Windows Live Writer 2011 is a part of the Windows Live Essentials suite from Microsoft. It offers variety of plugins, in addition to very easy UI to work and even simpler way to post blogs directly to your blogging site.
We have already seen how to configure Windows Live Writer for WordPress blogs. Now lets see how we can configure it for BLOGGER.com:
- Download the Windows Live Essentials and then install the Windows Live Writer 2011.
- Run the Windows Live Writer 2011. You will find a window asking you to configure your blog. For simplicity I am choosing Other Services for Blogger.
- Then it will ask you to add your blog account. Fill the details of your blog along with the credentials.
- Now you will be asked to select the Blog type. I am choosing Blogger. You can choose according to your choice.
- It will take some time and you might saw various windows coming up on your screen.
- You will see a final window which shows that your blog has been set up. Click on Share my Blog on Windows Live if you wish to show your blog updates on live.
You are ready to blog now. Its really simple to blog with it.
To enhance your blogging experience, you can choose from the variety of plug-ins which are available. Click on add plug-in to see the list.
My picks for you to enhance the experience :
- Imtech SEO slugs: It will create SEO optimized slug for your blog post of any phrase chosen by you.
- Twitter notify: It allows you to tweet directly about your post and uses TinyUrl service so no need to configure twitter account and url shortener separately.
- Polaroid Picture: Must add for all the guys passionate about sharing pictures. It will allow you to add pictures in Polaroid style.
- Insert a Silverlight Streaming application: List applications from your Silverlight Streaming account with live preview and embed in blog post using iFrame invocation.
One of the best things I saw using Windows live Writer 2011 is that I can directly add BING Maps into my blog to show my location, which otherwise I couldn’t do on Blogger.
Another great feature which I found is the one that lets you create an online album. It is very easy to share your pictures in some trendy style.
You might say that you can add pictures directly, but they are added in simple plain style and here you get so many styles to display them.
Your albums will be stored at your Windows Live account. If don’t want to save them at Live you can change the Album Privacy settings.
Do try it and share your views!
