Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them [Paperback]

Bob Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1590596919 | ISBN-13: 978-1590596913 | Edition: 1

Almost overnight, blogging has become a social, political, and business force to be reckoned with. Your fellow students, workers, and competitors are joining the blogosphereand making money, influencing elections, getting hired, growing market share, and having fun—to the tune of 8,000 new bloggers a day.

Clear Blogging sets out to answer in non-technical terms what blogging has to offer, and why and how you should blog. If you've never read a blog, but you keep hearing that term on the news, Clear Blogging will show you why blogging has shaken up mainstream media, and how a blogger can end up on CNN. If you're just starting to read blogs, Clear Blogging is your native guide to the blogosphere, covering how to get the best, most interesting information with the least amount of time and effort. The main course of Clear Blogging shows what you stand to gain from blogging, and how you can go from your first post to being welcomed aboard the blogospheres A-list.

Whether you're already blogging or you're considering it, you'll want to get a copy of this book because it

• Covers how blogging can improve your job prospects, professional practice, business revenue, company reputation, and the world you live in
• Includes over 50 interviews with successful bloggers who are influencing products, policy makers, potential employers, and millions of the general publicall while earning an online reputation and real profits
• Shows you how to apply the best practices of news gathering to build your blogs reputation and brand
• Is heavy on the specific benefits of blogging and light on the technological aspects

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bob Walsh is the founder of 47Hats, a consulting firm/blog/startup dedicated to helping startups succeed, the author of Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality, podcaster-in-chief of the Startup Success Podcast, co-moderator of the Joel on Software's Business of Software forum, and creator of StartupToDo.com, a online productivity app and community for startup and microISVs.

At his company, Safari Software, Inc., Bob was a contract software developer for more than 20 years before launching, selling and ultimately selling off a Windows personal task manager commercial application. Before getting into information technology, Walsh was a reporter for several news organizations, the most worth bragging about being United Press International (UPI).

Product Details

• Paperback: 351 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (February 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590596919
• ISBN-13: 978-1590596913
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My name is Bob Walsh ([e-mail]), and I believe that startups and microISVs (one-person software companies) represent the future of the global software industry and of the billion-person Internet to which we are all now connected. I believe this so strongly that this is my fifth book on the subject.

My previous books are Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality (Apress, 2006), Clear Blogging (Apress, 2007), MicroISV Sites That Sell! (ebook, 2008), and The Twitter Survival Guide, with Kristen Nicole (ebook, 2008).

In addition, I do a podcast with cohost Pat Foley (The Startup Success Podcast, at http://startuppodcast.wordpress.com) and write a blog (47 Hats, at http://47hats.com). I also comoderate Joel Spolsky's Business of Software forum (http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz).

My day job is consulting with startups and microISVs on how to increase their sales by better explaining their software on their web sites. But my real job since 2007 has been to recreate myself from a Windows desktop developer into a Rails web developer so that I can build and launch a superior way for startups to succeed: StartupToDo (http://startuptodo.com).

Before getting into all of the foregoing, I was a custom software developer for 20-plus years, and before that a reporter. I like what I'm doing now a lot more than either of those past careers!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most informative and fun books on blogging I've read... March 29, 2007

By Thomas Duff HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

At my place of employment, I'm getting more and more questions about blogging. What exactly is it, how do you do it, what do I need to know, and can I blog within the company? If I had my way, I'd buy about 25 copies of Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them by Bob Walsh and start handing them out. This is a perfect mix of details, concepts, and guidelines, all packaged up in a very readable (and enjoyable) format. I even picked up a few gems myself...

Content:

Part 1 - Revolution in Progress - Please Make Noise!: Why Blog?; Hooking into the Blogosphere; Getting Started

Part 2 - Building Your Blog: What Do Good Blogs Share?; Building Your Personal Blog; Professionally Blogging, Blogging Professionally; Building Your Company Blog

Part 3 - Secrets of Influential Bloggers: Power Tools for Bloggers; Successful Blogging; The New Fourth Estate; Adding Podcasting to Your Blog; Monetizing Your Blog for Fun and Profit; Building Readership

Part 4 - Blogging Towards the Future: Blogging from the New Front Lines; Welcome to Your Future;

Index

From the technical perspective, he covers how to start a blog in a few of the mainstream offerings... Blogger, Windows Live Spaces, and TypePad. Keeping in mind that these packages can change on a weekly basis, he is clear and concise on how to create the blog and post content. Even if things change, the concepts are pretty much the same, and you can follow along. But fortunately, he doesn't spend a lot of time on the "follow the menus" material. It's the other stuff that is so elusive to explain to newcomers. What makes a good blog? Who's going to read it? What do I write about? And of course, can I make lots of money at this? :) Parts 1 and 2 are the foundations for just about every question I've been asked lately, and Walsh covers it all with a flair. If you could convince rookie bloggers to read and understand things such as voice, audience, and consistency, the long-term success rate of their blogging would rise dramatically. I've made a number of the mistakes that Walsh cautions against, and it would have saved me a few hairs had I known this all three years ago. And if you're not a newbie blogger? Part 3 goes into what I call "power blogger" mode, and discusses more advanced topics like how a blog can generate income, and how you can add podcasts to your blogging repertoire. You don't *have* to do all these things, but they are directions that are worth considering. Again, reading this first before diving in could mean the difference between stepping up to the next level and alienating your audience.

