Blogging Courses, What to Expect.

Do they really offer classes in blogging? They sure do! Colleges and universities alike are realizing the large market of bloggers, and are accommodating to the demand to know more about tapping into that market.
What you will learn in a blogging course?
How to create and design your blog
How to write the right kind of content for your readers
How to use social media to find and attract new readers
How to interact with other bloggers and develop your brand online
How to use your blog to make money through advertising, selling books and products, affiliate marketing, etc.

Tips For Creating Your First Blog Post

Here are a few tips on creating your first blog post. Credit to NYIAD for the inspiration. I was thinking it, too.

1. A Killer Post Title: The post title is the first thing people see and read in the post, so it has to be powerful enough to grab their attention.
Example:
The posts that have numbers in the title do best, such as
"10 Quick Tips To Grow Your Blog’s Subscribers",
"7 Great Tips to Help Promote Your Jewelry Business on Pinterest" or
"5 Ways To Make a Wedding Unique".
Posts that feature a checklist also tend to do well.
Build a "top ten" list post for another interesting angle.

2. Strategic Keywords: Your blog post and the post title need to contain keywords specific to that post’s overall message. If you strategically use keywords every time you publish, you have a new opportunity to have each post rank well in search engines!
Example:
Use Google Trends to find the hottest search trends.
Try Google Keyword Planner to help identify keywords you should be using and see traffic estimates based on those proposed keywords.

3. A Clear and Concise Point: Make sure your blog post is specific to one topic. It may contain many points and tips, but in general, one message should be conveyed in each blog post.

To read more on how to write your first blog post, read the full article at the New York Institute of Art and Design.

Blogging Tips for WordPress Users!

One word, syndication. I'm serious, whatever you write on your blog as an article should be syndicated to every social media platform on this god given earth.

Facebook Business Page – In your applications area, search for the “Social RSS” application and get it set up to publish your content to your Facebook page wall automatically.

LinkedIn Personal Profiles – Look for “Blog Link” or “WordPress” in the applications section on your profile page and set it up to auto-post your content to your LinkedIn profile. Don’t forget to tell all of your employees to do this too. If you have a lot of employees, the increase in your potential reach could be gigantic.

Plaxo – Although not as popular, Plaxo is another great business networking site that makes it really easy to “add a feed” and plug in your blog content automatically.

Bing Community Sites – If any of your fishing holes are built on the Ning platform, you can plug in your feed using the “Add RSS” widget included on your profile page.

Other Social Networking Sites – There are many other social sites that allow you to plug in your blog’s RSS feed. Scour your sites for this option.