Nonfiction Book Reviews

A while back, I read and reviewed WordPress for Dummies, and at the end of it, I mentioned I was going to review Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, 3rd Edition by Peter Kent. Well, today is that day.

I had my library order the copy in for me (which is why it took me so long to get it read and reviewed), but it was worth the wait.  There was quite a bit of information in the book that I had never heard before, but even worse, I found out that some of the “SEO tricks” I had been taught before were flat-out wrong.

I have a habit of turning up the bottom of a page when I read something I think is worthwhile and that I might end up quoting later in my review of the book.  It’s easier for me than to sit with a notepad and pen and take notes while reading.

But with SEO for Dummies, there was so much new information that I needed to process that I ended the book with 19 folded-down pages, a new record for me.  Since this is a library book, I can’t keep it as a reference book, so I’m going to end up going back through and taking notes anyway.  So much for being lazy…

Now for the negatives: Peter Kent (at least in this book) has a rather confusing writing style.  He tends to say a bunch of things as if they are good thing, then finish the section by saying you “never want to do that.”  This left me confused - did I not want to do the last thing?  Or all the things?  And if I didn’t want to do those things, then why was he talking about them in a positive light?

Perhaps I’m just slower than most (Brothers, that was not an invitation to make wisecracks) so maybe he was only confusing to me.  But I felt like his writing style could’ve used editorial help.

He also tended to repeat things.  A lot.  Like the fact that when someone uses JavaScript to create links between websites, the search bots can’t read those links, and thus the website doesn’t get “credit” for the link in the search engine’s eyes.  (If that was Greek to you, read the book - he explains all of that quite nicely).

The first time I read that, I thought, “Wow, I didn’t know that!” so I marked the page.  The second and third time, I thought, “Hmm…Didn’t I already read that?” By the fifth time, I was becoming mightily unimpressed with his ability to repeat the information as if it was new to the reader all over again.  By the seventh time, I was sure he was simply trying to pad his word count (and the book does clock in at 408 pages.  This is no small book).

I shouldn’t bellyache too much, because overall, it was a great book on SEO techniques.  There’s a lot of guesswork that goes into SEO work - after all, Google’s not going to announce how it ranks websites, or every web master out there is going to tailor their website to fit those specifications exactly, and then all searches do is return pages of advertisements.

So in that kind of environment of guesswork and to-the-best-of-my-knowledge theories, there tends to be a lot of flat-out wrong information on the web when it comes to SEO techniques.   Peter Kent does do a good job of clarifying a lot of that.

If you’re serious about creating a website that will rank well and bring in a lot of visitors from search engines, you’ll want to read this book.  It’s not a book for a complete newbie (some topics are too complicated for even Dummies books to make completely Dummy Compatible) but if you’ve spent some time online, working on websites and/or blogging, and you’re wanting to take your site to the next level, this would be the book to read.

I give SEO for Dummies 4.25 out of 5 stars.

Hava

WordPress for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us by Lisa Sabin-Wilson was one of the best reference books I’ve ever read on computers/blogging/website building, and believe me, I’ve read a lot of books on that subject!  I have three brainy brothers who are computer geniuses and although I’m not stupid when it comes to computers, I know that I still have a lot to learn.  I am in awe of their level of knowledge, and have read book after book on HTML, PhotoShop, and website building in general, hoping to catch up to them someday. Well, today is not that day, but I am a little closer, thanks to this book.

First off, as in all great reference books, the author injects a lot of humor into the book, which is fantastic.  Example: In the introduction, there are a string of headers with paragraphs underneath each one, “About This Book,” “Conventions Used in This Book,” etc.  Then comes the next header and paragraph:

What You Are Not to Read

Don’t read supermarket tabloids.  They’re certain to rot your brain.

As I explained previously, this books covers the details of how to set up, use, and maintain the software for the three free versions of WordPress.  I don’t intend for you to read this book from cover to cover. (Unless you’re my mother - then I won’t forgive you if you don’t.) Page 3, WordPress for Dummies

It’s the blasé transition there that I just loved.  If you didn’t think that was funny, you need to go have your pulse taken at the doctor’s office - it could be that you’re not actually alive and breathing any longer.  In that case, see the bright light?  Walk into it.

For the alive people out there, you’ll want to make sure to pick this book up if you have any interest in starting your own blog, or if you are blogging for a company and want to have a better idea of how the whole process works.  Why? you say.  Glad you asked! If you’re a blogger for a company, you probably don’t have to worry about things like picking your own theme and plugins, or how to set up a blog, just like you don’t have know how to change the oil or fix the engine in your car in order to drive it.  But you should know how to do these things (or at least the basics) because it makes you a better driver, and in our case, a better blogger.  (BTW, this is a case of do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do, because as I mentioned before, on a good day, I might be able to tell you where the engine is at in my truck.  Maybe.)  Luckily, my interest level is much higher when it comes to blogging than it is automobiles.

So back to WordPress for Dummies.  Lisa is not only funny, but she also knows what the heck she’s talking about.  She’s got the “street creds” as they say - she’s got tons of experience doing what she’s talking about, she isn’t just spouting what she’s heard from others.  She is also uber-patient and takes you through every tiny step of the process for setting up all three types of WordPress blogs: WordPress.com, WordPress.org, and WordPress Multi-User.  She explains the positive and negative aspects to each of these choices, and in general makes you a lot more comfortable with the whole thing.

The book does live up to its name: WordPress for Dummies.  If you’re an administrator of a large and popular WordPress blog or group of blogs, there’s probably little in here that you didn’t know already.  It isn’t for veterans of the field to learn from.  But if you’re just starting out into the big, bad blogging world, then this book will be right up your alley.  I started a blog back in March of 2007 with WordPress.com (I transferred the blog over from Blogspot, actually) and I was SOOO lost when I first did that.  I wish I had this book back then - it would have made my life much easier.  Then I transitioned that same blog over to WordPress.org onto its own domain, and was SOOO lost all over again, LOL!  I had to learn the hard way, and by bothering nice people (like, say, my brothers!) to help me.  I would have been 1000% better off reading this book.

Even now that I’m running two personal blogs, managing a group of 50 blogs, and writing on this blog, I still learned from the book.  It also clarified some things that I hadn’t quite understood before.  Now that I understand the basics, I’m going to delve into more complicated matters: Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, anyone?

I can tell what I’m going to be reading next…

4.5 out of 5 stars (marked down slightly because it was published right before WordPress released a huge new advancement in the admin panel of WordPress [think the change from XP to Vista - it was that kind of big], rendering most of the screenshots worthless and/or very dated.  The publishing company did not time that well.  Sorry, Lisa!!)  Other than that, not many complaints!

Havs