Review of Rob Benwell's Blogging to the Bank 2.0
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Many people still think that a blog gives you an edge in the search engines, with some people really believing that blogs can out-rank normal sites purely because they are blogs. I don't see any truth in this. In my opinion, the reason blogs can do well, is because the search engines like constantly updated sites, and that is what a successful blog is - a constantly updated "journal". However, any site that is updated frequently can rank as well as the identical site built as a blog.
Too many people setup blogs and fail, but Rob Benwell certainly seems to be doing things right. I wanted to see what he was doing, and more importantly, how I could use that information.
Before I read the eBook, I was anxious to see whether he was a black-hatter, or a white-hatter. I never use black-hat techniques myself, as I want to build long-term businesses, not just sites that last for a few months and die a death. I saw on the sales page, a comparison between hand-built sites, and automated sites, and that convinced me to buy, as it showed the hand-built, non-automated sites were the way to go. It looked like Rob was getting his success through white hat blogging.
On page 7 of the eBook, Rob outlines his "5 Blogging Commandments". These commandments mirrored my own non-blog site building philosophies. That is a great sign (Note to Rob: You need to proof read, as the 5th commandment does not make sense).
The next section of the book is a good overview of market research. They are the same sorts of things I look for when deciding if a niche is profitable.
Rob goes onto setting up a blog (where you own the blog), and where to get the content from to post on the blog.
The next section on blog optimization is one of the most useful chapters in this book, and I can see how this chapter alone would be responsible for a big chunk of his monthly paychecks. He talks about optimising the blog for visitors and search engines, and takes you through the code changes you need to make (they are very easy). He also goes through the monetization of the blog, and this again is a useful section.
Rob goes into the various methods of promoting your blog, and one of the useful bonuses you get with this book is a piece of software that can "submit to over 150 directories in around an hour". This is a useful addition, as it will help grow the inbound links to your site. Rob covers a lot of different methods for getting links in, and promoting your site.
He then moves onto Web 2.0 methods for Traffic & Promotion. Its a useful introduction whether you are promoting a blog, or any other site, and covers some of the top Web 2.0. sites that I use myself with good success.
Overall, I found the book as a great introduction for building profitable sites (not just blogs), as Rob uses the same range of techniques I myself use. The way sites are built ensures they have the potential to still be there in years to come, quietly earning you a decent income.
My only real complaint is that the book didn't seem to have been proof read. I was left feeling that there was a rush to get it out. There was at least one paragraph that did not make sense, and one picture that was not introduced, so I was left wondering what I was looking at. However, apart from that, the book was informative, and gave a good plan, and level of detail.
Who this book is for: Anyone who wants to learn how to setup and monetize a blog. Every step is covered, giving you a great blueprint to follow. I cannot see how anyone could fail by following this eBook.
Who this book isn't for: Anyone who is successfully blogging already. The book probably wont teach you too many new things.
If you want a good overall action plan for setting up blogs that work, I highly recommend this eBook.
BTW, Have a look at the interesting case study on the sales page.
