About this product: Book Description The editors of The Huffington Post--the most linked-to blog on the web--offer an A-Z guide to all things blog, with information for everyone from the tech-challenged newbie looking to get a handle on this new way of communicating to the experienced blogger looking to break through the clutter of the Internet. With an introduction by Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder and editor in chief, this book is everything you want to know about blogging, but didn't know who to ask.
As entertaining as it is informative, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging will show you what to do to get your blog started. You'll find tools to help you build your blog, strategies to create your community, tips on finding your voice, and entertaining anecdotes from HuffPost bloggers that will make you wonder what took you so long to blog in the first place.
The Guide also includes choice selections from HuffPost's wide-ranging mix of top-notch bloggers. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Jane Smiley, Bill Maher, Nora Ephron, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ari Emanuel, Mia Farrow, Al Franken, Gary Hart, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam McKay, John Ridley, and Alec Baldwin.
A Message from Arianna Huffington
Dear Amazon customer,
I'm thrilled to be working with Amazon.com as an online bookseller and partner for the publication of our new book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Amazon understands how to use the Internet to harness intelligence that enables people to make informed decisions. That mission is similar to that of The Huffington Post, a news and opinion site I co-founded in May 2005, and which has grown to become the most linked-to blog in the world. Bringing people together and sparking interesting conversations among my friends is ingrained in my DNA, and the world of blogging has opened up this passion to endless possibilities. It's fast-paced, limitless, and best of all, there's room for everyone. That's why I'm so excited about our Complete Guide to Blogging--if you have ever tried to start your own blog, wondered if you could, or if you're just an insatiable blog-addict, this book is for you. Our team of editors and contributors has put together all the tools you'll need to build your blog, strategies to create your community, ideas for finding your blogger voice, and countless, hilarious anecdotes and stories.
What are you waiting for? Start blogging!
Best, Arianna
Questions for Arianna Huffington
Amazon.com: There are over 100 million blogs in the world, and counting. Does the world need another one? Is it too late to start one that will have any sort of impact?
Huffington: There is always room for another blog – the key is having something to say, and the ability to say it in an interesting way. That combination will allow you to break through in almost any medium, but especially in blogging. New bloggers are rising to the top all the time.
Amazon.com: When you meet someone and tell them, "You should blog!" (which it's my understanding happens quite often), what is it about them that makes you think they'd be a good blogger, especially in the long term? Are there some writers you wouldn't say that to?
Huffington: I invite people who have an interesting point of view, a provocative way of looking at the world. And the best bloggers tend to be a little obsessed about something. When I see those things, I get excited about offering a platform to express them. One of the original reasons for starting HuffPost was my feeling that some of the most interesting voices in our culture weren't online--and I wanted to make it easier for them to make the transition.
Amazon.com: Has the Huffington Post turned out the way you planned? What surprises did you adapt to take advantage of?
Huffington: We had our hopes, but no one could have predicted that HuffPost would become such a huge success. One of the things that surprised us was the passion expressed by our community, so we worked hard to provide them an easy way to comment, and an environment where civil discourse is encouraged.
Amazon.com: As many people have noted, the Obama campaign was the first to really harness the power of the web for fundraising and organizing. Do you think running in the first heavily blogged election also made his victory more possible?
Huffington: Obama's online operation was state of the art--incorporating everything from viral videos to texting-as-a-grassroots-organzing-tool to social networking sites to its online fundraising juggernaut--and was a key component in his success. It wouldn't be overstating things to say that if it wasn't for the web, we'd be inaugurating a different 44th president on January 20th. And thanks to blogging--and YouTube, instant fact-checks, and viral emails--it was much harder for his opponents to use the tactics of the past: fear, smear, and anything goes.
Amazon.com: You and your editors have written a book about blogging (while noting the irony of doing so). There's a lot of talk about the relationship between blogs and newspapers, but less so about how blogs will live with books. Aside from the obvious examples of bloggers getting book deals, how do you think blogs and books will affect each other?
