This is a guest post by James

Getting started with a blog can be fun and easy. Getting serious about your blog, and staying the course while trying to make a blog profitable, can be a lot of work though.

Not everyone is cut out for immediate blogging success. Sometimes it takes a while to learn the ins and outs of blogging, some trial and error, and a few mistakes along the way, but that doesn’t mean that with a little work, we can’t make our blogging efforts worthwhile.

For many however, we don’t have the opportunity to pick up a class or two in blogging techniques at the local community college or university. This leaves some of us largely on our own when it comes to educating ourselves about blogging and blog related subject matters. The self-education process is often the hurdle that separates those who will end up being a successful blogger and those who will choose instead to make it only an occasional hobby to be toyed with in their spare time.

If you’ve chosen the path of self-education, and you desire to be successful in your blogging pursuits, here are ten ebooks that might help you succeed in your blogging endeavors.

1.  The Zen of Blogging by Hunter Nuttall

We might all use a little Zen in our lives when it comes to blogging. This brief ebook by Hunter Nuttall takes a fun Zen, “student and master” type approach to reviewing blog related subjects such as getting started, choosing a niche, images, monetization, and other relevant topics.

2. How to Develop Money-Making Niche Sites with WordPress by Caroline Middlebrook

If you aren’t using WordPress for your blog, you may want to skip this selection, but for those who are, you could find this ebook an interesting read. Among some of the topics Author Caroline Middlebrook touches upon are “Getting and Installing WordPress”, “Setting up AdSense On Your Site”, and “Creating Your Site Content”.

3.  Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization by Rand Fiskin

For those of you not too familiar with search engine optimization or “SEO”, this could be a good ebook with which to begin your education. Brief and to the point, this guide answers questions like, “Why does my company need SEO?” It also touches upon key topics such as how search engines operate, conducting keyword searches, and increasing a site’s popularity.

4.Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin

While I won’t go into detail on this nearly 200-page ebook, let’s just say it might be a good idea to have a look at what author Seth Godin’s ideavirus.com site proclaims as the “#1 ebook in history”. Packed with a variety of case studies and tons of interesting industry information, you’ll likely find something of relevance in this ebook for you to apply to your particular blogging situation.

5. Blueprint Guide to Blogger by Joesy

While Blogger might not be the most difficult blog service with which to become accustomed, this helpful, 27-page guide might provide a little more instruction or insight if you are in need.

6. Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web by Seth Godin

Shorter than his “Unleashing the Idea Virus,” at 45-pages this is Seth Godin’s self-professed, “Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web”. Even if it is “incomplete,” it’s still an ebook you might want to check out.

7. Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging by Chitika

“Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging” is a compilation of 30 industry experts. Each expert has a short chapter so you get a variety of secrets, ideas, tips, and opinions related to blogging.

8. How To Make My Blog Wordpress E-Book by Marko Saric

At 35-pages, this little ebook reviews subjects such as “How to install a WordPress blog”, “How to make your WordPress blog more secure”, and “Why you should consider getting a premium theme”. Even if you don’t use WordPress, you might still pick up a few useful tips.

9. How to Start a Business Blog by Michael Martine

While not everyone is out to start a business blog, if by chance you are, this could be an ebook resource at which you might want to take a look. This ebook offers an 11-step process to start a business blog.

10. SEO for WordPress Blogs by Carrie Hill and Mary Bowling

While not super detailed at only 14-pages, this ebook might still be worth a glance. Of course, as the title suggests, this information is geared toward users of WordPress. Among its pages are subjects such as starting a blog, how to promote your blog, as well as how to set up WordPress for SEO success.

Tom Walker blogs for an online supplier of HP 363 ink cartridges, toner and other supplies to the print industry. For more of his posts about design and media, click here

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This is a guest post by Diana

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the technical side of marketing on the World Wide Web. It helps by promoting websites and increases traffic to the particular site. Sometimes SEO or search engine optimization is also called SEO copyrighting. This is because the strategies or techniques that are used for the promotion of website are done mainly through text. However, it is important not to deviate from the basic norms that get you a good ranking for your site.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization can be of 2 types – Good and Bad. Let us see what the characteristics of good and bad SEO are.

