Posts categorized "News" Feed

FeedBurner is no longer delivering email subscriptions. What you need to consider.

FeedBurner. Bye bye bye.

On April 14, 2021, Google announced FeedBurner's email subscription feature would no longer be available starting July 2021. We know many Typepad users have relied on FeedBurner to email readers when a new post is published to their blog. Read more about the changes coming to FeedBurner on Google's site.

If you're utilizing FeedBurner, you'll want to take some time over the next few weeks to find a new email subscription service that best meets your needs.  FeedBlitz, an email subscription service we have recommended over the years, has a great article on what to consider when choosing a new email subscription provider here.

Some things to consider when looking for a new email subscription service:

  • Can you import your existing subscribers?
  • Does the service provide support?
  • Is the service focused on email subscriptions?
  • Is there a limit on the number of subscribers?
  • Do you want to monetize your feed?

Before the first of July, you'll want to make sure to back up your subscriber list. FeedBurner has information on downloading your email subscribers here. Make this your last step so you don't miss any recent signups.

We have made FeedBlitz easy to integrate with Typepad. Learn more. However, you can also check out Follow.it, which has a free version, or do an online search for other tools. Most services will work seamlessly with your Typepad blog's feed.

If you need any help with the transition away from FeedBurner, just let us know by opening a help ticket in your Typepad account at Help > New Ticket or emailing us at [email protected].


Google Forms Is Great At Gathering Information From Your Readers

Google Forms

Collecting information from your readers doesn’t have to be hard. Google Forms is a great (and free) way to create a form your readers can fill out. There're all kinds of things you can do with your Google Form. Once you have it created you can easily add it to a post, page, or sidebar. 

To use Google Forms, you first need a Google account. If you don’t have one, it's easy to set up. Once your Google account is created, log into your Gmail account and click on the 9 dots (top right). Select Forms and your Form account will come up. 

Google Forms in account

Google offers a multitude of premade templates for you to select and customize. Look for a template that fits your needs or create one from scratch. 

Google Forms Templates


Google Forms QuestionsAdd Questions To Your Form

Google Forms allows you to add different types of questions to your form depending on the answer you want. To add a question, click on the Plus (+) sign on the right and a new question will be added to the bottom of your form. The questions types are Short Text, Paragraph, Multiple Choice, Check Box, Drop Down, or File Upload. 

You can also structure the question in different ways. You can have Linear Scale, Multiple-Choice Grid, or a Check Box Grid. These are great for ranking questions. 

Pro Tip: You can add more than questions to your form, you can add images and videos as well.

Add Sections

If you have a larger form for your readers, you can break it up into smaller sections. Each section will be on a separate page and can have as many questions as you need. 

Add a Section

Customize the Theme

Once you have your questions in order, you can customize the theme of your form. You can add colors to match your branding. Add a banner image to the form that includes your logo and a title for your form. 

Google Forms Themes

Form Best Practices

When creating your forms there're a few best practices to keep in mind.

Plan out your form. Make sure to plan out what information you want your readers to provide. Are they signing up for a newsletter or giving feedback on your blog or services? Be clear on what you want to get from the form. 

One theme at a time. Don’t try to do everything with one form. 

Only ask for information you will use. Readers may not want to fill out the form if you ask too many questions. It may feel personal and invasive to ask for a lot of personal information. 

Keep it short. Now one wants to spend all day filling out a form. You can let your readers know about how long it will take to fill out the form (ex: This form should take around 5 minutes to fill out. Enjoy!)

Test your questions. After you have created your form, give it to a friend or co-worker to fill out and ask for feedback. Sometimes a question that might seem clear to you, may be confusing to the reader. 

How To Add to Your Blog

Now that you have the perfect form you need to add it to your blog. We're going to focus on adding it to a post or a page and your sidebar. 

Get Your Embed Code

Once your form is completed in Google Forms, click on the purple Send button. You'll see different options to send your form, click on the Embed option (<>). Here you will see the embed code you need to copy. Before you copy, you can adjust the height and width of the form. If you plan on publishing on a blog post or page, you can leave the default width and height in place. If you want to add to your sidebar, change the width to be between 200 and 300 px wide (you don’t have to adjust the height). Once you have the correct width and height, copy your embed code. 

Large Embed Code

Post/Page

From the Compose page, click on the HTML tab. Paste in the code where you want it then click on Preview to view the form in your post.  If it looks great, click on Save Changes or Publish. 

