Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business

I read Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business over the weekend and have already jumped on practicing their recommendations and tips.

When I committed to keeping a blog as a means of sharing all of my passions in one place. So, the first step I always do is jumping in head first. Although it can be a risky method to start something by sticking your neck out first rather than researching before hand, I find that I learn best by starting then implementing new tools as I go. Last week I was feeling up for learning some new tricks so I hit up the library and grabbed Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business and How to Start a Home-Based Blogging Business. This review is about Publish and Prosper, I’m sure the other book with appear as a review soon.

NOTEWORTHY AUTHORS

Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business

By: DL Byron & Steve Broback

DL Byron works on Boeing’s blogs and works on the Blog Business Summit by rolling out a network of sponsored blogs.

Steve Broback is the co-founder of the Blog Business Summit and the i3forum conferences. He manages the editorial blogs for Avondale’s marketing strategy: rawformat.com and pixelupdate.com.

SUMMARY

According to Publish and Prosper, blogs have a “naturally ‘Google-friendly’ architecture.” They state that the major benefits to blogging for your business are that you seriously increase your visibility and traffic at a minimal cost. They state four key points on how blogs can help companies further themselves; through a blog they can research new products, sell their wares, extend their brands, and engage with customers. With that in mind the authors then address how to go about optimizing your blogging efforts.

REVIEW

First off, I was pleased to have found all the information I was looking for in Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business. I was also impressed with the amount of content and tips they had available.

I was rather unimpressed by the structure. I found the chapter layout to be confusing; they constantly referenced pointed the reader to other points in the book rather than finishing an idea when they first planted it. They also tended to repeat the exact same point/s in different chapters of the book, only under a different title or main header. And, even though I found a little bit of everything I needed, I found the section on blogging for profit fairly empty of any real substance. This was the biggest let down for me because that was one of my primary goals in researching blogging. But, in the end, this book was geared more towards businesses that use blogs to further their business not small business owners looking to earn a little extra cash from a favored hobby.

CONCLUSION

If you want to learn how to appeal your blog to Google and other search engines and/or utilize yet another free way of marketing your business this book is a great way to go.

And, if you keep a blog, regardless of whether you are seeking to pull in some income from it or seeking to expand your business marketing or simply blog out of personal pleasure, I HIGHLY recommend Publish and Prosper. If you are keeping a blog I have to assume you want people to read it… well, you WILL get a higher draw by following their recommendations. Still not convinced? Yesterday I implemented a handful of new ideas I gleaned from the book and my views tripled, I got 4 new subscribers, and a few new followers on twitter. It is worth it!

5 helpful key points within my application:

1. Successful blogs build on communication by…

fostering interaction with other bloggers
being easy to use
lending great content

2. Having your blog hosted under your website domain will draw more natural traffic to your standard website.
3. To get AD buyers you must have…

lots of visitors and readers
lots of inbound links

4. 10 TIPS TO WRITING YOUR BLOG
5. 5 STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING YOUR BLOG AND GETTING NOTICED

Post the right things, the right way, at the right time.

The best content is new information or an extensive commentary on existing content.
Be passionate about your blog and committed to providing information that matters.
The more often you post, the more attention you receive.
The more unique subject lines get higher search notice.
The top 100 blogs post 5 – 6 times a day – 3 posts a week is the absolute minimum, if you want to make any headway at all, and 3 posts per day marks the beginning of a serious traffic increase.
Your blog should be conversational, not formal, with a clear, authentic, and approachable voice.
Less is more. Strive for simplicity and remove words until a sentence breaks – any words that don’t add meaning should be taken out.
Write findable content – select words and phrases that match your target audience’s searches.
Use lots of links.
Be provocative.