Reader Zoom Level Affects Screen Space Needed

I have suggested that properly sizing the Jump Break and Title sections of each post is an important decision, when publishing a post in your blog.

Publishing this blog, using carefully sized post title and jump break sections, allows me to consistently publish posts, with maximum detail visible in main page view - and with the "Read more" link visible.

Potential readers may read a post in this blog - instead of returning to a SERP, and reading another blog. This affects a key reader retention metric, the "bounce rate".

All of that considered, sizing of the introductory post sections won't always produce predictable results.

Reader zoom level is a semi random factor, which makes blog section sizing less predictable than one would wish, when trying to increase reader retention.

I size my posts using "100%" zoom, in the Chrome browser. This may, or may not, produce the same effect, for readers using Edge / Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other browser. And the differing browser will not be the only varying factor.

All of these details can affect zoom level, screen space requirements, and reader retention - for any different blog. Here it is helpful for the blog owner to know about the typical reader.

• Display screen size.
• Reader age.
• Multi tasking activity.
• Tech interest level.

Display screen size will affect how the blog sections look, to each reader.

Browser choice is not the only variation, that can affect screen space and blog section display sizes.

Reader display screen size used is a detail, that I cannot control. The computer on which I compose most posts has a 6" high screen. A second computer, that I use from time to time, has an 8" high screen. The second computer, even at a 125% zoom level, still displays more post content in one screen page.

This post (in main page view) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 6" vertical display.



Let's compare this post, displayed at several zoom levels.

Here's this post, in the individual post page display - without Jump Break. See how it looks, zoomed in various font sizes. Note that here I use a maximised browser window, though some readers will resize the browser window to fit the blog content.

This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 6" vertical display.

This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 10" vertical display.

This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 75% zoom level.



Smaller zoom is more likely to be used by people with better eyesight - using better resolution and more expensive computers, and smaller browser windows.

This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 125% zoom level.



Larger zoom is more likely to be used by people with marginally worse eyesight. This will frequently involve older people.

Older readers will be more likely to use higher zoom levels.

Reader age is another detail which each blog author may consider, in blog design.

Blogs which attract older readers should be designed for displays which use higher zoom levels - or use larger fonts, to begin. Older readers, with marginal eyesight, will be more likely to surf the web with their browsers zoomed higher.

Multi tasking encourages smaller browser windows - and lower zoom levels.

Younger readers, who like to multi task, will probably use low zoom - and size the browser window smaller, so they can have multiple windows, simultaneously visible in large computer displays. Older readers will be more likely to focus on one task at a time - and will maximise the browser window, with higher zoom.

Blog subject may produce readers of differing age and tech interest.

Each blog, depending upon its content, may be more or less likely to interest readers of a given age and / or and tech interest level. People of different tech interest levels may also be more or less likely to use computers with higher resolution, and may multi task using smaller browser windows.

The bottom line.

Each blog owner will have to consider the various issues mentioned above - for each post published - and decide what screen sizes and zoom levels might be preferred by the target reader audience.

Only a blog owner can decide what reader audience may be more interested in each individual post - and may benefit from a specific zoom level. And this affects the proper sizing of the jump break and title section of each post.

---

Several details of a #Blogger blog audience affect what post title and jump break section will be more appropriate, for each individual blog. These details, in turn, can affect bounce rate / retention rate.

Wording The Blog Title And URL - Same or Unique?

Some blog owners setup a new blog - and want to know if the blog title and URL may - or (alternately) should - be the same.

There is no policy for Blogger, about blog title and URL - either that the "words" in each can, or cannot, be the same. Some SEO experts suggest benefits from having relevant words, in the URL - and some blog owners confuse this advice, as suggesting having identical titles and URLs.

Be wary of advice that references websites, in discussions about blogs. There are subtle, but real, differences between dynamic blogs, and static websites. Rules that may be important for websites may not be relevant, for blogs.

The most obvious differences, between blogs and websites, are found in content - but blog design may have similar differences.

SEO strategies, for a dynamic blog, and a static website, will be different. Dynamic blogs have many exciting opportunities.



I have suggested that it may not be possible to make the blog title and URL the same, in all cases.

• Most subjects won't be unique. Many blogs will share a subject.
• The blog URL must be unique. Two blogs cannot share a URL.
• The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

Most subjects won't be unique.

Any popular subject will have many blogs published to that subject. Every blog, about the same subject, will have a different URL.

If a blog is published, to a subject which has no competition, it will be a subject which interests nobody. A blog with no competition will likely have no readers.

The blog URL must be unique.

Two blogs cannot share a URL. One URL == one blog.

That does not mean that title and URL cannot share "words" - just that it's not possible that they will be identical, for all blogs.

There can be only so many ways to mention your favourite, top level movie star, in the title - and there will be even less ways to construct a unique URL. A less famous celebrity, on the other hand, will have less blogs to compete - and less readers also.

The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

URLs can use only certain characters.

a sequence of characters beginning with a letter and followed by any combination of letters, digits, plus (+), period (.), or hyphen (-)

That syntax is somewhat limited, compared to characters that may be used in blog titles - and in the blog description and content. Less choice of syntax leads to less possibilities for uniqueness, while providing some clue as to the purpose of the blog.

A Blogger blog is dynamic - and you SEO using content.

Blogger blog content is dynamic. You get more performance, from a blog with regularly published, unique content, that's informative and interesting.

You get less performance, from imaginative naming strategies. Acme does not make an "SEO Kit", for Blogger blogs.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners worry about the need to publish a blog with the Title and URL containing the same words. Some suggest that having identical words is necessary, others that having identical words is not permitted.

Fortunately, neither possibility is relevant to Blogger / Google Content or TOS regulation. Blogger and Google care about content quality - and prohibit scraping and spam.

