How to Upload ads.txt file to Blogger - Adsense

This post is going to help people who have Adsense enabled to their blog and are using Blogger Platform for Blogging.

I was recently browsing through my Adsense account after some period of time and I could find an alert notification that's here in the picture below.

I updated the ads.txt to this blog as I'm running this blog under Blogger since 2013. I thought this would be a useful post for fellow bloggers who would search on how to upload the ads.txt to their Blogger platform domain.

So, here's how it is done.

Step 1 : 

Login to your Adsense Platform and click on "Download" to download the ads.txt file for your domain. You will see a one liner text in the file with the Publisher ID.

Step 2: 

Login to your Blogger Platform. Go to Settings >> Search Preferences

Step 3: 

You should see "Monetisation" at the bottom end of the Search Preferences. Now, here Custom ads.txt would be disabled. Click on "Edit"

Step 4 :

After you clicked on the Edit Link, you should copy paste the content from the ads.txt file and click on "Save Changes".

Step 5: 

Now is the time to verify if the changes are present. You should be able to verify this by going to your blog root domain in a new tab and enter /ads.txt.

https://www.example.com/ads.txt

This will show you the ads.txt content that you have updated in the Blogger.

As it is mentioned in the Adsense Alert Message, it might take a few days to see the updated changes in your Adsense Account. Be Patient and keep Blogging.

Let me know in the comments if this worked for you. Happy Blogging.

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How To Optimize Images with WebP Format

Do you own a website ? If you have a website, or any business that is running online, or even a blog for that matter, you should make sure the site runs fast and the users can access it without any waste of time. 

Load time of a web page matters in the online business., Lets say you have a great website with colorful images, and really nice design and rich use of JS animations. It'd take hell amount of time to load the page and the user who's trying to visit your website, gets annoyed by the time that it takes to load and it'll lead you to a heavier bounce rate which will kill your blog/website rating at any time.

I was just surfing the web recently and I found something called "webp" format which is a modern image format with the tagline "lossless and lossy compression" for images on the web. I couldn't help but write about it in my blog here.

It's been said that WebP images are 26% smaller in size when compared to PNG images.

You can read more about how webp works here

WebP format is natively supported in Chrome, Opera browsers.,

In this post, we'll tell you how to use webp format to optimize the images for your website/blog in the following steps.

Step 1: 

I'm guessing you've followed the google webp link to know a bit about the format. Now, lets download the precompiled version of the tool that we'll use to convert any image to webp format with lossless and lossy compression.

Download the precompiled version of the tool here

Choose your platform - Windows, Linux or Mac OS and download the files.

Step 2 :

Extract the zip/tar file, copy and place it anywhere you feel convenient. In my case, I'd place it in my C drive.

So, now the path of the files in my system would be "C:\libwebp-0.5.0-windows-x86" 

Step 3 :

Once that is done, go inside that folder "libwebp-0.5.0-windows-x86" in your drive that you've copied it to.

Now, lets copy an image that you want to compress and check if its actually working. Copy a bit bigger sized image and place it inside "bin" folder which would be like below

"C:\libwebp-0.5.0-windows-x86\bin\image-to-be-compressed.png"

Step 4 : 

This is a bit trickier part yet you can do it even if you're not any sort of developer, or just someone who knows to operate basics of command prompt.

Open your command prompt and navigate to the installed folder. Check out the screenshot that is attached below to make sure you're on the right track.

Once you're inside the bin folder in your command prompt, run the following line

"cwebp yourfilename.JPG -o webpfile.webp"

If you've done that correctly, you'd see the below screen.

Now if you check the size of the image that's been created, you'd be amazed of how much smaller the image size you get out of it without losing its pixel sizes and quality.

There's a reason why the webp format is being said to be "lossless and lossy" . You can even convert back from webp format to any other format such as PNG, JPG etc, with "dwebp" command. 

Checkout the parameters that you can use with "cwebp" command - cwebp command

Checkout the parameters that you can use with "dwebp" command - dwebp command

That's it. you can do the image compression with just one command without using any photoshop tool.

P.S - Do comment below to let us know how did it go or even if you get stuck somewhere.,

Photo Credit : Flickr

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4 Tips For Choosing a Blog Niche

Blogging is a platform where you help people know things that you knew once and thought to share with others. Blogs are preferred to share the tiny details of your experiences and studies which are someday gonna help someone who'd be reading it. Most people don't realize what they want to blog about but they do want to write about something which they're not sure what it is yet.

I was referring to me especially who want to write-up something but couldn't exactly figure out sooner enough to start with.

This blog post is for those people who are like me who wanted /wants to write /share things whatever it might be yet isn't sure about it.

I''m gonna disclose some 4 tips down below that could get you choose what you really want to write about and start a blogging career sooner.

What Do You Know More About Anything?

Yep. That's a question that you gotta ask yourself first time when you choose you want to start a blog. 

Do you know that there are a lot of people in the world who needs to know about the one thing that you're good at and you know more than anything?

Yeah, that's true. You should be sure about what you know clear and good enough.

That's it. That will lead your mind to choose the niche you want to blog about.

