Blogging for Dummies (ISBN - 0470230177)

386 Pages·2021·6.75 MB·English

by Susannah Gardner
Author of Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies
and Shane Birley

Blogging

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

2ND EDITION

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by Susannah Gardner
Author of Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies
and Shane Birley

Blogging

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

2ND EDITION

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Blogging For Dummies,®2nd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Authors

Susannah Gardner is the co-founder and creative director of Hop Studios
Internet Consultants (www.hopstudios.com), a Web design company spe-
cializing in custom Web solutions for content publishers.

Susannah is also a freelance writer and author; she is the author of Buzz
Marketing with Blogs For Dummies, co-author of BitTorrent For Dummies,
Dreamweaver MX 2004 For Dummies, and Teach Yourself Visually: Dreamweaver
MX 2004, all from Wiley Publishing.

From 1997 to 2003, Susannah was an adjunct professor at the University of
Southern California School for Communication, where she taught in the
School of Journalism. Her classes in online publishing took students from
zero to Web site in a semester.

Prior to running Hop Studios, Susannah worked in the Online Journalism
and Communication Program at the University of Southern California, writing
curriculum, teaching, and conducting research at the intersection of technology
and journalism. She was a senior editor of the Online Journalism Review (www.
ojr.org), the media industry’s only Internet-focused journalism publication.
Susannah also spent four years at The Los Angeles Times, one of six editors
responsible for launching that newspaper’s Web site. During her time at
LATimes.com she established the site’s multimedia lab, which produced
ground-breaking Web audio, video and animation. She also launched and
edited MetaHollywood, an online-only publication that covered new Hollywood
technology and was LATimes.com’s single largest revenue source in 1998.

Susannah earned bachelor’s degrees in Print Journalism and American literature
at USC. Today she is pursuing a master’s degree in Public Art Studies, examining
issues that cross the traditional of boundaries of Internet publishing, journalism
and art. To learn more about her Web design company, visit www.hopstudios.
com. Susannah keeps a poorly updated personal blog at www.unfavorable
pink.com.

Shane Birley is a Vancouver-based Web developer, creative writer and blog
consultant with more than 14 years of experience in developing Web sites. In
January 2006, he co-founded Left Right Minds Initiatives with his partner
Allyson McGrane.

Left Right Minds is a creative solutions company for nonprofit societies, char-
ities, and businesses. The business evolved from Shane’s work with developing
Web sites (through his previous company, Vicious Bunny Creative) and
Allyson’s ongoing work with nonprofit arts groups. Both partners have expe-
rience giving workshops about their areas of expertise and in training others
to use new technology and business skills. In addition to Web development,
the company manages and represents performing artists with the support
of the Canada Council for The Arts.

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As a partner in Left Right Minds, Shane is now working to develop Web sites
using content management systems that let his clients edit and update their
own Web content. He regularly gives workshops on blogging and did extensive
research for BitTorrent For Dummies. Shane has a background in improvisational
theatre and a B.A. in English -- these qualifications enable him to translate diffi-
cult computing concepts into easy plain language. To learn more about his Web
company, visit www.leftrightminds.com. He also writes a personal blog at
www.shanesworld.ca.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Susannah: As with every book I have worked on, I find it unfair that my name
is on the cover when so many people played such an important role in get-
ting this book finished.

My husband and business partner, Travis Smith, deserves a huge portion of
my thanks. Without his help in keeping our home and company running
smoothly, I would have lost much more sleep than I did writing this book. His
help late at night when I couldn’t decide how to explain a technology or just
to give me a little extra encouragement is noted, appreciated, and loved.

Thanks are also due to Shane Birley, a good friend, who is my co-author on
this book. He met deadlines, turned in screenshots, and was generally so on
top of the process that he put me to shame at times! I look forward to work-
ing on more writing projects with him in the future. Thanks are due also to
Shane’s life and business partner Allyson McGrane, who kept him fed and
functioning during deadlines.