Google Form code in Typepad

Sidebar

To add your form to your sidebar, click on the name of the blog, then the Design tab. Click on the Content tab, then add an Embed Your Own HTML module. In the pop-up, give your module a name and then paste in the embed code. Click on ok, then save changes. 

Using a link to your form

If you don’t want to display the form on your blog, you can always link to it in your sidebar. In Google Forms, click on the Send button then Link (looks like a chain). Here you'll see the URL to your form. You can create a custom image and use the Sidebar Image Module to insert an image and make it a clickable link.

Link in Sidebar Image Module

Results

In Google Forms, you can view your results by clicking on the name of the form on the main page then clicking on Responses. Here you will see the answers to all your questions. You can review the results as a summary, by questions, or by a person. This will let you drill down to find more specific information. 

Google Forms Results

Now that you know about Google Forms, how will you use it to learn more about your readers? What other programs do you use to learn more about your readers? Share with everyone in the comments. 


Featured Category Post: an excellent new way to highlight categorized content!

Feat_cat_header

We're here to announce a brand new feature we're sure everyone will love! Now you can select a featured post for a specific category. 

Crowd  cheering for Typepad

When readers click to view a category page, they can see the featured post before the other posts in that category. Create an introductory post that explains more about the topic or information from a recent post you want to highlight.

Let's get started

First, make sure the post is added to a category. From the Compose page, under Categories, select the categories for your post. 

Categories

Next, scroll down to the Feature Post In Categories section and select the category you want the post to be featured in. 

Featured Post in Categories

Pro Tip: You can select more than one category to associate with the featured post.

Once you're done, you can save or publish the post. When you go to the category page, you'll see this post before the others in the category. 

Categories are a great way to help readers find the information they're looking for in one easy place. Don't forget to check back regularly, or keep an eye on our social media, for tips on how to make these featured posts stand out from one category to the next.

Have you created a featured post for your category page? Share it with us in the comments. 


Top 10 Everything Typepad Posts for 2020

Top 10 Everything Typepad Posts for 2020 Version 2

2020 has been a memorable year. Some great memories and some not so good memories. The good news is, like you, we blogged our way through it. While looking over our Google Analytics, we have to say, we shared some really great content. Here are our Top 10 Everything Typepad posts from 2020.

 

Featured Card Blog Post

At the beginning of 2020, we released a new magazine theme called Featured Cards. This new theme is a content-driven layout that focused on the ability to beautifully display text and photos in a way that was clean and organized.

 

image from everything.typepad.comWith PayPal you can easily accept payment from your readers. Learn how to add buttons to sell products or subscriptions to your blog. Turn your blog into a side hustle and pay them bills! 

 

Book ShopperDid you know we accept guest bloggers? We love to have our Typepad bloggers write about their experience and blogging knowledge. The Book Shopper wrote this great piece about how his blog is his own archive. 

 

image from everything.typepad.comGoogle allows you to create great photo albums to organize your memories. We have a way for you to share those albums with your readers too! Embed your album and show off your adventures. 

 

image from everything.typepad.comPinterest is a popular social media platform that can be a great tool for reaching new readers. Make sure your site is verified with Pinterest so they know the information is from a trusted source. 

 
image from everything.typepad.com
2020 was the year we rolled out a top request — having a store within your blog! We integrated Ecwid to make it easier to merge your blog and shop content for readers to access.
 
 
image from everything.typepad.com
We know, you don't want to think about cleaning right now; that's for Spring time! This last Spring we had a great list to help you start cleaning up your blog so it is ready for 2021! 
 
 
image from everything.typepad.com
Social media is a great place to interact with your readers. Make it easier for readers to find you on social media with buttons that share which services you're active on. We provide 3 different ways to add social media links to your blog. 
 
 
image from everything.typepad.com
We know it can be stressful when you visit your blog and it doesn't load. The most common mistake for a blog not loading is when your domain is missing a Forward to the non-www domain. In this post we showed you how to set a Forward so it's one less thing to worry about.
 
 
image from everything.typepad.com

By adding a small bit of CSS, you can add a message over your comment section. Let your readers know about your comment policy or rules for your blog's comment section. 

And there you have it! Our best Typepad posts! If you have Google Analytics you can find your most viewed pages and share with your readers. If you don't have Google Analytics, now is a great time to add it so you can do this for 2021!

 

 


Get what you need with our Cyber Monday Sale!

Cyber Monder Sale

Cyber Monday is traditionally about buying presents for friends and family. Get something for yourself too! Save money on your Typepad account and domain!  

