How To Install Blogger Templates

I’m continuing my posts about how to start a blog, with the “design” edition.  This post is specifically for Blogger.  I’ll post design tips for WordPress on a different day.

The first way to get your blogger blog cute as a button is to install a different background.  I really like the backgrounds available at the Cutest Blog On The Block.  They are completely free, and VERY easy to install.  To use one of their backgrounds first sign into your blogger account and go into the administrative area where you would add a new post.  Once in there click on the tab labeled “Design”.  Now that you are in here, click on the link to the “template designer” and click the template called “Picture Window” to activate it.  Then click “Apply to Blog” in the top right corner of the page.

Once you have activated the “Picture Window” template, you are ready to install your new background.  Search the cutest blog on the block for your favorite background.  Once you have found the background you would like to install highlight the “code” in the copy and paste this code section.  Make sure you get the entire thing.  Right click on the highlighted text and select copy.

Now go back to the Blogger design page, and make sure you are on the “page elements” area.  Click any of the “add a gadget” buttons and click the plus sign next to the HTML/JavaScript gadget.  Don’t give it a title, and just paste the entire code into the box.  Save the gadget, and go have a look see at your blog!

Now if you want to go a slightly more advanced route, you can download an entire template.

In this method you would do a google search for Blogger Templates.  There are some really cheap blogger templates, or even free blogger templates.  This time instead of heading over to the template designer, you will click “edit HTML”, after you have found and downloaded to your hard drive the template that you would like to use.  Typically the file will come “zipped”.  After you download the template to your desktop.  Go to your desktop and right click on the file.  Select “Extract All” and it should put a new folder on your desktop with your template inside.  The actual template should not look like a folder when you see the icon of it.  It will be an .xml file.

Now that you have your template downloaded and unzipped, you will go to the edit html section of your Blogger admin and click the “browse” button.  Locate the xml file on your desktop (again make sure you are uploading the actual file, and not the folder or the zipped folder.  Once you have found the correct file click the upload button.  Save your new template and you should be in business!

There is one warning with uploading a brand new template.  You will most likely LOSE the gadgets you currently have installed.  Make sure if it’s anything you want to keep to back up the code inside those gadgets, or at least remember where you got them and what they were!

So go out there and make your personal blogger blog the best little blog it can be!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using the links.

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