This is the third part of the series on creating a gratis or free blog out of scratch. This is basically for beginners but for those who want to learn more, even if they/you are not a beginner anymore,maybe you would try to see and advice what we can improve here. That is highly appreciated. This video focuses on creating the blog using Gmail account that has been created in previous series and customizing the template,layout, backgrounds,size,etc.of this new blog. I suggest you read everything first then watch the video in full screen.


From the previous article, you just created your Google account through Gmail. For those who have existing Google accounts already, this would be your starting point: accessing Blogger and creating a blog using your existing Gmail or Google account. There is also a video with this article (just above this paragraph) on how to do this step but before playing the video, take note of the following:

• 1. You need your Google account/Gmail username and password;
• 2. Upon logging in to Blogger (www.blogger.com), another language might be there, simply change the language to your preferred one as shown in the video;
• 3. When you are inside, logged in your account, and at the creation of the Blog, you may opt to “Check Availability” of the “Blog Address url” before clicking the “Continue” button. It’s up to you if you want to check the availability or not. Blogger will also tell you if the url is not anymore available and will "force" you to change that url before you can go on;
• 4. You can also see which stage of blog creation you are in: in the Blogger page, inside your account, 3 steps are indicated to guide you: (1) Create account; (2) Name Blog; and (3) Choose Template. All these 3 are performed and shown in the following video. The templates available in this video are the basic and simple ones. Later on this tutorial, we will be customizing and beautifying your templates and layout, just a little bit of patience and we will get there
• 5. Take note that the first article in the dummy blog at http://learning-blog-101.blogspot.com, I created it and simply copied it and pasted in the post area of the blog. I also advice the same thing for you, to write offline and save it in your hard drive so that in case Blogger crashes or your connection and/or computer crashes, you don’t lose your article. (I apologize for some Italian texts and instructions popping out from time to time; this laptop is Italian and I speak the language too so I don’t bother changing everything to English)
• 6. The video already shows how to add an image in the post and how to create a “tag” or “label” (in the video the tag is “Blogging”) for the posts. You can create more tags if you like. Blogger will let you know when you exceeded maximum tags.
• 7. You may opt to ”Preview” your post before publishing but personally, I rarely do that as I can always return and edit anything anyway.

Now you may watch the video. This tutorial has a few more series to post and your blog is ready and beautiful. Goodluck and enjoy blogging!

Previous Series:

• How to Create a Free or Gratis Blog: Opening a Blog Through Gmail/Google Account (Part II of Blogging 101 Series)
• How to Create Free or Gratis Blog? Introduction (Part I) to Starting Blogging 101 Series

Before you can have that blog readily set and available online, you need to do a few things. Since we agreed that we do this tutorial or we make your blog with Google by using a Google account, you would need a Google account then. If you already have one, like a Gmail account or any other Google related service account, you may use that same username and password when using the Blogger blog platform. Or, at your option, you may open a Google account separately only for your blog(s). So here we are, we will open an account in Google to be used and this will serve as a demonstration here on how to have a blog and how to make them beautiful later on. Yes, customization will be covered in this step-by-step tutorial on how to create and customize a blog for free.

I advice you to read the following and see the video FULLSCREEN to fully see the details.

• 1. Let us open an account through Gmail.com. Gmail or Googlemail is owned by Google and if we have Gmail account, we can directly access Blogger (www.blogger.com, the website where we can create free or gratis blogs) from there just by using a Gmail account, using exactly the same username and password.
• 2. After we have an account, let us start creating a blog from there (this is partly covered in the following video but a detailed one is posted together with the next article). Of course as I do this step-by-step tutorial, we use a dummy account and all the data here are for tutorial purposes only. Customize your own blog as much as you want as you go along and as you learn more.
• 3. See the attached video on how to do it exactly. I suggest read this whole article first and view the video in full screen as it is difficult to see if not in full screen mode. Good luck!

Now that you have a Google account, the following video in the following post shows how to create a blog using the Google Blooger’s platform. The next post and video will dwell on the details. We will start from the basic here and we will go on smoothly to the customization of blog from layout to templates to sizing, etecetera.

It is good to take note though that we better make a sample post in order for us to see how these posts appear really in our blogs. I suggest first writing your draft blog post offline and carefully editing it (by utilizing spelling checker and the likes) before putting it in your blog and to finally publish such article. This can save you time and trouble and if you save your article in your hard drive, it will be still available even if you accidentally delete this post in your blog later on or even if Blogger or your computer crashes in the middle of posting such article.

Related Series:

• You may want to read: "Introduction: How to Create Free or Gratis Blog? Part I to Starting Blogging 101 Series"
• New Blogger Design Tutorial Using Gmail Account: Part III of Starting Blogging 101 Series

Blogging has a lot of good sides. To be fair enough, I have to warn you that it has bad sides also. I have been blogging since 2007 and I never get tired of it. The only good thing is, I have matured in this thing that now I learned how to set my priorities and enjoy life out of the virtual world. What I mean to say here is that, blogging still pulls me to sit, especially that I have more than 15 blogs to take care of but I know now when to stop, go out for a walk or do my short indoor exercises.

