If you want to learn about blogging, “Create Your Own Blog: 6 Easy Projects to Start Blogging Like a Pro” by Tris Hussey is a great resource. For the new blogger, it is fantastic. For the experienced blogger, I bet you’ll still learn a thing or two. But it really is aimed at the beginner and maybe intermediate blogger.
Creating Own Blog
The thing I really liked was Hussey provides a lot of detail and information. This book really helped me with the two websites/blogs I just created, and I’m going to use it as a reference if I decide to add some different things like video and audio to my blogs.
Hussey admits that he favors WordPress and the book has more about WordPress than other blogging platforms. With this said, he does mention some of the others such as Blogger or TypePad. Hussey says he’s tried all the different blogging platforms and prefers and recommends WordPress, so most of the information refers to this platform for creating a blog, but many concepts and ideas will work if you choose another. This is another thing I like about the book, Hussey shares many resources, and many are free, to help you with what you want to do.
There is a quick introduction about how to use the book, and then a brief history of blogs and how to start your own. There is a basic chapter on installing and setting up your first blog. This is very basic and walks the novice through the setup. Don’t know what a plugin or widget is? This chapter will tell you.
Chapter three focuses on writing and creating a conversation, while chapter four is on building community. Chapter five is the first of the 6 projects. The six are: Creating a personal blog; Creating a business blog; Creating a podcast blog; Video blogging; Creating a portfolio blog; Creating your online lifestream; and a bonus chapter on Making money through your blog.
In these chapters, Hussey really does walk you through doing all the things you’ll want to do with your blog. He covers the basics, but also how to record, edit and post audio and video, as well as topics like twitter, Cliqset, and ways to pull all your posting and content together. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of information and detail provided. The last chapter, which was a bonus, probably had the least amount of information, but he did cover the basic ways people are making money with their blogs.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to start blogging, or for the person who wants to improve their blog presence or take their blogging to the next level with audio or video. Great blogging reference.