Verify BlogSpot And Domain URLs

Whenever dealing with any problem with a blog, you should verify the URLs involved.

Some of the most baffling problems, with blog connectivity, identity, or ownership, can start from simple typographical errors. This possibility will involve both native "blogspot.com" and custom domain URLs.

The Publishing wizard window, in the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, is essential for identifying errors. Whether you paste or type a URL into the registrar's zone editor, the Publishing wizard, or the browser address window, you can make a mistake. Checking the Publishing wizard is as important as examining a Dig log extract - or as viewing an HTTP trace.

Verifying the URLs involved, in the dashboard Publishing wizard, is as important as examining a Dig log extract, or an HTTP trace.

This will be the case, when dealing with various "blogspot.com" connectivity problems, researching a custom domain problem, or a dashboard or ownership problem.

Both screen prints, and text copies, are very useful - and not redundant.

Both a screen print, and a text copy, of the Publishing window (and / or the browser address window) is very useful, when diagnosing connectivity problems - or possibly, researching ownership issues, or similarly vanished blogs. And with a custom domain, similar detail from the registrar zone editor is useful.

A text copy of the contents is needed, to avoid having to re type the URL - and maybe cause a different problem when comparing the URL. And a visual copy of the Publishing wizard is good, to identify the context of any problem.

Let's look at two blogs - and what we need to examine / verify.

My test blog, published as "nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com".

Here, we see a "blogspot.com" URL, in the browser address window.

http://nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.

The Publishing display, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.



Useful text details, from Publishing, for a "blogspot.com" published blog:

nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com                                  Edit

If you are requesting assistance with your native Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

My blog, published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

Here, we see a custom domain URL, in the browser address window.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page. for a custom domain published blog.

The Publishing display, for a custom domain published blog.



Useful text details, for a custom domain published blog:

blogging.nitecruzr.net                                                  Edit
bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com                               redirects

With a custom domain published blog, next click on "Edit", and make a second screen print.

The second page of the Publishing display - which only applies to a custom domain published blog.


You maybe have seen this display, similarly formatted, in an infamous "Error 12" or similar display.

The domain root redirection, properly selected.



More essential details, for a custom domain published blog:

Third party domain settings
http://  blogging.nitecruzr.net
  X   Redirect nitecruzr.net to blogging.nitecruzr.net.

If you are requesting assistance with your custom domain published Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

A zone editor display, for my domain "nitecruzr.co.uk".


A zone editor display, from GoDaddy. Every registrar will have a different display.


If you purchased the domain using a credit or debit account, the bank statement and / or charge advice will frequently have a description which details the purchase. In some cases, this will include the domain name.

Comparing the URLs in the browser window, and in the Publishing window - and in Dig logs and zone editor displays (for custom domains) - we can identify typographical errors, and other mistakes. Typographical errors can be a cause of various problems, when publishing blogs to custom domains - and to "blogspot.com".

Some problems result from failure to copy and paste, properly. They can be as challenging to diagnose, as failure to observe registrar name server syntax.

Having verified the URLs, in some cases, you will continue with an affinity diagnosis, and with a differential diagnosis. This is all part of my simple 12 link test set.

You, the blog owner, may consider "duplicate" and "redundant" to be synonyms. When we research a blog problem, "duplicate" != "redundant". Many confusing problems have been solved, by comparing combinations of various above details - and by finding inequality, in one or more displays.

---

Diagnosing problems with #Blogger blogs can require careful diagnostics, using details found in dashboard screen prints and detail text copies, in Dig logs, and in HTTP traces. All details must be carefully compared, both visually and using text extracts, to diagnose some problems.

Much of this may seem superficial, to experienced support analysts - yet be obscure to some blog owners.

Blogger Terminology - Blogs Vs Posts

Sometimes, we see odd confusion in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I deleted my blog - can somebody help me restore it? I worked so many days writing it!

or alternately

I am trying to write a new blog, but it says my url has already been taken (by me).

If the first owner is kind enough to include the URL of the deleted "blog", we may use our favourite online diagnostic tool - and discover that the blog is still online, and not deleted! In the second case, we may find a new blog, with one post.

Investigating further, we discover that the problem here involves terminology. This article that I am writing, "Blogger Terminology - Blogs Vs Posts", is a post, which is part of my blog, "The REAL Blogger Status" (which right now is actually The ONLY Blogger Status - but that is another tale).

The terminology here is pedantic, to us - but it's very real, to the blog owner who has just deleted an important post. Or to the owner who has published one post - and now wants to publish a second (not blog, post).

A Blogger blog is a collection of pages and posts, under a common root URL.

A Blogger blog contains pages and posts.

You publish new posts (and pages), to a blog, to add indexable content. Both pages and posts will add value, given informative, interesting, and unique material.

So why do some people confuse blogs, and posts?

So what is the confusion, between blogs and posts? I've seen some helpers muse that social networks, like FaceBook, may offer the option to create a "blog" as part of your Wall. A FaceBook "blog", which is equivalent to one Blogger "post", becomes one more article that's part of the FaceBook experience - which is passed on by one's acquaintances.

People used to writing on FaceBook walls may be used to creating a "blog", which we simply call a "post". It's a simple mistake. Similar to "blog" vs "post", some blog owners confuse "pages" and "posts".

Call it a "blog" - or a "post" - your choice - just please don't work on it, unpublished!

Whatever you wish to call it, please don't spend days editing it, before Publishing. Terminology aside, losing days of work is not a trivial concern. The lament described above is very real, for too many blog owners.

Also, don't create a "duplicate" blog, to publish a new article - add a post (or a page) to the existing blog.

Blogs LIsted Twice, In The Blogger Profile Or Dashboard

Occasionally, an oddity in our Blogger profiles will cause confusion - and offer some blog owners a opportunity to make a bad mistake. For some unknown reason, some Blogger blogs may be listed twice, in the dashboard or profile Blog List.

