Creating An Awesome Blog: Resources for the New Blogger

It seems all you hear these days is Blog this, Blog that. Everybody has a blog! Whether it's on a social networking site like MySpace or Facebook or more professional like Wordpress or Blogger, it seems there is a blog out there detailing the lives and opinions of ordinary people.

And because there are so many blogs, serious bloggers have to do something to make theirs stand out.

Here are some resources that I'm hoping you'll find useful in making your blog unique!

(This will be a continually updated list. If you have a resource for bloggers you feel would be useful, please feel free to leave it in the comments and I will add it to the list ASAP. Thank you!)

TEMPLATES

• The Cutest Blog On The Block The most popular templates on the web! Offering hundreds of easy to use templates, TCBOTB also offers tips and tricks for your blog such as making your blog 3 columns, how to create a signature, and much more. Custom paid services also available.
  
  
• Our Blogger Templates If you're looking for professional looking templates, this is the place to visit. Designed for the blogger who is slightly advanced in HTML and CSS. Limited selection but beautiful templates!
  
  
• Final Sense Offering a very wide variety of Blogger templates; including 3 and 4 column layouts. Detailed instructions for installation offered.
  
  
• PYZAM If you like the ease and style of MySpace templates, then Pyzam is where you want to go for your Blogger template. Bright and flashy in a variety of themes, these templates are super easy to install.

WIDGETS

• Blogoversary Count down the date to your blog's anniversary with this neat widget that's very simple to create and place on your blog.
  
  
• Recent Posts and Recent Comments for Blogger While not a readily created widget, this detailed and easy tutorial shows you how to create your own comments and recent posts widget straight from the Blogger layout. You'll find that using your own RSS feeds is more reliable than using widgets created and hosted by other sites.
  
  
• Top Commenters This handy dandy little widget uses Yahoo Pipes to pull the last 500 comments from your blog then summarize the top 10 commenters that easily displays in your Blogger sidebar.
  
  
• Feedjit This very popular tool offers real time traffic stats to your blog. Four neat styles to choose from. Customizable to match your blog colors. Easy to install.
  
  
• The Human Calendar This neat little gadget exhibts the date (month, date, year, and day) using people holding handwritten signs.
  
  
• Web and Designers: 10 Free Social Icon Sets Let visitors know how they can follow you with these unique and fun social icon sets. Download and installation required. Easy to use.
  
  
• Twitter Widgets Twitter offers a nice selection of Twitter widgets to use on your blog, keeping visitors and followers alike updated on your latest tweets!
  
  
• My BlogLog The widget lets you see the avatars of recent visitors to your blog, provided they’re also members of MyBlogLog.
  
  
• Twitter Counter With Twitter's popularity, there's sure to be a ton of widgets for the popular social networker. This widget allows readers to see how many follow you on Twitter. Easy to create and install.
  
  
• Link Within Shows visitors to a specific post similar post in which they may be interested. Very simple to create and install. Popular widget despite some criticism from professional bloggers.
  
  
• Rank Widget This tool checks your blog's Google PageRank, Alexa Traffic Rank, Technorati Blog Rank & Yahoo Search InLinks, then shows them on your Blog. A great tool for website promotion!
  
  
• Technorati Authority Show off your link love (authority) with this easy to use, easy to install widget from one of the most popular social networking sites on the web.
  
  
• Widgetbox: Quote of the Day Add random quotes of the day to your blog. Customize to match your blog. Copy and paste code created for you for easy installation.
  
  
• Entrecard Promote your blog and find new blogs with this advertising-style widget. Must join and upload a 125 x 125 ad/button/badge. Advertise on similar sites with Entrecard Credits (ECs) you earn from "dropping" your card on other EC users. Future projects of this site include offering paid advertising where blog hosts will be able to trade in their ECs for cash.
  
  
• Random.org A super tool for giveaway blogs! Create a widget to place on your blog to have the random number generator choose the winner! Also offers a coin flipper, playing card shuffler, jazz scale generator, bitmap generator and more!
  
  
• My Blogger Experience: How To Add Search To Blogger Using the Blogger Draft version, bloggers can easily add a search function to their blog. Customizable search of your blog only or to include the web and sites to which you have linked.

SCRIPTING

• How To Create an HTML Form from Tizag.com This very clear, concise tutorial provides simple instructions on how to create an HTML form that can be used within your blog posts. Use all or part of the input features to create the desired look and function.
  
  
• Blogger Help: How To Number Comments Great for giveaway blogs! This script visibly displays the number of each comment.
  
  
• Blogger Help: How To Create Expandable Post Summaries (Read More) With this trick, you can choose to display an arbitrary amount of text from the beginning of each post, as a teaser for the whole thing. Then users who want to read the rest of the post can click a link to see the full text. This is handy if you have lots of long articles all on one page.
  
  
• World of Vampire: Most Viewed Posts This easy to install using Blogger's "Add HTML/Java Script" allows visitors to your blog to view the most popular posts.
  
  
• Blog Know How: Adjust Blogger Title Tags for Better SEO Easy copy and paste coding into your template allows for your post title to appear followed by blog title. Amazing results with search engine optimization (SEO)!
  
  
• How To Create A Poll Inside Blogger Post This simple tutorial provides a neat method of placing a poll within your blog post. Great for reader interaction!

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Create Glitter Text at Family Lobby Add cool glitter graphics to your blog and/or post using this simple, 3 step glitter text creator that offers a wide variety of color styles and fonts.