Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers

In honor of my first Social Media for the Web class, which was last night, I decided to share my review of Blogging Heroes, a collection of interviews with the world’s top bloggers.

From the Inside Flap

They’ve gained a loyal following that continues to grow. They write about everything from business trends and the inner workings at Microsoft to parenting tips, personal secrets, and prolonging the life of your vehicle. They’re passionate about their subjects and about the free expression of blogging. And they’re even more passionate about being passionate.

They are thirty of the nation’s most successful bloggers, and their stories and secrets-in their own words-fill these pages.

Technorati lists well over 102 million blogs, yet in such a sea of content, these bloggers stand out. Their voices are heard, their words are read, and their messages have an impact. In this fascinating and intimate look at the blogosphere, these influential and innovative individuals tell you what it takes to achieve blogging success.

If you’ve even thought about starting a blog, you can’t afford to miss this wisdom.

The Bloggers

• Dave Taylor The Intuitive Life Business Blog
• Chris Anderson The Long Tail
• Gina Trapani Lifehacker
• Ina Steiner AuctionBytes
• Mary Jo Foley All About Microsoft
• Dave Rothman TeleRead
• Frank Warren PostSecret
• Mike Masnick Techdirt
• Mark Frauenfelder BoingBoing.net
• Robert Scoble Scobleizer
• Peter Rojas Engadget
• John Neff Autoblog
• Ken Fisher Ars Technica
• Deborah Petersen Life in the Fast Lane
• Joel Comm JoelComm.com
• Brian Lam Gizmodo
• Kristin Darguzas ParentDish
• Chris Grant Joystiq
• Scott McNulty The Unofficial Apple Weblog
• Philipp Lenssen Google Blogoscoped
• Brad Hill Weblogs, Inc.
• Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion
• Rebecca Lieb ClickZ
• Deidre Woollard Luxist
• Gary Lee An Internet Marketing Web Site
• Richard MacManus Read/WriteWeb
• Eric T. Internet Duct Tape
• Victor Agreda DIY Life
• Steve Garfield Steve Garfield’s Video Blog
• Grant Robertson Download Squad

My Review

Blogging Heroes was everything that I expected it to be and more! It was full of wonderful tips and advice in the form of inspirational and interesting interviews with top bloggers. Each of the 30 chapters is only about 8-12 pages and is devoted to one interview, so I would read a few chapters on my commute to/from work and a chapter each night before bed. It kept things interesting reading one blogger’s story and then moving onto a totally different blogger with his/her own experience. It was easy to pick up bits and pieces of their success, relevant to my own interests and needs, and absorb ideas from bloggers that I found particularly interesting.

This book was especially inspirational because it introduced me to many of the pioneers of blogging. I spend tons of time blogging and reading blogs, but it never really occurred to me how blogging originated and became so popular. I recognized the names of about half of the blogs in the book, so I particularly enjoyed reading about their origins and what motivated these bloggers to create them. It was cool to learn about a variety of blogs and get a glimpse into their world from their point-of-view. Reading the real-life experiences of these bloggers demonstrated that anyone can share their knowledge and opinions about any subject to anyone who cares to read what they have to say, which is a very interesting concept!

Two major things that I got out of this book were (1) affirmation and articulation of some of the practices that I already do on my blog; (2) a few pieces of advice that seem obvious, but never occured to me. (I discuss these below.)

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the world of blogging from both a historical viewpoint as well as a personal level. I’d also recommend this book to anyone who has wanted to start a blog, but never had the confidence and/or motivation to get started.

Blogging Tips from the Book

As I read the book, I noticed the same few pieces of advice from bloggers that were key to their success. By the end of the book, I had a number of ideas to improve my blog.

• Almost every blogger in the book mentioned this piece of advice: Be passionate and interested in what you’re blogging about. Be authentic as a blogger by addressing issues and interests for which you have a genuine passion. Otherwise, you’re just not going to last.
• Posting daily encourages readers to return.
• Write a good headline: It’s better to be accurate than it is to be cute or cleaver. When you make a post, do a little summary of what it is in the headline because a lot of people read blogs through RSS and go to the headline first to see what’s going on. It can make a differences in whether you get read.
• Participating in (commenting on and linking to) other blogs is a vital part of getting more readers.
• Blog post should inspire readers to comment. Without that, your blog can become boring.
• Growth does not happen quickly. You need to work on your blog and maintain your passion before it turns into anything. Success does not happen over night.
• Don’t think about increasing traffic. If that’s your main goal, you’ve already lost sight of what’s important. Let content guide your blog. Think about what’s interesting to you and others and what topics deserve coverage.
• Soliciting reader feedback can generate new ideas for posts. Listen to your readers, and think about them before and as you write.
• Be prepared to commit a lot of time and energy to blogging.

Coolest Blog from the Book

Frank Warren’s PostSecret blog is amazing and addicting! I’ve been following it for a few weeks now. PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. These confessions are then shared as an art form on the blog. It’s awe-some! The postcards are updated once a week on Sundays.