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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One of the best ways for a company to reach out to their customers and build a strong brand is corporate blogging. However, there are a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of room for error. Let’s take a look at some techniques that you can use to make sure that your corporate blogging experience goes smoothly.

1. Hire the right person for the job.

Unless you have someone on your team that is familiar with how blogging works and how to handle themselves under pressure, you may want to consider hiring a professional to manage your blog for you. This is the best solution for most companies, especially since they may not have enough resources to devote to running a blog. The person that you select to run your blog should be professional but personable and they should always display grace under fire. If you don’t have anyone that fits that description, you will definitely need to get some help with blog management.

2. Use the right tools.

There are numerous blogging platforms out there that make it so much easier to run a corporate blog. However, they are not all created equal. While many companies resort to using free blog management tools, this can give the wrong impression. It is best to host your blog on your own site for several reasons. First, you’re going to want to get as much traffic to your site as possible. Using a third part blogging application does not accomplish this. Next, you don’t want to give your readers the impression that you’re too cheap to run your own blog.

There are several blogging applications that can be installed on your own server. Most are free and can be easily customized to fit your specifications. This is a much better choice and you’ll have more control over the environment.

3. Make sure you have an RSS feed ready to go.

If you are trying to run a blog without the benefit of a blogging application, you’re going to need to make sure that you have a way of syndicating your posts. Today’s blog readers rely heavily on newsreaders and RSS feeds to let them know when their favorite blogs have added new posts. If you are not using an RSS feed, you’re missing out on this enormous market.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it works by sending out a snippet of your posts to those that have subscribed to your feed. Most blogging applications contain an automatic RSS feed, but you will need to make sure that it works. We also recommend using an RSS feed manager such as Feedburner to see how many people are reading your posts. This can really help you gauge your success.

These are just three techniques that make blogging much easier. Remember, it is better to err on the side of caution and get help in managing your blog than it is to try it on your own.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-07-30 05:28:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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