ADOBE EDUCATION BLOG: GET WRITING! (nitty-gritty)

Joseph Labrecque

AEL Webinar | March 22nd 2012

WHO AM I? Joseph Labrecque, MA University of Denver - OTL Senior Interactive Software Engineer Adjunct Faculty Fractured Vision Media, LLC Proprietor

Twitter: @JosephLabrecque Web: http://josephlabrecque.com/

I also blog

http://blogs.adobe.com/educationleaders/

ACCESS THE AEL BLOG

Initial setup

• Who are you? Let people know! • Short and precise – but be sure to list your

expertise and accomplishments! • Let it read as though you are open to engagement

and have an interest in speaking with others. • Link to additional resources.

YOUR PROFILE

• Having a photo will personalize and humanize your writing.

• Gravatar is used by many WordPress themes and can be used across domains.

• Can show up in your bio and often is displayed in comments as well.

http://gravatar.com

GRAVATAR

Writing, publishing, moderating…

Categories and tags are employed by WordPress in different ways. • CATEGORIES: Used mostly as high-level

organizers for content. • TAGS: Used for quick, fine-grained metadata

placement.

Categories should be fixed and permanent. Tags are all over the place.

TAGS AND CATEGORIES

Posts have a number of different statuses. • PUBLISHED: it’s live! • DRAFT: a work in progress – private. • SCHEDULED: private now – but will switch to

published at a certain date and time.

Updates should always be marked clearly for transparency and trust.

PUBLISHED, DRAFT, SCHEDULED

Learn to differentiate between real people and spammers. Spam is a huge problem! • Be sure to engage and reply to valid comments. • Be aware of spammers and learn how to detect them. “Great post! This is just what I’ve been looking for!” - name links to viagra22now77.com “This is a good website and very instructive. I will come back on this blog to read your articles.” - name links to buyrussianwives.com

COMMENT MODERATION

Other stuff

• Speak with authority. • Your audience is the world. • A blog post is not a private discussion forum. • Even when comments are mean or off-putting,

maintain composure.

VOICE USAGE

Video is a powerful communications medium! • Short 2-7 minute demonstrations. • Used alone or alongside written material. • Video can be shareable. • Share with the Education Exchange!

VIDEO BLOGGING

The more you publish, the more offers you will get to write for others. • Maintain a personal and business blog. • Contribute to Adobe Education Leaders blog. • Guest Articles for other publications.

(ZDNet, ActiveTuts+, Transitioning.to, InsideRIA, Codebass)

• Expand into the world of video and books.

GETTING PUBLISHED

Thank you.

@JosephLabrecque