Before I lay down here the complete process on how to blog, I have to give the advantages that blogging has given me:

• 1. It made me see others' views and helped me having a wide/broad mind;
• 2. It relaxes me after work;
• 3. It makes me practice writing, thus improving it;
• 4. I socialize (virtually) with tons of other bloggers from all over the world;
• 5. I learn a lot of things along the way (html coding, laying out of page, creativity, etc);
• 6. Not me personally but for teens, blogging can be a good diversion to teenagers, instead of hanging out at night, smoking, drinking, etcetera, why not blog?;
• 7. I enjoy it as I love publishing my thoughts and sharing them to/with others; and
• 8. I earn from it (not millions but it gives a sense of achievement by doing the thing I love and at the same time get financial returns for it…)

and what are the disadvantages that I see from blogging? It is:

• 1. Addicting. You may find yourself hurrying online in wee hours and abandon your “real priorities”;
• 2. Time consuming. Before you know it the night is over;
• 3. Causes you to be virtual being; you have your blog(s) and you're contented, thus you think that outside world is not needed (obviously this is very unhealthy attitude);
• 4. Can be frustrating especially when your efforts seem to not bearing fruits...but I say, be patient. You can feel this when you don’t get enough traffic in your blog, not as much comment as you want or not as enough earnings as you planned;
• 5. Makes you an extremely introvert being. Yes, you can do all electronically but it diminishes your real power to communicate personally as you interact less and less with other people. What I say, just make it a hobby and NOT a living;
• 6. Can be worthless. Why are you doing it for anyway? You must have strong reason and when you are feeling frustrated, get back to your basic motives and you will be inspired again;
• 7. Can cause you a lot of trouble: late for school or work, sleepiness, tiredness, attitude problems, waste of time, frustrations, and if you are not careful, lawsuits!

I realized the both sides of the coin but my decision was, and still is, pro blogging. I still blog and I have at least 15 blogs that I try to maintain posting to them at least one (some can have 10-15 posts in a month). Why is that? You will understand later as I give this whole series on blogging and how to create a blog from the very beginning.

This is only the first part of the series. The next post, series 2 will be available in a day or couple of days. Just watch out. Subscribe to my feed if you don't want to miss it...or better, subscribe through email or bookmark this blog. The series on how to blog will be walking you through from opening a blog through Google to laying-out designs and backgrounds to making a few cents through Google Adsense. Screenshots and or videos will be utilized to properly share with you how it is done. Yes, we use free Google’s blog platform called Blogger and as I said you can have it for free; it is gratis! Unless you want a private domain, which costs $10 from Blogger, you have nothing to worry of. Starting a blog costs your time and effort but no money so far. I myself, with more than 10 blogs, pay only for two of them (at my own choice) and that is very affordable.

It's up to you to weigh the pros and cons now and decide whether you'd blog or not. Or at least give it a try anyway and see how it's going to.

Related Series:

• How to Create a Free or Gratis Blog: Opening a Blog Through Gmail/Google Account (Part II of Blogging 101 Series)
• New Blogger Design Tutorial Using Gmail Account: Part III of Blogging 101 Series

In 36 hours I made big changes in 4 of my many blogs (Ican’t count how many they are as ofnow,I willpost about them in the future). I fixed their layouts and I was able to write at least 5 articles in some of my many blogs and save at least 10 of schedule posts in the future. I am glad for this update because my blogs are quite abandoned now considering I don’t have the luxury of time to spend with them. I do love blogging, writing my ideas, putting them online for the record and sometime in the future take a peek back and see “how or what it was” on a certain period in the past. Lovely right?

My personal blog (I love red) called "When I Wander" found at http://www.webloglearner.com. This blog contains personal updates, nothing serious... Google PR is 2.

My travel blog, not that updated, called "A Few Travels, Explorations, Observations, etc" found at http://www.travels-explorations.blogspot.com. This blog contains travel related stuff but I always miss on logging stuff on time... Google PR is NA.

My political and cultural (Philippines), not that updated, called "I Love Philippines Too" found at http://www.ilovephilippinestoo.blogspot.com. This blog contains political opinions, Filipino-related ideas, and most are Philippineof Filipino related. This is my first blog ever. It has a Google PR of 3.

This used to be a health blog but I transformed it to food and lifestyle blog called "Enjoy Food and Life". It can be found at http://www.enjoy-food-life-goodness.blogspot.com. The Google PR of this is at the moment NA.

Below are the screenshots of my updated blogs. I did them very quickly and the great news is that blogger offers this possibility now. I am very thankful! So how did I customize all these blogs with these changes? How I suit them with their respective themes and/or with my taste and personality? I will explain also here (next post) the possibility of various layouts, templates, backgrounds and customization tips I did for my blogs. I will be sharing screenshots and instructions for everyone. For now, I am happy sharing with you the results on my own blogs.