Product Description
In Detail Blogger is a blog publishing system from Google with a friendly interface specifically designed for creating and maintaining weblogs. It allows users to easily create dynamic blogs with great content and many outstanding features including RSS feeds, link-backs, photo slideshows, and integration with popular Google applications like Picasa. Its versatility and ease of use has attracted a large, enthusiastic, and helpful community of users. If you… More >>
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5 Responses
I did not find this to be a particularly well-written book. Although it does walk you through the entire process of creating and customizing a blog, most of the examples involve Jordan giving you the exact code to type in, without much explanation for *what* the code actually means. You know that saying: “Give a man to fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime”?
Well, I feel like I’ve been given one fish.
I can’t say if it’s the book, but shortly after reading through this, I decided to move my blog to WordPress….
Rating: 1 / 5
Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
This is a clearly written explanation of the complexities of the Blogger platform. If you are just beginning to use Blogger of have been using it for years. My brother and I both use it for our blogs in entirely different ways and this book covers both of those methods in varying detail.
The stand-alone Blogger is the most typical and therefore the most completely covered. From the simplest aspects of creating the blog to methods of Search Engine Optimization, the explanations are concise and a great improvement upon the useless instructions given on the help section of the Blogger website. My brother scanned the book and found four, quick to implement improvements he could easily add to improve his site.
If you are doing self-hosting, you should consider another book. I am not sure whether an adequate instruction book exists for this type of Blogger usage, but this is not the one. It has only 4 pages of information on this method. All in all, this is a great book for the vast numbers of Blogger users and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 4 / 5
Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Blogging is easy – blogging right is difficult! A little help is always useful if you are planning to blog right.. The book “Blogger – Beyond the Basics” by Lee Jordan proved to be my bridge from blogging to blogging brilliantly..
The book is for users who have just entered the blogging field and would like to create a name for themselves in the blogosphere. The book quickly ramps you up from beginner to an advanced level user with ability to derive maximum out of your blog.
This book is for those who want to use Google’s Blogging platform – Blogger. However, many tips in the book go beyond blogger and are generally useful for anyone. This is the first book that i have found in the market that covers blogging. Frankly I have also thought about writing a book on blogging but never went beyond the initial TOC.
The key to blogging (as you may have heard) is content. Without appealing content, a blog will not get readers. This book is about getting the platform right so that your content can create maximum impact. At one place in Chapter 9 the author does provide interesting suggestions on how to discover content that you could be writing based on the keywords.
The book starts by introducing a fictional business that wants to ensure its social presence in Chapter I. The next chapter logically…
Read more at: http://www.abhishekkant.net/2008/08/book-review-blogger-beyond-basics.html
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
This book by Lee Jordan is perfect for the novice blogger and packed with must have info for even the seasoned blogger. While it particularly deals with the Blogger (Google) platform, a good bit of the information extends beyond Blogger to services and tips that could be used for a variety of platforms.
I love the approach Jordan uses – taking a sample blog that is plain in nature and allowing the reader to follow that blogs evolution to a more professional looking blog using the guidelines and tips offered in the book.
Jordan shows you why popular blogs are so popular and what you can do to enhance your ratings and most importantly, your readership. He leaves no stone unturned as he divulges all the tricks of the trade, er uh, hobby.
Whatever the purpose of your blog is you should invest in this tool. It easy to understand, simple to follow, and indexed for ease of locating information. I have used it many times in the last few weeks to look up a particular subject and implement the information given.
Here is a list of the chapters:
1. All Blogs Are Not Created Equal
2. Customize and CreateTemplates
3. Social Bookmarking
4. Joining the Blogosphere
5. Using Widgets
6. RSS and Atom Syndication
7. Making Money With Ads
8. Measuring Site Performance with Google Analytics
9. Search Engine Optimization
10. Website Integration
Oh and it comes in paperback or e-book form!
Rating: 5 / 5
Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
So this is what Google offers? Like most of what it presents to a general audience, the cost is free. How good is it? Pretty good. All the basic abilities you could reasonably expect are there. Starting with a top-down template approach. Where you, the owner of a website that you want to have a blog in, can quickly choose between several popular candidate formats. Each having numerous customisable parameters. So it is trivial to define the name of your blog, and give it a short general description and, possibly, an accompanying image. This could be of yourself, for example. Or of your band, if the blog will be for the band.
I’m not lightly raising the previous example either. Google is in competition with other social networks. A major opponent is Myspace, which is a big music hangout. Yet if you are a band dissatisified with what Myspace lets you do, Google Blogger might be more flexible. Think about it, anyway.
Blogger also goes beyond just making the graphics. This being from Google, it has the means to hook up to data streams. Social bookmarking. If you are indeed serious about making a widely read blog, then pay very careful attention to these sections of the book. There are already millions of blogs on the Web. Most get very little traffic. With this in mind, Blogger has useful tools. That might let you share posts by email, in an attempt to pursue viral marketing.
There is also advice on how to position your blog so that search engines [and presumably Google in particular] might treat it favourably in organic rankings. Given that Blogger comes from Google, take heed.
At the most basic level, the book advises you to write as well as you can. Write articles that are original and interesting. Ultimately, this will be the biggest factor in attracting a wide audience. Keep in mind that Blogger [and every other blogging package] cannot help you with this. It provides a framework within which to write. But as always, in the end you are on your own.
Rating: 4 / 5
Posted on January 16th, 2010 at 12:56 am