As publisher of this photo blog, I receive a lot of emails about photography, that is to be expected and I love it. What has been a surprising trend is the growing number of blog specific questions that roll in, such as How do I change my header logo in WordPress? How do I install a WordPress plugin? How do I make SEO friendly URLs? While I do my best to provide answers, I thought writing a post on the topic may be helpful as well.

Regardless of what type of blog you run, i.e., photography, digital camera reviews, etc, you are first and foremost a blogger. And being a blogger requires understanding the world of blogging before you hammer out your first post. While this may sound elementary to many established bloggers reading this, “Technorati says that it has tracked 900,000 new blog posts per day in its latest report“, this means there are plenty of green horns out there searching for vital information to get up and running.

I have always loved photography and writing. So, the idea of starting a photo blog seemed like a natural extension for me. Prior to starting ILovePhotoblogs.com, I played around with several different hosted blogging platforms, Typepad, LiveJournal, and Blogger, before settling in on a self hosted blog using WordPress and GoDaddy. And along the way, I had the normal learning curve of deleting posts, screwing up templates, and you name it, just like most people who have been blogging for awhile have experienced. Starting a blog can be painful. So if you’re just getting started and growing more frustrated by the day, relax, it’s normal. You will slowly stop repeating the same mistakes, learn your blogging control panel inside and out, and finally get to the point where you can just sit down and create! But trust me, this will not happen overnight. Going forward, though, each day of blogging will become easier and easier.

Without a doubt, the most popular questions we field are related to WordPress and how do you make money with a blog. While I am not an expert in WordPress, like say Alex King, and a far cry from being a money making venture when compared to Darren Rowse of Problogger.net, I have compiled a good list of blogging resources which have been a tremendous asset to me and you may find very helpful as well.

As previoulsy mentioned, Darren Rowse of Problogger.net, has attained a level of financial success most bloggers can only dream of. He has mastered the skill of providing valuable content and his marketing savvy is second to none. What I love about Darren and his blog, is that he openly discusses how he became successful in monetizing his blog and also describes the steps you can take to follow along in the same fashion. His blog is one of the most popular on the web, with over 67,000 RSS followers. That is quite an accomplishment! Even though I have read his blog religiously for the past 2 years, I recently purchased his book, ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, which outlines his beginning days as a blogger and the steps he took and the sacrifices he made, to see his idea through. I’m also a lover of books, so having a paper copy allows me to review his best posts wherever I go. For those readers not interested in making money with your blog, this book has an equal amount of information about the thought processes that go on behind the scenes of making a popular blog site. From my perspective, this is the first book all bloggers should purchase.

When I finally decided to go with WordPress as my blogging platform, my initial responses were a) WordPress is really awesome, and b) I’ll never figure this thing out. Today, I still think WordPress is awesome. Due to its open source software platform, there are literally thousands of developers working on solutons everyday to provide the greatest functionality available. If this software were privately owned, no company could afford to develop and enhance the product the way the WordPress community currently does. My hat goes off to all the developers that have allowed me to use this wonderful product, free of charge. As to where I am with point B, I consider myself much better versed at WordPress than when I started. I enjoy reading about new plugins which solve any number of problems I may have at the moment. In reading the WordPress developer sites, I often learn that I had problems I didn’t even know I had. For non-WordPress users, plugins are small bits of code which, when installed, allow you to perform all kinds of functions or make your current blog maintenance tasks much easier, i.e., Askimet for catching spam, Wassup for monitoring live traffic, or finding new ways to display images, or easier ways to embed videos, polls, flash. The list goes on and on.

If you are a new or established WordPress user, the following selection will help you tremendously,  WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies) by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. Her website is great, JustAGirlInTheWorld. It’s interesting, entertaining, and full of WordPress tidbits. She wrote the first edition of WordPress for Dummies back in December ’07, which I still reference and the second edition is due out later this year. Again, just a great website. I would also recommend signing up for this feed, and the book is a must-have for all WordPress users. Even though I have used WordPress for some time, I’m always excited to re-read this book to review whatever I skipped over previously.

Finally, my last “have to have it” resource is Getting Noticed on Google in Easy Steps (In Easy Steps). Yes, there are other search engines out there so why just focus on Google? In case, you didn’t know or haven’t looked at your search engine referrals, Google is a man amongst boys when comparing search engines. This book is a steal at $10! Honestly, they could have doubled the price and I wouldn’t have batted an eye. Actually, the “In Easy Steps” series covers a wide range of computer topics and each book is priced at $10. See, there are still bargains out there. This book is with me at all times, just in case I’m stuck in traffic, airport, or find a few moments to myself. Learning about the Google search engine, keyword selection and use, how to structure your site, etc; this book is jammed full of great information.

There you have it, the list of 3 must-have blogging books. So, if a friend, relative or significant other wants to know what to get you for Christmas, a birthday or a “just because” occasion, I have outlined three great choices for you. And you can buy three for less than $50!