Blog Exercise: New Years Reboot, Restart, Kick Ass

“It’s that time of year when the world falls in love…” The Christmas Waltz by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn I’d like to think that New Year’s thinking includes bringing back the love to your blog. You might not think that, but let’s go with that belief as we continue with this year’s Blog Exercises. […]

Blog Exercises: New Year’s Resolution

Every year, Matt Mullenweg publishes his New Year’s resolutions. They’ve actually become quite famous as the founder of WordPress often announces goals associated with the free publishing platform, giving fans and developers a highlight of what’s coming. We’re waiting on his resolutions for 2013 as he usually publishes them on January 11, his birthday, but […]

Creating a WordPress and Blogging New Year’s Resolutions List

Small Biz Trends released “5 Website Resolutions to Put on Your List for 2012,” by my friend, Shashi Bellamkonda, with some great ideas on what needs to be on your New Year’s resolution list for your business this year for building content, web communications, community building, and embracing and integrating technology. I’d like to add […]

WordCamp Las Vegas: Gambling on WordPress in the New Year

We’re starting the WordPress year out right with an exciting WordCamp Las Vegas, the very first WordCamp of 2009. I’m flying out this week for this weekend’s star-studded blogger event. The two day event on January 10-11 has an awesome line up of speakers covering all things blogging, social media, and WordPress: Matt Mullenweg Joseph […]

How to Avoid the New WordPress.com Interface

For the past three to four years, WordPress.com users have been “experimenting” with the what is known as the “new” WordPress.com interface. A drag-and-drop-meets-wysiwymg interface (What You See is What You MIGHT Get), it is designed to make interaction with WordPress easier. I’m still waiting. What it continues to do is make my students and […]

Words and Pictures Course at Newspace Center for Photography

I will be teaching Words and Pictures: Photoblogging and Web Publishing for Photographers at Newspace Center for Photography for 4 Wednesdays, May 11 – June 1 from 6:30-9:30PM in Portland Oregon. This is an intimate teaching location and limited seating, so register now for your spot. Teaching WordPress at the client, college, and workshop level […]

WordPress and Web Writing Classes at Newspace Center for Photography

I’ve been teaching at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon, for a year and it is one of the most fun programs and educational institutions I’ve worked with in a long time. Newspace Center for Photography is more than a gallery, though it is an outstanding gallery with powerful exhibits often based upon Pacific […]

Blog Exercises: Thinking About Next Year’s Plans

In “Blog Exercises: Intentional Blogging” I encouraged you to review the first exercises in this blog exercise series, putting emphasis on the intentions behind your blogging. I’d like to check in on your editorial calendar today. In “Blog Exercises: The Editorial Calendar” I discussed the importance of adhering to a schedule with your blogging, planning […]

Blog Exercises: Things I Wish I Knew When I Started

“9 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started.” “6 Things You Need to Know Before You Begin.” “The 10 Lessons You Need to Know Before You Take that First Step.” “What I Wish I Knew Before I Knew.” These titles show up in my feed reader on a regular basis. In this blog exercise, […]

Blog Exercises: What If You Knew You Could Not Fail

I helped a writer set up her first blog today, encouraging her to share her stories as part of the process moving towards becoming a published author. We talked about how a site will help her, not just with marketing, promotion, and community building, but also by rethinking how she writes, what she writes, and […]

Welcome to the New Blog Exercises

Your doctor tells you to exercise. You tell yourself you need some exercise. You play Sudoku and other mind games to flex the brain. We all need exercise, even bloggers. In the past, my Blog Challenges have been well received but its time to update them. I used to call them challenges, then prompts, but […]

A 9 Year Old Blogger is Censored and Changes Thousands of Children’s Lives

I think of all the good that is done in the name of WordPress and blogging, and a 9 year old humbles me. A couple weeks ago, a 9 year old food blogger attracted attention for the photographs she’d taken of her “uninspiring school cafeteria lunches” in Scotland. Local officials ordered her to stop taking […]

Clark College WordPress Class in the News

Wow! I knew my Introduction to WordPress course at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, was getting a lot of attention around the world from those eager to get WordPress into their curriculum, I didn’t realize it would make so much noise so close to home. Check out “Blogging pioneer blazes trail for WordPress at Clark […]

Tips for Blogging September 11 Ten Years Later

Over the past few weeks I’ve listened, read, watched, and pondered a quilt of stories around the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001, as the world celebrates/honors/remembers the event 10 years later. There are first hand stories of those who were in the buildings, rescuing people or escaping; stories by watchers, waiters, victims, […]

New Book Released: Social Media for Crafters

I’ve published a new ebook, Social Media for Crafters: Covering the Basics of the Social Web. Writing this book has truly been a labor of love. The book includes the basics of social media designed specifically with the crafting enthusiast in mind, from knitting to scrapbooking, from beading to woodwork. It explores what social media […]