Adding a Table of Contents to Blogger

How to Hack a Table of Contents in Blogger

I use the Blogger.com platform in all my classes, because in general it is a) a bit easier to use than Wordpress, b) uses a gmail address as a login to make things easier, and c) because it is a bit easier to use than Wordpress. That easy.

In order to make blogs look more professional, you can hack a table of contents for Blogger using the Labels widget.

First, sign into blogger.com

Then select your blog.

Then click Layout:

You will be adding a widget. In the layout area, click Add a gadget. I would recommend placing the gadget exactly where I show in the next screenshot. Sometimes people end up further down with two tiny columns squeezed in and it doesn’t look good. Contents should be at the top of a right column. See http://benedictinebusiness.blogspot.com or http://toddsmarketingblog.blogspot.com for examples.

So click add a gadget, and then scroll through the list and click to add the Labels gadget:

Then the gadget appears, with a few settings.

Change the text “Labels” to “Contents” and click Save:

Next, your layout should look something like this:

You may want to click Save arrangement at the top:

Labeling Posts

Next you need to label posts. If you are starting out, you need to write and publish posts first. The general idea is to label the posts with topics (ex: Social Media Marketing, Google Analytics, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization), that will make it easy for recruiters to see what you’re blogging about.

For examples, see: http://campbellmarketingblog.blogspot.com - shannonsmarketingblog.blogspot.com

Click on My blogs if you need to – get to where you can select your blog.

When you are looking at the settings of your blog again, click Posts:

Option 1: mass labeling (use with caution, especially if you’re in multiple classes and/or marketing multiple topics)

The first approach saves time but is dangerous, because you might end up confusing yourself and others:

But if you want to live on the wild side try selecting all posts

And then click at the label icon at the top, and create a new label, or select an existing label. This screenshot also shows how instead of selecting all posts, you could select individual posts, but still label them in bulk

Option 2: label each post (recommended)

Personally I would go into each post and label them individually. Including because you might want to review them to spiff them up and check for any errors in case your professor or a recruiter might see them.

First off, edit the post:

Then over on the right side of the post, click Labels:

And enter the desired label (Recommended: capitalized), or click below on a previous label.

Then click the Done button, then the Save button.

And click View Blog:

And in theory you should see something like this:

The whole point is to make the blog look more professional, so a recruiter can look through, see topics that you are claiming you know about on your resume and linkedin (where hopefully you are including a link to your blog). It looks better than just having your blogs in a (dated) list at the bottom with the automatic archive. I would seriously recommend not only removing the archive (via the layout function) from the blog, but also removing all traces of dates from the blog, including the posts (google how to do it), so that the blog appears more instructional and less dated.

Ongoing, it’s best to blog regularly (suggest monthly), even if you’re working somewhere. It gives you something to post on LinkedIn, on Facebook – it keeps your mind fresh, and it builds your knowledge, and shows recruiters in future jobs what you know. Easy solution: set a recurring monthly Google Calendar reminder for once a month on Saturday afternoons, to make a blog post.

Best wishes!

-Todd