Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) [Paperback]

Susannah Gardner (Author), Shane Birley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470230177 | ISBN-13: 978-0470230176 | Edition: 2

Everybody’s doing it! And while that logic never got far with your mother, it’s a fine reason to start blogging, especially if you have a business to build or a cause to promote. Well-run blogs do more than offer an outlet for your thoughts. They’ve actually influenced everything from a company’s image to the outcome of a local election.

Because the blogosphere is pretty crowded, it’s a good idea to find out a bit about the anatomy of a blog, what makes a good one, and what it takes to keep one going before you dive right in and start sharing with the world. Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition gives you all the basics so you can get a good start. And if you’ve been around the blog a few times and want to advance to the next level, Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition even takes a look at podcasting and videoblogging.

You’ll find out how to:

• Make your blog stand out in a crowd, build an audience, and even make it pay
• Choose the best software options, boost readership, and handle comments
• Generate revenue from your blog with ads and sponsorships
• Protect your privacy and your job
• Deal with spam and the inappropriate comments from that guy who posts several times a day
• Find your niche
• Attract and keep readers
• Use your blog to promote your business, cause, or organization
• Add audio, video, cool widgets, and more

Ready? Get Blogging for Dummies and let’s get started!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Express yourself, build your business, or promote a cause

Make your blog stand out in a crowd, build an audience, and even make it pay

Whether you're just finding out about blogs or you've been blogging for a while and are curious about podcasting or videoblogging, you can find answers in this book! Get the scoop on software options and how to boost readership, handle comments, make money with ads and sponsorships, add audio or video, and much more.

Discover how to:

• Create and maintain a blog that draws readers

• Protect your privacy and your job

• Deal with spam and inappropriate comments

• Find your niche

• Use your blog to promote your business

About the Author

Susannah Gardner is creative director of Hop Studios (www.hopstudios.com), a Web design company specializing in blogs and community content Web sites.

Shane Birley is co-founder of Left Right Minds (www.leftrightminds.com) and blogs at ShanesWorld.ca.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 edition (January 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470230177
• ISBN-13: 978-0470230176
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 99 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent place to start for many genres of bloggers August 22, 2008

By Jill Florio TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Like many Dummies books, this book is comprehensive! It's a thorough introduction to blogging from rank Internet newbie, to the typical active
blogger seeking to learn more about the medium.

As a 2008 book, it's reasonably current. This is one of those Dummies books the publishers will need to update annually. I recommend readers always seek the latest possible edition of any blogging book, as popular technologies change so rapidly in the field. RSS, comment spam, social networks and podcasting are all given their due space. An entire chapter is devoted to adding and managing photos for your blog.

Two large chapters offer the fundamentals of blogging for business and adding advertising. This won't be specific enough to get any would-be pro blogger rich, but *does* provide enough basics to get started with affiliates, AdSense, TextLink Ads, AdBright and the like.

Lots of screen captures and sidebars explain complex concepts quite clearly. I enjoyed one sidebar in particular about why comment spam exists (and hint; it's more about page rank juice than possible click-throughs).

I'd recommend this book for the newbie through advanced blogging beginner. Intermediate level bloggers looking to to brush up on the basics would likely enjoy adding this as a reference to the bookshelf, and might find a few gems they originally missed.

Advanced bloggers won't find much useful here...but as it's a Dummies book, that's to be expected!

From all the blogging books targeting the beginner, this one offers the most bang for your buck, and really does a nice job of holding your hand along the way.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blogging For Dummies: The Best Learning Tool August 1, 2008

By PARCS

Format:Paperback

Don't let the "dummy" title fool you. With so many blog "how-to" papers written, I wanted a good "how-to" book that would walk me through and hold my hand as I venture into the blogosphere. Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley provide just that ... a perfect reference book that takes you one step at a time until you are ready to publish. Thanks Susannah and Shane.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb! April 20, 2008

By Lisa Sabin-Wilson

Format:Paperback

Blogging For Dummies is a fabulous resource for bloggers, new and old. This book is full of great information, tips, ideas, suggestions and resources that any blogger can benefit from reading. Written by two Pros in the field of blogging, you can't go wrong if you're looking for a one-stop, desktop reference on the world of blogging. Highly recommended!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Reference Book January 13, 2009

By Karen Zemek

Format:Paperback

This is a very helpful book for anyone who is beginning to blog and even for a person like me who has started to blog for about eight months but is still learning along the way. The authors give many websites where the reader can go to see exactly what the text is referring to. I finally learned the HTML code for doing lists in posts from this book. It also covers suggestions for getting traffic to your blog and how to get and handle comments. I highly recommend it for any blogger, especially beginners.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Examples are way too small and faint to be seen and that is a major setback. May 28, 2012

By Hard To Find Music and Movies

Format:Paperback

All the reviews miss the big point that if you are going to learn by seeing examples you will be very disappointed. The examples in just about every single case are reduced in size to the point of not being able to read them and to make matters worse they are taken from black to grey which just makes everything impossible to read and the samples are a very big part of the book. Dummies publishers have acted like Dummies in this case.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Book For Beginnger Blogger January 4, 2009

By Scott G. Perry

Format:Paperback

This is the book you want to read if you are new to blogging. It has everything you need to get you started quickly. I really appreciated the pointers on advertising and the blogs listed for blog help. It is easy to read, as are all Dummies books, and has some excellent information. The book is lacking on RSS feed info, so this is not a good source. If you haven't blogged yet, get this book and proceed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars From blogging zero to blogging hero April 9, 2012

By Jane Reads

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

When I decided to start a blog, 'Blogging for Dummies' was the first place I turned to. This book was full of lots of useful information for a complete novice like me. I think even if you know what you're doing you will find lots of great tips in this book.

I set my blog up a week ago. 'Blogging for Dummies' helped me choose between a blogger and wordpress blog. It then showed me the basics of how to write my first post, add a photo, create tags (all on my very first post). And I'm happy to say I got a few comments and followers after my first post. The information on how to create a following was also invaluable. Just another reason why I love the Dummies books so much!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Needs Revision April 6, 2009

By M. Pearl

Format:Paperback

I first checked out the 2005 version of this book from the library, found it helpful, as a complete novice interested in starting a blog. I bought my own copy of the 2008 version, thinking it would be updated.
On the one hand, I can say that this book helped me toward starting a blog. On the other hand, once I had actually started a blog and knew more, I saw the book's shortcomings. There are a lot of typos in the book. It was not adequately proofread. Which means some of the content may also be unreliable. The newer version had not corrected any of the errors, as far as I could see. It had still not been proofread. Though I give it high marks for clear and complete explanations in general, I did find one point on which it failed to explain a procedure on Blogger.com. The Blogger website provided a clearer and more thorough tutorial on "Comments".