Settings on Blogger

So if you've started a blog with Blogger, there are a few settings you may not realize you have.
Some are self-explanatory, and others, I'm still not quite sure, so I leave them alone!!  =)

At the top of your blog, click Design, Settings, then Basic.
Or, at blogger.com, click the down-arrow to the right of your blog, and click Settings.

►See the Permissions section.
Here you can choose who can view your blog.  Anybody, Only These Readers (they must have a gmail and sign in to view your blog each time), or Only Blog Authors, which is yourself, and anyone you add as a blog author. 
People you add as a blog author can post, but not change any settings or change your posts unless you add them as administrator.  But then they could remove you, so I don't recommend adding anyone else as administrator.

►The listings and search engine options are also found under Basic, then under Privacy.  Choosing Yes for each of these allows your blog to be found when someone does a search.
• If you want traffic, you should allow Anybody, and certainly you want the google searches to find you.
• If you don't want traffic, you might still want to choose Anybody if many friends and family don't have gmail and won't be able to sign in to view.  But you can check the blog listing and search engine options to No so a search by strangers will not pull up your blog.
Either way, I would definitely moderate comments before they are published for all to see.
• Changing the search engine and blog listing settings later to No from Yes may result in people still being able to find your blog with a search.  Once your blog is listed, it gets 'spread' across multiple search engines, not just google.  Start with No if you're not sure about it yet.
If you didn't do this to begin with, but your blog is fairly new, it can still work.  It just may take a few weeks.  I have StatCounter, and can see how people have found my blog.  After I changed the settings, my seeing that people found my family blog thru a search did get less and less and finally stopped after several weeks.

►Posts and Comments is where you can determine the number of posts that show on your page. You can also decide who is allowed to comment.  If you choose Anyone, I suggest also selecting Always for Comment Moderation.  You don't want someone to post really bad stuff for everyone to see!
• I chose not to have Word Verification so that my readers don't have to bother with it.  I'm going to be checking the comments before I publish them anyway.  I can delete any spam before it can post.
• I also chose Embedded for the Comment Location.  This allows me to Reply to a specific comment rather than having to comment at the bottom.
• If you choose comment moderation, you can be notified of any pending comments by putting in your email address under "Email moderation requests to."

►You're still under the Settings, so click on Language and Formatting.  You can decide how you want the date and time to appear on your blog posts.  Check to see if the time zone is selected correctly, so that your posts won't say 4:00 am when you were in bed asleep at 4:00 am!

Have a great time tweaking the settings and seeing what they do!

Privacy and Security Settings:
Under Basic:
"Permissions"  
Under Basic, then Privacy:
"Add your blog to our listings," and "Let search engines find your blog."
Under Posts and Comments:
"Comment Moderation"