Yearly And Monthly Discount

Save 25% when you prepay for one year!

Use discount code CYBERPADYEAR2020 and receive 25% off when you pay for one year. Valid until Sunday, Dec 6th, 2020.

Save 50% for 3 months when you pay monthly!

Use discount code CYBERPADMONTH2020 and receive 50% off your next 3 months. Valid until Sunday, Dec 6th, 2019.

*Discount cannot be used with any other discounts. Only available for Plus, Unlimited, or Premium Plans.

Button_add-the-discount-code-now

Apply Your Discount Code

From your dashboard, click on the Account tab, then go to Billing Info. Click on Update Payment Method and put in your discount code. Scroll down and save changes. This will apply the discount to your next yearly or monthly bill.

Don't see the box to enter your discount code? Let us know! Create a Help Ticket (Help > New Ticket or email [email protected]) and let us know what discount to add.

Save Money On Your Domain!

We are offering an amazing discount on popular, top-level domains. Until December 31st, 2020, you'll pay what we pay for all .com, .net, .org, and .blog domains! You can enjoy this discount when purchasing a new domain or renewing a current domain.

Top-Level Domains

.com
$11.99 now $8.89

.net
$12.71 now $12.21

.org
$12.71 now $12.59

.blog 
$29.99 now $24.99

To purchase a domain, click on the Account tab, then Domain Mapping. Type in your domain then select a Top Level Domain from the drop-down. Click on Check Availability. You can purchase the domain if it's available. If not, try another version of the domain name.

Once the domain is purchased, you will need to apply it to the blog you want.

Already purchased your domain? Renew your domain and get this great deal. You can renew for up to 9 years to get the most out of this discount.

This pricing is only available until Saturday, December 31st 2020.

Button_purchase-a-domain

 

 

 


Add A Drop Down Menu To Your Navigation Bar

Add A Drop Down Menu To Your Navigation Bar

Everyone loves new features and we have a great one for all our bloggers. You can now a add drop down menu to your navigation bar in all Design Lab themes. Easily group together topics or ideas for your readers to browse through. 

This new feature is currently only available to our Beta Team. Learn how to join our Beta Team to be the first to test out new features. 

Let’s get started! 

From the Design tab, click on Content. Here you'll see all the modules for your blog. Click on the pencil to edit the Navigation Module. 

In the pop up, select Use Drop Down. Now you will see folders at the end of every link. Click on the folder to open the menu. 

Navigation Bar Pop Up

Add the title you want readers to see and the URL readers will go to. Once you are done, close the file by clicking on the open file. Now you'll see the file has turned dark to indicate there are sublinks under it.

Sauces Drop Down

Click on OK, then Save Changes. Now go see your blog! There will be an arrow next to the main link to indicate a drop down. When readers click on it, they'll see your sublinks. 

Drop Down On Blog

We hope you love this new feature and would love to see it in action on your blog! Put a link to your blog in the comments and share!


Get Started With Amazon Associates

Get Started With Amazon Associate

Now that you have been blogging for a while, you may be wondering "what's the next step?" You work hard to create amazing content, joining Amazon's Associate program is a great way to monetize that content. You can easily start an account and generate code to add to your blog.

Amazon's Associates program is a referral program. When a reader clicks on an Amazon link from your blog, you get a percentage of what they purchase in the next 24 hours. Let’s go over creating your Amazon Associates account. 

Join Amazon Associates Program

From the Amazon Associates homepage you can click on Join Now for Free to either log into your existing Amazon account or create a new account. 

Join Amazon Associate

Set-up Your Amazon Associates Account

Amazon will ask for your personal information. Add your name, mailing address and phone number. If you already have an account, you will see your information there. 

Step 1 Account Information
Add Your Blog URL

Amazon needs to know where you are on the web. Add the URL to your blog along with any social media sites (they only accept Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch.tv). If you have a mapped domain, add your mapped domain and your Typepad URL. Once you click on next, you will need to confirm your blog is not directed to anyone 13 years or younger. This is to be compliant with Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA").

Step 2 Your website

Set-up Profile

Here you can tell Amazon about your blog. What is your blog about? How do you drive traffic to your blog? How many unique views do you receive each month? Most of these questions are answered with multiple choice answers or picking from a drop down menu. You will need to accept their terms of service and then click Finished. 

