Free Ebook - How to Start a Business Blog
January 8th, 2008 by Stephen Cronin (1,679 views)I’ve just read Michael Martine’s free ebook, How to Start a Business Blog.
I don’t buy ebooks. I normally don’t even read free ones. Mostly that’s because I don’t have much time. Its also because while most ebooks are decent, very few are great and some are just a waste of space.
How to Start a Business Blog is one of the few really worth reading.
Who Should Read It?
As the title suggests its aimed at businesses (and freelancers) wanting to start a blog. I’ll quote the book, because I can’t say it better than this:
This book is written for the freelancer or business person who is looking into creating a blog as a marketing tool for the business. It is aimed squarely at people who know there is value to be found in having a strong web presence, but need to cut through all the buzzwords and marketing crap to get the straight info on the what, why, and how of business blogging.
This book is also written for a freelancer or business person who already has a blog and wants to dramatically improve its performance and its ability to meet its objectives.
If you have a company, you need to read How to Start a Business Blog - whether it already has a blog or not. If it doesn’t already have one, you’ll want one after reading it. If it does, you’ll see how to improve it.
Why Read It?
How to Start a Business Blog is written in a simple, concise manner that beginners can easily follow, while at the same time, it includes enough substance to satisfy advanced readers as well. That’s very hard to do!
As well as covering how to start a blog, Michael comprehensively outlines why a business needs a blog. This is where the true value lies. There are many guides on starting a blog, but very little quality information on why businesses really need one and how they can take advantage of it.
I’ve had extensive experience in management of SME companies and I’m a blogger. I knew most of what Michael was saying instinctively, but a) it was jumbled in my head and b) there were things I hadn’t considered.
Seeing it all laid out clearly, in writing, makes it easy to justify why a business needs a blog. If you’ve been trying to convince your boss to create a company blog and he/she won’t listen, simply point them at this book.
The Details
Length: 82 pages; Size: 631KB.
Although the book is free, you have to subscribe to the Remarkablogger feed to download it. I’ve been subscribed to Michael’s feed for a while and it’s worth subscribing anyway!
Michael plans to follow the book up with online sessions. These are not free, but are optional. There is plenty of detail in the book for those who don’t opt for the sessions (I’m not), but if you’re considering a blog for your company, it’d be worth opting for the sessions. There’s doubt they be well worth it.
The Negatives
The only negative thing I could say about the book is that there are no images. Most books these days include images to illustrate points and to break up chunks of text.
Having said that, the book is so easy to read and simple to follow that there is no real need for images. They may even distract the reader if they were added. For me this was not an issue.
The Final Word
It’s free, it’s great, what are you waiting for!
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Stephen, nice find! I think I have seen Michael at Garry Conn’s blog. I am adding him to my feed reader and will definitely check this eBook out. I am a strong believer in the power of images as well and try to use screenshots or just logo’s of products i review in every post!
I subscribe to that blog too.
It’s part of my daily reading blog. The only thing I don’t really like on that blog is the big footer in the RSS feed. And he did not use your feed header plugin.
Thanks for the thorough review, Stephen. I really wanted this to be better than the average junk passed off an ebook. Not too hard to do, mind you, but I appreciate that it gets noticed. I felt that images would’ve just made it bigger than it needed to be, and they wouldn’t help communicate any information, such as screenshots in tutorial might, so there was no need. But a balanced review should contain some criticism, so I understand.
Hi K! Michael’s someone I respect and his work is definitely worth checking out, as is this ebook. As for the images, I agree with what you’re saying - they have power - and I’m looking at how I can use them more effectively here (and on my new blog). That said, this ebook really doesn’t suffer from having no images, in fact they’d probably get in the way. But this ebook is the exception to the rule…
Hi Terence! The footer in Michael’s RSS feed doesn’t worry me personally - I think we’ll see more and more feeds like this (and with advertising) in the future. I guess not everyone will use my plugins - but I’m very happy that you are! I see you’ve rebranded, but I haven’t read about it yet. I’m behind in my feed reading at the moment, because I’ve been sick and so have my family. I’m also starting a new blog (China related).
Michael,
Thanks for responding. Yes, there are a lot of people who throw some posts together in a disjointed fashion, call it an ebook and try and sell it.
Your ebook is the total opposite of that. It appears to have been thoroughly planned and thought out. It is well structured, well written, complete, easy to read, etc. In short, it is everything you’d expect if you bought it in a bookshop (well, better than most of those actually). And it’s free! Its a great advertisement for your consulting services.
As for the images, I understand why you left them out. The thing is - I didn’t come to that understanding until I finished the book. When I first started reading it, I was struck by the lack of images. It was very noticable. Then I was sucked into the content and whipped along. When I finished, I realised that I hadn’t missed the images at all and that the easy flow may have been disrupted by them.
I don’t think you need to change anything and if this is the biggest criticism of your book, then it’s a damn fine book, but I think people will notice it.
Anyway, congratulations on a really great ebook, well done, and most of all - thank you!
I read this book, and let me tell you that is a great resource of information, most points of view are realistics.
A+
Jugar, I totally agree with you! Thanks for stopping by.
I’ll find time to read this book. This could be a great source of information for those who are interested to start their business blog.
Mark, it’s well worth it…
Because of your recommendation, I started reading this book—so far so GREAT
Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi Atlanta, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
anything that is free is good stuff
thanks for sharing this here
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m excited to download the ebook!
Great idea I love free stuff. I’m gonna read this ebook this weekend.
Business really do need an easy way to communicate with customers. I personally don’t run an offline business but the need is apparent even to me.
Note to self: some profitable endeavors could be helping local businesses establish an online presence.
Great that some people are still releasing GOOD ebooks for free. Downloaded this one. Thanks for posting.
Great post and thanks for making it free. A blog is a great way for a business that is primarily online OR offline to reach out to its customer base.