Huffington: Anything that keeps people reading is a good thing! And blogging has certainly led to a renaissance of sorts for the written word. We live in a culture dominated by visual imagery and communication, so having so much vital writing on the web has helped re-habituate the younger generation to reading ... and hopefully blogs will be a gateway drug that leads them on to the harder stuff of books. And people blogging about books is obviously a great way to promote the best of the new releases (and some deserving older releases that never got the attention they warranted).
About this product: Problogger.net is where bloggers worldwide go for advice and information on enhancing their blogs presence. Whether youre just starting out or have been blogging for years, these two professional bloggers show you how to turn your passion for blogging into extra revenue. This practical guide to creating and marketing a blog with the potential for generating a six-figure income shows you how to choose subject matter that works for you, handle technical issues, and evaluate your blogs success so that you can use your blog to generate income indirectly.
About this product: Everybody’s doing it! And while that logic never got far with your mother, it’s a fine reason to start blogging, especially if you have a business to build or a cause to promote. Well-run blogs do more than offer an outlet for your thoughts. They’ve actually influenced everything from a company’s image to the outcome of a local election.
Because the blogosphere is pretty crowded, it’s a good idea to find out a bit about the anatomy of a blog, what makes a good one, and what it takes to keep one going before you dive right in and start sharing with the world. Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition gives you all the basics so you can get a good start. And if you’ve been around the blog a few times and want to advance to the next level, Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition even takes a look at podcasting and videoblogging.
You’ll find out how to:
Make your blog stand out in a crowd, build an audience, and even make it pay
Choose the best software options, boost readership, and handle comments
Generate revenue from your blog with ads and sponsorships
Protect your privacy and your job
Deal with spam and the inappropriate comments from that guy who posts several times a day
Find your niche
Attract and keep readers
Use your blog to promote your business, cause, or organization
Add audio, video, cool widgets, and more
Ready? Get Blogging for Dummies and let’s get started!
About this product: Among more than 102,000,000 blogs, a few stand out as influential, ground-breaking, and singularly successful. These thirty bloggers, who write about everything from business trends to parenting, have been featured in Wired magazine, Popular Science, and on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and 20/20. In one-on-one conversations with Michael A. Banks, these innovative, creative thinkers have shared their tactics, their philosophies, what drives them, how they mine for subject matter, and their personal secrets for success. Come and learn from the masters.
Blogs are one of the internet's fastest-growing phenomena-and one of the best and easiest ways to make money online. Learn how to choose a topic, start a blog and attract thousands of avid readers. Then use your blog to generate income from advertisers, promotions, affiliate links and other techniques-all from your own home.
We'll reveal how to:
Attract visitors and hold their interest
Entice advertisers to promote their products on your blog
Earn an affiliate fee when your visitors shop at some of the most popular websites
Promote your blog and get listed on top blog search engines
Successful bloggers reveal their expert strategies for maximizing profits. Pick up this book and get started on the road to riches-without leaving your desk!
About this product: Want to break into blogging but don’t know where to start? Dynamic duo Joelle Reeder and Katherine Scoleri of The Moxie GirlsTM show you how to start your first blog, polish your prose, get involved in blogging communities, make sense of RSS feeds, podcasts, photos and more — all with fun, humor and attitude!
Inside you will find the need-to-know info to get your blog noticed: How to choose the right blogging platform or content management tool, select a web host, dress up your blog, manage blog content and keep your privates private! When you are ready for more, The Moxie Girls will treat you to insider dish on blog etiquette, analyzing blog traffic, blogging for business, creating podcasts and adding bling to your blog with plugins, add-ons and more. Throw in the refreshing cocktails, beauty tips and gossip with the Girls at the end of each chapter and you’ll be Blogging with Moxie in no time. So, what are you waiting for?
The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging With Moxie is packed with the content you need wrapped in casual, engaging dialog and a cheeky, bite-sized format.
