How to Create a Mailing List for Blogger

Adding a mailing list to your Blogger-hosted blog can increase the number of readers of your Blogger entries. Get a mailing list for your Blogger so that readers are kept informed of your weblog and its new entries.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Sign up for a gmail account on Google.

2. Visit Google Groups while still signed into your Gmail account. Click "Create a Group."

3. Name your group, create a group email address, type a 300 words or less group description, indicate whether your group will have adult content and choose a public, announcement-only or restricted access level.

4. Type in the email addresses of people you want to invite to the mailing list. Include a message that explains the mailing list's purpose. Write down the group's Web address for your records.

5. Log in to your Blogger account. Click on "Dashboard," "Settings" and the "Email" tab. Locate the "BlogSend Address" field and enter your Google group's email address.

6. Add a way for other fans of your blog to subscribe to the mailing list. Revisit your Google group's homepage and click on "Tune Your Group's Settings." Select "Get a Promotion Box for Your Website" and find the "Subscribe Box for Your Web Page" HTML code; right-click your mouse and copy it.

7. Go to your Blogger's "Dashboard" page, select "Layout," "Add a Page Element" and "HTML/Javascript." Paste the HTML code into the field and select "Save Changes." Check your blog to see that the subscriber box shows on the page.

Tips & Warnings

• Change your email address on Blogger to reflect your new Gmail address. Doing so can streamline handling your blog and its corresponding mailing list.
• If you want to have control over when your blog is emailed through the mailing list, simply send the email from your Gmail account.
• Test the subscriber box by entering an extra email address you have to see if it adds itself to the mailing list.
• You can directly add email addresses directly to a Google group, but it's nice to give your invitees a choice by sending them an invitation.

[pegwinn]

on 2/26/2009 Nifty work around.