Adding a page to blogspot

Here is a question I see posed quite often, how do I add a new page to my Blogspot blog, such as a contact page? Recently a friend asked me the same question, he wanted a separate page for a time line of events.

The traditional solution for this if you have private hosting is to add a sub-page to your domain name. If your domain url is http://myblog.com, you would create a new page called http://myblog.com/contact.htm and upload this page to your server. Using Blogspot you don't have access to the server where files are saved, so we have to utilize another option.

Since Blogger allows you to create multiple blogs, the solution is to create another blog with a similar name to your main blog, such as, myblog-contactpage or myblog2.
The name is not really important but merely provides you with an address you can link to. Here is an example: http://myblog-contact.blogspot.com. The drawback to this method, is that this new page will not be associated with your blog when indexed by search engines. For just a contact page or other single page use, this is no big deal. I doubt people will be searching for Joe Blows contact page anyway.

Your second page can be formatted anyway you chose. You can use a copy of your original template so when the link is visited, the transition from one blog to the other is seamless and will appear as if both are from the same blog. Another option for styling is the stripped down second page like I have done in the example. I removed the header, sidebar, post date, title and post footer from a Minima template so that all that is left is the post section where you add your information. I also left the footer where I included a Adsense ad.

If you wish to use a stripped down version of Blogger's Minima template, you can find a copy here. When you create your new blog, it will by default be the new layouts type. The stripped version posted here is a Classic type, so in order to use it you will have to follow a few steps:

1. Open the control panel of your new blog. Under the Template tab select edit HTML.


2. At the bottom of this page you will see a text link labeled Revert to Classic Template. Click it. Click ok on the warning.


3. At this point it will either ask you to select a Classic Template style or pick one automatically. If you have to choose one, any will do.


4. Then it will take you back to the Template window that you are used to seeing. Select the entire template code in this window and delete it. Then paste the template code that you find in the link above and save the changes.

You should now be good to go.