It's my pleasure to introduce you to Shannon Lowe and Melanie Nelson, the authors of the just-published TypePad for Dummies [affiliate link]. What better way to learn about why and how this book came about than to have a blog-based interview on a TypePad blog!
On April 7, 2010, you are welcome to post your blogging and TypePad questions for Shannon and Melanie. You can ask any questions, their expertise is not limited to the TypePad platform. Be sure to read the entire interview...there's a gift for you at the end of the post! And don't forget...post your blogging questions in the comments section below.
Without further ado, here's my interview...
1. What inspired you to write TypePad for Dummies and what is the primary take-away you want readers to get?Continue reading "TypePad for Dummies - Interview and Q&A with Authors" »
I'm hosting the authors of TypePad for Dummies in a blog interview on April 7 (the Q&A will be posted here) and authors Shannon Lowe and Melanie Nelson will be answering your questions as well.
You can submit your questions between now and then in the comments on this post and/or you can post them on the interview post on April 7. Shannon and Melanie will be popping in throughout the day to address your questions about TypePad and blogging in general. I may even jump into the discussion! :-)
The TypePad platform has evolved tremendously in the last year and it's not even recognizable from the platform I started on in 2004. If you're an old-timer trying to figure out all the new bells and whistles or a new blogger looking for guidance, this is a great opportunity for you to engage with two people who know the ins and outs of the TypePad platform better than most people.
By the way, no matter what platform you use for your business blog, you're most welcome to post your questions for Shannon and Melanie - they know blogging and use multiple platforms themselves.
As of writing this post, TypePad for Dummies is doing really well on Amazon. Out of millions of books on the site, it's #3315, a remarkable achievement.
So, what are your burning blogging and TypePad questions? Post them here and I'll make sure they get addressed or come back on April 7during the TypePad for Dummies blog tour stop on Build A Better Blog.
If you're a new blogger or a do-it-yourselfer, I have a couple of recommendations for you. Part of my job, as I see it, is to stay on top of blogging resources and tools to make things easier for you.
As you probably know, this blog is built on the TypePad platform and I've been using TypePad since 2004. At the time I started blogging I didn't know what options I had and TypePad was recommended to me. I love the platform. Its evolution has been tremendous and in late 2009 the entire system was upgraded.
In 2005, Patsi Krakoff and I wrote Build a Better Blog (no longer available), a manual to help people set up a business blog on TypePad. We revised it two times. Let me tell you, creating a manual for software that is constantly being improved gets to be a tedious process. It's usually out of date before it's published.
Now, however, the platform seems stable and while TypePad and it's parent company Six Apart will undoubtedly continue to add features, I think it's probably not going to change significantly for awhile.
This week, I received my copy of the just-published "TypePad for Dummies" (I don't like the word Dummies, but it's a successful series so who am I to criticize!). I'm proud to say that this blog is a featured resource and gets a full page recommendation (pg. 324)!
TypePad for Dummies is a comprehensive, A to Z guide for newbie bloggers and intermediate alike. I haven't gone through every page yet, but what I have read is detailed, easy to understand, and covers everything you could possibly want to know about set up, writing content, making money, design and customization.
If you have a blog on TypePad and are looking for more tips, or if you are planning to set up your blog on TypePad, this is a great book to get you on the right track.
For you folks who prefer Wordpress, I recently discovered a program called Beginner to Blogger in 4 Weeks. I met Traci Knoppe, who created this program, at the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop. She told me about her simple, step-by-step program and I was curious. Traci was kind enough to give me a review copy.
A couple weeks ago I worked through the video and written tutorials. I had a new wordpress blog set up in 10 minutes. Seriously. With 10 more minutes of time invested, I had all the standard recommended plug-ins installed.
Where I got slowed down is with the customization and choosing a theme (design) for the blog. There are thousands of themes, free and fee, for Wordpress and I ended up getting lost in trying to decide what I wanted. Ultimately I went with a free, recommended theme because I was only creating a test blog. The last thing I need is another blog to publish!
The bottom line is that the program, which is only $39.95, was so simple to follow and complete. Literally, in about an hour I had a blog set up on Wordpress and was ready to roll.
Whichever way you decide to go, just do it. And if you're not a do-it-yourselfer, contact me to discuss how we can work together to get you a custom business blog set up and then coach you on how to leverage it for your business.
My TypePad account has finally been upgraded to the new platform and I'm excited. I think I'm among the last of the millions who use TypePad. I was told it's because I have multiple blogs on my account (10) and multiple authors on several of the blogs. The migration is tricky and they didn't want to screw up my blog.
The system gets better and better. But, there's a downside...I realized I have to update the tutorials in the Build a Better Blog System AGAIN. The entire design module has been redesigned for the better. It's so much easier now to customize your TypePad blog.
If you own a copy of Build a Better Blog ebook, stay tuned for new tutorials coming soon...
Thank you TypePad. You're doing an awesome job on creating a powerful blog platform for professionals.
