Blogging 101 march 2013

AUB’s Online Collaborative

INTRODUCTION TO BLOGGING

Benihana Kuwait v. Mark Makhoul

CASE STUDY

“If anything, I think the way they handled it made things
worse for the restaurant. They were right in that the
restaurant was new, but mark’s review wasn’t completely
terrible in my opinion. He pointed out the pros and cons of
his experience, which led me to believe I should give the
restaurant some time before trying it out.

Their actions, however, have turned ME off of trying it out.
And I want to clarify I mean ME. I don’t want to be served
with papers after all for allegedly swaying readers not to eat
there.”

Quick Poll

Do you:
Have a blog?
Read at least one blog?
Read 5-10 blogs?
Read more than 10 blogs?
Are you:
Interested in one for Education use?
Interested in one for Personal use?

WHAT IS A BLOG?

 a website in journal format, personal in its tone
and arranged in a chronological order.
 can also be used as a verb, meaning to
maintain or add content to a blog.

 Video: Blogging in Plain English

DEFINITIONS
 Blog: A web log.
 Blogger: Someone who creates and maintains a
blog.
 Blogging: The process of creating and maintaining
a web log.
 Blogsphere/Blogosphere: The totality of blogs; a
community or social network of blogs.
 Blogroll: A list of a blogger’s favorite blogs, usually
placed on the side of that blogger’s blog.

REASONS TO BLOG
 PERSONAL
To share personal experience

 BUSINESS
To promote business

 ADVOCACY
To promote an idea or a cause

TYPES OF BLOGS
TEXT blog
MICROblog
MOBILEblog
PHOTOblog
VIDEOblog
PODCAST

There are many different types of blogs and these blogs fall under many
different genres – which are further divided into many sub-genres.

GENRES OF BLOGS

Types of blog posts
Instructional
Reviews
Lists
Interviews
Link Posts
Informational
‘What If’ Posts
Rant
Debate
Critique Posts
Collation Posts
Research
Satirical
Case Studies
Memes and Projects
Prediction & Review Posts
‘Problem’ Posts
Inspirational
Contrasting two options

The 4 C’s of blogging: conceptualize, choose a platform, customize & create

SETTING UP A BLOG

• Niche/Type
• Blog Name

• URL (easy recall, relevant, not too long)

• Description

• Keywords

CONCEPTUALIZE

Blogger Wordpress Tumblr Twitter or Facebook
(Personal Blog) (Personal/Business (Mini-Blog) (Micro-Blog)
Blog)

CHOOSE A PLATFORM

More setup/maint.

Standardized Personalized

Less setup/maint

BLOG PLATFORM OPTIONS

Custom blog Lotus Notes Wordpress.com Blogger
Pro: Pro: Pro: Pro:
• You own the domain, • You own the domain, • Very easy to set up • Very easy to set up
look and feel look and feel • A fair amount of • Free
• Full customizability • Customizability (but customizability
• Platform support from more programming • Free (with upgrades
WordPress/TypePad, involved than available for $)
lots of widgets, help WordPress)
available • You can create and
review posts right in
Lotus Notes
Con: Con: Con: Con:
• You need to pay for • You need to find • It’s not a personal • It’s not a personal
hosting (~$10-12/mo.) someone to host it (we domain (although you domain (although you
• You need to do the up- might be able to help a can redirect to it) can redirect to it)
front setup work and few of you) • Not as fully customizable • Not as customizable as
maintenance • Fewer template choices as if you run your own free WordPress blog or
(or more work to move blog. your own blog.
to move to a new • Free service hosted in • Free service hosted in
template) the cloud – no/limited the cloud – no/limited
guarantees guarantees

BLOG PLATFORM OPTIONS

DeveloperWorks IT Toolbox ChannelDB2
Pro: Pro: Pro:
• Very easy to set up • Easy to set up • Easy to set up
• Network effect of being • Free • Free
included on • Network effect of being
DeveloperWorks included on IT Toolbox
• Makes it seem more
like an “official” IBM
blog
• Technical support
Con: Con: Con:
• Very limited • Very limited • No customizability in
customizability in look customizability in look look and feel
and feel and feel • Limited editing tools
• Can take ~2 weeks to • IT Toolbox • Harder to find, link to
get a new blog set up design/layout may not
• developerWorks be for everyone
design/layout may not • URL harder to share
be for everyone (although can do
• URL harder to share redirect)
(although can do
redirect)

• Themes
• Layouts

• Headers

• Blogrolls

• Keywords

• About Page

CUSTOMIZE

Once you have everything set-up, you are
ready to

CREATE

 Blog Title
 Date Header
 Post Title
 Timestamp
 Permalink
 Post
 Author Name
 Category/Label/Tag
 Comments
 Trackback/Pingback
 Sidebar
 Miscellaneous
 Footer

SETTING UP A BLOG ON WORDPRESS.COM

SETTING UP A FREE BLOG ON WORDPRESS.COM

Go to www.wordpress.com
and click “Sign Up Now!”


Create a user
account


Pick a blog name and title


Congratulations – you’ve got a blog!
(Well, we do need to do a little more work. Click the
Login link to start customizing it.)


This is your admin site
(where you’ll go to
customize things and
write posts)


First, click Design and
Themes to pick a theme.
Once you find a theme you
like, click “Apply to my
blog” from the preview
page.


You can now go to your blog and
check out your spiffy new design!

… but let’s customize it just a
little more.


First, you want to make
sure the title, tagline,
contact information is
accurate (it’ll help Google
find you, too.)

Click Settings and General
to update this information


You also want to be sure
that the About page is all
about you!
(Click Manage and Pages
to get there.)


Now, let’s customize the
sidebar by adding some
“widgets.”

