Blogger Security- FYI

Just so you know I did NOT write the following. I actually found it on a friend’s blog-but I thought I would share this information with everyone. I thought it was helpful and I made some changes on my blog too. I even took your last names off my blog so that I can help you be more secure too.

I know the security issue among my friends is an issue right now and I thought I would repost this tutorial (hopefully it makes sense, if not, let me know and I'll rephrase) to help you make your blog a little safer out in the blogosphere. I know many don't want to make their private and maybe with this tutorial you'll feel a little safer having it semiprivate. :)
Many of you already know this trick, but I thought I'd pass it along to those that don't. There are three levels of security with blogger.

The first one is that anybody and everybody has access to your blog. When someone in Japan does a search on google and you happen to have that word in your blog, it will come up in the search. When someone clicks at the top of the blog, in the navigator bar, "next blog", they randomly pick a blog and yours could be next. Basically, this option has no security to it.

The second choice is the limited access option. Your blog (as in your URL) will never come up on a google search, it will never be randomly picked and the only way people know your blog exists is if you give them your blog address or a friend/family has a link from their blog.

The third choice is to have it be invite only. Self-explanatory. I personally choose the second choice. I have been blogging for a year and a half and I have yet to see anything funky on my blog.

If you want to do option two, here is a tutorial...

Go to your blogger dashboard and click on 'settings'
Click on 'basic' tab (it should go there by default)
Go to "Add your Blog to our listings?" and select 'no'
Go to "Let search engines find your blog?" and select 'no'
scroll down and click on 'save'
Click on 'dashboard' in the upper right corner
Click on 'edit profile'
Click on 'Select blogs to display'

Uncheck any and all blogs that you don't want displayed in your profile
Scroll down and click on 'save'It's that simple. Hope this helps!

Also make sure you never have your last name or any personal information printed anywhere on your blog. Many people use nicknames for their loved ones or just initials when they talk about them on their blog.I also noticed that my blog only shows up in a google search with those blogs that have their blog displayed in their profile, so maybe we can get everyone we know to make sure that they don't display their blog in their profile.