Product Description: The editors of The Huffington Post -- the most linked-to blog on the web -- offer an A-Z guide to all things blog, with information for everyone from the tech-challenged newbie looking to get a handle on this new way of communicating to the experienced blogger looking to break through the clutter of the Internet. With an introduction by Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder and editor in chief, this book is everything you want to know about blogging, but didn't know who to ask.As entertaining as it is informative, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging will show you what to do to get your blog started. You'll find tools to help you build your blog, strategies to create your community, tips on finding your voice, and entertaining anecdotes from HuffPost bloggers that will make you wonder what took you so long to blog in the first place.The Guide also includes choice selections from HuffPost's wide-ranging mix of top-notch bloggers. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Jane Smiley, Bill Maher, Nora Ephron, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ari Emanuel, Mia Farrow, Al Franken, Gary Hart, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam McKay, John Ridley, and Alec Baldwin.
Amazon.com Review: Book Description The editors of The Huffington Post--the most linked-to blog on the web--offer an A-Z guide to all things blog, with information for everyone from the tech-challenged newbie looking to get a handle on this new way of communicating to the experienced blogger looking to break through the clutter of the Internet. With an introduction by Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder and editor in chief, this book is everything you want to know about blogging, but didn't know who to ask.
As entertaining as it is informative, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging will show you what to do to get your blog started. You'll find tools to help you build your blog, strategies to create your community, tips on finding your voice, and entertaining anecdotes from HuffPost bloggers that will make you wonder what took you so long to blog in the first place.
The Guide also includes choice selections from HuffPost's wide-ranging mix of top-notch bloggers. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Jane Smiley, Bill Maher, Nora Ephron, Jon Robin Baitz, Steve Martin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ari Emanuel, Mia Farrow, Al Franken, Gary Hart, Barbara Ehrenreich, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam McKay, John Ridley, and Alec Baldwin.
A Message from Arianna Huffington
Dear Amazon customer,
I'm thrilled to be working with Amazon.com as an online bookseller and partner for the publication of our new book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Amazon understands how to use the Internet to harness intelligence that enables people to make informed decisions. That mission is similar to that of The Huffington Post, a news and opinion site I co-founded in May 2005, and which has grown to become the most linked-to blog in the world. Bringing people together and sparking interesting conversations among my friends is ingrained in my DNA, and the world of blogging has opened up this passion to endless possibilities. It's fast-paced, limitless, and best of all, there's room for everyone. That's why I'm so excited about our Complete Guide to Blogging--if you have ever tried to start your own blog, wondered if you could, or if you're just an insatiable blog-addict, this book is for you. Our team of editors and contributors has put together all the tools you'll need to build your blog, strategies to create your community, ideas for finding your blogger voice, and countless, hilarious anecdotes and stories.
What are you waiting for? Start blogging!
Best, Arianna
Questions for Arianna Huffington
Amazon.com: There are over 100 million blogs in the world, and counting. Does the world need another one? Is it too late to start one that will have any sort of impact?
Huffington: There is always room for another blog – the key is having something to say, and the ability to say it in an interesting way. That combination will allow you to break through in almost any medium, but especially in blogging. New bloggers are rising to the top all the time.
Amazon.com: When you meet someone and tell them, "You should blog!" (which it's my understanding happens quite often), what is it about them that makes you think they'd be a good blogger, especially in the long term? Are there some writers you wouldn't say that to?
Huffington: I invite people who have an interesting point of view, a provocative way of looking at the world. And the best bloggers tend to be a little obsessed about something. When I see those things, I get excited about offering a platform to express them. One of the original reasons for starting HuffPost was my feeling that some of the most interesting voices in our culture weren't online--and I wanted to make it easier for them to make the transition.
Amazon.com: Has the Huffington Post turned out the way you planned? What surprises did you adapt to take advantage of?
Huffington: We had our hopes, but no one could have predicted that HuffPost would become such a huge success. One of the things that surprised us was the passion expressed by our community, so we worked hard to provide them an easy way to comment, and an environment where civil discourse is encouraged.
