Blogging for Dummies

Blogging for Dummies reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: ([email protected]) Authors: Brad Hill Publisher: Wiley Released: 2006 Pages: 368 $ 22 USA 29 Canada 15 UK ISBN: 0-471-77084-1 Strengths: This is a text you want to get if you are just starting a blog or just thinking about one. The breadth and depth of information provided by the author will give you a solid grounding with blog,s no matter what kind of blog service you will use. The pros and cons for each service are also highlighted. Weaknesses: Black and white screenshots. Some screenshots are a little on the small side. Novice/Intermediate/Advanced Rating: 5/5 I have created websites for several years. Then the word called "blogs" appeared and I did not really know what they really were or how and what ways I could use one. Finally I introduced myself by reading some blogs and "scavenging around for information." Several blogs were created but not before I decided to change where I put my blogs. If I had read this book first, that would not have happened. But better late than sorry and that goes for anyone else who wants to operate a blog for fun, home, pleasure or business. This 368 page book is a " steal" and is just what you want if you are interested in initiating or improving your blog. The book's author created the Google for Dummies book and is a lead blogger for Weblogs, Inc. His vast experience is amply demonstrated in the five sections of this book. The nineteen chapters provide the full breadth and depth for understanding the many facets of a blog experience, now and in the future. There is more to "web blogs" then just placing a "blog that connects to the internet." It has become more complicated. The introduction is well done and informative. Part 1 " The what, where , why and how of weblogs," covers entries, post and archiving and understanding the blog mechanics and elements. Now you gain a sense of how blogs appear and what the "look' for your blog(s) should be and the different ways to display your blogs to help make decisions. details the different type of blogs (social networking, self installed blogs, web host blogs. Part 2, " starting a blog today" compares, and contrasts blogs to decide which blog type is best for your uses. This section covers blog publishing tools such as Blogger, MSN, Yahoo 360, Typepad and others. Understandable and clear, reading these chapters gives you reliable ideas for selecting choices and making up your mind. What I like about this section is that the choices were all displayed and especially for first time bloggers, a user can explore and choose instead of spending all the time hunting for the "right blog." And deciding the right way first, may help you choose your style for your blog that will meet your needs now and for the future eliminating the need for transferring and starting over with a different blogger engine, when I found out and decided I needed more flexibility. Part 3 "i

GREAT BOOK, I read it over 3 days and have so many page corners folded it will take me a couple of weeks to implement all the great ideas in this book. I write a blog about the local real estate market and my number one goal is to get pertinent real estate and local information out to the public in a timely manner. If you are a blogger or would like to be this is a really good book for you.

Pros: 1. Humorously written. 2. Lots of screen captures. 3. Pretty thorough rundown of RSS. 4. Instruction on multiple platforms: MSN Spaces, Yahoo!, Blogger, TypePad, WordPress. 5. Solid references for key blogging Web sites. Cons: 1. I don't know ... I find the layouts of these books busy, confusing, and distracting. 2. Not much on SEO. 3. The author tries to cover a pretty broad audience: business bloggers, personal bloggers, total beginners, and more sophisticated users. Given the last point, the book might make a better reference guide than something you'd read cover-to-cover. But certainly it contains enough helpful information to justify the purchase.

I know I've been blogging for awhile now, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to review this book... Blogging For Dummies by Brad Hill. Of course, some may say it's just the book I needed... :) Contents: Part 1 - The What, Where, Why, and How of Weblogs: Understanding Blogging at Last; Blogging Options; Living the Blogging Lifestyle Part 2 - Starting a Blog Today: MSN Spaces; Yahoo! 360; Finding a Home in Blogger; Creating a TypePad Blog Part 3 - Installing Your Own Blog Program: The Ins and Outs of DIY Blogging; Running a Movable Type Blog; Blogging with WordPress; Power Plus Ease in Radio Userland; Hybrid Blog Hosts - Power Without the Pain Part 4 - Total Blog Immersion: Hooking into RSS Feeds; Rules of Blogosphere Citizenship; Blogging for Bucks (or Pennies); Using Your Real Voice - Podcasting; Photoblogging and Audioblogging Part 5 - The Part of Tens: Ten Blog Engines and Directories; Ten Resources for the Power Blogger Glossary; Index It seems that when most people start to blog, they learn a bit about blogging in general and then jump right to a familiar tool like Blogger or MSN Spaces. That's all well and good, but your style might not be best served by the blog choice you made. Hill does a pretty good job in categorizing the most prevalent blog tools available today, and then giving a basic install/usage overview for each. I was familiar with some of these, but the basics of Movable Type and WordPress were something I hadn't explored. After reading Part 2 and 3, you should have a pretty good idea of which tool fits your style and your anticipated direction. At that point, you can go online and start diving into your new tool of choice. Even if you're a blogger with some history, there's still a few items here that might have slipped off your radar. I wasn't aware of the audioblogging technology that allows you to embed a spoken clip into a blog posting. Not necessarily something I want to do, but good to know of. Part 5 - The Part of Tens - is always a good area to find sites you didn't know about (like a few of the blog search engines and directories). There are a couple of sites that I could benefit from, and I'll be checking those out... This is probably a bit more than Uncle Joe would want if he's asking "what's a blog", and the alpha male techno-nerd will likely find it a bit simplistic or light on coverage. But for the average power user or technology person looking to explore blogging, this might just be the broad coverage they need to start to put things into context...

I found this book to be accessible, complete, well-organized, and entertaining. Brad Hill's conversational style reminds me of David Pogue - it's like having your funny, fast-talking, slashdot.org-loving techie best friend tell you what to do - a good thing for me, but might not suit people who prefer more technical guidebooks. In the author's intro, he goes over the chapters and tells readers what they can skip depending on their level of technical expertise and blog ambition (getting a blog hosted vs. installing the blog software yourself, for example). I'm pretty computer literate (enough so that I was slightly embarassed when I bought the book - it's my first in the "For Dummies" series). I've done a lot of desktop publishing and typesetting, but am a newbie at Web page building. This book was written simply, but was definitely appropriate for my skill level - I read it in a day, and had my blog site set up the day after. I appreciated the simple language, bullet points, and many screenshots. Other notable features: Hill has separate chapters for each of the major blog services (MSN, Typepad, Movabletype, WordPress), and the information presented is up-to-date (very important for the blog services that updated their software recently). Overall, it's a good choice for beginners in Web site building. Those with some experience who for some reason ignored the title of this book should opt for something in a more specialized series - one that doesn't cover everything from blogging and yoga - like the Visual Quickstart series.