Know

(Cross posted on the Blogger +page ) Adding a custom domain to your blog is a great way to increase your brand identity. Setting one up, however, can sometimes be a frustrating experience, especially if you aren’t quite sure of the difference between an A-NAME and C-NAME record or where to find them. The good news is that the folks at Go Daddy created a handy tool that simplifies the process and makes it possible to redirect your blogspot domain to a custom Go Daddy domain with the click of a button. If you already own a Go Daddy domain and would like to connect it with your Blogger blog, head to the Go Daddy tool , log in to your Go Daddy account, enter your preferred domain or subdomain (for instance www.example.com or blog.example.com), click Confirm, and voila, your DNS records are updated. Once your DNS records are set correctly, log in to Blogger, click “Add a custom domain” in the Publishing section of the Settings page, follow the short instructions, and your custom domain will...

As we mentioned last week , some members of the Blogger team from Google HQ in Mountain View, Tokyo, Dublin, and Sydney (see group photo below) headed to Los Angeles to attend the 2011 BlogWorld & New Media Expo . One of the primary reasons we attended the expo was to meet Blogger users 1:1, and to gain a better understanding of what we can do to improve the product to better meet your needs. In addition to these discussions, we conducted surveys with many conference attendees to collect more in-depth feedback. Thank you! We really appreciate the valuable and candid responses. In the survey results and our 1:1 discussions with you we heard a few common themes: You’re hoping to widen your audience with Google+ You’d like more opportunities to customize and use gadgets with Dynamic Views You’re looking for tips and best practices for how to make more money from your blog with AdSense Your requests have been shared with the broader team and we’re hard at work making them happen for yo...

Earlier this week, the Google+ team launched Pages , a new way for you to keep up-to-date with your interests and build relationships with the people who share them. Today, the Blogger team is launching our own Google+ Page , and we’d like to invite you to add us to one of your circles . By adding Blogger's Page in one of your circles, you'll start seeing updates from the Blogger team in your Google+ stream . You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with other bloggers by writing comments on the posts. Here's a quick list of what to expect: Product news and announcements Video Hangouts with the Blogger team Spotlights on Blogger users and their blogs Pro tips from the Blogger team and other users Lastly, be sure to mention +Blogger when you share your own tips -- if we come across something particularly helpful, we may reshare it. See you on Google+! Posted by Lisa Ding, Community Manager

(Cross-posted from the Blogger Developers Network Blog ) Many Bloggers put a lot of time and effort into creating a unique look for their blog, so today we’re excited to announce that custom templates are now available for mobile devices. Side by side comparison of web and mobile experience. If you have a custom template for your blog and want it to appear on mobile browsers as well, visit the “Template” tab of your dashboard, click on the gear icon beneath the mobile template preview, and select “Custom” from the “Choose mobile template” pulldown. For more technical details and sample code, head over to the Blogger Developers Network blog . We hope you enjoy creating your own custom mobile templates and sharing them with your readers. Posted by Brett Morgan, Developer Relations Engineer

Update : For those of you who can’t attend the conference, we’ve added a schedule of Google+ Hangouts below. It’s not often that we get to meet up with Bloggers in person, so we’re very excited to invite you to join us next Thursday, November 3rd, when a bunch of Blogger team members head to Los Angeles to attend the 2011 BlogWorld Expo . To kick things off on Thursday, Jennifer Bahk from the Google Adsense team will be hosting a session called “Get More Bang and Make More Bucks with Blogger” at 3:45PM, where she’ll share expert advice on how to optimize your blog to make money with AdSense. On Friday and Saturday, the team will be hanging out at booth 314 on the exhibition floor, where we’ll be giving live demos, answering questions, and giving away Blogger swag, including photo printouts from our very own Google Photobooth. And for those of you who are traveling from abroad, Sabine Borsay, our Consumer Experience Specialist from Europe, will also be in attendance to chat with inte...