Blog Post Engineering Review – Get your blogging handled. Period.

I’m going to do something a little different today I’ve been reviewing a new product called Blog Post Engineering. It’s an information product from my friend Dave Doolin of Website In A weekend and I’ve been very kindly given an early reviewers release of his next release due today (27/07/10) to give some feedback and get a review on paper for him (my pleasure of course, I was delighted when he asked).

Blog Post Engineering is the ultimate guide to publishing content on the web. It’s now much more than what it started out as – a guide on how to publish the best blog post possible – because he’s put so much damn work into this to make it a total blogging learning tool.

Although Dave doesn’t really pitch it as such, it’s really a guide on how to publish an entire blog the proper way. Blogging is so much more than just hitting “Publish” and knowing your way around WordPress.

Now, the something different I’m going to do is walk you through the whole package as I’m discovering the bits and pieces in it. I already know it’s a significant package (much more than just an eBook), but I don’t know exactly what is included. So without any further lead in, here is my First Person Interview taking you through Dave Doolin’s Blog Post Engineering package.

My First Impressions On Unpackaging Blog Post Engineering

Let’s unpack this baby.

I’m a sucker for checking out the goodies first, so I’m heading straight for the bonuses to see what they are. This has been pretty under wraps and he didn’t really let me know what they were before I agreed to do this review.

From what I can see, there are two interviews with full transcripts (and I’ve now been told there’s a third bonus on the way in a future release). I’m definitely going to have to load these up on my iPod and listen to them while commuting or something.

The first interview is with Kelly Diels who writes a blog called Cleavage and the other with Dave Thackery, writer and podcaster.

Affiliates aren’t forgotten, not by a long shot

There is also a full affiliate kit included in the package which has a wordpress plugin to make it stupid simple (install plugin, put affliate code in.. done. Couldn’t be easier right?).

There’s a complete guide on how to put your affiliate links into your posts.

And what’s this? Even a review form to help him refine the product, I’ve never seen this included in any information product I’ve bought and I think it’s a really clever way to continue the interaction and involvement in the product.

The bonuses are great and feels like good value even before you get to the main product

Jesus, I haven’t even gotten to the product itself yet and I’m already feeling like it’s worth the money. Actually, at $19.95 and weighing in at over 19MB in size I felt like it was already worth the money while I was downloading it.

Consuming The Main Contents

Now there’s two options with regard to reading the content of this info product. Slides which are a summary of the content in an easy to digest form or the full on PDF eManual.

Here’s my plan of attack – and keep in mind I haven’t been given any instructions on how to go about consuming this product…

I’m going to go through the fast route and get the jist of it really quick in a 34 slide presentation format noting down the bits I find most relevant to me and my situation.

Next, I’ll delve deeper into the parts that I need more training on. I feel like that’s how he’s designed it to work, I don’t know that for sure because I haven’t asked him yet, but knowing Dave and his work, I suspect this is how it’s meant to be used – like a reference.

Slides 12, 13, 15 are all technical elements I know about, but need to brush up on – great chuck them on the list. This is all important stuff such as appropriate category and tag use, blog post slugs, SEO. Man I need to brush up on SEO, this is going to help.

Slide 18 is talking about style and voice. It strikes me that my style and voice has changed alot (and dramatically too) over just the past year. I go through patches of boring, patches of hyperactivity, and then there’s me which is what I think I’ve become now. Though, in 6 months time I’ll probably look back and wonder why my writing sounds so nasally.

Slide 25 tells me I need to work on summarizing what the benefits of reading a post are before having to actually read it and I couldn’t agree more. There’s a lot of this type of material in this package, I’m going to have fun delving into it.

Ok, I have a few things I need to work on (there’s actually more I know I need to cover in depth, but this is enough for right now, I can go back and read more later).

Let’s bust open the main PDF manual

I start by opening up all the handy chapter markings. There’s a lot here and it’s all good stuff, it matches up with the stuff I jotted down earlier to make it easy to find the in depth content.

Each part is separated into specific points which guide me exactly where I need to go. There’s section headings which contain all these points and it’s all internally linked (one of my favourite things in PDFs is making use of this awesome publishing platform by using features like internal linking inside the document).

Dave has this thing or-gan-ised.

His methods of explaining things have always been quite good on his blog Website In A Weekend, but this is a little different. I found it to be more tightly focused like instructional material. Now depending on your personality this may sit nicely with you and it may not. What I suggest is not reading it from start to finish, but rather reading the parts of the book you’re interested in and implementing them straight away. If you do this, then you’ll be set and you can go back any time for more once you’ve grasped and implemented a concept.

If you’re really keen you can probably read the entire eManual in one sitting over a couple of hours, but I think it’s more useful to be used as a reference.

I recommend this product

I hope this first person review has been a good read. It was certainly eye opening writing and reviewing at the same time. Almost like live-blogging, except, you know, it’s not umm… live. But nevermind that! Didn’t it feel like you were really there?

Guys, getting serious, I really can’t recommend Dave’s work highly enough. The material speaks for itself being very well thought out and easy to understand. If you’re wanting to get the most from your blog and how to set yourself up for long term success in blogging then this is the guide you seriously cannot do without.

My only real complaint is that I think he’s undercharging for this thing by at least $100 and it’s probably better pitched to businesses wanting to really learn about blogging and how to be successful. All in all, it’s great value and if you buy this release today at $19.95 you’re getting a fantastic deal, but then he’s always been a bit of an over-deliverer.

My Bonus

I thought long and hard about this and it’s something that I’ve never done before so here goes…

If you buy Dave’s Blog Post Engineering today for $19.95 I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook Mini Website Design Business which tells my story of how I started designing websites and how you can start your own mini design business with my system.

Now, the timing is a bit weird because I’m about to release my own second edition of MWDB, but the good news is that if you’ve got a copy of it already you’ll get a free upgrade and that includes these give aways.

To claim your bonus, just send me a copy of your receipt to josh@codemyownroad.com and I’ll send you my eBook in a reply email.

>>> Click here to visit Dave’s sales page and purchase <<<

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