Last time, we talked about setting up FeedBurner with your Blogger (Blogspot) blog.
We covered creating your
FeedBurner account, adding you blog's feed to FeedBurner, then putting a link to your FeedBurner feed in your sidebar.
Now, we're going to look at extending the FeedBurner functionality for your Blogger blog.
Express Yourself With Flare
Sorta like
Chotchkie's wants you to express yourself with "flair," FeedBurner encourages you to express yourself with flare.
That is, add functionality to your posts.
But, unlike Chotchkie's, if you want to use less than 11, that's okay.
FeedBurner's Flare allows you add links to email the post, Technorati links, comment count, CCL, del.icio.us, Digg this, Facebook, Stumble Upon, and more.
Okay, Stumble Upon isn't included, but it can easily be added.
Activate Flare
To activate Flare, from your FeedBurner account, click "Optimize," then scroll down to FeedFlare in the menu on the left.
Click "FeedFlare."
You'll be presented with a list of 12 items. You probably won't use them all.
For instance, if your blog has multiple authors, you probably don't want to select "Email The Author," since it will send all emails to you, instead of the actual author. If you are the only author on your blog, then it's simply up to you whether or not to supply your email address.
Another item you probably don't want to select is one of the "del.icio.us" links. One if the old method, one is the new method. Pick one or the other, if you want to include del.icio.us links.
And, if your blog does a good job of showing the number of comments, you might want to skip "Comments Count" ... at least the "Site" link.
Oh, a good rule of thumb on any of these items: It's probably not a bad idea to use them. They all help expose your posts ... and your blog ... to the world.
Once you've selected the items you want in your Flare, scroll down and click the "Activate" button.
Even More Flare
Just like Chotchkie's, you can have even more Flare.
To add "Stumble Upon" to your Flare, scroll down to the "Personal FeedFlare" section and add this to the field:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumble_flare.xml
Then click "Add New Flare."
Then, select the checkbox(es) for "Stumble It!" then scroll down and click "Save."
Adding The Flare
Just because you've activated Flare doesn't mean it shows up on your post. Sure, it'll start appearing in your feeds ... at least the items you checked in the "Feed" column will.
But to have the Flare show up with your posts, you have a little more to do.
Modifying Your Old Blogger Template
Scroll down to the bottom of the FeedFlare page. You see where it says "Get the HTML code to put FeedFlare on your site"?
In that dropdown box, select Blogger.
A new window will open with instructions for adding the code to your templates. See where it says "Show me the Old Blogger steps?" Click that. Then follow those instructions.
Here's essentially what they say do:
In the FeedBurner pop-up window (with the instructions), select the contents of the box "1. Copy this code" under "Edit Blogger Templates." Copy the selected tex. (You can use your mouse: right-click > copy. You can use your keyboard: CTRL-C.)
In a separate window/tab, log in to your Blogger account.
From your Blogger Dashboard, click "Template" then "Edit HTML."
NOTE: Before you go any further, you need to
back up your template. Never,
never,
never make any changes to your Blogger template's HTML without making a backup. Trust me on this. Don't learn the hard way!
Scroll down to where you see:
<p class="post-footer">
Just above that, add a couple of blank lines. Hitting "Enter" twice will do that. This is simply to make this new code easy to read.
Paste the code (CTRL-V), then hit Enter again. That puts another empty line, making it easy to see and find.
Click "Save Template" and you're done. Almost.
Modifying Your New Blogger Template
Scroll down to the bottom of the FeedFlare page. You see where it says "Get the HTML code to put FeedFlare on your site"?
In that dropdown box, select Blogger.
A new window will open with instructions for adding the code to your templates. Follow those instructions.
Okay, here's essentially what they say do:
In the FeedBurner pop-up window (with the instructions), select the contents of the box "1. Copy this code" under "Edit Blogger Layouts." Copy the selected tex. (You can use your mouse: right-click > copy. You can use your keyboard: CTRL-C.)
From your Blogger Dashboard, click "Template" then select "Edit HTML."
Check the box next to "Expand Widget Templates."
Scroll down till you see
<div class='post-footer'>
Right after that, place your cursor, then hit Enter a couple of times. You're creating new lines to make this code easier to see and find.
Paste the code (CTRL-V), then hit Enter again. That puts another empty line, making it easy to see and find.
Click "Save Template" and you're done. Almost.
Suppose You Don't See The Flare?
If you don't see the Flare, don't sweat it.
You see, it takes a while for it to show up the first time.
Give it a few hours. Or more. Maybe even a day.
As long as your posts still look okay, there's not a problem.
But if you want to check it, you'll have to look at your HTML code.
Not your template, but the source of your blog. From your browser.
From Firefox, hit CTRL-U. From Internet Explorer, click View > Sourse.
In the new window/popup, hit CTRL-F, then type "feedburner" (without the quotes). You may have to click "Find Next" a couple of time. But you should see the FeedBurner code (it's JavaScript) that will make the Flare appear.
If that code is there, you're probably okay.
That's It?
That's a lot, but that's what you have to do to add Flare to your posts.
The advantages include a single interface to add Stumble Upon, Digg This, Technorati, and other features to your blog posts.
The disadvantage? If FeedBurner's Website goes down or is running slow, it will slow down your blog's loading. No, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
A lot of people find it's worth it. You'll have to make the decision yourself about whether or not it's worth it to you.
It is to me.
