Blog, Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community Paperback – Illustrated, September 19, 2012

I picked this up on a whim during an Amazon sale, and I’m really glad that I did.I recommend this book to everyone who has a blogged or is thinking about starting a blog. This is a wealth of information. This book was like taking a 101 college class about blogging.The book suggests thinking about what makes your blog special. It asks if this is your hobby, outlet, or possible career, and then offers tips for each of those choices.To quote:“What makes it unique? The best blogs are ones that add their own unique twist or style to a topic. What ideas do you have that will make yours different?” And, “a succinct description of your blog that tells others why you started it, what you blog about, and why it’s fun and different.”I learned that some of the types of posts I most enjoy making are “Updates: In addition to seeing your newest work, readers often like to see pieces that didn’t make the cut,” and “Updates Similar: behind-the-scenes details from the building of your (novel), special discounts for blog readers,” and Reviews.It defines Trackbacks, Categories, and Tags. (I knew about Tags, but I never considered using “Google’s Keyword Tool or Wordtracker to find the optimal words or phrasing to use.”) It explains, in detail, how to write your Bio and the function of having one. It mentions trademarking your blog’s name. (Which I never thought about spending money on before.) It talks about a blog’s bounce rate, which I had never heard of before.The made me wonder if I give enough of myself, if I have enough of a “real person” angle to inspire people.A great quote from the book:“Building and maintaining your community is just as important as coming up with a great new post and should be given the same care and attention.”To me, that part of the book reminded me of the #AtoZChallenge. That feels like the very definition of what we do in April.

I'm writing this from the perspective of a blogger, someone who has blogged since 2008 with a moderately successful blog (relatively speaking). I'm always on the lookout for books on blogging so as to improve my website for readers, try new techniques.This book by Joy Deangdeelert Cho is more of an introductory guide to blogging. It covers topics like picking your niche, choosing a blogging platform, how to behave online, and monetizing your blog. They are mentioned in a rather general way, very informative to new bloggers but lacking the depth that experienced bloggers look for.I like the interview series as they look at other bloggers. It gives a nice overview of blogging from the perspective of other bloggers. However, if you want to get more technical, I would recommend checking out Blogging Heroes and Clear BloggingBlog, Inc is just one of the many books on blogging that are out there, just that this one's from the perspective of the author. Most blogging books talk about similar techniques at building a successful blog, with the difference usually being the story of how the author started her own. I may sound critical but I've read too many books on blogging.If you're a beginner, you might also want to check out Blogging for Creatives. If you're into changing your mindset, you can try Click Millionaires.

When I stumbled onto Joy's fun and very addictive Blog I was charmed enough to follow a link to her book on Amazon. Her style is quite fresh making even the more technical aspects of the book a breeze to follow. The tone is clear and the style inventive, so it was a real pleasure to follow her process step by step and leave with a great blue print on how to set off on the journey of creating ones own personal blog. I have this on my nightstand and go back to it for inspiration while I plan my own lifestyle/fashion related blog.Excellent place to start if you are a novice or an active blogger looking to sharpen or expand your online creative presence.

This book goes more in-depth then some of the other books I've read about the subject. I also enjoyed the interviews throughout the book. And there's a nice helpful resources part in the back that I'm going to work my way through. I appreciated a lot of the talk about businesses, taxes, paying employees and things like that. But there wasn't anything particularly new. Even in the interviews with the successful bloggers what I took from what they were saying was mostly it came down to luck and timing as much as skill. Also almost all the bloggers had a heavy design element- photography, crafts, things like that so I was looking for something with a bit more of a writing element to it. Is it weird to say I was hoping for something a little bit more... creative?But it's still a good and helpful read through that gave me some things I need to think more carefully about.