Don't have a Credit Card? How To Buy a Blogger Domain?

Probably most of you are students or housewives. The problems that we all often face while facing into online business is how to get paid? How to receive a payment when you don't have a bank account or you don't hold an online account like PayPal? Now lets discuss a possible way through which you could buy something online like for instance if you wish to buy a domain from blogger then how do you do that.

Approach a Person who has a Credit Card

This is of course the most easiest thing to do. You can ask a friend or relative to let you use their Master Card or visa Card. I know it would be difficult to convince someone to let you use their credit card but most often this tip works. It worked for me!

You must get your personal PayPal account as soon as possible. Again in this case you can take the help of your closed ones. If you have a brother or sister abroad then I am sure they will be generous enough to help you in this case.

Why are you buying a domain from Blogger?

I wonder why people buy domain from blogger at such an expensive rate while they can buy it themselves for less than $10. Most people buy a domain from blogger because of automatic DNS settings but honestly speaking it takes just 2 minutes to set your DNS and CName records. I will write a post on it today. Blogger takes commission from its registrars for the domains that it sells to its users. Normally domains are cheap as low as $5-$7 if you approach a local domain host company. I have hosted MBT at a local domain web hosting company and I am pretty comfortable with them. I have many options to pay them. I can pay online, through PayPal, credit card, Bank deposit, Cheque and of course Direct Payment (CASH).

So if you are a student and don't have any friend to help you out and neither a family member to create a PayPal account for you then I guess you must try the local way which is payment through CASH. Always choose a local host and choose one that has some reputation and is recognized locally. You can Google for best Domain hosting companies in your country and I am sure you will be able to find a good host easily.

I will conclude this post with one friendly advice and that is please get a PayPal account as soon as possible. Nothing is more worth than PayPal. It is trusted worldwide and many advertising companies accept PayPal only as the safest money transaction service.

8 Tips for Using Quotes and Dialogue in Your Blog Posts

Quotes and dialogue are one of the most powerful tools in the writer’s toolbox. They bring your writing to life. They give your piece voice and make the words jump off the page. As the famous writer Stephen King once said, “What people say often conveys their character to others in ways of which they—the speakers—are completely unaware.”

Copyright Gino Santa Maria - Fotolia.com

While most bloggers understand the power of quotes, they do not know how to format them properly. This post is a crash course in how to use and punctuate quotes in your writing. Please note that there are exceptions to some of these rules (depending on whether you use the American standard or the UK standard). But for most part if you follow these rules you will be fine.

How to capitalize a quote

All quotes should be capitalized, except for fragments. If your quotes are not capitalised, your readers may think it is a partial quote with the ellipsis omitted.
Even when you quote someone mid-sentence, you should capitalise the quote.
As George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

How to extend a quote over multiple paragraphs

Say you want to break up the following quote into two paragraphs:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with. Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”
Most people open and close the quote in each paragraph:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with.”
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”
The correct way of doing this is not to close the quote at the end of each paragraph, only the last one:
“I always say to people,” said Archer in an interview, “don’t write about goblins; don’t write about wizards just because they’re in. Write what you feel at ease with.
“Always remember Jane Austen. [She] lived in a small village, and wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of four daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of three daughters. Then she wrote about her mother being unable to get rid of two daughters.”

How to edit a quote

It is amazing how many mistakes we make when speaking. It is only when you transcribe the speech to paper that you see these mistakes. As a writer then, you are allowed to clean up quotes.
For example, consider the following quote:
“There’s a 1000 people in the hall and they all love what I do.”
Clean it up so the verb agrees with the plural “people.”
“There are 1000 people in the hall and they all love what I do.”
The only exception is that if you want to make the author sound uneducated that you leave the quote in its original form.

How to add to a quote

If you need to add to a quote, do not simply include the extra words in the quote. Use the “[ ]” marker to show your additions.
As he said in an interview, “[The prosecution’s case] was weaker than Columbus’s claim that China was 10,000 miles closer than was the accepted wisdom at the time.”

How to include original errors without making yourself look silly

Say you want to insert a quote that is written incorrectly in its original form (whether by design or by mistake) but you do not want your readers to think that you are the source of the mistake.
The poster read, “Old skool remixes are the koolest.”
“Skool” and “koolest” are written incorrectly. To fix this, simply include [sic] after each of the words.
The poster read, “Old skool [sic] remixes are the koolest [sic].”
This lets the reader know that you are not the source of the error.

How to handle a quote within a quote

If you want to insert a quote that has a quote inside of it, use a pair of single quotation marks (‘ ’) to enclose the sub-quote.
“The driver said to me, ‘Where would you like to go today?’”

