Blogging 101 Master Class."
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PREVIEW EDITION This is the preview edition developed exclusively for the Willamette Writers Conference 2017 participants in my Blogging 101 and Blogging 201 workshops. It is not for public distribution. This free copy is an advanced copy, a draft, of what will become the final book, "Blogging 101 Master Class." Consider this the notes for the workshop. Please acknowledge the following: 1. This is not a finished nor complete copy. It is a draft. 2. While feedback is welcome, this book has not yet undergone extensive editing or proof reading. If you would like to provide these services free, please contact the author via her site on lorelle.wordpress.com to assist. 3. The book is not in its final form. Chapters will come and go, be rearranged, and new information will be arriving soon. 4. If you would like to receive notifications of when this book is released and available for free download to participants of the Willamette Writers Conference, please sign up for the email mailing list at http://bit.ly/lorellebooks. Enjoy this advance copy and thanks for flying with Lorelle. This section is under construction. Pardon the dust and thanks for your cooperation. DRAFT PREVIEW SPECIAL EDITION © Lorelle VanFossen and VanFossen Productions 2017 No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the express prior written permission of the publisher and author. All rights for content cited, trademarks, and artwork remains with the original copyright holder, and are used within the constraints of international copyright laws for Fair Use. VanFossen Productions, North Plains, Oregon, 97133 Lorelle on WordPress: lorelle.wordpress.com Printed in the United States Table of Contents Assignment: Explain Your Blog's Purpose . 65 Introduction . 1 Assignment: The Structure of the About Page . 65 Lesson One: Getting Started . 5 Assignment Review . 66 The Prompt. 5 The Avatar . 66 Assignment: Prompts . 7 Tips for Making a Quality Avatar . 68 Lesson Two: How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps . 8 Design Your Brand Organically . 70 Assignment: Your Blog . 8 Design Decisions . 71 Online Inventory Form. 12 Design by Character, Goals, and Audience. Lesson Three: Basic Terminology. 13 . 75 Types of Blogs . 16 Design Choices by Character. 76 Web Publishing Platforms . 17 Lesson Seven: What Are You Going to Say on Your The Web Platform . 18 Blog? . 83 Taxonomies . 19 Blogging is Telling, Teaching, or Sharing. 85 Assignment: Taxonomies . 20 Connecting with Your Reader . 85 Assignment: Grouping . 22 Building an Online Community. 87 Assignment: Review . 22 Assignment: What Are You Going to Say? . 90 Lesson Four: You Can't Blog Until You Know Who Assignment Review . 90 You Are . 24 Lesson Eight: Blogging is Storytelling . 92 Online Personas: Archetypes . 29 Hooking Readers . 93 The Character Inventory. 35 Bad Post Titles I Have Known . 94 Assignment: Who Are You When You Blog Make Your Point in the First 100 Words . 41 . 95 Assignment: Define Your Online Persona . 41 Assignment: The Opening Hook . 99 Assignment Review . 41 The Clickable Post . 100 Lesson Five: Who Are You Blogging For? . 43 Use Great Characters . 101 Like Attracts Like . 43 Conflict and Change . 103 Lesson Six: Designing Your Brand . 47 He said, she said; I said, you said. 104 Your Blog is Your Business Card . 47 Freedom vs Oppression. 104 How to Succeed in Blogging. 48 Not Enough . 105 Creating an Online Profile . 50 Ask Questions . 106 The Online Profile . 51 Share Your Thoughts, Feelings, Assignment: Write Your Bio . 54 Experiences, And Knowledge . 106 Tips for Writing Your Online Bio . 56 Present a Problem, The Solution, and The Results . 106 More Tips for Writing Your Online Bio . 60 Make Them Think . 106 Rewrite Your Bio . 62 Show Don't Tell . 107 The About Page . 62 Ban Mind-Reading Writing. 107 Don’t Waste Our Time. 108 What Do You Wish You Knew? . 143 A Picture is NOT Worth a Thousand Words Mind Mapping . 143 . 108 Write Article Series . 144 Make the Details Matter . 108 Rants and Rages . 146 Stimulate the Senses . 109 Blogger's Block . 148 Be Counted . 110 Blogging on Multiple Topics . 151 Make Facts Matter . 110 Learn to Use a Feed Reader . 152 Make Me Care. 110 Aggregation Sites . 153 The 3-Point Rule. 111 Feed Terms . 154 Move the Reader Through the Story . 111 Set Due Dates and Deadlines . 155 Post Structure . 