Go back to the admin
page and select Design
and Widets.


Click Design and Widgets
to add widgets. I’m
showing the key ones I’d
recommend


To add some links to your
blogroll/resource list…
Click Write and Links to
add some links – to other
blogs, to online resources,
etc.


Click Manage and
Categories to add
categories to organize
your posts. (You can also
use tags instead of
categories.)


Now you’re ready to write
your first post!


Adding links is easy… just
highlight your text and
click the little “chain” icon
and enter the URL.

Adding images is just as
easy – just click the media
icons.


Click on “View Site” to go
see your post live on the
Web!


To view statistics (visitors,
traffic sources, etc.) select
My Account and Stats.


Hmmm… I might need a
few more viewers. Better
tell my friends about my
new blog!


You can purchase
Upgrades from Wordpress.
Notably, the ability to
further customize the
template or redirect to a
non-wordpress.com url…


If I wanted the site URL to
be db2isgreat.com
instead of
db2isgreat.wordpress.com
I could do so for ~$15 a
year.

CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR
WORDPRESS.COM BLOG IS DONE!
 It took me 20 minutes to go through all the steps you just saw,
from registering an ID, though choosing a template,
customizing the sidebar and writing my first post.
 Granted, I was going quickly and had done this before. I’d allow 3-4
hours for setup.

 WordPress has a lot of online resources for tips and tricks and
help: Start here: http://faq.wordpress.com/

SETTING UP A FREE BLOG ON BLOGGER

To set up a blog on
Blogger, head over to
www.blogger.com to get
started.


Create an account (or sign
in with an existing Google
account)


Give your blog a name and
choose a URL

Pick a template for your
blog.


Congratulations! You have
a blog!


You can now go write your
first post. (We will want to
customize some things
further, though.)


Your post is live on the
web!

(Hmmm – might need to
revisit that template.)


Select Edit to make sure
the title and description
are accurate.

Blogger lets you publish
on a custom domain
name.

LET’S START WITH AUDIENCE

 First and foremost, who are you writing this
blog for? If the answer is “myself” and you have
more than one RSS subscriber,
congratulations. You’ve done it. If the answer is,
“Anyone into _____,” like “anyone into tech,”
and you have more than 10 subscribers
congratulations. Be clear about the audience. If
I’m going to bother giving you some of my time,
I want something back.

YOUR CONTENT NEEDS TO BE WELL CHUNKED

 First off, journalists know this, but I’ll tell you: start with
the best stuff right up at the top. Don’t do it as a build-
up.
 Second, make it such that people can read it in chunks.
 Make headings that break up the post.
 Use bullets that break up the post.
 Lead with a graphic.
 Pull out a graphic or a pull quote to keep it looking better.
 Break things up so that human eyes can read them
easier. Dense posts and super long posts are a turn-off.

PROMOTE YOUR BLOG EFFECTIVELY

 Create an RSS feed: feedburner.com
 Make sure there’s a very prominently displayed link
for folks to subscribe to your RSS feed for your blog.
The bigger and more attention-drawing, the better.
Second, add an email subscription option to your
blog.

PROMOTE YOUR BLOG EFFECTIVELY

 Add your blog URL to all social networks you’re
on! Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+,
Youtube, Flickr, and wherever else you can
bring awareness.
 Create a facebook page, twitter account,
google+ page for your blog and maintain them!
 Add it to your email signature and your
business cards.

BE PERSISTENT

 Try new things. Stretch out the medium. Think
of new ways to ask the same old questions.
Decide on challenging approaches to blogging
in ways that powerfully reveal the information
your audience seeks from you. Persist in such
matters, never accepting that your work is
flawless, but instead analyzing your responses
and uptake or downturn in traffic, and giving
more effort accordingly.

DEFINE THE GOALS OF YOUR BLOG
 To be found on the Internet

 To be read by peers and potential
clients

 To demonstrate your expertise

 To maintain relationships with past
clients

 To turn clicks into deposit slips

HOW TO GENERATE BLOG TOPICS?
 Anything and Everything
 Start with an area of expertise
 Hobbies/Interests
 Customer stories
 Personal triumphs
 Controversial topics (if you’re comfortable)

 Make it distinctly you, don’t plagiarize, don’t
compare and don’t underestimate yourself

CONTENT IS KING

 Write about what you want to be
known about
 Brush up on your writing skills if you
need to
 Keywords in your post title and story

 Picture descriptions and title

 Relevant tags and categories

 Keep the blog fresh

GET INSPIRED

 Subscribe to:
 RSSPieces.com (A Years Worth Of Blogging
Ideas)
 Daily Blog Tips Website (dailyblogtips.com)

 Read local newspapers and comment

 Read industry publications and comment

 Read blogs from outside of the industry

TIPS FOR BLOGGING
 Length
 Don’t worry about length – write to fit the post
 Images
 Adding images always helps
 Google Image Search (http://images.google.com)
 Flickr (http://flickr.com) – pay attention to reuse rights
 iStockPhoto – Many images are $1-2

 Links, links, links
 Link to others. The more you link to others, the more
others will link to you

TIPS FOR BLOGGING

 Socialize online by reading and commenting in
other blogs for online interaction and
networking purposes.
 Join in offline blog events/get-together. Real-life
interaction is also important in blogging.
 Be yourself. Don’t blog just to impress other
people.

TIPS FOR BLOGGING

 Content is King. Link Building is the Queen.
Merge them together and you might earn good
money from your blog!

TIPS FOR BLOGGING

 Join in writing projects and blog contests. You’ll
never know what’s in store for you!
 Keep on learning and improving. Later on, your
efforts will be recognized.

Blogging 101 march 2013

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