Using Google Plus Profile For Blogger

You've definitely run some google searches and seen some blog author's google plus profile picture right beside search results, right? In a bid to make this work for my blog, I tried lots of stuffs out of which none of them worked. Just today, I logged in to blogger in draft just to see the upcoming blogger features and saw this option at the top right of the screen asking me to switch my blogger profile to google plus. It sounded good and I continued, reading the benefits and everything about it.

One of the key benefit that made me proceed with the switch was the fact that my google plus profile will be associated with site on search result pages. Also, whenever I comment on my blog or any other blog supporting comments with google account, my google plus profile will be linked instead of that boring blogger profile. It's a good one coming from google though because I never like blogger profile layout, the color scheme and all.

How Do I Link My Blog To Google Plus

This feature isn't yet published officially because it's only still available in Blogger in draft where blogger's upcoming features are first tested out. To switch your blogger profile to google plus profile and associate it with your blog:

-  You need to log in to draft.blogger.com

- You should see a pop up at the top right corner asking you to make the switch.

- If you can't find this, then follow this link

- Just follow the next couple of steps and enter your google account password when prompted.

- Mark the check box at the last stage and complete the profile switch.

What Are The Benefits Of Linking Your Google Plus Profile To Blogger?

Switching your blogger profile to google plus has lots of benefits and one of the one I like most is that you have one less online profile to worry about.

-You get access to upcoming Google+ features on Blogger

-Your posts gets highlighted in Google search results for your social connections

-Maintaining one identity instead of duplicate ones

Information on your blogger profile won't automatically transferred to your google plus profile, you have to select those information you want to display on your new profile including your displayed blogs. Also, this switch will make the blogger widget on your profile display your google plus profile instead and all existing comments made with with blogger profile will automatically redirect to your google plus profile when clicked.

Though it is said that my posts gets highlighted in Google search results for social connections, I haven't been able to see this since I made google plus my default blogger profile. I made the change just a few hours ago, just hoping it's really gonna have any effect in search results.

Even if it doesn't, I still feel convenient with that ugly looking blogger profile gone. :D

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How To Use Text Effects (bold, italics) In Google Plus Posts

Unlike facebook that requires certain applications to update your status with text efffects, google plus allows you to do this without any third party application. Google plus allows you to post updates with text effects such as bod, italics, strikethrough and so on. I logged in to google plus last week and saw someone in my circle with this wierd looking post and that got me curious till I asked him how he did it. There's no special trick, just a couple of characters and you can post your update on google plus with nice text effects.

- Bold text in google plus

To make your post appear in bold characters, you only need to put an asterisk (*) before and after your post. *how to post google plus update with bold text* will appear as how to post google plus update with bold text.

- Italics text in google plus

To have your post appear in italics, put an underscore (_)before and after your text. For example, _how to use italics text effect in google plus_ will appear as how to use italics text effect in google plus.

- Strikethrough text in google plus

To do this, just put a hyphen before and after your text. For exampe, -update my google plus status with strikethrough text- will appear as update my google plus status with strikethrough text
- Some Combinations?

Oh yeah, you can definitely do some combo like writing your post in bold italics. You just need to start and end your update with a hyphen and an asterisk. For example, *-google plus text effect-* will appear as google plus text effect.

I was wondering if they would allow us to add some color to our google plus posts but it looks like a bad idea, there would be a lot of color riot on your news feed that will be so annoying. lol. Anyway, share this post if it helps.

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View Facebook Updates From Google Plus

Going back and forth from facebook to google plus sometimes can slow you down especially if you have a lot to do online and would rather have your updates in just one place. Have you ever felt like having all your social networks in just one place? Don't want to switch browser tabs just to see updates? Well, there's no official way to link your facebook and google plus account and merge your updates but Google+Facebook is a browser addon that makes it easy managing your social two favorite social networks right from one place. Google+Facebook adds a facebook tab to your google plus profile. You can check facebook posts and update your status without leaving google plus.


Google+Facebook works both on Firefox and Google Chrome but the developers said they are working on a fix to make it compatible with internet explorer.

