How to Blog for Profit( Without Selling Your Soul)[HT BLOG FOR PROFIT][Paperback] Paperback – July 31, 2014

This is the 3rd edition of this book, from an NYT Bestselling author who owns a multi million dollar media company. I am currently on page 160 out of 229.If this review seems a bit harsh, it’s partly because I’d expect more coming from such a prolific author of more than a decade in such a position.All in all, a decent book for beginner to mid level bloggers. If you’re struggling with choosing a niche, site design, content planning, monetization or traffic this will likely give you a *general idea* of (or *thoughts about*) how to solve those common problems.Having extensively read up on articles and books and watched videos on YouTube, as most bloggers have, I’d say 90+% of this is available free online, though there are obvious advantages to having it all compiled and it all coming from an experienced blogger.That said, one of the first things that caught my attn, since it became so annoying throughout, was the formatting.The cover, by Emma Beckett, is very well designed. There is a typo on the back cover (“your platform, [line of blankness] as well as which...”), and the last sentence of the authors’s bio has a dangling participle.The margins of all pages are painful as they’re much thinner than a standardly formatted book so you’ll be spreading that spine way out beyond comfort—yours, not the book’s. The font size isn’t great. Too small. There are multiple formatting errors including orphans (p. 38, 44, 70, 76), widows (p. 73), paragraphs followed by no blank space (p. 106), and a number of typos (p. 154, “BUT what she took away from the course what [sic] every bit as powerful.”)The author explains she’s making sth like 5-plus million dollars annually, “7-figures”, and I don’t disbelieve that, and that she runs a media company. Life Well Lived Publications is the publisher of this book (not her Omnimedia 5-mill company, though it does say to send information requests to Omnimedia), but this isn’t a great rep of a multi million dollar enterprise.Its formatting is half a level above MS word.Graphics aren’t always easy to read (p. 54 and other pages where they’re a dull gray). A lot of helpful resources are pointed out on the authors website which is great in a way.Some readers might think this referral is an effort to upsell or get traffic to a $995.00 blogging course offered there, or to get readers to click on affiliate links in free guides and there’s nothing really wrong with that—the author does say she makes 92% of her blogging income from product sales... (p. 144) —but either way, the point that could be improved is, please, put ALL the referenced resource on 1 landing page, not spread throughout the site. Who reads at a desk in front of a computer? No one. So it’s phone. And various long urls typed in is just impractical.Is the book worth reading? Yes. Absolutely.Does it suggest many of the same things suggested elsewhere in other blogging blogs, books, courses and videos? Yes.Did I pick up new insights and tips? For sure, mostly on a general level.I understand that algorithms and what works in the present are constantly evolving and that sites are all different one to the next, so exact direction or specific advice can get dated quickly, however, some of the content is a bit too broad and not specific so reading it is a bit like okay you confirmed I’m probably on the right path (or not) and gave some general suggestions on what to possibly do.I’m a bit underliner and highlighter of books but on this one I didn’t find myself taking notes or photos or underlining or highlighting but that may be because I’ve already spent hours on YouTube with people like IncomeSchool, and Miles Beckner.

If you’re new to blogging, there are some interesting nuggets of information. No technical information.Good broad information on where to start and what you should be focusing you time on.If you’re expecting a book with a giant roadmap—nope!Well, the roadmap is to the authors $1200 blog development program. And how to develop YOUR product to sell to YOUR followers.Easy read. Most of the info is meh at best. Not a 5-star book.

This is the first time I've ever felt compelled to write a review on Amazon for anything. Not because the book was super awesome or super terrible, but mostly because I'm pretty sure many of the previous reviews were written by friends of the author or test readers. It's definitely not a 5-star book (in my opinion).THE GOODIf you're a new blogger or a blogger with less than a year or two's worth of experience, this is probably a great book. The author does a great job of organizing the information into sections and she actually provides actionable steps that will improve your blog. Many are common sense - such as "write awesome content" and "determine your main theme..."The chapter on social media was extremely helpful. I've struggled with figuring out how to utilize Pinterest for my own blogs as my focus is not DIY or anything home related. In fact, this chapter alone made it worth the $4.99 price tag for me.The blogger's planner is pretty cool. You can, however, get the planner free from the website without buying the book.THE BADThere is nothing new in the monetization chapters of the book. Meaning, no awesome techniques or ideas that haven't already been talked about by 100 other authors in 100 other blogging ebooks.A large portion of the book is dedicated to things that a blogger with any experience at all already knows. Most bloggers don't need to read a book to realize that content is king or that we should rename images with a descriptive name before publishing them on our sites.This obviously isn't a book on SEO techniques, but I totally disagree with the author that SEO is an "old school" way of generating traffic. The bulk of my traffic has always come from search engines and, while social media is changing how we use the internet, I don't think enough emphasis can be put on the importance of search engines as a source of traffic for most blogs.FINAL THOUGHTSIf you are just starting out, this is one decent book of many available. I read the book in a day and highlighted approximately 5 action items that I'd like to start incorporating in my blogging.Don't expect this book to teach you any new or innovative techniques and you won't be let down. It seems like every blogger today who makes a decent living is now writing a book on, you guessed it, blogging. I'd highly suggest spending your time reading stuff written by those whose sole purpose is teaching better blogging techniques...like the Smart Passive Income blog by Pat Flynn or ProBlogger with Darren Rowse.

Excellent book that really explains all the steps you need to take to turn your blog from a hobby, into a profitable career. I read it from top to tail in one sitting and immediately put many of the recommendations into place and whilst I will not be able to retire any time soon I am seeing income begin to dribble in. I'm now dipping in and out of the book for reference and inspiration.If you own a blog and are serious about turning it into an income stream, I highly recommend this book for you. No doubt you could scour the internet for similar advice but there is loads of bad advice out there and it's just easier and far better use of your time to just buy this.

An amazing book for someone looking to start a blog and (fingers crossed) make money from it. I am only halfway through but it has given me such focus and made me refine my ideas for my blog. Would recommend.

I really enjoyed the book but it is now 5 years out of date which is a long time in blogging. The general advice still holds and Ruth's success speaks for itself. I recommend it.

An excellent read, highly recommended!Very insightful and interested. The author is extremely down to earth and open which captures the reader.

Perfect, thank you