Blog, Inc

Recently, I finished reading a great book called "Blog, Inc" by Joy Deangdeelert Cho. I loved everything about this book, even the layout.  It was worth every penny I paid for it, and then some. The point of the book was not to really describe what a blog was.  In fact, it assumed that you knew what a blog was and probably had started one.  The perfect audience for this book is someone who wants to take their blog to the next level — whatever that level is.

Or, as Joanna Goddard, owner of "A Cup of Jo," said, "People constantly ask me how they can blog for a living. My answer will now be: Read this (Cho's) book.  Joy shares smart and easy-to-follow tips on how to make your blog a success — and, if you want, a lucrative career."

This book delves into:

• Designing your blog site
• Choosing the right platform
• Attracting a fan base
• Financing your blog
• Finding content inspiration
• Choosing the right advertising
• Creating a media kit to interest sponsors
• Leveraging your social network
• Protecting your work
• Setuping up an affiliate program
• Partnering with sponsors
• Building community
• Going full-time with your blogging career

Some of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the interviews with all of the very successful bloggers, the layout of the book, how the total focus of the book was on forward thinking, all the various ways to monetize your blog and understanding the various levels of blog growth.

Would you be surprised that many bloggers are making a six figure salary? I was.

Somethings that I found helpful (and I didn't know):

• If you like your development platform (such as Blogger), but don't like the URL because it's too long, such as:

http://www.techno-travels.blogspot.com

You can change it to:

http://techno-travels.com

•   I also liked the 18 bloggers that Ms. Cho interviewed, and some of the things that they said really hit home, like: "I think blogging is like modern dance — it's very free-form and has no direction or method." ~ Jamie Beck

And, just having the amazing "Resource Section" at the end of the book was worth the price of admission.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a high-level benchmark for most things that I do. As Mr. Adrian Monk used to say, "It's a blessing, it's a curse." And to that end I can't think of one thing I would change about this book.