Unit 1 - Blogger User Experience Analysis

 

Hello fellow educator,

Welcome to my first ever blog post. In this blog post I will discuss my blogging experience so far using this platform, Blogger. First and foremost I want to say that I was excited to delve into the realm of blogging using Blogger or Blogpost, ever since I created my Google Sites website. Blogger, as many of you know, is owned by Google and can be embedded on Google Sites effortlessly. I wanted to be consistent, so I decided to continue to incorporate Google services as part of my reflective practice. More so, I had vaguely heard about Blogger, but had never had the need or opportunity to work with it. Thus, I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to engage with it and learn a new tech skill.

I first signed in to Blogger using my Google account. When I logged in I was rather perplexed while I gazed at the dashboard. I did not know where exactly to start with. On the left panel I saw the options to create a new post, choose a particular layout, theme, or access settings. In the center of the dashboard, there were no initial posts or specific instructions to help me get started with my blogging experience. It felt like I had just been thrown into an unknown environment. The interface did not appear to be technologically impressive or offer a feeling of ease of access. Thus I knew that this would most likely be a learning curve, and it was probably not going to be as simple or effortless to get my blog up an running. However, I was up for a challenge because I was determined to master another Google service. 

I started exploring the site, and began experimenting by simply creating a post. As I'm the type of learner that likes to experiment and try things out before I have to look at tutorials. I noticed that the options to create a post were rather outdated. There was nothing fancy or advanced about creating a post using this platform. It had basic word processor options to begin articulating my post.  At the top, it prompted me to title my post and then begin typing my blog post. Blogger offers basic tools to create your blog post, the type of tools that you might see on a email service provider. In other words, the type of tools you might use to write a basic e-mail. Basic font options, image upload, video upload, and the ability to insert special characters. This meant that I would have to spend a little more time making my blog post as aesthetic and professional looking as possible. According to Blogger Review (2022), Blogger only offers about 7 template options and if you desire to make your blog more advanced, you need to employ coding, but you have to be knowledgeable in CSS and HTML ("Blogger Templates" section). Thankfully, this isn't a big issue for me because I already rely on Canva https://www.canva.com/ to create attractive banners or other elements to add to my website and now blog. Thus, this was not a determining factor to abandon Blogger just yet.

Initially, I envisioned my blog to have have the common structure of a website. I think this was because I was new to the the idea of a blog and its basic structure. It took me a long time to figure out for instance, how to create "tabs" for my blog post. By tabs I mean  "about me" or "unit by unit" sections to organize my blog posts accordingly. I quickly realized I was unable to do so on my own. Thus, I went to YouTube and found a few videos that although showed you how to create different tabs, they didn't exactly help list your blog posts inside those tabs. I quickly learned that the only way to "suggest" that the blog post pages belonged to specific tabs was by giving each blog post labels that correlate them to a specific tab. For example, this blog post is called "Unit 1 - Blogger User Experience Analysis." The tab that I created to correlate to this blog post is called "Unit 1 - Blogging." Thus, when I first created this initial blog post, I had to label it by giving it the label "Unit 1 - Blogging" under blog settings. This appears to be the only way to suggest that a blog post belongs to a specific tab on your blog. Personally, I was really disappointed that I could not organize my blog posts directly under my specific tabs or sections; however, I soon realized that this would still enable my viewers to find specific posts, so I have come to terms with the way this feature works.

I wanted to mention a couple of features and monetary opportunities Blogger offers its users. First and fore most, Blogger allows its users to make money via Google AdSenses and Analytics (Blogger Review, 2022,"Google AdSense" section). AdSense allows Blogger users to add advertisements on their blog and will pay you when visitors engage with them. The Analytics feature will allow you to see who is engaging with your blog and at what levels. These Google features go hand in hand and really interest me because I have thought about creating an additional blog. The thought of being able to make extra cash by simply talking about the things that matter to me is like icing on the cake. Anyone who is interested in making money within a simple blogging platform might want to consider Blogger. It is a great way for a user to become familiar with the idea of making passive income, and consider updating to other blogging websites that offer sophisticated e-commerce opportunities, like Wix https://www.wix.com/, in the long run. 

Overall, organizing my blog was the main obstacle that I ran into. After much trial and error, I have begun to get more comfortable with Blogger and have increased my craft. I hope that this blog post and my experiences will be shine a light on a common pitfall prospective Blogger users might encounter. Or opposite of this, potential gains and insights they may acquire. 

Resources:

 Blogger review. (2022, July 6). The Daily Egg. Retrieved October 28, 2023, from https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/blogger-review/