Do

• Post by email 
  
• Blogger For Word (download) adds a toolbar to Word so you can publish from Word, save drafts, and edit posts. Thanks to SZSRocks for pointing out that Blogger for Word is no longer available for download. If you want to complain, go here http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42498.  Another reminder that things change, even with Google tools.
  
• Post from your handheld device with this third-part tool AvantBlog. 

3. Read this intro to Blogger Gadgets—watch the brief tutorial, too. 

4. Watch this five part video series on widgets. Each part is 2-4 minutes long. This is a great way to get a sense of what widgets do and how you can find and use widgets.

You’re ready to splash out and add features to your blog using some of the widget/gadgets/services below. Choose at least four of the features from the lists below or from the Blogger Gadgets add to your blog:

Make Your Blog Talk: Speech/Audio

Each of these widgets offers something slightly different:

• Automatic podcast generation--Odiogo
• Audio blogposts--GabCast
  
• Vozme will add speech to your blog--search Vozme in Blogger "Add a Gadget" in Layout
  
• Text to podcast--Talkr
  
• A free text to speech converter--SpokenText
  

Comment Tools

• “Disqus, pronounced "discuss", is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community.”
  
• ClickComments makes it easier for your readers to express their thoughts and appreciation with just one click. ClickComments keeps your readers on your blog longer by suggesting your other blog posts that will interest them
  
• Outbrain lets you add a star rating to your posts so people can let you know what they think.  It also recommends others' blog posts to your readers.
  

Who's Watching: Statistics Collection

• Sitemeter offers tracking tools for gathering and analyzing visitor traffic and other site statistics.
  
• Clustrmap is a hit counter map widget and tracker shows locations of all visitors to any site.
  
• gVisit lets you track visitors to your website using Google Maps.
  
• MapStats is similar to gVisit
• Google Analytics offers greater detail on who is looking at your site. Slightly more complicated to use.
  

 Photos/Photo Tools 

This is a just a small selection of the many photo tools for blogs--Blogger now links to Picasa for managing the photos on your blog. More on photos/photo tools in some other Things.

Manipulate photos:

• Resize your photos
  
• Another resizer
• More photo editing
  

• Flickr CC search Flickr for Creative Commons licensed photos. Includes a photo editor.
  
• Search Flickr by type of Creative Commons license.
  
• Freefoto is the largest collection of free photographs on the Internet (link back and attribution required).Read the free use rules.
  
• Free Images has more than 2500 free stock images.
  
• PicApp often has the same photos you see in mainstream media sources, free for you to use.
  

Add slideshows:

• flickr slideshow
  
• Slideshare
  
• PIctureTrail
  
• Slide.com
• Animoto
  
  

• Blog Polls—Add Interactivity to Your Blog
• Using Polls Effectively On a Blogs

• Vizu
• PollDaddy
  
• Mystudiyo
  
• Glowday
  
• AddRating
  
• Ask500People 
• Google Forms
  

Added Functionality

• SnapShots has pop-up boxes that display enhanced hyperlinks with summaries, etc.
  
• Apture let's you "turn flat pages of text into a compelling multimedia experience. It helps you find content, link it into your page, and display it inline — all with one line of code. And it works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari."
  

Useful Features

• Add search box
  
• Add tag cloud
  
• Add archive calendar
  
• Make buttons
  
• Add a clock
  
• Create a contact form
  
• Another contact form
• Add button for bookmaking/sharing
  
• Another way to add bookmarking/sharing
• Add recent comments to sidebar
  

 Get Social
Tools like these let you add social networking features to your blog or keep up with what's new in your area.

• FriendFeed is much more than a blogging too. It helps you discover and discuss interesting stuff that your friends and family find on the web. It brings your blogs, tools and communities together in a nice package, with a handy widget that you can put on your blog.
• Feevy adds your friends' blog feeds to your sidebar.  
• Feedjit lets you add widgets that give you live updates on popular blogs in your area and some other widgets, too.
• Chat tools let you put the chat box right in your blog--look at Meebo, Google Talk (via the Layout/Add Gadget on Blogger), or check your chat provider to see if allows embedding in a blog.
• Shoutmix is similar to chat but visitors can post comments or chat. CloudShout is a blog tool that enables realtime conversation and community.
• When you visit MyBlogLog-enabled sites, "your photo shows up on the widget - a virtual calling card. Clicking on your photo leads to your profile and all the stuff you share."
• Blog communities with various features/widgets to get your blog noticed:
  • Fuel My Blog
  • Blog Catalog
  • The Good Blogs
    

Just for fun

Blog readability test and badge

Typealyzer–provides a Myers-Briggs type analysis of your blog 

Can't get enough of widgets/gadgets or features for your blog? Browse these sources for more. But be warned! This can be a true black hole of time on the Internet!

• Browse/Search Blogger Gadgets under Layout on Blogger Dashboard
  
• Browse these lists from Blogger Buster or search Blogger widget or Blogger gadget
  
• Widgipedia
• Widgetbox
  
• yourminis
• Do a search on search Blogger widget or Blogger gadget

And Just in Case

Several ways to back-up a Blogger Blog:

• Blogger Help on Exporting your blog
• Another blogger's assistance in backing up your blog
• Blogger Backup from Codeplex (download)

Blog Prompts

1. So, which ones did you add to your blog?
   
2. Which ones did you reject as too much work, not enough usefulness, or for another reason?
   
3. How much time did you spend on this?

For the Curious  (optional)

Keep on adding/refining the features of your blog. Here are two more things to try if you are ambitious and have a good understanding of how things work or can read and follow complicated directions!

That little orange B icon in the address bar of a Blogger blog is the favicon for Blogger. All Blogger blogs have this icon in front of the address--unless you create your own. Here are two sites to try:

• How-to from Blogger Book
  
• FavIcon from Pics
  
• Blogger Busters hints
  
• Other sites that generate favicons from dmoz, the open directory project.

If you really are eager to get into widgets/gadgets, make your own. Blogger's instructions are here.