If you are one of these blog owners, seeing the same blog listed twice in your dashboard or profile, think before you act! Check the URL behind the blog title, for each entry - you'll see an identical URL behind both.

Seeing the duplication and only wanting a clean list, some blog owners will innocently delete one of the duplicates.

I don't need two of the same!

Since the two entries reflect the same blog, the owner will see the list go from two of the same, to zero of the same.

Now where is my blog?

Hopefully, the mysterious blog will now be present in the deleted blogs list, and can be un deleted.

1. Possibly, the blog can be un deleted - and will produce one entry in the blog list. This is the best result.
2. Less desirably, the blog can be undeleted, and will simply restore both duplicate entries to the list. This is the realistic result.
3. Undesirably, the blog won't appear in the deleted list - or can't be un deleted, even if in the list. This is the undesired (but still possible) result.

Do you feel lucky, punk?

Recalling a few previous reports of this oddity, I've observed that the problem spans GUIs - both the Classic GUI, and now the New (2011) GUI. I'm pretty sure that the problem involves the Blogger profile - the Classic dashboard (dark blue / orange) is where I first observed this, though I won't say that the problem is not also present for blog owners using the new Google profile (orange / white).

It's your blog, and your profile - so you are entitled to see what happens. I recommend just accepting the uncertainty - you won't be charged any more for having two blogs, than for having one.

>> Top

Identifying An Available URL - #2

The issue of URL availability has been a subject of intense debate, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, for several years.

Many would be blog owners URLs learn that neither "dormant" blogs, nor deleted blogs, nor spam locked blogs, are automatically available for the curious nor desperate.

Those denied the URL of their choice ask

How do I find an available URL? All of the good ones are taken - and picking one that's available is way too much work! I'm moving my blog to WordPress!

And that complaint is somewhat valid.

Under the Classic GUI, picking an available URL was a pretty painful process.

Here is the first really helpful and innovative improvement, in the New Blogger GUI.

When you use the "Create a new blog" wizard under the New Blogger GUI (2011), you paste or type the blog name or URL into the "Address" window, as usual. What's different about this wizard is that the "Address" is verified, for URL availability and validity, in real time.

Check it out! Enter a Title, and select a Template, first. Then, get started.

Paste (or type) the name which you have chosen (only the "xxxxxxx" portion of "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com") into the window, and see what it displays. If you see a yellow exclamation mark, and

Sorry, this blog address is not available.

Try a variation on the URL - add a letter or number - or some very specific characters. See what happens, as you type.

• "a" - "z" (lowercase alphabetic characters).
• "0" - "9" (numeric characters).
• "-" (dash character, which may not be the first or last character in the name!)).

This is a limited character set - but you want a reliable name, not a showy one. Your Blogger blog has to depend upon directory services from thousands of DNS servers, all over the Internet - so try and pick a name that will work everywhere. See Blogger Help: About URLs for additional advice.

As soon as you see a blue check mark, and

This blog address is available.

Hit the "Create blog!" button, now - and create your new blog.

Note that with the "Create a blog" sequence made simpler, you'll take less time choosing an address. Unfortunately, as long as you take longer than 0.00 seconds choosing a given address, there's always some slight chance that another person can choose the same address, simultaneously.

If you hit the "Create blog!" button after somebody else, and both of you have entered the same blog name - even with "This blog address is available." visible - one of you will still get an error message, with the bad news.

Sorry, this blog address is not available.

or

The subdomain name is not available.

The chance that someone else could "steal" your chosen address, while you are choosing it, will never be zero. It will simply be lower with the New GUI, then with the Classic GUI.

Only one person - the person who hits the "Create blog!" button first - gets the URL. If you're creating a blog based on some recent new trend or news story, there will probably be other people doing the same. You'll have to move quickly - grab an available URL immediately, when you see one. Wait .050 seconds, instead of .025 seconds, and you may miss your chance.

As with renaming your blog, please note that addresses previously taken will not be reissued to you by Blogger - a 10 year old blog remains valid, whether published once daily for 10 years, or once 10 years ago and never again.

If you're setting up a new blog, and you pick a popular subject for your new blog, you're still going to have to do some experimentation, to find an available URL. With the New Blogger GUI, you'll simply have a slightly easier time finding one.

Cloning Your Blog

Occasionally, we see evidence of wistful thinking in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I make an exact copy of my blog, to another URL?

This should be a simple enough task - but it's not.

Before planning to clone a blog, using exact content, design, and layout, one should always bear in mind the search engines, and the possibility that both a clone may be subject to search engine duplicated content penalty - which may affect both blogs. Search engines want to index one copy of everything. When there are multiple copies of a given post on the Internet, all copies must be treated with suspicion.

When planning any cloning operation, we must consider the essential elements of a blog.

• Accessories and Gadgets. There is currently no easy way to copy XML based accessories from one blog to another.
• Blog Address. This is unique for each blog, and cannot be cloned. All blog content, which refers to the blog address (URL) must be updated. Internal links must be edited, to point to other articles within the target blog. External references to the blog may or may not need to be updated, to point to the new address.
• Comments and Posts. Blog "articles" written by blog members and visitors can be copied from the source blog to the target blog, using the Export / Import wizards. Note one known caution, which should be observed when Importing content.
• Layout and Template. The blog template can be copied from the source blog to the target blog, using the Template backup and restore wizards.
• Blog Reputation. As with any new blog, this will start from scratch. All external links and references - whether the search engines, or the user community in general - must start from zero. This will be vaguely similar to the process of renaming a blog - with the exception of the reputation of both the source and target blogs, as noted above.