There were a few things that drew me to this book. One is the writing style. I enjoy conversational writing that isn't afraid to have fun and be a little edgy. He definitely fits that criteria, and he's not afraid to offer up his own opinions alongside the facts. The second thing involves the interviews. There are a number of question/answer sessions with big name bloggers, those who have defined the field and who are leading the pack. Learning from them what works and what doesn't is invaluable towards improving your own writing. And finally, each chapter ends with a "Your Action Task" section. It's the "call to action" to actually take the next steps to apply the chapter's material and do it yourself. That focus on practicality and "do it now" drives the reader along and should make for some successful blogging efforts.

If you've been getting the blogging questions coming your way because people know you do that blogging thing, point them towards this book. Between your explanations and the material here, there shouldn't be much left over that your questioner doesn't understand. And I'll venture to guess they'll even have fun getting there...

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, informative, and interesting February 7, 2007

By fleegle

Format:Paperback

I was involved in the production of this book...and I was not supposed to be reading it while I was doing the layout. But I couldn't help it! It's so well-written and interesting that eventually, I just read the chapters as soon as they were sent to me.

Creating a blog wasn't something I ever intended to do, but Bob's writing is so compelling that I just had to give it a whirl.

His writing style is clear, pleasant, and entertaining; and his advice about posting and publicising is uncomplicated, but effective.

I have to say that this book changed my life. Blogging has introduced me to a wonderful group of people and opened doors I didn't even know were out there.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to enter the world of blogging.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I believe this will become THE authoritative text on the subject of blogging--an automatically recommended March 26, 2007

By gobby

Format:Paperback

One of the greatest things about blogging--whether you want to change the world, your life, or just have fun--is that it's totally hardware and software independent. If you can connect to the Internet, you can blog. The "World of Blogging" doesn't care if you have a mainframe, PC, Mac, or mobile device. It doesn't care about your operating system, your browser, or your connection--whether it's by landline, broadband, or wireless. And, best of all, it's FREE! What more could you want?

Actually, there is one more thing you'd really want, and it's Bob Walsh's _Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them_. This is a "must read" book. After reading it, I think it's going to become THE authoritative text on blogging. It's NOT technical. It's a "How To" manual about blogging and the "World of Blogging." He answers the questions you may be asking, and shows you the way, the best way, to not only enter the blogosphere, but to become a success.

Wondering about blogging is like wondering whether you should buy a computer. The question to ask, in both cases, is "why?". Why would you want to? What do you want to do with it? Walsh starts off by answering that question and then moves on to "what" to blog about, "how" to do it, and how to use your time most effectively researching your topic.

Chapter 4: "What Do Good Blogs Share?" is THE most important part of the book philosophically. If you don't understand these fundamentals, all your hard work will be for nothing. Read it, re-read it, digest it, do it. And if you're already blogging, but not as successful as you wish, you'll definitely want to pay especial attention to the 140 pages in Part 3: "Secrets of Influential Blogging."

Just to get an idea of how Walsh writes, his publisher (Apress) put a free download of Chapter 9: "Successful Blogging" at their web site:
[...]. (Look for the button on the far-right side of the page.) It explains how you can find topics, on a regular basis, for your posts (entries on your blog), plus advice on writing well, turning a good post into a great one, and helping readers find you.

As far as the physical layout is concerned, the type-face is easy to read with plenty of leading (white-space) between each line. The screen-shots aren't shrunken-down and thus unreadable--amazing for computer-related books nowadays! The chapter name and number are printed at the top of each page--a useful addition. Finally, the last section in each chapter consists of "Your Action Tasks," things for you to think about or do.

Table of Contents for _Clear Blogging : How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them_, by Bob Walsh

Part 1: Revolution in Progress: Please Make Noise
* Chapter 1: Why Blog?
* Chapter 2: Hooking into the Blogosphere
* Chapter 3: Getting Started

Part 2: Building Your Blog
* Chapter 4: What Do Good Blogs Share
* Chapter 5: Building Your Personal Blog
* Chapter 6: Professionally Blogging, Blogging Professionally
* Chapter 7: Building Your Company Blog

Part 3: Secrets of Influential Blogging
* Chapter 8: Power Tools for Bloggers
* Chapter 9: Successful Blogging
* Chapter 10: The New Fourth Estate
* Chapter 11: Adding Podcasting to Your Blog
* Chapter 12: Monetizing Your Blog for Fun and Profit
* Chapter 13: Building Readership

Part 4: Blogging Toward the Future
* Chapter 14: Blogging from the New Front Lines
* Chapter 15: Welcome to Your Future

Index (pages 331-351)

_Clear Blogging : How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them_, by Bob Walsh, is definitely worth 5 stars from gobbysreviews.

ENJOY!

gobby
Book Reviewer at Marathon Library