Blogging For Dummies [Paperback]

Susannah Gardner (Author), Shane Birley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2012 | ISBN-10: 1118151941 | ISBN-13: 978-1118151945 | Edition: 4

This proven bestseller is fully updated and better than ever!

Now in its fourth edition, Blogging For Dummies is fully updated and more practical than ever for today's bloggers. Whether you're just beginning or are already a full-tilt blogging maven, you'll find the up-to-date information you need in these friendly pages. Want to integrate your blog with social media? Jump into the fast-moving world of microblogging on Twitter or Tumblr? Choose which blogging software to use? Optimize your current blog for search? This detailed book guide covers it all, and then some. Buy the book, build a better blog, and blog about it!

• Provides up-to-date information on blogging software choices and utilities
• Explains how to identify your unique niche and attract readers
• Walks you through setting up an account and writing your first post
• Shows you how to optimize your blog for search, so new readers find you
• Helps you integrate your blog with social media
• Reveals what you need to know to start microblogging on Twitter or Tumblr
• Explores the ways you can make money with your blog

Start a conversation with the very latest blog-building tips and techniques in Blogging For Dummies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

From choosing software to managing comments, here's what every blogger needs to know

Whether you're blogging for fun, for money, or as part of your job, this book will help you do it better. If it's your first venture into the blogosphere, get the lowdown on software, safety, and style. If you have some experience, jump right into ways to improve your content, boost readership, add Twitter to the mix, generate income, and more!

• How to get started — decide what to blog about, choose the right software, and register your domain

• Find the right fit — discover your niche and learn all you can about your audience

• Content is king — learn how to make your writing, photos, videos, and audio compelling enough to keep visitors coming back

• You've started something — see how to encourage comments and how to deal with comments you don't want

• It's more than words — add photos to your blog or learn to start and maintain a podcast

• Promote your blog — expand your audience with Twitter and use social networks to drive traffic to your blog

• Penny for your thoughts — explore ways to make money from your blog

• Give it the business — find out the important things you should keep in mind when writing a corporate blog

Open the book and find:

• Steps for setting up a blog with Blogger, WordPress, or Tumblr

• Ways to use your blog

• Design and content tips

• When anonymity is appropriate

• Tricks for sidestepping spam

• How RSS can help market your blog

• Tools for tracking blog traffic

• Ten tools for mobile blogging

Learn to:

• Compare and use the newest blogging software tools

• Find your niche and gain an audience

• Integrate your blog with social media and explore microblogging

• Make money with advertising and search engine optimization

About the Author

Susannah Gardner was among the editors at the Los Angeles Times who launched the newspaper's first website. She is cofounder and creative director of Hop Studios Internet Consultants.

Shane Birley is cofounder of Left Right Minds web consulting firm. You can find his blog at ShanesWorld.ca.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 4 edition (January 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118151941
• ISBN-13: 978-1118151945
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Web Services
  • #16 in Books > Computers & Technology > Home Computing > Blogging & Blogs

More About the Author

Susannah Gardner is the co-founder and creative director of Hop Studios Internet Consultants, a Web design company specializing in custom Web solutions for content publishers.

Susannah is also a freelance writer and author; her latest book is "Blogging For Dummies, 4th Edition." She is the author of 'Buzz Marketing With Blogs for Dummies,' "BitTorrent for Dummies," and co-author of 'Dreamweaver MX 2004 for Dummies,' from Wiley Publishing, and 'Teach Yourself Visually: Dreamweaver MX 2004,' also from Wiley Publishing.

From 1997 to 2003, Susannah was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California School for Communication, where she taught in the School of Journalism. Her classes in online publishing took students from zero to Web site in one semester.

Prior to running Hop Studios, Susannah worked in the Online Journalism and Communication Program at the University of Southern California, writing curriculum, teaching, and conducting research at the intersection of technology and journalism. She was a senior editor of the Online Journalism Review, still the media industry's only Internet-focused journalism publication. Susannah also spent four years at The Los Angeles Times, one of six editors responsible for launching that newspaper's Web site. During her time at LATimes.com, she established the site's multimedia lab, which produced ground-breaking Web audio, video and animation. She also launched and edited MetaHollywood, an online-only publication that covered new Hollywood technology and was LATimes.com's single largest revenue source in 1998.

Susannah earned bachelor's degrees in Print Journalism and American literature at USC.