A question for the for the Horror Blogger community

Even though I have been blogging for a year, I am still a newbie.  One place that I wish I knew more about was how to make my sites more interesting and appealing to visitors.  I also would like to knoiw more about how to use advertisements.  Also, how about the...

I am not putting this here to ask a bunch of specific questions.  I want to ask only one:  could you please tell me what resources were particularly helpful in creating you magnificent page? Websites, books, 1-976 number?

As I posted to Cyberschizoid this morning, "It would be great if the Google had a hand book for blogging, instead of insisting that members should simply Google their questions to get answers."  I have been very frustrated with mining the blogger forum for answers; mostly I find other posts asking the same question I am asking, unanswered.

This the biggest problem I have with the Open Source philosophy; the learning curve for support is pretty high.  This isn't supposed to be a complaint, I am enjoying what I am doing and hope to continue.

Thanks

M