A post at Blogger Buzz, Google's own blog that covers everything Blogger, proclaims: "The new version of Blogger in beta is dead! Long live the new version of Blogger!" Indeed, that beta they rolled out last August has gotten all growed up, dropping its beta moniker and introducing its new features to the world. As you might recall, the new Blogger has all sorts of new goodies like labels for posts (a lá Gmail), drag and drop template editing, more powerful WYSIWYG post editing, private blogging, a better dashboard and - of course - being able to sign in with your increasingly ubiquitous Google Account.
If you're still using the old Blogger and haven't switched over yet, the login pane at the top right of the page *should* offer you a 'switch now!' option the next time you sign in. However, the Blogger Buzz post warns that while the new version is live and available to everyone, the switching process is still rolling out slowly for the rest of Blogger users to keep their server load manageable. If you don't see the switch button yet, you should soon, and I highly recommend the new version. I'm still a devout Vox convert (though template editing would be really nice, Six Apart!), but this is a strong upgrade from the Blogger crew for one of the most popular services available.
Google has merged Writely, now known as Docs, and Spreadsheets together to form one super online office application. Ok, so it's not super yet, and it still does have some catching up to do with Zoho Office, but it's on the way.
Google Account users now have the benefit of creating, and storing documents and spreadsheets together in the new Docs and Spreadsheets service. Google has listened to users suggestions, and made this into a combined list, that works with the same ideas as Gmail with stars, tags, and searches. Sharing documents and spreadsheets is a breeze, simply choose the individuals you would like to collaborate with, and invite them to view. Google has added another feature here, which allows collaborators the ability to share your spreadsheets.
It looks like a hit so far. One easy convenient location to store all online documents, all under a Google Account ID. The real virtual office is on the way, even though this has not been rolled out for Google Apps for domains....the users that could really benefit from this service. Check out the newly launched Google docs and Spreadsheets blog and a little online tour for more information.
Writely has finally done the deed and fulfilled their acquisition destiny by opening their doors for users to sign in using their Google Accounts. They even published a succinct, though somewhat goofy, Help Center Q&A on this new ability, clarifying that not all Google Accounts are Gmail accounts, but all Gmail accounts are, in fact, Google Accounts; they must've been getting pounded with questions from Gmail users who aren't quite hip to the Google Account universe, or something.
At any rate, there don't seem to be any other revolutionary changes; Writely's design and UI hasn't been Googleized (and some might thank them for that), but who knows - this could easily be one more step in the direction of a Google Office suite.
Google has released its online analytics software to anyone that wants to use it to interact with their website.
Google Analytics lets users track visitors, identify navigational issues, track keywords, and where visitors are coming from. Analytics will also tie into your Google AdWords account and let you know how visitors found your site, where they came from, how they were referred, and measure your total AdWords campaign effectiveness.
Google also has a "Conversion University". A place where Analytics users can go to read up on marketing and content optimization tips from industry experts. Current new articles in the University include Increasing Conversions with Internal Search and Monitoring Visitor Conversion.
Google Analytics is simple to set up. Log in using your Google Account ID, and enter the domain you want to monitor first. Multiple domains can be added later. A code snippet has to be added to the end of all HTML pages that you wish to monitor. Google Analytics displays a nice dashboard with Executive, Conversion, Marketing, and Content summaries, as well as Marketing Optimization, and Content Optimization reports. I am currently testing it out, and so far so good. It is easily a welcome addition to your current tracking software.
