[Book Review] - Technical Blogging by Antonio Cangiano

Title: Technical Blogging
Author: Antonio Cangiano
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
Publish Date: March 1, 2012

As part of my new years resolution to more blog more regularly I started reading this book on the train into work on my iPad, finishing it within a week. As I mentioned in my post last week this book is great and has been a real motivator for me to take my blogging more seriously.

Book cover - image taken from the Pragmatic Bookshelf

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a keen blogger or even someone who has a website or app who wants to increase their exposure to their product as the tips given in the book are transferrable. Antonio Cangiano is the author of many blogs - most famously Zen and the art of Programming and Math-Blog so he know's what he's talking about.

The book covers the following key topics:

• Determining what kind of blog you are running (personal, company, general, niche etc)
• The technicalities on how to create a blog
• Creating content and maintaining your pace of blogging
• Promoting your blog
• Making money from your blog

The book focusses mainly on the Wordpress platform, but most of it is transferrable to other platforms (e.g. I use Blogger). 

The big takeaway I took from the book which I could instantly put into action were tips on how to ensure your blog more regularly (e.g. have blog entries in reserve in case you suffer writers block) and how to make your blog reach more readers. It's amazing what can happen if you just publish your best content onto reddit for example.

Has the book made any measurable difference to my blog? YES! 

1. My number of posts has increased dramatically. More importantly I have a backlog of potential blog posts ready to get out there.
2. Previously my record number of page views in a day was 54. This week I had 2500 in one day! 
3. I've started to contribute back to the programming community which feels really good. Reading and commenting on other people's contents helps broaden my knowledge and get me more enthused in the industry.

Well worth picking up for the motivation alone.