A Review of Blogging in Action

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 9:16 am

: Image via CrunchBase

Blogging in Action is the package that gets us the most excited. This is a great ebook, and ebook might just be the wrong word to describe it.’ The author, Shaun Taylor, has certainly outdone himself — but what you really care about is how the book and resource can help you, so let’s get to it!

When you open the ebook for the first time you notice that it is very large with 258 pages of content! This is a huge accomplishment in the world of ebook publishing. Some might express consent that it will be too much information in too compact a space, but the organization of the content makes it a non-issue.

Shaun starts out by outlining his expectations and goals for the ebook. He wants it to be current and up to date, cover many different topics, appeal to different experience levels, distill theory and concepts into action steps, and create a clear path for anyone who wants to make their mark as a blogger. He succeeds in his goal.

As much as we try to give unbiased and impartial reviews and tell you both the good and the bad, it is really difficult to do in this case. Even with a critical viewpoint, there isn’t anything that screams out to be changed here. There are times we thought, “wait a sec, he should have…oh, he did!”

For those who are concerned about having to dig through a pile of information they already know or aren’t interested in, Shaun takes a unique approach to solving that problem. He not only wrote a standard table of contents, he also included ‘tags’ that mark when you should read a topic. For example, if he includes non-essential information he marks it with a tag! A very effective addition for those who don’t have a lot of time to read.

Anyone can grasp the concepts presented in this ebook, as everything is covered from A to Z. The different sections in Blogging in Action generally start out with an overview of that particular section, but then they quickly move into action steps. This is great, because becoming a successful blogger isn’t just about reading the information, it’s about actually doing something with it. If you are not convinced to do just that after reading this book, no book will!

The table of contents for things you’ll learn is too large to list, but here are some of our favorites:

Choosing a platform
What is a blog?
Configuring your blog for readers and search engines
Backing up your blog
What is a niche?
How to do keyword research (comes with a tool!)
Building your brand
Creating compelling content
Mistakes to avoid (this goes against what is taught in our least favorite blogging book)
Which directories to submit to
Article marketing
Finding .edu and .gov links!
Using social networking sites and strategy
Monetization strategies
Quick start videos for every step of the way

Clearly, Blogging in Action is the definitive guide for anyone who wants to get started with blogging. The book is professionally designed and very well edited. You can tell it was created for readers of all levels. This is the ebook to get if you want to get an ebook on how to blog and make money doing it.