Characteristics of good SEO

• It adheres to the rules of SEO.

• It aims at securing top rankings in the major search engines

• Although the progress is slow sometimes and can take about 6 to 12 months to get steady rankings, the results are long lasting

• It focuses mainly on long-term goals and objectives of the website.

• SEO services include link building, natural optimization, Social Media Marketing and management of Pay-Per Click etc.

• Good search engine optimization lays stress on research as well as keywords. It emphasizes on validity of content.

Characteristics of bad SEO

Just as there are traits of good or White Hat SEO, there are bad characteristics of search engine optimization too and the “bad guys” usually do it for selfish means and to deviate or hoodwink visitors. They do it for short term rankings and want to see quick results, but it by using these ways it wont take long before Google notices this and bans you or penelizes your site.

• Bad SEO makes use of hidden text, link spamming, link farming etc. They violate search engine optimization guidelines.

• Make use of Black Hat techniques that may include doorway pages, overdoing RSS, duplicate content and keyword stuffing etc

• It offers shortcuts to get rankings in the main search engines. It concentrates on immediate or short term goals and not on long-term objectives.

• It misleads and misguides visitors on the Web.

It is very important to remember that although the bad SEO or Black Hat guys may derive immediate benefits but it doesn’t sustain. Websites indulging in such practices are usually penalized there by causing irreparable damage to their image and website.

Search engine optimization is a technique of web marketing. The World Wide Web is infested with bad and good guys.

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This is a guest post by Leighann

Obviously, if you’re going to have a blog it involves a lot of writing. There will be days when you will enjoy it, and days when it annoys the crap out of you. 

But with some hard work and genuine effort, you can have an informative, interesting blog that will bring people in and even make you a little money. These are some simple steps you can take right now to improve your writing and blog your way to success.

 1. Keep an ideas notebook with you at all times

You never know when inspiration will strike, and if you don’t write down your idea right away, you may forget and that means missing the best blog post you’ve ever written.  I have a small “fat book” spiral notebook with a little pencil tied on with fishing line I take with me everywhere. With my travels, I never know what I’m going to see, and almost anything can inspire me, from a song, a book, a movie, a person, or a scene in a store. My ideas book is like an artist’s sketchbook. I jot down my impressions and daydreams. Some things are worthy of a blog post, some just end up being reveries and records of the day for me. 

2. Don’t be afraid to make a statement

Warmed over leftovers are never very appetizing. No one wants to read the same opinions over and over again. Have a personality and speak your mind.  If you have a strong opinion about something, you should write about it. Don’t be wishy-washy. Writing is a powerful medium that can change the world. Don’t play with it.

3. Use good style

If your writing is full of spelling and grammar mistakes, or you use the same words over and over again, it distracts from your message.  Remember that you’re writing a professional blog post for your website, not a text send to your friends. Don’t use abbreviations and limit the “LOLs” and emoticons to the bare minimum. To avoid using the same words too often (and increase the amount of keywords in your text for search engines to find) use a thesaurus.  There are cheap ones on Amazon.com or at the secondhand store. Or you can use the free online thesaurus at http://thesaurus.reference.com . I overuse the word “amazing” and I’ve found lots of synonyms (fantastic, stupendous, exciting, neat, incredible) that mix things up and convey my message in a much clearer manner. Be sure to proof read your articles before posting them, and if you can, ask a friend to give you a free edit. If anything is misspelled or unclear, they should catch it.

4. Read other writers

Blogs, books, magazines and newspapers can give you examples of good writing and inspiration for your own blog. If you read about an idea you like or if a phrase or word jumps out at you, write it in your ideas book. Of course, the first commandment of good writing is “Thou shalt not plagiarize”! The idea is not copying other people, but learning from their style and wording to improve your own work.

5. Lead an Interesting Life

No one wants to read about how you play World of Warcraft and eat Cheetos all day. Ok, maybe a few, but it’s a tiny niche. Talk to interesting people, work on interesting hobbies, go interesting places. Eat interesting food! Do stuff that is interesting that’s the key to interesting blogs.

Leighann is a 28 year old blogger, mother, wife, WWOOFer, cook, gardener, gamer and ex-Southerner who has lived in many interesting places.  To learn more about her, visit The News Base.

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