Clear Blue Dei

It might be just me, but I am not able to connect with www.blogger.com or http://www.google.com/analytics/or the Google Analytics Blog and I can’t post a new post on my Google Blogger Blog although I can view it. But when I click New Post (or one of the links above), I get “connecting to ssl.google-analytics.com…” and it just waits and waits.

I don’t know if this is because I have Google Analytics running, or if Google Analytics itself is having problems or what.

UPDATE at 1:40pm:  Well, I’m still having problems, but Sean tried to get in blogger.com and google analytics and didn’t have this problem.  So now I wondering if it has something to do with the fact that I installed it and am using it to track one of my sites, like it has something that runs in the background that might be acting up (I know I am probably pushing my computer pretty hard and it isn’t always happy with everything I have going)

Here is a link to some other problems people have had lately. I’ve seen some of them too.

I will say that I have not been overly impressed with Google Analytics.  I’ve had problems with it and there is some reporting features that it lacks that some of the other trackers have that I am using.

~Susan Mellott

Share This

If you have been using Wordpress.com to host your blog, you might be wondering how to embed a video in your post. I know I have been! Well, thanks to what else, a YouTube video, I found the answer. It isn’t hard, but I just didn’t know.

Essentially, you just copy and paste the code next to the “embed” tag that is part of the information listed for each YouTube video while viewing the post using the “Code” tab (not the “Visual” tab). This worked for me and I didn’t need to do anything.

It is the same in Google Blogger except you go to the Edit HTML tab to add the code instead of the Code tab.

Actually, the video didn’t really help me except to point me to the ‘embed’ code and then it was obvious that it needed added to the Code section (or Edit HTML section in Blogger). And it was even more obvious when I tried it again and forgot to go to the Code first and it just displayed the code as text (as you would expect).

But if that doesn’t work, according to the video, it may be because of the WordPress Advanced Text Editor. Now the instructions in the video seem to be a little different than what I see so I’m wondering if it is pertaining to the WordPress version that you host on your own, or maybe to an earlier version. So this may or may not be applicable. I think maybe it was an earlier version of WordPress that didn’t allow you to view the code, since all I needed to do was to copy the embed code into the post while viewing it in the Code tab. But here is the video I watched for this, and my first embedded video (I cheated and went back and put an embedded video in the post before this one too).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgLv9XQWlMA]

~Susie

Share This

I’ve added a poll to the side bar of my other blog (Along the Path to 2.0) to get some feel for what blog engines people use and prefer. I added it to that blog because Google Blogger has a built-in page element for creating a poll which made it very easy. It is not nearly so easy in WordPress. In fact, I’m not sure how I would do it. But I know it would not be as simple and would undoubtedly involve some external polling software. Anyway, that’s why it is there instead of here and I’d surely appreciate you popping over there to vote.

And along those lines:
I have created a blog in both Blogger and in WordPress so I can play with them and see what they each have. I wrote a post on this when I first set them up. I’ve been finding out ways to do things that I want in each, but still like some features in one and some in the other. I’m really hesitant to judge WordPress until I get a chance to move my blog to my own website (which I hope to have soon) since I know that adds a lot of functionality. However, not everyone (or probably most people) have their own site and therefore, the blog engine of choice for them may not be WordPress.

I’m also curious which engine is best for directing people to your site for posts of interest. I’m trying to monitor it via blog stats in WordPress and Google Analytics in Blogger, but blog stats does not give as much information. I did add site meter to my WordPress blog. I found out how to add html code (only straight html code) to my blog via the text widget. It gives much more statistics.

In the process of doing two “separate but equal” blogs, I realize that I really need to settle on one or the other, and do it soon. For one thing, I have to duplicate each post if I want it on each site, and also, I really don’t want someone to start reading one site and then have it go away (or quit updating) if I switch to the other. I figure I can put a post on the site directing people to my new site, but still, I don’t feel right about it. Also, anyone thinking that I actually have two different blogs would be disappointed. I thought at first that I would put more practical information on this blog, which is my WordPress “All Things Web 2.0” blog and the posts (like this) that talk about my discovery process and thoughts on my Google Blogger blog “Along the Path to 2.0“.

But then I realized that people might read something on one or the other of my blogs and be interested in what else I might have to say and would miss half of it by having it somewhere else. So I am mostly just posting the same things on each blog. I apologize if it annoys anyone.

Also, I am sure there are other blog engines out there that people use. I know Live Journal is one that I really haven’t even looked at. If you use a different blog engine than Blogger or WordPress, could you please leave a comment letting me know what you use? And of course, comments are always, always welcome. I’d be thrilled if you left a comment and would love to hear from you about things you have found, ideas to share and comments about my post, or me, or anything else you feel like saying.

Anyway, since you are reading this, please take time to vote!

Thanks,

Susan Mellott

Share This

I found a way to add code to my Goggle Blogger blog that should let me use Google Analytics which looks like it will give me a ton of information about who accesses my blog. I just added it so I’ll have to wait to see what information I get.

Since this can track any website, I could add this blog to it also, but I have to figure out how to add the code to my WordPress blog, which maybe I can’t do until I host it myself. I think there surely must be a way to add code to my blog template, but maybe not.

~Susie

Share This

I have created a blog in both WordPress (this one) and in Blogger - Along the Path to 2.0.

I am trying to decide which I prefer and of course, they each have things I want. One thing I just did on this site using WordPress is to import all my blogs from my Google Blogger blog. That was really handy and a great way to change over to this site if I decide on WordPress.

But one thing I don’t like as well about WordPress is that I can’t seem to get to the underlying code as easily. In Blogger I can view the HTML and I have added the code to add a technorati button to it. It just seems a lot more flexible so far. But on the other hand, one of the biggest things right now for me is looking at my Blog Stats, and WordPress has a whole page dedicated to that and Blogger does not have anything, at least that I have found so far.

I also could not find out how to add widgets (beyond the standard ones) to either of these (excepting the code I put in Blogger). Sean tells me that the reason I can’t do it in WordPress is that I am not hosting my blog. Hopefully I’ll get my own web server one of these days and then I can explore that further. I wonder if it is the same issue in Blogger. I’d love to be able to add new page elements to my Blog and drag and drop them, which is really nice in Blogger and OK in Wordpress.

And of course, I am a newbie to both of these systems (and to web page coding in general) so I will learn as I go. I’ve certainly figured out a ton of little things so far. Just like anything, at first everything is time-consuming and difficult. As I figure out some of the basics, it becomes easier.

I would greatly appreciate your comments about which Blog engine you like, and why!

Update: Here is another look at these 2 blog engines. Also, read my next post for info on using Google Analytics for tracking Blogger (was Blogspot).

~Susie

Share This