Wednesday, February 19, 2025
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The Blogger’s Survival Guide by Lexie Lane and Becky Mcneer

It is my great pleasure to be able to bring you awesome tools, resources and even books that will help you on your journey to social media and content marketing success. Whether you are new to the whole blogging thing or have been at it awhile and just want to know how to gain more reach with each post and give your readers more of what they want, then I have a book for you.

As someone who works in the social media industry, I have read every book on social media, content, blogging and marketing that I can get my hands on. I am not kidding, either. I have hundreds in my own personal print collection. I have thousands in my digital collection and I will borrow them, too. So it’s safe to say I have read a lot of books on the topic.

I’ve also worked in this field for 14 years (my entire adult life) and while I don’t presume to know everything there is to know (no one can, honestly), I do feel safe saying I have a solid knowledge foundation. And I have read far too many books that claim to contain expert information (some even written by well known names in the industry) but sadly, they fall flat. They tell me what I already know or they tell me I need to do something but they don’t tell me HOW to do it.

This is not that book. This is the ultimate go-to guide for anyone looking to get into blogging or improve their current blogging. I’m talking about The Blogger’s Survival Guide and I’m going to take some time to tell you all the things I like about this book and why you should add it to your collection today.

The book is broken down into 7 days (a chapter dedicated to each one) which are:

Day 1: The Setup
Day 2: The Design
Day 3: The Legal Stuff
Day 4: The Content
Day 5: The Traffic Drivers
Day 6: The Measurement of Traffic
Day 7: The Money Makers

How the Book is Set Up

I really like the bite-sized portions because one problem I have with books like this is finding the time to absorb all of the information. In The Blogger’s Survival Guide, it’s broken down into 7 days of content I can manage. At the beginning of each section we are given a goal and told what we will learn from that day’s information. For example, on Day 1 (the setup) they will:

▪ Provide you with a list of blogging genres.

▪ Help you choose a name for your blog.

▪ Help you write the mission statement that tells your readers what your blog’s ultimate goal is.

▪ Help you create an eye-catching slogan.

▪ Help you craft a page that tells your audience important details about you and your blog.

▪ Introduce a couple of easy-to-use blogging platforms.

This section is packed full of vital information you need to begin blogging like a pro, including how to name your blog and where to find images to use with your posts and so much more. While designed for beginners, you will also find useful nuggets of info in this section if you’re already running a blog as well. You might even find you want to make some tweaks or changes to your existing blog, based on this info.

What I Love

One thing I really love is that they take the time to go deeper than the basics and tell us things like why a tagline/slogan is important and how to create one for your blog. Then even delve into the age-old Blogger vs. WordPress debate and show you (with images and screenshots) how to set your blog up with each.

Each of the 7 day sections goes on to explain in elaborate detail what you need, why you need it and how to do it. And they don’t just show you one way to do it. I HATE when blogging “professionals” try to say their way is the only way. What they usually means is that their way is the only way they know… This book gives you options.

What else I like about it:

We learn how to break down our blog’s design into different elements and determine if we’re making the most from our design and layout. This is a great section because even if you already have a blog set up, you can use this to determine if you need to change.
They tell us in practical, actionable terms how to increase repeat traffic to the blog.
It covers the legal issues you need to know such as copyright laws and how not to break them, how to create disclaimers and disclosures, why you might need a Terms of Service section/page and how to legally host a blog giveaway.

They also have an entire section dedicated to your content that talks about crafting headlines that will lure the reader in, what “above the fold” means, how to create an audience and add personality that makes your blog unique, and how to know what to write about.

In The Blogger’s Survival Guide we also learn about how to time your posts and the importance of that timing to your readership, as well as how often to make new posts. You will find info in here that you can apply to your blog and your schedule. And they even go over common blog commenting etiquette (thank you!).

Are You Ready to Buy It Yet?

Seriously, if I have not enticed you enough, allow me to continue. When talking about blogging activities and how to find more free time to blog, there charts AND graphs. My regular readers know how much I love charts, graphs and statistics. My brain soaks them up. I find it makes it easier to retain the info since I often see things in pictures rather than in words and numbers.

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