Amazon.com: As many people have noted, the Obama campaign was the first to really harness the power of the web for fundraising and organizing. Do you think running in the first heavily blogged election also made his victory more possible?
Huffington: Obama's online operation was state of the art--incorporating everything from viral videos to texting-as-a-grassroots-organzing-tool to social networking sites to its online fundraising juggernaut--and was a key component in his success. It wouldn't be overstating things to say that if it wasn't for the web, we'd be inaugurating a different 44th president on January 20th. And thanks to blogging--and YouTube, instant fact-checks, and viral emails--it was much harder for his opponents to use the tactics of the past: fear, smear, and anything goes.
Amazon.com: You and your editors have written a book about blogging (while noting the irony of doing so). There's a lot of talk about the relationship between blogs and newspapers, but less so about how blogs will live with books. Aside from the obvious examples of bloggers getting book deals, how do you think blogs and books will affect each other?
Huffington: Anything that keeps people reading is a good thing! And blogging has certainly led to a renaissance of sorts for the written word. We live in a culture dominated by visual imagery and communication, so having so much vital writing on the web has helped re-habituate the younger generation to reading ... and hopefully blogs will be a gateway drug that leads them on to the harder stuff of books. And people blogging about books is obviously a great way to promote the best of the new releases (and some deserving older releases that never got the attention they warranted).
The Whys and Hows of Starting Your Own Blog An excellent guide for beginning bloggers. Release your inner blogger, I say!
It was with some amusement that I picked up a copy of The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Why did I pick it up? It's written by the staff of the Huffington Post. Why was I amused? It's written by the staff of the Huffington Post. No matter, how you slice it and dice it, a book about blogging from the Huffington Post is simultaneously the best and the worst of things. They are certainly the most well known and widely read political blog out there. Arianna Huffington herself has been interviewed by the BBC and others. On the flip side, it's difficult for anyone with 2 brain cells of common sense to read half of the articles on that site without cringing. It doesn't seem to matter if the writers are more on the liberal or on the conservative side of things (yes, they have some token conservatives, it appears). Yet, if you are going to read about a subject, it helps to learn from those who are doing it well. Agree or disagree, Huffington Post does it well.
So, Why Blog?
1. Today, we have instant communication. Yet, it has created a paradox that there is so much information that important information gets overlooked or even ignored by the traditional media.
2. It is a lot more open than traditional media. It becomes personal, conversational and allows the writer to express their passion.
3. Writing blogs can be a lot of work, but they can be a lot of fun.
4. "Why blog? Here's a better question: Why not blog? As you'll learn in the upcoming chapters, blogging is easier than smoking, can take less time and money, and isn't banned in restaurants." ~ p 18
5. To know you're not alone. You can get instant feedback.
6. To establish yourself as an expert. This is one of the reasons I recently started the Random Acts of IT Project Management blog.
7. To make money. It doesn't pull any punches about telling you that you won't make oodles of money right away.
8. To create a community. To me, this is important thing for the Church of God Perspective blog.
Getting Traffic
The book goes a little into Google alerts, Technorati and Alexa. In addition, some mention of tools is in the book. I'm not convinced that enough time was spent on these, especially the former. In addition, some sites like MySpace, Facebook and StumbleUpon aren't even mentioned until the appendix.
One thing the book does do a good job of is explaining Search Engine Optimization. Although it is not listed under it, the book talks about the URL, and states in several places that good content is the main key. It even goes into keywords. It explains it with just enough detail, I think, for the beginning blogger.
Downsides
Jonah did not take "a dark journey in the belly of the whale for his complacency and relentless triviality." Someone needs to lay off the wacky weed.
Well, like I said before, it is Huffington Post, and the example blog posts reminded me of why I don't frequent that site. The language is enough to turn me off towards visiting it regularly, quite frankly. One of the example posts perpetuates the lie that Bush vetoed a bill that would have enabled health care for "poor kids", when in fact the bill in question tried to raise the bar to somewhere over $100k per year. It even had the audacity to praise Communist medicine. Seems they have forgotten that people in the Soviet Union often had to stand in line just to buy bread, let alone that many waited so long for medical care that they died in the meantime.