Some people, mindful of the inability to copy an XML based accessory / gadget, will suggest extracting the HTML rendered equivalent, from a blog source listing - then creating an HTML gadget in the target blog, using the extracted HTML from the source blog. This is a possible workaround, with several downsides.

• This will be a manual and repetitive process, one gadget at a time.
• Any gadgets, copied this way, will be based on HTML, and can't be maintained using an XML wizard.
• The content of any gadgets, copied this way, will be static.

One specific accessory, Followers, is a part of both the source blog, and the Followers community - the collective profiles owned by all of the Followers. The Followers gadget simply cannot be copied, from one blog to another.

Other than the exceptions of the Accessories, and of the Followers community and gadget, almost any Blogger blog can be cloned - with the proper planning and understanding.

>> Top

Attention Blog Owners - Nobody Knows Your Blog

One confusion, which we see in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken regularly, concerns blog owners and their understanding about search engine functionality.

I can't find my blog!

This is frequently more completely expressed as

I can't find my blog, listed in a Search Engine Results Page, when I search by URL (blog title, some other obscure detail ...)!

Equally as mystifying are people who report

I typed in the name of some obscure porn concept, and found my blog listed. Why is my blog listed with porn?

This problem is partially caused by some browser producers, who confuse us by combining the browser address and search windows. There are other reasons for the confusion, too.

When you have a blog with an established audience, and you are able to examine demographic detail found in various visitor logs and meters, you'll observe activity from various sources.

• Search engines and similar robotic indexing services.
• People, using newsfeed subscriptions, and various newsfeed clients.
• People, pasting or typing the URL into the browser address window.
• People, clicking on links in bloglists (on other peoples blogs), and bookmarks (in their personal browsers).

People using search engines find your blog from searching for content.

When the visitor log, that you are examining, provides you with detail about your search engine traffic sources, you'll notice that most people using search engines find your blog when using search terms that reference blog content. This is because people using search engines do not know about your blog, and do not know (or care about) the blog name, title, or URL.

People who know how to use their browser most effectively, and already know about your blog, will use one of the latter 3 services to find your blog.

People who use search engines do not know about your blog - they want content.

The people who use search engines, for the most part, will be people who do not know your blog, or are looking for material other than - or in addition to - your blog. None of these people will use the blog title or URL, in their search activity.

If you are going to get new Followers, readers, subscribers, and viewers in general, you have to work hard, get the blog indexed, and get it properly publicised. And, it needs to appear in a good position, in a popular search engine results page, for some amount of time.

Use Search Console (pka Webmaster Tools) to measure search indexing results.

If you're using a blog URL search to measure search engine indexing of your blog, use the diagnostics in Google Webmaster Tools, for a more efficient and objective analysis. If you're using a blog URL search to measure visitor perception of your blog, wise up and get to work on your blog.

There Will Always Be Multiple Blogs, For Any Popular Subject

Anyone is free to publish a Blogger blog, discussing any subject.

The Blogosphere is full of many blogs, some discussing the same subject as others. A blog on any subject can have any title desired by the owner - and the title can be identical to the subject, or it may differ from the subject, as desired. This leads to many blogs having the same title - and this is OK.

Unfortunately, though many blogs may have the same subject and title, each blog must have a unique URL. Some blog owners have a problem with this policy, since they believe that their subject, title, and URL must match. Not every blog owner understands why not every blog, ever written, can have a matching subject, title, and URL.

Since anybody can publish a blog on any subject desired, there will be many blogs discussing the more popular subjects.

Blogger has a clear and undisputable URL allocation policy.

Like disputes over vanity license plates, this leads to harsh feelings - because once a URL is taken by somebody, that URL is not available to anybody else. Blogger has a clear and definitive policy on the subject of URL allocation.

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

Some would be blog owners ignore the reality of the Blogger policy.

Some prospective blog owners, seeing the URL of their dreams already in use, spend some time examining the blogs published to the URLs which they deem worthy of their blog.

Finding one or more blogs being inactively published, by their standards, they conclude that Blogger has a problem with URL allocation, and with their stated policy. They then publish a complaint in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I would like to suggest that after a period of years where a blog that has less than some number of posts, the current owner of the blog is sent notice declaring that unless they respond within some number of days, their URL will be taken from them, so it may be reassigned to another, more worthy blog owner.

These envious blog owners seem to overlook several details.

• Any blog owner is free to publish a blog, and to discuss any subject of interest.
• Relevant to any subject, the owner may publish any number of posts as desired.
• Relevant to any subject, the owner may publish as often (or as rarely) as desired.
• The more popular blog subjects will have more blogs published, discussing that subject - and most likely, using the more relevant URLs.

To make the suggestion work, Blogger would need to establish a URL retention policy, and judge each URL whenever necessary - possibly relevant to the current popularity of the blog subject. The more popular subjects (and URLs) will have more applicants for that URL, and will be judged more often. If you want a URL that's not available, what are the chances that you are alone, in wanting that URL?

Everybody cannot have the URL of their dreams.

The bottom line is simple.

The more popular the blog subject, the less likely that you will get the URL of your dreams, to use with your blog.

If you have a blog to start, start it today, and pick an available URL. Don't waste time trying to convince Blogger to give you someone else's URL. Consider alternate choices.

• Make a different spelling or punctuated version of your desired URL (as available).
• Publish a Blogger blog to a non BlogSpot URL (as available).
• Find another blog host, and publish your dream URL using their service (again, as available).

Use The Post Feed Redirect URL, When You Rename Your Blog

When we rename a blog, we use the Post Feed Redirect URL to redirect all feed references, from the old URL to the new feed URL.

When we setup a custom feed for a blog, maybe using FeedBurner, we use the Post Feed Redirect URL to redirect all feed references, from the blog, to the FeedBurner feed. That lets us use a FeedBurner feed without having to change all of the feed links in the blog.

