobile phone” If the number is not in the correct format, you will get an error message and you will need to enter the number again. You will receive a text message from Google containing your verification code. If the code does not arrive immediately, wait for a few minutes. If it still doesn’t come after a long time then you may have to try another number. To do this, click on “try sending it again” and enter another number and repeat the previous process. When you receive the code, enter it in the box and click on “Verify” Note: Sometimes when you try to verify your account by following the instructions above, you may see that only phone verification is available (no SMS) under verification options. At other times, you may get a message that your country is not supported. If you do not see the SMS option, you can go ahead and use the phone verification option instead. In this case, a phone call will be made to the number you enter and as soon as you answer the call, a voice will start calling out the code numbers so before answering the call you should be prepared with a pen and paper to write down the code. If you get the message that your country is not supported, it means Google is probably doing some maintenance work therefore you have to wait for 24 hours and try again the next day. If you still get the same message, try again few days after. If you enter the code correctly and there are no mistakes, you should see the following screen where you are required to enter the name that you want to use for your blog. Now remember earlier on I said that you have to choose a name for your blog, this is where you enter that name which you have chosen. You must also enter a title for your blog under “Blog Title” Before going ahead, let me talk about the Blog title a bit. The Blog title is a very important aspect of your blog because it plays a huge role in determining how easily people will find your website when they search. In conjunction with the blog address, the Blog title is among the most important aspects of your blog. The title you use for your blog should not be too long and could be between 5 to 15 words long. This title can be changed at any time after creating the blog but it’s not advisable to change it frequently, if at all. Some examples of good Blog titles are: Nigerian Jobs Recruitment and Careers Website Nigerian News – Hot News, Breaking News and Popular Nigeria Issues It is important here to point out that whatever subject your blog is talking about, the title ought to be related to that subject. In the examples given above and on the previous page, the first is for a job blog, the second is for a news site, the third is a personal blog and the fourth is also for a job blog. After entering the Blog title, the next thing is to enter the blog address. As shown in the image, what you enter here this is the part of your blog address that will appear before .blogspot.com. For example, if you picked nigerianjobseeker as your blog name, then that is what you have to enter here. In the end, the full website address of your blog will be www.nigerianjobseeker.blogspot.com. This is what you or other people must type to visit your blog. Remember that since this is a free name, you must always include the .blogspot.com for it to work. Assuming that the name you chose for your blog (as discussed earlier) is nigerianjobs, then under blog address, you should enter nigerianjobs To know if this name is still available, you can click on “Check Availability” and it will tell you whether that name has already been used by another person or not. If it has already been used, it will suggest some names that you can use. If you don’t like any of the suggested names then you can type in a new name and click on “Check Availability” to check again if it’s available. You have to keep trying until you find a name that is available. While at it, bear in mind that many of the common combinations you can think of have already been used by other people so you have to be quite creative while selecting a name. When you finally find one that is still available, take note of it and then click on “continue” If everything has been done properly, you will be asked to choose a starter template for your blog. Click on the second template (Simple) and then click “Continue” at the bottom. You will be taken to a new screen which tells you that your blog has been created. All very easy. Congratulations! Now you have your very own blog. Click on “Start Blogging” to start using your new website