The Real Blogger Status

Blog owners are constantly asking how to add post specific accessories, from third party services. How do I add a Like button, for my posts? Adding many post accessories requires adding XML code, to the post template. Adding code to the post template is scary - and it can cause problems, when incorrectly done. The easiest way to add a per post accessory is to add an HTML gadget that references the post by the URL, as displayed for the page. The problem with an HTML gadget is that it simply references the page displayed. If your posts are read from the main page, or an archive page - and somebody uses a Like accessory, what happens?

Occasionally, we see a naive question, which requests a value comparison between pages (static pages), and posts (dynamic pages). What are the advantages of using a page, instead of a post? That question, worded in that vague way, cannot be answered. The various differences between pages and posts can provide advantages, or disadvantages . To evaluate a page or a post as an advantage, one must know the specific needs of the blog in question.

Not all blog owners know what pages are - nor how they differ from posts. We see confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? . How do I publish a post, which always appears on the home page? or How do I publish a post, which never appears on the home page? or How do I publish multiple posts on a page? Long ago, we used workarounds, like publishing a post, using a future or past date . The workarounds would create a post which would always, or never, appear on the home page - but there were always side effects, from using either technique.

We are seeing a small amount of blog owners who report that their blogs appear to be publishing new posts without individual URLs. The latest posts, when indexed in the Archive gadget, or in the post titles, simply link to the main page of the blog. Some reports mention that links in the "Edit Posts" / "Posts" menu also link to the main page, while other reports explicitly state that the links in "Edit Posts" / "Posts" are fine.

Some time ago, I wrote how to make a static home page, where the key element was an HTML gadget, tweaked to display only with the home page of the blog . That's a useful tweak - and it's a tweak that can be used in various other conditional displays also. If you know a little template XML code, you can construct alternate conditional statements, and have template objects display in any of several other specific conditions.

Many blog owners are unclear about how their blogs are indexed by the search engines. We occasionally see the confused query Visitors are coming in to my blog through the Google search engine. They don't stay though, the reason being that Google doesn't take them to the post they found - and which is obviously the one relevant to their search - but to the home page of the blog. Why does this happen? The search engines are like your readers - with your posts published on the main page, they will index the post content, from the main page.