Blogging Why and how?

What is a blog?

How successful can you be blogging? In groups of four, search about the following people: Pete Cashmore Michael Arrington Harvey Levin Timothy Sykes What is the name of their blog? What does their blog cover? What is the topic? How much do these people make per month/year? Visit their blog. What stands out about their blog? Why is it so popular?

History of Blogging 1994 – The first blog called Links.net made by Justin Hall at Swarthmore College 1997 – “weblog” was created 1998 – First news blog as a part of a company 1999 – “weblog” shortened to “blog” 1999 – 23 blogs online; 2006 – 50,000,000 blogs online 2003 – People start to make money off of blogs 2007 – Tumblr founded as the first “microblog” http://links.net/

Purpose of Blogging Why do people blog? What is the benefit of blogging? Why do people follow someone else’s blog? What factors do you think are important to make a blog popular?

Kinds of Blogs Personal Blogs – general blogs that are about whatever people want to write about Business Blogs – blogs about or for business; try to get customers through their blogs Professional Blogs – people whose job is to blog; they make money through their blog Niche Blogs – blogs about very specific things such as cooking blogs, exercise blogs, etc. Reverse Blogs – the public rather than the owner writes the content of the blog; Affiliate Blogs – blogs that review products or experiences or food Media Blogs – vlogs, photoblogs, linklogs (creating content from websites) Freelance Blogs – write blogging content for companies or other people for pay

Important parts of successful blogs Visual Content – it looks really attractive and easy to read and navigate Empathetic Content – the written content is relevant to the readers and matters to them Links – your blog has links to other resources and relevant websites Goal/Mission – your blog has a clearly defined goal, mission, or purpose Engaged Audience – you have a blog which has followers that like to read your blog

How to write a blog Usually, casual language is used on a blog, even if it is a business blog News – formal and distant Blogs – casual and relatable What kinds of language can you use? Relatable language – “We all have met our match with technology. How can you overcome?” 1st and 2nd person is good – “In my early years in business, I made so many mistakes, you wouldn’t believe it.” Speak to the reader with relevant knowledge, facts, experience, and links to resources

https://www.timetravelturtle.com/

https://gizmodo.com/

Blogging safety Blogging can have the same dangers as posting on social media Be safe blogging by: Don’t be too personal Respect others always Expect those interacting with your blog to be respectful too If you have a problem with stalking or spamming, deal with it or block it

Blog Research Download the worksheet off of profjonesenglish.weebly.com. Go through the internet and find 5 blogs Fill out the survey in groups Email the completed survey to Prof. Jones’s email

Create your own blog post Under your opinions page, write a blog post. This post must be related to your theme. Consider something that you want to talk about or something that is important to you. Use casual language. Write at least 4 paragraphs. Make the language and the post fun and attractive.