Blogging 101

I am recommending two books below for the beginning blogger. I am sure even the advanced user can pick up a new trick or two.

These two books should get you on your way to blogging success quickly! I recommend you get them soon, since they are so current and will include the latest information and blog software versions.

Blogging for Dummies is just being released today!

Amazon.com: Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

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

WordPress for Dummies is only two months old!

Amazon.com: WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

From the Back Cover
Includes coverage of WordPress MU community software

Create a hosted, self-hosted, or multi-user blog, explore plugins, and more.

WordPress is powerful software known for helping bloggers share their thoughts online. Whether you want to set up a blog in the WordPress community, add a blog in the WordPress community, add a blog to another site, or build your own blogging community, this book shows how WordPress can help. With this book, you’ll soon be navigating WordPress templates plugins, and themes with no problem.

Discover how to:

• Personalize WordPress settings
• Understand common template tags
• Manage and moderate comments
• Deal with spam and trackback
• Troubleshoot common problems

Technorati Tags: blogging book, WordPress book, for dummies computer book, learn to blog, learn WordPress

Building a Better Blog

7 Essential WordPress Hacks Video Series

Learn To Think Like A Blogger

An Introduction to Using Images on Blogs

Technorati Tags: better blog, improve blog, add images to blog

Free FTP client and how to use it

Technorati Tags: ftp client, FileZilla, WordPress

Overview and extensive list of clients for different platforms

Windows Live Writer – this is the client I use

WLW Blog – learn what’s new with Windows Live Writer

BlogJet

Technorati Tags: blog client, BlogJet, Windows Live Writer

WordPress Documentation

WordPress FAQ

How to Install WordPress Manually

Technorati Tags: WordPress, WordPress installation, WordPress documentation

Bluehost – Highly recommended by me and WordPress! Quick WordPress setup. Award Winning Customer Service.

Namesecure – Get your domain name.

Wordpress hosting – WordPress recommended hosts.

Slicehost.com – For when you need to upgrade to a Virtual Private Server!

ServInt.net – When you want to upgrade to a dedicated or virtual private server. Has an easy upgrade path to keep up with the growth of your traffic.

NameBoy – Domain Name generator based on keywords entered.

WhoIs – Who owns that domain name you want?

Technorati Tags: hosting, domain, domain name, domain search, Bluehost, Namesecure, Slicehost, ServInt, NameBoy, WhoIs

Problogger article on choosing a platform and selecting a domain name for your blog

Wordpress.org – Self-hosted

Wordpress.com – Hosted

WordPress.com Beginner Resources

Typepad.com – Hosted

Blogger.com – Hosted

Setting Up a Blog with Blogger.com – Tutorial

Blog Software Comparison Chart

Technorati Tags: blog platform, blog hosts, hosted, self-hosted, WordPress, Blogger, Typepad

Blogging Tips for Beginners from Problogger

Free Blogging Video Tutorial

113 Blogging Tips – might answer many questions you have, also lots of how-to articles

95 More Tips – from the ProBlogger community

Video Tutorials – on blogging, WordPress, html, web and more

Technorati Tags: learning to blog, blogging for beginners, blogging tips, blogging videos

1. It’s Easy. Sure there are some programs out there that make setting up a website pretty simple. But they still take time. You can literally have a blog up and running in about 30-minutes!
2. Blogs are a great way to create a web presence even if you know you’re going to be launching a traditional site in the future.
3. Blogs make it very easy to add content to your site.
4. Blogs get “seen” by search engines much faster than traditional sites.
5. Search engines love the continuously updated content on a blog – assuming you continuously update your blog, of course!
6. Blogs allow you to connect with your visitors. Blogs are dynamic, an ongoing conversation, a two-way relationship. Traditional websites are static, one-way conversations. With blogs you talk with your visitors. With websites you talk to your visitors.
7. It’s much easier to manage content with a blog. A traditional, static website is clunky and cumbersome when it comes to content. Sure, dynamic websites can manage content well, but they tend to be expensive and difficult to set up.
8. With a blog you can get incoming links fairly easily. It tends to be more difficult to get good incoming links to static sites.
9. Because you’re always adding quality content (right!) your visitors always have a compelling reason to come back.
10. Blogs make it very easy for you to invite other “experts” to contribute content.

Technorati Tags: blog platform, advantages of blogs, choosing a blog

Wikipedia definition.

RSS definition.

How to explain RSS the Oprah way

Good overview on blogging (terms) on WordPress.org

Feedburner – used to track all of your RSS and email subscribers.

Technorati top bloggers.

Technorati Tags: blog definition, RSS, blogging, feedburner, top bloggers