111 Adherence to Standards and Laws . 158 Positive Resolution . 116 Respect Trademarks and Copyright. 158 Assignment: Generate Content . 117 Privacy Policy . 160 Assignment Review . 117 Disclosure Policy . 160 Lesson Nine: Writing for the Web . 118 Copyrights . 162 The Blogging Workflow . 118 Lesson Ten: Digital Marketing and Monetization What is the Perfect Post Length? . 120 . 166 How Often Should I Publish? . 121 Mailing Lists and Subscribers . 167 Write like kinda sorta like you kinda like talk Monetization . 169 . 122 Build a Trustworthy Site. 171 The Editing Process. 122 Lesson Eleven: Get Interactive . 172 Use Nouns and Synonyms . 123 Write with Conviction and Passion. 173 Blog Writing Isn't About Distracting Bolds Content with Intent. 173 . 124 Acknowledgments . 174 One Space After a Period. 125 Punctuate Properly . 126 Write Backwards . 127 Finding Multimedia to Share. 128 Links . 129 Writing Tools . 132 Revisit and Review . 136 Automate Everything You Can . 136 Write in Batches, Publish Across Time . 136 How to Find Something to Say . 137 Look Around You . 138 Share Your Progress. 139 Pay Attention to the News. 139 Prompts . 140 Introduction In the late 1980s I moved from USENET groups to CompuServe for my Internet connection with the world. I hung out on forums, build relationships, even taught a few online courses in photography and travel. In 1994, my new husband and I decided to take our life on the road full- time for a few months, which turned into almost 16 years, and our new friends in the CompuServe RV forums were there to help us on our way. In return, I taught more workshops on travel photography and traveling tips, and they offered their advice and homes to us as we traveled North America. In 1993, CompuServe teamed up with Mosaic and Netscape to create the first web browser, and I was there as a beta tester creating one of the world's websites. The site is still alive today and called Taking Your Camera on the Road.1 In those early years, I was publishing articles and travel update posts on CompuServe, then on our new website, as well as through emailed and print newsletters. By the end of 1997, I stopped the print newsletters, and by 2001, I stopped sending out email updates, relying solely on our website to update friends, family, and fans. In 2003, I kept hearing about this amazing blogging platform called WordPress, and by the end of that year I'd developed an early version of a text importer to migrate Taking Your Camera on the Road's 2,500 posts to WordPress, and I've never 1 cameraontheroad.com Blogging 101 Master Class Lorelle VanFossen Page 1 of 202 looked back. I've been blogging since before blogging was a word. In fact, even though I moved my site to WordPress, referred to as a blogging program with some derision in those first few years, I still resisted the concept of blogging and being called a blogger. I was a web publisher, I published articles and online journal entries. It wasn't until early 2005 when I finally admitted I was a blogger and leaned into the term. During those early years, there were many debates as to the definition of blogging. First came the stereotypes and assumptions about blogging. 1. Bloggers are unemployed people living in their parent's basement and spending the entire day on the computer blogging in their pajamas. 2. A blog is just a bunch of personal opinion, gossip, ranting, and raving. 3. Blogs aren't professional. Websites are professional. 4. You can't trust a blog. You can trust a website. As we struggled to define it even for ourselves, we stumbled upon some interesting attempts to understand what this new web publishing phenomenon had become. Alaskan Mommy blogger, artist, and adventurer, Michelle Mitchell, said: "I’ll be curious to see what happens when the majority of people know what a blog is the way they know what a website is now." Reporter Katie Hafner wrote in the New York Times: "Never have so many people written so much to be read by so few." Trust me, there were days when that felt like a perfect description. Blogging 101 Master Class Lorelle VanFossen Page 2 of 202 My favorite description came from my friend, Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers2. A unique and outstanding blog is one so compelling and remarkable that it sticks with you. Days later you still want to tell folks to experience it. A unique and outstanding blog has an amazing impact on a reader. It is.