How to handle commas and periods in your quotes

Do you place commas and periods (full stops) outside or inside of the quotation marks? Answer: It depends. The American standard is that commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, regardless of logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an angry tenant.”
The English standard is that commas and periods follow logic:
As my grandfather used to say, “Better out than an angry tenant”.
If you are unsure which standard to follow, include the commas and periods inside the quotation marks.

How to handle question marks and exclamation marks in your quotes

When it comes question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!) both American and English standards follow logic. So if the question is in the quote itself, place it inside of the quotation marks. Otherwise place it outside the quotation marks.
At that point he asked himself, “Is this worth the effort?”
Do you agree with the adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt”?

Conclusion

Follow these rules and your writing will look more professional, helping you establish authority in the mind of your blog readers.
If you know of other mistakes that I have not covered here (I know there are a few more) please share them with us in the comments section.

Free Google Plus Blogger Template

If your blog is on hosted Google’s Blogger platform and you like the new facebook competitor Google+, then turn your blogspot blog into a Google+ look through an awesome blogger theme designed by CreativeBloggingIdeas. The theme is designed almost like Google plus with similar navigation, sidebars and color combinations. It looks like we are really on a Google Plus page!

Screenshot

Features of Google Plus Blogger Template

• Neat and clean look
• Exact Google Plus design
• Attractive navigation bar
• Eye catching search box
• 3 Columns
• SEO Optimized
• Fast loading
• Free template!

Demo | Download Page

Issues With Scripts Resulting In Some Gadgets Not Working

Over the last few years i have been hosting many scripts for gadgets and widgets that we publish on Google Code.However this week the Google code account has been terminated.This has resulted in some gadgets no longer working.For what it's worth i have no idea why the account was terminated i just seen the message "Scheduled for deletion due to Violation of TOS" and as with so many Google products there is no way to contact support about the issue.I have been very busy moving the scripts elsewhere but this is not easy.This has effected about 15 gadgets and so far i have got through about 12 and hope to complete them all soon.

What does that mean for you ? - Unfortunately if you are using one of the gadgets that had script hosted on Google Code you may have noticed it stopped working.So you will have to locate the post for the gadget and change the script.

To do this locate the section of code you placed above the </head> tag in your template and replace it with the updated code.If this does not work please leave a comment on the post.

Sorry about this but i had no control over it.

A Neat Bold Red Drop Down Menu For Blogger Using Just Css

In the last post we had a tutorial for a very unique style of drop down navigation menu for Blogger.That menu used a horizontal bar as the drop down to display links on hover.This menu uses the more conventional style of a vertical drop down to display links.It has a large bold red on grey color scheme that stands out and looks great.As with the last menu it's built purely from Css using just two images.Below you can see the screenshot and a live demo to see it in action.





This menu is also courtesy of the awesome Free Css Menu, let's add it to your blog.

Add The Bold Red Drop Down Menu To Blogger

Remember Always Back Up Your Template Before You Make Changes

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Edit Html



Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code)

]]></b:skin>

Step 3. Copy and paste the following code Directly Above / before ]]></b:skin>

Note - This is a scroll box make sure to get all the code.

/*Start Css Menu*/
.menu{
border:none;
border:0px;
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
font-family:verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;
font-size:14px;
font-weight:bold;
color:8e8e8e;
}
.menu ul{
background:url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyj_Hl51MVxnwiWfx7wVlA1OMCsKMdWfNIC2x_NXvFvUPSIe0MnvILPf0riZLPNwFlllB_4wq8MXWsgG8nW6wJxiKdVSa9_WgLQDTCi8Myv6xQJhnFkSVPiQY3CQ2-a75cIBiYx3Y7RjZD/s1600/menu-bg.gif) top left repeat-x;
height:43px;
list-style:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
.menu li{
float:left;
padding:0px 8px 0px 8px;
}
.menu li a{
color:#666666;
display:block;
font-weight:bold;
line-height:43px;
padding:0px 25px;
text-align:center;
text-decoration:none;
}
.menu li a:hover{
color:#000000;
text-decoration:none;
}
.menu li ul{
background:#e0e0e0;
border-left:2px solid #a80329;
border-right:2px solid #a80329;
border-bottom:2px solid #a80329;
display:none;
height:auto;
filter:alpha(opacity=95);
opacity:0.95;
position:absolute;
width:225px;
z-index:200;
/*top:1em;
/*left:0;*/
}
.menu li:hover ul{
display:block;
}
.menu li li {
display:block;
float:none;
padding:0px;
width:225px;
}
.menu li ul a{
display:block;
font-size:12px;
font-style:normal;
padding:0px 10px 0px 15px;
text-align:left;
}
.menu li ul a:hover{
background:#949494;
color:#000000;
opacity:1.0;
filter:alpha(opacity=100);
}
.menu p{
clear:left;
}
.menu #current{
background:url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXA_5Kn34TECWO_rH1Z9fMFABr50KmgD_I_WLCnq_2AdvM2EF6dxmp0_lfOpIcPISYBetFCzl3Ud_cI8QFbR-NQ87ZYEPOg8pi_Ds1jw_iIXtKMX57AUq2-a3bgoCnqdflEIjA2_sHizxl/s1600/current-bg.gif) top left repeat-x;
color:#ffffff;
}