Payment and Tax information

Tell Amazon how you would like to be paid. You can get a direct deposit after you have earned $10, an Amazon gift card after you earned $10, or have a check mailed to you after you earned $100. If you are unsure how you want to get paid or need to gather information you can skip this part. 

Next, you can add your tax information. You can set it up as an individual or as a business. If you select individual, you will need to add your full name and SSN/ITIN number. If you select business, you will need to select a Federal Tax Classification and add your EIN. 

Congratulations! You've created your Amazon Associates account. At first you are under their Application Review Process. You have 180 days to generate at least 3 sales to continue with your account. Amazon offers several ways to generate sales. Something we will go over in our next post!

 


Get Your Account In Order!

Get your Account in Order!

You set up your account information when you start your Typepad account, that may have been ages ago. Take a few moments to make sure your account information is up-to-date. 

To update your information, click on the Account tab on the top right. 

Account Tab Final

Name and Email Address

Make sure the correct owner's name is on the account. The name shows up when you create a ticket and helps us know who we're speaking with. 

Your email address is also your username. Your blog may be a personal blog, make sure it uses an email address you will always have access to. Don't use a company email address in case you change jobs and don't have access to that address anymore.  If you are blogging for a company, use a common email address for that company, like [email protected] or [email protected]. This way, if the person who is blogging leaves the company, you can still access the account and get important information. 

If you change the email address on the account, we'll send you an email at the new address. This is to verify the email address is valid. Click on the link in the email to verify the change. If you don't click on the link, the change won't be made. Keep in mind, once you update the email address, your username will change too. 

Don't give your login information to anyone. If someone needs access to the account to blog, create a junior or guest author account for them. 

Password

Only you need to know your password. If at any time you believe your account is compromised in any way, you want to update your password. You can do it here, under the Account tab or if you don't have access to your account, you can use the Forgot Password link from the login page

Creating a secure password can be hard. It has to be easy for you to remember, but hard for bad guys to guess. Check out our guide Creating a Secure Password: the Do's and Do Not's to get some great ideas on how to create a secure password. 

Security Questions

Security Questions are very important for account access. If you ever need help getting access to your account, we'll ask you to answer your security questions. If you don't have your security questions set up or don't know the answer, you'll need your billing information to gain access to your account. 

As with your password, you want to make sure your security question answers are something you will think of but bad guys will not. We have a great guide, How To Create Secure Security Questions, to help you come up with great secure question and answer combos.

Language and Timezone

Typepad allows you to pick the language for your account. Select a language that you're most comfortable with. We have a verity of languages for you to choose from. This will make navigating in Typepad easier for those that don't speak English. There will be some areas that have not been translated. If you are having trouble reading areas of Typepad or have questions; you can reach out to us or use Google Translate to decipher the text. This applies to your Typepad account only. You can type in any language for your blog posts. 

When scheduling your posts, it is important to make sure your time zone is correct. 3PM Eastern time is very different than 3PM Pacific time. If the time zone is wrong, the post will not publish as scheduled and the wrong time can show at the bottom of your published posts.

Join our Beta Team

We're continually updating and adding new features to Typepad. Once we're done testing something new, we release it to our beta team for real world testing. If you're part of our beta team you can have access to these features before anyone else. You don't have to use a feature if you don't need it. If you do use a feature, please provide your feedback or any issues you have. We can then look into your experience and make further updates. This testing is important to us because everyone uses their account in a unique way. Having you try out these new features helps us test in ways we may not of thought of. 

Once you're done updating your Typepad account, take a moment and update other programs you use to blog. 


Why You May Want Multiple Domains

Why You May Want Multiple Domains
A top-level domain (TLD) is what comes after your web address. It is usually .com, .org, or .net. These would be the most common TLD out there. You may not know that there are many others that you can use to explain your blog and add pizzazz to your domain.

For example, you may be a band that runs a blog to keep your fans informed of all your tour dates, new albums and more. It would be fun to have a .fans TLD to help your blog stand out.

Here is a list of all the top-level domains offered by Typepad:

.attorney .dog .jobs .org.uk .tech
.band .es .kitchen .photo .tel
.bargains .eu .lawyer .photography .theatre
.beer .family .lgbt .pictures .today
.best .fans .life .property .trade
.biz .fashion .live .review .tv
.blog .feedback .love .reviews .us
.business .futbol .me .sale .us.com
.ca .game .mom .shop .vet
.co.uk .games .name .shopping .vote
.com .garden .net .site .website
.com.au .group .news .social .wedding
.company .help .nl .software .wiki
.cooking .in .nz .store .work
.de .info .online .studio .world
.desi .ink .org .study  

 

Wow! That is a lot of TLD to help you stand out.

