The HTML for a link list for you to edit as shown below is present in most of the standard Blogger templates (click on the screenshot to enlarge it:
To create links that in your sidebar to actually lead to sites you want, you will have to edit the HTML already in the template. Log into Dashboard, select the relevant blog, click TEMPLATE tab and look for the codes you see above. Look for the block of codes after
<h2 class=”sidebar-title”>Links</h2>
Edit the link list so that it become something like this
Replace the http://news.google.com/ with your actual link, and description with what you want to be seen in the displayed link. For example, I may edit
<li><a href=”http://news.google.com/”>Google News</a></li>
to
<li><a href=”http:blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/”>Blogger Tips and Tricks</a></li>
If you do that, what will be displayed will be what you see below:
Edit the other links. If you want more links, you can always copy and paste the links and edit them to what you want.
Update: 2 readers and a commentor in this post had problem with editing the link list because they couldn’t find the part of the template where it occurs. A screenshot helped them. Follow this link to see the screenshot: Part of the Minima template where the link list is
Update 2: I just realised that while the link list you are supposed to edit are present in nearly all the standard Blogger templates, some (like the Sand Dollar and Scribe template I think) doesn’t have them. Check for this in the sidebar of your blog.
If you can see that, that means this HTML for the link list for you to edit exist in your template. If it is absent, then you will have to make your own link list or copy paste this HTML into your template:
<MainOrArchivePage>
<h2 class="sidebar-title">Links</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://news.google.com/">Google News</a></li>
<li><a href="http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=110">Edit-Me</a></li>
<li><a href="http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=110">Edit-Me</a></li>
</ul>
</MainOrArchivePage>
into the appropriate part of your template and edit it according. You can refer to his post Adding content to your blog via the template as a guide as to which part of the template you should add the HTML. The post shows text as an example, but it can be HTML, scripts for ads, hit counters, etc.
Note: Following the instruction above will result in your link list displayed in the main page and also in the archives. If you want the link list to appear in all pages, remove the and tags from the HTML.
Update: Note that this post was published before New Blogger was introduced, and this post is only relevant for those using the old classic template (even if your account have been upgraded to the New Blogger account). If you are using the New Blogger template, the normal way to add a link list is to click TEMPLATE tab which will take you to the LAYOUT.
You will then click “Add a Page Element” in the appropriate section and select “Link List”. For more detailed instructions, refer to How to add link list in New Blogger. However, most of the link list in my blogs are added using HTML similar to this. I have saved the HTML in a Notepad file and each time I have a new blog and want to add the link list, I just click on “Add a Page Element” like above, but this time select HTML/Javascript. The HTML I used I will put in a scroll box below:
<h2 class="sidebar-title">Blogger Resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blogger Tips and Tricks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Blogger for Dummies</a></li>
<li><a href="http://testing-blogger-beta.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Testing Blogger Beta</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dummies-guide-to-google-blogger.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Dummies Guide to Google Blogger</a></li>
<li><a href="http://generating-revenue-from-your-site.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Generating Revenue from your Site</a>
<li><a href="http://adsense-alert.blogspot.com" target="_blank">AdSense Alert</a></li>
<li><a href="http://firefox-alert.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">FireFox Alert</a></li>
<li><a href="<a href="http://www.shareresults.com/t/url.php/cid/2702/sid/6451" target="_blank">Free Image and Video Hosting</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 class="sidebar-title">Environmental Blogs</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://enviromansays.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Enviroman Says</a></li>
<li><a href="http://envirocard.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Environmentally Friendly Greeting Cards</a></li>
<li><a href="http://foodasmedicine.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Food as Medicine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://aerator.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Zero Energy Waterwheel Aerator</a></li>
<li><a href="http://owaste.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Zero Waste</a></li>
<li><a href="http://morganicfarming.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Backyard Organic Farming</a></li>
<li><a href="http://freecycleinternational.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Freecycle International</a></li>
</ul>
If you feel so inclined and will like to add my link list in your blog, I will be very happy. Just click inside the scroll box, press ctrl+A to highlight everything, right-click, select copy, then paste it into a HTML/Javascript widget.