As always, special thanks go to Janine Warner, For Dummies author extraordi-
naire, who invited me to co-author Dreamweaver MX 2004 For Dummies with
her and started me down this road. Her recent books -- Dreamweaver CS3 For
Dummies and Creating Family Web Sites For Dummies are great resources.

This book would never have been possible without the patience and good
humor of Rebecca Senninger, my editor, and acquisitions editors Melody
Layne and Tiffany Ma at Wiley. There are many at Wiley Publishing whose
names I don’t know but who nonetheless played an important role in making
this book possible: Thank you to all of you.

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Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director at Bizzuka, Inc., took time from his
busy schedule to be the technical editor for this book. You can blame any
errors in the how to instructions on him. Just kidding! Paul’s attention to
detail has prevented more errors than I can count.

Friends, family, colleagues and clients all cut me some slack while I was meet-
ing deadlines for this book. Thanks go to Matt Gardner, my parents and sister,
my mother-in-law Pat Smith, and my sister-in-law Virginia Smith, all of whom
got to witness a little stress-induced behavior.

And thank you, reader, for giving me your time and attention. I hope this book
is everything you need it to be.

Shane: Thanks to Susannah for giving me the opportunity to collaborate with
her on this book. It was an amazing experience and one I hope to repeat.

I appreciate the love and support of my friends and family. I especially want
to thank Ken Driediger who keeps me focused and on track when stress gets
the better of me and to A. Traviss Corry of The New Wrinkle video podcast
who reminds me that once in a while fun and silly behavior just must be had.
Thanks also to Scott Petersen, Anita Bleick, Nicole Morisette, Travis Smith,
David Kelch, Aaron Mok, Sue McCarthy, Robin Thompson, Jennifer Chin,
Gillian Gunson, and to my mother — who bought me my first TRS-80 com-
puter, when I really wanted a Coleco video game console.

And most of all, thank you to my partner Allyson. She was very supportive in
helping to proofread, listening to me report on all the latest blog technolo-
gies, and most of all walking our pug Serendipity when I was focused on get-
ting the next paragraph just right.

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Project Editor: Rebecca Senninger

Acquisitions Editors: Melody Layne, Tiffany Ma

Copy Editor: Virginia Sanders

Technical Editor: Paul Chaney

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis,
Melissa K. Jester, Stephanie D. Jumper,
Barbara Moore, Christine Williams

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Evelyn W. Still

Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry

Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Service

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction .................................................................1

Part I: Getting Started with Blogs..................................7

Chapter 1: Discovering Blog Basics .................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Starting a Blog................................................................................................27
Chapter 3: Entering the Blogosphere.............................................................................53

Part II: Setting Up Your Blog.......................................71

Chapter 4: Choosing Blog Software................................................................................73
Chapter 5: Dropping Code into Your Skill Set...............................................................95
Chapter 6: Hosting Your Blog........................................................................................107
Chapter 7: Customizing Your Blog ...............................................................................119

Part III: Fitting In and Feeling Good...........................131

Chapter 8: Finding Your Niche......................................................................................133
Chapter 9: Creating Great Content...............................................................................147
Chapter 10: Handling Spam and Comments................................................................165

Part IV: Adding Bells and Whistles.............................181

Chapter 11: Reaching Out with RSS .............................................................................183
Chapter 12: Building the Sidebars................................................................................195
Chapter 13: Making the Most of Photos ......................................................................215
Chapter 14: Saying It Better with Podcasts.................................................................233

Part V: Marketing and Promoting Your Blog ................253

Chapter 15: Measuring Blog Presence.........................................................................255
Chapter 16: Making Mad Mad Money ..........................................................................271
Chapter 17: Blogging for Companies............................................................................291

Part VI: The Part of Tens............................................313

Chapter 18: Ten Ways of Growing Community ...........................................................315
Chapter 19: Ten Cool Tricks for MakingYour Blog Shine...........................................323
Chapter 20: Ten Blogs You Should Know ....................................................................337

Appendix: Glossary ...................................................349

Index .......................................................................353

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