Many beginner bloggers are looking for reference materials to help them learn how to blog. Of course, all the information you need can be found for free online, but if you don't have time to conduct your own research or prefer to have a book by your side, then The Everything Blogging Book by Aliza Sherman Risdahl is an excellent choice.
Content
I have read a lot of books about blogging. First, I read several when I began blogging. Now, I read them as reference so I know which to recommend to beginners who ask me for help in the form of a printed book. The Everything Blogging Book is the book I recommend most often to people who want to learn how to blog. This is not the book you want to buy if you are trying to learn how to use a specific blogging application such as Wordpress or Blogger. However, it's an excellent choice to learn about the theories and concepts related to blogging.
The Everything Blogging Book begins with a comprehensive introduction to blogging, explaining what blogging and online publishing are, how to plan your new blog, how to find a blog host, and finally, starting your blog. It's not until page 122 (Chapter 10) that readers are taught how to actually start a blog. This comprehensive overview is exactly what beginner bloggers need to read before they dive into the blogosphere.
The second half of the book is devoted to devloping blog content and communities, avoiding blogging 'dont's', marketing a blog, measuring traffic, and maintaining your blog. Few stones are left unturned in terms of introducing readers to the rudimentary world of blogging.
Writing Style
The Everything Blogging Book is written in an easy-to-read style and follows the standard format of all books in the "Everything" series. The callout tips and facts are extremely helpful, and the book is devoid of extraneous information that beginner bloggers don't need to know.
Highlights
A few chapters that I think are particularly helpful to novice bloggers focus on cautionary messages, blogging tools, and blogging secrets. There is a great mix of need-to-know information and extras, which make this book a great reference tool for beginner bloggers.
Bottom-line
Although this book needs to be updated desperately (some of the tools and information included are outdated), the overall content still makes this book one of the easiest and most comprehensive beginner guides to blogging that one can buy. I would recommend that new bloggers looking for a book to teach them how to blog give this book a try for a great overview of blogging but then be sure to pick up another book that has been published more recently to ensure you're working with the most current information related to tools, applications, and so on. If The Everything Blogging Book had been updated within the past year or so, I would definitely have given it more than 3.5 stars.
