I took Essential Blogging out of the Ottawa Public library to see what interesting tidbits I might pick up, as I usually find all books by O’Reilly and Associates very informative.
Essential Blogging is an excellent resource for beginner bloggers who want to start and figure out how to set up their blog (using Blogspot as their hosting software). It does a step by step set up procedure and then starts adding in more and more details for the beginner to “tweak” and enhance their content to get more readers and more interest in what they write (unless you are writing a blog, you don’t want anybody to read, beneficial advice).
When I first started blogging, I would have appreciated Essential Blogging a lot more because it talks about changing the default templates from Blogspot and how to use all the variables that Blogspot gives you access to. Lots of information on how to customize the default blogroll for the Blogspot setup would have helped me a lot as well.
Some information about Movable-type work that I skimmed since I wasn’t really interested in it.
Review: Overall Essential Blogging is a handy book for beginners who want to get started quickly and learn the ins and outs of blogging and get up and running quickly. If you use Blogspot, I would also recommend this book (although hopefully, there is a newer version that elaborates on the Widgets in the new Blogspot configuration).
I did not buy this book, I borrowed it from the Ottawa Public Library and would not buy it myself, but it was a useful read.
ISBN: 0-596-0038-9
I have noticed that books in the “Essential…” series do a quite clear job of explaining many of the important concepts in the subject being written about. A book of their type about blogging is quite appropriate as the category is increasing in usage, and more individuals would benefit from being directed towards the right method of starting their site. Borrowing it from the library was a positive idea as well.
Pingback: Make Those Links Stand Out