ProBlogger: Secrets of Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

At this moment I would like to take a break from the animation posts and present a review on what I felt was a fairly informative book.

It is no secret that blogging can be a good source of income for some. Not everyone can make a six-figure income from it, but this book provided a good starting point for learning how to be one of the few who do.

ProBlogger: Secrets of Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income is the combined effort of professional bloggers Darren Rowse and Chis Garret. Both bloggers have high profile blogs and other projects that seemingly qualify them to write about the subject. Released in 2010, the book walks the reader through every step of the way, from setting up a blog, to monetizing, to networking. Each step is fully fleshed out and offers invaluable advice. Any blogger looking to make some money from their blog is sure to find this to be a gold mine of information. I, myself, found it to be extremely helpful.

The book begins by offering a bit of background on the two authors. Darren Rowse is actually the founder of http://www.problogger.net/ which is one of the larger and more popular blogs about blogging for money. He is also the founder of a blogging network, the concept of which is described during the book, called b5media. Chris Garret is a writer, marketing consultant, and blogger, though a bit more freelance than Darren. While he has his own blog, http://www.chrisg.com/, he writes for a number of other popular dogs.

It is at this point that the book establishes the idea that blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is an enterprise that needs lots of time and effort to see any real money being made from it. It took Darren a few years before he started seeing blogging as a serious source of income. For those who understand this and wish to continue, the steps and tips found within this book light the road to success.

After providing background on the authors, the book goes on to establish the concept of niche blogging. For the most part, most successful blogs are niche blogs, that is to say, they cover one subject such as electronics as opposed to a variety of subjects. It also covers the concept of micro-niche blogging, which is blogging about a niche within a niche, for instance: blogging about a specific camera as opposed to photography in general.

That covers the basis of thinking up what to write your blog on, once the idea is established, they walk you through actually setting up. Now this is where I found one of the strengths of the book. For the most part, the authors are pretty neutral as far as tools and services. Most books seem to promote a specific tool or service listing nothing but the positives. However, Darren and Chris offer a good number of options for each step as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the tools, services, or ideas they suggest.

For instance, after helping you set your blog up, they suggest different styles of writing. The authors realize that the methods they use are not the only successful means, thus they list other things that have worked for other successful bloggers. This neutrality also carries over to the following chapter talking about blog income and earning strategies. Each strategy's strength and weaknesses are outlined letting the reader decide what is best for their blog.

The book carries on in a similar manner covering the buying and selling blogs (giving reasons for why people may sell or buy), blog networks, blog promotion and marketing, "secrets" of successful blogs, and tips for creating something worthwhile.

Overall, I did not really find any weaknesses of the books. The authors present examples and evidence to support their claims, provided amazing tips, and everything is written clearly and easy to understand. All the technical jargon such as SEO is explained so that even someone new to subject can approach the book.

For those interested, you can get the book and more reviews here: http://www.amazon.com/ProBlogger-Secrets-Blogging-Six-Figure-Income/dp/0470616342/ref=sr_1_1?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304312818&sr=1-1

Have you read the book and want to share your own opinion on it? Feel free to do so in the comments!