Universally when you think of a domain, you automatically think of .com at the end. If you use a different TLD, we recommend you purchase the .com version of the domain and forward it to the main domain.

Forwarding is also handy if you have a commonly misspelled word in your domain, you can purchase the misspelled domain and forward it to the correct spelling of your domain.

Forward Your Domain

Let’s stick with our earlier example of the band. Their blog is at bandrules.fans, but they want fans who go to bandrules.com to land on their bandrules.fans site.

First, you will need to purchase the domain you want to forward (in our case bandrules.com). In Typepad click on the Account tab, then Domain Mapping. Here you can purchase your domain. After the domain is purchased do not map it to your blog. 

Once you have purchased your domain, you will need to log into our domain registrar. This is different than your Typepad account.

https://domains.typepad.com/

Quick Tip: If you are unsure of the login information for the registrar, please contact us and we will be able to get you access to the account.

Once logged in, click on Login (Your Name), then My Account. Under Manage Orders, click on List/Search Orders. Here you will see a list of your domains. Click on the domain you want to forward (bandrules.com). Here you will see an overview of your order.

Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and click on Manage Domain Forwarding.

Add www to the Sub-domain prefix. Under Destination URL, select https:// from the drop down and add the www version of your main domain (in this example www.bandrules.fans).

Domain Forwarding Image 1

Click on Advanced Settings to turn off URL Masking. Turn on Sub Domain Forwarding and Path Forwarding. Save your changes.

Domain Forwarding 2
It may take up to 15 minutes for the forward to start working.

Now you have 2 domains pointing to your blog. You will not miss out on any readers of your blog if they don’t use the correct domain. Share with us what unique TLD you use for your blog in the comments. 


Typepad Interviews TaxProf Blog

TaxProf Blog Interview

With tax season just around the corner we thought it would be great to interview one of our prolific tax bloggers Paul L. Caron, Professor of Law and Dean at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.  TaxProf Blog is a very popular tax blog, Dean Caron uses his years of knowledge of taxes to give insight into the latest news. He took a few moments to share with us (and our readers) his blogs and his thoughts about Typepad. 

Can you tell us about yourself and your blog? Is it just you writing your blog or do you have a team that helps? 

I am a former law school tax professor and am now a law school dean. I started TaxProf Blog on April 15 (appropriately for a tax blog), 2004. I do the blog myself, with several law professors contributing items every week.

Why did you start your blog? Can you tell us the back story to TaxProf? 

It was the outgrowth of an email listserv I created for over 300 tax law professors on April 15, 1995. The listserv and blog have helped create a vibrant community of tax professors who share information and ideas about teaching and research.

Scheduling your post is a great way to stay ahead of posting. Learn how to do it here. 

What is your process for writing a blog post?

I do most of my posts over the weekend and schedule them for publication during the week, so blogging does not interfere with my job as dean.

How do you find fresh topics to write about?

About 1/3 of the content comes over the transom from folks; the other 2/3 comes from various feeds with tax and legal education information.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to your blog?

My wife was on a bus going to work and a guy overheard her talking with a friend about my blog. He introduced himself and said he worked for the IRS and follows my blog.

What is your favorite feature in Typepad?

The stability of the platform.

What other programs/software do you use to help with your blog?

RSS feeds from various sources.

What is the most important thing you have learned from blogging?

That it is not for everyone. I formed a network of over 50 blogs in other areas of law, but most of them have not taken off because the editors were not as committed to their blogs as I am to mine.

You have a few minutes, what is your go to tip about blogging?

Post, post, and post some more. A daily diet of posts help builds a following.

What blogs do you follow?

All of the leading tax and legal education blogs.

What is one goal for your blog in the next 6 months?

Continue to expand its reach (traffic).

Who or what inspires you to keep blogging? 

I feel I am making a real contribution to tax law and legal education.

With more people starting a blog, what is one piece of tax or legal advice would you give bloggers? 

Pay your taxes!

Thank you Dean Caron for taking the time to speak with us about your blog. We hope this interview will help with your goal. 

You can follow TaxProf Blog many different ways. To view new posts in your Typepad account, you can follow TaxProf Blog Typepad profile. New posts will show on your Typepad Dashboard under Recent Activity. You can also follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin. If you like updates to show in your inbox, you can click on the Subscribe button on the top right of the page.