Blogging 101 » Blogging Basics

The Latest Books to Help You with Your Blog

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:04:00 +0000

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

Multimedia Blogging Course by Mark Joyner

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:51:17 +0000

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

Technorati Tags: blogging for beginners, learning to blog, online blogging course, blog traffic, monetize your blog

Improving Your Blog

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:42:14 +0000

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

FTP Clients

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:45:39 +0000

Free FTP client and how to use it

Technorati Tags: ftp client, FileZilla, WordPress

Blog Clients

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:42:48 +0000

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.org

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:34:59 +0000

WordPress Documentation

WordPress FAQ

How to Install WordPress Manually

Technorati Tags: WordPress, WordPress installation, WordPress documentation

Hosting and Domain Names

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:31:48 +0000

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

Choosing a Hosting Platform

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:26:16 +0000

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

Learning to Blog

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:22:52 +0000

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

Blog vs. Static Web Site – Top Reasons to Choose a Blog

Biggi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:19:40 +0000

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!
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.
Blogs make it very easy to add content to your site.
Blogs get “seen” by search engines much faster than traditional sites.
Search engines love the continuously updated content on a blog – assuming you continuously update your blog, of course!
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.
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.
With a blog you can get incoming links fairly easily. It tends to be more difficult to get good incoming links to static sites.
Because you’re always adding quality content (right!) your visitors always have a compelling reason to come back.
Blogs make it very easy for you to invite other “experts” to contribute content.

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