Benton Crane

Wordpress.com didn’t exist when I started this blog. My few friends who had blogs told me it is important to host your own so that the content therein is really “yours”. With Jeff Harmon’s help I set up hosting with BlueHost and started my blog using software from wordpress.org. The learning curve was horrible! I spent hours figuring out how to use themes and plugins. I’m not a programmer and I’m far from a computer guru, but compared to most of my peers I am a pretty advanced computer user. Now over a year later, it is time to update my Wordpress software, and even though I want the new features, I keep putting it off because I’m sure it will take me hours (after updating the Wordpress software there is a good chance I will have problems with my plugins and have to update those too).

My wife recently started her own blog, brittanycrane.wordpress.com, and because I had such a negative experience hosting my own blog, I directed her to wordpress.com. I couldn’t believe how easy and seamless it was. Updates are automatic. Themes and plugins are literally “point and click”. Normal computer users can figure it out!

I don’t know what the consequences of not truly owning the contents of her blog will be, but I’m confident that hosting her own blog would have deterred her completely from blogging. So in this case a blog hosted by Wordpress is better than no blog at all.

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I met Jason Alba through blogging–we have yet to meet in person, but have stayed in light touch for over a year. He is the founder of jibberjobber.com, a tool for managing personal contacts in a career management context. So for example, I’m graduating next April and using jibberjobber as a way to keep track of the companies where I apply and the people within the companies who I interact with. The more involved I get in this job search, the more I’m glad I have Jason as a resource (imagine all the other relationships I could build if I were consistent in my blogging).

Jason’s book, I’m On LinkedIn–Now What??, is a quick easy read that packs some great ideas for an experienced LinkedIn user. Its greater value, however, would be for someone new to LinkedIn or someone who has tried Linkedin but didn’t see the value of it.

For me, the most valuable part of Alba’s book is the chapter on how to use LinkedIn as a tool for personal branding. I haven’t been consistent in my blogging, and need some other ways to build my personal brand on the internet.

The book is overpriced for a 100 page paperback ($19.95, but S&H brought it close to $26). I felt like I should be getting a nice hardbound book at that price. Once you get past buying a paperback book at a hardbound price, however, it’s easy to see that the content of I’m On LinkedIn–Now What?? has a value far greater than $26.

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