How To Install And Use

You need to visit this site and download the add on. It automatically installs the addon and you need to restart your browser to complete the installation. The addon might not install on older versions of Mozilla firefox. I was using firefox 3.6 (I think I prefer the older version) but had to upgrade to Firefox 7.0.1 to install the addon and test-run it. Now log in to Google + and you should see a facebook tab.


Click on Connect with Facebook, a page pops up where you're asked to grant the application the requires access to your facebook account to properly work. Click on Allow and you should now see your facebook stream right from google plus.

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How To Add Google Plus Widget To Blogger

Just like the facebook likebox, google plus widget is now making waves and seems to be one of the latest blog widgets around. Adding a google plus widget to your blog or website makes it easier for your visitors connect with you and see updates you +1. Google has not officially launched any widget but we hope they'll do this soon however, there are third party google plus widgets you can use on your blog or website. This third party google plus widget can show the number of people in your circles and your updates right on your blog. You can also define just what you want it to look like. To create the google plus widget, you first need to get your google plus ID.

How To Know Your Google + ID

You can do this by going to plus.google.com and clicking on your profile. For a quicker access, visiting plus.google.com/me takes you to your profile. Check your browser's address bar, you should have something like http://plus.google.com/12345788909. The set of numbers is your google plus ID. Just copy the numbers to clipboard or save to a notepad.

Creating The Widget

Creating the widget is quite simple and self-explanatory.

1. Go to widgetplus

2. Scroll down and fill the basic settings. The most important is your google plus ID you copied earlier.

3. Paste your Google + ID in the provided space. Depending on where you want the widget to appear on your site, you can set the width to your desired size or try the default and include your updates.

4. You can set text colour and other things under the other tabs but this is optional.

5. Click on the button labelled "Get Code" ans copy out the given code.
How To Add Google Plus Widget To Blogger

- Log in to your blogger account

- Click on Design

- Depending on where you want the widget to appear (sidebar recommended), click on Add A Gadget

- Select HTML/Javascript

- Paste the code you copied earlier and save your changes.

Google plus Widget is now added blog. Another site you can create this widget is plus.scriptrr.com . You can create google + widget for your website there as well.

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Google +1 Plus One Button For Blogger

Google plus is steadily gaining popularity as an emerging social network and just like the facebook like button, facebook comment box or large share buttons, Google +1 is definitely one of the social networking widget you must have on your blog. With google +1 (pronounced plus one), your blog stands to get more traffic from google's newly introduced social search and your blog has the chance of a higher page rank because according to google, page rank algorithm is now linked all activities taking place on a page.

Adding google +1 button to blogger is quite easy, simply follow these steps and you'll be done in a couple of minutes.

1. Login to your blogger account

2. Go to Design > Edit HTML

3. Be sure to back up your template in case something goes wrong. You can easily resore it back.

4. Check Expand Widget Template

5. Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard and search for the following code:


<data:post.body/>


6. Immediately after this, paste the code below:


<!-- Google plus +1 button For Blogger Start -->
<br/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:left;padding:5px;'>
<script src='http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<g:plusone count='true' expr:href='data:post.url' size='standard'/>
</div>
</b:if>
<br/>
<!-- Google plus +1 button For Blogger Start -->


This makes the button appear after your blog posts. If you want the google +1 (plus one) button to appear above your blog posts, then paste the code right before <data:post.body/>

Explanatory Note

-The code above is meant to show the Google +1 button on post pages only. You can remove the third and eight part of the code if you intend to show it on static pages as well.

- The left boldly written in red in the code can be changed to right depending on your desired position.

-You can decide not to show count by changing the count attribute set to true by default to false

-The button comes in various sizes, the standard button is what is used on this blog but you can decide to make it larger or smaller by changing the size attribute set to standard by default to any of these below:


- If you're using a magazine style template or more than one <data:post.body/> appears in your template, you try the second or third one but this is not fixed for all templates. Try it on all occurences till you get your result. If the tweak worked for you then recommend us to your friends on Google Plus social network!

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