Besides using the Post Feed Redirect URL to setup a FeedBurner feed, you can use the Post Feed Redirect URL when you re publish the blog to a new BlogSpot URL.

Please! Be sure to setup the Post Feed Redirect in the proper direction.

Using the post feed redirect is a simple, 1 - 2 - 3 exercise.

1. Publish a stub blog, to the old URL.
2. Determine the URL of the blog post feed, under the new URL.
3. Set the post feed redirect, for the stub blog.

Publish a stub blog, to the old URL.

Immediately after you re publish the blog to its new URL, you should be setting up a stub blog, to visually point your readers to the new URL. Besides visually pointing your readers, you can re point your subscribers - again using the stub blog.

Determine the URL of the blog post feed, under the new URL.

Copy the updated feed URL from the blog header. Precision is essential when redirecting the feed, so let Blogger do the work for you here - determine the new post feed URL, properly.

Set the post feed redirect, for the stub blog.

Go to Settings - Other, for the stub blog, published to the old URL. Edit the "Post Feed Redirect URL", and paste the new feed URL, as just copied.

When you do this, all subscribers to your blog, under the old URL, should see the blog feed in its new home, with linked content. The search engines, indexing the blog using a sitemap based upon the old URL, should start indexing it using the new URL.

Properly done, this should give your blog, under the new URL, a good start towards regaining the search engine reputation that it had, under the old URL.

Renaming Your Blog - Planning The Change Properly

Your blog depends upon traffic for its success.

Anything that affects the traffic to your blog, such as a change in the URL, affects the success of your blog. If you republish your blog to a different BlogSpot URL, as with migration to a custom domain, you will not lose any content. Both comments, posts, the template, and all custom settings, will stay with the blog. And if you plan the republishing effort, you can minimise the loss of traffic.

Properly planning the migration, to a different BlogSpot URL, will require different techniques than a simple custom domain republishing.

All 3 URL changes produce similar effects, though - and it's in your best interest to do what you can, to minimise the effects.

1. BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change.
2. BlogSpot to custom domain re publishing.
3. Custom domain to BlogSpot re publishing.

All 3 changes require your blog to be re indexed by the search engines - and leave the blog with less search engines generated traffic, while being re indexed.

A BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL change is different from a custom domain publishing.

Custom domain re publishing has a feature that BlogSpot to BlogSpot URL changes lack. This will reduce negative effects of the URL change - with the domain properly setup.

With a custom domain republishing, the old (BlogSpot) URL is redirected to the new (domain) URL, using a "301 Moved Permanently" instruction. A "301 Moved Permanently" redirect simply repoints each individual URL in the blog to the new URL.

Unlike a custom domain renaming, you cannot choose an available URL, before you begin.

This post (using the domain URL) is "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/03/renaming-your-blog-planning-change.html". I can, alternately, advertise it as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2010/03/renaming-your-blog-planning-change.html". That's the "301 Moved Permanently" redirection, in action. All traffic is forwarded, automatically.

There is no way to add "301 Moved Permanently" redirect to a BlogSpot rename.

Blogger won't provide a "301 Moved Permanently" for a BlogSpot rename, as this would encourage spammers to move their splogs around, endlessly. The best that you can do is to use a stub blog, with proper planning.

If you want the blog offline permanently - or if you don't want other people recreating the blog under its current name, you will want to plan the renaming - just as you would (or should) plan a deletion. If the URL becomes available, the same content / impersonation / privacy issues will exist.

Consider the categories of traffic sources, and the effects.

As with a custom domain migration, you'll want to consider the traffic to the blog, in categories.

• Blog Feeds - Automated processes, that help your readers track changes to your blog, using a newsfeed reader.
• Following - The two way community process, that lets you see who your readers are.
• Google Webmaster Tools - Key diagnostic and management utilities, that - among other things - enable indexing of the blog by the search engines.
• Search engines - Robotic processes which methodically surf your blog, and provide dynamic indexing to people who search for information.
• Viewers - People who read your content from their browser.

Blog Feeds are the easiest and cleanest category to redirect. Even though Blogger won't provide a "301 Moved Permenantly" for the blog URL, they will provide this for the feed URL, using a blog post feed redirect URL.

With the post feed enabled for both the live blog (under the new URL), and the stub blog (under the old URL), set the Post Feed Redirect URL for the stub blog to the exact value of the feed URL for the live blog. Your Followers and subscribers, using the old URL, will continue to see newsfeeds for your live blog, while using the old URL.

Following, with the renaming done correctly, is easy to redirect. Your Followers, as mentioned above, can view the blog feed using the old URL, with no problem. With the blog renamed simply using Settings - Publishing, your Followers will continue to be associated with the blog, with no further action by you.

Google Webmaster Tools are a vital part of the migration, and should be handled immediately after you re publish the blog, and then immediately after you setup the stub blog. You'll have several challenges here.

1. The "robots.txt" file for the blog, as renamed, may contain the old URL.
2. The new URL for the blog won't exist in Google Webmaster Tools, so you have to add that. When you verify blog ownership, you'll have to remove the GWT verification tags for the blog, that were used under the old URL.
3. You'll have to setup sitemaps for all posts in the blog, under the new URL, to complement / replace those under the old URL before the blog was re published.

The search engines will be the most frustrating part of any blog rename. Without any possibility of a "301 Moved Permanently" redirect, or anything remotely similar, any SERP hits will land the prospective viewer on a 404 display. Your best strategy is to manage the other categories aggressively, and hope that the search engines re index your blog promptly under the new URL.

Your viewers will have to be redirected using the stub post in the stub blog, published under the old URL. Your viewers looking for the main page of the blog will see the stub post, with no problem. Your viewers clicking on a direct link to a single post, an archive or label search, or possibly a SERP hit, will get a 404 display.

Page not found
Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog The Real Blogger Status does not exist.

