Google Blogger For Dummies

3 months ago I previewed ‘Google Blogger For Dummies‘, a new book from ex BloggingTips author Susan Gunelius. Susan sent me a copy of the book last month so I have been reading this 336 page Blogger Book over the last few weeks in order to review the book (and to help improve my limited Blogger knowledge!).

It’s currently available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most online bookstores for around $16.49.

Google Blogger For Dummies

There’s a good chance you will see Google Blogger For Dummies if you are browsing your local bookstore as it’s part of the ever expanding Dummies range of books.

Just like the last two books I read (ProBlogger and Blog Blazers), the front cover is printed in big bold colours but the content is in plain black and white. This isn’t a major issue though the numerous photographs and screenshots within the book would have looked a lot better had they been in colour.

In total there are 19 chapters, which are split between 6 parts :

• Part 1 : Introducing Google Blogger
  • Chapter 1 : Choosing Blogger as Your Blogging Software
  • Chapter 2 :Welcome to the Blogosphere
  • Chapter 3 : Blogging Basics and Buzzwords
• Part 2 : Using Google Blogger
  • Chapter 4 : Getting Started with Blogger
  • Chapter 5 : Setting Up Your Blog
  • Chapter 6 : Writing and Publishing Blog Posts
  • Chapter 7 : Enhancing Your Blog With Templates
  • Chapter 8 : Adding Features and Functionality with Elements and Gadgets
  • Chapter 9 : Managing Your Blog
• Part 3 : Making Money with Blogger
  • Chapter 10 : The Business of Blogging
  • Chapter 11 : Maximising Revenue with Google AdSense
• Part 4 : Growing Your Audience
  • Chapter 12 : The Power of Networking and Relationship Building
  • Chapter 13 : Boosting Your Search Engine Ranking
• Part 5 : Extending Your Blog
  • Chapter 14 : Growing or Downsizing Your Blog
  • Chapter 15 : Blogging from Different Media
  • Chapter 16 : Moving Beyond Blogger
• Part 6 : The Part of Tens
  • Chapter 17 : Ten Useful Social Networking and Social Bookmarking Sites
  • Chapter 18 : Ten Common Blogger Problems and Possible Solutions
  • Chapter 19 : Ten Places to Find Free Blogger Themes and Templates

The first half of the book (part I & II) concentrates solely on how to build your blog. It takes you through creating your blog, to picking a domain name to improving your design with templates and side widgets. As a self confessed Blogger Noob, I found this area of the site very useful.

Over the years I have worked with hundreds of different scripts but I still find it incredibly helpful when everything is broken down and explained with pictures. And thats exactly what this book does. Existing blogger users might find the first few chapters tedious because of this but I’m sure that they will learn a few things they didn’t know and at the very least, this book would be very useful for reference.

The second half of the book deals with making money with your blog, promoting it and expanding it. A lot of this section has been covered in other blogging books however everything is explained from the ‘Blogger View’. For example, Susan explains how to adsense to your Blogger template and in chapter 14 she shows you how you add additional authors to your blog.

Overview

Although Susan covers a lot of things about blogging which is covered in other blogging books (eg. making money, promotion etc), I don’t think it’s fair to compare ‘Google Blogger For Dummies’ to those books. For example, as far as making money and promoting your blog, Darren Rowses ProBlogger book is perhaps more complete. However, someone who is using the Blogger platform or intends to will definately get more from this book.

As I mentioned previously, I am not too familar with the Blogger platform and this is the first Blogger related book I have read. Though I believe that the majority of Blogger users, particularly newbies, will get a lot of this book.

All in all, ‘Google Blogger For Dummies’ is a well written and well constructed book which goes at a good pace and should help Blogger users with building, expanding and promoting their blog. Recommend

Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club
Posted on April 20th, 2009 and filed under Reviews
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