Bargain-blogging with tools such as WordPress®, TypePad®, and Vox
Choosing a content management system like Expression Engine or Movable Type
Managing blog content, using tags and moderating comments
Selecting a professional designer and choosing from off-the-rack templates
While personal blogs take up much of the blogosphere, blogs are quickly gaining popularity in business as an inexpensive and amazingly effective marketing tool. It’s time for a practical book about business blogging: this is the first book to demonstrate how businesses are blogging and how you can use blogging technology to converse with your customers to build your brand and sell your products.
Written from the business person/designer’s perspectives, this book shows how businesses can leverage current, real-world blogging techniques, tools, and platforms to promote and enhance their ventures. The key idea is that the conversation with your market is stronger and more meaningful with a blog. Filled with practical information and a how-to approach, this book provides case studies of companies as large as Boeing or General Motors and as small as Clip-’n-seal. Readers will learn about the types of business blogs, how companies use blogs, how to sell blogs to management and IT, effective blog design, content, and conversation, pitfalls to avoid, how to develop Web presence, and more.
About this product: Packaged, filtered, controlled conversations are out. Open, two-way, authentic communications with your customers and employees are in. We’re entering a new age of corporate communications, and blogs are a key enabler of a better way of talking with customers, employees, the media, and other key constituencies.
In The Corporate Blogging Book Debbie Weil provides a clear-eyed look at blogging as a marketing communications strategy-what works, what doesn’t, and why creating and maintaining a good blog is worth the effort.
Weil demystifies corporate blogging by stripping away the technical jargon and showing you exactly what your customer needs from your blog. She urges managers and executives to confront their fear of blogging. She explains how to avoid legal pitfalls, who should be doing the blogging, and how to keep readers coming back.
Weil explains how corporations like Google, GM, and IBM are maintaining popular blogs and keeping their sales up. Whether your company is large or small, make your way into the blogosphere, and let Debbie Weil show you how to get it right the first time.
About this product: Blogging appeals to every demographic that has access to a computer-if you know how to do it right. This one-stop resource shows readers how to publish their ideas, get feedback, and create their own worldwide networks! With this book readers will:
Create buzz marketing for their business
Get amateur poetry, short stories, and prose published
Create a worldwide network of people
Share unique hobby ideas with thousands of other hobbyists With The Everything Blogging Book, readers will learn all that blogging can offer-and more!
About this product: If you want to give yourself a Web presence without spending a lot of time or money, a blog is your answer and this is your guide. Blogs (Web logs) are short, diary-like entries on a Web site that has a chronological, journal format. Fun or informative, but not formal, blogs are easy to set up, maintain, and update. You can share your personal, stream-of-consciousness musings or your expertise on any subject ranging from your family vacation to world peace. This guide helps beginners (even technophobes) get started fast, with the essential info on:
The elements of blogs, such as entries, sidebars, categories, comments, and index pages
The different types of hosting services, from free to fee and from “turn key” services that are easy-to-use to DIY programs
Details on two popular, free “social community” hosted Web services that are ideal for casual bloggers—MSN Spaces and Yahoo! 360
The scoop on Blogger, a popular free hosted service that has some community tools like the social networks, but is basically blog-intensive
DIY blogging, covering three of the most powerful and flexible blog programs—Movable Type, WordPress, and Radio Userland
Hooking into RSS feeds to distribute your blog entries beyond your site
Choosing a newsreader
Ways to raise the visibility of your blog and make money from blogging
Complete with step-by-step instructions and lots of screen shots, this guide walks you through everything from setting up your blog and posting your first entry to adding photos, audio, and more. It includes the URLs of lots of sample sites to see to give you an idea of blog possibilities. In addition to the essential how-to, it fills you in on:
The blogosphere, blog culture and etiquette, snarks, macrologues, and more
Moblogs that let you post entries remotely using your portable computer, PDA, or cell phone
Buying a domain through a registrar such as Network Solutions, Register.com, or Go Daddy
MP3 blogs, vlogs (videoblogs), photoblogging, audioblogging, podcasting, and more
You know you have something to say, whether it’s heavy stuff or just your thought for the day. Make your opinions known. Get your photos shown. With Blogging For Dummies, you’ll soon be blogging with the best of ‘em.