What you need to know about gadgets in Blogger

What are gadgets?

If you are logged into your dashboard on blogger.com there is a page called Layout.

In the layout page you will see several options all over the page that say add a gadget.

But what are they? Why would you use them, and how to know which ones to use when and where can be a headache!
First of all, don't feel pressured to fill up the sidebar of your blog with any ole' gadget. Only use gadgets that pertain to your blog. Remember that the overall layout of your blog is important too, click here to read my post about layouts and why they are important.


Some of my favorites are:

1. Follow by email: This gadget is a must, and one that you should add right away. One of my best blogging tips is to build an email subscription list before you ever worry about social media. Email followers are much more consistent and dedicated to your blog. I usually put this gadget at the top of my sidebar, or near the top!
2. Pages: Thanks to the team behind Google's Blogger the Page gadget can be adjusted much easier now. You can choose which pages you want to display and even add external links to your navigation bar. Don't like the bar across the top of your blog? No worries, simply drag the page gadget to your side bar and it will be a vertical list.
3. Archives: You don't have to use this gadget, a lot of people don't. However, if your readers have nothing else to read once they finish the post that brought them to your blog... they will click away! Having your archives visible opens up all of your blog posts to potential readers and new followers. Think of your experience when stumbling upon a new blog. If there are only a few posts visable would you click older posts twenty times or go back to scrolling through Facebook?
4. Flavicon: Flavi-whaaat? The flavicon is the little image to the left of your blog name in the tab of your browser. If you don't have one then you will have the orange Blogger logo. To change your flavicon you need to make a square image that is 50x50 pixels and upload it to the Flavicon gadget on the Layout page.
5. Navbar: If you are feeling generous and want to share the love with other random bloggers then leave the navbar on. However, I usually turn it off. Anytime a reader clicks out of your blog you never know if they will come back or not. If you only send people away from your blog in a direction that you choose (other blogs that you link up) they may think more favorably of you in the future.
6. Text: The text gadget is great for your disclosure statement or posting a quote.
7. HTML/ Javascript:I use this gadget most often. When the image gadget began requiring a title I quit using it, immediately. I now use the HTML/ Javascript gadget for images, social media plugins, and videos. 

Don't let HTML code intimidate you, while I wouldn't write the code by myself I have learned how to place the codes where I want them. At some point I'll write up an HTML crash course for dummies  blog post. Now for part 2 of this post... click here to continue!

Gadget Hacks