/*End Css Menu from http://www.spiceupyourblog.com*/

Step 4. Save your template.

That's the Css added next is to add the html for your menu.

Now go to your blogs Design Page, we will be adding the menu across your blog below the header.This area is called Cross Column and can be seen in the image below.

Add The Menu Html

In your blogs Design Page click Add A Gadget > Choose Html/Javascript > Copy and paste the following code into the Html/Javascript gadget :

<div class="menu">

<ul>
<li><a href="#" id="current">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#" >Products</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Drop Down CSS Menus</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Horizontal CSS Menus</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Vertical CSS Menus</a></li>

<li><a href="#">Dreamweaver Menus</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/faq.php">FAQ</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#">Drop Down CSS Menus</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Horizontal CSS Menus</a></li>

<li><a href="#">Vertical CSS Menus</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Dreamweaver Menus</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="/contact/contact.php">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

This is the code that makes up the menu in the demo above.Replace the hash tags (#) with your links and the text with your text.If you take a few minutes to reference the demo and the code you should see how it works.If you want to add more links you can do so in the same way, once again take a few minutes to look at the layout of the code and you will see how its done.

Template Designer Tabs Fix

If you use a template from the Blogger Template Designer there is a section of Css that will effect this or any menu you place in the cross column section.This is called tabs and you will need to remove or over ride the tabs css.I have made a short video to show you how to remove it.You can see the video here - Remove Tabs Css.

How To Add Breadcrumb Navigation To Blogger Blogs

Breadcrumbs is the name given to navigation links usually displayed above posts on blogs and at the top of pages on websites.The links are a trail from the page you are currently on back to the home page.So for example on a blog you will have the home page link, a link to a label used for the post then the post title.This will be displayed like this 'Home > Label > Post Title'.This is a very popular type of navigation on all sorts of sites and in this post i will show you how to add it to blogger.

Below you can see a screenshot and the live demo.Credit for the original breadcrumbs for Blogger goes to Hoctro with further work by Blogger Plugins.

Add Breadcrumbs Navigation To Blogger

Remember Always Back Up Your Template Before You Make Changes - How To Back Up A Blogger Template

Step 1. In Your Blogger Dashboard Click Design > Edit Html > Tick The Expand Widget Templates Box



Step 2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - How To Find Code In Blogger Template Template)

<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>

Step 3. Now Replace it with this code

<b:include data='top' name='status-message'/>
<b:include data='posts' name='breadcrumb'/>

Step 4. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - How To Find Code In Blogger Template Template)

<b:includable id='main' var='top'>

Step 5. Now Replace It With This Code

<b:includable id='breadcrumb' var='posts'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl == data:blog.url'>
<!-- No breadcrumb on home page -->
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the post page -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl' rel='tag'>Home</a>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.labels'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast == "true"'> »
<a expr:href='data:label.url' rel='tag'><data:label.name/></a>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<b:else/>
»Unlabelled
</b:if>
» <span><data:post.title/></span>
</b:loop>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "archive"'>
<!-- breadcrumb for the label archive page and search pages.. -->
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Archives for <data:blog.pageName/>
</span>
</p>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<p class='breadcrumbs'>
<span class='post-labels'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageName == ""'>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » All posts
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'>Home</a> » Posts filed under <data:blog.pageName/>
</b:if>
</span>
</p>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</b:includable>
<b:includable id='main' var='top'>
<!--Breadcrumbs code info @ http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/-->

Step 6. Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code - How To Find Code In Blogger Template Template)

]]></b:skin>

Step 7. Now Replace It With This Code

/* Breadcrumbs Css info @ http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/ */
.breadcrumbs {
padding:5px 5px 5px 0px;
margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;
font-size:95%;
line-height: 1.4em;
border-bottom:3px double #e6e4e3;
}
]]></b:skin>

Step 8. Save your template.

That's it breadcrumbs have been added to your blog.Credits again go to Hoctro and Blogger Plugins.Make sure to check out more of our Blogger Tutorials.