Wednesday, June 24, 2009

How to add a Google Sitemap to blogs in blogger


The reason for writing this article is I myself struggled to find a definite answer initially as to how to add a sitemap of my blog in Google Webmaster. After constant search I was able to find a solution for adding sitemap of my blog in a simple way. I would like to share my experience with you as I hope this article will be useful for those who are new to blogging (also for existing bloggers) and trying to add a sitemap of their blog in Google Webmaster.

What is a Sitemap?

A Sitemap is a simple XML file that contains specific information about the various pages that you create in your blog. It contains all the information on
  • Frequent changes happened in your webpages
    The last modified date on your webpage
    The importance of webpage in your blog
To put it in a simple way, Sitemap is the collective list of webpages present in your blog.

Why to use a Sitemap in your blog?


Sitemap helps us to make sure that google has all the information related to the pages that we create in our blog. Your webpages will be crawled easily if you submit the sitemaps of your blog to Google Webmaster.

How to add a sitemap of your blog?


Here are the possible simple steps that you have to follow to add your blog’s sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools.

Add your Site to Google Webmaster

1. Sign-in to your blogger Account.

2. Click the Webmaster Tools link Under Tools and Resources present below

3. Go to the option Sitemap

4. Click Add Site and type your blog URL



5. Your Site will be added to Google Webmaster

Verify the Site that you have added

6. To verify the site you need to add a Meta Tag to your blog

7. Copy the Meta Tag code given by Google Webmaster as shown in the screen after you have added your site. Make sure you choose the Meta Tag option in the verification method.

It will look like



8. Now go to Blogger Dashboard - Layout - Edit HTML - then search for the line Head which can be seen few lines below the starting of the HTML script.

9. Then Paste the Meta Tag just below the above code and Save the Template.

10. Now come back to the Google Webmaster Tools and click Verify.

11. Your site will be verified if you followed the above steps correctly.

Add sitemaps of your blog

12. Next step is to add sitemaps of your blog. Select the option Sitemap from the left side

13. You can add the following sitemap of your blogger blog to the Google Webmaster

14. In the text box next to the domain name, enter atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500. This will use your atom feed as your Sitemap. The first 500 pages of your blog will be indexed as per this sitemap.



After entering the following values your sitemap will look like this

http://www.yourblogname.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500

15. That’s it. Your Blog's sitemap has been added to Google.

After a few hours of time Google will indicate that it had downloaded your Sitemap.
You can view this from your dashboard, or from the Sitemaps section with the Webmaster Tools.

Have a try and let me know if you have any difficulty in doing this.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Simple effective ways to improve your google adsense earning



There are many ways to earn money from your blog. If you want to earn money from your website or blog, then the best way is through adsense. There are many people who struggle to earn money through their sites even after posting articles for quite a long time. But still, we can see that some of them earn quite a lot of money from adsense ads on their websites and climb up the ladder.

So what do you think is the difference between the two?

What makes them stand apart from the rest of the lot?

The answer to these questions is that we have to think out of the box to stand out from the rest in this competative world.


Here are some of the few best ways that you can try to improve your adsense earnings from your website or from your blogs. I believe those who were successful in their earnings would have used the same tricks to earn from google adsense.


Try to have a single best format for your ad

Always try to have a single best format for your ad to be added in your website. The one that has been frequently used by many and has been quiet successful is the Large Rectangle (336X280). It is quite amazing to see that this format had fetched higher click-through rates (CTR) when compared to the other formats.

Why everyone choose this format from the rest?

Is there any advantage that this format has over the other ones?

The answer is yes.

When you look at the format of this ad it almost looks like a web link. So many people will think it as a web link and eventually click it as they usually have the tendency to click these types of links. This may be a case of unknowingly clicking adsense, but this is your chance and why not to take advantage of it?


Try to create a good custom palette for your ads

Always choose a color that will look good and merge with the background of your website. Say, if your website has black as the background color then try to use the same color for your ad background and also for its border. The main theme is to make your adsense look like as if it is a part of your webpage and not a separate one. This will surely help you to gain more clicks from the people who visit your website or blogs.


Try to use Adsense at the top of your website


If you are using adsense at the bottom of the website then it is time to have a rethink. Always use your adsense at the top of your website. You should always try to put your adsense where people can see easily and that surely is at the top of the website. This will quite significantly attract more clicks than having one at the bottom of the website. When we have adsense at the bottom of the website the chances are that they may not be viewed by all. This will ultimately result in a situation where your ads are not clicked and no earnings. Try to add your adsense at the top of your website and you will see the difference in your earnings.


Try to have proper links to the relevant websites

Care should be taken that you always use your website link to the one that you think has relevance to your site and can earn you money. If you don’t choose a proper website then you will surely not earn money from your adsense. If you feel that the website using your link is not better off, then you should always try to look out for the best and have your website link placed there. If the other website is already having lots of adsense, then always try to put yours on to the top of them. This will help the visitor to have the view of your ad first when they browse that website.


Try to use SSI for automatic insertion of adsense code into webpages

This is one of the best ways to manage your adsense in your website. For doing this you have to save your adsene code as a text file and upload it to the root directory of the webserver. Using SSI call the codes on all the other webpages. This will surely save you lots of time. This is very useful for those who use automatic page generators to generate webpages in their website. Make sure your server supports SSI before going through this process.

These are some of the ways that had worked for many to earn from their websites. Always try to focus on a specific topic and stick to it in its content. This will make your content have the relevant adsense which in-turn enables more clicks. It is always good to know that ads are displayed because it fulfills the need of the people viewing them. Your prime focus should be on a specific topic as the ads displayed will be targeted on the topic.

Remember, every click-through that a visitor hits is earning you money. Try to make every click count by making your adsense in a way that people will be definitely clicking on it.

There is no reason why you can’t earn money by following these methods.

If others can why you can’t?

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