Go to blog homepage

The "Go to blog homepage" link will, hopefully, display the stub post - and they can follow the link to the new URL. That's a start, and it's all thanks to the Blogger custom 404 display.

OK, lets summarise the tasks involved.

1. Is this blog published to a Google custom domain? If so, read about specific issues related to custom domain URL changes.
2. Re publish the blog, under the new URL.
3. Enable the feeds, and verify feed URLs.
4. Setup Google Webmaster Tools for the blog, under the new URL. Look in the Sitemap list for the blog. Any sitemaps in there right now will likely point to the old URL, so these need to be removed. Then, add sitemaps for all posts.
5. Setup a stub blog, under the old URL.
6. Set the Post Feed Redirect URL, to point to the feed for the new URL.
7. Check Google Webmaster Tools for the blog, under the old URL. Look in the Sitemap list for the blog. You'll probably have to re add all sitemaps for the blog, to enable the search engines to index the blog, starting from the old URL, through the redirected feed.
8. Are you using a FeedBurner (or another custom feed)? If so, update FeedBurner, then check the Post Feed Redirect URL setting.
9. Check and update all Google Webmaster Tools settings, between the old and new URLs. Think carefully about each setting, and decide whether it should apply to the blog under the old URL, under the new URL, or both.
10. Are you using Mail-to-Blogger to publish to the blog? If so, check your Mail-to-Blogger addresses.

And if possible, read about the details involved in the rename process before you rename the existing blog. This last caution especially applies to changing one non BlogSpot URL to another non BlogSpot URL.

What's The BlogID Of My Blog?

This blog is (for those of you not familiar with it) "The Real Blogger Status".

The URL (name) of this blog is currently "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/", and it was previously "http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/". Subject to the details involved in the renaming process, I am entitled to rename this blog anytime that I wish, and the name (URL) can change, anytime I do so.

There is another "name" for the blog, that does not change (unless I should perform a blog / URL swap).

The BlogID is the internal name, that's setup when the blog is first created. Look at the source for the blog, in the header.

<head>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD"
href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />

There we see two places to find the BlogID.

If you are a blog member, you can also find the BlogID in a few links in your dashboard. In some cases when asking for help in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, you may need the BlogID, as well as the URL.

Since the BlogID is easily visible in the blog source code, you'll not hide it with any useful result. The BlogID, when known, won't provide a hacker or blog thief access to the dashboard. Any URL which contains "blogID" can only be used by a blog owner or administrator.

If I were unlucky, and this blog was to be locked as suspected spam, the BlogID would become the LockedBlogID. In this case, the LockedBlogID may be the only thing useful in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Your Blog, Schizophrenia, And The Search Engines

One of my most intriguing subjects (to me, anyway) examines the differences between the "root" alias of a BlogSpot blog, and the "www" alias (ie, "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com" and "www.bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com").

The fact that they are separately stored in browser cache will cause mysterious results, when the blog is viewed alternately using the two different aliases.

This is not a terrible problem for your readers, when they simply read the blog. It can cause problems with the search engines, though, as they index your blog based upon inlinks from your readers.

When you publicise your BlogSpot blog, you are hopefully careful to use only one of the aliases, consistently.

If this blog was published only to "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com", that is the URL that I would use. But there are reasons why Blogger provides us with the use of the "www" alias too, and that has very likely spawned a community of bloggers who refer to their blogs using the "www" alias.

If your blog is inlinked by a blogger of the latter community, I will bet that some of them are similarly inlinking to the "www" alias on your blog. So now, you are going to have some readers inlinking to the "root" of your blog, and others inlinking to the "www" alias.

What do the search engines do? They index based upon the inlinks, then they see duplicated content between the two diferent addresses, and they levy the infamous "duplicated content" penalty. Worse yet - because of the asynchronous cache issue, they're going to also index different content occasionally.

Google has provided us with a solution to this "split personality" problem. If you setup Google Webmaster Tools for your blog, click on the "gear" icon, and select "Site Settings". For "Preferred domain", you'll have the choice to have your blog indexed consistently, as either the "root" or the "www" alias.

If you specify your preferred domain as http://www.example.com and we find a link to your site that is formatted as http://example.com, we'll treat that link as if it was http://www.example.com.

You should note that, if you're using a custom domain published blog, as in "www.example.com", this option is more likely to work if you setup the domain DNS properly.

A very simple setting, easy to make, and with apparently magical results. No more schizophrenic indexing. Simple, no?
>> Top

Identifying An Available BlogSpot URL

When you create a new blog, the first essential task is to decide upon the BlogSpot URL. You want to do this right, because this is one of the most challenging changes, successfully, after the blog becomes mature and gets a reputation. What is the one most important characteristic that your new blog URL has to have?

Uniqueness.

The blog name has to be available - not in use, in any way, by another blog.

Many bloggers start their new blog by picking a name.

How do you find out if the name of your choice is available?

And there is really only one way to tell, and it's not obvious.

Here are three blog names.

anavailableurl
perryfx
anavailableurl2

Only one of these three is available. Which one is that?

"anavailableurl.blogspot.com" was apparently deleted by Blogger or by its owner. The URL is not available.



"perryfx.blogspot.com" was possibly deleted by Blogger, as a suspected spam blog. Review and restoration is (was) pending. The URL is not available.



"anavailableurl2.blogspot.com" is (was) probably available. The URL was probably available, though it may not necessarily be available now.



Some bloggers try to determine an available (non existent) URL by using the "ping" (aka "ICMP echo") command.