Let Yourself Write For People :

Most people who choose a niche and start a blog will get it wrong the first time. Choosing to write expecting something back will always get yourself stuck into the runway.

Write a blog for yourself, and the people that are gonna read it. Let it be useful for the one's who actually admire the way as you are. Consider writing a blog as if you're keeping an online note of everything that you've learned and getting good at.

Writing for money can still get you score but that won't give you the flow and the interest as always. Yet if you find a niche that makes you money and keeps you interested every single time, then that's  reward for yourself.

Long Term Posts Frequency : 

Choosing a topic to write for a blog is not that hard when you know what you're looking for.

Clear up your mind on writing a blog. Take a list of all the topics that you could possibly want to write about. Make it an xls/ csv file if you want to. 

Now lets filter the topics that you think you can write for a long term frequently. You'd have filtered already and you're left with a little of something around 4 or 5 niche topics at last.

From there its not that for you to choose because you'd already made up your mind with some topic which is more convenient for you in delivering quality content to the readers.

Choose the One That Interests You : 

Interest is the main aspect in doing anything that you do in your day to day life. Interest is the one thing that keeps you doing the same thing everyday even at times when you think that's not worth doing.

Choose a topic that keeps you interested in writing for a very long time. Time is a constraint when you start blogging on a specific topic and you wouldn't know when you'd run out of topics. So, its always the best to choose a topic that you're so much interested as much that you're willing to write even when you find it very hard to continue the course.

Conclusion : 

Blogging is not just a money making platform for all who cares to start writing a blog. It could be a space where you share your skills and knowledge for the people who are in need of and also could become an identity of yourself in the online world.

So, concluding this, my one cent would be choosing a niche that you're good at or choosing a niche that you'd wanna be good at some point in future. Those are the two niche types that will keep you grow yourself and make you see yourself as a blooming blogger over the long run.

Also Read : 3 Things to Know Before Starting a Blog

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6 Best Things Of Being a Blogger

Being able to write what we like and have a certain (limited or unlimited) amount of people that read and follow us for updates would sure make anyone feel awesome about it. It is the key source that induces to write better than you can with more accuracy.

Being a blogger can make you feel the way that you want to be in terms of what you write.

I've been writing this blog for nearly a couple of years and it takes real pleasure to write about what I want to. Most of the posts that I write here are related to Twitter tips, and a bit of blogging tips as well with a little option of SEO. And I've been getting pretty good responses based on the topics that I write which makes me to write even more posts related to the niche that I've chosen.

This post is completely about my experiences of being a blogger for this amount of time.

Here we go with the 10 Things that I feel great about being a blogger.

Independence Day :

The sub title seems a little bit strange, don't you think? ;)

The day I started to write this blog. I got the independence to write what just want and when I want to. Very often that just felt bad of not giving up what I learn everyday.

I was too narrow in choosing what to write and all of a sudden I wanted to write about something that I wanted to learn and with flow to the learning phase I'd write the posts then and there. That was the plan.

That made me to choose this niche and start collecting informations and started writing. And with that I got the independence to write about the things that I learn often.

Learning Curve :

I was really excited about writing on what I wanted to know.

Learning about SEO, reading blogging tips wanted me to write about it so that I could talk to pose with my ideas and views.

Connections :

Obviously, you should know the "Big Fish in the Pond".

Being a blogger, You obviously would get to know your fellow bloggers. Fellow bloggers who blog on the same domain, or different niches, start following then on Twitter, Facebook, G+, and other popular social media's so that you could get their updates soon and sometimes might get a chance to talk to them, discuss a little business ;)

Talking to like minded people helps a lot, the same way you could share your views with your fellow bloggers and understand their views .

Joining forums that teach/preach or actually discuss your niche, and interacting with other bloggers makes your learning curve speed up the graph.

Participating in IRC chats , Twitter interactions helps in this matters as well.

Accuracy :

Being a blogger taught me accuracy which is highly important for any blogger to have.

Anything and everything that a blogger writes should be accurate and relevant to topic. Before writing a post, I used to collect data from various sources that are legitimate and then start writing on my own blog.

Accuracy is the point anywhere that you should be having to write on a topic which should make the post a legit one.

Stay with the Trend :

Being a blogger means staying updated with the latest trends every single time. Whether it is SEO, social media, public news, tech or anything, you get updated all the time with the current trends.

At times, There can be running out of time, but never there's running out of knowledge of latest trending news June being a blogger.

I think you'll agree with me on this point.

The simple logic behind is that you do research before you start writing a topic. And that makes you get updated in your niche from time to time.

Business Opportunities :

Being blogger opens you a number of business opportunities on the road.

You're a blogger today and you just might become an entrepreneur tomorrow gather in your own followers and release something big that attracts a large amount of people online.

You'll never run out of ideas once you're onto blogging. If you're being an excellent writer in your own niche, chances are you'd see yourself blogging on some of the too blogs as well.

Conclusion :

The above things are completely based on my experience and I wanted to write about it as it 'll reach people who feel the same way.

I should say even this post is written to communicate with people anytime.

