Blogging Ministry

"How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them"

By Bob Walsh (Berkeley, CA: Apress, 2007, 351 pages)

An excellent book on why one should blog and how to get started. Bob suggests that one starts by reading lots of blogs and become initially engaged in the blogoshere by leaving comments.

Next he gives suggestions about getting started publishing a blog with Blogger, Windows Live, and TypePad and evaluates which blogging platform might be best for you considering your goals and what type of blog you wish to publish.

<<Read the rest of this review on my BOOK Reviews blog>>

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By Lisa Sabin-Wilson (Hoboken,NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2008, 384 pages)

Brand new for 2008, an essential book for those using WordPress in publishing a blog. The writer introduces one to the basic WordPress blogging program. Then follows with three major sections, first covering the Wordpress hosted service, next how to set up a ’self-hosted’ blog with the WordPress.org program, and finally, a section covering the WordPress MU program used in setting up and hosting entire blogging communities.

This is a great book for all those starting out with WordPress and explains in  detail everything one needs to know to properly administer and publish on a blog using the program. For those who have been around a while, it outlines procedures for adding plugins and widgets to a WordPress site.

Then, for the more advanced blogger, the book gives tips and procedures for making a blog unique and shows how to design your own Template. In easy to understand fashion, the writer presents all the basic code needed to make changes in your present template and the necessary info. and know how needed in setting up a new one.

Wordpress For Dummies joins WordPress Complete as the most up to date quintessential works for those using WordPress blogging programs.            *Top

By Elizabeth Castro (Berkeley,CA: Peachpit Press, Visual QuickProject Guide, 2005, 127 pgs.)

This is the most complete guide on Blogger that I have found so far. It starts at the beginning and takes you through how to start a blog, how to write a post, how to use the editor, post pictures and format a new Blogger blog. <–See the rest posted on my Blogger site–>

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By Nat McBride and Jamie Cason (London UK: Hodder Education, 2006, 198 pgs.)

Great book on getting started with Blogger and TypePad.  Read the review posted on my BOOK Reviews site.          *Top

by Maria Langer and Miraz Jordan, (Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2006, 294 pgs)

A great book for Wordpress users. The best current resource out there for everything WordPress.  See the review at my WordPress.com site.            *Top

“The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs”

By Brian Bailey, with Terry Storch (San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons,inc., 2007, 199 pages)

This is an incredible book. Essential for all ministers and pastors interested in blogging as a possible media for ministry.    < –Read my complete review–> *Top

By Aliza Sherman Risdahl (Avon, MA: Adams Media/F+W Pub. Co., 2006, 305 pages)

This is a comprehensive book on blogging. It starts at the beginning and defines what blogging is and introduces you to all the major terms that everyone uses and identifies the differences between blogs and regular websites.

Next there are chapters helping you to get started. Very good help in choosing a host and a blogging program. Then there is help in actually getting started with some of the most popular blogging hosts and programs like Blogger, LiveJournal, and TypePad. See my evaluation of the Blogger info. at my Blogger site.

The middle chapters deal with improving your blog design and evaluating different blogging tools that can be added to the blogging experience. Then the book finishes with more advanced topics of how to promote your blog, analyzing traffic, and possible legal issues.

This is a very fine book and helpful for those getting started but also for those who have been around a while. Even though I have been blogging for over a year I found the chapter on legal issues worth the price of the book.             *Top

by Brad Hill (Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing. Inc., 2006, 368 pgs.)

This book was a tremendous help to me when I was getting started a year ago. Brad Hill introduces you to blogging in general. He looks at all the major blog programs and hosts. He gives you an evaluation of each plus tips on how to get started and fully utilize each blogging tool in the arsenal.

There is a glossary in the back that helps you to speak and understand blogease-quite helpful to someone like me that started at -0 in internet/blog knowledge.

If you decide to go with a hosted blog like Blogger or TypePad, he has an entire chapter on each one. If you are hosting a blog on your own domain, he gives you the ins and outs of installing the different blog programs. See my review of Chapter 6 on Blogger.

He has a separate chapter on the Movable Type program and also one on WordPress. The WordPress chapter was particularly helpful to me in getting started, with some very essential tips.

Then he introduces you the next step in blogging: Photos, Audios, and Podcasting. Brad then rounds it out with information about feeds and promoting your blog. This really is an easy book to read and understand. An essential tool for those starting out, very helpful. *Top