blogging for beginners cofe january 2013
DESCRIPTION
Workshop at Church of England, January 2013. Covered by Creative Commons Licence, and not anticipated to stand alone.TRANSCRIPT
Blogging for BeginnersDr Bex Lewis, Digital FingerprintURL: http://j.mp/cofe-blog January 2013, for: http://www.churchcommstraining.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Let’s get to know each other…
WHAT IS BLOGGING?
•A reverse diary (most recent entry first?)
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/blog.html
• Short for Web log, a blog is a web page that serves as a publically accessible journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
•A website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.blog
• Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.
http://www.wordnik.com/words/blog
• A website that allows others to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal whilst readers may comment on posts. Most blogs are written in a slightly informal tone (personal journals, news, businesses, etc.) Entries typically appear in reverse chronological order.
Get Inspired
Some suggestions
•http://blogsearch.google.com
•http://www.technorati.com
•http://www.blogcatalogu.com
•http://www.globeofblogs.com/
Ideas?
What do you like?What don’t you like?
WHY BLOG?
DISCUSS
• What message do you want to get across?
• What action do you want to be taken?
• What event might you want to promote?
• What might you want to reflect upon?
PLATFORMS
Blogger.Com
Tumblr.com
http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Setting-up-a-WordPress-Account.pdf http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/blogging-with-wordpress-for-odhe-jan-13
Getting Started…
• Blog address & user name will be fixed
• Password should be ‘strong’
• Email, you need to check and ‘confirm’ before site fully functional.
• Ignore $18 for site hosting
Add a Bio? (Optional)
Change the site title, tagline & timezone
THE ‘ABOUT’ PAGEDashboard Pages
Dashboard Pages About Page
Briefly… you can always add more later…
•Who is this site by?•What is it about?•Who is it for?•When is it updated?
New Post
Editing Bar
Editing Mode
Add a Link
Add Email
ADD IMAGES
Upload Image
Select Files
Edit Image
Image Data
Edit Imagehttp://en.support.wordpress.com/images/image-settings/
• Edit• Delete• Resize (smaller)• Align
left/right/centre• Change image
info
COPYRIGHT
Image sources (e.g.)…
• http://iStockPhoto.com • http://Seedresources.com • Flickr Creative Commons:
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons
• http://www.sxc.hu• http://rgbstock.com
Creative Commons
Add Video
• “See what we’ve been up to”• Thoughts & Reflections• Reviews (Books, films, websites,
etc)• Challenging ideas for debate• Interviews (Text, Audio, Video)• ‘Best Of’ Content• ‘How-to’ Posts• 10 things you can… • Guest Posts
Embed Code
What Content Works?
• “See what we’ve been up to”• Thoughts & Reflections• Reviews (Books, films, websites,
etc)• Challenging ideas for debate• Interviews (Text, Audio, Video)• ‘Best Of’ Content• ‘How-to’ Posts• 10 things you can… • Guest Posts
http://www.slideshare.net/rohitbhargava/the-25-basic-styles-of-blogging-and-when-to-use-each-one
Blog Post Ideas…
Categories & Tags
Exercise
•Devise 8 ‘top-level’ categories
•Devise 20 core tags•These can develop organically, but it’s good to be clear at the start.
Comments
Themes
Widgets/Plugins
BackUp
Let’s Get Strategic
Site Purpose
A Reminder…
•Remember “About” – what is the PURPOSE of your blog? Who are you trying to reach?
Define Audiencehttp://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mjQsEks/Theatre+Seats
http://www.blogherald.com/2007/05/04/are-you-really-writing-for-your-blog-audience/
• Have you stopped to consider the cultural colloquiums and references you make in your blog writing which are country, region, or age specific?
• If you are writing for a very specific audience, then use terms and phrases they will recognize and identify with. Identifiable cultural colloquialisms connect people. When they understand the reference, you hold their attention and can move forward with the subject matter. There is no confusion.
• Still, watch for colloquial phrases and asides that don’t add to your blog writing. We often throw in metaphors and similes that don’t add to the content but stylize it.
Define Your Audience
• Male/Female?• Age?• Culture/
Nationality?• Beliefs?• Academic Level?• Attitudes/
Behaviour?• Friendship
Group?
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_%28marketing%29
• http://heidicohen.com/marketing-persona/
Example Persona
http://www.rgbstock.com/download/fishmonk/miaHgsm.jpg
Think About
• How often can you blog? Is there new information?
• What style of blog will you use?• What content can you produce?• What do you want Google to find?• Who else can help you blog?
When? It takes TIME…
Source: http://www.rgbstock.com/download/lusi/mgyp0Lm.jpg
Pre-Set Blogs
Keep People Reading
How do you get people to read your blog?
• Pull vs Push content• Interesting content• Regular schedule (set posts in advance)• Take comments seriously• Social media – especially Twitter• Comment on others blogs• Offer thought leadership• Post URL on printed materials.
http://bigbible.org.uk/tag/31daystabb/
@drbexl @digitalfprint @bigbible
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1327659