Free blog templates that are available for Blogger don't always have the "Add Gadget" option in the header or after blog posts.  In most cases, this problem can be alleviated by modifying the code "showaddelement" within the HTML code.

Here's How to Do It


1.  From the Blogger dashboard, click "Design".
2.  Click "Edit HTML".
3.  Click the box labeled "Expand Widget Templates".
4.  Hold down the CTRL and F keys together to bring up the search or find dialog box.
5. Enter "showaddelement" and click "Next", "Find" or "ok".
6. The search features will bring to the first existence of the showaddelement code.  Take a look and see which portion of the template is code is attached to. For example, Header, Blog Post, Link Bar, etc.
7. Once you've found the page element where you want to add a page element, change where it reads

showaddelement='no' to
showaddelement='yes'

8. Click "Save Template".
9. Click "Page Elements".
10. You should see a "Add a Gadget" boxes in the portion of the template where you changed the showaddelement from "no" to "yes".

Most templates allow you to makes this change however some don't.  If you run into any problems, please contact me at blogginghints@gmail.com and I'll try to help you out.