Monthly Archives: February 2008

Changing Your Display Name and Setting up your Comment Avatar

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When I started out creating accounts online my username was dswaters which seemed like a good idea at the time but now I prefer being known by my name Sue Waters. Fortunately I have the option on my blog to change the name that is displayed when I post articles and write comments.

Importance of Developing Your Online Identity

Developing your own unique identity is an important part of being online which we don’t always appreciate when we first start setting up our online accounts. Having the one online identity across all your accounts makes it easier for others to connect and relate to you.

When starting out we often feel nervous about using our own identity but there are many long term benefits. Read Vicki Davis’s advice to educators on the value of using their own identity (take the time to read the comments also).

How To Change Your Display Name

This will change the name that is displayed on your posts and comments your write on Edublogs blogs.

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Users > Your Profile
  2. Scroll down to Nickname and add your preferred name.
  3. Scroll to bottom of Your Profile and click on Update Profile.Image of Your Profile
  4. Now scroll down to Display name publicly as and click on the drop down arrow then select your preferred name
  5. Click on Update Profile at bottom of Your Profile page

Image of Changing Displaying Name

How To Set Up Your Comment Avatar

Personal connection is important for readers — adding your photo means others now know more about who you are i.e. they can visualise you.

With Edublogs you can add your photo which will be displayed whenever you write a comment on someone else’s Edublogs blog.

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Users > Your Avatar
  2. Scroll down to Browse and locate your photo from your computer to upload then click on Open.
  3. Now on Upload Image

Image changing Comment Avatar

FINAL THOUGHTS

Wish all online tools allowed us to change our display names :( .

What are your thoughts about online identity?

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How To Add an Email Subscription to Your Blog

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In our last post we showed how to add a RSS feed from Feedburner to your blog to make it easier for your readers to subscribe to your blog and so that you could analyse your blog subscriptions e.g. number of subscribers, Feed Readers they use. This post will show how you can add an email subscription to your blog.

Reason For Adding Email Subscription to Your Blog

However not every reader likes to use RSS, some readers prefer to receive latest posts from blogs using email subscription. This is why you will often see both email subscription and RSS feed options on blogs; bloggers are doing this to cater to the different preferences of their readers.

Readers simply enter their email address and then click on “Subscribe”. They then receive an email notifying when new posts or information have been added to the blog.

There are two main options you can use to add an email subscription to your Eublogs blog:

  1. Drag Email Subscription Widget onto your sidebar (here is more information about using Widgets)
  2. Create and add an email subscription using Feedburner for your blog.

These two options work very differently:

  • Edublogs Email Subscription Widget – emails your reader immediately that a new post has been added to your blog. However to read the post your reader will need to click on a link which takes them to the post on your blog.
  • Feedburner Email Subscription – emails your entire post to your readers on the day after it has been uploaded to your blog i.e. they can read the entire post as an email rather than following the link. Please note images are not displayed in the email. Advantages of Feedburner includes details of your subscribers e.g. number of email subscribers, their email addresses

Which ever email subscription you use make sure you subscribe to your blog using it; so you know what your posts look like when people receive them via email. Normally

Creating An Email Subscription For Your Blog Using Feedburner

Once you have created and added an RSS feed from Feedburner to your blog ( here are the instructions on how to add a RSS feed from Feedburner to your blog) the next step is to set up your email subscription with feedburner (follow the instructions in the diagram below).

Diagram of how to set up email subscription

Adding Your Feedburner Email Subscription To Your Blog

The code for your Feedburner email subscription is located under your Publicize tab. You need to add this to a text widget in your sidebar.

  1. On your blog dashboard, go to Design > Widgets
  2. Scroll down to Text widget in your available widget area (left hand side of dashboard) and click on Add.
  3. Click on Edit on the Text widget that has been added to your current widget area.Image of adding a text widget
  4. Paste code for Feedburner email in Text Widget.  Click on Change.
  5. Click on Save Changes at bottom of Current Widget area (right hand side of dashboard).

Image of Email Widget

FINAL THOUGHT

Please let us know how you go adding an email subscription to your blog; especially if you have additional questions on using it.

For accurate statistics on your subscriber numbers you should redirect all your blog feed to Feedburner!

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Adding a RSS Feed From Feedburner To Your Blog

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Subscribing to RSSMost readers receive posts from their favorite blogs by subscribing to RSS using their feed readers (e.g. Google Reader, Bloglines, NetVibes).

RSS notifies your reader of new content; saving them time because it means they can read their latest news in one location, their feed reader, rather than having visiting each web site separately (if you currently don’t use RSS — watch this video).

feed.jpg

As a blogger you want people to read what you write by subscribing to your blog. A common way bloggers make it easy for readers to subscribe is using Feedburner.

What is Feedburner?feedburnerreader.jpg

Feedburner is a free web service which enhances bloggers and podcasters ability to manage their RSS feeds and track usage of their subscribers.

Most blogs already have RSS feed which is detected automatically by Feed Readers like Google Reader, Bloglines, NetVibes when the blog URL is added to the reader. The trouble is not all Feed Readers can automatically detect the RSS feed from the blog URL.

Having a Feedburner feed means readers can click on the RSS icon and subscribe to your feed by selecting their Feed Reader.

Using Feedburner means you can also analyse your subscriptions e.g. number of subscribers, Feed Readers they use.

feedstats.jpg

Setting up your Feedburner Feed

You’ll need to register for a free account with Feedburner, if you don’t have an existing account.

In Your Feeds section of your Feedburner account add your Blog URL to the Burn a Feed Right This Instant box and follow the instructions in the diagram below.

Please note:

If the Identify Feed Source page gives you the following message “FeedBurner discovered more than one feed at that address. Please select one to use as your source” — select the RSS 2.0 feed i.e. looks like this http://theedublogger.com/feed/

feedburneraccount.jpg

Adding Your Feedburner Feed To Your Blog

  1. Open up your Feedburner account.  Click on the Publicize Tab > Chicklet Chooser and copy the HTML code.
  2. Image of Feedburner code
  3. On your blog dashboard, go to Design > Widgets
  4. Scroll down to Text widget in your available widget area (left hand side of dashboard) and click on Add.
  5. Click on Edit on the Text widget that has been added to your current widget area.Image of adding a text widget
  6. Paste code for Feedburner in the Text Widget.  Click on Change.
  7. Click on Save Changes at bottom of Current Widget area (right hand side of dashboard).Image of Feedburner widget

I recommend you refer to Feedburner Quick Start Guides for Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, MySpace, Podcasting for blog platforms other than Edublogs.

FINAL THOUGHT

Please let us know how you go adding a Feedburner feed to your blog; especially if you have additional questions on using Feedburner.

Our next post will explain the different ways you can set up a subscribe by email feed to your blog. For accurate statistics on your subscriber numbers you should redirect all your blog feed to Feedburner!
If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!