Bloggers Boot Camp: Learning How to Build, Write, and Run a Successful Blog - Softcover

White, Charlie; Biggs, John

3.52

66 ratings by Goodreads

9780240819174: Bloggers Boot Camp: Learning How to Build, Write, and Run a Successful Blog

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0240819179 ISBN 13: 9780240819174

Publisher: Focal Press, 2011

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Bloggers Boot Camp shows you how to build a great blog from the ground up. This isn't a book about technology -- it's a book about engaging millions of readers. Starting your blog is easy, but building and maintaining a popular one is hard. Blogging experts John Biggs and Charlie White (Gizmodo, Mashable and TechCrunch) share their secrets from the frontline showing you how to blog with quality and flair, find the best stories, and attract millions of readers to your blog. Blogging goes way beyond writing. It's a conversation between you and your audience. Guiding you to blogging success Bloggers Boot Camp shows you how to:

* Uncover a niche for your blog, and realize key factors about yourself that you need to know before you write a single word. * Gather the ideal tools for blogging, without spending too much or approaching it underequipped. *Discover the best ways to spread the word about your new blog. * Find the most compelling stories to write about, and get the information before anyone else does. * Transform your writing by learning the subtle art of constructing a compelling, engaging blog post. * Stimulate your readers to directly participate in the two-way conversation, perhaps the most exciting part of this new way of communicating.

* Teaches writers how to blog and bloggers how to write * Offers a simple method for writing every day and a simple formula for creating compelling content * The writers have 20,000+ posts under their belts at three of the five most powerful blogs in the world.

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About the Author:

John Biggs began his career as a computer consultant. However, he moved from programming to journalism after realizing the real story wasn't behind the scenes, but in the relationships people had with the technology. The late 1990s and early 2000s brought a new world where the business section of the newspaper turned from a one-page add-on at the back of the sports page into a fully-fledged section detailing the deals, secrets, and outrages of a strange new period of time called the "Dot-Com" era.
He moved on to earn a Master's degree in Business and Economic Journalism from NYU, where he was one of the first in his class to cover the nascent Silicon Alley in downtown New York. A few years -- and jobs -- later he became editor of Gizmodo.com after meeting the former editor, Joel Johnson, for lunch and pleading his case. Now he and Charlie gather over 60 million pageviews a month on multiple sites.Charlie White started writing about technology on the Web in 1995, ancient days when Mosaic was the most popular browser, Clinton was president, and Windows 95 was considered high technology.In about 2004, technology and gadget blog Gizmodo caught his attention, because it was starting to eclipse the numbers of the large portal for which he was working. What kind of site could garner such impressive numbers? Surely it must have involved a staff bigger than the Web portal he was building with a dozen writers or more? Hardly. Two years later, he'd written 4,442 articles on the popular gadget site, helping to bring the site's traffic from around 7 million page views per month to over 80 million. The next stop was NBC Universal, for Charlie was lured by the mainstream media giant where he wrote more than 2500 blog posts, reviews and features for the SyFy-powered blog DVICE. And now he's senior editor of Mashable, writing for 15 million readers.

Review:

"The book 'Bloggers Boot Camp' sets the standards high, but if you are serious about your attempt to become a thought leader in your area of expertise, this book can really help you. Some information is quite basic, but in the end this book will hand you the steps that get you ahead right now. The only thing you need know is device with an internet connection and perseverance."--Customer Talk

"This book was a well-written and informative look at the basics of starting a blog and making it successful. The authors use humor to their advantage as they provide an entertaining read chocked full of introductory information. They cover topics such as what makes a good post, frequency of posting, how to monetize your blog, and the measures of success. The book assumes that you will be using something like Blogspot or Word Press to build your blog. There a are lot of sites that offer blogging templates that you can configure to a certain extent, but this book won't help you with html and building your blog without the use of templates. All in all,I feel this was worth reading and found it to be a good resource."--Book Bargains and Previews

"Blogging has become important to many marketers. Engaging with consumers keeps their messages in the email inbox, mentioned on social media and ranking high in organic search results. That's why so many are writing about their passions in a way that reaches interested audiences. Bloggers Charlie White and John Biggs know how to do just that. So they've provided tips in their book, 'Bloggers Boot Camp.'"--TargetMarketingMag.com

"The book takes the reader through the changing news environment where print is quickly moving into obscurity, and demonstrates how blogging is 'expanding your reach and voice to create a unique online identity.' While it is assumed that the reader will be knowledgeable about topics written, an emphasis on best practices for critical elements to success like perseverance and reader engagement are articulated throughout the chapters. Through my own experience, I have learned that having the commitment and patience to consistently develop quality, timely content and create a two-way conversation with readers who comment is critical to boosting your blog's credibility and viewership. So if you have been thinking about how to take part of a conversation regarding your interests, or your point of view in how you run your business, and want to use a blog as one of the tools to do so, then Bloggers Boot Camp is right place to start."--ABA Banking Journal.com

"Over 200 pages that give an insight into building, writing and running a successful blog. Discover the trick to uncovering a niche for your blog, plus how to spread the word and create compelling content."--Web Designer magazine

"We all know that every blogger needs a few tools to run a successful blog and surely a fast loading website and tips from professionals like John Biggs and Charlie White who make a living as bloggers will get any blogger on the right track."--BenjaminKerensa.com

"Essentially, the book is a beginner's guide, rather than a path to blogging enlightenment or those already blogging. It's pretty well laid out, covering off the basics, such as registering your name, choosing a platform, design and hosting, with screen grabs to help you along your way. There are some things I'm not sure I'd agree with, such as the definition of blogging "journalism on a short deadline" (part of the problem with PRs is treating bloggers as journalists; blogging should be allowed to be much broader) and the "1,000 Words Rule" that targets bloggers with writing a thousands words every day (again, too rigid a rule for many bloggers). There's a few paragraphs on working with PR people, which I think could have been expanded (but then I'm biased) and some tips of writing reviews, plus some ethics guidelines. More useful I'd imagine to newbies are the technical tips, such as adding an RSS feed and explaining about Google Analytics. All of this is written in a non-technical format, so it's easy to follow. So, overall, I'd say it's a useful guide for someone who's new to blogging, as long as they treat it as a guide rather than a bible."--The RedRocket.co.uk

"'Bloggers Boot Camp' sets the standards high, but if you are serious about your attempt to become a thought leader in your area of expertise, this book can really help you. Some information is quite basic, but in the end this book will hand you the steps that get you ahead right now. The only thing you need know is device with an internet connection and perseverance."--Anne van den Berg, CustomerTalk.nl

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