Now that I've shared my views it'd be awesome if you share your views in this posts via comments.

Photo Credit : Flickr

Friv 10 online games

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How To Set Up Custom Domain in Blogger

Adding a custom domain to a blog is not at all a tough task to do if you've done already. You can add your custom domain to your blogger blog just by adding the domain that you purchased from Godaddy or any domain providers.

I purchased a domain today which is the current domain techlanes.com and I wanted to change my blogspot blogger to the custom domain which I did successfully.

I just found it quite easy though since I have already done with my another blog codedsack.com . I was wondering if I could write it in a blog post which would help other blogspot bloggers to run their blog with a custom domain name.

Those who don't know where to buy a domain so cheap , I would recommend you to use Godaddy.

First of all, when you buy a domain from Godaddy, you'll be provided the godaddy domain set up option once you login.

Now, we are going to add the custom domain to our blogger blog.

Step 1:   Reach out to the Settings -> Basic in your blogger and you'll find Blog Address under Publishing. 

Step 2: Now click on the Add a Custom Domain . You have to type in the custom domain that you purchased from Godaddy.

The main point to note here is that you when you type your custom domain, add prefix www to it.

For example : http://www.yourdomainname.com

It will now show two fields such as Name, Label or Host field and  Destination, Targets, and Points to field.

Step 3:  Now login to your godaddy account and launch your domain to edit the DNS zone file.

Before you'll have one A host and now you've to add the below IP Addresses below.

216.239.32.21

216.239.34.21

216.239.36.21

216.239.38.21

After adding the IP Addresses, you've to add the Host  and the target (Points To) field in the CNAME section.

That's it. You're done with your DNS Zone file in your Godaddy Account.

Step 5: Now Add the domain to your blogger blog.

While adding make sure you type www infront of the domain name and then click on the checkbox to redirect naked domain (yourdomainname.com) to regular domain (www.yourdomainname.com)

Hope that I explained it well for you to set up a custom domain to your blogger blog.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

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How to create Drop Down Menu for Blogger Blog

Drop Down Menu for Blogger blogs

 

 Tired of using the default menu features of the blogger blogs? Blogger allows you to use its default menu features according to the template you are currently using. There is no default navigation menu bar in blogger. I am using Blogger for more than a year and I have also tried creating a drop down menu bar on my blog too.

When I were using the blogger earlier days for my blogs, I tried creating and implementing the drop down menu css codes. Finally, I designed a drop down menu tab for my blog. Later on, I reminded myself today that I could make a blog post out of it and also it will help other people out there too.

The above is the sample design for the menu bar.
Here is the CSS Code for your blogger drop down menu.

 <style type="text/css">  
 #vicnav {  
 background:#CC0000;  
 border-bottom: 5px solid #993300;  
 border-top: 1px solid #e14d09;  
 clear: both;  
 overflow: hidden;  
 }  
 #vicnav ul {  
 float: left;  
 width: 100%;  
 }  
 #vicnav li {  
 float: left;  
 list-style-type: none;  
 }  
 #vicnav li a {  
 background:#CC0000;  
 color: #fff;  
 display: block;  
 font-size: 14px;  
 padding: 5px 17px 5px 15px;  
 position: relative;  
 text-decoration: none;  
 }  
 #vicnav li a:hover {  
 background:#990000;  
 color: #fff;  
 }  
 #vicnav li li a {  
 background: none;  
 background-color: #9c1a03;  
 border: 1px solid #990000;  
 border-top-width: 0;  
 color: #fff;  
 font-size: 14px;  
 padding: 5px 10px;  
 position: relative;  
 text-transform: none;  
 width: 130px;  
 }  
 #vicnav li li a:hover {  
 background: none;  
 background-color: #CC0000;  
 }  
 #vicnav li ul {  
 height: auto;  
 left: -9999px;  
 margin: 0 0 0 -1px;  
 position: absolute;  
 width: 160px;  
 z-index: 9999;  
 }  
 #vicnav li:hover ul {  
 left: auto;  
 }  
 </style>  

I have also attached the HTML sample code below for the CSS so that its easy to understand.

 <body>  
 <ul id="vicnav">  
 <li ><a href="#" >Home</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >Sub Menu Indicator</a>  
 <ul >  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 1</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 2</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 3</a></li>  
 </ul >  
 </li ><!--li close of Sub Menu Indicator-->  
 <li ><a href="#" >MenuTab 3</a>  
 <ul >  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 1</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 2</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >Wrap Menu 3</a></li>  
 </ul >  
 </li><!--li close of MenuTab3-->  
 <li ><a href="#" >MenuTab 4</a></li>  
 <li ><a href="#" >MenuTab 5</a></li>  
 </ul >  
 </body >  

The Above code will create a simple drop down menu with complete CSS effects.

The HTML code above needs nothing but the input link to the post or page that you want to. If you need to show the hover link or current link with different colors, you can change the color  in background: #color in any id and try it.

Let me know if you have any changes or difficulties that you find in the code or may be if any errors.

Also view our another drop down menu with circular menu lists drop down. Hope you might be interested in it as well.

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