If Huffington Post wants to use borderline language or use metaphors and language with graphic sexual imagery, that is their right under the 1st Amendment. However, please don't call it "journalism". Furthermore, Arianna & gang, it isn't a requirement to sell your book!
Wanna Blog?
I hope that a few of you may be considering taking up blogging as a result of this post. I hope that more of you will be encouraged to comment on blogs you follow.
Very disappointing I don't know what I was expecting when I saw this book, but what I got certainly wasn't it. First of all, the book is extremely short, much shorter than it looks. That's because the text barely fills up the page. This is very common with these types of books, especially the "Dummy's Guide To" books, because they usually fill up the margins with tips or additional information on the articles. This book very rarely does that, so it's just wasted space. You can go 15 pages without seeing anything in the margins but wasted space. The real problem with it however, is that there is very little instructional information. If you want a biography on the web site "The Huffington Post," come here, because that's pretty much all it is. And advice from people like Jamie Lee Curtis and Steven Weber? When I think of great bloggers, I don't think of Steven Weber. He doesn't even have his own site. Do you know why these people are included? Because they all have written articles for "The Huffington Post." More advertising.
Sure, if you love The Huffington Post, or if you are friends with Arianna or Mike Drudge and they are planning to let you write articles on their sites, which already get huge amounts of traffic, you "may" find this book useful. For the other 99% of you, I suggest looking elsewhere, like Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)). Sure it is geared to a tech crowd, but the information in it is much more general and has actually useful topics, like "How to Build Your Audience."
The Fluffiest (and Least Complete) Blogging Book I've Read The Huffington Post "guide" to blogging is complete only if you're primarily interested in the celebrities who blog for HuffPost, and the political bias of the editors. There are very few actual blogging tips for sophisticated bloggers.
The thing is, HuffPost isn't really a blog. It's an aggregation of news (much of which consists merely of links to outside news sources) and blog posts by contributors (not all of which is exclusive to HuffPost).
The writing style of this "guide" is too cute and fluffy for me. The multitude of superficial sidebars offer no how-to value whatsoever; they're really name-dropping devices.
If you are a HuffPost fan, you will enjoy the history of the publication and the profiles of the founders.
Huffington Post Rules for Great Blogging An important part of your online publishing strategy is to constantly create new content. This can take many forms. Some online publishing activities we recommend are: ezines, email campaigns, newsletters, and blogging.
Let's focus on maximizing your blog. There are a few rules that will guide you in this process. The authors of The Huffington Post: A Complete Guide to Blogging offer these words of wisdom:
1. Blog Often 2. `Perfect' is the enemy of done 3. Write like you speak 4. Focus on specific details 5. Own your topic 6. Know your audience 7. Write short 8. Become part of the conversation with like minded blogs
Blog Often. If blogging is part of your online publishing strategy (and we recommend that it is), you should blog daily. Set aside time, sit down and write. Whatever schedule you decide, stick to it! Your readers will be expecting new content each time they visit. Plus, its better for SEO. [..]
The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging Excellent guide for new and even experienced bloggers, from one of the best in the business
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
I'm thrilled to be working with Amazon.com as an online bookseller and partner for the publication of our new book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Amazon understands how to use the Internet to harness intelligence that enables people to make informed decisions. That mission is similar to that of The Huffington Post, a news and opinion site I co-founded in May 2005, and which has grown to become the most linked-to blog in the world. Bringing people together and sparking interesting conversations among my friends is ingrained in my DNA, and the world of blogging has opened up this passion to endless possibilities. It's fast-paced, limitless, and best of all, there's room for everyone. That's why I'm so excited about our Complete Guide to Blogging--if you have ever tried to start your own blog, wondered if you could, or if you're just an insatiable blog-addict, this book is for you. Our team of editors and contributors has put together all the tools you'll need to build your blog, strategies to create your community, ideas for finding your blogger voice, and countless, hilarious anecdotes and stories.