C:\>ping anavailableurl.blogspot.com

Pinging blogspot.l.google.com [74.125.19.191] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=158ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=861ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=206ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=128ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 74.125.19.191:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 128ms, Maximum = 861ms, Average = 338ms

C:\>ping perryfx.blogspot.com

Pinging blogspot.l.google.com [74.125.19.191] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=153ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=118ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=133ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 74.125.19.191:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 118ms, Maximum = 153ms, Average = 135ms

C:\>ping anavailableurl2.blogspot.com

Pinging blogspot.l.google.com [74.125.19.191] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=136ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=130ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=139ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 74.125.19.191:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 125ms, Maximum = 139ms, Average = 132ms

With many networks, you will see definitive proof when an address does not exist, or when an address may exist but no host at the address is responding. Long ago, BlogSpot would respond that way too. Then Blogger found out that spammers were hijacking previously used URLs.

• Search for recently abandoned URLs by using the "ping" command.
• Pick up URLs with search engine reputation left behind by the previous owner
  • Pinged previously as in use
  • Pinged now as not in use
• Publishing to the URLs not in use.

Blogger decided to cloak the fact that a blog URL is not in use now, and / or was never in use.

C:\>ping nitecruzr-says-that-this-blog-does-not-exist.blogspot.com

Pinging blogspot.l.google.com [74.125.19.191] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=117ms TTL=56
Reply from 74.125.19.191: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 74.125.19.191:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 117ms, Maximum = 145ms, Average = 133ms

Does "nitecruzr-says-that-this-blog-does-not-exist.blogspot.com" actually exist? It did not, when this demonstration was published. In reality, we don't know - for a certainty - that we might be permitted to create a blog using any of the 4 URLs above.

The only way that availability of an URL is truly known is after it's too late.

Go to "Create a blog", and enter the blog name of your choice. If the name is available, your new blog will be given that name, and it won't be available after that.

And that, in reality, is the only way of determining availablity.

If "Create a blog" says that it's not available, then you can't have it. If "Create a blog" creates a new blog for you, then you have it. And now, it's not available.

And that's reality.

>> Top

What's The BlogSpot URL Of My Blog?

We see this question a lot, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

Hello! What's the address of my blog?

and generally it motivates a simple answer.

Can you view the blog online? If so, look in the browser address window.

or

Can you login to Blogger? Find the "View Blog" link.

There are cases when the above advice, though technically correct, doesn't help answer the original question.

• If the blog was deleted or locked as spam (righteously or unrighteously), it won't be online. The Asker of the question will be instructed to undergo the hated 4 step protocol.


• If the blog was published to a custom domain, the BlogSpot URL will be available in only one specific place. The Asker will be instructed to look at Settings - Publishing - "Advanced Settings" - "We won't leave your readers behind!"


• If the blog was deleted or locked, and it was published to a custom domain, only the lockedblogID will be available - and that will be only from the dashboard "Restore Blog" link.

>> Top

Ambiguity Over The Social Networking Concept Of Blog

As I write in Your Blog Is Like You - Unique, the name of this blog is "bloggerstatusforreal", and its URL is now "blogging.nitecruzr.net" (it's also known as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com"). There are many articles in this blog, and the articles are called "posts".

If you have a social networking account, like FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...), you may write a blog, to discuss a specific concern or interest which you may have. Both you and your friends may reply to your blog. If you have another concern or interest, you may create another blog for your account.

A FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...) blog, with many replies, is the equivalent to a Blogger (WordPress, TypePad, ...) post, with many comments. One FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...) account can contain many blogs, just as one Blogger (WordPress, TypePad, ...) blog can contain many posts.

All FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...) blogs, and other accessories and options are part of one account, and share one template and one base URL (your account name). A Blogger (WordPress, TypePad, ...) blog, likewise, shares one template and one base URL.

It's fairly simple to create a new Blogger blog. If you're used to creating blogs in FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...), you may be doing this, needlessly.

• Start from your dashboard.
• Click on "Create a blog".
• Select any available blog name (URL).
• Select a template.
• Start composing your first post in your new blog.

It's still simpler to create a new post for an existing blog. If you're used to creating blogs in FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...), you maybe should be doing this, instead.

• Start from your dashboard.
• Find an existing blog.
• Select "New Post".
• Start composing your new post.

With Blogger, you can have one blog - many posts sharing one template and base URL, and the many posts can share one common subject, or have many subjects. Or, if you like to organise your interests, you can have a different blog for each of your many interests, each with a different template and base URL. This is an option that is not provided by FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...).

Just choose what you need, and be aware of the possibilities that Blogger offers, that FaceBook (Friendster, Multiply, ...) does not.

>> Top

Blogger Doesn't Care About Frequency Or Quantity Of Blog Updates

The process of "bidding" determines who is best suited to take on a given task, in some multi party games and relationships.

In the game of Contract Bridge, the players of the game get a chance to assess their personal holdings of the cards dealt to them, and the probable holdings of their prospective partner and opponents - and predict the number of rounds ("tricks") that they expect to win, in the game to come.

In the "game" of construction bidding, contractor firms get the chance to predict how much funds they will require, to perform a given project, given the chance by the firm bidding the project.

In both cases, different parties bid for the right to perform a task. Some would be blog owners think that procedure should apply to blog ownership.

I want this URL - It's the perfect URL for my needs - for my blog. The URL is in use, but it hasn't been updated, recently. Why can't Blogger give me that URL?

In the Blogger Name Availability "game", the implication is

The current owner isn't using that URL properly, and I know that I can do a better job!

Unfortunately, there is no bidding process here. Blogger, in This blog has been abandoned and I want its address says simply

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire. Therefore, we can't take away somebody's blog address to give to you.

Blogger isn't going to setup a bidding process, or a courts system, to decide whether a given URL should be reassigned to you, or to some other hopeful party. If the URL is in use, it's not going to be available. The current owner of a blog has the right and responsibility to decide upon blog contents, including how often and how many updates should be made to the blog.

