The TypePad Beta Blog

Blogside Search. Oh My!

We're proud to announce that a native, blogside search feature is available to our Beta members. The TypePad team has been hard at work the last several months to build out our very own search infrastructure. Last week we announced our Search API, which allows developers to build upon the great content in TypePad. And now we have an integrated search experience available for the blogside (you can see it live on this blog and on Everything TypePad).

Posts, pages, comments
So what’s being added to the search index? Pretty much everything that deals with the content on your blog. For this initial release, we provided the ability for readers to search for posts, pages and comments within your blog by keyword. 

Design, design, design
Many bloggers have been using 3rd party services such as Google or Lijit Search to power search on their blog. The problem with using another provider is that no matter how great the customizations are, it’s never going to look exactly like your blog. TypePad’s new blogside search feature will be fully integrated into the design of your blog.

Blogside search is available for all current and new blogs on classic themes and theme builder themes by going to:

• Blog > Design > Content
• Categories: Search Module: Add Search module
• Drag and drop the module anywhere in your sidebars

For members using advanced templates, grab the code from our Knowledge Base article. Microblog themes automatically have the search module embedded, so there’s one less step for you there!

Just the beginning…
Now that we’ve built this search infrastructure, the possibilities are endless. But first we need to know what’s working, what’s not working, and how can we make this experience better for you. Let us know in the comments what you think!

Connecting on TypePad has never been easier

Today we released a snazzy blogside toolbar to Beta members. Over the past year, we’ve rolled out a number of social features for our bloggers and the toolbar is another essential piece for connecting blog audiences with TypePad bloggers. The toolbar has two important functions. Firstly, it will help readers engage with your blog by giving them easy access to follow, favorite and reblog content. Therefore as a blog owner, the toolbar can be a powerful tool for building community around your blog. Secondly, it’s a great tool for all TypePad bloggers when surfing the TypePad network because you’ll be able to follow new blogs immediately and easily reblog content that you find.

All logged-in, Beta members will see the new toolbar when browsing TypePad blogs. Additionally as the blog owner, you have the option of showing the toolbar to all your readers, including those not yet in the TypePad network. What does that mean for you? By turning on the toolbar for your entire audience, you’ll help convert readers into active community members by making tools like reblog, favorite, comment and follow much more accessible.

Beta blog owners can turn the toolbar on for all readers by going to:

• Blog > Settings > Basics
• Check the box for TypePad Toolbar: "Show the TypePad toolbar on this blog"
• Save Changes

Sounds awesome, right? Well there’s more! When viewing the toolbar on your own blog, you’ll get quick access to important links to the Dashboard, Edit Post and Stats. The toolbar bridges the gap between the blog view and the TypePad interface – so your management options are just a click away. And lastly, we think the design is pretty great too. The toolbar is small, sits right below the browser window so it doesn’t interfere with your blog design, and it has a neat expand-collapse feature.  

Give it a try, and let us know in the comments about ways we can improve it for you! If you need further settings information, check out the Knowledge Base article.

Follow Me Module: Design Improvements

A good way to form closer connections with your audience and build traffic is to have your readers follow you on TypePad.  Your followers receive updates on their TypePad dashboards every time you post, comment, or favorite.  These updates let them know to visit your blog to read your most recent post.

The Follow Me module allows your readers to follow you in a single click. Until now the design of this module was not optimal. We just made some improvements to make it look nicer and work better with the TypePad themes and designs.  The changes include:
•    Automatically sizing to match the width of your sidebar
•    Adopting the style of your blog, including colors and fonts
•    Showing the profile pictures of the TypePad members you follow (optional)


If you want to turn off the # following, # of followers, and the profile pictures you can do this by changing the module settings as shown below.  Code for advanced template blogs is coming soon so check back in a couple of weeks for more detail.

Adding the Follow Me Module
1.  Go to Blogs>(Your Blog)>Design>Contnet.  The content page displays
2.  From the Modules list, select “Follow Me” (note:  this is also listed under the “About You” category)

3.  Click Add this module.  A pop-up appears asking if you want to display “following” and “followers” counts.  If you want to module to show how many people you are following and how many are following you, check the checkbox.
4.  Click OK and the pop-up closes.
5.  Drag-and-drop the Follow Me module where you’d like it to appear and Save changes.
6.  View blog and the Follow Me module appears in your sidebar.

Already have the Follow Me module?
Existing modules will be automatically updated with the improvements. You don’t need to do a thing.

Send Us Your Feedback
We’d love to hear your feedback on the new module.  Let us know what you think in the comments.

Also, if you have issues with the appearance of the module just open a ticket with the TypePad One support team.

Making Reblog Better

Last November we released a new feature called Reblog, which makes it easy for your readers to share your content others in their network.  When someone reblogs your content part, or all, of your post appears on the reblogger’s blog with attribution link back to your original post so you get the credit you deserve.

Reblog is a helpful traffic-driving tool but but we wanted it to do more. The new, improved reblog provides you with more insights into who is reblogging your posts and what posts are most popular. 

We’ve added new functionality to address these issues, including:

• Blogger notifications.  You’ll receive an email you when someone reblogs your post and a status update will appear in the Recent Activity section of your dashboard.

• Reader notifications.  The number of reblogs for a post will appear below the post and above the comments along with the profile pictures of people that have reblogged that post.
  

• More followers.  After readers reblog your post they will be prompted to follow you on TypePad to receive updates whenever you have a new post.
  

• Stats.  You can see the number of reblogs for a post in the Feedback section of the Edit Post page. 

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Turning On Reblog

If you already have Reblog on your blog you don’t need to do anyting.  If you don’t currently use Reblog you’ll need to turn it on.  While you’re at it we suggest turning on all your social features, including Favorites and the Follow Me module.

We recommend announcing the Reblog button to your readers so they know they can easily share their favorite posts on their TypePad blog.  Readers without a TypePad blog will be prompted to create a free TypePad Micro blog after reblogging your post.

Tell Us What You Think
We want your feedback before we roll the reblog improvements out to all TypePad bloggers.  After you use reblog for a few days please take a few minutes to answer these questions.  You can post your answers in the comments or give your feedback to our TypePad One support team.

1. What do you think of reblog?  Is it a good thing for you?
2. What do you think of the new notificaiton features?
3. How would you improve it?
4. Is something not working?
5. What do your readers think about it?

Also, we’re looking for examples to highlight when we roll the enhancements out to all users.  If you see an increase in traffic or create stronger connections with your readers from reblog and would like to be featured in our public announcement, please leave a comment below.