If you are completely new to blogging for small businesses, this is the book to read. While there are quite a few books dedicated to this subject, few are this easy to read, or this informative. We weren’t quite sure what to expect from this book, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised. Before we begin our review, it is important to note that this book is designed for the complete rank blogging amateur. If you are already well versed in the basics of blogging, there are a few things to learn, but it is really intended for those that need start up assistance and a push in the right direction.

Wibbels is well known for his EasyBakeBlog site where he teaches visitors how to easily set up their own blog. Much of this same advice made its way into this book and it is truly designed for thos that have absolutely no experience with HTML or the technical side of setting up a blog. He starts up with a brief history of blogs, and covers some very important terminology.

The reader can learn about trackbacks, an area which often confuses even the most intrepid bloggers. Also covered in this section are how to find blogs to read, how a blog is typically formatted as well as some basic tips on getting started. The ball gets rolling a little faster by Part Two when he shifts gears and starts to take a look at how blogging effects businesses.

We highly recommend reading part two very carefully, since there is a lot of insight here. Everything related to business blogging, making money and using your corporate blog effectively is covered in this section and anyone can learn a lot. We appreciated that the author continued to use his friendly prose in this section, making it a lot less threatening for newcomers.

Part Four is a little more advanced and goes into how to pick your blogging platform, how to handle posting and a lot of the technical issues that first time bloggers face. Our main issue with this section is that the author focused so heavily on TypePad as being the best solution. Given that WordPress has easily overtaken TypePad, readers may want to consider finding their best platform on their own.

TypePad certainly has its benefits, but for beginners, we definitely recommend WordPress first and foremost. Part Five of the book covers some specific TypePad promotional techniques, as well as general techniques that can be used to increase readership, handle RSS feeds and things like podcasting.

Overall, this was an engaging read that is well suited to beginners. We would have liked to have seen a few more platforms discussed and a little less reliance on TypePad. It ends up dating the book and making the content much less evergreen. That said, we still recommend this book to those that need a firm foundation in the basics of blogging, and learning how a corporate blog can benefit your business.

Originally posted 2008-09-26 05:35:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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