Not so long ago, with the owner given the latter choice to make, my advice for getting the blog well known would be to "publish, publish, publish" - because the more publishing that was done to a blog, the more random "Next Blog" traffic would be directed to the blog. In November, 2009, that changed. Now, your blog has an equal chance of getting random "Next Blog" traffic if you publish daily, as if you published once, 5 years ago - and never again.

The frequency and volume of updates, to your blog, are irrelevant to the validity of that blog. If you believe that your readers will be happier with you publishing daily, fine. If you believe that your blog is just as good as it's ever going to get, that's fine too. It's your blog, and it's your decision.

And somebody else's blog is their decision - and Blogger supports that decision.

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire. Therefore, we can't take away somebody's blog address to give to you.

If you need a URL for your blog, pick one that's available, and make the contents of your new blog valuable. Value comes from the blog contents, not from the URL.

---

Some would be #Blogger blog owners would like Blogger to accept bids, for assigning the right to publish blogs to popular URLs. I've even seen the suggestion that bidding should be a paid feature, for Blogger URL assignment, with owner contact information for each blog being required.

Blogger provides blog names, on a "first come, first served" basis - payment is irrelevant. Blog names are available for eternity, poor or rich. And anonymous ownership is part of the promise.

How To Not Get The BlogSpot URL Of Your Choice

The controversy continues, in that many bloggers cannot think of a URL for their blog, other than ones that are already taken.

Some are so desperate that they think of imaginative but Pyrrhic solutions.

Solution here would be a way to report this as a kind of abuse (Yes I know it's not really abuse in any form) or otherwise get in contact with the owner. And I don't mean hunting down the contact information from the web as it practically newer works. I mean there should be an option "I would like to contact the owner of this blog" or something similar.

Here we see two alternatives, neither with any future.

The suggestion to file an abuse complaint is, in itself, abusive.

The people who handle hacking, porn, and spam complaints have enough to do with genuine hacking, porn, and spam problems. Reporting a dormant blog to the abuse desk will get you:

1. Ignored.
2. Told not to do that again.
3. Possibly, and if you repeat such abusive action, your Blogger account should be cancelled.

If you want that URL, are you the only one who wants it?

The idea to have Blogger contact the current owner, on your behalf has merit - if you don't consider the details. For any URL that somebody owns, if one other person wants that URL, there are probably a few other people who would want that same URL.

If you were the current owner of a popular URL, would you want repeated emails (on behalf of the same person, repeating a request, or on behalf of more than one person, intermittently) to read, simply asking you to voluntarily give up your URL?

What would happen, should you (the current owner of a demanded URL) accede to such request? Who would be the winner, in the crowd submitting the "Give it to me!" demand through Blogger? The first person, or the most persistent person? Would you want to be the Blogger employee who would get to decide the winner, in such a contest?

The Blogger policy, on URL reassignment, is quite simple.

Neither voluntary URL resignation, nor involuntary URL reassignment, have any part of the monolithic Blogger statement

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire. Therefore, we can't take away somebody's blog address to give to you.

Use some imagination, and pick an available URL. Start your blog now, and work on the content. That's how you get readers. Not by picking the "perfect" URL.

I Promise You, This Blog Exists

I almost hesitate to start this post, because of the date. However, I promise you, this is no joke. Recently (and before today, so I don't see this as a joke), Blogger made a change to their servers, and to how they display "404 Address Not Found". And, I've seen some confusion resulting from the change.

Here, for instance, is a link to this blog. And here is a link to this post.

Simple enough? How about a link to a non existent web site. See the display?

Server not found
Firefox can't find the server at nitecruzr-non-existent-blog.

Duh. What's a server?

OK, "Chuck's Non Existent Blog" doesn't exist. Or, it exists in my mind, purely to make this point. Don't think about this too hard though.



How about a just deleted blog?

Blog has been removed

Sorry, the blog at nitecruzr-non-existent-blog.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

This blog did exist - for a few minutes. It doesn't exist now, and the name isn't available to anybody else either. And no, you can't have it.



Or maybe a (previously) non existent blog?

Blog not found

Sorry, the blog you were looking for does not exist. However, the name nitecruzr-second-non-existent-blog is available to register!

This blog didn't exist, until I registered it. Now, it does exist.



Clear so far?

OK, now get this - a link to a non existent post, in this blog. Bloggers will, from time to time, delete posts that they have linked elsewhere. Or maybe they will mistype a post name when setting up a link, as I did (intentionally). And pity their readers, who don't know all of this technical mumbo jumbo.

The blog you were looking for was not found.

And, what's a blog?

But, "The Real Blogger Status" does exist. The post "This Post Does Not Exist", however, again exists only in my mind. Too many bloggers confuse the concepts of "blog" and "post", and this display is only going to enhance that confusion.



Looking at the last two examples shows that Blogger does recognise the difference between a "404 Blog Not Found" (the example second above) and a "404 Post Not Found" (the example immediately above). And if we know what each error display looks like, we can tell the difference too. But how about our readers, or the newbie blogger?

Can you see the confusion there? I've seen confusion here and there with some bloggers, referring to this post, as a blog - so I wrote this post. If I didn't understand web servers just a little, I'd be wondering if my blog was now gone. But, this blog exists. Really.

>> Top

Publishing To A Custom Domain? Going Back To Blog*Spot Isn't Difficult

If you're currently publishing your blog to a custom domain, because you wanted to use a non-Blog*Spot address with some of the shiny Layouts template features, maybe you're tired of the occasional problems. Maybe you require the automatic redirect from BlogSpot to the custom domain, and the BlogSpot URL is redirecting to a bogus, unwanted warning.

Whatever your motivation, it's not hard to go back to publishing on Blog*Spot.

Just go to your Blogger dashboard, and click on the Settings link for the blog. Then, from the Publishing link under Settings, select "Switch to: • blogspot.com".

>> Top