A Review of Blog-cab-u-lary Plus by Nataly Llanes
1 – Success Story
Today’s success story belongs to Nataly Llanes, creator of the loveandpaperflowers.com blog and author of the recently published Blog-cab-u-lary Plus. This 200-plus page eBook has everything – and I mean everything – a blogger at any stage of the blogging process needs to know. If you are a blogger, I promise that there are ideas, tips and advice contained here that you can use.
As Nataly writes in her opening remarks, “I created this book with the intention of it being not a dictionary, but a roadmap. It is for that reason that the blogging terminology found in this book isn’t traditionally alphabetized, but rather strategically categorized so that it tells a story.
“In addition, it was my goal that the definitions are as simple and broken down as possible so that no matter what level (if any) of computer, blogging, technology, marketing, and business you have, you can understand it.”
Congratulations, Nataly. You have achieved your goal.
2 – Hints from Blog-cab-u-lary Plus
I read this book in one sitting, but since then I have been going back, following the links and the advice. If it were a paperback, the pages would be severely dog-eared by now.
Here are a few of my favorite tips.
1/Technology Tip: Pretty Links– Nataly calls them terminologies, but her tech advice goes far beyond a definition. She has screen shots to take you through technical processes, over 200 images in all. I knew nothing about turning off backlinks when I recently decided to monetize my blog. Thanks to Nataly, I know why that matters, how to do it, and I have Pretty Links, the free plug-in she recommended to automate the process. The book is full of small, critical tips like that. I have been blogging for two years but so many of these were new to me.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Thanks to @Natalyllanes, I know why it matters, how to do it, and I have the free plug-in she recommended to automate the process. I have been blogging for two years but so many of these tips were new to me. #blog-cab-u-lary #blogging” quote=”Thanks to Nataly, I know why that matters, how to do it, and I have the free plug-in she recommended to automate the process. The book is full of small, critical tips. I have been blogging for two years but so many of these were new to me.”]
2/ SEO: Nataly devotes multiple chapters converting the mumbo-jumbo of search engine optimization, long-tailed keywords, backlinks and Google analytics to understandable English. I have been using Google Analytics for more than a year, but Nataly showed me that I was only scratching the surface in understanding and exploiting the data. Check out Chapter 13. She offers some coding advice for the more advanced techie out there, too. But, for code-phobic authors like me, she offers the cut and paste option. Thank you, Nataly.
3 – Resources from Blog-cab-u-lary Plus
1/ Resources! Blog-cab-u-lary Plus has over 50 of the best resources for bloggers. Skip straight to Part 7- Popular Tools, Services, and Learning Resources to sift through two full chapters of books, apps, tools and classes.
2/ Pinterest Widget – Romance authors are moving in droves to use Pinterest for promoting their blogs and their books. Romance readers spend longer periods of time on Pinterest and the chances of a reader seeing your pin are higher than hits on Facebook posts or Tweets. Knowing that, Nataly provides quite a bit of guidance on taking advantage of Pinterest, from screenshots to make rich pins to creating a Pinterest Widget for your Blog site. This is the next “to do” I plan to execute from the book.
3/ Profits – At some point most bloggers realize that they need to make the hard work of blogging pay off. Nataly covers all the monetizing bases – advertising, affiliates, sponsored posts and more. She walks you through the entire process, the pros and cons and pitfalls. I found this chapter particularly helpful, being that I am at that point right now. But for someone just starting a blog, she has everything you need, too.
Do I get a small fee if you purchase Blogcabulary Plus using the link in this post? Sure. Can you get all of this information by reading 1000 blog posts by a variety of experts? Of course. But Nataly delivers it all one place, in a format and language you will understand. Am I exaggerating anything about the value of this book? Not a chance. It has rapidly become something of a bible for me and if you are a blogger – or you are thinking of becoming one – get it, read it and you’ll be a convert too.
Gem of the Week
My sincere thanks to Derek Doepker, motivation guru and bestselling author of books including Break Through Your BS and Why Authors Fail, for sharing an email this week that pointed me to this YouTube video. “9 UNCOMMON Book Marketing & Promotion Tips (That I’ve Used to Become a Bestseller)” by Pat Flynn, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of Will it Fly, really does include some ideas you haven’t considered before. In just over ten minutes you will have a few easy-to-implement ideas that help get your marketing juices flowing and your books flying off the shelf.